• Home
• The U-boats
• The Men
• The Allies
• Maps
• Forums
• Articles
• Gallery
• Books
• Movies
• WWI

Officers and Men

• The Men
• All Commanders
  • Commander Crews
  • Most Successful
  • Youngest / oldest
  • Deaths since WWII
  • Recent updates
• Decorations
• Ranks
• Training
• Uniforms
• The U-boat Crew
• Personnel files

Born	30 Mar 1917		Hamelin
Died	15 Feb 1943	(25)	North Atlantic

Kriegsmarine Crew photo

Ranks 5 Apr 1935   Offiziersanwärter 25 Sep 1935   Seekadett 1 Jul 1936   Fähnrich zur See 1 Jan 1938   Oberfähnrich zur See 1 Apr 1938   Leutnant zur See 1 Oct 1939   Oberleutnant zur See 1 Sep 1942   Kapitänleutnant 1 Mar 1943   Korvettenkapitän (posthumous) Decorations     Iron Cross 2nd Class     Iron Cross 1st Class 24 Jul 1944   German Cross in Gold (posthumous)

Georg-Werner Fraatz joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. He served as Second Watch officer (2WO) on the small "duck" U-3 from Aug to Oct 1939 under Joachim Schepke. Fraats went out on 3 patrols with the boat during which they sank 2 ships.

From Oct 1940 to Feb 1940 Fraatz served as an officer with the U-boat school Neustadt. In Feb he was sent to U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) of the type VIIB boat U-101 on which he served as First Watch Officer from March 1940 to Jan 1941. he went out on 5 patrols with the boat during which the boat sank 18 ships and damaged two more. These 138 days at sea during war patrols gave Fraatz very valuable experience for his own boat.

From Jan to Feb 1941 Oblt. Georg-Werner Fraatz went through U-boat Commander training at the 24th Flotilla and then U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) in preparation of his own U-boat command.

On 3 April 1941 Fraatz was given command of the new U-652. With this boat he sank 5 ships and damaged 3 more during 8 patrols.

The Mediterranean

On the third patrol U-652 was sent to the Mediterranean. Leaving Lorient, France on 1 Nov 1941 the boat passed through the heavily guarded Straits of Gibraltar on 28 Nov and then to Messina on 12 Dec (Busch and Röll, 1997). The boat spent the remainder of her career in the Mediterranean.

The Loss of U-652

On 2 June 1942 the boat was depth charges by a British Swordfish aircraft and so heavily damaged that it was scuttled afterwards by its fellow boat U-81 (Guggenberger). Entire crew of 46 men was saved by U-81 (Niestlé, 1998).

From June to Sept 1942 Fraatz served as an officer with the 1st Flotilla and was then sent to another U-boat familiarization, this time for the larger type IXC/40 boats. He then took command of the new U-529 on 30 Sept 1942.

After working up in the Baltic U-529 left base at Kiel for its first war patrol on 30 Jan 1943 but was lost 17 days later with all hands of 48 men.

Reassessment of the loss of U-529

In 2009 Dr. Axel Niestlé reassessed the fate of U-529, long believed to have gone missing to unknown causes. His assessment is that the boat was sunk on 15 Feb 1943 by depth charges by a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn 120/S). The aircraft photographed the diving boat but the photo was long believed to have been of a smaller type VIIC boat instead of a larger type IXC/40 boat like U-529.

Read the full article on the loss of U 225 and U 529.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestle, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

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.

• Front page
• About
• Contact us
• FAQ
• Glossary
• What's new

 © 1995 - 2024 Guðmundur Helgason