Klaus Feldt

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Klaus Feldt (born April 14, 1912 in Kiel , † September 7, 2010 in Wiesbaden ) was a German naval officer , most recently corvette captain of the Navy in World War II .

Life

Torpedo boat lynx

Klaus Feldt was the son of the future Rear Admiral Constanz Feldt . After completing his school days in Stralsund , he first became a cabin boy in merchant shipping in 1931 and was trained , among other things, on the four-masted barque Priwall . Within a short period of time he qualified further and received the “A 5” patent as a navigator on a long voyage, which entitled him to apply for an officer career in the Reichsmarine .

Military career in the Navy

Pre-war period

On April 1, 1935, he joined the naval forces, known as the Kriegsmarine from June 1935, and was assigned to the officers' crew in 1934 due to his qualification as a merchant ship officer . As an ensign at sea he served from 1936 on the torpedo boat Luchs and then as an officer on watch on the torpedo boat Leopard . During this time he took part in the navy during the Spanish Civil War.

Second World War

Shortly after the beginning of the Second World War , Feldt left the torpedo boat weapon and in December 1939 became the commandant of the former fishing steamer Alteland, which was commissioned as Ship 18 for the Navy . With this ship, which was subordinate to the 16th outpost flotilla , he operated in the North Sea in March 1940 . In April 1940 Schiff 18 took part under Feldt's leadership in the occupation of Norway as part of the Weser Exercise company . On April 20, 1940, Feldt succeeded in capturing the Norwegian mine- layer Tyr after a battle .

In July 1940, Feldt was transferred to the Schnellbootwaffe and, as a first lieutenant at sea, was in command of the S 30 speedboat in the 2nd Schnellbootflotille. It was used in the North Sea , the English Channel and later in the Baltic Sea . Later he took over S 43 in the same flotilla and took part in the start of the war against the Soviet Union . On June 27, 1941, the boat ran into two mines and sank. Feldt was seriously wounded in the process.

After his recovery, Feldt became captain lieutenant in October 1941 and became the chief of the 2nd Schnellbootflotille. With this flotilla he was again used in the area of ​​the English Channel and the English south coast. In February 1944 Feldt took over command of the Schnellboot-Lehrdivision in Swinoujscie as corvette captain . At the end of the war, all the speedboats in the Flensburg Fjord were pulled together and some of them were sunk by their crews themselves.

Feldt refused to release his crews for battle on land. When the speedboat leader, Commodore Rudolf Petersen , who was also stationed in Flensburg, had deserters sentenced to death after the end of the war, Feldt spoke out in vain against their execution. In May 1945 he was taken prisoner by the British .

post war period

Feldt was released from captivity on August 31, 1945 and built a civilian existence for his family. He was asked whether he wanted to help build up the German Navy , but refused. At the end of his career, he was the authorized signatory of a global company.

Awards

Web links

literature

  • Obituary. In: MOV-MOH-DMI-Nachrichten 12-2010, p. 93 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Project Sea War of the Württemberg State Library; March 1940
  2. ^ Project Sea War of the Württemberg State Library; April 1940
  3. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 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. 304.
personal data
SURNAME Feldt, Klaus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gustav Waldemar Klaus Feldt (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer and knight's cross holder
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 2010
Place of death Wiesbaden