Werner Töniges

Werner Töniges (born January 7, 1910 in Oberhausen ; † January 25, 1995 in Essen ) was a German naval officer in the Navy , most recently corvette captain in World War II . On 281 patrols he sank 18 ships with 86,200 gross register tonnes (GRT) . He was the first speedboat driver to receive the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross .

Life

Werner Töniges was the son of the Oberhausen mine director August Töniges. On April 5, 1935, Töniges switched from the merchant navy to the navy. Since 1937, lieutenant , he took on the Admiral Graf Spee in the Civil War Spanish part. He switched to the Schnellboot and was in command of S 24 , S 26 and S 102 (1st Schnellbootflotille). Captain Friedrich Kemnade followed him on S 102 .

Töniges sank 18 war and merchant ships and two submarines . At the end of September 1942 he was transferred to the Mürwik Naval School as head of inspection . There he received the speedboat war badge with diamonds. From September 1943 he served as a training officer in the Navy High Command , where he was promoted to Corvette Captain on January 1, 1945 .

After the war he was an independent businessman in Witten . He died shortly after his 85th birthday.

Awards

Iron Cross (1939)

2nd class (June 24, 1940)

1st class (July 6, 1940)

Spain Cross (June 6, 1939)
Medal in memory of October 1, 1938 (December 20, 1939)
Finnish Order of the Freedom Cross 4th Class (November 4, 1941)
Speedboat war badge

Schnellboot War Badge (January 28, 1941)

Speedboat War Badge with Diamonds (December 16, 1942)

Krimschild (August 16, 1943)
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (February 25, 1941) as first lieutenant at sea and commander of S 102

Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz (143rd award, November 13, 1942) as lieutenant captain and commander of S 102

literature

Manfred dried: The Ritterkreuzträger the above water forces the Navy, Vol. 2: L-Z . Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1996. ISBN 978-3-7648-2497-6 .
Franz Kurowski : Corvette Captain Werner Töniges. The first oak leaf bearer of the speedboat weapon . Flechsig, Würzburg 2007. ISBN 978-3-88189-737-2 .

Individual evidence

↑ Lieutenant Captain August Töniges. In: Peter Paul Möbius : Schnellboote. K. Curtius, Berlin 1943, p. 312.
↑ Department Book of 1934er, compiled in April, 1954 ( Wehrgeschichtliches Training Center of the Naval Academy Mürwik )
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Dörr 1996, p. 296.
↑ ^a ^b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 747.

personal data
SURNAME	Töniges, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German naval officer and speedboat commander in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	January 7, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH	Oberhausen
DATE OF DEATH	January 25, 1995
Place of death	eat

[1] Lieutenant Captain August Töniges. In: Peter Paul Möbius : Schnellboote. K. Curtius, Berlin 1943, p. 312.

[2] Department Book of 1934er, compiled in April, 1954 ( Wehrgeschichtliches Training Center of the Naval Academy Mürwik )

[Dörr_p296-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Dörr 1996, p. 296.

[Scherzer_p747-4] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 747.