Arno Spindler

Arno Spindler (born May 10, 1880 in Gleiwitz , † May 18, 1967 in Hamburg ) was a German naval officer , most recently rear admiral in World War II and a naval writer.

Life

Service in the Imperial Navy

Spindler joined the Imperial Navy as a cadet on April 12, 1898 . After his basic training on land and on the training ship SMS Stosch , he attended the naval school and several special courses. Spindler emigrated to China on October 22, 1900 and served on the large cruiser SMS Fürst Bismarck , the flagship of the East Asia Squadron, from December 7, 1900 to November 19, 1902 . During this time he was appointed lieutenant at sea on September 13, 1901 and participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion .

In mid-January 1903 Spindler returned to Germany via Hong Kong and was employed as a company officer in the I. Torpedo Division. Promoted to First Lieutenant at Sea on March 28, 1903 , he was temporarily at the same time officer on watch on torpedo boats SMS G 110 and S 98 and first officer on torpedo division boats SMS D 4 and D 7 . After further uses, u. a. From October 1905 to September 1908 as a torpedo officer on the liner SMS Elsass , Spindler was made available for the inspection of the torpedo system at the beginning of October 1910. During the inspection, Spindler was transferred to the submarine department in mid-October, initially as a company officer and later as an adjutant. On January 7, 1913, he was appointed chief of the 2nd half flotilla of the 1st submarine flotilla.

He held this post after the outbreak of World War I until the end of August 1915 and was promoted to Korvettenkapitän on January 27, 1915 . From September 1915 Spindler worked as a department head for submarine affairs in the general naval office of the Reichsmarineamt . In December 1917 he rose to head of department there. From July 1 to November 7, 1918, he taught the commanding offspring at the submarine school.

For his achievements during the war, Spindler was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Bavarian Order of Military Merit IV class with swords and crown and the Hanseatic Cross of the city of Bremen. Shortly before the end of the war, Spindler was placed at the disposal of the chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea .

Service in the Reichsmarine

From December 21, 1918 to April 23, 1919 he was assigned to serve at the Reichsmarineamt. He then worked as an adjutant for the submarine inspection department until the beginning of September 1919 and was then transferred to the Reichswerft as head of the central department and, from March 14, 1920, Wilhelmshaven naval shipyard .

Associated with it was its takeover in the Reichsmarine . On March 8, 1920 Spindler was promoted to frigate captain. On May 27, 1921 he was transferred to the naval line and appointed chief of staff of the General Naval Office. As a sea captain, he was assigned to the naval command within the naval command at the beginning of June 1923, of which Spindler was head from June 24, 1923. On September 30, 1925 he was made available to the Chief of Naval Command and on 31 October 1925 awarding of the character set as Rear Admiral for grabs. In December 1925 he took over the management of the newly formed submarine department (A u) at the Naval Office, which later traded under A II u for reasons of confidentiality.

After his departure, Spindler worked as a clerk in the naval archive of the naval management or later, after its renaming, in the war science department of the OKM . He published several volumes as part of the official work Der Krieg zur See 1914–1918 , in particular the section on the trade war with submarines, which was published in five volumes.

Second World War

During the Second World War, Spindler was made available to the Navy on August 20, 1940, and on June 1, 1941 he was granted the patent for his rank. On April 23, 1943, he resigned from his work in the war science department, was at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Sea Command until May 31, 1943 and was released from active military service on this date. Spindler then worked as an assistant in the war science department of the OKM until the end of the war.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1990. ISBN 3-7648-1700-3 . Pp. 356-357.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy for 1918. Ed .: Marine-Kabinett . Mittler & Sohn publishing house . Berlin 1918. p. 22.
2. ↑ Bernd Remmele, The secret maritime armor under Captain Lohmann, University of Education Freiburg i. B., 1997, p. 23ff.
3. ↑ Das Admiralstabswerk, published by the Marine-Archiv ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 18, 2014 from navyhistory.com