Type: IX-B
Built by: AG Weser (Bremen)
Launched: 2 March, 1940
Commissioned: 30 May, 1940
Feldpost Nr.: M08800
Date sunk: not sunk
Sunk by: not sunk
Location sunk: not sunk
Position sunk: not sunk

The first C.O.of U-123 was Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Moehl, who had previously commanded U-20. On 19 May, 1941 command went to KAPITÄNLEUTNANT REINHARD HARDEGEN (102-LIFE-1985), who had previously commanded U-147. On 5 June, 1942 Oberleutnant zur See Horst von Schroeter assumed command. He had previously been a Watchkeeping Officer on this boat.

Karl-Heinz Moehl

U-123 was assigned to the famed 2nd U-Boot-Flotille based at Lorient and she had a fruitful career, including six patrols in the North Atlantic, operations off Freetown in July 1941 and also over April and May of 1943; off the northeastern US coast in January of 1942 during the opening of Operation 'PAUKENSCHLAG' otherwise known as Operation 'DRUMBEAT'; U-123 operated off Cape Hatteras and the US coast as far south as Florida in April of 1942; off the NE coast of Brazil and Venezuela in September 1943; off Liberia and in the Gulf of Guinea over April & May of 1944.

U-123 had a close encounter with a British submarine, probably HMS P-615 on 18 April, 1943. One crewman was lost in the engagement with the American "Q" ship SS CAROLYN, actually USS ATIK; another crewman was lost overboard on 17 November, 1940; another crewman killed in an air attack with two others wounded on 7 November, 1943.

U-123 took on fuel from the German supply ship CORRIENTES in the Canary Islands area on 25 July, 1941. On 27 January, 1942 U-123 directed the Greek ship SS MOUNT ETNA to rescue survivors of the sunken SS PAN NORWAY.

U-123, decommissioned in Lorient 19 August, 1944 was taken when the Allies eventually overran the port. The boat was ultimately given to the French navy. She was recommissioned as BLAISSON in 1947 in the French Navy, named for Captain Blaisson, the Commander of the giant French submarine SURCOUF which was lost with all hands under circumstances still not really confirmed. In 1957, U-123 was broken up.

SHIPS SUNK BY U-123 UNDER MOEHL

06.10.40 BENLAWYERS Brit stmr 5,943 GRT

10.10.40 GRAIGWEN Brit stmr 3,697 GRT (GRAIGWEN was disabled by torpedoes from U-103, and finished off by a coup de grace from U-123)

19.10.40 BOEKOLO Neth stmr 2,118 GRT (BOEKOLO was in the process of rescuing survivors of the British steamer BEATUS which was sunk by Endrass in U-46. BOEKOLO was hit by torpedoes from U-100 under Schepke and from U-123)

19.10.40 SEDGEPOOL Brit stmr 5,556 GRT

19.10.40 SHEKATITA Brit stmr 5,458 GRT (This ship was hit and damaged on 18 October by three torpedoes from U-123 and one from U-100 (Schepke) but she was loaded with timber and did not go down. This attack on the 19th finally sank SHEKATITA.)

19.10.40 CLINTONIA Brit stmr 3,106 GRT (This ship was disabled by a torpedo fired from U-99 under OTTO KRETSCHMER, then sunk by gunfire by U-123. It was during this gunfire that U-99 was nearly hit by over shots from U-123.)

22.10.40 CREE Brit stmr 4,791 GRT
23.10.40 OAKCREST Brit stmr 5,407 GRT
23.10.40 KOLCHIS Grk stmr 2,219 GRT (Reported in error as the British ship SS BLAIRESK)
23.10.40 KING IDWAL Brit stmr 5,115 GRT
23.10.40 TYMERIC Brit stmr 5,228 GRT
23.10.40 ANTEN Swd stmr 5,135 GRT
24.01.41 VESPASIAN Nrw stmr 1,570 GRT
04.02.41 EMPIRE ENGINEER Brit stmr 5,358 GRT
15.02.41 ALNMOOR Brit stmr 6,573 GRT
24.02.41 GROOTEKERK Neth stmr 8,685 GRT (It was initially assumed this ship was the victim of a surface raider)
17.04.41 VENEZUELA Swd stmr 6,991 GRT

Moehl sank 17 ships; total 81,950 GRT

Since the story of U-123 is such a long and complex one, we will continue it further on in KTB #111; beginning with the ships attacked by U-123 under HARDEGEN and later by von Schroeter. Keep reading.....but in the meantime - -

In the meantime, check the back page for information on the print that was made from the photo that is on the front cover as well as the book - all hand-signed. Now is the time to order your copy.

