U-160 Lassen 21-Mar-1942
Oberleutnant zur See (later Korvettenkapitän) Georg Lassen entered the area north of Bermuda on the 21stof March 1942 heading southwest. Overall the submarine was in the area for 10 days, transiting westbound and eastbound. On the first leg the sub spent five days, exiting northwest of Bermuda towards Hatteras on the 26th. On the return patrol U-160 re-entered the region on the 12th of April and motored on a straight course northeast, exiting northeast of Bermuda on the 15th of April.
The patrol for the 10thU-boat Flotilla began in Heligoland, Germany on the 1st of March and ended in its new base in Lorient on the 28th of April 1942. The patrol began off Newfoundland but pushed south to the US capes. The day after leaving Bermuda astern, on the 27th of March, Lassen found and sank the Equipoise. Off Hatteras U-160 then sank City of New York on the 29thand the Rio Blanco on the first of April. Five days later she damaged the Bidwell. On the 9th the Malchace was sunk, followed by the Ulysses on the 11th – the ship was en route from Australia, carrying evacuees from Japanese attacks in southeast Asia. A day later U-160 re-entered the area around Bermuda in a straight trajectory to Lorient.
Born in 1915, Lassen was a member of the Crew of 1935. He began U-boat training in April 1939 and went on to command U-29, without conducting war patrols on it. After 328 patrol days on four war patrols he sank or damaged 31 ships of 190,501 tons. For this he was awarded the Knights Cross in August 1942, the Oak Leaves in March 1942 and the U-boat War Badge with Diamonds in October 1944. He passed away in 2012 on Mallorca, Spain, at the age of 96.
SOURCES: Gudmundur Helgason, Rainer Kolbicz, www.uboat.net, 2013, Kenneth Wynn, U-boat Operations of the Second World War, Volume 1 and Volume 2, 1997, R. Busch, and H.-J. Röll, German U-boat Commanders of World War II, 1988, Franz Kurowski, Knights Cross Holders of the U-boat Service