Commanding Admiral Norway
The Office of Commanding Admiral Norway was established in April 1940 after the German occupation of Norway in World War II as the command authority of the Navy with its headquarters in Oslo and was responsible for all of Norway including the coastal apron. On February 1, 1943, she was given the designation Marine High Command Norway , and the commanding admiral was appointed Commander-in-Chief. He was initially subordinate to the North Marine Group Command in Wilhelmshaven , and from 1943 directly to the Navy High Command in Berlin .
After the German surrender in May 1945, the Commander-in-Chief was instructed by the Allies to continue to carry out his task to return the German troops from Norway to their homeland. The last commander-in-chief, Theodor Krancke , went into Allied captivity on August 26, 1945 .
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The following were appointed as commanding admirals or commander-in-chief:
- General Admiral Hermann Boehm , from April 1940 Commanding Admiral, February 1943 - March 1943 Commander in Chief
- Admiral Otto Ciliax , March 1943 - April 1945
- Admiral Theodor Krancke, April - August 1945
The following were appointed as Chief of Staff :
- Sea captain Theodor Krancke, April - June 1940
- Captain Bruno Machens (later Admiral of the Norwegian Arctic Coast ), June 1940 - May 1942
- Rear Admiral Otto Fein (former commandant of the battleship Gneisenau ), May 1942 - November 1944
- Rear Admiral Ludolf von Hohnhorst (former Lake Commandant Bergen and Lake Commandant Kirkenes ), from November 1944
Structure of the command area
After the occupation of Norway from April 1940, several areas of command and offices were subordinate to the commanding Admiral Norway.
Command areas
The command area of the Commanding Admiral Norway was divided into three areas:
- Admiral of the Norwegian South Coast (from the establishment of the agency until August 1940)
- Admiral of the Norwegian west coast
- Admiral of the north coast of Norway
- Admiral of the Norwegian Arctic Coast (from August 1940)
Departments
The following agencies and associations were directly subordinate to the commanding Admiral Norway:
- Upper yard stick Norway (initially shipyard officer Norway)
- Naval Headquarters Norway
- Marine Superstructure Office Tromsö
- Marine Superstructure Office Drontheim
- Marine Superstructure Office Bergen
- Navy Service in Oslo
- Kriegsmarinewerft Horten , from February 1945 after destruction only Arsenal Horten
- Torpedo Arsenal Norway
- Netzsperr-Flotilla North
- Marine hospitals in Norway
- Commander of the Oslofjord naval defense formed from August 1940 with the dissolution of the Admiral of the Norwegian South Coast from the Oslo Sea Commander (from the formation until August 1942 Rear Admiral Heinrich Ruhfus , from April 1944 until the end of the war Rear Admiral Hans Hartmann )
Security associations
While the majority of the naval security units were subordinate to the subordinate commanders, the commanding Admiral Norway led the following two units directly:
- 11. Minesweeping Flotilla
- 17. Submarine Hunting Flotilla
Organization of subordinate command areas and departments
Admiral of the Norwegian south coast
The Admiral of the Norwegian South Coast was a command area that existed only from April to August 1940 and was directly subordinate to the commanding Admiral Norway. The staff was in Kristiansand- South. The area of command extended from the Swedish- Norwegian border to the Jøssingfjord in the southeast of the Rogaland province .
The only admiral of the Norwegian south coast was Rear Admiral Otto Schenk . The following departments were subordinate to him:
- Sea commander Oslo : from the formation to August 1940 sea captain Friedrich Rieve , then until the dissolution Rear Admiral Heinrich Ruhfus.
- Maritime Commander Kristiansand-Süd : from the formation until September 1940, Frigate Captain Wolfgang Jerchel (later Maritime Commander Tromsö , last Maritime Commander Saloniki and sole Maritime Commander North Greece , Maritime Commander East and West Prussia , Maritime Commander East Prussia ), then until the reclassification to Captain of the Sea / Rear Admiral Hermann
In August 1940 the command area was split up. The sea commander Oslo was assigned to the commanding Admiral Norway as the commander of the Oslofjord naval defense , while the sea commander Kristiansand-Süd was assigned to the area of command of the admiral western Norway. The leadership moved to Tromso to set up the command area of the admiral Norwegian Arctic Ocean .
Chief of Staff was briefly from the formation to mid-1940 Captain Hans Hartmann and then briefly Captain Günther von der Forst (later among others, Commander of the Stavanger Sea Defense and Sea Commander T ).
Headquarters Norway
The head yard staff Norway was set up in October 1940 under the designation Werftbeauftragter Norway and later renamed. The following were appointed as shipyard representatives or heads of the senior staff:
- Corvette Captain Werner Reidenbach, October 1940 - April 1943
- Rear Admiral Arno Schmidt (formerly the Kriegsmarinearsenal Kiel and Kriegsmarinearsenal Gotenhafen), May 1943 - November 1944
- Rear Admiral (Ing.) Max Schenitski , November 1944 - April 1945
- Rear Admiral (Ing.) Hans Voss , April - May 1945
Kriegsmarinewerft Horten
The Horten Kriegsmarine shipyard was established after the occupation of Norway. After severe damage from air raids in February 1945, it was downgraded to an arsenal. You were subject to:
- Horten torpedo factory
- Building supervision of the Kriegsmarine Horten
- Offices in Oslo, Fredrikstad and Sandefjord
The following were deployed as chief shipyard director and arsenal commander:
- Rear Admiral Erich Heyden , April 1940 - May 1943
- Vice Admiral Günther Krause , May 1943 - February 1945
- Captain Arthur Kind (formerly on the staff of the inspection of the education system of the Navy and then Oberwerftstab Norway), March - May 1945
literature
- Walter Lohmann , Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956. Volume II, main chapter XII
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 XII, chapter 1, p. 1 f.
- ↑ Entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica ( English , accessed on February 12, 2020)
- ↑ Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956. Volume I, main chapter VI, chapter 1, p. 1 f.
- ↑ Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956. Volume II, main chapter XII, chapter 2, p. 1 f.