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Wilhelm
Werner
Unlike other German submarine commanders of the Great War that are
still remembered, for good or ill, Wilhelm Werner has generally been
forgotten. In some respects, this is surprising, as he was, undoubtedly,
guilty of committing war crimes.
He was born in Apolda, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in June 1888 and joined
the Kaiserliche Marine as a Seekadett in
April 1905. At the beginning of the Great War, he was an Oberleutnant zur See
on a minesweeper, T55, seemingly taking command in October 1914.
Short-lived, he was a watch officer (Wachoffizier)
on U38 in January 1915, when under the command of Kapitänleutnant Max Valentiner, during this
boat’s workup. Not only is little known about this period of Werner’s career,
it cannot even be speculated upon as to why he did not remain with
Valentiner. Anyway, within the snippets found, he seems to have been in
command of UB9 for short periods in home waters from mid-February to
mid-March, before assuming command of UB7 sometime in the spring. UB7
and UB8 were the first two of these small-boats to be despatched
latterly in March, to Pola, the Austro-Hungarian Navy’s main base on the
Adriatic. Constructed in sections, they were sent by rail. The ultimate aim was to have these and
other UB and UC-boats operating from Constantinople – due to the Allies’
actions in the Dardanelles. Towed to the Straits of Otranto by an Austrian
cruiser on May 11th, the two boats then proceeded independently. UB7
reached Constantinople on June 20th. Three days before, Werner had attempted
to torpedo a transport, without warning, off the Dardanelles, but missed with
both weapons fired. UB7
sailed for the Black Sea on July 5th to operate between the mouth of the
Danube, Rumania and Odessa, Imperial Russia and then on a line between
Sevastopol, Crimea and Sunguldak, on the Ottoman
Black Sea north coast. Nothing was attained.
Sailing from Constantinople on September 6th, UB7’s next patrol
was between Sulina, Rumania and Odessa. Intelligence that this area contained
numerous troop transports proved to be erroneous. However, Werner’s first
‘victory’ was over an unarmed British steamer, Patagonia, on the 15th.
She had arrived in Ghenitschesk in the Sea of Azov,
Russia, on 15th July 1914. Trapped, she went into Russian governmental
service on 7th March 1915. In company with two smaller Russian transports, in
ballast, she sailed from Odessa at 1 a.m. on September 15th. In line ahead,
at a speed of nine knots, she was the aftermost vessel one cable
(approximately 200 yards) astern of the next in line. At 8.40 a.m. she was
struck by a torpedo, without warning and sank in shallow water in eight
minutes. Thankfully, no one was killed, or injured.
Towards the end of October UB7 arrived at Varna, Bulgaria and
found nearby a suitable harbour for submarines to operate from. Within days,
on the 27th, UB7 and UB8 were ordered to attack a sizeable
Russian force. UB7 was said to have hit a battleship, Penteliemon, with a torpedo and later,
intelligence reports said that she had been damaged badly. UB7
is known to have been back at sea again in late January 1916, in countering
Russian attacks on the Ottoman coal trade out of Sungaldak.
On his final patrol in command of this boat, in early April, Werner returned
to the Black Sea’s northern waters, off Varna, though. No steamer traffic was
found. So, instead, he sank two small sailing-vessels on the 8th and 9th:
allowing their crews to go ashore. On his return to Germany, Werner was given
command of U55 in June. (Helmut Patzig was a watch officer from May 1916 until
September 1917.) On his first patrol, on September 28th U55 sank H.M.
lightly-armed Trawler Orsino, by gunfire, north of the Shetland Isles.
Of her ten company, six were killed and the other four taken as prisoners.
Next, two Swedish steamers were taken as prizes.
Another two sinkings followed on his next patrol. The former was an
oiler, Clearfield. According to the German official history, this
occurred west of the Hebrides, on October 24th. Without markings and colours,
on warning shots said to have been fired, the transport turned away and made
off. So, she was shelled to a standstill. If this account is to be believed
her crew abandoned in boats. Unfortunately, no verification can be provided,
as there were no survivors from her crew of 32. The latter is known to have
been carried out four days later. In heavy weather off the Fastnet, a
grey-painted steamer was observed and because Werner reckoned that she was an
armed-auxiliary, sank her with two torpedoes without warning. The first
struck her amidships starboard and the second, ten minutes later, in her port
side. The Marina was actually a large, defensively-armed, steamer and
her crew and passengers abandoned immediately after the first hit. She broke
in two and foundered shortly after the totally unnecessary second hit. U55
then surfaced. Officers and others surveyed the scene they had caused and the
submarine then departed, leaving the survivors to an uncertain fate. Eighteen
crew-members were killed, but all the others were rescued by a steamer, Wordsworth
and separately by an armed-minesweeping trawler, Ina William and
landed in Ireland. The latter survivors had been adrift for over thirty-hours.
