| Born | 22 Apr 1921 | Cuxhaven | |
| Died | 14 Aug 1944 | (23) | Bay of Biscay |
|
|
Ranks
Decorations
|
U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-618 | 16 Apr 1944 | 14 Aug 1944 (+) | 4 patrols (13 days) |
Erich Faust joined the Kriegsmarine in 1939. Following standard U-boat and officer training from Dec 1939 to May 1942, he was assigned as supernumerary Watch Officer (WO) to U-412 until August 1942, during that boat's working up exercises in the Baltic (Busch & Röll, 1999).
The crew of U-618. Three officers are wearing brocade dress belts. To left: LzS Hans Baresel, centre: the captain, Oblt. Faust.
Faust then attended Baubelehrung (U-boat construction familiarization) with the rest of her crew before joining the new U-667 on 21 October as 1WO (1st Watch Officer) (Busch & Röll, 1999). U-667 sank no ships during Faust's time aboard her, but at that point in the war, U-boats did well just to avoid being sunk themselves.
Oblt. Faust went through U-Boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla from Feb to April 1944 before taking command of the veteran U-618 from Kptlt. Kurt Baberg (Busch & Röll, 1999).
Erich Faust died when U-618 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Duckworth, HMS Essington and a British B-24 Liberator (Sqdn. 53/G). 61 dead (all hands lost) (Niestlé, 1998).
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). 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.
Patrol info for Erich Faust
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | U-618 | 25 May 1944 | St. Nazaire | 25 May 1944 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 1 days | |
| 2. | U-618 | 26 Jul 1944 | St. Nazaire | 30 Jul 1944 | Brest | Patrol 2, | 5 days | |
| 3. | U-618 | 2 Aug 1944 | Brest | 4 Aug 1944 | Brest | Patrol 3, | 3 days | |
| 4. | U-618 | 11 Aug 1944 | Brest | 14 Aug 1944 | Sunk | Patrol 4, | 4 days | |
| 4 patrols, 13 days at sea | ||||||||
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.
Special thanks to Fernando Almeida for data on ranks and decorations.
Media links
|
As an Amazon Associate uboat.net earns a commission from qualifying purchases.