Date of birth:

January 6th, 1900 (Stuttgart/Württemberg, Germany)

Date of death:

October 17th, 1943

Nationality:

German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

Günther Gumprich was born on 6th January 1900 in Stuttgart. He joined the Deutsche Marine in 1916 as member of Crew VII/16. On 26th April 1917 he was promoted to Fähnrich zur See and on 18th September 1918 to Leutnant zur See.

After the First World War he joined the Marine-Brigade von Löwenfeld. Between the two Worldwars he was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See on 1st April 1922, to Kapitänleutnant on 1st April 1929, Korvettenkapitän on 1st May 1935 and to Fregattenkapitän on 1st January 1939.

From October 1937 until June 1941 he was Referent within the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and was promoted to Kapitän zur See on 1st June 1940. From June 1941 he took over command of the Hilfskreuzer "Thor" from Kapitän zur See Otto Kähler.
With this ship, also called "Schiff 10", he sunk seven cargoships in 268 seadays with a total tonnage of 34.670 BRT and brought up three prizeships with a total tonnage of 20.917 BRT.
The "Thor" was sunk on 30th November 1941 as a result of the explosion of the "Uckermark" in Yokohama and Gumprich was attached to the Marineattaché in Tokio.
Later he took over command of the Hilfskreuzer "Michel" from the sick commander Hellmuth von Ruckteschell with what ship he sunk a total tonnage of 27.632 BRT.
The Hillfskreuzer "Michel", also called "Schiff 28" was sunk by the U.S.S. Tarpoon on 17th October 1943, in the Yellow Sea, east of Yokohama. Gumprich died in the sinking.

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• Photo 1: Known to STIWOT
• - DÖRR, MANFRED, Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehmacht 1939–1945, Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1995.
  - FELLGIEBEL, W.P., Elite of theThird Reich, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003.
  - PATZWALL, K. & SCHERZER, V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001.
  - Die Ordensträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht (CD), VMD-Verlag GmbH, Osnabrück, 2002
  - historisches-marinearchiv.de
  - Hilfskreuzer Thor
  - das-ritterkreuz.de