Americans were among the passengers.
On the turn of the year, Werner’s next patrol was between January 20th
and February 11th. Having passed through the Straits of Dover, U55
made for the South West Approaches and Bristol Channel. Small vessels,
especially neutrals, were almost always overwhelmed easily, without loss of
life. There were two fatalities from a smack, Trevone, on January 30th
though, in circumstances showing sheer callousness by the Germans involved.
In the destruction of three Allied vessels, Dundee, Yvonne and Saxon
Britain, there were one, four and two deaths respectively. It is worth
pointing out that the Dundee was also torpedoed without warning.
There were also far more serious events though. In terrible
weather off the Fastnet, a defensively-armed British steamer, Artist,
was torpedoed by U55 whilst dived, on January 27th. Settling by the
head, her crew abandoned in three lifeboats, in a seamanlike manner, in
minutes. Only ten souls in one, in the charge of a cadet, survived to be
picked up by a passing merchantman three days later. 35 died. On shifting to the northern coast of
Cornwall temporarily, while two, or three miles north-north-west of Trevose Head, on February 1st, Werner torpedoed and sank
a small unarmed British steamer, Essonite, without warning. Even
although close into the coast and in fine weather, ten of her thirteen crew
were drowned: as their vessel had sunk in two minutes. The survivors were
rescued by H.M. Motor Launch No. 329.
And, less than a week later, on the 7th, Yola, a British
transport on Royal Commission account, was sunk in a similar, but not in an
identical way. According to information from Werner’s war diary (Kriegstagebuch) published online on the maritimequest website, she was sighted 75 miles west-south-west
of Land’s End, lit clearly by the moon. While she was, indeed, carrying
grain, she was not one of the large vessels employed on the South
American trade as made out. Unable to get into a good firing-position dived, U55
surfaced to correct this and torpedoed the Yola twice. Werner’s claim
of not having the chance of getting close to his victim to identify her, due
to a patrol-boat, or escort, is for a number of reasons unbelievable. Since
she disappeared, the Yola’s loss was judged by the War Risk Assessment
Committee as a marine loss. All 33 onboard perished.
Werner’s next patrol began with attacks on two Scandinavians. The H.B.
Linneman was a Danish sailing-vessel that was shelled, west of Ireland,
on April 4th. She was assaulted heavily by gunfire, with twenty rounds
hitting her, killing her master and mate. Abandoning in her lifeboat, of the
seven left, two more died and the rest were injured. The next day, further south, the Vilja,
a Norwegian steamer, was torpedoed without warning: with one death.
Well into the Atlantic in the Southwest Approaches, a
defensively-armed Briton was destroyed on the 6th. She was the Vine Branch,
torpedoed apparently without warning. 44 (or 46) lives were lost. There was
also combat with a British steamer, Hillhouse, on the same day.
Werner’s attempt to torpedo her failed by a slim margin and on surfacing U55,
opened fire – returned by the Hillhouse’s 12-pounder. In heavy
weather, the merchantman escaped.
Two days later, on the 8th, there was another failed shelling from
7,000 yards, this time of the Royal Mail steamer Carmarthenshire. She
returned fire, with her 4.7-inch gun and escaped using her speed. There were
also three ‘victories’ over British steamers for Werner though. All were sunk
by torpedo without warning, approximately 150 miles southwest of the
Scillies. The first two were of the Petridge
and Umvoti, resulting in the death of four
from the latter. Also, their masters and seemingly, gun-layers (as the term
used in a German account was senior gunner) were taken prisoner. The
third of these was the defensively-armed Torrington, homeward bound
from Gibraltar that altered course towards survivors from the Umvoti. She too was torpedoed, on her port side
midships and abandoned safely in two lifeboats. U55 surfaced, shelling
the Torrington rather ineffectively, although one shell dropped close
to the lifeboats. Drawing near, all from the boat in the charge of her
master, Anthony Starkey, were ordered onto the submarine’s casing. Taken onto
the bridge then below, Captain Starkey was interrogated harshly in good
English. The empty lifeboat was used by the submarine’s boarding party.
