Lt.z.s. Möller, IIWO on U-126?

[Arkansan]

Hello,

Some years ago I tried to find more information on an officer (Lt.z.s.) named Möller that was the IIWO on U-126's 3rd patrol (2 Feb 1942 to 29 Mar 1942). Ernst Bauer was of course Commander and Hans-Adolph Schweichel was the IWO. I was never able to conclusively prove who this Möller was. My best guess was Günther Möller who later perished as Commander of U-844 in October 1943.

This was based on the fact that Möller left U-126 around March 29th, 1942 at the end of this patrol, which typically means a promotion, and records showed Günther Möller was promoted to OLt.z.s. on April 1st, 1942. This site shows him as WO on U-989 from  Feb 41 to May 42, although U-989 was not even laid down until Oct. 1942 (Typo?).

Günther Möller then went on as commander of U-141, a shoolboat with 21. Flottille from June 16, 1942 to Feb 15, 1943, before transferring to the front boat U-844.

Möller was Torpedo Officer on 7 of the 9 ships hit on the 3rd patrol of U-126 and fired 13 of the 18 torpedoes (all surface firings). I have all the Schussmeldung, and they all show his name spelled as "Möller" on the front page as Torpedo Officer, and on the back page next to Bauer's signature. Interestingly enough, IWO Schweichel fired none of the torpedoes on this patrol, Commander Bauer fired the remaining submerged shots. This would seem to indicate that Bauer was trying to give Möller as much experience as possible before he went to commander's school.

No other sites that I could find show a Möller as ever being an officer on U-126.

Do I have the right man, or if not, can anyone help me determine who this man was?

Thank you,

Eric

[harold]

First of all, congratulations for your very informative website (will often have to return there to get the whole picture of this enormous and excellent work you did)!

Second, as i read in your "credits & tools" section, the following link
http://www.u-boot-archiv-cuxhaven.de/home.html
does not yet show up.
Give it a try, although the page is in german you also will be understood if you ask them in english.

Next, our member "Hubertus" in his thread
http://forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index.php/topic,11403.0.html
does give the following and quite according data:
Möller   Günther   OLt.z.S.01.04.42.   U-989. W.O.(02.41-05.42).  U-141. Cdr.(06.42-02.43).  U-844+ Cdr.(04.43-10.43).   S.W.of Iceland.   16.10.1943   30.06.1918   Rostock   Crew of 1937b  

As for Crew books, our member "ufo" is a devoted collectioner, so he also might have some informations at hand.-

Welcome aboard 


 

[Hubertus]

Sorry I don't have any info about Moller being onU-126. but I don't all info on U-126's crews

Regards Hubertus.

[Arkansan]

Hubertus,

Thank you.

I am still puzzled, however, about Möller being a Watch Officer on U-989 from 2.41 to 5.42. According to uboat.net, U-989 would be quite impossible:
Ordered 5.41
Laid Down 10.42
Launched 6.43
Commissioned 7.43
First Patrol began 1.44

Would it be possible to double-check your source connecting Möller with U-989?

Best regards,

Eric

[Axel Niestlé]

Hi

this problem can be solved in a very simple way. Möller was allocated to U 126 even before comissioning. At that time his new command was designated by the building number at the yard (W 989), which was also recorded in his personal record. Sometime later the hand-written phrase therein was mistaken as "U 989". Möller later became CO of U 844 and perished with hiscrew on 16 Oct 43. 

Best wishes

Axel Niestlé

[Arkansan]

Axel,

Simple for you perhaps. It seems so obvious now. I even see the "Werk 989" associated with U-126 on uboat.net.

So Günther Möller is my mystery WO. Fantastic!

Thank you very much!

Best Regards,

Eric

[Arkansan]

All,

Just a quick update to let anyone interested know that I have completed my new page on the SS Texan including a biography of Günther Möller.

You can find that here: http://www.ssarkansan.com/home/american-hawaiian-in-wwii/texan and use the index at the of the page to jump to Möller's section or simply start from the beginning.

Best Regards and thanks again for your help.

Eric
www.ssarkansan.com