Ernst Scheurlen

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Ernst Scheurlen (born December 5, 1894 in Strasbourg , † April 8, 1945 near Groß Eilstorf ) was a German naval officer , most recently vice admiral in World War II .

career

Imperial Navy

After graduating from high school , Scheurlen joined the Imperial Navy as a midshipman on April 1, 1912 ( crew 1912 ) and received his basic training on land and on the great cruiser Victoria Louise . From March 11, 1913 to August 11, 1914, continued training at the Mürwik Naval School and in special courses ; during this time he was promoted to ensign at sea on April 12, 1913 . A few days after the beginning of the First World War , Scheurlen was assigned to the coastal armored ship Odin on August 12, 1914 , on which he served until January 16, 1916. During this time he was promoted to lieutenant at sea on March 22, 1915 . From January 17, 1916 to June 12, 1917 Scheurlen served on the battle cruiser Von der Tann , on which he participated in the Skagerrak Battle on May 31/1. June 1916 participated. He then became the commandant of the cod mine sweeper , which he commanded until February 1918. In this position he was promoted to first lieutenant at sea on December 25, 1917 . Scheurlen then took over the auxiliary minesweeper Baltrum . In September 1918 he switched to the new M 120 minesweeper as commander , which he commanded in the Reichsmarine until March 9, 1921 even after the end of the war . For his achievements during the war, Scheurlen was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross and the Knight's Cross, 2nd class, of the Order of Frederick with Swords.

Imperial Navy

From October 1, 1922 to February 28, 1924, Scheurlen was in command of the M 134 station tender , which was transferred to the North Sea naval station on September 30, 1921 . In March-April 1924 a course followed at the Coastal Artillery School (KAS) in Wilhelmshaven , whereupon Scheurlen was transferred as a company commander to Coast Defense Department IV on May 2, 1924 and promoted to lieutenant captain on August 1, 1924 . From September 26, 1925 to September 25, 1928 he served as a teacher at the coastal artillery school in Wilhelmshaven, then until January 7, 1930 as an artillery officer on the light cruiser Emden and from January 8, 1930 to September 23, 1931 as 2nd. Artillery officer on the old ship of the line Schlesien . His next post, from September 24, 1931 to March 30, 1933, was that of an instructor at the Ship Artillery Test Command, where he was promoted to Corvette Captain on December 1, 1931 . Six months followed, from March 31, 1933 to September 27, 1933, as 1st artillery officer on the ship of the line Schleswig-Holstein , before he was returned to his field as a naval artilleryman on land: from September 28, 1933 with the ship artillery test command and from October 3, 1934 on the staff of the coastal artillery school in Wilhelmshaven.

Navy

On October 30, 1935 (until November 2, 1938) Scheurlen was appointed commander to III. Naval artillery department (III. MAA) moved. There he was promoted to frigate captain on October 1, 1936 and to sea captain on March 1, 1938 and served several times as a deputy commander of the fortifications of the Pomeranian coast (July 31 - August 8, 1936, January 18 - 6. February 1937, February 15 - March 2, 1938). This was followed by an eight-month interlude in sea service, as commandant of the light cruiser Königsberg from November 3, 1938 to June 26, 1939.

On June 27, 1939, he switched to the Naval Air Defense and Coastal Artillery School (Fla.KS) in Swinoujscie as commander . At the same time, he served as commander of the Fla.KS in personal union head of the artillery test commands Country (AVKL). During this time he acted twice as deputy fortress commander Pomeranian Coast (July 3 - July 15, 1939, October 6, 1939 - January 17, 1940). In preparation for the invasion of England ( Operation Sea Lion ) Scheurlen was at the same time from August 29, 1940 to October 27, 1940 commander of the Le Havre naval command post and designated chief of transport fleet E, which was the first wave of attacks by the 9th Army ( 6th Mountain -Division , the 8th and 28th Infantry Divisions ) as well as staffs and corps of the VIII and X Army Corps in the intended landing area Brighton to Selsey ; at the same time he was to command towing formation 5 from Le Havre himself. When the Fla.KS was divided into the Naval Air Defense School (M.Fla.S.) and the Coastal Artillery School (KAS) on January 1, 1941, Scheurlen became the commander of the Naval Air Defense School, which was renamed Naval Air Defense School I in September 1941. He held this position until February 28, 1943.

