Johannes LOHS ~ Grave

An early post on this blog (16/5/2004) states LOHS is buried Vlissingen, Holland. Some further enquiry shows that Vlissingen was NOT his FINAL resting place.

I recently received the following information from Mr A Meerman, the Town Archivist for Vlissingen:-

In 1918 Johannes LOHS, in German records registered as Johannes Oswald LOSZ, commander of the German submarine U.B. 57, was buried inVlissingen in 1918.

From the same submarine were buried in Vlissingen, Julius Eduard Hans Luis SCHEELE and Friedrich Karl Wilhelm BLUMENBERG.

During the Second World War the Germans moved their graves to the new cemetary in Vlissingen to be joined with the German soldiers who died during WW2.

In 1949 all German soldiers, buried in Vlissingen were moved to the German Cemetary in Ysselsteyn in the Dutch province of Limburg. The address is: German War Cemetary, Ysselsteyn , Timmermannsweg , AM Ysselsteyn.

I am indebted to Mr Meerman for this information.

Click Here to view general images of the German War Cemetary

The military cemetery can be found in Ysselsteyn, Netherlands, in the Province of Limburg close to the German border. The cemetery is the only German military cemetery in the whole Netherlands. 85 killed soldiers from the First World War and almost 32.000 from the Second World War are buried here on a territory of 28 hectares. For each killed soldier one cross has been placed. The data (name, grave location, dates of birth and death, rank - if known) have been written on the crosses with white colour.

My command of the German language is negligible but the German War Graves Commission has a record of LOHS which states :-

Johannes Lohs ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Ysselsteyn (Niederlande) .Endgrablage: Block C Grab 70

I take this to mean his memorial is in Block C , Grave 70 of the Ysselteyn Cemetary.

Click here to view the record (in German)

A Summary of the Loss of UB57

A summary from Global Underwater Explorers :-

After sinking the City of Brisbane, the UB-57 headed for home in Zeebrugge, Belgium. During the journey, having first checked that the horizon was clear, she started to surface to run on diesels and recharge her batteries. Upon surfacing, Lohs opened the hatch to find himself almost directly beneath a low-flying British airship. A crash dive was immediately ordered, but they had been spotted and the airship started dropping bombs. Fortunately, they evaded sinking and continued their journey home.

On 14 August 1918, Lohs radioed to base that he had sunk 15,000 tons of shipping and was returning to base. That night he started through the narrow and swept straits of Dover. Nothing more was ever heard from him but it is likely that he hit a mine near Zeebrugge. Lohs' body and those of some of his crew were washed up near the mouth of the river Scheldt about one week later. Lohs was one of the Imperial Navy's war heroes, having sunk an impressive seventy-six merchant ships and one warship, a total of 148,677 tons. During World War II, one of the U-boat flotillas operating from France was named in his honour.

Johannes Lohs ~ UB57 Commander

Johannes Lohs has his Wikipedia Page ( with much shared data that is also on u.boat.net) .

Click here to visit the Wikipedia Page.

Uboat.net

The uboat.net website now carries a section that relates to World War I, UB57 and the T R Thompson feature in their records.

View their WWI content via :- http://www.uboat.net/wwi/ or

Click here to visit the u.boat.net page on the T R Thompson

Biographical Info on Lohs & UB 57 ~ Channel Hunter

This information from www.sskyarra.com/UB_57.htm :-

Lohs was born in June 1889 in Saxony and entered the Imperial Navy in 1909. In 1915, he was assigned to the U-75, where he served as a weapons officer, before finally receiving command of the UC-75 in 1917. After a successful stint, he was given command of the UB-57.

If you visit the site you can read the article which I believe was taken from a book called the Channel Hunter.

Tad

UB57 Shipyard & Sinking

Just found this info on a website called U-Boat finder.
I know we have most of the info on UB 57 but I had a scan through the T.R.T archives and there are a couple of references that havent been logged so logging it all again


Shipyard
A.G. Weser, Bremen (Werk 269)
Ordered 20 May, 1916
Laid down 13 Sep, 1916
Launched 20 Jun, 1917
Commissioned 30 Jul, 1917
Commanders 3 Jul, 1917 - 1 Jan, 1918 Kptlt. Otto Steinbrinck
2 Jan, 1918 - 14 Aug, 1918 Oblt. Johannes Lohs
Career 11 patrols 20 Sep, 1917 - 14 Aug, 1918 Flandern I Flotilla

Successes 48 ships sunk for a total of 130.890 tons.10 ships damaged for a total of 58.990 tons.
Fate 14 Aug, 1918 - Mined off the Flanders coast on August 14, 1918. 34 dead (all hands lost).

