Werner Peters (naval officer)

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Werner Emil Theodor Peters (born January 28, 1893 in Minden ; † November 3, 1962 in Bonn ) was a German naval officer . At the end of World War II, as fortress commander, he was involved in the surrender of Wesermünde - Bremerhaven to the British Army without a fight .

Life

Peters joined in 1912 as a midshipman (Crew IV.1912) in the Imperial Navy and took as an officer in the First World War in part. He served as a lieutenant at sea on the battle cruiser SMS Derfflinger and from March 1918 in the submarine school flotilla, most recently as a first lieutenant at sea . After the war he was recruited to remain in the Reichsmarine , but released in autumn 1920. He became managing director of the Pomeranian Landbund , where he also acted as an editor for the association organ Der Pommersche .

In 1935 he became active again in the military and was taken over as an officer in the Navy . After assignments in the naval personnel office of the High Command of the Navy, his first appointment as chief of staff in the rank of frigate captain took place in September 1939 , at that time in the staff of the North Friesland coast commander . In the same position he was employed from February to November 1941 in the staff of the Admiral Aegean Sea as part of the occupation of Greece . In this role he was promoted to sea captain in July 1941 . Afterwards he was chief of staff in the staff of the German Bight Coast Commander until March 1943 , followed by a position as sea ​​commander South Holland until December of the same year. After a brief use as commander of the 2nd Division of the Naval Academy Mürwik beginning of the year 1944, he was Marine link officer for Army Group B .

Maritime Defense Elbe-Weser (from November 1944)

From 5 January 1945 to the end of World War II , he was commander of the section Wesermünde - Bremerhaven , which on 7 April of the same year with the approval of Adolf Hitler to the fortress was declared. The fortress management consisted of Peters in the function of the fortress commandant and the so-called civil governor, the Lord Mayor Walter Delius , whose endeavor was a surrender of the city of Wesermünde as free as possible. Peter, who had no extensive frontline experience on land and sea during World War II, was considered to be very well read. Although he assessed the war as already lost and the chances of an all-round defense of Wesermünde extremely pessimistic, he continued to behave loyally. After the announcement of Hitler's death, Peters saw himself released from his leadership oath and saw that he had the moral right to act. On May 1, 1945, he had the detonators removed from all the explosive charges placed in the port area and declared in a commander's meeting called on the occasion that he considered the defense of Wesermünde pointless and futile, whereupon he was deposed as fortress commander, but at the disposal of the sea ​​commander Elbe -Weser Rear Admiral Rolf Johannesson kept on duty. Johannesson also did not intend to defend the fortress to the end. When the British troops marched in on May 7, 1945, Peters again took on the role of fortress commander and handed over port facilities such as the garrison to the enemy. After the surrender, Delius thanked Peters and Johannesson for their understanding, which they had shown in dealing with the population and with the economic interests of the city in the last weeks of the war. Peters was released from the armed forces on August 31, 1945.

After the World War, he was an advisor to the American occupation forces due to his good English skills and was tasked by them with the dissolution of the naval services. Most recently he was a ministerial official in Bonn .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Officers Corps of SMS Derfflinger in September 1915 and April 1916. In: Gary Staff: German Battlecruisers of World War One. Pen & Sword Books, 2014, p. 223. ISBN 978-1848322134 ( limited preview in Google book search)
  2. ↑ Peters Werner. In: Waldemar Krah: Honorary Ranking List of the Imperial German Navy, 1914-18. Navy Officer Association , 1930, p. 386.
  3. ↑ Klaus Franken: From black-white-red to black-red-gold. The transition from naval officers of the Imperial Navy to the Navy of the Weimar Republic. BWV Verlag, 2018, pp. 152–153. ( limited preview in Google Book search)
  4. ↑ The Pomeranian. In: Sperling's magazine and newspaper address book. Handbook of the German press. HO Sperling / Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, 1931, p. 201.
  5. ↑ a b Captain Werner Peters. In: Captain of the Sea. geocities.ws
  6. ↑ The last days of the Wesermünde Fortress. In: Burchard Scheper: You must learn democracy. End and Beginning, 1944–1945. Nordwestdeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1995, p. 43ff. ( limited preview in Google Book search)
  7. ^ A b c Nadine Newe: Development of the Bremerhaven local police authority from 1945 to 1947. Implementation of the communal structure in the state of Bremen. Master's degree German Police University , 2012, pp. 20–21.
personal data
SURNAME Peters, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peters, Werner Emil Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer and ministerial official
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Minden
DATE OF DEATH 3rd November 1962
Place of death Bonn