World War II
Von Ruckteschell was recalled to duty in the Kriegsmarine in 1939 and placed in command of an auxiliary minelayer. When he took command of the Widder and sailed out into the Atlantic Ocean on 6 May 1940, he commenced a cruise (finally ending on 31 October 1940) that would sink or capture a total of ten vessels. When Widder returned to Brest, Ruckteschell refused the Naval Command's order to take the ship to Hamburg, because he estimated the transfer through British controlled waters to be too risky. After returning to Germany, he took command of the commerce raider Michel on its first cruise (9 March 1942 to 1 March 1943), in which fifteen ships were sunk or captured. Von Ruckteschell was then relieved at his own request for health reasons.
Read more about this topic: Helmuth Von Ruckteschell
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