Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He sailed with the Schnellboot "South 24", "South 26" and "South 102", sinking eighteen ships on 281 combat patrols, for a total of 86,200 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping. Werner Töniges transferred from the Handelsmarine to the Kriegsmarine in 1935.
In 1937 he was promoted to Leutnant zur Secretary
On board of the German pocket battleship "Admiral Graf Spee" he participated in Spanish Civil War. He then transferred to the Schnellboot service.
He commanded the Schnellboote "South 24", "South 26" and "South 102". He soon also received the Oak Leaves to the Knight"s Cross on 13 November 1942, the first in the Schnellboot service.
At this point Töniges had sunk 18 war and merchant ships plus two U-boat hunters.
He was transferred to the Naval Academy Mürwik (Marineschule Mürwik) in Flensburg-Mürwik as company commander at the end of September 1942. Here he received the with Diamonds. As of September 1943 he served as a training officer in the Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine, where he was promoted to Korvettenkapitän on 1 January 1945.
(28 January 1941) with Diamonds (16 December 1942) Bibliography.