Werner Hartenstein

Who was Werner Hartenstein?

Gustav Julius Werner Hartenstein commanded the U-boat U-156 in the German Navy of the Third Reich during World War II. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, a decoration awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or outstanding military leadership. Corvette captain Hartenstein is credited with the sinking of 20 ships for a total of 97,504 gross register tons, and with damaging three ships and a destroyer.

Born in Plauen, Hartenstein joined the Reichsmarine of the Weimar Republic in 1928. After a period of training on surface vessels and service on various torpedo boats during the Spanish Civil War and the first year of World War II, he transferred to the U-boat service in 1941. In September 1942, Hartenstein torpedoed and sank the RMS Laconia, then attempted to rescue the survivors. He was forced to abort the rescue when his U-boat came under attack by a B-24 Liberator bomber of the United States Army Air Forces. The event became known as the "Laconia incident" and resulted in the "Laconia order", an order from the Befehlshaber der U-Boote to the entire German U-boat force that forbade rescuing the survivors of sunken ships. Hartenstein and the entire crew of U-156 were killed in action by depth charges from a US PBY Catalina aircraft on 8 March 1943.