Commanding admiral in the Netherlands

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The commanding admiral in the Netherlands was a command authority of the Kriegsmarine based in Scheveningen .

It was set up under the designation Naval Commander in the Netherlands in June 1940 after the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II .

In February 1943 she was given the designation of Commanding Admiral in the Netherlands .

Naval Commander Netherlands-Belgium

In the course of the occupation of the Netherlands , Belgium and France , the Navy established a command authority in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven in May 1940 with the designation Coast Commander Southwest , which was already renamed Navy Commander Southwest on May 23, 1940 . To be renamed again in June 1940 as Naval Commander Netherlands-Belgium . This naval commander was subordinate to the North Sea Naval Station in Wilhelmshaven and set up his headquarters in The Hague .

In the course of the further advance of the German troops to France, this staff was transferred via Rouen to Brest in June 1940 and renamed Naval Commander Bretagne .

Bunker of the Heerenduin battery, part of the Ijmuiden fortress, naval artillery department 201

The following were subordinate to the naval commander:

The Office of the naval commander Netherlands-Belgium and later that of the Marine commander Brittany was of Vice Admiral Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière out.

Naval Commander in Chief and Commanding Admiral in the Netherlands

After laying the rod of the former Navy Commander Netherlands-Belgium to France was the department in June 1940 Marine commander in the Netherlands set up, based in The Hague-Scheveningen. She was under the naval station of the North Sea. The area of ​​command included the Netherlands with the exception of the mouth of the Ems and the island of Rottum , which were assigned to the Coast Commander German Bight . In the south, the area of ​​the port of Antwerp was subordinate to him, otherwise the responsibility extended to the Belgian border. In autumn 1943 the Scheldt estuary was added to the command area.

The staff moved from The Hague to Utrecht in April 1942 and to Bloemendaal in the last weeks of the war . In February 1943, the agency was renamed Commanding Admiral in the Netherlands . This was initially subordinate to the Northern Naval Command in Wilhelmshaven, from spring 1945 to the Commander-in-Chief of Fortress Holland .

Subordinate departments

Two sea ​​commanders , floating units, land units and various agencies were directly subordinate to the naval commander . Some allegations changed in the course of the war:

  • Independent port commanders:
    • Port Commander Amsterdam
      • Port captain Utrecht
    • Port Commander Rotterdam
      • Naval equipment station Rotterdam with branch offices
    • Port Commander Antwerp
      • Naval Equipment Station Antwerp
    • Port Commander Breskens (only October / November 1944 during the retreat of the 15th Army across the Scheldt )
  • Land associations and agencies
    • 10th Marine Motor Vehicle Department (from 1942; Scheveningen, Utrecht, at the end of the war in Soest )
    • Marine Construction Battalion 313, on August 1942 Marine Fortress Pioneer Battalion 313, replaced in July 1943 by:
    • Naval Fortress Engineer Battalion 312 (Utrecht)
    • 4th Marine Radio Measurement Department (Utrecht, from September 1944)
    • 6. Replacement naval artillery division ( Groningen , until September 1943)
    • Marineartilleriezeugamt / Marinearsenal Wassenaar , from 1942 Amersfoort
  • Navy Service Offices (KMD)
    • KMD Rotterdam (1940 to 44)
    • KMD Antwerp (1940 to 44)
    • Head of Sea Transport Netherlands (Groningen, from October 1944)
      • Transport Flotilla Netherlands (from October 1944)
Marine ferry and outpost boat off the Dutch coast
  • Floating associations:
    • Leader of the Motorboat Associations Netherlands (established in January 1941 in The Hague, from September 1942 in Dordrecht . The associations that were already in existence when they were established were previously under the command of the Naval Commander directly.):
      • River clearance flotilla Netherlands (December 1940 to February / March 1945, afterwards most of the boats are handed over to the Rhine flotilla)
      • Waal ferry flotilla (from autumn 1944, tactically assigned to the army)
    • Harbor Protection Flotilla Holland (in January 1941 subordinated to the leader of the Motorboat Associations Netherlands and assigned to the Harbor Protection Flotilla South Holland in June 1941.)
    • Rhine Flotilla (formed in January 1940 by the NSKK and taken over by the Kriegsmarine in August 1940. Subordinated to the leader of the Netherlands Motorboat Associations from the beginning of 1941.)
    • Danube Flotilla (deployed in the Holland area from May 1940 to April 1941, then relocated back to the Danube )
    • Maas flotilla (April 1941 to February / March 1945, then most of the boats are handed over to the Rhine flotilla)
    • Netzsperrflotille North Sea / Holland (Utrecht, September 1943 - July 1944)

The 1st Security Division was stationed in the command area, but was not placed under the commanding admiral in the Netherlands until December 1944.

Kurt Caesar Hoffmann as commander of the battleship Scharnhorst (March 1942)

Commander of the Central Holland Naval Defense

The office of the Maritime Commander in Central Holland was established in November 1944 when the Allies had advanced as far as the Meuse and occupied large parts of the area of ​​Maritime Commander South Holland, which was dissolved. The area of ​​command of the Central Holland Sea Command included the remaining parts of the South Holland Sea Command and the southern part of the North Holland Sea Command including Ijmuiden and Wijk aan Zee. The office existed until the end of the war.

The only sea commander in Central Holland was sea captain Werner Stoephasius .

The following were subordinate to the sea commander in Central Holland:

  • Taken over by sea commander North Holland:
    • Port commander Ijmuiden
    • Marine Flak Department 201 (Wijk aan Zee)
    • Marine Flak Department 816 (Ijmuiden)
  • Taken over by sea commander South Holland:
    • Harbor Commander Hook of Holland
    • Naval artillery department 205 (Hook of Holland)
    • Marine Flak Department 813 (Hook of Holland)

Navy commanders and commanding admirals

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

literature

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956. Volume II, main chapter XIII, chapter 1, p. 1 ff.
  2. ↑ a b c d Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956. Volume II, main chapter XIII, chapter 2, p. 1 ff.
  3. ↑ a b Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945 . Compilation in three volumes. OO 1956. Volume II, main chapter XIII, chapter 2, p. 14