Structure of the Navy

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The structure of the Kriegsmarine describes the changing management structure of the German Kriegsmarine , which was officially renamed from Reichsmarine to Kriegsmarine on June 1, 1935 .

Construction 1930–1939

Structure of the Reichsmarine 1930/31

Since the First World War , the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin was the highest Reich authority for the Reichswehr . In the ministry, the naval command was the highest command post of the Reichsmarine. At their head was the chief of naval command . Subordinate to him (as of 1930/31):

  • Fleet command led by the fleet chief
    • Commander of the ships of the line (BdL)
    • Commander of the Reconnaissance Forces (BdA)
  • Command of the naval station of the Baltic Sea
    • Coastal defense of the Baltic Sea
    • Ship Trunk Division of the Baltic Sea (SDO)
    • Coastal communications of the Baltic Sea
    • Marine Education Inspection (BI)
    • Inspection of the Torpedo - and mine system (TMI)
  • Command of the North Sea Naval Station
    • Coastal defense of the North Sea
    • Ship Trunk Division of the North Sea (SDN)
    • Coastal communications of the North Sea
    • Naval Artillery Inspection (AI)
    • Naval Depot Inspection (DI)
  • Reichsmarinewerft
  • Other Imperial Navy offices

Changes until the beginning of World War II

As early as January 1933, the Reichsmarine had begun to consider a new top structure, which affected both the naval management itself and the subordinate commands. In the following years, various forms of organization of naval warfare were tried out in maneuvers and adapted. In the subordinate area, a form of organization was sought that would make it possible to lead the naval forces in the various sea areas while at the same time taking into account the role of the fleet chief as the leader of the heavy forces.

On June 1, 1935, the Reichswehr was renamed the Wehrmacht . The Reichswehr Minister was henceforth called Reich Minister of War and was also given the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht . The naval command became the high command of the navy with the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (OBdM) at its head as part of what is now the Reich Ministry of War . A naval war command was set up within the high command, headed by the OBdM.

In 1938 a major reorganization began in view of the looming war. After the dissolution of the Reich Ministry of War, the supreme command of the armed forces passed to Adolf Hitler as Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht , to whom the commanders in command of the Wehrmacht parts (army, air force, navy) were subordinate.

In the Kriegsmarine, the Marinegruppenkommando Ost was set up in 1938 and the Marinegruppenkommando West was set up in 1939 for the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and the respective adjacent waters. These Marine Group Commands (MGK) acted as area commanders and operational command posts for the security forces in their area of ​​responsibility. The fleet command remained independent, but could be assigned to the naval group command West for operational use. The heavy units and the type commandos were subordinate to him.

Thus, at the beginning of the Second World War, the following essential command authorities of the Kriegsmarine existed under the supreme command of the Navy :

Second World War

Changes from 1939 to 1941

After the territorial conquests of the first two years of the war, the organization of the navy was adapted to the changed situation. In August 1940, the Marine Group Command West moved from Wilhelmshaven to Paris and was responsible for the French canal and west coast. At the same time, the MGK Ost moved from Kiel to Wilhelmshaven , renaming it to Marinegruppenkommando Nord, and took on responsibility for the two previous command areas, east and west. In March 1941, the Marine Group Command South for the Adriatic , Aegean and Black Sea was set up in Sofia . In November 1941 the German Naval Command Italy was established in Rome . It was subordinate to the North Sea naval station and directly to the naval command.

There were also changes in the area of ​​the fleet command. Because of the independent of overwater operations use of submarines in November 1939 was commander of submarines renamed former leader of the submarines a relatively independent position by being assumed for use directly to the High Command of the Navy, while disciplinary continue was subordinate to the fleet command.

From the command of the leader of the torpedo boats , the command of the leader of the destroyer was spun off in November 1939 . The commander of the ironclads was renamed the commander of the battleships in June 1941 . The Commander of the Reconnaissance Forces was renamed Commander of the Cruisers in August 1940 . This agency was dissolved in October 1941 and the forces subordinate to it were assigned directly to the fleet command.

From February 1941, the security forces also included the newly established security divisions of the Kriegsmarine (1st to 4th), which, depending on the nautical area of ​​responsibility, were subordinate to one of the commanders for security in the Baltic, North or West. Their task consisted in coastal and escort security, but also in mine search , mine clearance and the deployment of sea ​​mines and fields. In addition, reconnaissance operations were carried out in the responsible sea area. In order to fulfill these tasks, the divisions were assigned, among other things, clearing boats , outpost and barrier breakers to flotillas . At the beginning of 1942 one more security divisions were added at the beginning of 1943. The last four, of a total of 10 security divisions, were established between January and June 1944. To complement the 11th Security Division , a security teaching division was formed in early 1945 .

At the end of 1941, the Navy was organized as follows under the command of the Navy :

Adjustments by the end of 1943

At the end of January 1943, Grand Admiral Dönitz became the new Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. On April 15, 1943, a tailor-made reorganization came into force, which corresponded to his ideas of a command organization of the Navy. The new organization also had to take into account the turning point in the war, which was marked by the lost battle of Stalingrad and the failure of the African campaign . As a result of these events, the dominion of Germany and its allies began to shrink in the first half of 1943. The balance of power in all theaters of war shifted in favor of the Allies . This resulted in further changes in the structure of the Navy. Among other things, the offices of the Admirals North Africa and Tunisia ceased to exist with the surrender of the German and Italian troops there in May 1943.

In April 1943, operational management of the submarines was transferred to the Naval War Command, with Dönitz maintaining the function of commander in chief of the submarines in addition to his new position as commander in chief. The troop service leadership was transferred to the previous 2nd Admiral of the Submarines , who was subordinate to the MGK Nord / Flottenkommando under the new designation Commanding Admiral of the U-Boats .

