U-190 Wintermeyer 24-May-1943 9
U-190 under Kapitänleutnant Max Wintermeyer spent 9 days patrolling the region mostly north of Bermuda, starting on the 27thof May and ending two months later on the 26th of July 1943 (a long patrol though Wynn does not record that the boat refueled on this mission). The boat transited Bermuda both inbound and outbound. On the 23rd of May U-190 entered the area northeast of Bermuda and headed west. Then it dipped south to the north of Bermuda and finally due west, to exit the region on the 27th.
Wintermeyer returned on the 23rdof July and passed quite close to the western tip of Bermuda the following day, evading detection from the Allied aircraft, submarines, and surface ships based there. On the 25th the sub turned east-northeast and exited the region northeast of Bermuda the following day.
Wintermeyer later spent nearly a week patrolling the area northeast of Abaco and Eleuthera in July 1943, without result. The submarine entered the region east of Savannah and headed southeast for three days until the 21st of July. Then for two days it motored east before turning northeast towards Bermuda on the 23rd of July. On the 24th the U-boat passed just to the west of Bermuda and out of the area.
U-190 left Lorient on the 1st of May 1942 and aside from being attacked by a USAF Liberator off Cape Henry, Delaware, did not encounter other Allies. To quote Wynn, this patrol was typical because “a marked increase in American air activity made U-boat operations extremely difficult and ship-sinkings were few.” Wintermeyer brought his charge back to Lorient on the 19th of August 1943.
A member of the Crew of 1934, Wintermeyer was promoted to Kapitänleutnant in April of 1942. Born in February 1914, he was age 29 during this patrol and is still living in end 2011. He was awarded the U-boat War Badge 1939 on the back of four patrols of 348 total sea days. Having begun his naval career on U-105 and U-62, he commissioned U-190 and survived several patrols on her to move ashore in July 1944, after which he held staff positions on land.
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