Oskar Kummetz

Kummetz 1940, Nazi propaganda picture

Oskar Kummetz (born July 21, 1891 in Illowo ; † December 17, 1980 in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ) was a German General Admiral in the Navy during World War II .

Imperial Navy

Kummetz joined the Imperial Navy on April 1, 1910 . He spent the first years of service as a midshipman on the Great cruiser SMS Victoria Louise (to March 1911) and then as a cadet at sea and since September 1913 as lieutenant on the battleships SMS Helgoland and SMS Posen (to March 1916). Shortly after being promoted to first lieutenant in March 1916 , he was transferred to the torpedo boat weapon in April , where he served as an officer on watch on torpedo boats from April 1916 to March 1918 . On March 20, 1918, he received his first command as the commander of the G 10 torpedo boat , which he held until February 1919.

Imperial Navy

After the end of the war, Kummetz was accepted into the Reichsmarine and in February 1919 was appointed commander of the M 84 minesweeper . From October 1919 to September 1922 he served in various staff positions. In January 1921 he was promoted to lieutenant captain. Further stations were in command of the torpedo boat V 1 from September 1922 to September 1924, then staff service, then chief of the III. Torpedo boat semi -flotilla from October 1927 to October 1929 (with promotion to Korvettenkapitän in December 1928), and again staff service. On July 1, 1934, he became a frigate captain and soon afterwards, in October 1934, a torpedo boat leader .

Navy

In April 1936 Kummetz was promoted to captain at sea . From October 1937 there was renewed staff service, including positions as Chief of Staff of the Fleet Command under Admiral Boehm (October 1938 to October 1939) and Inspector of Torpedoes (December 1939 to May 1942). On January 1, 1940, Kummetz was promoted to Rear Admiral.

Weser exercise company

Officers honored for their participation in the occupation of Norway, from left: Captain Hellmuth Heye , Rear Admiral Oskar Kummetz, Captain August Thiele (1940)

During the occupation of Norway ( Operation Weser Exercise ) in April 1940, Kummetz commanded the Oslo Battle Group , consisting of the heavy cruisers Blücher and Lützow , the light cruiser Emden , three torpedo boats, eight clearing boats and two troop carriers. The Blücher was sunk in the Oslofjord by Norwegian coastal batteries, but Kummetz was saved. The resulting delay in the occupation of Oslo by one day enabled the Norwegian government to get the royal family, government and treasury out of the country before the invaders could seize them. Despite the serious tactical failure to penetrate the narrow fjord with slow speed and instead of the torpedo boats first with the comparatively clumsy flagship, Kummetz received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on January 18, 1941 for the occupation of Oslo .

Northern sea

In June 1942 Kummetz, since April 1942 Vice Admiral , " Commander of the cruisers " and from February 1943 to February 1944 commander of various combat groups that attempted to attack Northern Sea convoys in the Northern Sea from Northern Norway . One of these attempts resulted in a confusing naval battle in the Barents Sea on December 31, 1942 between Kampfgruppe 2 (consisting of the heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper and Lützow and six destroyers ) under Kummetz and British naval forces, which were operating as convoy protection in the North Sea. The British destroyer Achates was sunk, but the German destroyer Friedrich Eckoldt was lost with its entire crew and the Admiral Hipper received several heavy hits from the British cruisers Sheffield and Jamaica . Kummetz broke off the attack around midnight so as not to take any further risks.

After his promotion to admiral on March 1, 1943, Kummetz led a newly formed combat group of the Kriegsmarine until the end of February 1944. The only remarkable operation of this association was the Sicily operation in September 1943 against the Allied base on Spitsbergen . Kummetz commanded the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst , three destroyer flotillas and a battalion-strength combat group of the 345th Grenadier Regiment, which destroyed allied land facilities on Spitsbergen. The company was the last successful combat mission of a large German naval unit and the last offensive battle of the Tirpitz , which was sunk on November 12, 1944 near Tromsø by British bombers .

Baltic Sea

On March 1, 1944, Kummetz took over command of the Baltic Naval Command in Kiel . On September 16, 1944, he was promoted to Admiral General. In his current post he was mainly responsible for the evacuation of German refugees from East Prussia , West Prussia and Pomerania across the Baltic Sea in the last months of the war .

Post-war years

After a British prisoner of war from July 1945 to November 1946 living Kummetz first by growing and selling vegetables until he as receptionist of the casino of Bad Durkheim a new activity found. In 1956 he retired and moved with his wife to Neustadt an der Weinstrasse.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd class on June 30, 1916
• Iron Cross (1914) 1st Class on September 27, 1918
• Cross of honor for front-line soldiers in January 1935
• Commander's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit on August 20, 1938
• Clasp for the Iron Cross 2nd class on October 14, 1939
• Clasp for the Iron Cross 1st Class on April 12, 1940
• Medal commemorating the return of Memelland on March 14, 1940
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on January 18, 1941
• Fleet War Badge on February 5, 1942

literature

• Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 337-338.
• Manfred Dörr: The knight's cross bearers of the surface forces of the navy. Volume 1: AK. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1995, ISBN 3-7648-2453-0 , pp. 378-380.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 484.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Manfred Dörr: The knight's cross bearers of the surface forces of the navy. Volume 1: AK. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1995, ISBN 3-7648-2453-0 , pp. 378-380.
3. ↑ Veit Scherzer: Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, p. 484.