Werner Hartenstein (27 February 1908 – 8 March 1943) was a German naval officer during World War II who commanded the U-boat . He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. Hartenstein was credited with sinking 19 ships totaling , and with damaging three ships and a destroyer.
Born in Plauen, Hartenstein joined the Reichsmarine (navy of the Weimar Republic) in 1928. After a period of training on surface vessels and service on various torpedo boats during the Spanish Civil War and the first year of World War II, he transferred to the U-boat service in 1941. In September 1942, Hartenstein torpedoed and sank the , then attempted to rescue the survivors. He was forced to abort the rescue when his U-boat came under attack by a B-24 Liberator bomber of the United States Army Air Forces. The event became known as the "Laconia incident" and resulted in the "Laconia Order", an order from the Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote to the entire German U-boat force that forbade rescuing the survivors of sunken ships. Hartenstein and the entire crew of U-156 were killed in action by depth charges from a US PBY Catalina aircraft on 8 March 1943.
Early life and pre-war service
Hartenstein was born in Plauen in the Vogtland of the Kingdom of Saxony, then a federated state of the German Empire, on 27 February 1908. He was the second child of William Karl Adolf Hartenstein, an export merchant, and Selma Emma Hartenstein, née Schlingensiepen. Hartenstein had one older sister, Thea Irena, and a younger sister, Charlotte. He celebrated his confirmation in 1923 and graduated from a humanities-oriented secondary school in Plauen with his diploma (Abitur) in 1926. After graduation in 1926 he applied for a naval officer cadetship but was rejected at first, and instead studied two semesters of jurisprudence. He matriculated at the University of Freiburg (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) in Freiburg im Breisgau on 29 April 1927.
Aged 20, Hartenstein re-applied for the cadetship, was accepted and began his naval career with the Reichsmarine on 1 April 1928 as a member of "Crew 28" (the incoming class of 1928). He underwent basic military training in the 2nd department of the standing ship division of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund (1 April 1928 – 30 June 1928). Hartenstein was then transferred to the training ship Niobe (1 July 1928 – 15 October 1928), attaining the rank of Seekadett (midshipman) on 11 October 1928. Following a 14-month stay on board the cruiser Emden (16 October 1928 – 3 January 1930) he advanced in rank to Fähnrich zur See (officer cadet) on 1 January 1930. Emden at the time was under the command of Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, a U-boat commander during World War I. Hartenstein then underwent a number of officer training courses at the Naval Academy at Mürwik, including navigational training cruises on the survey vessel Meteor, before transferring to the light cruiser Köln (1 October 1931 – 23 September 1934). His stay on Köln was occasionally interrupted to attend further training courses at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel-Wik. During this assignment on 30 January 1933, the Nazi Party, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, came to power in Germany, and began to rearm the navy. In 1935, the Reichsmarine was renamed the Kriegsmarine.
Hartenstein served as first watch officer on the torpedo boat from 30 September 1936 to 13 November 1938. He was promoted to Kapitänleutnant (captain lieutenant) on 1 June 1937. Hartenstein participated in several patrols in 1937 and 1938 on board Greif in Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War. For these services he was awarded the Spanish Cross in Bronze () on 6 June 1939.