The bodies of Lohs and several other crewmembers washed ashore on August 22, 1918.
Previously recorded fateThe commonly listed loss position of 51.56N, 02.02E is incorrect.

Tad

War Diary UB57

Now for the next page... if anybody can translate these pages from "naval" German I can send them the files...

War Diary UB57

Here are the relevant entries from the KTB. The note in the column at the top of the right hand page which names the Thompson was anotated in 1940 (or so it says) - the formula that starts "T.E" seems to be a ranging calculation for the torpedo attack.

War Diary UB57

I am awaiting a reply to an e-mail from a researcher who I believe to have a copy of the KTB (Kriegstagebuch) or War Diary of UB-57 - This almost certainly will have an entry regarding the sinking of the Thompson, and is genuine 24-carat gold as far as information is concerned. It IS source material.

More news as it happens...

Johannes Lohs ~ Image

This photo was taken from a book entitled "Fips - Legendary U-Boat Commander" which refers to Werner Fuerbringer (centre) - The other officers are (l-r) KK Bartenbach, Hans Valentiner, Fuerbringer, Johannes Lohs (light coat) and Paul Hundius. Therefore, the central character is the only man NOT to receive the "Pour Le Merit" decoration (known to fliers as The Blue Max). These are 5 of the most important U-Boat captains of WW1... it's also one of the only other photo's of Oblt Lohs I've been able to find.

Submarine Crew ~ Ranks & Titles

Some translations & suggestions from my fine, German speaking, friend , Mike H: -

Heizer : Boilerman or Stoker (literally 'heater')
Ober : Senior (literally 'upper' or 'over')
Maat : Ship's Mate
Maschinistenmaat : Engineer's Mate
Matrose : Sailor or Rating
Oberbootsmannsmaat : Chief Petty Officer's mate (?)
Bootsmann : Boatswain or Chief Petty Officer
Steuerman : Helmsman

The Crew Of UB-57

The following are the names of the crew on UB-57 when she struck a mine on 14/08/1918. The likelyhood is that most of these men were there when the Thompson was torpedoed, as it was more common practise to rotate commanders through boats than to move crew. Crew were, I believe, only moved or replaced when necessary (i.e. sickness) as they trained as a team and were used to working together.

I'm working to translate the ranks into English at the moment, and will amend this post accordingly when I have them all - I'll also sort out the formatting which seems to have gone a bit to cock!

Name Rank
Albert U-Heizer
Ausborn U-Maschinistenmaat
Baumert U-Oberheizer
Beck U-Heizer
Berger U-Matrose
Bermpohl U-Heizer
Blumenburg U-Oberbootsmannsmaat
Degener U-F.T.Maat
Ebel U-Heizer
Fleischmann U-Matrose
Flügge U-Obermaschinistenmaat
Fuchs Siegfried Oberleutnant z.S
Fuchs Rudolf U-Obermatrose
Gehrau U-Maschinistenmaat
Knüpfer U-Oberheizer
Kretschmann U-Heizer
Lohs Oberleutnant z.S
Münzl U-Obermatrose
Möhner U-Matrose
Oppelland U-Maschinistenmaat
Petersen U-Obermaschinistenmaat
Raecke U-Maschinist
Röbel U-Matrose
Schanz U-Oberheizer
Scheele U-Matrose
Schmidt Marine Ingenieur
Schröter U-Heizer
Specht U-Steuermann d.Res
Stoll U-Heizer
Theisen U-Maschinistenmaat d.Res
Torner U-Bootsmannsmaat
Töpfer U-Maschinistenmaat
Wehlitz U-Obermatrose
Weller U-Matrose

Line Drawing Image

A line drawing of the UB-III type courtesy of www.uboat.net

Wesser Shipyard ~ Image

A G Weser Shipyard taken around 1939 as these are Type VII U-Boats (a direct decendant of the UB III type.)

Technical Information for Type UB III

Displacement: (Tons)
516 (sf)
651 (sm)
730 (total)

Length: (m)
55,30 oa
40,10 ph

Beam: (m)
5,80 oa
3,90 ph

Draught:
3,68 m

Height:
8,25 m

Power: (hp)
1100 (sf)
788 (sm)

Speed: (knots)
13,6 (sf)
8,0 (sm)

Range: (miles)
9040 (sf)
55 (sm)

Max depth:
ca. 75 m (246 feet)

Torpedoes:
10
4 x bow tubes
1 x stern tube

Deck gun:
88mm
160 rounds

Mines:
No mines carried

Crew:
34 men

sm = submerged, sf = surfaced, ph = pressure hull,oa = overall, hp = horsepower.

