Background
Schütze was born in Flensburg, and started his naval career in the Reichsmarine aboard German torpedo boats in April 1925, before transferring to the new U-boat division ten years later in October 1935.
Schütze was born in Flensburg, and started his naval career in the Reichsmarine aboard German torpedo boats in April 1925, before transferring to the new U-boat division ten years later in October 1935.
He is in fifth place amon top-scoring U-boat aces. The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. There he commanded U-19 for two years, before being relieved to take destroyer training - before returning to the U-boat arm in command of U-11.
When war broke out he commanded U-25, with which he sailed on three patrols, mainly in the Bay of Biscay and off the Portuguese coast.
In July 1940 he assumed command over the Type IXB U-103, and commanded for four patrols in North Atlantic and African waters. In August 1941 he retired from front service, taking up positions as Flottillenchef of 2nd U-boat Flotilla.
In March 1943 he became the FdU Ausbildungsflottillen (Commander of the training flottillas in the Baltic Sea) in Flensburg-Kappeln, in which position he served until the end of the war. He died in Frankfurt am Main in 1950.
Ships attacked As a U-boat commander of U-25 and U-103 Schütze is credited with the sinking of 35 ships for a total of 180,073 gross register tons (GRT), further damaging two ships of 14,213 GRT. Wehrmachtbericht references Promotions Bibliography.
Spanisches Marineverdienstkreuz in Weiß (21 August 1939) Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (13 November 1939) 1st Class (21 February 1940) Italienisches Kriegskreuz mit Schwertern (1 November 1941) Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves Knight"s Cross on 11 December 1940 as Korvettenkapitän and commander of U-103 23rd Oak Leaves on 14 July 1941 as Korvettenkapitän and commander of U-103 War Merit Cross 2nd Class (30 January 1944) 1st Class (1 September 1944) Mentioned four times in the Wehrmachtbericht on 4 December 1940, 10 December 1940, 27 May 1941 and 13 July 1941.
