Werner Hartmann (naval officer)

Werner Hartmann in 1938 as head of the 6th submarine flotilla "Hundius"

Werner Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf Hartmann (born December 11, 1902 in Silstedt , † April 26, 1963 in Usseln ) was a German sea ​​captain in World War II , bearer of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and an officer in the German Navy. As the commander of U 26 , U 37 and U 198, Hartmann sank a total of 26 ships with 115,332 GRT .

Life

Hartmann's father Albert Hartmann (1867–1927) was a Protestant pastor in Silstedt in the Prussian county of Wernigerode from 1896 to 1911 . Werner Hartmann attended elementary school there. He was privately tutored until he finished school at Quinta . At the age of 12 he joined the Prussian Cadet Corps in Oranienstein . On April 1, 1917, he was transferred to the main cadet school in Lichterfelde . At the end of the First World War in 1918 he was the last leader of the 4th Company of the Hauptkadettenanstalt.

Imperial Navy

After graduating from high school, Hartmann joined the Reichsmarine on April 1, 1921 as an officer candidate ( Crew 21 ) . After basic infantry training in Stralsund and various weapons courses and courses at the Mürwik Naval School in Flensburg - Mürwik , he became an ensign at sea on April 1, 1923 and began the main course for ensigns . This was followed by on-board training on the liner Hannover and the sailing training ship Niobe . Hartmann then completed training as a signal officer on October 1, 1925, on board the small cruiser Berlin . On the same day he received his promotion to lieutenant at sea . On April 1, 1926, Hartmann was assigned as a platoon officer of the 2nd ship master division of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund. On July 1, 1927, he was promoted to lieutenant at sea and on October 1, 1927, he was transferred to the T 157 torpedo boat as an officer on watch . From October 1, 1929, he served as an instructor at the Mürwik Naval School and then in the same function on board the light cruiser Emden . From April 1, 1931, he was a training officer and adjutant on the light cruiser Karlsruhe . On October 1, 1931, he was transferred to the Torpedo School in Flensburg-Mürwik as a teacher . On October 1, 1933, Hartmann was promoted to lieutenant captain and transferred to the torpedo boat Seeadler as an officer on watch . In 1934 he was temporarily the commander of the latter.

Navy

Hartmann was in command of the torpedo boat Albatros until June 1935 . On October 1, 1935, he switched to the submarine weapon under construction and received his submarine training as an officer on watch on a school submarine in Kiel . After completing the course, Hartmann was available from December 21, 1935 to March 31, 1936 with the Führer der U-Boats (FDU) and for building instruction for the new U-boat U 26 . On April 1, 1936, he put this boat into service as commander; it was assigned to the 2nd U-Flotilla “Saltzwedel” .

In 1937 and 1938 Hartmann operated his boat off the Spanish coast during the Spanish Civil War . During this time he was promoted to Korvettenkapitän on July 1, 1937 .

Second World War

From October 1, 1938 to September 30, 1939 Hartmann was chief of the 6th U-Flotilla "Hundius". On October 1, 1939 he became the commander of U 37 and chief of the 2nd U-Flotilla . Hartmann made three patrols with U 37 . On the first (October 5 to November 8, 1939) he sank eight ships with 35,306 GRT, on the second (January 28, 1940 to February 27, 1940) eight ships with 24,538 GRT. For this he was first mentioned on March 1, 1940 in the Wehrmacht report. His third and last patrol with U 37 began on March 31, 1940 and ended on April 18, 1940. Three ships with 18,715 GRT were sunk, for which Hartmann was mentioned again in the Wehrmacht report on April 19, 1940. Among these ships was the steamship Hop , which was sunk off the Shetlands before the attack on Norway on April 9, 1940 . On May 1, 1940 Hartmann changed to the staff of the Commander of the U-Boats (BdU). On May 9, 1940, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . On November 1, 1940, he became the commander of the 2nd submarine training division in Gotenhafen . On April 1, 1941, he was promoted to frigate captain . On December 1, 1941, he became chief of the 27th U-Flotilla in Gotenhafen, which was responsible for the tactical training of U-boat crews.

On November 1, 1942, he again took command of a submarine, U 198 , with which he undertook an enemy voyage from March 9 to September 25, 1943. On this journey of more than 200 days off the east coast of South Africa and near Madagascar , during which he was also promoted to sea captain , his boat sank seven ships with 36,778 GRT. For his services with U 198 , Hartmann was the 645th member of the Wehrmacht on November 5, 1944, and received the Knight's Cross. On January 16, 1944, Hartmann was appointed leader of the submarines in the Mediterranean . In this capacity he was also the head of operations for the small combat units of the navy stationed there .

On November 1, 1944, Hartmann was appointed commander of the Volkssturm in Danzig . On February 4, 1945 he became the commander of the new Marine Grenadier Regiment 5 of the 2nd Marine Infantry Division , with which he was involved in loss-making missions on the Weser , Aller and Lüneburg Heath in April 1945 in northern Germany . On May 1, 1945, the remnants of the division near Cuxhaven crossed the Elbe to Schleswig-Holstein and were used there on the Kaiser-Wilhelm Canal . On May 6, 1945 Hartmann was taken prisoner of war with them . He was then interned in a Belgian camp.

post war period

When Hartmann was released from captivity on December 1, 1946, he began training as a carpenter and then initially worked in an evangelical aid organization in Schleswig-Holstein . He later became a children's home administrator and boarding school director in St. Peter. In 1951 he became chairman and social secretary in the regional church of Kurhessen - Waldeck . After the establishment of the German Navy , which began on January 2, 1956, Hartmann joined it on July 10, 1956 and then served as the commander of the 1st regular ship regiment in Glückstadt until March 31, 1962 . On April 1, 1962, Hartmann was retired. In the 1962 season, Hartmann was the headmaster of the Hanseatic Yacht School of the German High Seas Sports Association HANSA .

Awards

• Service distinction IV and III. Class on October 2, 1936 (joint award)
  • Second class on April 1, 1939
• Spanish Naval Merit Cross in white on August 21, 1939
• Spanish Cross of Merit in Silver 2nd Class on August 21, 1939
• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class on November 8, 1939
• Wound badge in black in 1942
• U-boat war badge on December 7, 1939 with diamonds 1944/1945
• Two names in the Wehrmacht report (March 1 and April 19, 1940)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
  • Knight's Cross on May 9, 1940 (8th Navy / 4th U-Boats)
  • Oak leaves on November 5, 1944 (645th award / 47th Navy / 27th submarines)

Works

• Enemy in the crosshairs. Publishing house die Heimbücherei, Berlin 1942.

literature

• Busch / Röll: The submarine war.

Volume 1: Submarine Commanders. ISBN 3-8132-0490-1 .

Volume 2: Submarine Construction and Shipyards. ISBN 3-8132-0512-6 .

Volume 3: Submarine Successes. ISBN 3-8132-0513-4 .

Volume 4: Submarine Losses. ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 .

Volume 5: Knight's Cross Bearer. ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 .

• Franz Kurowski : Werner Hartmann. In: Franz Kurowski: Hunter of the Seven Seas. The most famous submarine commanders of World War II. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1998 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-613-01633-8 , pp. 72-89. (Biographical, representation of the patrols)
• Röll: Captain of the sea Werner Hartmann: From the teacher Priens to the knight's cross with oak leaves. ISBN 3-8035-0013-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manfred Dörr, Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffen 1939–1945 Volume I, letters A – K, pp. 211–212

Web links

Commons : Werner Hartmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files