Gustav Sieß

Gustav Sieß (born December 11, 1883 in Hamburg ; † October 14, 1970 ibid) was a German lieutenant captain who was one of the most successful submarine commanders in World War I and was promoted to lieutenant general in the air force in the Wehrmacht .

Life

In 1902 Sieß joined the Imperial Navy , where he received his basic training on the sailing training ship SMS Moltke . He then went to the Mürwik Naval School and, after completing his training, began his journey to Southeast Asia at the end of October 1904. There he served on board the station ship SMS Hansa until October 1906 . After his return to Germany, Sieß became a company officer in the I. Torpedo Division in Kiel and also acted as an officer on watch on various torpedo boats . After two years he was transferred to the mining department in Cuxhaven as first lieutenant at sea and company officer . As a result, Sieß was also used as a commander on the minesweepers S 27 , S 25 and S 38 . On October 1, 1910 Sieß was transferred for two years as an adjutant to inspect the coastal artillery and the mining industry. This was followed by a position as a company officer in the II. Torpedo Division in Wilhelmshaven . During his service there, Sieß was promoted to lieutenant captain on April 12, 1913 and was also temporarily used as the commander of the SM V 3 torpedo boat . In the same year Sieß saved a crew member from drowning at the risk of his life. For this, Wilhelm II personally awarded him the rescue medal on the ribbon .

With the outbreak of the First World War, Sieß initially ran this boat and received command of SMS V 1 on August 28, 1914 . In March 1915 he completed a submarine training at the submarine school and three months later came briefly on board the SM U 41 for information . From October 9, 1915 to May 21, 1917 Sieß commanded U 73 , which operated in the Mediterranean from the naval base Pola . At the same time he commanded U 33 , which was under his command twice. During his time as submarine commander, he sank 261,399 GRT . Among the ships were z. B. the Russian liner Pereswet , the British liner HMS Russell and the passenger steamer Burdigala . For this success he was awarded the Pour le Mérite on April 24, 1918 . Before that he had received both classes of the Iron Cross and on February 27, 1917 the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords.

After the end of the war , Sieß was initially made available on December 1, 1918, and on April 1, 1919, he was appointed head of the 9th minesweeping semi-flotilla. On August 28, 1919, he was made available to the chief of the Baltic Sea Naval Station and on November 11, 1919, he was removed from the Navy. Sieß still received on 22 February 1920, character as a lieutenant commander .

In civilian life he took up a commercial activity in 1925 and was most recently a board member of Klein-Michel-Motorbau AG in Hamburg. Sieß was also involved in the Stahlhelm, the Association of Frontline Soldiers, and led the naval department in the Hamburg district.

On August 1, 1935, Sieß joined the Air Force as an electric officer at the special disposal of the Reich Aviation Ministry and was promoted to major on December 1, 1935 with seniority from October 1, 1928 . He was initially used as deputy commander of Luftzeuggruppe 1 and, after his promotion to lieutenant colonel , was appointed commander on January 18, 1938. From July 26, 1938 to June 18, 1939, he also served as quartermaster of Luftgau Command 1 in Königsberg . This was followed by his assignment to the Reich Aviation Ministry, where on July 15, 1939, Sieß was appointed head of the 3rd department in the quartermaster's replenishment office. Promoted to Colonel on August 1, 1939 , Sieß retained his position in the ministry through the beginning of World War II and was accepted into active service as Major General on November 1, 1940 . On September 23, 1943, due to illness, he was transferred to the Führerreserve , promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1944 and retired from military service at the end of the month.

After the end of the war, Sieß was held as a Soviet prisoner of war from June 15, 1945 and was sentenced by a court to 25 years in prison. However, his imprisonment lasted only ten years.

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2011, ISBN 3-7648-2586-3 , pp. 315-317.
• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Berlin 1935, pp. 338-340.

Web links

• Biography on uboat.net
• Information about U 73 and Sieß (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reichsmarineamt (Ed.): Marineverordnungsblatt. No. 7 of March 15, 1917, p. 85.