Werner Furbringer

Background

Fürbringer was born Braunschweig and entered the Imperial German Navy as a Seekadett on April 3, 1907.

Education

Subsequently he attended the Basic-Training and was assigned on Board of the School-Ship SMS Charlotte. He also attended the Naval-School and the other Special-Briefings and was promoted to the rank of Fähnrich zur See (Officer candidate).

Career

He was later promoted to the rank of Konteradmiral during I. He then spent some time aboard the cruiser SMS Roon, sailing in the East Asia within the High Seas Fleet, before being transferred to the Heavy cruiser SMS Scharnhorst. During the time of his transfer, Fürbringer was promoted to the rank of Leutnant zur See on September 28, 1910. Spending another two years in Asia, Fürbringer returned home in November 1912 and subsequently he was selected for the U-Boat training.

He served aboard U-20, but left prior to the U-20"s sinking of Rated Maximum Sinusoidal Lusitania in 1915.

He exclusively commanded small, coastal U-boats, starting with UB-2 in February 1915. He went on to command six subsequent UB and University of California-type boats, during which time he was awarded the Iron Cross, Second and First class.

His last command was UB-110, which was depth-charged and rammed by HMS Garry on July 19, 1918. In his postwar memoirs, accused Lightoller"s crew of opening fire with revolvers and machine guns on the unarmed survivors after the sinking of UB-110.

When Fürbringer attempted to help a wounded officer to swim, he was told, "Let me die in peace.

The swine are going to murder us anyhow." The shooting only ceased when the convoy the destroyer had been escorting and which contained many neutral-flagged ships, arrived on scene. He later recalled, "As if by magic the British now let down some life boats into the water." If Fürbringer"s accusations were true, the Garry"s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Lightoller, committed a war crime under the Hague Convention of 1907, which had explicitly forbidden the killing of unarmed shipwreck survivors under any circumstances. 21 out of 34 crew members were killed during the sinking and alleged masscre, and Fürbringer was captured.

He spent the rest of the war as a British prisoner of war.

Achievements

• Wehrmacht Long Service Award.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Fips: Legendary U-Boat Commander, 1915-1918

    (Translated by Geoffrey Brooks. In a desperate attempt t...)

  • Fips: Legendary U-Boat Commander, 1915-1918

Membership

During the ensuing massacre, Fürbringer watched the skull of an 18-year old member of his crew being split open by a lump of coal hurled by a Royal Navy sailor.