Conrad Engelhardt

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Conrad Engelhardt (born March 26, 1898 in Lüneburg ; † October 28, 1973 there ) was a German naval officer , most recently rear admiral in World War II .

Life

Engelhardt joined the Imperial Navy as a volunteer during the First World War on April 4, 1916 and first came to the Mürwik Naval School (Crew IV / 1916) . It was then used on the large cruiser SMS Freya , then on the large liner SMS Thuringia and finally from December 16, 1916 on the large liner SMS Ostfriesland . Here, on January 13, 1917, he was appointed ensign and on June 19, 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant in the sea .

After the end of the war, Engelhardt was assigned to the Neumärk Field Artillery Regiment No. 54 as a company officer from December 1, 1918 to August 20, 1919 , then held the same position for a short time until September 25, 1919 with the Cuxhaven Coast Protection Battalion and then served on the coast -Schutz-Regiment Wilhelmshaven. Both associations were free corps . Engelhardt was placed at the disposal of the chief of the North Sea naval station on October 29, 1919 and released from military service on November 13, 1919.

Engelhardt was reactivated to the Reichsmarine on October 1, 1923 , attended the Mürwik Naval School again and completed various training courses. From May 8, 1924 to February 14, 1926, he then acted as adjutant of the Coastal Protection Battalion IV, in the meantime became first lieutenant at sea on July 1, 1925 and then came as a navigation and watch officer on the fleet tender Meteor . On June 18, 1927, Engelhardt was sent to a three-month course at the ship artillery school in Kiel-Wik . This was followed on September 29, 1927 , when he was transferred as an officer on watch to the torpedo boat Iltis , where he served for the next two years. Engelhardt then worked as a training officer at the coastal artillery school in Wilhelmshaven for three years. This was followed by his employment as a roll officer on the ship of the line Hessen , with which he a. a. was on a trip abroad and was promoted to lieutenant captain on April 1, 1923. Engelhardt then received command of the torpedo boat Kondor on September 24, 1934 , which he commanded until September 27, 1936. Following this, Engelhardt was company commander in the II Naval Artillery Department in Wilhelmshaven until October 7, 1937 . As corvette captain (since April 1, 1937) he was again given command on board and was transferred to the armored ship Admiral Scheer as the first artillery officer. He stayed here until November 6, 1938 and then came back to the ship artillery school as a trainer.

Engelhardt retained this position beyond the beginning of the Second World War until September 13, 1939. For a short time he then acted as flak group commander in the Brunsbüttel area until December 3, 1939 , then rose to commander and was promoted to frigate captain on January 1, 1940 . On May 25, 1940, he was then transferred to the staff of the Naval Commander-in-Chief for Northern France. He held this position for two months and was appointed First Admiral Staff Officer to the staff of the Naval Commander in Chief Channel Coast. This was followed on December 15, 1940 by his appointment as commander of the Gascogne - Loire - Gironde fortifications . Engelhardt was released from this post on February 15, 1941 and transferred to the staff of the Italian Navy Commander-in-Chief, based in Rome .

From March 1943 to January 1944 he was the German head of sea transport in Italy . He then became head of the shipping department in the naval war command and at the same time chief of sea transport in the Wehrmacht . As such, he was largely responsible for the ship operations in the rescue of German refugees from the east in 1944/1945 (see Hannibal company ). His power of disposal over transport space resulted in responsibility for the transport of refugees even without a special order. From May 24, 1945 to December 2, 1946 he was in British captivity .

After the war Engelhardt was a clerk at the Baltic Sea Research Center at the East Academy in Lüneburg. In this function he planned a documentation about the rescue actions at the end of the war, which failed because of disputes between various parties involved in the war and insufficient financial resources.

Awards

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dieter Hartwig: Großadmiral Dönitz - Legend and Reality , Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh , Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-77027-1 , p. 345.
  2. ↑ Dieter Hartwig: Grand Admiral Dönitz - Legend and Reality , Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh , Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-77027-1 , p. 128.
  3. ^ Ranking list of the German Reichsmarine , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1929, p. 51
  4. ↑ Klaus D. Patzwall and Veit Scherzer : Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, History and Owner Volume II , Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X , p. 103.
personal data
SURNAME Engelhardt, Conrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, most recently rear admiral in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Luneburg
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1973
Place of death Luneburg