Navy Service

Kriegsmarinedienststellen (KMD) were authorities of the German navy that were responsible for the provision of auxiliary ships , their manning and for sea transports.

history

At the beginning of the Second World War there were four naval offices in Hamburg , Bremen , Stettin and Königsberg . This was renamed from the offices of the naval command that had existed since 1920, and later renamed the Reichsmarinedienststellen . An officer with the rank of admiral was appointed to head the office in Hamburg . The other departments should be led by a master at sea .

In the course of the war, further naval offices were set up in occupied countries and various branches were set up:

The naval services were subordinate to the regional naval commanders in terms of troops, and technically to the high command of the navy , naval warfare department Qu A VI (shipping department). They were assigned branches in the larger seaports.

A special task of the navy services was the provision of on-board anti-aircraft units for auxiliary and merchant ships . The marine anti-aircraft departments were initially subordinate to the admiral of the Hamburg Navy Service. Those stationed in northern Europe, e.g. Some of the newly established departments were merged in March 1943 to form the Marine Flak Brigade North , the commander of which was also the admiral of the Hamburg Navy.

Navy Office Hamburg

The Navy Service Hamburg was formed from the Reichswehr Service Hamburg of Wehrkreis II in July 1935 and existed until the end of the war. The area of operation of the agency was the North Sea with the assignment to the naval station of the North Sea . There were branches in Cuxhaven , Lübeck , Kiel , Flensburg , Rendsburg and Rostock .

Heads of the Navy Service in Hamburg were

Rear Admiral Eugen Lindau : from the establishment to September 1936
Rear Admiral / Vice Admiral Ernst Wolf : September 1936 to September 1942
Vice Admiral Walter Lohmann : October 1942 to February 1945
Rear Admiral Hans Bütow : February 1945 until the end of the war

Navy Service in Bremen

The Bremen Navy Service Center emerged in July 1935 from the former Bremen Navy Service Center and existed until the end of the war with branches in Wesermünde , Emden and Koblenz . The area of operation of the agency was the North Sea with the assignment to the marine station of the North Sea.

Heads of the Bremen Navy Service

Captain of the Sea / Rear Admiral Ernst Wolff (later head of the Hamburg Navy Service ): from the establishment to September 1936
Captain Walther Faber : September 1936 to August 1938
Sea captain Hans Feldbausch (former head of the Königsberg naval service and later head of the Oslo naval service ): August 1938 to May 1940
Rear Admiral Heinrich Kehlhahn : May 1940 to February 1944

Captain Erich Schulze : February 1944 to November 1944

Sea captain Hans Schottky: November 1944 until the end of the war

Stettin Navy Service

The Stettin Navy Service was created in July 1935 from the former Stettin Reich Navy Service and existed until the end of the war. The operational area of the agency was the Baltic Sea with the assignment to the naval station of the Baltic Sea . There were branches in Świnoujście , Saßnitz , Aalborg (from May 1940 its own naval agency) and Copenhagen (from June 1940 its own naval agency).

Heads of the Stettin Navy Service

Sea captain Günther Horstmann (later German sea transport chief Italy and commander of the 5th Security Division ): from the establishment to November 1939
Sea captain Karl von Montigny: November 1939 to December 1939
Captain Ernst Fischer : December 1939 to August 1940
Corvette Captain Mühle: August 1940 to July 1941
Sea captain Otto von Alvensleben : July 1941 to October 1943
Captain Richard Prüssen: October 1943 to March 1944
Captain Heinrich Jörss (former sea commander Reval ): March 1944 to November 1944
Frigate Captain Nicol: November 1944 until the end of the war

Kriegsmarine Dienststelle Königsberg

The Königsberg naval service was created in July 1935 from the former Königsberg naval service and existed until March 1940. It was then converted into a branch of the new Danzig naval service . The operational area of the agency was the Baltic Sea with the assignment to the naval station of the Baltic Sea. The Königsberg naval service had a branch in Pillau .

Heads of the Königsberg Navy Service

Frigate captain / sea captain Johannes Bachmann : from the installation to September 1935
Frigate captain / sea captain Hans Feldbausch (later head of the Bremen Navy Service and head of the Oslo Navy Service ): from September 1935 to May 1937
unknown: May 1937 to February 1939
Rear Admiral Friedrich-Wilhelm Fleischer : February 1939 to May 1939
Captain Bernhard Liebetanz (later head of the Bordeaux naval service and head of the Le Havre naval service ): May 1939 until liquidation

Naval Service Danzig

The Danzig Kriegsmarine Dienststelle existed from March 1940 until the fall of Danzig in March 1945. The operational area of the office was the Baltic Sea with the assignment to the naval station of the Baltic Sea. It owned the former Königsberg naval service as a branch with its former branch in Pillau. From July 1944, the office was no longer headed by an officer with the rank of admiral.

Heads of the Danzig Navy Service

Rear Admiral Oskar Wehr : from the establishment to July 1940
Rear Admiral Werner Steffen : July 1940 to July 1944
Frigate Captain Walter Schneidewind: August 1944
Frigate captain Heinrich Bartels (former head of the Aalborg Navy Service and Head of the Dunkirk Navy Service ): August 1944 until liquidation

Further naval agencies

Navy Service in Oslo

The Oslo Navy Service was set up in April 1940 and subordinated to the Commanding Admiral Norway , later Naval High Command Norway . Branch offices existed in Kirkenes , Harstad , Trondheim , Bergen and Stavanger . In April 1944, the office was converted to head of sea transport for Norway .

