Happy Birthday - Reinhard Hardegen

[rowi58]

Today (March, 18th, 2015) Reinhard Hardegen celebrates his 102nd birthday . As the well known "Pauckenschläger" Hardegen is the oldest still living German U-Boat Commander of WWII. Good luck to you. And for those who doesen't know him well - here are two small videos:






Greetings
rowi58

[HW3]

Happy Birthday Reinhard Hardegen!!!

[CCIP]

Cheers to the Drumbeater - and a truly great human being, too. Hardegen joined the U-boats after a career as a naval pilot (before Goering forced Kriegsmarine to relinquish their air arm to the Luftwaffe), which ended abruptly when he survived an airplane crash. He was so badly injured that he was, by all definitions, unfit for U-boat service, but successfully hid his ailments - and later using his talent and seniority to persuade Doenitz to let him go to sea just one more time. Contrary to his brazen image, Hardegen was no man of steel. He freely admitted after the war that when his boat came under attack and was nearly sunk off Florida, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was convinced he'd die. Yet he lived, fought on (including commanding a Kriegsmarine infantry unit in the last days of the war), and then made a name for himself as a successful businessman and politician in his hometown.

And, at age 102, he is the last submarine ace alive in the world, from any nation. Following the relatively recent passings of his fellows like Lassen, Topp, and Oesten, he is the last of his kind. May he be forever the last - and truly, one of the best. Here's to you, Herr Hardegen

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by rowi58

Hardegen is the oldest still living German U-Boat Commander of WWII. Good luck to you.

And just to correct that, there are still many U-boat commanders alive today, and a number of quite successful ones as well. However Hardegen is the only one with more than 100,000 tons on his record - and ahead of anyone else by quite a long shot as well.

Ironically, much of this tonnage came from the tankers he sank off the American coast - yet following the war, Hardegen's business came to be the oil trade, where he owned and operated quite a large number of his own tankers.

[rowi58]

Correct, CCIP. But i wrote "the oldest still living". Sorry for my bad English.

Greetings
rowi58

[CCIP]

Actually, a quick correction on that too - there are quite a few older commanders as well. In fact, today also marks the 105th birthday of Heinrich Müller-Edzards of U-590, and 108th birthday of Heinz von Reiche of U-17. According to records on uboat.net and ubootarchiv.de, both are still alive today!

Sorry for being a little nitpicky, and thank you for bringing Hardegen's birthday to attention, which it certainly deserves

[rowi58]

Absolutly no problem, CCIP. I know Guðmundur Helgason's site and watching it (every day???). What he has done and is still doing is simply perfect. A great source.

But let's celebrate Reinhard Hardegen's 102nd bithday.

Greetings
rowi58

[Aktungbby]

To misquote the 'old Lion's transmitted 73 year old wartime message appropriately on this occasion: An den Paukenschläger Hardegen. Bravo! Gut gepaukt. Dönitz." (For the drum-beater Hardegen. Well done! Good beating. Dönitz.) I hope I look this good (and still play golf) in another 40 years!

[Catfish]

Happy Birthday.
Wasn't that Hardegen who positioned the boat between the beach and the tanker, to not harm the people on the beach ?

[donna52522]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Wasn't that Hardegen who positioned the boat between the beach and the tanker, to not harm the people on the beach ?

Probably, too bad it wasn't so nice for those on the tanker.

[nikimcbee]

Anybody know how his health is?

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

Anybody know how his health is?

Best I can find is about two years old...

He turned 100 in March 2013 in very good health, winning trophies playing golf and still driving.