Wilhelm Meentzen

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Wilhelm Meentzen (born March 19, 1915 in Emden ; † May 8, 2001 there ) was a German Vice Admiral in the German Navy .

Reich and Kriegsmarine

After graduating from high school in 1934, Meentzen joined the Reichsmarine as an officer candidate and was trained as a naval officer. He served as an officer on watch on torpedo boats of the bird of prey class . In 1940, as a first lieutenant at sea, he became commander and deputy flotilla chief in the 2nd Schnellbootflotilla , with which he operated in the English Channel and the Gulf of Finland . From October 1941 to May 1943 he was an admiral staff officer at the German naval command in Italy.

In May 1943 Meentzen became the commander of the torpedo boat T 10 and from November 1943 of the torpedo boat T 24 . In this position he received the German Cross in Gold on May 5, 1944 . Meentzen was wounded when his boat was sunk by British Mosquito planes on August 24, 1944. He was brought to convalescence in the enclosed fortress Gironde-Süd, where Meentzen was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 30, 1944 and he later fell into French captivity .

post war period

Meentzen spent his captivity in a prison camp and worked as a lecturer for German officers. After returning to Germany, he worked as a shipyard and shipping agent. In 1953 he joined the maritime protection department and became head of the Maritime Protection Association II.

Federal Navy

In 1956, Meentzen joined the newly established Federal Navy as a corvette captain and was responsible for naval personnel matters in the Federal Ministry of Defense . In 1959 Meentzen went to the USA for training, in order to put the destroyer 3 into service as commander .

In 1961 Meentzen became the head of the operations department in the naval command as a sea captain . From October 1963 to September 1964 he was commander of the 3rd destroyer squadron . After a further position in the ministry, he was appointed Flotilla Admiral Head of Staff Department for Leadership and Operations Planning in the Navy's Staff in 1968 .

In 1971 he was promoted to Vice Admiral NATO Commander of the Naval Forces Baltic Sea Approaches . In 1973 Meentzen was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . He retired from his post on September 30, 1974.

Further activity

After his retirement, Meentzen worked as an independent consultant for various companies, especially shipyards . He also held several honorary positions, including for the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People . From 1978 to 1982 he was chairman of the Navy Officers Association .

literature

  • Kurt Diggins: Obituary. In: MOV-MOH-DMI-Nachrichten. 9-2001, p. 69.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 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. 533.
  2. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 25, No. 190, October 9, 1973.
personal data
SURNAME Meentzen, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Vice Admiral of the Federal Navy
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Emden
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 2001
Place of death Emden