Hellmuth Heye

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Sea captain Heye,
January 29, 1941

Hellmuth Heye Guido Alexander (* 9. August 1895 in Beckingen , † 10. November 1970 in Mittelheim ) was a German naval officer , most recently Vice Admiral in the Second World War , politicians of CDU and Defense Commissioner of the German Bundestag . He was the son of the later Chief of Army Command, Colonel General Wilhelm Heye , and a great-nephew of Admiral Guido Karcher .

Life

Imperial and Imperial Navy

Heye attended humanistic grammar schools in Glogau , Metz and Berlin . Immediately after graduating from the Humanist High School in Berlin, he joined the Imperial Navy on April 1, 1914 as a sea ​​cadet ( crew 1914 ) . After completing his basic training, he served on the large cruiser SMS Victoria Louise until August 10, 1914 and then on the large-scale ship SMS Kaiserin until January 2, 1916 . He was promoted to ensign at sea on December 23, 1914. Heye then completed a course on the torpedo training ship SMS Württemberg and continued his training on the T 112 torpedo boat . He then returned to SMS Kaiserin , where he served as a watch officer , signal officer and adjutant . On July 12, 1916, he was promoted to lieutenant at sea . On December 3, 1917 Heye was transferred to the submarine school for further training. From January 16 to April 24, 1918 Heye acted as the commander of the torpedo division boat D 6 , before he again completed a course on SMS Württemberg . He then served as an officer on watch on minesweepers, and at the end of the war he was in command of a small training ship. He was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class and the U-Boat War Badge .

After the end of the war, he was transferred to the naval history department of the Admiralty's staff. Heye was accepted into the Reichsmarine , in which he served on torpedo boats. He was promoted to lieutenant at sea on September 28, 1920 and to lieutenant captain on April 1, 1926 . From 1932 to September 28, 1934 he was leader of the 4th torpedo boat semi-flotilla; in this position he was on July 1, 1933 corvette captain .

Heye became one of the few young officers in the Kriegsmarine whose career led through staff positions to key positions in the naval command. In 1936, Heye, as a consultant in the naval department of the naval command office, presented an official study that defined the neutrality of Great Britain as a prerequisite for successful German naval warfare. On the basis of this study, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Raeder , entrusted Heye with the task of creating a basis for the reorientation of the structure of the German fleet, which he presented in 1938. In this memorandum, named after him as the Heye memorandum , he accurately presented the enemy constellations as they should ultimately be presented when the war broke out.

Navy and World War II

He then belonged to the Operations Department of the High Command of the Navy (OKM) until 1939 , where he was promoted to frigate captain on July 1, 1937 . After the Sudeten crisis in 1938, he was entrusted with the management of a planning committee, which on October 25, 1938, presented a memorandum entitled “ Possibilities for naval warfare against England and the resulting demands for strategic objectives and the development of the navy ”. The Heye memorandum came to the conclusion that an expected British blockade could not be broken and that the aim of the navy could only be to disrupt British overseas trade.

On January 1, 1939, Heyes was promoted to captain at sea , and on April 29, 1939, he put the new heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper into service, which he commanded until September 3, 1940. With this he sank the British destroyer HMS Glowworm on April 8, 1940, on the march to occupy Trondheim ( Norway ) at the Weser Exercise company . His respectful report of this battle, transmitted to the British Admiralty via the Red Cross , resulted in the Glowworm commander , Lieutenant Commander Gerard Roope , who sank with his ship, posthumously as the first British soldier in World War II to enter the Victoria -Cross , the UK's highest honor for valor. He then led the cruiser at several enterprises from June to early August 1940 at the North Sea . Heye received the Knight's Cross on January 18, 1941 for guiding Admiral Hipper during the occupation of Norway and the North Sea .

