| Born | 1 Jan 1915 | Hildesheim | |
| Died | 2002 | (86) | near Bonn, Germany |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-843 | 24 Mar 1943 | 9 Apr 1945 | 3 patrols (291 days) |
Oskar Herwartz joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. He was seconded to the Luftwaffe, German Air Force, until Feb 1942. He went through U-boat training from March to August 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
From Aug to Dec 1942 he was the First Watch Officer on the U-67 (KrvKpt. Günther Müller-Stöckheim). During his service on U-67 the boat sank 4 ships for over 20,000 tons and damaged 2 ships for almost 12,000 tons (Rohwer, 1998). Herwartz went through U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla in Jan 1943, finishing his courses in Feb when he began his U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) for his own command (Busch & Röll, 1999).
First U-boat Command
On 24 March 1943 Kptlt. Oskar Herwatz commissioned the new type IXC/40 boat U-843 at Bremen. After training in the Baltic he left for his first patrol from Trondheim, Norway on 15 Oct 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1997).
Operations in the Far East
On 19 Feb 1944 Herwatz sailed U-843 from Lorient, France to Batavia in the Far East as part of the Monsun group. He reached base 114 days later on 11 June 1944 having sunk one 8,261 ton ship. On 10 Dec 1944 Herwatz left Batavia again heading for Europe. On 3 April 1945 Harwatz arrived at Bergen, Norway.
On 9 April 1945 the boat was sunk in the Kattegat by rockets from a British Mosquito aircraft (RAF Sqdn 235/A, pilot F/O A.J. Rendell), 44 dead and 12 survived (Niestlé, 1998).
U-843 during its raising from the Kattegat in August, 1958.
Oskar apparently passed away at his home near Bonn in 2002.
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.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.
Patrol info for Oskar Herwartz
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | U-843 | 7 Oct 1943 | Kiel | 12 Oct 1943 | Trondheim | 6 days | ||
| 2. | U-843 | 15 Oct 1943 | Trondheim | 15 Dec 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 62 days | |
| 3. | U-843 | 19 Feb 1944 | Lorient | 11 Jun 1944 | Batavia | Patrol 2, | 114 days | |
| 4. | U-843 | 13 Jun 1944 | Batavia | 15 Jun 1944 | Singapur | 3 days | ||
| 5. | U-181 | 30 Aug 1944 | Penang | 31 Aug 1944 | Singapore | 2 days | ||
| 6. | U-843 | 1 Nov 1944 | Singapur | 1 Nov 1944 | Batavia | 1 days | ||
| 7. | U-843 | 10 Dec 1944 | Batavia | 3 Apr 1945 | Bergen | Patrol 3, | 115 days | |
| 8. | U-843 | 6 Apr 1945 | Bergen | 9 Apr 1945 | Sunk | 4 days | ||
| 3 patrols, 291 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Oskar Herwartz
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Apr 1944 | U-843 |  | Nebraska | 8,261 |  | br | OS-71 | |
| 8,261 | ||||||||
1 ship sunk (8,261 tons). Legend | ||||||||
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.
Media links
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