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Otto Eduard Weddigen
Weddigen
Otto Eduard Weddigen
Born (1882-09-15)September 15, 1882
Died 18 March 1915(1915-03-18) (aged 32)
Place of birth Herford
Place of death Pentland Firth
Allegiance Flag of the German Empire German Empire
Service/branch War Ensign of Germany 1903-1918 Kaiserliche Marine
Years of service 1901 - 1915
Rank Kapitänleutnant
Commands held U-9, 1 August 1914 – 11 January 1915
U-29, 16 February 1915 - 18 March 1915
Battles/wars U-boat Campaign (World War I)
Awards Pour le Mérite
Iron Cross First & Second Class

Otto Eduard Weddigen (15 September 1882 – 18 March 1915) was a German U-boat commander during World War I.

Biography and career[]

He was born in Herford and started his military career in the Kaiserliche Marine in 1901. In 1910 he was given command of one of the first German submarines, U-9.

On 22 September 1914, while patrolling in the region of the southern North Sea known to the British as the "Broad Fourteens", U-9 intercepted the three warships of the Seventh Cruiser Squadron. Weddigen fired off all six of his torpedoes, reloaded while submerged, and in less than an hour sank the three British armoured cruisers HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy. Sixty two officers and 1,397 men were killed, only 837 survived.

Fruehherrenhaus Herford

Birthplace of Otto Weddigen

SM U9 Postcard

"Victories of U-9" - a contemporary German postcard showing the photo of Weddigen against the background of the sinking "Aboukir" and "Hogue".

Otto-Weddigen-Gedenktafel

Memorial. The inscription reads "Birthplace of Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen, our sea hero of 1914".

Otto Weddigen was awarded the Iron Cross and, after sinking HMS Hawke and some merchant ships, Prussia's highest military order, the Pour le Mérite. He became one of only six non-Bavarians to receive the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph, Bavaria's highest military honor. He also received the highest military honors of the other two kingdoms of the German Empire, the Knight's Cross of Saxony's Military Order of St. Henry and the Knight's Cross of Württemberg's Military Merit Order.

Weddigen died while commanding the submarine U-29. On 18 March 1915 U-29 was rammed by the British battleship HMS Dreadnought in the Pentland Firth. U-29 had broken the surface immediately ahead of Dreadnought after firing a torpedo at HMS Neptune and Dreadnought cut the submarine in two after a short chase. There were no survivors from the submarine.

During the inter-war period, the resurgent Wehrmacht named a newly built barracks in Herford as Otto-Weddigen-Kaserne in his honour due to the linkage with his birthplace. Although the Wehrmacht unit housed inside the barracks was not naval - it was Panzer Abwehr Abteilung 6, an Army anti-tank unit - the occupants of the barracks nevertheless signified the naval connection to Weddigen by placing two large anchors at the base of a large National Socialist Reichsadler at the entrance to the barracks. Ironically, ever since 1945 the barracks has been occupied by British Army soldiers from the Royal Corps of Signals. The barracks is scheduled to close by the eventual withdrawal of all remaining British Forces in Germany in 2020.

External links[]

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The original article can be found at Otto Weddigen and the edit history here.