Werner then dived his boat for about twenty minutes - with the twenty
merchant mariners still on the casing. This was possibly because the gunners
had not been in uniform. The boarding party returned to U55, but the
rest of the Torrington’s company, in the other boat did not survive
either and so, the tally of death rose to 34. Accounts vary, but it may be
judged as highly likely that they were also murdered.
According to Captain Starkey, on the sinking of another British
steamer, Toro, on the 12th, Werner had U55 dive for twenty
minutes again. Fourteen were killed this time, with her master, George H.
Hopley and a gunner captured. Statements from the Toro’s survivors
provided more detail. Interestingly, among items looted were both a lifeboat
mast and sails. (Occasionally, reports that submarines had disguised
themselves as sailing vessels have been seen, but it has been difficult
finding convincing evidence, except for on the small boats operating out of Flanders.)
Also, the gunner captured was a private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry.
Anyway, the survivors spent 81 hours adrift in increasingly heavy weather and
were rescued, eventually by a British steamer, Bellagio, on her way to
Sierra Leone.
Another failure to torpedo a British steamer occurred on the 14th. But,
a small Danish sailing vessel, Astræa, was
overwhelmed, set on fire and disappeared - with all seven dead. On this
occasion, Captain Starkey saw the ill-fated Dane at a standstill and was of
the opinion that Werner was responsible for the murder of this crew as well.
The Cairnhill’s crew fared better
though. Missed by yet another torpedo (her last), on April 17th, U55
surfaced and shelled the unarmed merchantman, carrying war materiel including
ammunition, from 3½ miles. After receiving three hits over a not
inconsiderable timespan, she stopped and was abandoned. Still under shellfire
while lowering her boats, two men were wounded. Initially, the first-mate was
taken onboard the submarine and interrogated by an officer, in good
conversational English. (Reports vary in that it might have been Werner
himself and, or, a Leutnant zur See.) On the Cairnhill’s
master being identified in another boat, he was removed to U55 and the
first-mate sent to the casing. In the meantime, those in the first-mate’s
lifeboat had also been put on the casing and a boarding party took the empty
boat to the Cairnhill. While charges were
being set, H.M. Sloop Lavender hove into sight and so, the demolition
was hurried. In their rush to get back to the submarine, the boarding party
abandoned some of the booty they had just acquired and all but three of the
merchant mariners on the casing managed to get into their lifeboat again.
They were picked up by Lavender.
Werner’s performance on his next patrol that June differed. On June
8th he managed to torpedo a British defensively-armed oiler, Russian
Prince, west-by-south of Dunlough, County Cork.
She was in convoy escorted by two armed patrol-trawlers,
Carieda and Heron - having had to
slow down to 6½ knots. Hit slightly abaft of the midship section, she reached
Berehaven, County Cork, safely and discharged her
oil cargo. The next day, along with U95, there was a gunnery duel with
another Briton, Achilles, 75 miles west-by-south of Fastnet. One was
on the merchantman’s starboard quarter and the other on her port quarter:
opening fire at about 5,000 yards. The Achilles’ 13-pounder gun
returned fire. Brought to a standstill, the submarines having expended a lot
of ammunition, Werner then torpedoed her. On this occasion, the merchantman’s
master and the gunlayer were captured, with the
rest of the crew rescued by H.M. Destroyer Musketeer. Shifting well
into the Atlantic, a British passenger steamer, Ausonia, was also
torpedoed, while under escort by H.M. Sloop Jessamine, on June 11th.
Although the sloop had made strenuous efforts to get her under tow, on the
arrival of rescue tugs, she was taken to Queenstown by them. Returning to the
waters south-west of County Cork, yet another British steamer, Coronado,
was torpedoed while under escort, the next day. Remaining afloat, she was
towed into Queenstown by a tug, Warrior and escorted by H.M. Sloop Primrose
and U.S. Destroyer Paulding.
While on transit home north of the Shetland Isles, two small Danish
sailing vessels, Sophie and Star, were shelled and sunk with
explosives on June 23rd. Surprisingly, in all these attacks there was only
one fatality – on the Ausania.
Having proceeded 200 miles west of the Shetland Isles on his next
patrol, a British defensively-armed steamer, Devona, was assaulted on
July 30th. Unable to manoeuvre into position for a torpedo attack, apparently
due to the steamer’s high speed, an eight-hour gunnery action
followed. Although damaged, the Devona escaped. Werner’s guns’ crews
expended all of their ammunition – except for four shells!