Source : http://uboat.net/wwi/types/index.html?type=UB+III

UB57 Shipyard ~ A G Weser

Founded on 8 November 1843 as the Eisengiesserei und Maschinenfabrik Waltjen und Leonhard, becoming Waltjen & Co in 1849 this firm only started very slowly in ship construction.

The Roland in 1846, the Falcke in 1865. On 26th March 1873 the activities and firm became part of the AG Weser and the very first important order came from the Kaiserliche Marine.

During the First World War they constructed small cruisers and U-boats. D’Equevilley, who worked before at the Germaniawerft yard, was asked by the AG Weser to construct a new U-boat in 1912. As they now had their own U-Bootkonstruktionsbüro they immediately became part of the Ms Type U-boat program of the Marine-Amt. The first U-boats constructed over there were however not of the Ms Type but were UB I class subs, the UB 9-UB 15 series. Also UC I series and UB and UC II series were constructed at Weser.

By 1917 most of the work went into the construction of the UB III class. Three UC III were ordered in 1917 also but never got finished. 14 more UB III’s ordered in June 1918 were never started.

Also three U-boats for the Austrian-Hungarian navy were constructed over there, the U15-U17 series at Pola.

AG Weser was also responsible for the plans of the U 27-U 32 series and the U 40 that were constructed at Pola and Fiume for the Austrian-Hungarian navy and they also gave a licence for construction of three U-boats in Sweden, the Bävern was constructed at Kockums at Malmö and the Illern and Uttern at the state naval shipyard of Karlskrona.

Oberleutnant zur See Johannes Lohs - Biographical

Born on 24 June, 1889 at Einsiedel, Sachsen.
Son of plant owner Oswald Lohs. First ran school in his home village and later a grammar school in Chemnitz.

He entered the Kaiserliche Marine on 1 April, 1909. Had several commands as Fahnrich zur See and served from 1st October 1912 on the cruiser Strasburg on which he saw half of the world.

Saw action for the very first time on 28 August, 1914 and was promoted Lt.z.S. in the autumn of 1915. Moved to the U-Bootschule and got his first U-Boat command on UC 75 of the Flandern Flottille on the 17th March 1917, on which he did 9 patrols off the British coast.

On 2 January 1918 he became CO of the UB 57, taking over the command of this boat from another legendary U-Boat commander, Otto Steinbrinck. Lohs had also some very good ideas on U-boat warfare and new tactics and in April 1918 he received the Pour le Mérite.

On 3 August he sailed from Zeebrugge for the last time. The last contact he made with the base was on the evening of the 14th, as UB 57 was homeward bound roughly in the area of the Sandiette Bank, east of the Straits of Dover. Nothing more was heard. UB 57 is believed to have run onto a mine.

Ships sunk on this last patrol were the Clan Max Vey (5815 BRT), Glenlee (4915 BRT) and City of Brisbane (7094 BRT). In total, Lohs sank approximately 165.000 tons of shippin. Lohs' body washed up on shore a week later; he is buried in the military cemetary at Vlissingen.

On 4 October 1937 the III Unterseebootflottille was named after him at Kiel.

Source: http://uboat.net/wwi/men/index.html?officer=182

UB 57 Shipyard & Patrol Info

Some information on UB57 :

Shipyard :
A G Wesser , Bremmen (Werk 269)
Ordered 20 May, 1916
Laid down 13 Sep, 1916
Launched 20 Jun, 1917
Commissioned 30 Jul, 1917

Commanders:
3 Jul, 1917 - 1 Jan, 1918 : Kptlt. Otto Steinbrinck
2 Jan, 1918 - 14 Aug, 1918 : Johannes Lohs

Career :
11 patrols
20 Sep, 1917 - 14 Aug, 1918 Flandern I Flotilla
Successes 53 ships sunk for a total of 153.150 tons (warships excluded).
Fate 14 Aug, 1918 - Mined off the Flanders coast on August 14, 1918. 34 dead (all hands lost).

Source : http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=UB+57

Torpedo Image

This is a torpedo recovered from the UB 61 - a U-boat of the same design as UB 57. It is believed to be a G6 torpedo, but there's not a lot left to go on! It would probably have been one of these that sank the T.R. Thompson.

UB-57 Picture

This is stated to be a photograph of UB-57 although I'm not able to confirm that at present. All I can state is that it is probably a UB-III class boat... and this one is the right way round!