Commanding Admiral France

The Office of Commanding Admiral France was a command authority of the Kriegsmarine during World War II .

history

The office was set up in Berlin at the end of May 1940 under the name Commanding Admiral West . In the course of the attack on the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg , the staff was transferred to Brussels in June 1940 and renamed Commanding Admiral France on June 16, 1940 . He took up his seat in Paris at the end of June 1940 .

Operationally, the commanding admiral was subordinate to the Marine Group Command West , in all other matters to the High Command of the Navy . His area of command included the German-occupied parts of France and Belgium with the exception of the city of Antwerp .

The commander of Security West was subordinate to the service department.

From September 1942, the appointed Commander in Chief of the Marine Group Command West was also Commanding Admiral France. In November 1942, the office in the Marinegruppenkommando West was added, with the staff from then on formed the quartermaster staff of the Marinegruppenkommando.

Subordinate departments

The following offices were subordinate to the commanding admiral:

Naval Commander Channel Coast
Naval Commander Northern France
Naval Commander Brittany
Navy Commander in Western France
Oberwerftstab France (part of the staff of the commanding admiral France) with subordinate naval shipyards and arsenals
Naval Headquarters / Naval Fortress Engineer Staff (part of the staff of the Commanding Admiral France)
Individual units of the Kriegsmarine subordinate to troops in France

Headquarters France

The France Headquarters was set up in Paris in June 1940. The chief of the Oberwerftstab was technically subordinate to the High Command of the Navy / Main Office of Warship Building (K), and to the commanding Admiral France. From November 1942 he was directly subordinate to the Marine Group Command West. The following naval shipyards and arsenals were subordinate to him:

Navy shipyard Brest (1940-44)
Lorient Navy Shipyard (1940-44)
Kriegsmarinewerft St. Nazaire (1940-44)
Navy shipyard La Pallice (1941–44)
Navy shipyard Bordeaux (1942-44)
Navy Arsenal Toulon (1942-44)

The following officers were deployed as chiefs of the senior hangar staff France:

Vice Admiral Siegfried Massmann , June - August 1940
Sea captain Wilhelm Rhein , August - October 1940
Vice Admiral Walther Kinzel , October 1940 - March 1944
Rear Admiral (Ing.) Max Schenitzki , March - October 1944

Commanding admirals

The following officers held the function of naval commander or commanding admiral:

Admiral Karlgeorg Schuster , May 1940 - March 1941
Admiral Otto Schultze , March - August 1942
Admiral Wilhelm Marschall , August - November 1942, from September 1942 at the same time Commander in Chief of the Marine Group Command West (until April 1943)

literature

Walter Lohmann , Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956

Remarks

↑ In the following, all departments are listed which were subordinate to the Oberwerftstab in the period of its existence from June 1940 to November 1944, ie beyond the period of subordination to the commanding Admiral France.
↑ Some of the naval shipyards were set up as naval equipment stations or naval arsenals and later renamed the naval shipyards.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956. Volume II, main chapter XIV, chapter 1, p. 1 ff.

[2] In the following, all departments are listed which were subordinate to the Oberwerftstab in the period of its existence from June 1940 to November 1944, ie beyond the period of subordination to the commanding Admiral France.

[3] Some of the naval shipyards were set up as naval equipment stations or naval arsenals and later renamed the naval shipyards.

[LH-141-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956. Volume II, main chapter XIV, chapter 1, p. 1 ff.