Wolfgang-Friedrich Freiherr von Forstner

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)

No ships sunk or damaged.

Born	3 Oct 1916		Karlsruhe
Died	24 Sep 1999	(82)	Hamburg, Germany

Kriegsmarine Crew photo

Ranks

3 Apr 1937		Offiziersanwärter
21 Sep 1937		Seekadett
1 May 1938		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1939		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Aug 1939		Leutnant zur See
1 Sep 1941		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1944		Kapitänleutnant

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-472	26 May 1943	4 Mar 1944	1 patrol (10 days)

Wolfgang-Friedrich Freiherr von Forstner joined the Kriegsmarine in 1937, but was seconded to the Luftwaffe at the start of the war, where he served as a flight crew Observer in Küstenfliegergruppe 606 (Coastal Command Sqdn) until March 1942, when he transferred to the U-boat arm. His elder brother, Siegfried, was also a U-boat commander (Crew 30).

Oblt. von Forstner commissioned U-472 on 26 May 1943. After being part of the 5th (Training) Flotilla (Training) Flotilla for the rest of that year, U-472 joined the 11th Flotilla (Combat) Flotilla, and was sunk on her first combat patrol, on 4 March 1944, in the Barents Sea. There were 30 survivors from the crew of 53, amongst them Oblt. von Forstner.

Kptlt von Forstner was a POW in Camp 174 at Cuckney in the UK until November 1947. He afterwards joined the Bundesmarine (Federal German Navy), and retired with the rank of Fregattenkapitän.

Special thanks to Mr. Fernando Almeida for details on date of death and post-war career.

Patrol info for Wolfgang-Friedrich Freiherr von Forstner

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-472	18 Jan 1944	Kiel	2 Feb 1944	Hammerfest		16 days
2.	U-472	4 Feb 1944	Hammerfest	5 Feb 1944	Narvik		2 days
3.	U-472	24 Feb 1944	Narvik	4 Mar 1944	Sunk	Patrol 1,	10 days

About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.