Pre-World War II
Born in 1890, he joined the German navy in 1910; in 1916, with the rank of Oberleutnant zur See, he transferred to the U-boat Arm. He served as Watch Officer on U-3 and U-57, before being given his own command in July 1917, first of UB-34, then, in March 1918, of U-54. He earned a reputation as an overly aggressive commander, which caused him to be placed on a black-list of officers that the Allied powers considered to have breached the laws of war. This contrasted with his artistic and cultured nature. He was an avid reader and loved classical music, and was a student of Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy.
After the war, he left Germany to escape the harassment suffered by former submariners at the hands of the victor nations. He lived in Sweden and Lapland for several years, earning a living as a lumberjack and a surveyor, before returning to Germany in the early 1930s.
Read more about this topic: Helmuth Von Ruckteschell
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