Johann-Otto Krieg

Johann-Otto Krieg (born March 14, 1919 in Lomnitz , † January 2, 1999 in Bonn ) was a German naval officer , most recently a frigate captain of the German Navy and bearer of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross .

Career

He completed his Reich Labor Service from April 1 to September 30, 1937. On October 1, 1937, he joined the Navy . War was assigned to the Stralsund ship's trunk department, where he received his basic infantry training. He was thus a member of the crew 37 / X . This was followed by practical training on board the sailing training ship Horst Wessel (until June 30, 1938) and from July 1, 1938 on the Schleswig-Holstein liner . After completing his on-board training, Krieg completed the main course for ensigns and an artillery course that lasted until September 30 , 1939 at the Mürwik Naval School in Flensburg - Mürwik from March 15, 1939 . On October 1, 1939, he became a watch officer on the light cruiser Nuremberg , where he received his on-board training. In this role he was deployed in the western North Sea until mid-1940 and also served in the Drontheim area during the occupation of Norway . Previously, on May 1, 1940, Krieg was promoted to lieutenant at sea .

Submarine weapon

In October 1940 war came to the submarine weapon. He completed an underwater training course at a submarine training division from October 15, 1940, and immediately afterwards, from December 22, 1940, the UTO course at the Flensburg-Mürwik torpedo school . From February 2, 1941, a one-month U-boat watch officer news course and a two-month U-boat artillery course followed. From March 30, 1941, there was a building instruction for the U 81 under construction , on which the war served as a second watch officer until July 1942. The boat initially belonged to the 1st U-Flotilla , which was stationed in Kiel and then in Saint-Nazaire . On September 23, Krieg was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class , at the end of September he received the U-Boat War Badge and on March 13, 1942 the Iron Cross 1st Class. In December 1942 U 81 joined the 29th U-Flotilla in La Spezia. Krieg was promoted to first lieutenant on April 1, 1942 . From July to September 1942 he completed a submarine commander course. On September 21, 1942 he took command of the training boat U 142 , which he held until Christmas 1942.

In the Mediterranean Sea

From December 25, 1942, he was in command of U 81 , with which he had already ridden as an officer on watch. With U 81 , Krieg completed seven patrols in the Mediterranean. In this area of ​​the sea, the number of German submarines being sunk here reached a peak in the spring of 1943. In March of this year, Kommandant Krieg sank two sailing boats and a small ship with a total of 454 GRT . During the preparation of the Allied Operation Husky , the submarine weapon tried to increase the pressure on the sea routes used. During this time, Krieg was patrolling the eastern Mediterranean, where he sank a Greek freighter and two Syrian sailing boats - he erroneously reported that he had sunk three sailing boats. After the Allied troops landed in Sicily , U 81 was involved in battles in the offshore sea area. War sank a British cargo ship on July 22nd.

In total, the war sank approx. 15,743 GRT of enemy shipping space by early 1944. On October 19, 1943, he received the German Cross in Gold. In the spring of 1944, U 81 was hit by two bombs at 11:30 a.m. at the Pola naval base during an Allied bombing raid, killing two crew members and damaging the boat so badly that it had to be abandoned and demolished.

Small combat groups

On March 9th and 10th, 1944, Krieg was given marriage leave, but already reported (due to the loss of his submarine, currently without activity) on March 13th, 1944 for a meeting at the OKM under Karl Dönitz , during which the planned mission was discussed of the manned torpedo negro in the small combat units of the Navy . On the same day, Krieg was transferred to the Eckernförde test command, where he acted as a test pilot for the first prototype of the Neger . On April 1, 1944, Krieg became the chief of the K-Flotilla 361 ( negroes ). With this he was on 20./21. April 1944 at Anzio as a commander in the first combat use of manned torpedoes against Allied ships.

In the course of the Allied invasion of Normandy and the hasty relocation of his flotilla, Krieg was seriously injured in a car accident on July 4, 1944 and treated in the Evreuyx hospital until the end of July 1944 . There he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 8, 1944 as chief of the K-Flotilla 361 and the last member of the U-boat weapon . The application for the award was made by Dönitz personally. On July 30, 1944, Krieg was appointed head of training at the command of the small combat units. He also held his position as flotilla chief of the K-Flotilla 361 until February 1945. In December he received the probation badge of the small combat association . With effect from January 1, 1945, Krieg was promoted to lieutenant captain. On April 16, 1945, he suffered serious wounds from a low-flying attack. He then received the black wound badge on the same day . At the end of the war he was taken prisoner, but was released on July 17, 1945.

Federal Navy

On April 1, 1956, Krieg joined the German Navy, where he was employed from May 2, 1956 at the Mürwik Naval School and then as an inspection officer at the Cologne acceptance point . On the September 22, 1956 Lieutenant promoted, followed already on 31 October 1956 was promoted to lieutenant commander . From January 1 to the end of October 1957 he was active in submarine hunting training in Den Helder and was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Defense on November 26, 1957 . On October 1, 1959, Krieg became a naval adjutant to the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr and at the same time permanent representative of the personal assistant to State Secretary Volkmar Hopf . In this position he was promoted to frigate captain on November 2, 1960. From June 1962 to spring 1963, Krieg attended a course for staff officers. On April 1, 1963, he became the commandant of the Emden frigate and then until June 1966 he was lecture director at the command academy of the Bundeswehr (Navy Department). On June 16, 1966, he returned to the Federal Ministry of Defense as an assistant officer. From April 1, 1970, he worked as a specialist documentator and managing director of the Documentation Center in the Bundeswehramt . On March 31, 1975, War was adopted into retirement.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Rainer Busch, Hans Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon , Verlag EE Mittler and Son, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3 8132 0509 6 , pages 525-530
2. ↑ ^{a b} Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Page 133
3. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. The hunted. 1942–1945 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , pages 266–267
4. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. The hunted. 1942–1945 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16059-2 , page 452
5. ↑ Axel Niestlé: German U-Boat losses during World War II. Details of Destruction, Frontline Books, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-84832-210-3 , page 43