Kriegsmarine Resrve, Wilhelm Gustloff - oh and hello!

[Ddraigmor]

Hello and thanks for having me as a member of the forum. I have browsed for a while but kept coming back here as you appear to be the authorative one. No, scratch that; you ARE!

OK my query. I am looking for information on a Kriegsmarine Reserve. Basically, if a man was - for example - a Mate in the Merchant Navy at the outbreak of war, would he be classed as part of a reserve? Or would he be expected to be in the Reserve? If he was 'yes' to either, would he keep his rank or would he need to be retrained completely? I am thinking again of a Mate (Chief Officer in UK MN parlance) who would have stated the war off in the Merchant fleet but - as it progressed - found himself in the Kriegsmarine. Is this possible?

I know that German Merchant crews on ships such as the 'Thor' or 'Komet' retained their MN status but were taken ashore for a period of training. The Captain stayed as a Captian - but he held his MN rank and not KM. Confused so far? Good - so am I!

Why? Well, I have been fascinated by the story of the 'Wilhelm Gustloff' and other ships and also in Operation Hannibal which was pioneered by Doenitz to get as as many people away from the Soviets as he could. My idea is to write a storty - I am an ex seaman with 20 years experience so I know ships and I know the sea - and whilst I am interested in the KM, I would like to set any story in that period but with a reserve Officer aboard a requisitioned ship rather than as a line officer.......is this feasible?

I have some books on the KM - most of Jak Malmann-Showells, including the 'German Navy Handbook' and so on and also the Men-At-Arms book on the KM and its uniforms etc. However, sadly lacking is the story of what happened to all those men in ther Merchant Service....some must have been called up as the war progressed.....

And finally, anyone any idea where can get some English language (subtitled maybe) films on the 'Wilhelm Gustloff's last dash for freedonm?

Any assistance you can offer would be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

Ddraigmor

[Fahrdienstleiter]

Warships were manned by military crews, and merchant ships were manned by civilian crews. Whether a merchant seaman would be drafted into the KM depended on his age, his possible former military training, his special skills and the wartime assignment of the merchant vessel. Handelsmarine officers who had served in WW1 were usually reactivated as Reserve officers, while officers without military experience were sometimes assigend as Sonderführer, e.g. as Prisenoffiziere on a Hilfskreuzer. But many Handelsmarine men simply continued in their former activities, e.g. taking part in the Ostsee convoys to and from Sweden.

The Wilhelm Gustloff was commanded by four captains on her last journey, three Handelsmarine captains (peace time captain Petersen as overall commander and captains Köhler and Weller as Fahrkapitäne) and Korvettenkapitän Zahn, the commander of the U-Boot unit to which the Gustoff had been assigned since 1940 as a storage and accomodation ship.

A prominent case was that of Handelsmarine captain Paul Hellmann who was awarded the Ritterkreuz as a civilian while commanding the blockade runner Osorno. He later joined the Kriegsmarine as an officer candidate and was ultimately promoted to Oberleutnant zur See d.R.

[Ddraigmor]

Thank you for that - that explains a bit more for me as to organisation and route.

The Bergungsschiffe Verband is something that keeps cropping up in my research, principally as I am an ex deep sea tug sailor and - of course - whilst the Dutch excelled at this the German companies such as Bugsier have their own fair share of the 'legend' that is salvage!

Two ships have come to light: One appears purpose built:

TEMI IV (Last name)
Built 1942 Nobiskrug, Rendsburg, build (yard) number 513.
Lxbxhxdg.: 35,37 x 8,56 x 4,40 x 3,30 metres, tonnage 279.9 grt.
Previous history:
1942 ATLAS built on orders for the Luftwaffe.
1944 ATLAS Bugsier, Hamburg - so civilian managed?
1945 ATLAS Royal Navy, London - war prize
29-03-1950 WALCHEREN XII Key & Zn., Rotterdam.
10-01-1951 A.828 HERCULES Dutch Navy, Den Helder.
01-12-1967 A.828 HERCULES Dienst der Domeinen.
27-12-1968 TEMI IV T.Dijkhuizen, Vlissingen - Civilian salvage tug
28-03-1982 Off records.
1988 Scrapped.



The other was a Dutch built salvage tug taken over during the war: 'Ganges' of L. Smit - the world famous firm from Holland who practically invented deep sea towage.



24 August 1939 up to 14 May 1940 Dutch Navy as BV. 35. Then 14 May 1940 confiscated at Stavenisse. 1940 LAZ 10. 1941 B.S.I. August 1945 recovered in Germany. October 1945 taken back to Rotterdam

Reference is made to LAZ - lazaretteschiffe? and BSI....I do not know.

MY angle is that these ships eventually seemed to come under civilian management - as in the case of 'Atlas' which was managed by Bugsier in 1944 - 45. That would mean she had a merchant crew, which fits in with my idea - but as she would have been under Reich control, would she have had a Naval officer and perhaps gun party aboard as well?

I'd be interested in any more anyone can throw about the Bergungsschiffe Verband

Many thanks again - what a great start this has been!

Ddraigmor

[Fahrdienstleiter]

"LAZ 10" and "BS 1" were the names of the vessel while it was used as a Lazarettschiff and Bergungsschiff. I would assume that it had a military crew during this time.