page_title: Reinhard Suhren
section_title: Childhood, education and early career
hierarchical_section_title: Reinhard Suhren / Childhood, education and early career
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Berufsakademie Bautzen. Hornjoserbsce: Powołanska akademija w Budyšinje. English: university of cooperative education in Bautzen. Camera location51°&#160;10′&#160;52.14″&#160;N, 14°&#160;26′&#160;07.25″&#160;E&#160;&#160;View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth
context_page_description: Reinhard Johann Heinz Paul Anton Suhren was a German U-boat commander in World War II and younger brother of Korvettenkapitän and Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipient Gerd Suhren.
  Suhren was born in Langenschwalbach, the second of three children, and grew up in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich. He joined the navy in 1935 and began his U-boat career in March 1938. He spent a year as 1st watch officer on U-48 where he received the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross for his contribution in the sinking of 200,000 gross register tons of merchant shipping. In April 1941 he took command of U-564. As a commander, he is credited with the sinking of 18 merchant vessels of 95,544 GRT, 1 warship of 900 long tons and damaged four merchant vessels of 28,907 GRT for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
  Suhren left the boat and became an instructor in October 1942. He then served in the 27th U-boat Flotilla along with Korvettenkapitän Erich Topp. During the last year of the war Fregattenkapitän Suhren was the Führer der Unterseeboote Norwegen and from September 1944 the Commander-in-Chief of U-boats of the North Sea.
context_section_description: Suhren was born on 16 April 1916 in Langenschwalbach in the Taunus in his grandmothers house. He was the second child of Geert Suhren and his wife Ernestine Ludovika Suhren, née Ludovika. Suhren had an older brother Gerd and a younger sister, Almut. He received his Abitur from the Landständischen Oberschule in Bautzen. Prior to graduation, during his last summer vacation, Suhren was allowed and accepted at a sailing course at the Hanseatic Yacht School in Neustadt in Holstein. The course had some paramilitary components and learning to march was one of them. During one of these marches the boy behind Suhren yelled out: "Hey Reinhard, when I look at you marching, it reminds me of a Teddy bear." Later, the same boy met Suhren again during basic military training and greeted Suhren with the words: "Hey, Teddy, you're here too?" The nickname "Teddy" would stick with him from then on.
  He began his naval career with the Reichsmarine on 5 April 1935 as a member of "Crew 35" (the incoming class of 1935). He received his military basic training in the 2nd company in the 2nd department of the standing ship division of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund (5 April 1935 – 17 June 1935). He was then transferred to the school ship Gorch Fock (18 June 1935 – 26 September 1935) attaining the rank of Seekadett (midshipman) on 25 September 1935. Following his promotion he was posted to the light cruiser Emden (27 September 1935 – 16 June 1936).
  Suhren sailed on Emden's sixth training cruise, which started on 23 October 1935 and took him and her crew to the Azores, West Indies and Venezuela, through the Panama Canal to Guayaquil, where they celebrated Christmas. The journey then continued to Puerto San José and  Portland, Oregon to Honolulu. From Honolulu they continued to Middle America, back through the Panama Canal and after visiting a few harbours in the West Indies to Baltimore and Montreal. Their final stopover was Pontevedra, Spain before they returned home on 11 June 1936.
  Following his journey on Emden, Suhren attended the main cadet course at the Naval Academy Mürwik (20 June 1936 – 31 March 1937). This course was briefly interrupted for two navigational training courses, the first on the tender Nordsee (10–15 August 1936) and the second on the steamer Hecht (16–21 November 1936). During this time frame at the naval academy he advanced in rank to Fähnrich zur See (officer cadet) on 1 July 1936. His military career almost came to an unexpected end on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), the highlight of the German "Karneval" (carnival), 8 February 1937. The cadets of "Crew 1935" had been given special leave to celebrate carnival. Every company had to be back at the academy by 6:00, except for Suhren's company, who had to return by 5:00. Suhren missed the curfew and was reported to the company chief. Naval cadets at the time were rated on scale of 1 to 9 regarding the service worthiness (Diensttüchtigkeit). Prior to this incidence, Suhren was rated at 7.5, which had placed him at the top of his class. After this incidence, he was down rated to 4, later corrected to 5, which then placed him last in his class. The service worthiness rating in combination with the officers' final exam would determine the ranking in the navy and had implications on an officers' future naval career. Suhren was especially disappointed by the behavior of his commanding officer, his group commander Kapitänleutnant Walther Kölle. Kölle, who was present during the inquiry, could have spoken on Suhren's behalf, but chose to remain quiet.
  He then underwent a number of specialized training courses which included a torpedo course in Mürwik (1 April – 19 May 1937), an anti-aircraft artillery course at Wilhelmshaven (20 May – 7 June 1937), a pathfinder course for cadets at Kiel-Wik (8–12 June 1937), a communication course for cadets at Mürwik again (13 June – 3 July 1937), a naval infantry course for cadets at Stralsund (4–28 July 1937), and lastly an artillery course for cadets at Kiel-Wik (29 July – 2 October 1937). Suhren was then transferred to the destroyer Z3 Max Schultz (3 Oc
caption: Landständische Oberschule in Bautzen
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