Labor Service Unit (B)
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The Labor Service Unit (B) (LSU (B)) was an aid organization of the United States Naval Forces Germany (NAVFORGER), which existed from 1951 to 1957. The association performed a variety of maritime support tasks including clearing sea mines . The members of the LSU (B) were Germans, many of whom had served in the Navy during World War II .
General
After the Second World War, the US occupation forces in Germany set up aid organizations consisting of Germans to support them, which they referred to as Labor Service Units and Civilian Service Units . The first 500 German employees were employed in 1948 to support the Berlin Airlift , after primarily displaced persons from the areas previously occupied by Germans, especially Poland, had been used for these tasks.
Under NAVFORGER there were two Labor Service Groups for naval tasks. The LSU (B) had duties on the coast, while the LSU (C) formed part of the Rhine River Patrol . The designation LSU (A) was given to the German liaison officer at the NAVFORGER staff.
History of the LSU (B)
The LSU (B) was set up on February 1, 1951 in Bremerhaven in a solemn ceremony, with which the importance of building this new organization with German personnel should be made clear. At the foundation of the tractor group that formed naval service group the foundation in Bremerhaven, were added four minesweepers of the type 1940 , a crane ship and a tanker. On July 1, 1951, LSU (B) took over twelve clearing boats from the Cuxhaven mine clearing association, which is under British supervision .
These boats were US war booty that had been loaned to the British. They were reclaimed by the US in order to set up its own mine sweeping component in Europe. The background was experiences in the Korean War. The landing at Wŏnsan had been delayed for days by the use of outdated North Korean sea mines because there were not enough anti-mine vehicles available.
From the beginning, the preparation of the establishment of a West German Navy was one of the tasks of the LSU (B), even if the USA initially kept this purpose to itself. With this, the LSU (B) differed significantly from the previously existing naval service group, whose main task was to deal with German naval units. Dealing with the German staff had changed accordingly. However, from the point of view of the former members of the Cuxhaven Mine Clearance Association, the employment contracts were significantly worse than their previous German contracts, so that many of them preferred to switch to the newly emerging German Maritime Border Protection instead of the LSU (B) . An essential aspect of this decision was the clause contained in the US treaties, according to which the members of the LSU (B) must be informed of the US authorities everywhere, i. H. also outside of Germany.
After the founding of the Federal Navy , large parts of the LSU (B) were taken over into their service and the LSU (B) then dissolved.
tasks
With the boats of the Cuxhaven Mine Clearance Association, the US Navy took on the obligation to continue mine clearing in German waters, whereby the Royal Navy continued to coordinate this activity with the Federal Ministry of Transport and the International Mine Clearance Board in London.
Similar to the British Baltic Fishery Protection Service, the speedboats had secret special orders in the Baltic Sea.
When it became clear from 1954 that the Federal Republic of Germany would be re-armed, measures were taken to prepare the LSU (B) for taking over into a new German Navy. Mine clearing thus took a back seat.
organization
Insinuation
The LSU (B) was under the US Naval Advanced Base Bremerhaven ( NAB , advanced naval base Bremerhaven ), which was established on July 1, 1945. The NAB was subject to the following units:
- Weser River Patrol
- Repair unit
- Mine Sweeping Readiness Unit
- Mine Division One
- Mine Division Two
- Communication Unit # 6
- Labor Service Unit "B"
guide
At the head of LSU B was a responsible American officer, to whom the oldest German officer, Commander LSU (retired captain) Hans John, the flotilla chiefs and the officers of the staff reported directly. The staff comprised the areas of operation, administration, ship technology, navigation, human resources, training and supply.
Material inventory
Until the summer of 1952, the LSU (B) grew on the following stock:
- 1 flotilla minesweepers (5 M-boats type 40, 1 boat type 43)
- 2 flotilla mine clearance boats (R boats) - 21 with Voith Schneider drives, 5 with screw drives
- 2 tenders (former ocean tugs)
- 2 tugs
- 3 speed boats
- 1 submarine
- 3 air traffic control boats
- 1 tanker
- 1 aircraft recovery program
- 1 barge
literature
- Hartmut Klüver (ed.): Stations of German naval history (II): German sea associations 1945-1956 . Düsseldorf 2001, ISBN 3-935091-08-7 .
Web links
- Douglas C. Peifer, “Forerunners to the West German Bundesmarine: The Klose Fast Patrol Group, the Naval Historical Team Bremerhaven, and the US Navy's Labor Service Unit (B)” (English)
- LSU (B) at mandors.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ US Army Germany, Labor Service Division
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Huebner. The Labor Service Unit (B) in Bremerhaven. In: Hartmut Klüver (ed.): Stations of German naval history (II): German sea associations 1945–1956, Düsseldorf 2001, ISBN 3-935091-08-7 . P. 62 ff.
- ↑ a b c LSU (B) at mandors.de ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Information on the LSU (B) in the Federal Archives / Military Archives ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Paul McElroy. The Mining of Wonsan Harbor, North Korea in 1950: Lessons for Today's Navy. (PDF; 1.1 MB)
- ^ A b Douglas C. Peifer. Three German navies - dissolution, transitions and new beginnings. Bochum 2007. ISBN 978-3-89911-101-9
- ^ Fritz Poske . The sea border protection 1951–1956. Reminder - report - documentation. Koblenz / Bonn 1982. ISBN 3-7637-5410-5
- ↑ Info at foerderverein-museums-schnellboot.de ( Memento from November 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 626 kB)
- ↑ Organigram ( Memento of the original from March 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ managed by a US officer
