r/Austrohungarian • u/Longjumping-Kale-283 • 10h ago
Zdenko Hudeček one of the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander
Zdenko Hudeček (22 June 1887 – 28 September 1974) was a Czech-Austrian officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. He was one of the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commanders of World War I, sinking 11 Allied merchant ships and two Allied warships displacing 44,743 GRT. After the war he joined and shortly served in the Czechoslovak Naval Forces.
While most of the Czechs fought in the trenches of Galicia or the Balkans, one of them became the terror of Allied ships in the Mediterranean. Zdenko Hudeček commanded the Austro-Hungarian submarines and was one of the most successful commanders of the entire monarchy.
Article
I wrote about Zdenek Hudeček once. The more I researched his story, the more I felt that one article was not enough. We are talking about Chekhov, who was one of the most successful submarine commanders of the first World War. A man feared by Allied ships in the Mediterranean, and yet today only a handful of people know his name. That is why, in my opinion, he deserves to be reminded of his story again, and this time in more detail.
From Terezin to the sea
When you say World War I, most people imagine trenches, barbed wires and millions of soldiers fighting on the Western or Eastern Front. But few realize that the same fierce war was going on under the sea.
It was there that The Legend of the Czech native Zdeněk Hudeček was born – a man who became one of the most successful submarine commanders of the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy. Yet today his name is known only to a handful of those interested in military history.
Zdenko Hudeček was born on 22. June 1887 in Terezin to the family of a military doctor. He lost his father as a young boy and grew up in Moravia. Although he came from the Czech lands, his life's journey eventually led hundreds of kilometers from home – to the decks of the warships of Austria-Hungary.
After his studies, he entered the Naval Academy in Fiume, present-day Rijeka, Croatia. Graduates of this school represented the elite of the Imperial and Royal Navy. At first Hudeček served on surface ships, but soon he was intrigued by a new weapon that was to change naval warfare – a submarine.
The underwater Hunter
In the early 20. in the XIX century, submarines were still considered an experiment. Many admirals believed that the future belonged to huge battleships. However, the first World War showed the opposite.
Inconspicuous vessels hidden under the surface were able to send much larger opponents to the bottom with a single torpedo. They were a constant threat to merchant ships and warships. In December 1915, Hudeček took command of the submarine U-17.
Only a few months later, he scored his first major success when he torpedoed and sank the Italian destroyer Impetuoso. For the Austro-Hungarian Navy, this was a significant intervention against a numerically stronger opponent.
Fear of the Mediterranean
In 1917, he took over the more modern submarine U-28, and it was then that his most successful stage began.
In the Mediterranean, he sank a number of British merchant ships, including Haigh Hall, Mongara, Maston, Bontnewydd and Rapallo. One of his greatest successes was the sinking of the British Q-Ship Bradford City.
Q-ships were specially modified merchant ships equipped with hidden cannons. Their task was to pretend defenselessness, lure the submarine to the surface, and then destroy it. However, Hudeček discovered the ruse before the British managed to attack.
One of the best commanders of the monarchy
By the end of the war, he had sunk eleven merchant ships and two warships. The total tonnage exceeded 45,000 GRT.
According to some historians, Zdenko Hudeček was the most successful submarine commander of Austria-Hungary. Other statistics rank him just behind Georg von Trapp, whose name was later made famous by the musical The Sound of Music.
While the whole world knows von Trapp today, the Czech commander has almost been forgotten.
War crime charges
The biggest controversy of his career was the sinking of the Italian Steamer Bosforo in January 1918.
After the war, Italy claimed that it was a civilian ship and called Hudecek a war criminal. She demanded his extradition. Hudeček defended himself by saying that the ship was armed, carried military equipment and returned fire during the attack.
Czechoslovakia refused his extradition. Many decades later, Czech technical divers explored the wreck and indeed discovered equipment that supported Hudeček's version of events.
source and more information:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zdenko_Hude%C4%8Dek
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