On the following evening, Werner and U55’s company returned to
their utterly disgraceful behaviour. Approximately 250 nautical miles west of
the North Channel, he torpedoed another Briton, Belgian Prince
outbound from Liverpool for Newport News. This struck her port side midships,
stopping her engine and so, her crew and two stowaways abandoned in two
lifeboats. On surfacing, the merchantman’s master was taken prisoner while
the rest of her crew were assembled on U55’s casing. These poor sailormen had their lifebelts removed and discarded: with
other possessions also stolen from them. As with the Torrington, the
submarine then dived. Forty-one were murdered – but three mariners survived,
having managed to hide their lifebelts under their coats. U55 returned
to the scene the following morning watch and destroyed the Belgian Prince
with charges.
On August 6th an Italian steamer, Eugenia, was sunk without
warning, by torpedo, in the South West Approaches. Thankfully, H.M. Armed
Trawler John Burlingham rescued all 45 of her crew. Three days later a
British steamer, Oakfield, was torpedoed and abandoned in the usual
manner, six miles off Kinsale, County Cork. Surfacing, U55 was driven
off by U.S.S. Wainright that along with another American destroyer,
had been escorting two oilers. Only damaged, the Oakfield managed to
get to Queenstown.
Missing from the German official history was an incident on August
11th. The White Star Line’s Belgic that was being escorted by H.M.
Sloop Camellia and making 17½ knots while zig-zagging, was outbound
from Liverpool. A periscope was
sighted approximately three points (33¾°) off her port bow at a distance of
around 200 feet and her master, William Erving Ingham, had her course altered
to ram. Werner then fired a torpedo, but the Belgic took successful
avoiding action and it passed astern. Camellia might then have carried
out a depth-charge attack on U55.
Similar to the Eugenia, a Norwegian steamer, Falkland,
was torpedoed and sunk ten miles off Minehead, Cornwall, on the 12th.
Unfortunately, only 26 of her crew of 37 survived. On her transit back to
Germany, east of the Faroes, another small British steamer, Edina, was
destroyed by gunfire on the 17th. U55 had acquired this ammunition
from U82 that had been encountered on August 1st. Ten more merchant mariners
were killed. And, east of the Shetland Isles the next day, U55 was in
a gunnery dual with an armed-patrol trawler, Elise and an Admiralty
trawler, Benjamin Stevenson. Although the latter was hit three times
and sank later due to her engine-room flooding, they drove the submarine away
from two convoys. U55
did not venture to sea again until January 1918 and Werner’s first attack and
sinking of the year was on H.M. Hospital Ship Rewa. The German
official history claimed that in the evening of the 4th a surface torpedo
attack was put in on an ‘unknown steamer’ with ‘indistinct lights’, in the
outer Bristol Channel, southwest of Hartland Point, Devon. According to
British evidence, she was brightly lit and bore all the markings of a
hospital ship, as well as being in an area that had been decreed as safe from
attack. Struck midships at approximately 11.35 p.m., four Lascar firemen were
killed. Carrying 279 ill and wounded from the Mediterranean theatre, as well
as 79 medical staff, she was abandoned efficiently and rapidly by her crew. It
was a calm night with a clear sky and so, two armed trawlers, Ben Strome
and Lark II, as well as an oiler, Paul Paix, managed to rescue
every single one of the survivors.
This was not Werner’s only assault on a hospital ship though. Clearly
marked, on entering the Bristol Channel at 5 p.m. on March 10th, all her
lights were also switched on. The first torpedo was fired at 5.35 p.m. and
seen on the Guildford Castle’s bridge at about 600 to 800 yards distant.
Therefore, with time to alter course, it passed astern. The second hit her
forward on her number one hold, did not detonate and bounced along her port
side: again, passing astern. Having taken a temporary list, the hospital ship
proceeded, making her destination Avonmouth safely, with her 438 patients
from Cape Town.
None of Werner’s other ‘victories’ from January until the end of July
1918 resulted in particularly heavy death tolls. All the same, this cannot be
seen as a softening of his attitude. Following his last patrol, in August
1918 he was awarded the Pour le Mérite. U55 had been turned
over to Kapitänleutnant Alexander Weiß. But, no
information has been found as to Werner’s continuing service until he was put
on the retired list on 1st March 1920. One online source has claimed that he
also had a short spell in the Freikorps, but it has not been possible
to confirm this, one way, or the other.
