Who was the most capable German naval officer?

Sam H. · Post by **Sam H.** » Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:50 am

Ignoring Reader and Donitz. If you had to pick an admiral or captian to lead the Bismark on her fatefull cruise, who would you choose to lead the sortie?

For the record, I am not a fan of Lutjens.

twozerouk · Post by **twozerouk** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 11:38 am

I would have thought Lindemann would have done a better job alone without the interference of Lutjens. He had a good chance of completing the double by sinking the Prince of Wales and would not have compromised the operation with unecessary radio traffic.

Sam H. · Post by **Sam H.** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 11:42 am

There was an admiral that lead the German Battlecruiser squadron in the Norway operation. His name excapes me at the moment, but he at least had a cavalier attitiude and could think on his feet.

Peter K. · Post by **Peter K.** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 12:35 pm

Hi !

As far as I know, Vizeadmiral Günther LÜTJENS was commanding SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU during the Norwegian campain instead of Admiral Wilhelm MARSCHALL, who was ill at this time.

LÜTJENS acted as Flottenchef instead of MARSCHALL from 13.03.1940 to 13.04.1940 and from 19.06.1940 to 07.07.1940 on board of GNEISENAU.

Greetings from Austria

Petre K.

Sam H. · Post by **Sam H.** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 12:45 pm

Marchall is the name I was looking for.

I believe that it was Marchall that was leading the Scharnhorst, et al. during the Norwegian campaign.

It was because of his persuit of and sinking of British shipping (now I can't think of the British Carrier's name) that forced him to resign.

Peter K. · Post by **Peter K.** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 1:14 pm

Hi SAM !

MARSCHALL was leading the battleships GNEISENAU and SCHARNHORST, cruiser ADMIRAL HIPPER, destroyers HANS LODY, HERMANN SCHOEMANN, ERICH STEINBRINCK and KARL GALSTER, supply ship DITHMARSCHEN, moreover partly the torpedoboats JAGUARand FALKE and SPERRBRECHER IV and HAI, during operation JUNO, starting on 04.06.1940.

The british trawler JUPITER was sunk on 08.06. like the tanker OILPIONEER, followed by the troop transport ORAMA and a little bit later the carrier GLORIOUS with her destroyers ARDENT and ACASTA.

SCHARNHORST was damaged by a british destroyer torpedo, like GNEISEAU on 20.6. by a torpedo from the british sub CLYDE.

Hope this will help ...

Peter K.

Gareth Collins · Post by **Gareth Collins** » Mon Nov 25, 2002 12:47 am

The Norwegian campaign was a disaster for Marschall, he was replaced by Lütjen's By Raeder himself who was furious that he ignored his orders (despite some success). Raeder appeared to overlook his bold strike in HMS Glorious plus thr Destroyers Acasta and Ardent. I think the crippling of Scharnhost played it's part in Marscall's dismissal. It was out of action for six months. An officer of note for me was Kommodore Friedrich Bonte, Commander of Destroyers and Commander of Battle-Group 1 (Narvik). He was killed in action on board the Destroyer 'Wilhelm Heidkamp' during an engagement with the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla commanded by Captain B.A.W. Warburton-Lee (who also was KIA in the same engagement). Bonte was Posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross for his actions in securing Narvik. Marschall and indee Generaladmiral (then Konteradmiral) Oskar Kummetz, Commander of the Warship-Group V (Oslo) came under heavy criticism, they both latered redeemed themselves though, Kummetz winning the Knight's Cross in 1941 as Commander of Cruisers