Born 28 September 1905 in the
seafaring city of Wilhelmshaven, RÖSING was in the Naval Academy
Class 1924. He began riding the boats in 1936 aboard U-11
and at the outbreak of the war, was Flotillenchef (Commander) of
the 5th U-Bootflottille based in Kiel. This was a holding
flotilla, a place to assign submarines until they were posted to a
Frontflottille for combat duty.
When HERBERT SCHULTZE (191-1986) became
ill and had to relinquish command of U-48, RÖSING
was posted to command that boat. He was an experienced Skipper, although
not in combat. This boat was perfect for him, as it had already an
experienced and battle hardened crew and the I. W. O. was 'Teddy'
Suhren, who did much of the actual shooting.
RÖSING commanded U-48 from 22 April through 29
August 1940 and had good success with this boat and this crew.
There are some who feel that command of this boat was to 'fast track'
RÖSING for his Knights Cross
and also for a higher command position.
That higher command came as soon as U-48 tied up in
Lorient. RÖSING was posted to Bordeaux and the 12th
U-Bootflottille where he was the Kriegsmarine Liaison Officer to the
Italian submarines based there under Admiral Perona to foster better
cooperation between the two submarine forces.
He later was promoted to FdU Öst (Commander of the submarine flotillas
West) which were those along the French Atlantic coast - Brest, Lorient,
La Rochelle, St. Nazaire and Bordeaux.
RÖSING was not well liked
by many and he was referred to as 'His Master's Voice', a note
from the RCA Victor company where a little dog hears his master's voice
on a recording. He was disliked by far more than those who he
could count as friends and he had a reputation for being overly tough to
the level of dictatorship. When Karl Dönitz was FdU Öst, he always
met the boats as they returned; knew every man's name and
history.....when RÖSING had that command, according to
PETER HANSEN (251-1987), the only place to
find him was on the tennis courts with one of his beautiful secretaries.
OTTO KRETSCHMER (122-1985) had an
extreme dislike for him, stemming from RÖSING's order for all the
U-Boats to depart the French bases. When the Allies were
overrunning the French coast and the Flotillas were about to fall into
Allied hands, RÖSING ordered all the U-Boats to depart for the
bases in Norway - in single file on the surface! They made easy
targets for the RAF Coastal Command bombers.
