Hans Hellmann (officer)

Hans Hellmann (approx. 1898)

Hans Hellmann (born December 6, 1873 in Neisse , † June 17, 1900 near Tianjin ) was an officer in the Imperial Navy. He is the first and until the First World War the only naval officer who died in combat on board his ship.

Live and act

The "Hellmannstein" memorial

Hellmann was born in 1873 as the son of Johannes Hellmann , the "father of the fire brigades in Silesia". He grew up in Neisse, joined the Navy as a midshipman in April 1892 and became a lieutenant in the sea in September 1895 . He was first assigned to the Second Sailor Artillery Department and then served on the training ship SMS Stein .

In November 1898 he was promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to the staff of the gunboat SMS Iltis . When the Boxer Rebellion broke out in the spring of 1900 , the German Reich sent the polecat off the Chinese coast - together with ships from other countries .

On the morning of June 17, 1900, the Chinese began bombarding ships lying in front of the Taku forts in the mouth of the Pei Ho River . A fierce battle developed from this. On board the Iltis , Hans Hellmann was the officer responsible for ship artillery . In the course of the battle the polecat was hit by 21 shells. Hellmann and six men of the crew were killed, the commander's leg was crushed and another ten men of the crew were seriously wounded.

In memory of Hans Hellmann, the city of Neisse and the navy erected a memorial in Neisse, the so-called "Hellmannstein". For its decoration, Kaiser Wilhelm II provided two cannons captured in the Chinese defenses as well as the anchor and chain of the cruiser SMS Cormoran also used off the Chinese coast .

Remarks

1. ↑ Admiral's Staff of the Navy (ed.): The Imperial Navy during the turmoil in China 1900-1901. , Berlin, EM Mittler 1903 p. 266 f.

literature

Oskar Hellmann: The Hellmann. The picture of a German family. Hellmann Verlag, Glogau, 1931