SHIPS ATTACKED BY U-123 UNDER HARDEGEN

20.06.41 GANDA Port stmr 4,333 GRT
27.06.41 P.L.M. 22 Brit stmr 5,646 GRT
27.06.41 OBERON Neth stmr 1,996 GRT (On 27.06.41, HARDEGEN fired his third torpedo at another ship in Convoy SL.76, but the torpedo missed and was assumed to his another ship in the convoy)
29.06.41 RIO AZUL Brit stmr 4,088 GRT
04.07.41 AUDITOR Brit stmr 5,444 GRT
21.10.41 AURANIA Brit AMC 13,984 GRT (This Armed Merchant Cruiser was hit with torpedoes, but was only damaged - not sunk.)

"PAUKENSCHLAG (DRUMBEAT) BEGINS"

12.01.42 CYCLOPS Brit stmr 9,076 GRT (HARDEGEN was not supposed to attack any shipping on his way over to the United States, to avoid tipping off the the US Navy that German U-Boats were on their way to attack shipping off the American coast. As we now know, the British had been reading the German code and they told American Government officials about the impending attack - but somebody forgot to tell the US Navy! Actually, there is a theory that Admiral King was told, but did not pass the word and so, American ASW defenses were caught by total surprise.)

14.01.42 NORNESS Pana tnkr 9,577 GRT (This was the first ship sunk in Operation 'PAUKENSCHLAG'; the wreck was recently located by JOHN CHATTERTON (1818-1991) and his dive team. This ship was German-built, so HARDEGEN needed three torpedoes to put her down.)

15.01.42 COIMBRA Brit tnkr 6,768 GRT
17.01.42 SAN JOSE * Amer stmr 1,932 GRT
19.01.42 BRAZOS * Amer stmr 4,497 GRT (In the melee of easy sinkings, it was not always easy to identify which ship was being sunk, and so these two ships were credited to HARDEGEN by researchers after the War, in error - they were not sunk by U-123.
SAN JOSE was a passenger-freighter of the United Fruit Lines - a Banana boat in essence - and came to her fate in a collision with SS SANTA ELISA. All hands rescued.
BRAZOS, running blacked out, hit the Royal Navy trawler HMS ARCHER, also blacked out. All hands saved.
Thanks to SIG KLAUSSNER (211-1986) for this info.

19.01.42 CITY OF ATLANTA Amer stmr 5,269 GRT
19.01.42 CLITVAIRA Lebn stmr 3,779 GRT
19.01.42 MALAY Amer tnkr 8,206 GRT (MALAY was damaged, not sunk)
25.01.42 CULEBRA Brit stmr 3,044 GRT
26.01.42 PAN NORWAY Norw tnkr 9,231 GRT

This was the end of 'PAUKENSCHLAG' for HARDEGEN and the other 'DRUMBEAT' Skippers. There were so many ships for the taking that HARDEGEN wrote in his KTB (logbook):

"It is too bad there weren't more boats, and about a dozen mine-layers to plaster the place with mines. They would all have had successes aplenty."

When we left the story of U-123, we had covered the actions of U-123 & REINHARD HARDEGEN during Operation PAUKENSCHLAG; the U-Boat offensive off the east coast of the United States. HARDEGEN was 'the DRUMBEATER', that is, he was the first Skipper into American waters and he sank the first ship in American waters - and it was this action that won HARDEGEN his KNIGHTS CROSS. He is the only Skipper from PAUKENSCHLAG (DRUMBEAT).still alive.

Now we look at the 2nd American patrol of HARDEGEN and U-123, beginning in March of 1942.