Throughout the war the Royal Navy’s Intelligence Department had
attempted to gain accurate information on individual German officers, both
from documentary sources and in interrogation of captured personnel. In the
early stages these had, sometimes, been
counter-productive, but by the end it had become a sophisticated operation
based in west London. Much intelligence was, indeed, gained from
interrogations. However, often it was still very sketchy in regards to
particular officers and their exploits. It does not seem that anything
was known about Wilhelm Werner until August 1918, when one of a captured
UB-boat’s survivors stated that Werner was responsible for sinking the Rewa.
Apart from Captain Starkey’s statements, on his release from internment, more
was learned during interrogations of U55’s crew on their surrender in Harwich
in late November 1918.
Aspects of the detail are fascinating. According to one of the
submariners, Werner had always treated his own crew well. Even so, some were highly
concerned. It was disclosed that individual submariners had put themselves at
considerable personal risk in approaching Werner and requesting him to
cease committing these atrocities. This apprehension by some of U55’s
company was confirmed by Captain Starkey. Also, his description of part of
his interrogation by Werner shows the German to have been an ignorant fool.
He had produced a copy of Lloyd’s Register and accused the master of
being a liar, since the name in the publication did not tally with Starkey’s.
In pursuance of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles that came into
force on 10th January 1920, Werner was on a list of 897 individuals for
possible prosecution for war crimes that was presented to the German Government
on February 1st. Failing to live up to the recently signed treaty
obligations, the new Reich’s Government refused to hand them over to
any foreign powers. Nevertheless, negotiations resulted in agreement that a much-reduced
list of defendants would be tried in the Leipzig Supreme Court – under German
military law. This smaller list of 45, of which seven were named by the British,
was handed over that May. Werner was also on this list. The first twelve
trials were conducted from late-May until mid-July 1921, but the judgments
handed down were regarded by the Allied nations as farcical. In mid-January
1922 the Allied Governments withdrew their observers in protest. In June the
German judiciary took the decision unilaterally that it would carry on
without Allied input. These proceedings staggered on into the 1930s, but were
wound down quietly. Even the dates as to when this occurred are not clear,
although there are snippets related to specific cases.
Wilhelm Werner’s trial was meant to have been the third of the 1921
cases, but he could not be found. According to correspondence between the
British and German prosecutors, an arrest warrant had been issued. It would
appear that he had gone to Brazil, where there was a large expatriate German
population. It is said that at first, he worked on a coffee plantation and
later in what would appear to have been an architectural company. He may have
returned to Germany as early as the autumn of 1924 and it has been said that
around a year later, he was managing his wife’s estate, in the part of Upper
Silesia that remained in Germany following the Plebiscite. Apparently, he
claimed that he had been ‘cleared’ by the ‘Leipzig tribunal in 1926’, but
nothing whatsoever in confirmation has been found in any sources
available.
Werner’s connections with the Nazis are
somewhat clearer, even although some of the information online is also
incomplete, inaccurate and seemingly downright contradictory. Werner’s
membership of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei has
been dated as of September 1930 and the Schutzstaffel must have been
within months. (It should be noted
that in January 1929 the SS numbered 280, but by April 1932 there were more
than 30,000.) As far as can be determined he was commissioned with the lowest
commissioned rank of SS-Untersturmführer in
February 1931 and may have been ordered to form units in Upper Silesia.
Promotion in this era of expansion for him was extremely rapid and as
of September 1935 he held the rank of SS-Brigadeführer.
He was also, apparently, on Heinrich Himmler’s personal staff from 1938
through to November 1944, as well as holding high political rank in the
Sudetenland. (Werner was not the only ex-Kaiserliche Marine recipient
of the Pour le Mérite that Himmler liked to be seen at events with. So
too was Otto Steinbrinck.) And,
one source has stated that he became a N.S.D.A.P. member of the Reichstag
in November 1933, although another dated such a seat as of 1938. He
may also have acquired a reserve Luftwaffe commission as a Major in
July 1937. According the source of this information, by the time that he was
activated in December 1942, he was an Oberst. Another source reckoned that he
was involved in the anti-aircraft defence of Berlin.
Anyway, Wilhelm Werner outlived Nazi Germany. He is said to have died
in Falkenau on 14th May 1945, by then under Soviet
occupation, but his corpse was said to have been transported to Lübeck,
Schleswig-Holstein. |
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Oberleutnant zur See
Helmut Patzig Kapitänleutnant Rudolf
Schneider Kapitänleutnant Walter
Schwieger Kapitänleutnant Otto
Steinbrinck Kapitänleutnant
Max Valentiner Kapitänleutnant
Wilhelm Werner |