Speedboat guide

The Führer der Schnellboote (FdS) was an agency of the German Navy during World War II .

history

German speedboat “S 204” handed over to British troops on May 13, 1945.

Until April 20, 1940, the speedboat flotillas (S flotillas) of the Navy were under the command of the Torpedo Boats Leader (FdT). On that day this office was closed and that of the leader of the speedboats was created, to whom the S-Flotillas were now subordinate to troops; operationally some were subordinate not to him but to the local naval commanders, especially those in the Mediterranean and Black Seas . The FdS itself was subordinate to the fleet command, but operationally to the naval group command west .

The main area of ​​use of the speedboats was the English Channel , and therefore the main command post of the FdS was in Scheveningen , from where the FdT had already directed the S-boats. Depending on the focus of the operation, however, secondary command posts were also used, e.g. B. in Wimereux near Boulogne-sur-Mer , Cherbourg and during and after the Allied invasion of Normandy in Le Havre , Ostend / De Haan and Den Helder . In the winter of 1944/45 the staff of the office was relocated to Sengwarden near Wilhelmshaven , and at the end of the war it was in Flensburg in the Mürwik special area .

The only leader of the speedboats from April 20, 1940 until the end of the war was frigate captain Rudolf Petersen , who was promoted to sea captain on April 1, 1944 and was appointed commodore on September 23, 1944 .

literature

• Hans Frank : The German speedboats in action. From the beginning until 1945. Mittler, Hamburg et al. 2006, ISBN 3-8132-0866-4 .
• Friedrich Facius , Hans Booms , Heinz Boberach : The Federal Archives and its holdings (= writings of the Federal Archives. Vol. 10). 3rd, supplemented and revised edition, by Gerhard Granier, Josef Henke, Klaus Oldenhage. Boldt, Boppard 1977, ISBN 3-7646-1688-1 .
• Gerhard Hümmelchen : The German speedboats in World War II. Mittler, Hamburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8132-0487-1 .
• Gordon Williamson: E-Boat vs MTB. The English Channel 1941-45 (= Duel. Vol. 34). Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2011, ISBN 978-1-84908-406-2 .

Web links

• "Leader of the Schnellboot", in Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945 (Württembergische Landesbibliothek)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The torpedo boats changed to the leader of the destroyers .
2. ↑ In July 1943 the 1st Schnellbootdivision with the 3rd, 7th, 21st, 22nd and 24th Schnellboot-Flotilla was established in the Mediterranean Sea . It was operationally subordinate to the Marine Group Command South.