From September 1940 Heye served in high staff and command posts, first from September 5 to October 18, 1940 as chief of staff with the Commander Security East, then until February 13, 1941 in the same position with the Commander Security West. On February 14, 1941, he moved to the temporary Admiral Z department (under Admiral Karlgeorg Schuster ) as Chief of Staff . The office was later transformed into Admiral Südost and from July 1, 1941 into the Marinegruppenkommando Süd; Heye remained their chief of staff until the end of August 1942. On February 16, 1942, he received the naval war badge . On September 1, 1942, he was promoted to Rear Admiral. From September 15, 1942 to November 18, 1942, he was deputy commanding Admiral Black Sea , then from December 3, 1942 to April 4, 1944, Chief of Staff at the North Marine Group Command. From June 7, 1943, he was also Chief of Staff at the Fleet Command .

On April 20, 1944 Heye was appointed general admiral for special weapons in the OKM and commanding admiral of the small combat units of the Kriegsmarine , which in addition to the small submarines and manned torpedoes also included the naval task forces, explosive vessels and combat swimmers . He held this position until the end of the war. In this function, he suggested to Dönitz to load inoperable submarines with explosives and have their crews steer them to worthwhile targets. However, these plans never came to fruition. On August 1, 1944, he was promoted to Vice Admiral .

post war period

After the war ended, he was taken prisoner by the British on May 20, 1945 , from which he was released on December 6, 1946.

Then he worked as a writer. In his works he mainly dealt with shipping issues, naval strategy and German naval war history. He was also a member of the Naval Historical Team and worked as an expert on the internal and external structure of the German defense organization and on military-political issues. He was a member of the historical research association 'The Other Germany', founded by Fritz Küster in 1948 .

politics

Heye joined the CDU in 1953. He was a member of the German Bundestag from 1953 to 1961 and represented the constituency of Wilhelmshaven - Friesland in parliament. He was u. a. full member of the Defense Committee . From 1958 to 1962 he was also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe .

On November 8, 1961, the Bundestag unanimously acclaimed Heye as its commissioner for the armed forces . After a sharp dispute with the Federal Ministry of Defense over a three-part series of articles in the Quick Illustrated in which Heye had criticized the internal constitution of the Bundeswehr , Heye asked for his dismissal on November 10, 1964. The President of the Bundestag Eugen Gerstenmaier granted this request one day later. The accusation that there was a risk of social self-isolation in the Bundeswehr caused a sensation and ultimately led to his resignation. Heye also saw himself insufficiently supported by the Bundestag.

Awards

Publications

  • Possibilities of a naval warfare against England and the resulting demands for the strategic goal setting and the development of the navy. Marine Memorandum, 1938.
  • with Heinrich Dräger and Franz Sackmann : Problems of the defense of the Federal Republic - your consideration taking into account economic and technical concerns. Mittler-Verlag, 1959.
  • with Heinrich Dräger and Franz Sackmann : The basic protection. Mittler-Verlag, 1962, DNB 450991806 .
  • with Hans Steinmetz and Julius Poeverlein : Judging and treating people in the public service. Lutzeyer-Verlag, 1963, DNB 452004519 .
  • The citizen in uniform. Die Neue Gesellschaft, 10th year 1963, issue 6, Verlag Neue Gesellschaft, Bielefeld 1963.

literature

  • Hans H. Hildebrand: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 93-94.
  • Rudolf J. Schlaffer : The Armed Forces Commissioner 1951 to 1985. Out of concern for the soldiers (= Security Policy and Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany , Volume 5). Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-486-58025-9 , p. 347.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans H. Hildebrand: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , p. 93.
  2. ↑ On October 1, 1935, this was renamed the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla.
  3. ^ Michael Salewski : The German Naval Warfare 1935-1945. Volume 1 , Bernard & Graefe, Frankfurt am Main 1970, page 31
  4. ↑ On February 23, 1940, he had already received the clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and on April 14, 1940, the clasp for the Iron Cross, 1st class.
  5. ↑ Dieter Hartwig : Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz - Legend and Reality. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-77027-1 , p. 354.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Manfred Dörr: The knight's cross bearers of the surface forces of the navy. Volume 1: AK. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1995, ISBN 3-7648-2453-0 , pp. 238-246.
personal data
SURNAME Heye, Hellmuth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heye, Hellmuth Guido Alexander (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, admiral and politician of the CDU, Member of the Bundestag
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Beckingen
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1970
Place of death Mittelheim