German mine clearance service

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Double stand "C" as the flag of all German seagoing ships between 1945 and 1951
The signal pennant “8” as identification of the DMRL vehicles

The German mine clearance service was formed in 1945 on the instructions of the Allies from the remaining parts of the navy and had the task of clearing the sea ​​mines in German coastal waters. The English name was "German Minesweeping Administration" (GMSA), while several German names have survived, including "Deutsche Mineräumleitung" (DMRL), "Deutscher Minenräumdienst" and "Deutsche Mineräumverwaltung".

Lineup and tasks

On the day of the unconditional surrender , May 8, 1945, the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces ordered the Navy to provide mine clearance vehicles for clearing mined waters. In order to ensure the administration and maintenance of the German naval units and naval shipyards that worked under Allied control, the Navy Supreme Command (OKM) initially remained under the direction of Admiral General Walter Warzecha , who was appointed by the Allies . It had the following tasks:

  • a. Repairs, maintenance and equipping of mine detection units,
  • b. Further supply with mine detector,
  • c. Further supply of technical communication media for mine sweepers,
  • d. Further supply and distribution of fuels from German sources,
  • e. Port and waterway construction, port concreting and lighting,
  • f. Administration of German naval bases
  • G. Pay, clothing, meals.

After the OKM was dissolved on July 21, 1945, the German mine clearance management (DM / RL) was set up to take over these tasks.

management

The Allies had set up the International Mine Clearance Board (IMCB) in London to coordinate mine clearance in European waters . The DMRL received its clearance orders from the British occupying power.

Rear Admiral Fritz Krauss was appointed by the British Navy as "Chief of German Mine Clearance Management" (Chief DM / RL) , who carried out this task until the end of 1947. The British leader was a "Commodore German Minesweeping Administration". The staff of the DMRL was initially in Glückstadt , later in Hamburg at the seat of the British Naval Commander in Schleswig-Holstein in the so-called Navy House .

Deputy head of DM / RL was Captain Heinrich Gerlach until March 1946 . In addition, three directors were appointed to the DM / RL staff, including Captain Alfred Schumann . The staff included some leading officers from the former operations department, among them the later inspectors of the navy Zenker and Jeschonnek .

Personnel and vehicles

A former passenger steamer served as accommodation for the crews of minesweepers in Wilhelmshaven

The information on the number of personnel and vehicles varies, especially for the first few months after the demining service has been set up. This is what an initial stock of 100,000 men is called. The later commander of the fleet, Günter Fromm , stated: “The High Command of the Navy identified 1664 vehicles with a staff of 44,600 men that were deployed in mine clearance. Far more than the Reichsmarine and the Bundesmarine ever accounted for. ”In autumn 1945 the DMRL still had around 27,000 marines, a number that had been reduced to around 16,000 by 1946. The number of vehicles is given for 1946 as 393 and for 1947 as 294.

The soldiers served as conscripted personnel not released from the Navy with the status of surrendered enemy personnel , who did not grant them the rights of prisoners of war. At first, the crews wore their old naval uniforms with all medals, but without swastikas. The allies soon became suspicious of the solidarity of the soldiers and the spirit of the corps that developed in the face of the danger during the daily evacuation service. Therefore, in May 1946, new uniforms and own ranks were introduced.

The swastika flag was no longer allowed to be used after the surrender. The Allies instructed to use an international signal flag "C", modified as a double stand, which was carried by German ships until 1951. On May 16, 1945, the Reich government in Flensburg - Mürwik ordered that the German warships deployed in mine clearance on behalf of the British have the national signal pennant "8" on the gaff . Without an instruction for this, some vehicles also carried the signal flag Q of the national flag office, which was understood as a protest of the commanders against the flag order because of its designation as the flag "nonsense".

As was the case with the clearing boat flotillas of the Kriegsmarine during the war, so-called paravans were used in the clearing flotillas of the German mine clearance service.

Units and associations

German clearing flotilla in action

The German mine clearance service was divided into six mine clearance divisions. In addition, there were forces under French leadership who were not under the German mine clearance service. In the central Baltic Sea forces were deployed under Soviet leadership.

1st Mining Division

The 1st billion in Kiel was responsible for the German coastal waters in the western Baltic Sea and was led by frigate captain Adalbert von Blanc (former commander of the 9th Security Division ).

In October 1945 the division consisted of:

2nd Mining Division

An artillery ferry (front model) and several marine ferry (behind) were part of the 2nd transport flotilla

The 2nd MRD ("North Sea A") in Cuxhaven was responsible for the waters off the German North Sea coast and was led by frigate captain Herbert Max Schulz, former commander of the 1st Schnellbootdivision and 3rd Schnellbootflotille. Their bases were Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven . Some of the vehicles stationed at the mouths of the Weser and Jade were later combined to form the 6th Mining Division.

In October 1945 the division consisted of:

  • 7th Minesweeping Flotilla (Cuxhaven) (from the former 5th Security Division)
  • 14th Minesweeping Flotilla (Wilhelmshaven)
  • 16. Minesweeping Flotilla (Wilhelmshaven)
  • 18th minesweeping flotilla (Bremerhaven)
  • 9. Clearance flotilla (Cuxhaven) with the Alders ship, among others
  • 13. Räumflotillen (Cuxhaven) with the ship Nordsee
  • 2nd barrier breaker flotilla (Cuxhaven)
  • 2. Transport flotilla (Cuxhaven) with, among others, the Lauting ship
  • a network clearing association (Cuxhaven)
  • a fog carrier group (Bremerhaven)
  • various other emergency vehicles (Bremerhaven)

3rd Mining Division

The 3rd BN in Copenhagen was responsible for Danish waters and was led by frigate captain Gustav Forstmann (until February 1946, former commander of the 1st clearing boat flotilla).

