U-372

TYPE VIIC U-BOAT 

Operational Patrols of U-372 

17 May 1941–18 June 1941 – (First Sailing - active patrol) U-372 left Kiel under the command of Heinz-Joachim Neumann on 17 June 1941 and arrived at Horten on 18 June 1941 after one day.

9 July 1941-31 August 1941 - (Third Sailing - active patrol) U-372 departed under Heinz-Joachim Neumann from Trondheim on 9 July 1941 and arrived at Brest on 31 August 1941 after seven and a half weeks.  Heinz-Joachim Neumann hit two ships on this patrol and both of them were in convoy, both of them were from convoy SL-81. On 5 August 1941 he sank the British 3,136 ton Belgravian, sailing with convoy SL-81 followed the same day by the British 5,205 ton Swiftpool.

10 September 1941-13 October 1941 – (Fourth Sailing - active patrol) U-372 left Brest under the command of Heinz-Joachim Neumann on 10 September 1941 and returned more than four weeks later to Brest on 13 October 1941. Heinz-Joachim Neumann sank the British 3,410 ton Baron Pentland on this patrol from convoy SC-42.

13 November 1941-12 December 1941 – (Fifth Sailing - active patrol) On the 13 November 1941, U-372 left Brest under the command of Heinz-Joachim Neumann and arrived at La Spezia on 16 December 1941 after more than four weeks.

17 January 1941-31 January 1942 – (Sixth Sailing - active patrol) U-372 departed under Heinz-Joachim Neumann from La Spezia on 17 January 1942 and returned to La Spezia on 31 January 1942 after two weeks on patrol.

15 June 1942-12 July 1942 – (Seventh Sailing - active patrol) U-372 left La Spezia under the command of Heinz-Joachim Neumann on 15 June 1942 and arrived at Salamis on 12 July 1942 after nearly four weeks. On 30 June 1942 Heinz-Joachim Neumann sank the British 14,650 ton HMS Medway.

27 July 1942-4 August 1942 – (Eighth Sailing - active patrol) On the 27 July 1942, U-372 left Salamis under the command of Heinz-Joachim Neumann. On the 4 August 1942, U-372 was sunk south-west of Haifa in position 32º28'N, 34º37'E, by depth charges from HMS Sikh, HMS Zulu, HMS Croome and HMS Tetcott and by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (221 Sqn).  

On 5th August 1942, Lt Cdr H Rycroft was able to report the sinking of the German submarine U-372 at 13:37 the previous day. The Tribal Class destroyers HMS Sikh and Zulu had been engaged on an A/S sweep to cover the passage of a convoy when, at 02:45 Sikh made contact with a suspected U-boat and dropped her first depth charges. There followed a game of cat-and-mouse between the enemy submarine and the two destroyers.

Sighting the activity from Haifa at just after 12:00, Tetcott and her sister ship HMS Croome raised steam immediately and began their search for the intruder. Taking over from the two Tribal Class destroyers – who had both run out of depth charges - Tetcott dropped a large pattern at 12:53, followed at 13:10 by another pattern dropped by Croome. Tetcott dropped a second pattern at 13:20, when the U-boat was between 30 and 40 yards off her port quarter. This last salvo appeared to cause sufficient damage to force the U-boat to surface. Starting her diesel engines immediately, the U-boat made a further attempt to evade the hunters. When some 800 yards from Tetcott, both destroyers brought every available gun around onto the vessel, peppering her with shells.

Resigned to their fate, a white flag was waved from the conning tower, and the crew barely had time to jump into the sea before the submarine sank by the stern, her bow sticking up into the air, before finally disappearing beneath the waves.

Working fast, Tetcott immediately dropped the scramble nets, hauling man after man onto her decks. Herded forward to the bow, the exhausted Germans watched as their vessel slipped back beneath the waters and disappeared. The entire crew of 48 managed to escape the stricken submarine.

After cursory interrogation by Rycroft, the ships returned to Haifa where the 48 blindfolded prisoners - including the Captain, Heinz-Joachim Neumann - were led from the decks of HMS Tetcott, across Sikh and away to spend the remainder of the war in a PoW Camp.

Partial list of all known captured crewmen of U-372 

For further information on U-372 refer to HERE or HERE (Page will open in new window) 

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