Werner Tillessen

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Sea captain Tillessen

Werner Tillessen (born August 22, 1880 in Saarlouis , † May 19, 1953 in the Soviet Union ) was a German naval officer , most recently an admiral in World War II . He is the oldest brother of the Erzberger murderer Heinrich Tillessen and his co-conspirator Karl Tillessen .

Life

50th anniversary of the torpedo weapon in Wilhelmshaven in 1937 - Werner Tillessen on the left, Admiral Adolf von Trotha in the middle and Admiral Hermann Boehm on the right

Tillessen joined the Imperial Navy as a cadet on April 12, 1898 and completed his basic training on the cruiser frigate SMS Stosch . After attending the naval school, where he was appointed ensign at sea on April 18, 1899 , he left for Hong Kong . Here he was used on board the liner SMS Weißenburg and participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion . After the ship had been moved back home, Tillessen came on September 23, 1901 as an officer on watch on board the large cruiser SMS Victoria Louise and was promoted to lieutenant on October 19, 1901 . On March 28, 1903, he was promoted to first lieutenant at sea . From December 12, 1903 to September 30, 1904, Tillessen was a watch officer on the great cruiser SMS Friedrich Carl and then an inspection officer at the naval school until March 31, 1905. For a short time he was a company officer in the ship's boy division and was transferred to the II. Torpedo Department on October 1, 1905. There he was employed as a company officer and temporarily as a watch officer on the division boat D 6 and on the torpedo boat S 130 . On October 1, 1906, he joined the SMS Württemberg tank corvette as a teacher and was promoted to lieutenant captain on March 7, 1908 . From October 1 to September 30, 1911 Tillessen was a company officer in the II. Torpedo Division and first officer in the VIII. Torpedo Boat Reserve Division . At the same time he was deployed as an officer on watch and in command of the torpedo boat V 158 . From October 1, 1911, he was adjutant of the Second Marine Inspection, and on September 30, 1912, he joined the staff of the North Sea Naval Station in the same function .

After the outbreak of World War I , Tillessen was appointed chief of the 18th torpedo boat semi-flotilla on November 6, 1914, and as such was promoted to corvette captain on April 16, 1915 . He commanded the VI from February 6, 1917 to May 1, 1918. Torpedo boat flotilla and was then commanded to serve at the North Sea naval station until June 26, 1918. Subsequently, Tillessen joined the staff of the North Sea Naval Station as 1st Adjutant and stayed here after the end of the war until September 23, 1919.

Memorial stone on the Wilhelmshaven cemetery of honor .

He was placed at the disposal of the chief of the North Sea Naval Station from September 24, 1919 to January 7, 1920, and he was then ordered to inspect the naval education system. From February 1 to June 2, 1920 he was director of the Naval School A , was briefly chief of the staff of the inspection of the educational system of the Navy and as such on June 29, 1920 frigate captain . For two months he was director of the Naval School A and from September 16, 1920 to September 23, 1925 commander of the Mürwik Naval School . As a sea captain (since January 1, 1923) he was given command of the liner Hanover on September 24, 1925 and then the liner Silesia . For one year he then acted as inspector of torpedoes and mines until October 4, 1928, and became Rear Admiral on October 1, 1928 . At the same time he was appointed from January 9 to February 29, 1928 to represent the inspector of the naval education system. This was followed on October 5, 1928, the appointment as chief of the naval station of the North Sea and on December 1, 1930, the promotion to vice admiral . On September 30, 1932, Tillessen was retired from active service while being promoted to Admiral.

On May 24, 1939, Tillessen was made available to the Navy , but without initially receiving a command. After the beginning of the Second World War he was from May 8 to December 17, 1942 chief of the naval staff in Bucharest and subsequently chief of the naval liaison staff in Romania. Tillessen has been missing since the Red Army marched into Bucharest at the end of August 1944; a memorial stone on the Wilhelmshaven cemetery of honor names May 19, 1953 as the date of death with the note “in Russia, after eight years of imprisonment”. In 2016, the Russian government archives published the minutes of Tillessen's interrogation after his capture, along with other Soviet military intelligence documents. According to Matthias Uhl, research assistant at the German Historical Institute in Moscow , Werner Tillessen was the first German admiral to be taken prisoner by the Soviets. According to the documents now published, he described the composition of the German Navy very precisely during his interrogations. Uhl also confirmed his death in 1953 in the prison camp.

Werner Tillessen was both ideologically and practically supportive of the anti-republic activities of his brother Karl, who, as head of a department of the right-wing terrorist organization Consul , planned assassinations on politicians in the early 1920s. So Karl Tillessen hid for a few days in Flensburg with his brother Werner when he was wanted after the murder of Walther Rathenau he had planned and announced . A few months later, Werner Tillessen, when he received President Friedrich Ebert , who was hated in anti-republic circles, at the naval school, apologized for official obligations in order not to meet the republican head of state.

Awards

The Gorch Fock House at the Mürwik Naval School was previously called the Tillessen House.

See also

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 3: P-Z. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1990. ISBN 3-7648-1700-3 . Pp. 444-446.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Russians are Aryans too": Secrets from World War II. In: Russia Beyond the Headlines , July 16, 2016, accessed May 7, 2017.
  2. ↑ Bernd Braun: Integration by virtue of representation. The Reich President in the Länder. In: Eberhard Kolb (ed.): Friedrich Ebert as Reich President. Administration and understanding of office (series of publications by the Reichspräsident-Friedrich-Ebert-Gedenkstätte Foundation, Volume 4). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1997, pp. 157–188 (here: p. 168 and note 42).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Ranking list of the German Reichsmarine. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . Mittler & Sohn. Berlin 1929. p. 39.
personal data
SURNAME Tillessen, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naval officer, most recently admiral in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Saarlouis
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1953
Place of death Soviet Union