Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock
U-96 was one of four U-boats captained by Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock during WWII. Das Boot was later based on the story of U-96. Lehmann-Willenbrock sank almost 120,000 tons of predominantly British commerce, including three troopships, during his three missions in U-96. Lehmann-Willenbrock climbed to command the 9th U-boat Flotilla, primarily operating out of the submarine pens at Brest (St. Nazaire). Despite the Allies' overwhelming air and naval superiority, Lehmann-Willenbrock took command of U-256 and escaped to Norway in September 1944, as Allied troops threatened to capture Brest.
In 1945, Lehmann-Willenbrock surrendered to the British, who imprisoned him for a year before returning him to Germany. He then went back to sea, operating on and commanding merchant ships. He was in command when the German merchant vessel and icebreaker Otto Hahn, a nuclear-powered ship, went into service in 1969. He worked as a consultant on the film Das Boot, in which Jurgen Prochnow played an unnamed commander of U-96 during a 1941 war patrol. From 1939 through 1945, Lehmann-Willenbrock was a member of operational U-boats. Given the casualty rates in that branch of the Army, his survival is amazing. On April 18, 1986, he died in Bremen, his birthplace.
- Date/place of birth: December 11, 1911, Bremen, Germany
- Date of death: April 18, 1986, Bremen, Germany
- Award: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
- Sink more than 183,253 tons of ships (25 ships)
