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 |
Ranks
Decorations
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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.
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 | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 Oct 1941 | U-83 | Hans-Werner Kraus | Corte Real | 2,044 | pt | |||
26 Oct 1941 | U-83 | Hans-Werner Kraus | HMS Ariguani (F 105) (d.) | 6,746 | br | HG-75 | ||
17 Mar 1942 | U-83 | Hans-Werner Kraus | Crista (d.) | 2,590 | br | AT-34 | ||
8 Jun 1942 | U-83 | Hans-Werner Kraus | Said | 231 | ag | |||
8 Jun 1942 | U-83 | Hans-Werner Kraus | Esther | 100 | pl | |||
9 Jun 1942 | U-83 | Hans-Werner Kraus | Typhoon | 175 | pl | |||
13 Jun 1942 | U-83 | Hans-Werner Kraus | HMS Farouk | 96 | br | |||
17 Aug 1942 | U-83 | Hans-Werner Kraus | Princess Marguerite | 5,875 | ca | |||
4 Jul 1943 | U-199 | Hans-Werner Kraus | Changri-Lá | 20 | bz | |||
24 Jul 1943 | U-199 | Hans-Werner Kraus | Henzada | 4,161 | br | |||
22,038 | ||||||||
8 ships sunk (12,702 tons) and 2 ships damaged (9,336 tons). Legend |
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.
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