Korevetten
Kapitän Werner Henke
Träger des Ritterkreuz und
des Eichenlaubes
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Decorations 6 Jun 1939 Iron Cross
2.C Ranks 1 Jul 1934 Fähnrich
zur See |
 Werner Henke. Courtesy of the U-Boot Archive, Cuxhafen |
Record 25 ships sunk totaling 157.064 tons 2 ships damaged totaling 7.954 tons Essays and Links World
War II Naval Theory in the Atlantic: Mahanian Concepts and the Carrier
Escort Doctrine, by D. Stenger |
Werner Henke was born in 1909 to a middle-class family in Thorn, West Prussia (now Torun, Poland). After World War I, when the Treaty of Versailles ceded this area to the newly-established Polish state, the family emigrated to Lüneburg, Germany. Henke entered the merchant marine and rose to officer rank, but when the Great Depression devastated international commerce Henke found himself unemployed for extended periods. As the German Navy began to expand in 1934, he and such other merchant marine officers as Günter Prien entered the service as naval officer candidates. Commissioned in October 1936, Henke saw action in the Spanish Civil War and participated in the opening engagement of World War II as a flak officer aboard the obsolete battleship Schleswig-Holstein at Danzig. Henke's fiery independence and impetuous nature marked a controversial career that featured near-dismissal in 1940 for failing to report to a new duty station on time, and several conflicts with SS and Nazi Party officials that ultimately required the Naval High Command's direct intercession with Heinrich Himmler.
Henke came into his own, however, as the commander of U-515, sinking or disabling 24 Allied merchant vessels (totaling over 142,000 tons) and two warships from September 1942 to April 1944, earning him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (December 1942) and Oak Leaves Cluster (July 1943). During the night of 20 April - 1 May 1943, Henke alone sank seven ships from Convoy TS 37 off the West African coast. Like most U-boat commanders, and in sharp contrast to the murderous image of German submariners portrayed in Hollywood films from "Lifeboat" through "U-571," Henke never targeted survivors of the ships he sank: All crewmen and passengers survived the torpedoing of five vessels, six others suffered only one or two fatalities.
The sinking of one ship, however, would carry fateful consequences for Henke. The British liner Ceramic, converted into a troopship and carrying a mixed load of military cargo, military personnel and civilians to South Africa and Australia, was encountered and sunk by U-515 northwest of the Azores on 7 December 1942. As he witnessed the lifeboats taking to the water Henke moved off, to elude the escorts he believed to be approaching. But some hours later U-Boat Headquarters ordered him to return to the site and secure intelligence information as to the ship's purpose and destination. When he put about Henke encountered a winter storm that had swamped Ceramic's lifeboats and drowned all but one of her survivors, whom Henke managed to rescue. Returning to Lorient, France, Henke and his captive were interviewed by German correspondents who recorded their comments for later use in a propaganda broadcast.
The Allies responded in March 1943 with their own propaganda broadcast, in the fictional person of "Commander Robert Lee Norden" (actually Lt. Cdr. Ralph G. Albrecht, USN). Transmitting to German Navy receivers, "Norden" accused Henke of machine-gunning the survivors of Ceramic, killing at least 264 and earning U-515's commander the designation of "War Criminal No. 1," with the promise of eventual prosecution. That the broadcast was a complete fabrication was confirmed in a May 1944 classified communication from a senior U.S. Navy intelligence officer to his Canadian counterpart: "Actually the whole tale is fictitious and, so far as we know, he (Henke) acted quite properly when sinking the Ceramic."
Believing a potential death sentence awaited him if captured, Henke nevertheless continued to perform his duty against a materially and technologically superior foe who also possessed the capability of reading all U-boat radio communications. On 9 April 1944, after a 15-hour running pursuit by a U.S. Navy task group consisting of aircraft carrier USS Guadalcanal and four destroyer escorts, U-515 was sunk approximately 700 miles west of Gibraltar. Henke's final accomplishment was to save as many of his crew as possible when the fight became hopeless: 44 of 60 survived to be taken prisoner.
While on board the Guadalcanal Henke unfortunately revealed his concern over the 'war criminal' broadcast, which was promptly used by the task group commander to extract information. In the mistaken belief he was wanted by British authorities for trial, Henke signed a statement agreeing to cooperate with the Americans in return for a promise not to be turned over to their allies. After arrival in the United States, Henke and selected members of his crew were brought to Ft. Hunt, a secret interrogation center in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. There Henke refused all cooperation. To again quote the senior naval officer involved in Henke's interrogations: "We believe that he later learned the truth about the broadcast and, knowing that no overt act had been committed, lost his fear of any reprisals against him. Except for the single slip of signing the original statement he had conducted himself perfectly and is, apparently, a strong character and a good officer."
But Henke had not learned the truth behind the "Norden" broadcast. He was apparently informed on 15 June to prepare for transfer to Canada. To Henke, this signified the Americans were carrying out their threat to remand him to British custody and, in his mind, a war crimes trial. Thus, during his daily evening exercise period on15 June, Henke made a suicidal escape effort. He was killed instantly by machinegun fire while scaling the fence. To conceal the classified nature of Ft. Hunt, Henke's body was moved that night to Ft. George G. Meade in neighboring Maryland and buried at the post cemetery. Over the course of the next two years he was joined by 43 other German soldiers who died of illness or accident while in American captivity in Maryland and Pennsylvania. To this day American official records refer to Henke's death "at Ft. Meade."
An article written by Timothy P. Mulligan, author of "Lone Wolf, The Life and Death of U-Boat Ace Werner Henke." This book is out of print, however it can be found at www.abe.com, a rare, used, and out-of-print book dealership (very impressive). According to Mulligan, a revised 2d edition is on the way.