Commander in charge of securing the Baltic Sea

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The commander of the security of the Baltic Sea (BSO) was a command authority of the German Imperial Navy , the Provisional Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine . It existed from January 1918 to the early 1920s and from September 1939 to December 1944.

First World War

Seal of the BSO, 1918

After the armistice in the First World War between Bolshevik Russia and the Central Powers came into force on December 15, 1917, the Imperial Navy had the opportunity to transfer essential forces from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea . In this context, the command structures in the Baltic Sea were redesigned on January 24, 1918.

The Supreme Commander in Chief of the Baltic Sea Forces (OdO) created on July 31, 1914, was dissolved and its tasks were taken over by the Baltic Sea Naval Station . The Security Association of the Western Baltic Sea (SwO) and the Security Association of the Middle Baltic Sea (SmO) were merged under the new Commander of Securing the Baltic Sea (BSO); Rear Admiral Herrmann Nordmann , the previous commander of the SwO, became the first BSO.He was followed in October 1918 by Rear Admiral Walter Freiherr von Keyserlingk and in June 1919 by Commodore (from March 1920 Rear Admiral) Ernst Ewers , who was in command until March 23, 1920. The BSO's office no longer existed in the organization of the Reichsmarine .

Second World War

At the beginning of the Second World War , the office of the BSO was newly established. She was on duty at the Baltic Sea Naval Station and subordinated to the Naval Group Command East . Operationally, the leader of the minesweepers east and the leader of the outpost boats were subordinate to him . Militarily, he commanded in the Baltic Sea located mine countermeasures vessels and submarine hunter , which in January 1940 under the leader of the special units East were contracted. In August 1940, the Baltic Sea Access Guard Unit (Bewa Ost) was newly established and subordinated to the BSO .

In October 1940, the BSO and his staff were relocated to France as commander of the Security West . A new BSO staff was formed from the staff of the leader of the outpost boats east, which had previously been stationed in Aalborg (Denmark), with the previous leader of the minesweepers north, Rear Admiral Hans Stohwasser , as the new BSO from October 14, 1940

When the Barbarossa company was being prepared in May 1941, new security structures were created in the eastern Baltic Sea that were not under the command of the BSO. Bewa Ost was dissolved in August 1942 . The flotillas came directly under the BSO With effect from October 1, 1943, the coastal defense flotillas in Kiel , Swinemünde and Gotenhafen , which were subordinate to the coastal commanders, were subordinated to the BSO as security flotillas .

In June 1944, the 9th Security Division was set up in the eastern Baltic Sea . Until November 1944 she was under the command of the commanding Admiral Ostland .

From April 1944, the BSO was only operational in the central Baltic Sea. The two security flotillas subordinate to him formed a new 10th security division on December 2, 1944 . She was subordinated to the commanding admiral western Baltic Sea . The office of the BSO was dissolved and the previous BSO and his staff took over the management of the 10th Security Division.

The commanders were Rear Admiral Hermann Mootz (from January 1939), Rear Admiral Hans Stohwasser (from October 1940) and Rear Admiral Hans Bütow (June to the end of November 1944).

See also

literature

  • Hans H. Hildebrand: The organizational development of the navy including staffing 1848 to 1945 (= formation history and staffing of the German armed forces 1815-1990. Part 2). 3 volumes. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 2000, ISBN 3-7648-2541-3 .
  • Richard Lakowski: The Unknown Fleet. The security forces of the Kriegsmarine. Mittler, Hamburg et al. 2006, ISBN 3-8132-0849-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Max Schwarte (Ed.): The Great War, 1914–1918. Fourth volume, Leipzig / Munich / Berlin / Stuttgart / Tübingen, 1922, p. 184.
  2. ↑ Christian Stachelbeck: Germany's Army and Navy in the First World War. Oldenbourg, Munich, 2013, ISBN 978-3-486-71299-5 , p. 145.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Köhler, collaboration with Max Plüddemann. Illustrated German fleet calendar for 1932 (Koehler's fleet calendar), 30th year, Minden
  4. ^ WLB Stuttgart
  5. ↑ Commanding Admiral Ostland (German Naval Archive)