The Knight's Cross (German: Ritterkreuz), and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Brandi escaped internment and returned to Germany, where he was given command of U-380 which he took on one patrol before the submarine was destroyed in an aerial attack while at port in Toulon.

In January 1945, Brandi was placed in charge of the Marinekleinkampfverbände (small naval battle units) in the Netherlands where he surrendered to Canadian forces at the end of the war.

Brandi fell ill and died suddenly on 6 January 1966 at a hospital in Cologne and was buried with military honors in Dortmund.

He was the sixth and youngest child of Ernst Brandi, a mining director and board member of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke (United Steelworks), and his wife Clara, née Jucho.

[1][2] Following graduation with his Abitur (university-preparatory high school diploma) from a Gymnasium, he joined the Reichsmarine on 1 April 1935 as a member of "Crew 35" (the incoming class of 1935).

[3][Note 1] 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.

The journey took him and her crew to Tenerife, São Tomé, Lobito, Durban, Port Victoria on the Seychelles, Batavia present-day Jakarta, Iloilo City on the Philippines, Hong Kong, various Japanese ports, Dutch Harbor on the Aleutian Islands, San Diego, through the Panama Canal and via Saint Thomas and Pontevedra back to Kiel.

[5] Following his journey on Karlsruhe, Brandi attended the main cadet course at the Naval Academy Mürwik (20 June 1936 – 31 March 1937).

[Tr 4] During this time frame at the naval academy he advanced in rank to Fähnrich zur See (officer cadet) on 1 July 1936.

M-1 transported the Marinestosstruppkompanie, a reinforced naval infantry platoon, to the battleship Schleswig-Holstein prior to the attack of the Polish base at Danzig's Westerplatte in the early morning hours of 1 September 1939.

On 24 February 1940, without prior warning, M-1 rammed and sank four Esbjerg based Danish trawlers, Ejjam (E 92), Gerlis (E 456), Mercator (E 348) and Polaris (E 504) in the vicinity of the Dogger Bank.

Bartels reported to his superiors that no one was rescued due to "military reasons"; 16 fishermen from the then neutral Denmark lost their lives.

[8] In April 1940 on M-1, Brandi participated in Operation Weserübung, Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway, and was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz).

[6] In April 1941, Brandi applied again, was accepted and started his U-boat training at the Naval Academy Mürwik which he completed on 24 December 1941 at Neustadt in Holstein.

On the night 22/23 September, Brandi sank one ship, the tanker Athelsultan,[12][13] and on the following day two stragglers for 14,787 gross register tons (GRT).

[15][13] The other straggler, the Belgian steamer Roumanie, was sunk at 13:58 on 24 September, killing the master, 35 crewmen and 6 gunners; only the chief engineer survived.

[16] [17] Brandi rescued the chief engineer in violation of the Laconia Order issued by Großadmiral (German Grand Admiral) Karl Dönitz.

At 11:27 on 21 November, Brandi attacked a strong British naval task force, firing a spread of four torpedoes at distance.

[6] Although no ships were actually sunk that day, the Führer der Unterseeboote Italy (FdU—Leader of U-boat Operations) later credited Brandi with the sinking of one cruiser of French or American origin, and one destroyer.

[23] Following this patrol which ended in Salamis, the FdU credited Brandi with the destruction of one destroyer, one tug of 1,000 GRT and one lighter of unknown tonnage, all three sunk on 28 December 1942.

The Befehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU—U-boats Commander-in-Chief) confirmed this assessment and credited Brandi with the sinking of eight ships totalling 41,000 GRT and one destroyer.

[2] In June 1943, on his sixth patrol (31 May – 20 July 1943), a roundtrip from Toulon, with the objective to engage enemy shipping east of Gibraltar before the Algerian coast.

To avoid capture, Brandi decided to sail U-617 to shallow waters and abandoned ship off Melilla, Spanish Morocco, in position 35°13′N 03°21′W / 35.217°N 3.350°W / 35.217; -3.350 (U-617 (U-boat)).

With the help of the German naval attaché in Madrid, he received a fake passport with the cover name "Albert Bergmann" and from there returned to Germany.

[35] On his return to Toulon on 21 January, Brandi, due to a navigational error of 45 nautical miles (83 km; 52 mi), ran U-380 aground.

During his first and only patrol (11 April – 17 May 1944) with her in May 1944 Brandi, operating against convoy GUS 38, sank the destroyer USS Fechteler on the night of 4/5 May 1944 with a T-5 acoustic torpedo.

On 21 September U-242 and U-1001 laid a mine barrage before the peninsula Porkkala which subsequently sank the Finnish cargo ship Rigel.

[2] In the last year of the war, Brandi became chief commander of the Marinekleinkampfverbände (small naval battle units) in IJmuiden in the Netherlands.

[46] Their daughter Sabine Brandi [de], born in 1953, is a retired journalist with the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (West German Broadcasting).