Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Assmann uniform - U-219 Officer

[Victory Museum]

Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Assmann uniform - Officer of the German submarine U-219, a Kriegsmarine Type XB submarine during World War II:









The U-219 was laid down on 31 May 1941 at the Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as yard number 625, launched on 6 October 1942, and commissioned on 12 December 1942 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Walter Burghagen.

1st patrol

U-219 first ventured through the South Atlantic with the second Monsun Gruppe to the Indian Ocean in late 1943, having first rounded the British Isles and headed in a southerly direction west of Ireland. Upon reaching Penang, this group of U-boats became part of 33rd U-boat Flotilla, which also comprised U-848, U-849, U-850, U-177, and U-510.

U-219's mission had been to lay mines off Cape Town and Colombo, but when the group's U-tanker was destroyed, U-219 was required to take its place, refuelling the other submarines of the group at sea so they could return to Germany. Of this group, only U-510 continued to Penang Island. U-219 returned to France and was prepared for a transport mission at Bordeaux.

2nd patrol

On her next voyage east, U-219 departed Bordeaux on 23 August 1944 with U-195 and U-180, carrying two Japanese officers, and cargo which included uranium oxide, blueprints for advanced weapons and part of a consignment of twelve dismantled V-2 rockets for Japan shared with U-195. The boat was attacked five times by three Grumman Avengers from the aircraft carrier USS Tripoli west southwest of the Cape Verde Islands on 28 September. One aircraft was shot down.

Both U-219 and U-195 reached Batavia (now Jakarta), in December 1944.

Following Germany's surrender, U-219 was seized by the Japanese at Batavia on 8 May 1945 and on 15 July it was placed into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy as I-505. Eventually U-219, operating as I-505, was captured at Surabaya in August 1945 by the Royal Navy and scuttled in February 1946 by gunfire and depth charges from the Dutch destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer[1][4] at 06°31′00″S 104°54′08″ECoordinates: 06°31′00″S 104°54′08″E off the Sunda Strait.