Otto Ciliax

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Otto Ciliax

Otto Ciliax (born October 30, 1891 in Neudietendorf ; † December 12, 1964 in Lübeck ) was a German naval officer , most recently an admiral in the Navy in World War II .

Life

Imperial Navy

Ciliax occurred on 1 April 1910 as a midshipman in the Imperial Navy ( Crew 10 ) and completed his basic training at the training ship Victoria Louise before the Naval Academy Mürwik came. He then served on the liner Hanover from October 1, 1912 and became a lieutenant at sea on September 27, 1913 . When the First World War broke out, he remained on board and was then assigned to submarine training from December 1 to 31, 1915. Ciliax was then deployed as an officer on watch on the old T 37 torpedo boat, which had been converted into a minesweeper , and transferred from March 16, 1916 to October 14, 1917 in the same role on U 52 . There he was promoted to lieutenant at sea on March 22, 1916 . From October 15, 1917 he was put to use the II. U-boat flotilla , was then commanded from November 12 to December 5 at the U-boat school and then returned to the II. U-boat flotilla back. From June 24th to July 22nd, 1918 he was in command of UB 96 and was then employed from July 25th in the submarine acceptance command. From August 11, 1918, Ciliax was in command of the submarine school for another two weeks. And then until September 23, 2nd adjutant for the inspection of the submarines. From September 24, 1918 to January 20, 1919, i.e. until after the end of the war, he then served as commander of SM UC 27 . After the end of the war he was accepted into the Reichsmarine .

Imperial Navy

On January 21, Ciliax was put to use the inspection for submarine affairs and was then used as a commander on various torpedo boats, namely from March 15 to November 30, 1919 on T 92 and T 107 , then until 18. January 1920 on T 181 and then until December 31, 1920 on T 140 and T 145 . During this time he was promoted to lieutenant captain on June 29, 1920 . Then he was made available to the chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea until June 11, 1921 . This was followed by a use in the naval archive until March 24, 1922. Subsequently, Ciliax served initially until January 31, 1923 as a consultant at the Reichsmarinedienststelle Hamburg and then in the same function at the Reichsmarinedienststelle Bremen .

This was followed by a period of service as a company commander and teacher at the Naval School Mürwik until September 30, 1923 and then a position as commander of the torpedo boat G 8 until March 23, 1924. Then Ciliax was on leave for health reasons. From August 11, 1924, he was assigned to the recovered department of the Baltic Sea naval station. From March 30, 1925, he took over the torpedo boat S 18 as commander and was then appointed head of the 1st torpedo boat flotilla from September 23, 1926. Subsequently, from October 1, 1928, Ciliax was advisor to the naval department (AV) of the naval command and was promoted to corvette master on the same day . This was followed by two assignments as 1st Admiral Staff Officer , first from May 24, 1929 with the staff of the commander of the naval forces in the Baltic Sea and then from January 1, 1930 with the staff of the commander of the reconnaissance forces. From September 25, 1931 to September 30, 1932, Ciliax served as a consultant in the training department (A IV) and then until September 28, 1934 in the same function in the naval command's fleet department (AV). In between, he was promoted to frigate captain on October 1, 1933 . This was followed by a position as chief of the fleet or the operations department (AI) in the naval command , from July 1, 1935 in the rank of sea ​​captain . This period of service ended on September 21, 1936 after the Reichsmarine had already been renamed the Kriegsmarine.

Navy

Ciliax was commandant of the ironclad Admiral Scheer from September 22, 1936 to October 30, 1938 and took part in the Spanish Civil War with the ship . From March 22 to June 26, 1938 he was the commander of the German naval forces in Spain. Then he was posted to January 6, 1939 to use the commander of the battleships. Then Ciliax was in command of the battleship Scharnhorst from January 7, 1939 to September 28, 1939. He then became Chief of Staff, Marine Group Command West . In this role, on November 1, 1939, he was promoted to rear admiral and on June 1, 1941 to vice admiral . From June 16, 1941 to June 2, 1942 he was the commander of the battleships and from September 21 to October 21, 1941 also the commander of the Baltic Sea forces of the Navy. Ciliax was also responsible for running the Cerberus business in February 1942. From June 26, 1942, Ciliax was the torpedo inspector. On February 1, 1943 he was promoted to Admiral and in March 1943 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Norwegian Navy Group Command . From this post Ciliax was replaced on April 25, 1945 due to a falling out with the Commander in Chief of the Navy Karl Dönitz and replaced by Admiral Theodor Krancke . Shortly afterwards he was taken prisoner of war , from which he was released on February 24, 1946.

His son Otto H. Ciliax (1939-2016) became a flotilla admiral in the Bundeswehr .

Awards

literature

  • Hans H. Hildebrand and Ernest Henriot: Germanys Admirals 1849-1945 Volume 1: A – G (Ackermann to Gygas) , Osnabrück 1988, Biblio Verlag, ISBN 3-7648-2480-8

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The boats had previously been in service with the Imperial Navy as SMS S 92 , SMS S 107 , SMS S 181 , SMS S 140 and SMS S 145 and were sold a short time later for scrapping.
  2. ↑ Hildebrand, Hans H .; Röhr, Albert; Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). The German Warships (Volume 7) p.239. Mundus Verlag, Ratingen. ISBN 978-3-8364-9743-5
  3. ↑ Dieter Hartwig: Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz - Legend and Reality , Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-77027-1 , p. 36
  4. ↑ 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. 260.
personal data
SURNAME Ciliax, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, most recently admiral in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Neudietendorf
DATE OF DEATH December 12, 1964
Place of death Lübeck