Werner Hartmann was born in Silstedt, Harz. on the 11th of December 1902. Entering into the
Kriegsmarine on April 1, 1923 as a
Fähnrich zur See, he was assigned as commanders of the
torpedo boats Seeadler and
Albatros. Working his way up to the rank of
Kapitänleutnant, Hartmann transferred to the
U-boat arm of the Kreigsmarine where he remained in service until the end of
World War II.
Werner Hartmann commissioned Germany's first high-seas U-boat,
U-26 in May of 1936 – an impressive credit to any officer's career. His U-26
crew patrolled waters off the Spainyard coast during the
Spanish Civil War between 1937 and 1938. Hartmann's First Watch Officer was
Oberleutnant Günther Prien, who would later become an extremely famous U-boat
commander.
Korvettenkapitän Hartmann also came up with the idea of commanding a
wolfpack of U-boats from another u-boat at sea. His strategy was tried, but proved to be inefficient, and the BdU (High Command of the U-Boats - GrossAdmiral Karl
Dönitz) decided to henceforth command and direct the U-Boat operations from land.
At the outset of World War II, Hartmann commanded
U-37, as well as the Second U-boat
Flotilla. His first
combat patrol with U-37 yielded 8 sinkings! One of the eight was the 10,184-ton
British steamer
Yorkshire. He returned from his second combat patrol with U-37 credited with another eight ships, and yet four more in April of that year.
After his third patrol Hartmann was promoted to
Fregattenkapitän in April, and awarded the
Knights Cross to the Iron Cross by the Führer on May 9th, 1940. He was transferred by Grossadmiral Dönitz to his staff as I ASTO, and in November was made commander of the 2nd ULD (U-Boat
training division), located in Gotenhafen. In November 1941, he was given command of the 27th U-Boat Flotilla in the same location.
He finally returned to being a Captain of a U-Boat when he comissioned the large, IXD2 class,
U-198. He took a 200-day war patrol (the third longest in U-boat history) to the
Capetown -
Durban area. When all was said and done for his patrol, he had sent another seven ships to the bottom, and damaged one more, and was raised to the rank of
Kapitän zur See in the process.
Come 1944, Hartmann was named as FdU Mittlemeer (Commander of U-Boats
Mediterranean) and there earned the
Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross on 5 November 1944 - the 645th recipient of the oakleaves. Later, in February 14, 1945 he assumed the command of the 6th
Marine Grenadier Regiment of the 2nd Marine
Infantry Division. This was a strategic regiment that patrolled the
North Baltic Canal zone, which was extremely important to the withdrawl of German forces and evacuees from the eastern territories.
After World War II ended, Hartmann served for a little while in the
Bundesmarine - the German Navy after wartime before closing his fantastic career. Throughout the war, Hartmann sank 25 ships totalling 111,645 tons. He passed away on the 26th of April, 1963.