Paul Hellmann (naval officer)

Paul Hellmann (born March 13, 1889 in the Forsthaus Zehnebeck in what is now the Uckermark district ; † February 19, 1964 in Hamburg-Groß Flottbek ) was a German naval officer, the only knight's cross in the German merchant navy in World War II .

Early career

Hellmann served in the Imperial Navy of the German Empire from 1911 to 1912 , then went to the merchant navy and became a ship officer at Hapag . He was captured by the British at the outbreak of World War I and spent from 1914 to 1919 in a Canadian prisoner-of-war camp . From 1923 he served again at Hapag as a merchant ship officer.

Blockade breakers

At the outbreak of World War II, Hellmann was as captain of the motor vessel Osorno in Chile , and his ship was there in September 1939 in Talcahuano launched . In the spring of 1941 the Osorno took over a load of ore, wool, pig bristles and the like from the freighters Tacoma and Portland, which were also lying there . a. m., with which she then attempted the breakout to Japan in May . She suffered machine damage on June 18 in the Pacific and was unable to maneuver. Bogota , which set sail from Coquimbo , Chile, also with destination Japan on May 18, received the radio call for help from the Osorno , found the ship and towed it over 1800 nautical miles to Yokohama , which was reached on July 3, 1941.

After the necessary repairs, the Osorno was loaded with goods essential to the war effort and prepared for the voyage as a blockade breaker. She left Japan on December 23, 1941, crossed the Pacific, circled Cape Horn and reached Bordeaux in southern France on February 19, 1942.

On March 23, 1943, the Osorno departed from Bordeaux for another blockade voyage. The destination was Japan, with a stopover in Jakarta ( Indonesia ). Although the British radio reconnaissance reported on March 27 that several German cargo ships escorted from the Gironde with destroyers , the submarines that had been summoned came too late to intercept the Osorno and the Portland . On May 8, the Osorno reached Jakarta. From there she went on to Japan.

On October 2, 1943, the Osorno Kobe left with a cargo of 3944 t of rubber , 1826 t of tin and 180 t of tungsten ore , with the destination Bordeaux. Singapore was reached on October 10th and the Cape of Good Hope was circled on November 15th. Although the ship was from one to 8 December Ascension stationed Liberator of the US Navy spotted, but the home Hellmann not only the scheduled on his ship Allied escape ships and aircraft, but the possibility of Allied convoys traveled in close succession North Atlantic Convoy routes USA - Gibraltar (on December 16/17) and USA - Great Britain (on December 19) to cross undetected. On 21/22 December Hellmann had reached the sea area north of the Azores and changed his course eastwards in the direction of Biscay and the Gironde estuary. As of the morning of December 25 his ship by British, Canadian and Australian was Sunderland - flying boats shadowed, one of which was shot down. At noon on December 25th, the Orsono was picked up by the 8th destroyer flotilla and the 4th torpedo boat flotilla, which had left the Gironde for this purpose ( Bernau Company ) the day before , and escorted into the Gironde. Air attacks were repulsed by Ju 88 long-range fighters and the ships' flak .

The Gironde was unharmed achieved, but arriving in the Gironde on 26 December, the crack Osorno at the wreck of the barrier breaker 21 the fuselage and had a twelve-meter-long crack on the beach are set to at least save the valuable cargo. This was then reloaded onto a barge and brought to Bordeaux. A British attempt on December 31st to prevent this with a bomber attack and to destroy the ship completely failed due to poor visibility.

The Osorno was the last overwater blockade breaker to reach its destination. After that, the supply of war-essential raw materials from and to East Asia by surface ships had to cease because of the almost complete enemy surveillance.

Awards

For the successful trips to Japan and supply trips from Japan to Bordeaux, Paul Hellmann was awarded both levels of the Iron Cross (2nd and 1st class) on December 31, 1943 . Only six days later, on January 6, 1944, he was the only member of the merchant navy to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . The award ceremony with Grand Admiral Dönitz on April 28, 1944 was shown in Deutsche Wochenschau No. 714 in May 1944.

As early as 1940 Hellmann had received the War Merit Cross, Second Class with Swords, in 1942 the War Merit Cross, First Class with Swords and the Blockade Breaker Badge, and on June 5, 1942, the War Merit pennant.

Navy

Hellmann was accepted into the Navy on July 1, 1944 , after a short officer course on September 1, 1944, he was appointed Ensign to the Sea and two months later was promoted to lieutenant in the sea. In 1945 he was promoted to First Lieutenant zur See dR

Web links

• Photo: Captain Hellmann with the Knight's Cross

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ http://www.combinedfleet.com/Bogota_t.htm
3. ^ Blockade breakers 1941-1943
4. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/43-03.htm
5. ↑ On board were the 47 men of the former German crew of U 511 , which had been handed over to Japan. They disembarked in Singapore and then formed the trunk of the German base for the monsoon boats in Penang , which from 1943 mainly operated in the Indian Ocean , but also in the Pacific. ( http://www.u-boot-archiv.de/dieboote/u0511.php )
6. ↑ 303rd BG (H) Combat Mission No. 94, 31 December 1943, Target: Blockade Runner Ship "Orsono," at Bordeaux (PDF file; 1.34 MB)
7. ^ Blockade breakers 1941–1943
8. ↑ http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/F01972  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.