Georg-Werner Fraatz

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 35)


Successes
3 ships sunk, total tonnage 10,775 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 558 GRT
2 warships sunk, total tonnage 2,740 tons
2 ships damaged, total tonnage 9,918 GRT
1 auxiliary warship damaged, total tonnage 10,917 GRT

Born  30 Mar 1917 Hamelin
Died  15 Feb 1943(25)North Atlantic


Kriegsmarine Crew photo

Ranks

5 Apr 1935 Offiziersanwärter
25 Sep 1935 Seekadett
1 Jul 1936 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Sep 1942 Kapitänleutnant
1 Mar 1943 Korvettenkapitän (posthumous)

Decorations

  Iron Cross 2nd Class
  Iron Cross 1st Class
24 Jul 1944 German Cross in Gold (posthumous)

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-652 3 Apr 1941 2 Jun 1942   9 patrols (151 days) 
U-529 30 Sep 1942 15 Feb 1943  (+)  1 patrol (17 days) 

Georg-Werner Fraatz joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. He served as Second Watch officer (2WO) on the small "duck" U-3 from Aug to Oct 1939 under Joachim Schepke. Fraats went out on 3 patrols with the boat during which they sank 2 ships.

From Oct 1940 to Feb 1940 Fraatz served as an officer with the U-boat school Neustadt. In Feb he was sent to U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) of the type VIIB boat U-101 on which he served as First Watch Officer from March 1940 to Jan 1941. he went out on 5 patrols with the boat during which the boat sank 18 ships and damaged two more. These 138 days at sea during war patrols gave Fraatz very valuable experience for his own boat.

From Jan to Feb 1941 Oblt. Georg-Werner Fraatz went through U-boat Commander training at the 24th Flotilla and then U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) in preparation of his own U-boat command.

On 3 April 1941 Fraatz was given command of the new U-652. With this boat he sank 5 ships and damaged 3 more during 8 patrols.

The Mediterranean

On the third patrol U-652 was sent to the Mediterranean. Leaving Lorient, France on 1 Nov 1941 the boat passed through the heavily guarded Straits of Gibraltar on 28 Nov and then to Messina on 12 Dec (Busch and Röll, 1997). The boat spent the remainder of her career in the Mediterranean.

The Loss of U-652

On 2 June 1942 the boat was depth charges by a British Swordfish aircraft and so heavily damaged that it was scuttled afterwards by its fellow boat U-81 (Guggenberger). Entire crew of 46 men was saved by U-81 (Niestlé, 1998).

From June to Sept 1942 Fraatz served as an officer with the 1st Flotilla and was then sent to another U-boat familiarization, this time for the larger type IXC/40 boats. He then took command of the new U-529 on 30 Sept 1942.

After working up in the Baltic U-529 left base at Kiel for its first war patrol on 30 Jan 1943 but was lost 17 days later with all hands of 48 men.

Reassessment of the loss of U-529

In 2009 Dr. Axel Niestlé reassessed the fate of U-529, long believed to have gone missing to unknown causes. His assessment is that the boat was sunk on 15 Feb 1943 by depth charges by a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn 120/S). The aircraft photographed the diving boat but the photo was long believed to have been of a smaller type VIIC boat instead of a larger type IXC/40 boat like U-529.

Read the full article on the loss of U 225 and U 529.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestle, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Georg-Werner Fraatz

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-652 19 Jun 1941  Kiel  20 Jun 1941  Horten   2 days
2. U-652 29 Jun 1941  Horten  3 Jul 1941  Trondheim   5 days
3. U-652 17 Jul 1941  Trondheim  22 Jul 1941  Bökfjord   6 days
4. U-652 23 Jul 1941  Bökfjord  7 Aug 1941  Kirkenes  Patrol 1,16 days
5. U-652 9 Aug 1941  Kirkenes  13 Aug 1941  Trondheim   5 days
6. U-652 23 Aug 1941  Trondheim  18 Sep 1941  Lorient  Patrol 2,27 days
7. U-652 1 Nov 1941  Lorient  12 Dec 1941  Messina  Patrol 3,42 days
8. U-652 14 Dec 1941  Messina  1 Jan 1942  La Spezia  Patrol 4,19 days
9. U-652 5 Feb 1942  La Spezia  16 Feb 1942  Salamis  Patrol 5,12 days
10. U-652 21 Feb 1942  Salamis  1 Mar 1942  Salamis  Patrol 6,9 days
11. U-652 12 Mar 1942  Salamis  14 Mar 1942  Salamis  Patrol 7,3 days
12. U-652 18 Mar 1942  Salamis  31 Mar 1942  Pola  Patrol 8,14 days
13. U-652 25 May 1942  Pola  2 Jun 1942  Sunk  Patrol 9,9 days
14. U-529 30 Jan 1943  Kiel  15 Feb 1943  Sunk  Patrol 10,17 days
10 patrols, 168 days at sea

Ships hit by Georg-Werner Fraatz

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
6 Aug 1941U-652 PS-70558sj
26 Aug 1941U-652 HMS Southern Prince (M 47) (d.)10,917br
10 Sep 1941U-652 Tahchee (d.)6,508brSC-42
10 Sep 1941U-652 Baron Pentland (d.)3,410brSC-42
9 Dec 1941U-652 Saint Denis1,595fr
19 Dec 1941U-652 Varlaam Avanesov6,557sj
 
20 Mar 1942U-652 HMS Heythrop (L 85)1,050br
26 Mar 1942U-652 HMS Jaguar (F 34)1,690br
26 Mar 1942U-652 Slavol2,623br
 34,908

6 ships sunk (14,073 tons) and 3 ships damaged (20,835 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.


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.

Media links


U-Boat Attack Logs

Daniel Morgan and Bruce Taylor


amazon.co.uk
(£ 38.25)


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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