The Men - The Commander listing

Erich Faust

Oberleutnant zur See (Crew XII/39)



No ships sunk or damaged.


Born  22 Apr 1921 Cuxhaven
Died  14 Aug 1944(23)Bay of Biscay


Oblt. Erich Faust with 2 men of U-618

Ranks

1 Dec 1939Offiziersanwärter
1 Nov 1940Fähnrich zur See
1 Nov 1941Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1942Leutnant zur See
1 Dec 1943Oberleutnant zur See

Decorations

27 Jul 1943Iron Cross 2nd Class
12 Oct 1943U-boat War Badge 1939
1944Iron Cross 1st Class

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-618 16 Apr 1944 14 Aug 1944  (+)  4 patrols (13 days) 

Erich Faust joined the Kriegsmarine in 1939. He went through U-boat and officer training from Dec 1939 to May 1942. From May to Aug 1942 he was assigned as a supernumerary Watch Officer (WO) on the U-412 (Kptlt. Walther Jahrmärker) during which time the boat undergoing training in the Baltic (Busch & Röll, 1999).


The crew of U-618. Three officers are wearing belts. The officer on the left is LzS Hans Baresel, then the commander Oblt. Erich Faust.

Faust was sent to U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) from Aug to Oct 1942 before joining the new U-667 as its First Watch Officer (1WO) (Busch & Röll, 1999). With the U-667 Kptlt. Heinrich-Andreas Schroeteler he went out on 4 patrols, 145 days at sea, from May 1943 to Jan 1944 (Busch & Röll, 1997). The boat sank no ships during these patrols, and in fact at the time most boats struggled to stay alive.

Oblt. Erich Faust went through U-Boat Commander training with the 24th flotilla from Feb to April 1944 before taking command of the experienced boat U-618 from Kptlt. Kurt Baberg on 16 April 1944 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

U-618 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of St. Nazaire, in position 47.22N, 04.39W, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Duckworth and HMS Essington, and by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (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

Ships hit by Erich Faust

No entries found.


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.

Listing of all U-boat commanders