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U-35 crew member Rudolf Schmidt

Rudi Schmidt was born on 04 August 1914 in Plieskendorf/Calau. He joined the Kriegsmarine on 01 July 1935, and served on the cruiser Köln and the survey ship METEOR before transferring to the U-Boat force on 02 October 1937. He reported to U-35 on 17 April 1938.
1938. Standing: unknown, Karl Schnute, Erich Herrmann, Otto Wagner, Erich Blume. Seated: Rudi Schmidt, unknown, Heinz Sandmüller, Johann van der Pütten. [72]
U-35 crewmembers manning the deck gun. From left: Rudi Schmidt, Erich Herrmann, Willi Jacob, [unknown], Gottlob Wilhelm Fischer (front), [unknown], [unknown], Johann van der Pütten. [47]
 
Crewmembers of U-35 gathered around the conning tower hatch. From upper left: Rudi Schmidt, 2X unknown, Heinz Sandmüller, Karl Schnute, Willi Jacob, unknown, Hans-Bernhard Michalowski, Peter Schwarz. [47]

Erich May, Ernst Wensorra and Rudi Schmidt. [47]

For his participation in the Spanish Civil War on board Köln and U-35, Rudi Schmidt was awarded the Spanish Cross in Bronze on 06 June 1939. 

Rudi Schmidt was transferred from U-35 just prior to the final war cruise, so he did not become a Prisoner of War on 29 November 1939. Instead, he reported to U-29 until 01 February 1940. After further U-Boat training, he reported to the naval ship construction training facility for the North Sea at Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG in Bremen. There he served, including a month-long hospitalization, until 30 May 1942, at which time he briefly reported to the 24th U-Flotilla.

On 02 August 1942, he reported to the Marineschule Wesermünde, where he served until 24 February 1943. After a brief position at the naval artillery station at Ploen, he reported to the 6th U-Flotilla, where he served until the end of the war. On 20 April 1944, he was awarded the War Service Cross, second class. On 01 December 1942 he received his final promotion to Obermaschinenmaat.

On 11 May 1945, Rudi Schmidt became a Prisoner of War of the French. He was not repatriated until 1948.

Rudi Schmidt passed away on 24 December 1974 in Sallgast, Germany, and is survived by his daughters Jutta and Roswitha, who have kindly contributed to this research.


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2021-02-22
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