Theodor Detmers

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Theodor Detmers (front, 2nd from right) together with the other officers of the auxiliary cruiser Komoran in Australian captivity.

Theodor Detmers (born August 22, 1902 in Witten ; † November 4, 1976 in Hamburg ) was a German naval officer and commander of the auxiliary cruiser Kormoran .

Life

Theodor Detmers joined the Reichsmarine in 1921 and initially served on the ships of the line Hanover and Alsace . He was then trained on the sailing training ship Niobe . Another station in his career was the Kleine Kreuzer Berlin . In October 1925 he was stationed as a lieutenant at sea on the light cruiser Emden . 1926–1928 he served on the torpedo boat Albatros , from July 1927 as a first lieutenant at sea . He spent two years in the naval staff (October 1930 to October 1932) and was then stationed on the light cruiser Cologne , with which he made a naval visit to Australia in 1933 .

From 1934 on he served on torpedo boats and destroyers of the German Navy . In October 1938 he took command of the destroyer Hermann Schoemann and took part with this ship in the Weser Exercise , the occupation of Denmark and Norway . In July 1940 Detmers became the commander of the auxiliary cruiser Kormoran (ship 41) and waged a pirate war in the Indian Ocean , in the course of which ten ships with 56,965 GRT were sunk. Another ship, the Canadian tanker Canadolita with 11,309 GRT, was raised as a prize . On November 19, 1941, the by far superior light cruiser Sydney was sunk in a sea battle . However, the damage to his own ship was so great that Detmers decided to sink itself.

From November 1941 to January 1947 he was a prisoner of war in Australia . During his imprisonment, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on December 4, 1941 , and was promoted to sea captain in April 1943 .

In early 1947 he was brought to Europe with the surviving crew members of his ship and released in May 1947 from British captivity in the Munster camp. In Australia he and other officers had prepared an outbreak, but it was unsuccessful. He wanted to escape through a tunnel, "organize" a sailing ship and head for Indonesia. He spent the last three decades of his life in Hamburg-Rahlstedt, where he died on November 4, 1976.

literature

  • Theodor Detmers: Kormoran: The auxiliary cruiser that sank the "Sydney". Biberach an der Riss 1959.
  • William Kimber: The Raider Cormorant , London 1959

Web links

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. 270.
  2. ^ Website of the Australian War Memorial . Encyclopedic entry: Captain Theodor Anton Detmers , accessed on March 19, 2008 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Detmers, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer and commander of the auxiliary cruiser "Kormoran"
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Witten
DATE OF DEATH 4th November 1976
Place of death Hamburg