Mediterranean shipping company

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The Mediterranean-Reederei GmbH (MMR) was one of the German government in the Second World War was to start semi-state company, the total tonnage Fleet operated , which the German Reich in the Mediterranean could be detected.

prehistory

The supply of the German and Italian troops in North Africa had already become critical in the summer of 1941, because on the one hand Italy could only provide limited shipping space and on the other hand the ship losses from submarines , fighter planes and mines continued to increase. Additional shipping space could only be obtained by taking possession of the war opponents' ships in the Mediterranean, be it through expropriation, confiscation or charter . In these cases, the chartering was almost always a fictitious construct, in which the actual owners in the occupied countries were obliged or forced to charter their ships to the German Reich Commissioner for Maritime Shipping . The ships that came under German control in this way had to be managed. This task would have overwhelmed the Reichskommissariat and the Kriegsmarine , especially after most of the im. On the basis of the Nevers Agreement (August 28, 1942) and the Laval-Kaufmann Agreement (November 22, 1942 and January 23, 1943) The French merchant fleet that remained in the Mediterranean Sea had passed into the control of the Axis powers . On the other hand, the German shipping companies operated well below their pre-war capacity, and it was therefore natural to entrust them with this task under Reich control.

founding

During the German occupation of the Free Zone of France ( Anton company ) on November 10 and 11, 1942 , French merchant ships with a combined total of more than 700,000 GRT fell into German hands. Just a few days later, on November 16, at the instigation of the Reich Commissioner for Sea Shipping ("Reiko See"), Hamburg Gauleiter Karl Kaufmann , a consortium of eleven German shipping companies traditionally active in the Mediterranean founded the Mediterranean Reederei GmbH , based in Hamburg . The purpose of the company was "to take over and manage the entire shipping space that can be recorded in the Mediterranean for German purposes". This also referred to the few German merchant ships in the Mediterranean area, but above all to shipping space that was captured or otherwise in German possession.

Each of the eleven founder shipping companies paid 50,000 RM as share capital . These were:

history

In so far as they were not passed on to Italy, the Danish , Norwegian , Dutch , Belgian , French, Yugoslav , Greek and British booty ships in German possession were assigned to the MMR for management. However, the use of the ships was directed through the naval transport stations of the Navy , as it primarily had to serve the war-related needs of the German Wehrmacht . The ships sailed under the Reich Service flag .

On July 1, 1943, the ten small Spanish freighters originally bought by the OKM via Comercial Maritima de Transportes SA (Transcomar), Madrid, to supply the German troops in Crete were taken over by the MMR and manned with German crews. After the armistice of Cassibile and the subsequent German occupation of Italy in September 1943, the seized or captured Italian and Yugoslav and Greek merchant ships previously taken over by Italy were also assigned to the MMR. This also included around 750 coastal freighters, motor sailers and fishing vessels and 450 inland vessels , all with less than 1000 GRT , in Italian waters and around 600 Greek motor sailers in the Aegean . Finally, in autumn 1943, the ships of the Schwarzmeer-Schiffahrts-GmbH were also taken over, which until then had fulfilled the same function in the Black Sea as the MMR in the Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean shipping company had four offices in the Mediterranean: France office, Italy office, Greece office and Croatia office. It was dissolved on September 15, 1944.

Ship-managed ships (selection)

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ The Nord-Reederei was founded in Norway in November 1943 according to a similar model .
  2. ↑ In order to get enough personnel for the crews , the majority of the ships taken over were handed over to Italy and sailed with Italian crews and under the Italian flag.
  3. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/ksp/mittelmeer/versorgung-mm.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km/mittelmeer/frachter-sp.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km/mittelmeer/suedost/ssg.htm

Web links

literature

  • Reinhart Schmelzkopf: Foreign ships in German hands 1939–1945. Strandgut, Cuxhaven, 2004