Otto Groos

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Otto Joseph Christian Hubert Groos (born July 17, 1882 in Jülich ; † May 29, 1970 in Bremen ) was a German admiral in the Navy during World War II .

Life

Groos was born the son of an army officer. He joined the Imperial Navy on April 7, 1900 . After his training and initial experience on board, he served during the First World War, among other things, as a navigation officer on the great cruiser SMS Von der Tann during the Battle of the Skagerrak and from June 23, 1917 as an admiral staff officer with the IV reconnaissance group. He was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and the Iron Crescent .

From December 1918 to January 1926 he worked in the war history department of the German navy, which later became the naval archive . Here Groos edited the war history of the naval war in the North Sea from a German perspective, which was published in the form of the seven-volume work The War in the North Sea . During this time he was promoted to frigate captain and received on June 20, 1925 the honorary doctorate of a Dr. phil. of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn .

In his portrayal, Groos largely followed the wishes of Grand Admiral a. D. Alfred von Tirpitz , who relieved the navy and wanted to see Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg portrayed as the one who had prevented the use of the fleet at the right time. In the tendentious and one-sided volumes, Groos cast the officers who had failed in Tirpitz's eyes, namely Friedrich von Ingenohl , Hugo von Pohl and Georg Alexander von Müller , in a bad light, while he describes aspects that could have contributed to a differentiated view , deliberately kept silent. The head of the naval archives Eberhard von Mantey admitted to Erich Raeder in 1932 that the first North Sea volumes were written entirely in the “Tirpitzschen fairway”, so that a revision was necessary. Its author Otto Groos can "only think subjectively in relation to history".

On January 10, 1926 Groos took command over the as a training ship used light cruiser Hamburg , with whom he undertook a world tour and he on December 1, 1926 during which Captain was promoted. After his return in June 1927, Groos was transferred to the naval management , where he initially worked as a teacher and from April 1929 was in charge of the training of assistant leaders . H. the training of the Admiralty staff officers took over.

In 1930 , Groos was promoted to Rear Admiral from April to September 1931, Chief of Staff at the Baltic Sea Naval Station , and then became Chief of the Naval Command Office in the naval command. He was promoted to Vice Admiral on April 1, 1934 and retired on September 30, 1934. He then gave lectures on naval tactics at the Wehrmacht Academy as part of general staff training.

On March 22, 1939, Groos was reactivated at the disposal of the High Command of the Wehrmacht and, with a brief interruption, from June to October 1944 until the end of the Second World War he was appointed chief of the special staff for trade warfare and economic combat measures. On September 1, 1941, he received the patent as an admiral.

From 1967 he was an honorary member of the Clausewitz Society .

Fonts

In addition to his work on the complete work The War in the North Sea , Groos has written several books on the subject of naval warfare, including:

  • Naval doctrines in the light of the world war. Berlin 1929.
  • What everyone should know about naval warfare. Volk und Reich Verlag, Berlin 1940.
  • The naval war. Berlin / Vienna / Prague 1943.

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 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1988, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 460-461.
  • Hans H. Hildebrand, Alber Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Volume 3. 1st edition. Herford 1981, ISBN 3-7822-0211-2 , p. 42.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ranking list of the German Reichsmarine. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . ES Mittler & Sohn . Berlin 1929, p. 40.
  2. ↑ Michael Epkenhans : "Clio" and the Navy. In: Werner Rahn (Ed.): German Marines in Transition. From a symbol of national unity to an instrument of international security . Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-59464-5 , p. 374.
  3. ↑ Werner Rahn: Strategic options and experiences of the German naval command 1914 to 1944: On the chances and limits of a Central European continental power against sea powers. In: Werner Rahn (Ed.): German Marines in Transition. From a symbol of national unity to an instrument of international security . Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-59464-5 , pp. 209f.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Groos edited the first five volumes of Der Krieg in der Nordsee , the sixth volume appeared in 1937, the seventh in 1965.
personal data
SURNAME Groos, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Groos, Otto Joseph Christian Hubert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German admiral of the Kriegsmarine
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Jülich
DATE OF DEATH May 29, 1970
Place of death Bremen