Armin Zimmermann (Admiral)

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Armin Zimmermann, 1970

Armin Zimmermann (born December 23, 1917 in Blumenau , Brazil , † November 30, 1976 in Bonn ) was a German naval officer . From 1972 to 1976 he was Inspector General of the Bundeswehr .

Life

Zimmermann joined the Navy in April 1937 as an officer candidate . At the beginning of the Second World War he was an ensign at sea in a mine clearing association under Captain Ruge . Promoted to lieutenant at sea , he became the commandant of a clearing boat in the spring of 1940 and a minesweeper in 1942 . After a brief visit to the military academy, he was appointed flotilla chief of the 46th minesweeping flotilla in the area of ​​the English Channel , making him the youngest flotilla chief in the Navy. There he was instrumental in the planning of the coup on Granville on March 9, 1945, one of the last offensive actions of the Navy. He was badly wounded in the war. Zimmermann received the German Cross in Gold as the highest war award .

At the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the British on the Channel Islands . He then worked for the German mine clearance service until 1947 as a commander, flotilla chief and liaison officer to the British staff and participated in clearing the sea ​​mines on the German coast . In early 1948 he joined the Cuxhaven mine clearance association , where he continued his work. After its dissolution in the summer of 1951, he stayed in Cuxhaven and became head of the expert group on mine issues at the Royal Navy .

In 1956 Zimmermann was taken over as a corvette captain in the new German Navy . He was temporarily a German naval attaché in London and squadron commander of a minesweeping squadron. He was deployed several times in the Federal Ministry of Defense and held the functions of Commander of the Naval Forces of the North Sea and Commander of the Fleet . On April 1, 1972, Admiral Zimmermann became the first naval officer to become Inspector General of the Bundeswehr . In June 1976 Zimmermann suffered a severe head injury in a fit of weakness that was due to his war wound, from the consequences of which he died on November 30, 1976 in office. His daughter married the gynecologist Henning Kühnle .

In Wilhelmshaven district Sengwarden predominantly of which is German Navy used Admiral Armin Zimmermann barracks .

Web links

Commons : Armin Zimmermann  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Friedrich Ruge , In vier Marinen , Munich 1979, p. 192
  2. ↑ Dieter Stockfisch, coup d'état on Granville, A hussar piece shortly before the end of the war in the rear of the Allies , in: Marineforum 11-2002 p. 44f
  3. ^ Douglas C. Peifer. Three German Marines - Dissolution, Transitions and New Beginnings , p. 109 ff. Bochum 2007. ISBN 978-3-89911-101-9
personal data
SURNAME Zimmermann, Armin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German admiral
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Blumenau (Brazil)
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 1976
Place of death Bonn