Hermann Boehm (Admiral)

Hermann Boehm (born January 18, 1884 in Rybnik , † April 11, 1972 in Kiel ) was a German General Admiral in World War II .

Life and activity

50th anniversary of the torpedo weapon in Wilhelmshaven in 1937 - Admiral Tillessen on the left , Admiral von Trotha in the middle and Admiral Boehm on the right

Early career

Boehm joined the Imperial Navy on April 1, 1903 as a midshipman and received his basic training on the training ship SMS Stein .

During the First World War , Kapitänleutnant Boehm (since September 19, 1914) served as a commander on various torpedo boats . During the Battle of the Skagerrak he commanded the torpedo boat G 41 and in 1917 the boat V 69 . His achievements during the war were recognized by the award of both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and the Friedrich August Cross .

Interwar period (1919 to 1939)

In 1919 Boehm was initially dismissed, but in 1920 he was reactivated in the Reichsmarine and until 1933 mainly employed in staff assignments. On October 3, 1933, Boehm was commander of the ship of the line Hessen for one year until he was promoted to rear admiral in autumn 1934 and appointed commander of the reconnaissance forces. In the initial phase of the Spanish Civil War from August 25, 1936 to August 3, 1937, he simultaneously commanded the German naval forces off the Spanish coast. On April 1, 1937, Boehm was appointed Vice Admiral and Commanding Admiral of the North Sea Naval Station . At the beginning of 1938 he became an admiral and in November of the same year he became fleet commander .

Second World War

In August 1939, Boehm and other military representatives heard a speech by Hitler in his residence on Obersalzberg (see: Hitler's address to the commanders in chief on August 22, 1939 ). Hitler outlined his war plans for the imminent attack on Poland. During the address, Boehm wrote some notes that were later used during the Nuremberg Trials - along with other records - to reconstruct this speech and as evidence of the aggression intentions of the German government at the time (“For us, the alternative is to act or for the long term to be destroyed. ").

Soon after the beginning of the Second World War , Boehm was released from his previous command and on October 21, 1939, he took down his flag as chief of the fleet. He was then on leave of absence for several months.

Admiral Hermann Boehm in Norway in January 1943

After the occupation of Norway in April 1940 ( Operation Weser Exercise ), Boehm was appointed Commanding Admiral in Norway on April 10, 1940 , d. H. appointed commander of the German occupation forces. In this position, which he retained until 1943, he was in constant conflict with the head of the German civil administration in Norway, Gauleiter Josef Terboven ( NSDAP ). The beginning of the opposition of the two men was a plan of Terboven from July 1940 to force the members of the Norwegian parliament, under threat of the establishment of a Reich Protectorate in Norway, to comply with his demand to depose the Norwegian royal family: Boehm of concerns about this maneuver, the he called it a "comedy", Hitler then had the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Erich Raeder , informed of this plan, which forbade its execution and instead ordered the creation of a cabinet of experts. Since September 1940 at the latest - when Terboven in a radio address on the occasion of the formation of the government of experts ordered by Hitler, dishonestly reproached the Norwegian parliament for the attempted removal of the king in July and pretended that he had nothing to do with it the parliamentarians had undertaken this on their own initiative, "any fruitful cooperation" between him and Terboven had been impossible.

Since their clashes in 1940, according to Boehm, Terboven has viewed him as his “greatest enemy” and tried everything to oust him and his colleague Schreiber from Norway. Terboven repeatedly denounced Boehm to Hitler or made false accusations against him. In his report to Hitler about the state of emergency in Trondheim on October 6, 1942 - in which Terboven had 34 Norwegians shot - he accused him, for example, of sabotage, of his, Terbovens, measures. By contrast, Boehm submitted several letters of complaint against Terboven to Hitler through Raeder by 1942, in which he turned against Hitler's policy in Norway and presented alternatives.

While in Norway, Boehm was promoted to Admiral General on April 1, 1941. He also received the German Cross in Gold on November 20, 1941 .

A few weeks after Raeder was replaced by Karl Doenitz as Commander in Chief of the Navy, Boehm was recalled from his post in Norway in March 1943. It was officially adopted on May 31, 1943, and on June 1, 1943, it was finally made available to the Navy.

On March 1, 1944, Boehm was reactivated: He was now used until March 31, 1945 in the inspection of the education system of the Navy and then finally dismissed.

post war period

When the charges against the main war criminals were brought up in September 1945, Boehm lived in his house in Marutendorf, today a part of Achterwehr in the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district .

Boehm was one of the military leaders of the Wehrmacht who were present at Hitler's address to the commanders-in-chief on August 22, 1939 on the Obersalzberg . Its content now played an important role in connection with the indictment against Grand Admiral Raeder , at that time Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. There was a record of this incriminating speech, which was not drawn up at the same time, but rather later, and which the prosecution initially submitted, but later referred to as "unofficial". The only credible document recognized in court was considered to be a handwritten note that General Admiral Boehm had made of Hitler's speech on the evening of the same day. Boehm presented this paper to Dr. Walter Siemers, the defense attorney for Grand Admiral Raeder, with the simultaneous offer to appear as a witness. This paper was entered in the trial files as “Raeder Exhibit 27”.

Fonts

• Norway between England and Germany. Klosterhaus-Verlag, Lippoldsberg 1956.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1988, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 126-127.
• Rolf Johannesson : Officer in a critical time. Mittler & Sohn GmbH, Herford and Bonn 1989, ISBN 3813203018 .
• Eberhard Kliem: General Admiral Hermann Boehm, a German naval officer in the 20th century. Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89995-798-3

Web links

Commons : Hermann Boehm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin: Witness literature online. ZS 12, Boehm, Hermann (PDF file; 13.91 MB). Affidavit, written records, correspondence Boehm; Etc.
• Newspaper article about Hermann Boehm in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Eberhard Kliem: General Admiral Hermann Boehm, A German naval officer in the 20th century. Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2011, p. 252.
2. ^ Minutes of the Nuremberg Trial of the Major War Criminals (May 16, 1946, afternoon session) on zeno.org . See also Boehm's statement in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte . Year 19 (1971), Issue 3, pp. 294-300 and Winfried Baumgart's reply, pp. 301-304.