Walter Isendahl (Admiral)

Walter Isendahl around 1918

Walter Isendahl (born September 10, 1872 in Braunschweig , † probably April 30, 1945 in Berlin ) was a German naval officer who headed the intelligence department of the Admiralty's staff from 1914 to 1918 . In autumn 1918 he was briefly in command of the former Russian liner Volja . From 1919 to 1922 he was head of the Reich Water Protection Department (RWS). From 1941 to 1943 he worked in an unspecified position at the High Command of the Navy (OKM) for the evaluation of Soviet written material.

Origin and family

So far (as of 2019) nothing is known about his origins, his family and his schooling.

Official activity until 1914

Isendahl began his career in the Imperial Navy on April 10, 1891 as a midshipman on the training ship SMS Stosch . With the end of his training he was promoted to sub-lieutenant on September 20, 1894 .

His first foreign command led to East Asia , where Isendahl served as a watch officer on the cruiser corvette SMS Arkona from 1896 to 1898 . After his return he was in command of torpedo boats until 1903 and was used in various functions in the torpedo industry. In 1902 he was promoted to lieutenant captain. From December 1904 to May 1907 he served as an admiral staff officer with the cruiser squadron again in East Asia. After his return from Tsingtau he found use in torpedo boat flotillas, in 1908 he was promoted to corvette captain. From 1909 to 1911 he was torpedo director at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven .

From 1912 until September 1913 he served as first officer on the liner SMS Wettin ; In 1913 he was promoted to frigate captain .

In the news department, 1914-1918

From September 29, 1913 to February 28, 1914 Isendahl was commanded to the Admiralty Staff of the Navy and was employed here as a department head. On March 1, 1914, Isendahl was succeeded by Captain Arthur Tapken (1864-1945) head of the intelligence department of the Admiralty . Little is known about their structure and activities during the First World War . On October 17, 1915, Isendahl was promoted to captain at sea. In the spring of 1916 he was involved in the Libau company ; an intelligence operation in support of the Easter Rising in Ireland involving Sir Roger Casement .

Volya1917-1

From February 20 to April 24, 1918 Isendahl was also assigned to the Finland company . When he left the company, his work in the intelligence service also ended. The reasons are not known; his successor was sea captain Paul Ebert (1873-1939). From April 28 to September 14, 1918 Isendahl was a member of the Nautical-Technical Commission, and from May 2 to September 14, Port Commander of Sevastopol . From September 25 to November 21, 1918, Isendahl was in command of the former Russian liner Volja .

Post-war period, Reich water protection

Apparently due to the Compiègne armistice on November 11, 1918, he returned to Berlin and was apparently again active in the Admiralty staff. From January 6, 1919, the beginning of the Spartacus uprising , to May 15, 1919, Isendahl was in an unknown position at the Lüttwitz General Command . From May 15 to September 30, 1919, he worked for the Reichsmarineamt (RMA, since July 15, 1919 Admiralty) of the Provisional Reichsmarine .

From October 1, 1919, Isendahl, although still formally a member of the Navy, worked for the Reich Ministry of the Interior , where he was evidently entrusted with the establishment of the Reich Water Protection System (RWS). On February 1, 1920, he formally took over its management. On April 7, 1920, Isendahl was retired from the Provisional Imperial Navy with the character of Rear Admiral . At his own request, he resigned from service in the Reich on April 30, 1922. Nothing is known about further activities up to 1941.

World War II and death

On July 26, 1941, around four weeks after the start of Operation Barbarossa , Isendahl was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy for special tasks in southern Russia for the "securing and processing of Russian written material on the naval territory in Russian offices and shipyards" (Hildebrand / Henriot, P. 164). It is unknown whether he was formally reactivated for this activity. As far as is known, he did not have a rank during this activity. His activity ended on January 31, 1943; Isendahl was 70 years old at the time.

After Hildebrand / Henriot, Isendahl died at the end of the war in Berlin in 1945 under unexplained circumstances. Officially determined date of death is April 30, 1945. When and by whom this determination was made is unknown (as of 2019).

Awards

Isendahl was u. a. Bearer of the two classes of the Iron Cross , the Ottoman Iron Crescent and the Finnish Freedom Cross 1st class with swords.

Movie and TV

In the two-part ZDF - TV movie Sir Roger Casement in 1968, the detail retraced the Libau company, has been Isendahl of Otto Preuss shown.

literature

• Thomas Boghardt : Spies of the Kaiser. German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era , Houndmills / New York (Palgrave Macmillian) 2004. ISBN 1-4039-3248-4
• Entry Isendahl, Walter , in: Helmut Roewer / Stefan Schäfer / Matthias Uhl : Lexicon of Secret Services in the 20th Century , Munich 2003, p. 219. ISBN 3-7766-2317-9
• Entry of the ship of the line Wolja in: Hans H. Hildebrand / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present , Ratingen (Mundus Verlag GmbH) undated (one-volume reprint of the seven-volume original edition, Herford 1979ff.) Volume 6, p. 63f.
• Hans H. Hildebrand / Ernest Henriot: Germany's admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers in admiral rank , Volume 2: HO , Osnabrück (Biblio) 1989, p. 163ff. ISBN 3-7648-14993
• Marine Officer Association (ed.): Honorary ranking list of the Imperial German Navy 1914-18 , edited by Albert Stoelzel / Waldemar Krah, Berlin (Marine Officer Association) 1930.