Scheurlen was promoted to Rear Admiral on April 1, 1942 and on July 15, 1942, while retaining his post as school commander, was appointed leader of the Crimean Naval Operations Staff, which was responsible for the preparation and implementation of the "Blücher" and "Blücher II", the transfer of German troops across the Kerch Strait in the first days of September . When it was then reorganized as the Kerch naval task force, he remained its commander until December 7, 1942. Even when the Kerch naval task force, which had since been disbanded, was reorganized, he was again its commander from February 15 to May 15, 1943, but the formation was no longer fully completed and there was no further use.

Scheurlen was then placed at the disposal of the Commander in Chief of the Baltic Sea Command and then appointed Coast Commander German Bight on June 23, 1943 . On August 1, 1944, he was promoted to Vice Admiral. From August 13, 1944 to the dissolution of this agency on September 6, 1944, he was commanding admiral of the French south coast , then until February 10, 1945 again coast commander German Bight or commanding admiral German Bight . Scheurlen became known as the court lord by the fact that he had the two young students and naval helper Ernst Jünger Jr. who were deployed on Wangerooge . (Son of the writer Ernst Jünger ) and Wolf Jobst Siedler , who had to fear the death sentence due to a denunciation because of comments critical of the regime , only had them sentenced to nine months imprisonment and subsequent “frontline probation”.

2nd Marine Infantry Division and Death

On February 11, 1945 Scheurlen was commissioned as commander to set up the 2nd Marine Infantry Division , which was then set up in March in Glückstadt and Itzehoe largely from available naval personnel who were barely trained for warfare on land. There were also a number of young SS soldiers, some of the only 16 years old recruited from the Hitler Youth , who were initially intended to replace the 12th SS Panzer Division “Hitler Youth” , and two Hungarian units with dubious combat morale. On paper, the division was structured like a Volksgrenadier division , but it remained practically without heavy weapons, equipped mainly with rifles and bazookas . The division was originally intended to carry out the planned liberation attack under the SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS Felix Steiner ("Army Group Steiner") on Berlin with the 7th Panzer Division and the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division . It reported ready for action on April 2, 1945 and was relocated to the Bremen area and on April 5 to defend the Weser - Aller line against the advancing British (in the area of Cloppenburg , Bersenbrück , Nienburg , Verden , Schwarmstedt , Walsrode , Visselhövede ) Army group Student, from April 10th Army group Blumentritt , subordinated. There she was largely wiped out in the following weeks with high human losses.

Scheurlen himself was so badly wounded on April 7th in a low-flying attack on his Horch command vehicle near Groß Eilstorf near Walsrode that he died the next day.

Awards

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. 215-216.
  • Rolf Klodt: At sea and on land. On the history, missions and uniforms of the German marines, marines, the naval security force and the naval protection forces. Report publisher. Bonn 2008. ISBN 978-3-932385-28-5 .
  • Ulrich Saft: War at home. The bitter end between Weser and Elbe. 4. revised Edition. Publishing house Walsrode Ulrich Saft. Walsrode 1992. ISBN 3-9801789-3-5 .
  • Hans H. Hildebrand: The organizational development of the navy together with staffing 1848 to 1945. Biblio-Verlag. Osnabrück 2000. ISBN 3-7648-2541-3 .
  • Lawrence Paterson: Black Flag: The Surrender of Germany's U-Boat Forces. MBI Publishing. 2009. ISBN 978-0-7603-3754-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ranking list of the German Reichsmarine. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . Mittler & Sohn . Berlin 1929. p. 45.
  2. ↑ From January 1, 1938: 3rd MAA
  3. ↑ Until December 31, 1940, the commander of the coastal artillery school or the naval anti-aircraft and coastal artillery school was entrusted with the task of head of the artillery test command on land.
  4. ↑ Hans H. Hildebrand & Walter Lohmann: The German Navy 1939-1945. Volume 2, chap. 151
  5. ↑ In September 1941, a second naval anti-aircraft defense school was set up in Dax in the south of France, called Naval Air Defense School II, while the school in Swinoujscie was named Naval Air Defense School I.
  6. ↑ The 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th landing flotillas were subordinate to him ( http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km/landung/le-kertsch.htm ).
  7. ↑ In September 1944, the office of the Coast Commander German Bight was renamed to that of the Commanding Admiral German Bight.
  8. ↑ http://www.jf-archiv.de/archiv06/200604012056.htm
  9. ↑ Ernst Jünger Jr. fell on November 29, 1944 in Italy near Carrara , Wolf Jobst Siedler was taken prisoner by the British in Italy.
  10. ↑ Paterson, p. 84.
personal data
SURNAME Scheurlen, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, most recently rear admiral in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH December 5, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1945
Place of death Groß Eilstorf near Walsrode