Harald Netzbandt

Harald Netzbandt (* 3. August 1892 in Berlin , † 27. May 1941 in the North Atlantic ) was an officer in the Imperial Navy , the Imperial Navy and later the Navy .

Life

Family and education

August Friedrich Wilhelm Harald Netzbandt was the son of Senate President Wilhelm Netzbandt and his wife Elvira Netzbandt, née Voigt. From 1899 to 1902 he attended the pre-school in New - Ruppin and then the City Gymnasium in Halle / S . There he passed his Abitur in 1912 and joined the Imperial Navy on April 1 of the same year. After a short infantry training at the Naval School Mürwik , the midshipman Netzbandt was commanded on the large cruiser SMS Victoria Louise . When the First World War broke out , he was stationed on torpedo boats in the Baltic Sea.

Imperial Navy and World War I

In October 1914 he took part in an operation against British submarines. In August of the following year Netzbandt fought as a lieutenant at sea in a battle on the large fishing bank in the North Sea. After further battles in Flanders at the beginning of 1916, he was on board the torpedo boat G 103 during the Battle of the Skagerrak and in October 1917 as an officer on watch in the Albion company . At the end of the war in November 1918 he was still a lieutenant at sea in the 9th Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla on board G 103. From March 1919 to June 1920 he was part of the III. Marine Brigade ( von Loewenfeld ) deployed in Upper Silesia and the Ruhr area. After the two iron crosses that he had acquired during the World War, he was awarded the Silesian Eagle .

Imperial Navy

On July 1, 1920 he was taken over into the new Reichsmarine . Netzbandt served from July 1920 to August 1921 as a so-called "auxiliary worker Ib" in the naval station of the Baltic Sea. He then came to Coast Defense Division III, first as an adjutant, then as a company commander. From October 6, 1922 to September 15, 1924, Netzbandt, now a lieutenant captain , was in command of the torpedo boat T 149 in the 1st flotilla. From September 1924 to September 1926 he was employed as a teacher at the ship artillery school in Kiel - Wik, where he specialized in artillery. From then on, he only drove on heavy ships. After working as a teacher, Netzbandt switched to the first artillery officer on the cruiser Berlin .

After the autumn maneuvers and the naval parade on September 14, 1927 in front of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg , the latter then transferred to the cruiser, which then took him to Königsberg in East Prussia. On October 1st of the same year Berlin was assigned to the inspection of the education system and was then used as a training ship. This gave Netzbandt the great opportunity to take part in a 15 month trip around the world. The ship left Kiel on December 1, 1927 with the goal of East Asia and Australia and returned to Cuxhaven on March 7, 1929. On March 27, he disembarked and was ordered as an admiralty staff officer to command the naval station of the Baltic Sea in Kiel. On September 28, 1932 he took over the post of 1st artillery officer on the ship of the line Hessen as a corvette captain . After almost twelve months he left the ship and was then from September 25, 1933 to September 25, 1935 Admiral Staff Officer in the fleet command. Netzbandt planned the annual spring exercises and autumn maneuvers as part of the staff, which were then carried out under the leadership of Vice Admiral Foerster . In July 1934 the fleet ran to Oslo and Ulvik and in October to Amsterdam. In August of the following year, both Hitler, Generals Werner von Blomberg and Göring, and Admiral Erich Raeder , embarked on board the Schleswig-Holstein to witness the artillery firing.

In the High Command of the Navy

On September 26, 1935, he moved to Berlin in the personnel department of the High Command of the Navy, where he worked until September 30, 1936. After that , Netzbandt, promoted to frigate captain , remained in the high command and was in charge of the General and Affairs Department of Naval Officers (MPA I) until November 25, 1939.

Commander of the battleship Gneisenau and chief of the staff of the fleet

On November 26th of the same year Kapitän zur See Netzbandt succeeded Captain Erich Förste in command of the new fleet flagship, the battleship Gneisenau . He successfully led the ship in the operations "Nordmark", " Weserübungen " and " Juno ", and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class on February 23rd with the clasp and the Iron Cross 1st Class on April 14, 1940 with the clasp excellent. On August 2, 1940, Netzbandt handed over command of the Gneisenau to captain zur See Fein. He himself became chief of staff in the fleet command under the new fleet chief Admiral Günther Lütjens . From January 22nd to March 22nd, 1941 he took part in the successful company "Berlin" on Gneisenau.

Operation "Rhine Exercise" and death

After the undertaking was completed, Netzbandt intended to leave the fleet staff. But Admiral Lütjens asked him to only go on the next venture, since he was indispensable. Just a few weeks later, the staff embarked on board the new flagship, the battleship Bismarck . As part of the company " Rhine Exercise ", Bismarck left Gotenhafen on May 18 , together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen , to wage war against British supplies in the Atlantic. Netzbandt fell aboard the Bismarck on May 27, 1941, some 400 nautical miles west of Brest. A survivor of the sinking last saw him sitting with serious leg injuries in front of the starboard anti-aircraft control station and watching the shelling by the British battleships and cruisers with interest. Shortly before 10 o'clock the officer was probably thrown overboard with debris by the pressure of some shells detonating nearby. Harald Netzbandt was married twice. He left a son and five daughters. On April 30, 1942 he was posthumously awarded the German Cross in Gold by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. A few days later, Grand Admiral Raeder personally presented the widow with the certificate for this prestigious award.

literature

Jens Grützner: Sea captain Ernst Lindemann, the Bismarck commander (1894–1941). VDM Heinz Nickel , Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-047-4 .
Jens Grützner, Der Gneisenau-Kommandant , in: SCHIFF Classic, magazine for shipping and marine history of the DGSM, issue 6/2016.
Federal archive / military archive Personal files Harald Netzbandt Pers 6/12831.

Individual evidence

↑ Jens Grützner, Der Gneisenau-Kommandant , in: SCHIFF Classic, magazine for shipping and marine history eV of the DGSM, issue 6/2016, page 58.
^ Jens Grützner: Sea captain Ernst Lindemann, the Bismarck commander (1894–1941). VDM Heinz Nickel , Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-047-4 , page 235.
^ Jens Grützner: Sea captain Ernst Lindemann, the Bismarck commander (1894–1941). VDM Heinz Nickel , Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-047-4 , page 236.

personal data
SURNAME	Netzbandt, Harald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer in the Imperial Navy, the Reichsmarine and later the Kriegsmarine
DATE OF BIRTH	August 3, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berlin
DATE OF DEATH	May 27, 1941
Place of death	North Atlantic

[1] Jens Grützner, Der Gneisenau-Kommandant , in: SCHIFF Classic, magazine for shipping and marine history eV of the DGSM, issue 6/2016, page 58.

[2] Jens Grützner: Sea captain Ernst Lindemann, the Bismarck commander (1894–1941). VDM Heinz Nickel , Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-047-4 , page 235.

[3] Jens Grützner: Sea captain Ernst Lindemann, the Bismarck commander (1894–1941). VDM Heinz Nickel , Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-047-4 , page 236.