In order to better regulate competence issues, the MGK Nord and the fleet command were merged. In the area of ​​the fleet, the commander of the battleships was designated as the commander of the cruisers from June 1942 and as the commander of the combat group from April 1943 . In April 1942, the new type command was the Schnellboot command instead of the dissolved torpedo boat command . At the same time, a new command of the mine ships was created . In addition, several naval commandos (MOK) were created, which were formed from the naval stations of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. This resulted in the following organization under the command of the Navy (as of late 1943):

Changes until the end of the war

In the last year and a half until the end of the war, the situation changed continuously to the disadvantage of the German armed forces. The Kriegsmarine reacted with a further restructuring, the aim of which was to simplify the command structure. In the new organization, the provision of operational armed forces and operational use should be clearly separated from each other. The naval group commands were disbanded or transferred to naval high command. They were responsible for the operational management in their respective areas of responsibility, while the fleet command newly established after the dissolution of the MGK Nord at the end of July 1944 was responsible for the provision of operational forces. The type commands were subordinate to him. As a new type command, the commander of the security forces was set up in November 1944 as the superior of all security forces. The previous commands of the commanders in charge of securing the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and in the western area were dissolved. Their forces were subordinated to the commander of the security forces and, for operations, to the responsible area commanders.

The MOK North Sea, Baltic Sea and Norway, which were previously subordinate to MGK Nord, were directly subordinated to the High Command of the Navy. Their areas of responsibility were divided into several command areas with responsible area commanders. In January 1945 the MGK Süd was the last to be dissolved. At the same time, the Navy High Command South was formed from the German Naval Command Italy .

In October 1944, the MGK West became the Naval High Command West . The area of ​​command on the French south coast ceased to exist in late summer 1944 due to the occupation of southern France by the Allies. The Channel Coast command area was given up in September 1944 after the Allied landings in Normandy , and the enclosed positions and fortresses in France were placed directly under the MOK West. The command of the commanding admiral Atlantic coast remained as fortress commander La Rochelle until the end of the war. In addition to the naval forces, the MOK West was responsible for the Atlantic fortifications and all units of the army and the air force included in the fortress areas.

The last reclassification resulted in the following organization under the command of the Navy :

1945 to 1947

After Hitler's death , Dönitz was his successor as German head of state. He handed over the leadership of the Navy to General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg . On May 8, 1945, the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht came into force. Since the western allies were unable to take all German soldiers into captivity and supply them in accordance with international martial law, the remaining armed forces were disarmed, but not immediately disbanded, but initially interned in rooms assigned to them. The administrative organization of the Wehrmacht remained responsible for the supply of the troops, whose status in the US sector was called Disarmed Enemy Forces , in the British sector as Surrendered Enemy Personnel .

The high command of the navy remained under the supervision of the British occupying forces, which after Friedeburg's suicide even appointed General Admiral Walter Warzecha as a successor as commander in chief. On June 7, 1945, Warzecha received from the Allied Naval Commander in Chief Expeditionary Force, Admiral Faulkner, the order to “maintain command for the administration and maintenance of the German naval units and naval shipyards that operate under Allied control.” These tasks remained after the formal Dissolution of the high command existed on July 20, 1945 and was continued in the German mine clearance service ( DM / RL ), which led the forces now referred to as the German mine clearance service until the end of 1947. Rear Admiral Fritz Krauss was appointed administrator and head of the DM / RL . On December 31, 1947, this last successor organization to the Kriegsmarine was dissolved.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Köhler, collaboration with Max Plüddemann. Illustrated German fleet calendar for 1932 (Koehler's fleet calendar), 30th year, Minden
  2. ↑ a b Michael Salewski: Die deutsche Sekriegsleitung 1935-1945 , Vol. I, p. 83 ff.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Konrad Ehrensberger: 100 years of organization of the German navy . Bonn 1993, ISBN 3-7637-5913-1
  4. ^ A b WLB Stuttgart: Marine Group Commands
  5. ↑ a b c WLB Stuttgart: Fleet Command
  6. ^ A b WLB Stuttgart: Marine Command Italy
  7. ↑ Michael Salewski: The German Naval Warfare 1935-1945 , Vol. II, p. 225 ff.
  8. ^ WLB Stuttgart: Commander of the submarines
  9. ^ WLB Stuttgart: Security Forces
  10. ^ WLB Stuttgart: Commander of the Security Forces
  11. ^ WLB Stuttgart: MOK area limits
  12. ^ WLB Stuttgart: MGK West
  13. ↑ Heinz-Ludger Borgert, Walter assailants, Norbert Wiggershaus: service groups and West German defense contribution - Considerations Prior to arming of the Federal Republic of Germany. Boppard am Rhein, 1982, ISBN 3-7646-1807-8
  14. ↑ Office of the Allied Naval Commander in Chief Expeditionary Force of 7.5.45 (sic!). Quoted from: Michael Salewski: Die deutsche Seekriegsleitung 1935-1945 , Vol. II, p. 564.
  15. ^ Michael Salewski: Die deutsche Sekriegsleitung 1935-1945 , Vol. II, p. 562 ff.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The service structure is shown. In addition, there were operational and technical submissions to which reference is made if necessary. In general, only those positions that were regularly performed by a flag officer are listed. The further subdivision results from the articles on the individual commands.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i The term "Admiral ..." was later changed to "Commanding Admiral ...". Both terms are not always used selectively in the sources.
  3. ↑ a b Paul Hermann Meixner was the boss