In October 1945 the division consisted of:

4th Mining Division

The fourth MRD in Norway continued minesweepers type 1940 a

The 4th BILLION in Kristiansand was responsible for the Norwegian coast and was led by frigate captain Hans-Otto Philipp (former commander of the 11th minesweeping flotilla, 23rd minesweeping flotilla and head of the 1st coastal security association), later by frigate captain Helmut Neuss . The lead ship was the speedboat companion Adolf Lüderitz .

The division operated from the ports of Kristiansand as the main base and from Stavanger , Oslo , Trondheim , Tromsø and Bergen .

In October 1945 the division consisted of:

5th Mining Division

The 5th BILLION in IJmuiden and Borkum was responsible for Dutch waters and was led by Corvette Captain Harald Schaper (former commander of the 34th minesweeping flotilla).

In October 1945 the division consisted of:

  • 25th Minesweeping Flotilla (from the former 9th Security Division)
  • 16. Räumflotille
  • 17th clearing flotilla (as 17th clearing boat flotilla of the former 9th security division)
  • There were also eleven former German clearing boats that were manned by Dutch Navy personnel.

6th Mining Division

The 6th billion ("North Sea B") in Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven had been separated from the 2nd billion. She was responsible for the waters off the mouths of the Weser , Jade and Ems and was led by Corvette Captain Kurt Ambrosius (last commander of the 12th outpost flotilla).

The 6th billion consisted of the 18th minesweeping flotilla of the 2nd MRD and various other emergency vehicles.

resolution

The M-Boats 388 and 460, which were taken out of service by the DMRL, are in the shipyard in 1949 for conversion to passenger ships. Instead, they served from 1951 in the LSU-B and from 1956 in the German Navy as seals and sea ​​urchins .

When the Soviet Union protested against the existence of the association as a secret German rearmament, it was dissolved on December 31, 1947. At this time the German waters were moored mines cleared, but there was still danger by land mines.

In order to continue clearing the ground mines that had not yet been cleared, the Cuxhaven Mine Clearance Association (MRVC) was set up under British control in January 1948 and continued the tasks of the DMRL until 1951. This considerably smaller, civilly clad follow-up organization with its home port of Cuxhaven only had twelve minesweepers and around 600 men. After the dissolution of the MRVC, a small part of the staff was taken over by the newly emerging Maritime Border Guard and the American-run Labor Service Unit (B) .

A total of ten vehicles were lost in various mine explosions and accidents and 348 relatives lost their lives.

public perception

In public and in the press, the members of the mine clearance service were sometimes attacked as incorrigible militarists or mocked as volunteers ("Hiwis") of the Allies because of their military activities . The abbreviation was reinterpreted as "General Montgomery's SA", "Go with me, seek Adolf" or "Secret Navy of the SA".

See also

Web links

literature

  • Heinz-Ludger Borgert, Walter Stürm, Norbert Wiggershaus. Service groups and West German defense contribution - preliminary considerations for arming the Federal Republic of Germany. Boppard am Rhein 1982. ISBN 3-7646-1807-8 .
  • Hartmut Klüver (ed.): Stations of German naval history (II): German sea associations 1945–1956 , Düsseldorf 2001, ISBN 3-935091-08-7 .
  • Reinhart Ostertag : German minesweepers - 80 years of anti-sea mine defense . Koehler , 1986, p. 34 ff.
  • Douglas C. Peifer. Three German Marines - Dissolution, Transitions and New Beginnings, p. 109 ff. Bochum 2007. ISBN 978-3-89911-101-9 .
  • Michael Salewski . The German Naval War Command 1935 - 1945. 3 Vol. Vol. II; 1942-1945; Munich 1975; ISBN 3-7637-5138-6 .
  • Axel Schrader: German mine sweepers in the Allied clearing service from 1945 , in: Marineforum 10-2001, p. 27 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Michael Salewski. The German Naval War Command 1935 - 1945. 3 Vol. Vol. II; 1942-1945; Munich 1975; ISBN 3-7637-5138-6 , p. 562 ff.
  2. ↑ a b Overview of the German mine clearance associations 1945–47 in the holdings of the Württemberg State Library
  3. ↑ a b c Douglas C. Peifer. Three German Marines - Dissolution, Transitions and New Beginnings , p. 109 ff. Bochum 2007. ISBN 978-3-89911-101-9
  4. ↑ a b Günter Fromm. The German Minesweeping Administration (GM / SA). In: Hartmut Klüver (ed.): Stations of German naval history (II): German sea associations 1945–1956 . P. 27ff.
  5. ^ Andreas Herzfeld. Radio message to all - The last flag arrangement of the German Reich . In: Marineforum 5-2010 p. 51.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Wolfgang Thamm: 55 years of ordnance disposal in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1945–2000: ordnance and materials, old weapons: a documentation about the work of the ordnance clearance and disposal services . Biblio, 2002, ISBN 978-3-7648-2327-6 , pp. 97 ( google.de [accessed on July 22, 2020]).
  7. ^ A b Aidan Dodson, Serena Cant: Spoils of War: The Fate of Enemy Fleets after the Two World Wars . Seaforth Publishing, 2020, ISBN 978-1-5267-4200-1 , pp. 174 ( google.de [accessed on July 22, 2020]).
  8. ↑ a b c d e f g Aidan Dodson, Serena Cant: Spoils of War: The Fate of Enemy Fleets after the Two World Wars . Seaforth Publishing, 2020, ISBN 978-1-5267-4200-1 , pp. 175 ( google.de [accessed on July 22, 2020]).
  9. ↑ cf. “Der Spiegel” 2/1948 2/1948 and “Die Zeit” 20/1946 , both accessed online on November 9, 2012.