Wilhelm Meisel

Wilhelm Meisel (1941)

Wilhelm Meisel (born November 4, 1893 in Zwickau ; † September 7, 1974 in Müllheim (Baden) ) was a German naval officer , most recently an admiral in World War II and since May 1, 1944 head of the naval command .

Life

Meisel attended the König-Albert-Gymnasium in Leipzig from Easter 1904 , joined the Imperial Navy on April 1, 1913 as a midshipman and received his basic training on the great cruiser SMS Hertha . Subsequently, from April 1 to August 1, 1914, he was assigned to the Mürwik Naval School in Flensburg - Mürwik and was appointed Ensign to the Sea on April 3, 1914. After the beginning of World War I, on August 2, 1914, he was transferred to the Large cruiser SMS Moltke and on February 1, 1915 on the small cruiser SMS Stralsund . On November 25th he became a lieutenant in the sea (since September 18, 1915) adjutant on the auxiliary cruiser SMS Möve . After returning from two patrols, he was transferred as an officer on watch on April 1, 1917, initially to the Xth Torpedo Boat Flotilla and on December 15, 1917 to the VII Torpedo Boat Flotilla. With this he was interned in Scapa Flow after the end of the war .

After the Imperial High Seas Fleet was sunk in Scapa Flow , Meisel was a British prisoner of war from June 21, 1919 to January 31, 1920 . There he was promoted to lieutenant at sea on January 7, 1920 . After his return to Germany, he was initially placed at the disposal of the chief of the North Sea naval station and from March 1, 1920 he was commanded as an officer on watch for the I. Torpedo Boat Flotilla. On October 31, 1920 he was appointed deputy commander of the torpedo boat T 156 and from March 10, 1921 to October 12, 1923, Meisel was the commander of the 2nd torpedo boat semi-flotilla. Subsequently, from October 13, 1923, he served as flag lieutenant in the staff of the Commander in Chief of the Baltic Sea Forces and was promoted to lieutenant captain on August 1, 1925 . From April 12 to August 22, 1926 he was placed at the disposal of the chief of the naval command and then until March 31, 1927 he was appointed head of the testing committee for new torpedo boats. From there, Meisel was employed in the training department of the naval command and from October 6, 1927 to March 23, 1929 , he was commanded to train as a guide's assistant . Then he was made available again and on August 18, 1929 assigned to the ship trunk of the light cruiser Karlsruhe .

After the completion of the cruiser on November 6, 1929, he was used on the ship as a torpedo officer and adjutant. On September 26, 1931 Meisel took over the 2nd torpedo boat half flotilla and was promoted to Corvette Captain on October 1, 1932 . He held the command until his appointment as Admiralstabsoffizier in the staff of the leader of the torpedo boats on October 5, 1933. Meisel then switched to the Naval Academy as a teacher on October 2, 1934 and remained there until March 13, 1937 while being promoted to frigate captain on October 1, 1936. He initially took over as chief of the outpost flotilla and from July 15 to November 5 In 1937 the 2nd torpedo boat flotilla in the same function. On December 6, he moved to the submarine school as deputy and from February 17 to April 13, 1938 as its commander. From April 14 to September 5, 1938, placed at the disposal of the torpedo boat leader, at the same time from June 16 to June 30, 1938 , commanded the destroyer construction instruction at Deschimag and promoted to sea captain on August 1, 1938 . Meisel was briefly transferred to the staff of the commander of the armored ships and on October 26, 1938, he was appointed head of the 1st destroyer flotilla, with which he took on, among other things, maritime security tasks during the Spanish Civil War .

He initially retained this command at the beginning of World War II and on October 28, 1939, he became Chief of Staff in the Staff of the Commander in Securing the Baltic Sea in Swinoujscie . On September 4, 1940 Meisel was appointed commander of the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper . With the ship he fought several trade wars in the Atlantic and the North Sea and was promoted to Rear Admiral on September 1, 1942 in Norway. Shortly afterwards, on November 8, 1942, he gave up command of the Admiral Hipper and moved to the Marine Group Command West as chief of staff until February 10, 1943 . There he was promoted to Vice Admiral on February 1, 1943 . Subsequently, from February 21, 1943, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Naval War Command in the High Command of the Navy and on May 1, 1944, Chief of the Naval War Command. In the meantime, on April 1, 1944, he was promoted to Admiral .

After the German surrender, Meisel initially remained in his office and at the end of May 1945 he was taken prisoner of war in the Mürwik special area , from which he was released on January 21, 1947.

At the end of the 1940s, Meisel met with Captain of the Sea a. D. Heinz Aßmann the so-called Meisel-Kreis in Hamburg around him. A loose circle of officers and admirals of the former Kriegsmarine who dealt with a future German Kriegsmarine and dealt with all areas of a new German Navy in regular meetings. The result of the work of the Meiselkreis was the "Bremerhaven Memorandum" with the title "Thoughts of former German soldiers on the rebuilding of a German Wehrmacht", which was published in December 1950. Many of the members of the Meiselkreis then made a career in the Federal Navy, which was founded in 1955 .

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross 2nd class of the Albrecht Order with swords
• Hanseatic Cross Hamburg
• Spain cross in silver
• Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 26, 1941
• Fleet war badge on November 1st, 1941
• Order of the Rising Sun 2nd class

literature

• Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849–1945. Volume 2. HO , Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 458-459.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ König Albert-Gymnasium (Royal High School until 1900) in Leipzig: Student album 1880-1904 / 05 , Friedrich Gröber, Leipzig 1905
2. ^ Eberhard Kliem: General Admiral Hermann Boehm . Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89995-798-3 , page 269
3. ↑ 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. 535.