SHIPS ATTACKED BY U-123 UNDER HARDEGEN

22.03.42 MUSKOGEE Amer tnkr 7,034 GRT

(HARRY'S NOTE - the crew was all murdered by the crew of the U-Boat, according to the propaganda of the time. As we see in this photo, that was just not true U-123 gave some supplies and directions to the survivors of the tanker and all through the War and for years after, HARDEGEN believed these men were picked up safely. He was saddened to learn a few years ago, that none were rescued.

24.03.42 EMPIRE STEEL Brit tnkr 8,138 GRT
27.03.42 CAROLYN US NAVY 3,209 GRT

(HARRY'S NOTE - SS CAROLYN was in reality, USS ATIK, a converted tramp steamer outfitted by the US Navy with heavy guns, depth charges, machine guns etc - she was a "Q" ship, a "U-Boat Trap" meant to look too easy and too small to waste a torpedo, and so to lure a U-Boat to the surface where the U-Boat would use her deck gun to sink this small ship. If it would be successful, the U-Boat would be badly outgunned by the superior firepower of the "Q" ship, and would be sunk. It looked good on paper, & CAROLYN/USS ATIK almost succeeded. But once she attacked with all guns and depth charges, she did not sink U-123 and remained in the area. Not to be caught off guard a second time, HARDEGEN did not surface this time, but sent another torpedo into the ship and she went down. Even though rafts were launched, there were no survivors from CAROLYN/USS ATIK. U-123 suffered some men injured and one midshipman killed.

CAPTAIN KEN BEYER (1156-1989) escaped death on the toss of a coin in this action. As a young Ensign, he arrived on the dock where the USNavy "Q" ships CAROLYN/USS ATIK, EVELYN/USS ASTERION and WAVE/USS EAGLE (fishing trawler) and by a toss of a coin, he went aboard EVELYN and the Ensign with whom KEN tossed the coin, boarded CAROLYN/USS ATIK - and never returned.

K.K. HARDEGEN in his home in the summer of 1994.

During our trip to Germany in 1990, CAPTAIN BEYER and CAPTAIN HARDEGEN met and got along quite well. We all remember the motto which was given by HARDEGEN:

"Yesterday's Enemies are Today's Friends."

SHIPS ATTACKED BY U-123 UNDER HARDEGEN

02.04.42 LIEBRE Amer tnkr 7,057 GRT (This ship was damaged, not sunk.)

08.04.42 OKLAHOMA Amer tnkr 9,264 GRT (This ship was hit with one torpedo and five rounds of deck gunfire. She was beached, repaired, and returned to service.)

08.04.42 ESSO BATON ROUGE Amer tnkr 7,989 GRT (Like OKLAHOMA, ESSO BATON ROUGE was damaged, beached, repaired and returned to service.)

09.04.42 ESPARTA Amer stmr 3,516 GRT (While sunk in shallow waters, ESPARTA was a total loss.)

11.04.42 GULFAMERICA Amer tnkr 8,081 GRT (Another ship attacked by HARDEGEN that gave fodder to the propaganda mill during the War. It was said at that time, and by some who call themselves researchers later on, that U-123 opened fire with machine guns on the survivors in the boats and in the water. This is just not true.

GULFAMERICA did not sink when hit with only one torpedo, so it was decided to sink her with the deck gun but U-123 and GULFAMERICA were so close to shore, that any over-shots would hit the spectators who had by this time, gathered on the beach to watch. HARDEGEN brought U-123 around between GULFAMERICA and the shore so any over-shots would go harmlessly seaward and not hit anyone on the shore.

Survivors have stated repeatedly that they were never fired on by U-123, and in late March, HARRISON MILLER (3593-1994) came here for a visit. He was one of those on the shore, watching this event and he too said that, at no time, did U-123 ever turn her guns on the survivors. And if anyone might have an occasion to be angry at U-Boats, it might just be MILLER - his brother was lost when the ship WADE HAMPTON was sunk by U-405 under Hopmann.

13.04.42 LESLIE Amer stmr 2,609 GRT (LESLIE went down in shallow waters, but was a total loss.)

13.04.42 KORSHOLM Norw mtrshp 2,647 GRT

17.04.42 ALCOA GUIDE Amer tnkr 4,834 GRT

This was the end of the second American Patrol of U-123 under HARDEGEN. On his return, he was awarded the OAK LEAF CLUSTER to his KNIGHTS CROSS.

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