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Otto Schniewind
Otto Schniewind (14 December 1887 – 26 March 1964) was a German General Admiral during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Career Schniewind entered the Kaiserliche Marine in 1907 as a cadet. During the First World War he served as a commander of torpedoboats. When the German fleet surrendered to the British he commanded a squadron of torpedo boats, with this he partook in the Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow, after which he was taken prisoner by the British. After being released Schniewind continued to serve in the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt and later the Reichsmarine. From 1925 to 1926 he served as adjutant to the Minister of War Otto Gessler. In 1932 Schniewind became captain of the light cruiser German cruiser Köln, ''Köln''. In 1934 Schniewind was appointed to another staff function. He was promoted to Konteradmiral (rear admiral) in 1937 and to Vizeadmiral (vice admiral) in 1940. He served as Chief of Staff o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saarlouis
Saarlouis (; french: link=no, Sarrelouis, ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis, as the name implies, is located on the river Saar. It was built as a fortress in 1680 and was named after Louis XIV of France. History With the Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen in 1678/79, Lorraine fell to France. In 1680, Louis XIV of France gave orders to build a fortification (to defend the new French eastern frontier) on the banks of the river Saar which was called ''Sarre-Louis''. Notable French military engineer, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, constructed the town, which would serve as the capital of the Province de la Sarre. The plans were made by Thomas de Choisy, the town's first Gouvenour. In 1683, Louis XIV visited the fortress and granted arms. The coat of arms shows the rising sun and three Fleur-de-lis. The heraldic motto is ''Dissipat Atque Fovet'': He (th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torpedoboat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. These were inshore craft created to counter both the threat of battleships and other slow and heavily armed ships by using speed, agility, and powerful torpedoes, and the overwhelming expense of building a like number of capital ships to counter an enemy's. A swarm of expendable torpedo boats attacking en masse could overwhelm a larger ship's ability to fight them off using its large but cumbersome guns. A fleet of torpedo boats could pose a similar threat to an adversary's capital ships, albeit only in the coastal areas to which their small size and limited fuel load restricted them. The introduction of fast torpedo boats in the late 19th century was a serious concern to the era's naval strategists, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naval Historical Team
The Naval Historical Team (NHT) was established by the U.S. Navy in 1949. It was a group of German naval officers under American orders to reappraise the naval war history of World War II from the German perspective. The group was under control of the Office of Naval Intelligence. At the end of 1952, the NHT was disbanded, but was re-established in Karlsruhe in 1954. Under the leadership of Captain Arthur H. Graubart, Chief of Naval Intelligence in Germany, the NHT first met on 9 April 1949 in Bremerhaven. The staff included '' Generaladmiral'' a. D. Otto Schniewind,''außer Dienst'' (a.D.) stands for out of office or retired. ''Vizeadmiral'' a. D. Friedrich Ruge, ''Vizeadmiral'' a. D. Hellmuth Heye, ''Konteradmiral'' a. D. Gerhard Wagner and ''Oberst'' a. D. Gaul. Temporarily it was further augmented by ''Konteradmiral'' a. D. Eberhard Godt, ''Kapitän zur See'' a. D. Hans-Rudolf Rösing and ''Fregattenkapitän'' a. D. Karl-Adolf Zenker. The group considered itself an incubator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung (german: Unternehmen Weserübung , , 9 April – 10 June 1940) was Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. In the early morning of 9 April 1940 (''Wesertag'', "Weser Day"), Germany occupied Denmark and invaded Norway, ostensibly as a preventive manoeuvre against a planned, and openly discussed, French-British occupation of Norway known as Plan R 4 (actually developed as a response to any German aggression against Norway). After the occupation of Denmark (the Danish military was ordered to stand down as Denmark did not declare war with Germany), envoys of the Germans informed the governments of Denmark and Norway that the ''Wehrmacht'' had come to protect the countries' neutrality against Franco-British aggression. Significant differences in geography, location and climate between the two nations made the actual military operations very dissimilar. The invasion fleet's no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fleet Commander (Kriegsmarine)
The Fleet commander of the Kriegsmarine (''Flottenchef'') was the highest ranked administrative officer in the organization of the Kriegsmarine, and served as a member of the ''Oberkommando der Marine''. The fleet commander did not actually serve as commander of an at-sea fleet, but instead was the senior officer to which the Organization of the Kriegsmarine#Navy Type Commands, vessel type commanders reported. The position of fleet commander was created from an older position of the ''Reichsmarine'' known as ''Der Oberbefehlshaber der Seestreitkräfte''. In 1926, the position adopted the name ''Flottenchef'', but was declared defunct one year later and left vacant with no assigned officer. The title became a position within the Kriegsmarine in 1936. Fleet commanders The following naval officers served in the position as Fleet commander of the Kriegsmarine. From December 1940 to June 1941, a deputy to the fleet commander was established known by the title ''2. Admiral d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Günther Lütjens
