Hans-Werner Kraus

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
7 ships sunk, total tonnage 12,606 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 96 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 2,590 GRT
1 auxiliary warship damaged, total tonnage 6,746 GRT

Born	1 Jul 1915		Beulwitz, Saalfeld
Died	25 May 1990	(74)	Wangen / Allgäu, Germany

Kapitänleutnant Hans Werner Kraus

Ranks

8 Apr 1934		Offiziersanwärter
26 Sep 1934		Seekadett
1 Jul 1935		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937		Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Nov 1941		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

		Hitler Youth Honour Badge
29 Apr 1940		U-boat War Badge 1939
8 Jul 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
28 Sep 1940		Iron Cross 1st Class
19 Jun 1942		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-83	8 Feb 1941	21 Sep 1942	9 patrols (212 days)
U-199	28 Nov 1942	31 Jul 1943	1 patrol (80 days)

Hans Werner Kraus on board

Hans Werner Kraus began his naval career in April 1934. Later he served on the light cruiser Königsberg. In October 1939 he transferred to the U-boat force. After the usual training he replaced 'Bertl' Endraß on U-47 as IWO. After five successful patrols with Günther Prien he left the boat in November 1940 and three months later commissioned U-83.

On 18 December, 1941, during his third patrol with U-83, he broke through the Straits of Gibraltar. After six patrols in the Mediterranean he left the boat.

Werner Kraus after a patrol off Cyrenaika, Libya.

On 28 November 1942 Kraus commissioned the type IXD boat U-199. The boat was sunk on her first patrol leaving only 12 survivors on 31 July, 1943 by aircraft near the Brazilian coast (Niestlé, 1998).

Hans Werner Kraus then spent nearly three years in American captivity. He arrived at Fort Hunt on 18 August, 1943 and was held there until 6 September. He was then transferred to Crossville, and then to Papago Park on 27 January, 1944. Kraus was one of the 25 POWs who escaped from this camp during the night of 23-24 December, 1944. A week later, Kraus and his companion Helmut Drescher had traveled 43 miles, but Drescher suffered an injury which compelled them to surrender. They were returned to Papago Park.

In February 1946 Kraus was sent to Camp Shanks, New York, and then to a compound in the British zone of Germany near Münster, before being released.

Hans-Werner Kraus died on 25 May 1990 (Rust, 2009).

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).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rust, E. (2009) E-mail correspondence. Author of Naval Officers under Hitler.

Patrol info for Hans-Werner Kraus

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-83	26 Jul 1941	Kiel	9 Sep 1941	Brest	Patrol 1,	46 days
2.	U-83	28 Sep 1941	Brest	31 Oct 1941	Brest	Patrol 2,	34 days
3.	U-83	11 Dec 1941	Brest	23 Dec 1941	Messina	Patrol 3,	13 days
4.	U-83	25 Dec 1941	Messina	30 Dec 1941	Salamis	Patrol 4,	6 days
5.	U-83	12 Feb 1942	Salamis	24 Feb 1942	Salamis	Patrol 5,	13 days
6.	U-83	10 Mar 1942	Salamis	21 Mar 1942	Salamis	Patrol 6,	12 days
7.	U-83	24 Mar 1942	Salamis	28 Mar 1942	La Spezia		5 days
8.	U-83	5 Apr 1942	La Spezia	30 May 1942	Salamis	Patrol 7,	56 days
9.	U-83	4 Jun 1942	Salamis	20 Jun 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 8,	17 days
10.	U-83	6 Aug 1942	La Spezia	20 Aug 1942	Salamis	Patrol 9,	15 days
11.	U-83	31 Aug 1942	Salamis	4 Sep 1942	La Spezia		5 days
12.	U-199	13 May 1943	Kiel	31 Jul 1943	Sunk	Patrol 10,	80 days
10 patrols, 292 days at sea

Ships hit by Hans-Werner Kraus

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
12 Oct 1941	U-83	Corte Real	2,044	pt
26 Oct 1941	U-83	HMS Ariguani (F 105) (d.)	6,746	br	HG-75

17 Mar 1942	U-83	Crista (d.)	2,590	br	AT-34
8 Jun 1942	U-83	Said	231	ag
8 Jun 1942	U-83	Esther	100	pl
9 Jun 1942	U-83	Typhoon	175	pl
13 Jun 1942	U-83	HMS Farouk	96	br
17 Aug 1942	U-83	Princess Marguerite	5,875	ca

4 Jul 1943	U-199	Changri-Lá	20	bz
24 Jul 1943	U-199	Henzada	4,161	br
			22,038
8 ships sunk (12,702 tons) and 2 ships damaged (9,336 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.