Werner Henke (13 May 1909 – 15 June 1944) was the commander of German submarine in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. ''U-515'' was sunk by the US

task group A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

22.3, commanded by Daniel V. Gallery on 9 April 1944 and Henke was captured along with about 40 of his crew. He was shot and killed while attempting to escape from the POW interrogation center in

Fort Hunt Fort Hunt is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atl ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in the United States.

Early life and naval career

Henke was raised in Rudak, a small village just outside Thorn. When Thorn became part of Poland in 1920, the Henke family moved to

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

in the

Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover () was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1866 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, alo ...

. Henke joined the ''

Reichsmarine The () was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the , existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the ''Kriegsmarine'' (War Navy), a branch of the '' ...

'' in April 1934 after several years in the merchant marine.Mulligan 1993 Henke attended the Naval Academy at Mürwik and served on the

pocket battleship The class was a series of three (armored ships), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The ships of the class, , , and , were all stated to displace in a ...

. In five years' training he spent only one week studying U-boat warfare. He spent nearly two years stationed at the Pillau (now

Baltiysk Baltiysk ( ); ; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; ; ; is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separ ...

) naval base starting in 1937. In May 1939 he was assigned to the battleship , where he participated in the first shots of World War II in the Battle of Westerplatte. In April 1940, he commenced six weeks of training at the U-boat school at

Neustadt in Holstein Neustadt in Holstein (; Holsatian: ''Niestadt in Holsteen'') is a town in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on the Bay of Lübeck 30 km northeast of Lübeck, and 50 km southeast of Kiel. History In World War ...

. Before completing this training however, he was convicted of

desertion Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

and sent to a punishment unit. In November, he was assigned to .

''U-515 ''

In November 1941, he was sent to submarine commander's school, and on 21 February 1942 ''U-515'' was commissioned with Henke in command. Henke was captured when ''U-515'' was sunk at 15:10 on 9 April 1944 in the mid-Atlantic north of Madeira at by bombs from the US escort carrier and depth charges from the destroyer escorts , , and . 40 survivors were taken on by the warships.

Death

A British propaganda broadcast had accused Henke of shooting British survivors of , a passenger ship that ''U-515'' had sunk on 7 December 1942. Henke therefore believed the British wanted to try him as a war criminal. Knowing this,

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Gallery, hoping to extort intelligence from him or his crew, threatened to turn him over to the British if he did not cooperate. Gallery was successful in getting Henke to sign a paper agreeing to cooperate with interrogators. Henke reneged on the agreement but upon seeing that their captain had agreed to talk, many of his crew signed similar agreements and did cooperate. Henke was interned in the interrogation center known as P. O. Box 1142 in

, where his interrogators threatened to hold him to his agreement to cooperate or be extradited to England to face war crimes charges. On 15 June 1944, he dashed to the fence of the interrogation center and began to climb over. He continued to climb after being ordered to stop and a guard shot him dead with a sub-machine gun.

Aftermath

Henke was posthumously promoted to

Korvettenkapitän (; ) is the lowest ranking Field officer, senior officer in the German navy. Germany Korvettenkapitän, short: KKpt/in lists: KK, () is the lowest senior officer military rank, rank () in the German Navy. Address The official manner, in li ...

and is interred at The Post Cemetery in

Fort George G. Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, th ...

, Maryland, along with 32 other German POWs and 3 Italian POWs. A ceremony is held at the gravesite every year on

Volkstrauertag ' (, ) is a commemoration day in Germany two Sundays before the first day of Advent. It commemorates members of the armed forces of all nations and civilians who died in armed conflicts, to include victims of violent oppression. It was first obs ...

in November, the German equivalent of Memorial Day, at which the

Naval attaché A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

of the German embassy in Washington, DC, lays a wreath with a ribbon in the colors of the German flag in commemoration of all those buried at this gravesite. It is not uncommon to see flowers in front of the grave.

Awards

Wehrmacht Long Service Award The Wehrmacht Long Service Award () was a List of military decorations of the Third Reich, military service decoration of Nazi Germany issued for satisfactory completion of a number of years in military service. History On 16 March 1936, Adolf ...

4th Class (1 October 1936)Busch & Röll 2003, p. 292. *

Spanish Cross The Spanish Cross () was an award of Nazi Germany given to German troops who participated in the Spanish Civil War, fighting for nationalist general, later Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco. History With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil W ...

in Bronze (6 June 1939) *

Sudetenland Medal The 1 October 1938 Commemorative Medal () was commonly known as the Sudetenland Medal. It was a decoration of Nazi Germany awarded during the interwar period, and the second in a series of Occupation Medals. Description Instituted on 18 October ...

(23 October 1940) *

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

(1939) 2nd Class (17 September 1939) & 1st Class (4 October 1941) * U-boat War Badge (1939) (4 May 1941) *

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. While it was lower in precedence than the Grand C ...

**Knight's Cross on 17 December 1942 as ''

Oberleutnant zur See (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS'' in the German Navy, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as Ranks and insignia of officers of NATO Navies, OF-1 in NATO. The rank was ...

zur Verwendung'' and commander of ''U-515'' **257th Oak Leaves on 4 July 1943 as ''

Kapitänleutnant , short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( or ''lieutenant captain'') is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the modern German . The rank is rated Ranks and insignia of NATO navies' officers, OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to i ...

zur Verwendung'' and commander of ''U-515''Fellgiebel 2000, p. 70.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Henke, Werner 1909 births 1944 deaths Deaths by firearm in Virginia Kriegsmarine personnel killed in World War II Prisoners who died in United States military detention German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States People from Toruń Military personnel from West Prussia Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves German military personnel of the Spanish Civil War Reichsmarine personnel U-boat commanders (Kriegsmarine)