Heads of the Oslo Navy Service

Frigate Captain Erich Lehmann (later Chief of the Ostend Navy Service ): April / May 1940
Captain of the Sea / Rear Admiral Hans Feldbausch (former head of the Königsberg Navy Service and Bremen Navy Service Center ): May 1940 to August 1942
Rear Admiral Robert Eyssen : August 1942 until dissolution

Aalborg Navy Service

The Aalborg Kriegsmarine Dienststelle was formed in May 1940 from the branch of the Szczecin Navy Service and existed until the end of the war. The subordination took place first below the naval commander Denmark , then under the commanding Admiral Denmark and finally under the commanding Admiral Skagerrak .

Heads of the Aalborg Navy Service

Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Bartels (later head of the Danzig Navy and Head of the Dunkirk Navy ): from the establishment to July 1940
Corvette captain Fritz Blauert (later head of the Copenhagen Navy Service ): July 1940 to February 1943
Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Reinberg: March 1943 until the end of the war

Navy Service in Copenhagen

The Kriegsmarine Dienststelle Copenhagen existed from June 1940 to 1944. It was formerly a branch of the Kriegsmarine Dienststelle Stettin and in April 1944 it was transformed into sea transport chief Skagerrak . The subordination took place first below the naval commander Denmark, then under the commanding Admiral Denmark and finally under the commanding Admiral Skagerrak .

Heads of the Copenhagen Navy Service

Sea captain Hans Anschütz (former head of the Saßnitz and Lübeck branch): from installation until December 1940
Frigate Captain Gerhard von Zitzewitz: December 1940 to December 1942
unknown: December 1942 to February 1943
Corvette captain Fritz Blauert (former head of the Aalborg Navy Service ): February 1943 to October 1943
Frigate Captain Hellmuth Jürst: October 1943 until dissolution

Ostend Navy Service

The Kriegsmarinestelle Ostend existed from August 1940 to January 1942. The office was then transferred to Seebefehlsstelle Ostend , which was integrated into the commandant of the Pas de Calais naval defense .

Heads of the Ostend Navy Service

Corvette captain Erich Lehmann (former head of the Oslo Navy Service ): from the establishment to April 1941
Corvette Captain Paul Merks: from April 1941 until dissolution

Bordeaux Navy Service

The Bordeaux Navy Service was established in 1940 from the leading French Navy Service. This remained so with the establishment of the Marseille military service in May 1943. From November 1943, the navy agency was only managed on a deputy, as the chief took over the role of chief of maritime transport in Marseilles . In August 1944, the office was closed.

Heads of the Bordeaux Navy Service

Sea captain Bernhard Liebetanz (former head of the Königsberg naval service and later head of the Le Havre naval service ): August 1940 to September 1940
unknown: September 1940 to January 1941
Rear Admiral Heinz-Eduard Menche : January 1941 to April 1943
Sea captain Horst von Pflugk-Harttung : May 1943 until dissolution

Dunkirk Navy Department

The Dunkirk Navy Service existed from August 1940 to May 1941.

The chief of the Dunkirk navy service was Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Bartels (former head of the Aalborg naval service and later head of the Danzig naval service ).

Boulogne Navy Service

The Boulogne Navy Service existed from August 1940 to January 1941 with a branch in Le Havre . After the dissolution, the service continued as the commandant of the Boulogne naval defense , which was integrated into the commandant of the Pas de Calais naval defense .

The chief of the Boulogne navy was the sea captain Friedrich Frisius (later in command of the Pas de Calais naval defense ).

Naval Service Le Havre

The Navy Service Le Havre existed from August 1940 to February 1941 as a branch of the Navy Service Bordeaux and reorganized from May 1942. In March 1944 the service was transferred to Saint-Malo and incorporated into the Chief of Naval Transport, Saint-Malo .

Heads of the Naval Service in Le Havre were

Corvette captain Otto Launburg (former head of the Emden branch): from installation to September 1940
Sea captain Bernhard Liebetanz (former head of the Königsberg naval service and head of the Bordeaux naval service ): September 1940 to February 1941
Frigate Captain Eduard Theodor von Gorrissen: May 1942 to July 1943
Frigate Captain Wilhelm Simon: July 1943 until liquidation

Marseilles Navy Service

When it was set up in May 1943, the Marseilles naval service with a branch in Toulon took over the role of the leading naval service in France from the Bordeaux naval service . The agency existed until August 1944.

Rear Admiral Heinz-Eduard Menche (formerly head of the Bordeaux Navy ) was in charge of the Le Havre Navy .

(→ Commanding admiral French south coast )

literature

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

Individual evidence

↑ Handbook on German Military History, 1648–1939 . Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Defense, 1978, p. 430 ( google.de [accessed on November 10, 2019]).
↑ Kriegsmarine Dienststellen (inventory). Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
↑ ^a ^b Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945. Collected work in three volumes, OO 1956, Volume II, main chapter XX, p. 1.
↑ Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945. Compilation in three volumes, OO 1956, Volume II, Main Chapter XXIII, Chapter 2, p. 1.

[1] Handbook on German Military History, 1648–1939 . Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Defense, 1978, p. 430 ( google.de [accessed on November 10, 2019]).

[2] Kriegsmarine Dienststellen (inventory). Retrieved November 10, 2019 .

[WLB20-1-3] Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945. Collected work in three volumes, OO 1956, Volume II, main chapter XX, p. 1.

[4] Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945. Compilation in three volumes, OO 1956, Volume II, Main Chapter XXIII, Chapter 2, p. 1.