Hans-Erich Voss

Hans-Erich Voss (born October 30, 1897 in Angermünde , † November 18, 1969 in Berchtesgaden ) was a German vice admiral in World War II .

Life

Voss joined the Imperial Navy as a volunteer on July 5, 1915 during the First World War . After the basic training, he worked on the liner SMS Hessen , as well as the small cruisers SMS Berlin and SMS Nürnberg . From August 15 to November 17, 1917, Voss completed a navigation course at the Mürwik Naval School and was promoted to lieutenant at sea on September 17, 1917 . Then he returned to the Nuremberg , where he stayed after the war. For his work during the war, Voss received the Iron Cross and the Mecklenburg Military Merit Cross, 2nd class. Voss was placed at the disposal of the I. Marine Inspection in Kiel on November 16, 1918 , he was finally given leave and released on March 31, 1919 as a reserve . He then joined the as a volunteer corps to make Guards Landesschutzen department.

On October 1, 1920, Voss was reactivated and taken over into the Reichsmarine . There he was initially a company officer in the ship master division of the North Sea and on January 10, 1921 promoted to first lieutenant at sea. This was followed by assignments as officer on watch and adjutant on the small cruiser Arcona , as a sports instructor at the North Sea naval station , officer on watch on the sailing training ship Niobe . After his transfer to the liner Alsace , he was promoted to lieutenant captain on January 1, 1928 . In 1929 he became leader of the Flak Company in the I. Marine Artillery Department in Kiel for a year. Then Voss was transferred from September 29, 1930 to March 5, 1934 as a teacher at the coastal artillery school in Wilhelmshaven . From there he was assigned to the naval command in Berlin , where Voss was promoted to corvette captain on October 1, 1934 . As such, from October 4, 1935 to January 5, 1936, he took part in the building instruction of the armored ship Admiral Graf Spee and was used as the first artillery officer until March 14, 1938 after the commissioning. During this time he was with the ship u. a. participated in the international naval blockade to enforce an arms embargo against Spain and became a frigate captain on November 1, 1937 . After Voss had left the ship, he was initially placed at the disposal of the naval education system and commissioned with the establishment of the 3rd naval sergeant training department, as its commander he then acted from April 1, 1938 to August 22, 1939. At the same time, Voss was commissioned from March 25 to April 11 with the establishment of the Naval Artillery Department Memel.

Shortly before the start of the Second World War, Voss was transferred to the staff of the Naval Group Command East on August 23, 1939 as an admiral staff officer. With the promotion to captain at sea , Voss came on November 2, 1939 as head of the command department in the naval command office at the high command of the navy and shortly afterwards took over the management of the command office group in the naval command office. On October 5, 1942, he took over as commander of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and on March 1, 1943 was transferred to the Führer Headquarters as permanent representative of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, where he was promoted to Rear Admiral on March 1, 1943 . When assassination on 20 July 1944 on Hitler Voss was wounded and received the Purple Heart 20 July 1944 . On August 1, 1944, he was promoted to Vice Admiral.

Voss spent the last days of the Second World War as permanent representative of Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz in Berlin. He took part in the last briefing on April 27, 1945 in the Führerbunker and was able to escape from the enclosed Reich Chancellery in the following days . On May 2, Voss was handed over by some civilians to Lieutenant Colonel Klimentko of the Red Army , and on May 3, he took part in the identification of the bodies of Joseph Goebbels and his family. He then came into Soviet captivity , from which he was released in January 1955.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (Ed.): Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 496-497.
• Wolfdieter Bihl: The death of Adolf Hitler. Facts and survival legends. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-99140-0 .
• Dietmar Arnold, Reiner Janick: New Reich Chancellery and "Führerbunker". Legends and Reality. Ch. Links Verlag 2005, ISBN 3-861-53353-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reichswehr Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsmarine. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1929, p. 47.
2. ^ Wilhelm von Schramm: Treason in the Second World War. From the struggle of the secret services in Europe. Reports and documentation. Econ-Verlag 1969. p. 183.
3. ↑ Der Spiegel of January 10, 1966. p. 41.
4. ↑ This is how Adolf Hitler died. Time online, accessed June 28, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Ivan Klimenko, Colonel in the Soviet Army: "How I found Hitler's body" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 19 , 1965, p. 94 ff . ( online ).