1. The eldest of the four children of Otto Friedrich Valentiner and Mathilde Julie Valentiner, Valentiner was born in Tondern, Province of Schleswig-Holstein.
20 Facts About Max Valentiner
1. 2.
Max Valentiner was promoted again on 30 March 1908 to Oberleutnant zur See.
3.
From 1908 to 1910, Max Valentiner was company commander for 1.
4.
Max Valentiner received the Order of the Crown 4th class for the life-saving mission.
5.
On 1 July 1911, Max Valentiner took command of the new U-boat U-10.
6.
On 22 March 1914 Max Valentiner was promoted to Kapitanleutnant and nine days later he became a teacher at the U-boat school in Kiel, a position he held until the outbreak of World War I on 4 August 1914, when the United Kingdom declared war on the German Empire.
7.
When World War I broke out, Max Valentiner took command of U-3, the U-boat on which he three years earlier saved 30 men from dying.
8.
Max Valentiner's orders were to sink Russian warships in the Baltic Sea, but he failed, and blamed the old U-boat which did not have the capabilities of the newer boats in the Kaiserliche Marine.
9.
Max Valentiner returned to base without any successes and was relieved from his command on 27 October 1914.
10.
Max Valentiner was sent to Berlin to face Prince Heinrich and explain the problems with the older U-boats.
11.
When Max Valentiner returned to Kiel he was quite surprised to learn that he was to take command of the newest U-boat, U-38.
12.
Max Valentiner was allowed to choose his own officers from the U-boat school.
13.
From 5 December 1914 to 15 September 1917, Max Valentiner was stationed by 2.
14.
On 15 September 1917 Max Valentiner left U-38 and Cattaro and returned to Kiel to take command of the new U-157.
15.
Max Valentiner returned to the U-boat school to teach new submariners his techniques.
16.
Max Valentiner was accused of "cruel and inhuman treatment of crews" in fifteen different incidents involving French, British, and Italian ships.
17.
Max Valentiner went first to Berlin, was removed from the list of naval officers, and acquired a new passport under the name Carl Schmidt.
18.
Max Valentiner then traveled to East Prussia and lived at Kadinen, an estate that his father managed, where he waited for the extraditions to proceed.
19.
On his promotion to Korvettenkapitan, Max Valentiner was relieved of duty.
20.
In January 1940, Max Valentiner was appointed group commander for U-Boots-Abnahmekommission in Kiel-Danzig, a position he held until March 1945.