Marine Group Command

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Marinegruppenkommandos (MGK) were operational command posts of the Commander in Chief of the Kriegsmarine for the security forces in a marked out larger sea area. On February 1, 1943, the command structures in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Norway were reformed and high naval commands were formed. While in the western area the MGK West remained the dominant command unit until the defeat, no high command was formed in the Mediterranean command area even after the capitulation of Italy, only after the defeat of Germany in the western Mediterranean, in the Black Sea and in the Aegean was it set up in 1945 MOK South.

Marine Group Command East

The first naval group command was set up in Kiel in November 1938 for the Baltic Sea region. During the attack on Poland , the command post was in Swinoujscie. When the Marine Group Command West (command staff for the North Sea and the Atlantic) moved to Paris after the campaign in the west, the MGK Ost moved to Sengwarden near Wilhelmshaven on August 10, 1940, renaming it to the Marine Group Command North. The commander in chief still held the title of naval group commander until the beginning of the Second World War

  • General Admiral Conrad Albrecht --- November 1, 1938 to October 30, 1939
  • Admiral Rolf Carls --- October 31, 1939 to September 20, 1940

Marine Group Command West

The second naval group command was set up in August 1939 as operational command staff for the North Sea and the Atlantic in Sengwarden near Wilhelmshaven. In August 1940 the MGK West moved to Paris. At the same time, command in the North Sea was ceded to MGK Nord. The Commander-in-Chief, newly appointed in September 1942, was initially also Commanding Admiral France . However, this position was integrated on November 16, 1942. In addition to the tasks of an operational management staff, there was also responsibility for troop service. The group was under the command of the Security West (BSW), occasionally also naval forces operating in the western area, e.g. B. the Bismarck or the battleships during the canal breakthrough ; but not the submarines and surface warfare at the Atlantic. The MGK West was dissolved with the establishment of the MOK West on October 20, 1944.

→ Schematic war organization of the Marine Group Command West on June 6, 1944

Marine Group Command North

On August 10, 1940, by renaming, emerged from the Naval Group Command East. In addition to the previous Baltic Sea region, it was the operational command post for the German Bight, Denmark, Norway and the North Sea. The commanding admirals of the naval stations of the Baltic and North Sea as well as the commanders of the security in these command sections were subordinate to him. When comprehensive operations in the North Sea area were no longer expected at the height of the war, the merger with the Fleet Command took place in March 1943 . The previous fleet chief became commander in chief. On July 31, 1944, MGK Nord was also formally dissolved.

  • General Admiral Rolf Carls --- September 21, 1940 to March 2, 1943
  • General Admiral Otto Schniewind --- March 2, 1943 to July 30, 1944

German naval command Italy

Set up in November 1941 with the transfer of German naval forces to the Mediterranean. The German admiral at the Admiral Staff of the Royal Italian Navy became the commander, who retained this position in personal union. With effect from December 1, 1941, he was given the position and powers of a commanding admiral. The German naval command was operationally subordinate to the Italian navy until the country left the alliance. But even after that there was no upgrade to a full group command. In January 1945, the Italian naval command was dissolved and the Mediterranean subordinated to the South Naval Command .

Marine Group Command South

On June 30, 1941, the position of Admiral Southeast became the Naval Group Command South. The headquarters were in Sofia (Bulgaria) from June 1941 to August 1944, then in Austria for three months. The group was responsible for the Balkans and operational management in the Black Sea, the Adriatic and the Aegean. But apart from the Danube flotilla and the transport squadrons of the Southeast Sea Transport Chief, the group had no direct naval forces of its own. Rather, these were subordinate to the commanding admirals of the Black Sea, Adriatic and Aegean, which could not work together spatially. On December 30, 1944, the office was closed. The remaining tasks of the group were carried out by the admiral z. b. V. Southeast settled. On January 1, 1945 formation of the Naval High Command South.

swell

  • Hans H. Hildebrand, Walter Lohmann: The German Navy. 1939-1945. Structure, commitment, staffing. 3 volumes. Podzun, Bad Nauheim 1959–1964 (loose-leaf edition).
  • Hans H. Hildebrand: The organizational development of the navy including staffing 1848 to 1945 (= formation history and staffing of the German armed forces 1815-1990. Part 2). 3 volumes. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 2000, ISBN 3-7648-2541-3 .