Rainbow command
The so-called rainbow order of the German navy in World War II said that all ships and submarines of the navy that were not suitable for fishing or mine clearing were to be sunk in order not to have to hand them over to the enemy. This order was confirmed by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz on April 30, 1945, when he succeeded Hitler , but was withdrawn on May 4.
According to the stipulations of the rainbow order, over 200 German submarines were sunk by their crews at the end of the war.
Basis of the Rainbow Command
Since the beginning of the war, there have been constant service instructions for the units of the Kriegsmarine that a warship should be sunk if it threatened to fall into enemy hands. This instruction was specified in 1943 for the submarines of the Kriegsmarine and given the password “rainbow”. Since then, there has been a constant order for the German submarines to sink themselves when the password “rainbow” is issued. This order was based on the one hand on the directive issued by Hitler that "no soldier in the Wehrmacht or any other combat unit under German command may ever surrender to the enemy". Furthermore, the self-immersion in a hopeless situation corresponded to the tradition of the navies of many nationalities. The self-sinking of the Danish fleet a few years earlier, as well as the self-sinking of the Vichy fleet, had been accepted by the German naval command without holding those responsible to account.
Execution of the rainbow command
 
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Self-sinking according to the Rainbow Order on May 4th and 5th |
The delivery of the ships of the Kriegsmarine was part of the partial capitulation signed on May 4th by all German associations in northwest Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands . While Dönitz agreed to the handover in the interests of this agreement, the Wehrmacht High Command raised objections. Nevertheless, Doenitz withdrew the rainbow order. With the end of the submarine war on May 4th, which he announced by radio, the Grand Admiral combined the instruction not to destroy any ships or weapons. On the evening of the same day a delegation of submarine commanders called in Dönitz's headquarters in Flensburg - Mürwik to have the withdrawal of the rainbow order confirmed by him personally, but was not admitted to him. His adjutant, Korvettenkapitän Walter Lüdde-Neurath, said on this occasion that if he were submarine commander he would know what to do.
Many submarine commanders ignored the withdrawal of the order and nevertheless sank their boats in or in front of the ports. Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk , who was involved as a minister in the so-called Dönitz government , later made it clear that many submarine commanders acted in the belief that they were acting in accordance with the actual will of Dönitz by sinking themselves. On May 4th and 5th, 28 submarines were sunk by their crews in the Flensburg Fjord in accordance with the wording of the rainbow order and contrary to the surrender conditions . In addition, there were 47 boats sunk in the Geltinger Bay , two Walter submarines sunk in Cuxhaven and one submarine in Eckernförde . In addition, 13 at Wilhelmshaven and eight training boats at Bremerhaven were self-sunk, including a number of old school boats that had only been reactivated a short time before.
Submarines in enemy waters
Most of the German submarines in the sea at the time of the surrender called at British and American ports between May 9 and 19. But some commanders still felt bound by the rainbow order. On May 8, 1945, the German submarine U 2365 was self - sunk in the Kattegat due to the rainbow order. It was raised again in 1955. The commander of U 287 sank his boat in front of Altenbruch and gave a mine hit as the reason for the loss of the boat. U 963 , at the end of the war with the mining of the sea area off the Isle of Portland , was self- sunk on May 20th near Nazaré . U 979 was blown up off Amrum on May 24th , and the crew of U 1277 sank their boat off the Portuguese coast on June 3rd .
Number of self-sunk submarines
The literature does not agree on the actual number of submarines that were self-sunk as a result of the rainbow order. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that in some cases boats are also included that were already on May 2nd and 3rd - for example, on their own initiative or following the instructions of the chief of the 25th U-Flotilla, Wilhelm Schulz were self-sunk. On the other hand, there is disagreement as to whether boats are to be counted that were in service but had not yet reached the frontline. U 29 , U 30 , U 46 were sunk in the Flensburg Fjord on May 5th , although some of them had already been decommissioned years ago. With U 3047 , U 3050 and U 3051 , as well as U 1026 , a number of unfinished boats were also sunk near Bremerhaven and Flensburg.
According to documents compiled by the Allies in September 1945 , a total of 222 German submarines were self -sunk by their crews at the beginning of May in accordance with the rainbow order . Other sources say that 218, 216, 232 or 225 submarines were blown up or sunk by opening the valves during this period.
Prosecution by Allied Military Courts
Allied military courts prosecuted German naval officers as war criminals in several cases because they had their submarines sunk in violation of the surrender regulations after the end of the war . Although British naval officers showed understanding for self-scuttling and said that this was also expected of British sailors and officers in similar situations, the British naval command insisted on taking a tough line against German naval personnel who had destroyed their own war material. A British naval officer who was responsible for preparing an indictment in Wilhelmshaven said: "The commander is likely to be shot, although the British navy would, under the same circumstances, expect what he was doing from an Englishman." However, no death sentences were passed, but the highest sentence was 7 years in prison. Despite a contrary recommendation from the legal department of the British Navy, First Lieutenant Gerhard Grumpelt, who had the two submarines U 1406 and U 1407 sunk near Cuxhaven on May 7, 1945 , was brought before a British military tribunal and on February 13, 1946, 7 Sentenced to years in prison, which the British commander confirmed on March 8, but reduced to 5 years. On July 5, 1946, the commander of U 1277 Ehrenreich Stever, who had his submarine sunk off the coast of Portugal on June 2, 1945 , and was handed over to the British with his entire crew by the Portuguese , was also sentenced to 7 years in prison was. Here, too, the sentence was reduced to 5 years. In both cases a further 3 years were later released, and Grumpelt left the prison on February 12, 1948. Other naval officers who were brought to court for scuttling , but without convictions, were the commander of U 979 Johannes Meermeier and commander of U 287 Heinrich Meier. Johannes Meermeier spent 99 days in a British prison.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Rainer Busch and Hans Joachim Röll: The submarine war. Volume three: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg a. a. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 , pp. 356-372.
- ↑ a b Peter Padfield: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1996. Licensed edition Bechtermünz, Weltbild, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0313-4 , p. 425.
- ↑ a b Michael Salewski : Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor - sinking and resurrection in German naval history. In: MGFA (Ed.): Werner Rahn - Service and Science. Potsdam writings on military history, Potsdam 2010, ISBN 978-3-941571-08-2 , p. 31.
- ↑ a b Jörg Hillmann : The "Myth" Dönitz . in Bea Lundt (ed.): Northern Lights Awareness of history and history myths north of the Elbe . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-412-10303-9 , p. 261.
- ^ A b Jürgen Rohwer and Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945 . Gerhard Stalling Verlag, Oldenburg. Online version, see entry May 5, 1945
- ↑ Rainer Busch and Hans Joachim Röll: The submarine war. Volume three: German submarine losses from September 1939 to May 1945. Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg a. a. 1999, ISBN 3-8132-0514-2 , pp. 343-405.
- ↑ Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945 online, s. Entry May 9-19, 1945 . In: Württemberg State Library .
- ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Volume Two: The Hunted 1942–1945. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , p. 813.
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars. Urbes Verlag, Graefelfing vor München 1997, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 , p. 275.
- ↑ Chris Madsen: The Royal Navy and German Naval Disarmament, 1942-1947. Frank Cass, London 1998. pp. 180f.
- ^ Clas Broder Hansen: The Amrum submarine. Der Kleine Amrumer, 2018, pp. 30–39, here p. 37.