Hubert Schmundt

Hubert Schmundt

Hubert Schmundt (born September 19, 1888 in Schweidnitz , † October 17, 1984 in Bad Soden am Taunus ) was a German admiral in the Navy during World War II .

Life

He was the son of the later Prussian major general August Schmundt and his wife Margarete, née Fromme.

Schmundt joined the Imperial Navy on April 1, 1908 and began his officer training on the cruiser corvette SMS Charlotte . After the subsequent visit to the naval school, where he was appointed ensign at sea on April 10, 1909 , Schmundt was assigned to the East Asia Squadron. On September 27, 1911, he was promoted to lieutenant at sea on board the large cruiser SMS Scharnhorst . After his return to Germany, he was employed as a company officer in the 1st Sailor Division on September 21, 1912. A year later he was transferred to the 5th Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla.

After the outbreak of the First World War, he was used as a watch officer on the torpedo boat S 165 and promoted to lieutenant at sea on September 19, 1914 . From November 16, 1915 to January 15, 1916 he was in command of the torpedo training ship SMS Württemberg for a course. Then Schmundt became III. Torpedo boat flotilla and deployed as an officer on watch on torpedo boat S 53 . On September 2, 1917, Schmundt took command of the torpedo boat V 71 and at the same time became the flag lieutenant of the flotilla . He was promoted to lieutenant captain on April 28, 1918 . For his achievements during the war he had been awarded both classes of the Iron Cross and Friedrich-August-Kreuz I. Class.

After the end of the war in the Reichsmarine , Schmundt initially acted as commander of the torpedo boat S 18 and as flag lieutenant of the 1st torpedo boat flotilla in Swinoujscie . On September 26, 1922 he was transferred for one year as Second Admiral Staff Officer to the Commander of the Naval Forces of the Baltic Sea, then came briefly to the Commander of the Naval Forces of the North Sea, in order to be used in the staff of the fleet from October 15, 1923. After this staff deployment he commanded the 2nd Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla from December 13, 1924 to September 29, 1927 and was promoted to Corvette Captain on April 1, 1927 . For twenty months he then became First Admiralty Staff Officer to Commander the Naval Forces in the Baltic Sea and on June 4, 1929, he was assigned to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin . Here Schmundt worked from September 26, 1929 as naval adjutant to Reichswehr Minister Wilhelm Groener . After his release on May 30, 1932, he was initially made available to the Fleet Command and on September 28, 1932 he was employed as the first admiral staff officer. After his promotion to frigate captain on October 1, 1932, Schmundt became commander of the light cruiser Königsberg on September 25, 1934 . Shortly thereafter, on October 1, 1934, he was promoted to sea captain. He was assigned to the regular crew of the light cruiser Nuremberg on September 26, 1935 and commanded the ship after commissioning on November 1, 1935 until October 13, 1936. Schmundt then became commander of the Mürwik Naval School and was promoted to Rear Admiral on April 1, 1938.

Before the start of the Second World War, Schmundt came to the Baltic Sea naval station as Chief of Staff on August 22, 1939 and was appointed inspector of the naval education system in Kiel on November 6, 1939. During the Weser Exercise company , Schmundt was in command of Warship Group 3 from April 1 to July 31, 1940, which was assigned to capture Bergen (Norway) . For the fulfillment of the order he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 14, 1940 .

Upon completion of the operation, he was appointed commander of the cruisers and promoted to Vice Admiral on September 1, 1940 . For almost a year Schmundt acted as Admiral Nordmeer from October 15, 1941, was promoted to Admiral on April 1, 1942, and on August 31, 1942 was appointed Chief of the Navy Weapons Main Office in the High Command of the Navy . As commanding admiral, Schmundt was in command of all naval units in the Baltic Sea from March 9, 1943. He kept this function even after the agency was renamed Naval High Command East . Schmundt was made available as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy on March 1, 1944, and removed on May 31, 1944.

From May 8, 1945 Schmundt was in British captivity , from which he was released in March 1947.

See also

• List of commanders of the naval school (Kiel and Mürwik)

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 3: P-Z. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1990. ISBN 3-7648-1700-3 . Pp. 244-246.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reichswehr Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsmarine. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1929, p. 43.
2. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 674.