Kurt Caesar Hoffmann

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Kurt Caesar Hoffmann (March 1942)

Kurt Caesar Hoffmann (born August 26, 1895 in Kiel , † May 19, 1988 in Mölln ) was a German naval officer , from 1939 to 1942 in command of the battleship Scharnhorst , and most recently vice admiral in World War II .

Life

Hoffmann joined the Imperial Navy on April 1, 1912 as a midshipman and completed his ship training on the large cruiser SMS Hansa . On April 1, 1913, he came to the Mürwik Naval School in Flensburg - Mürwik for further training and was appointed ensign at sea on April 12, 1913 .

With the outbreak of World War I , he was transferred to the liner SMS Wettin as adjutant on August 2, 1914, and after being promoted to lieutenant on March 22, 1915, he was employed as a signal officer. From November 15, 1915 to January 15, 1916 he completed a course at the torpedo school in Flensburg- Mürwik and then came to the III as a watch officer . Torpedo boat flotilla. There was Lieutenant (since December 25, 1917) Hoffmann until about the end of the war out, and was then in the Imperial Navy adopted.

On September 28, 1922, Hoffmann became the commandant of the T 157 torpedo boat , and on January 1, 1924, he was promoted to lieutenant captain. At the end of September 1924 he was transferred as a company officer to the Second Marine Artillery Division in Wilhelmshaven . From November 24, 1926 to October 14, 1929 he was an instructor at the local coastal artillery school. Overlapping this, he was assigned to the regular crew of the light cruiser Cologne on May 25, 1928 . On October 15, 1929, Hoffmann came on board the small cruiser Amazone for three months as the first artillery officer . He then served in the same function on the light cruiser Cologne until September 27, 1932 . On October 1, 1931, he was promoted to Korvettenkapitän . From October 1932 Hoffmann served four years in the naval training department (A IV) of the naval command office. He was promoted to frigate captain on April 1, 1936. On September 28, 1936 Hoffmann was commander of the coastal artillery school, where he was promoted to sea captain on October 1, 1937 . On June 27, 1939 he was transferred to the light cruiser Königsberg as commander.

After the beginning of the Second World War, he initially stayed on the Königsberg until he took over the battleship Scharnhorst on September 21, 1939 . On March 28, 1942 Hoffmann was released from this command, made available to the commanding admiral of the Baltic Sea and promoted to rear admiral on April 1, 1942 . From July 1, 1942 to March 4, 1943 he was Commanding Admiral in the Netherlands . This was followed by a transfer to the Navy Weapons Office as head of the artillery development and construction department and his promotion to vice admiral on April 1, 1943.

Hoffmann came on May 23, 1945 in the special area Mürwik in British captivity , from which he was released on February 20 1947th

From June 26, 1956 to March 31, 1965, Hoffmann was Federal Commissioner at the Hamburg Sea Office .

Awards

literature

  • Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849–1945 , Volume 2. H – O. Biblio, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 274-275.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ranking list of the German Reichsmarine , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1929, p. 45.
  2. ↑ 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. 399.
personal data
SURNAME Hoffmann, Kurt Caesar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer and vice admiral in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1988
Place of death Mölln