Johann Günther Lütjens (25 May 1889 – 27 May 1941) was a German admiral whose military service spanned more than thirty years and two world wars. Lütjens is best known for his actions during World War II and his command of the battleship during her foray into the Atlantic Ocean in 1941. Born in 1889, he entered into the German Imperial Navy () in 1907. A diligent and intelligent cadet, he progressed to officer rank before the outbreak of war, when he was assigned to a Torpedo boat Squadron. During World War I, Lütjens operated in the North Sea and English Channel and fought several actions against the British Royal Navy. He ended the conflict as a ''Kapitänleutnant'' (captain lieutenant) with the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class (1914) to his credit. After the war he remained in the service of the navy, now renamed the ''Reichsmarine''. He continued to serve in torpedo boat squadrons eventually becoming a commanding officer in 1925. In the Weimar Republic era, Lütjens built ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Battleship Bismarck
''Bismarck'' was the first of two s built for Nazi Germany's . Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. ''Bismarck'' and her sister ship were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power. In the course of the warship's eight-month career, ''Bismarck'' conducted only one offensive operation that lasted 8 days in May 1941, codenamed . The ship, along with the heavy cruiser , was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the battlecruiser initially engaged ''Prinz Eugen'', probably by mistake, while engaged ''Bismarck''. In the en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seekriegsleitung
The ''Seekriegsleitung'' or SKL (Maritime Warfare Command) was a higher command staff section of the Kaiserliche Marine and the Kriegsmarine of Germany during the World Wars. World War I The SKL was established on August 27, 1918, on the initiative of Admiral Reinhard Scheer, who became its first commander, simultaneously to being the Chief of the German Imperial Admiralty Staff. It led the planning and execution of naval combat and directed the distribution of naval forces. Up to this point, that was done by several staffs and the individual theater commanders; including the Supreme Army Command under General Erich Ludendorff, whose decisions led to the unrestricted submarine warfare and the entrance of the United States into the war. When the war ended, the SKL was absorbed into the admiralty. World War II The SKL was reestablished in 1937 and deeply linked in the Naval High Command, the Commander-in-Chief also being the commander of the SKL with the Commander of the Naval Comma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vizeadmiral
(abbreviated VAdm) is a senior naval flag officer rank in several German-speaking countries, equivalent to Vice admiral. Austria-Hungary In the Austro-Hungarian Navy there were the flag-officer ranks ''Kontreadmiral'' (also spelled ''Konterdmiral'' in the 20th century), ''Viceadmiral'' , and ''Admiral'', as well as ''Großadmiral''. Belgium In the Belgian Navy, the rank is known as , and . Germany Rank insignia and rating Its rank insignia, worn on the sleeves and shoulders, are one five-pointed star above a big gold stripe and two normal ones (without the star when rank loops are worn). It is grade B8 in the pay rules of the Federal Ministry of Defence. The sequence of ranks (top-down approach) in that particular group is as follows: *OF-9: Admiral (Germany) / General (Germany) *OF-8: Vizeadmiral / Generalleutnant *OF-7: Konteradmiral / Generalmajor *OF-6: Flottillenadmiral / Brigadegeneral History Imperial German Navy and ''Kriegsmarine'' In the ''Ka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Konteradmiral
''Konteradmiral'', abbreviated KAdm or KADM, is the second lowest naval flag officer rank in the German Navy. It is equivalent to '' Generalmajor'' in the '' Heer'' and ''Luftwaffe'' or to '' Admiralstabsarzt'' and ''Generalstabsarzt'' in the '' Zentraler Sanitätsdienst der Bundeswehr''. In the German Navy ''Konteradmiral'' is equivalent to rear admiral, a two-star rank with a NATO code of OF-7. However, in the former German-speaking naval forces of the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''), the Nazi '' Kriegsmarine'', the East German ''Volksmarine'' and the Austro-Hungarian '' K.u.K. Kriegsmarine'', ''Konteradmiral'' was an OF-6 one-star officer rank. Address The official manner of formal addressing of military people with the rank ''Konteradmiral'' is "''Herr/Frau Konteradmiral''". In German naval tradition any flag officer rank may be addressed "''Herr/Frau Admiral''". Rank insignia and rating The rank insignia, worn on the sleeves and shoulders, is a single five ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Gessler
Otto Karl Gessler (or Geßler) (6 February 1875 – 24 March 1955) was a liberal German politician during the Weimar Republic. From 1910 until 1914, he was mayor of Regensburg and from 1913 to 1919 mayor of Nuremberg. He served in numerous Weimar cabinets, most notably as ''Reichswehrminister'' (Minister of Defence) from 1920 to 1928. Early life Otto Karl Gessler was born on 6 February 1875 in Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg as the son of the non-commissioned officer Otto Gessler and his wife Karoline (née Späth). He finished school in 1894 with the Abitur at the ''Humanistisches Gymnasium'' in Dillingen an der Donau. He studied law in Erlangen, Tübingen and Leipzig and received his doctorate there in 1900. Initially, he worked for the judicial service of Leipzig. He then moved to Bavaria and served in various positions in the Bavarian justiciary (1903 clerk in the Bavarian Ministry of Justice, 1904 prosecutor in Straubing, 1905 ''Gewerberichter'' in Munich) bef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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