Kriegsmarine organisation ???

[Konrad]

Where can I find some info regarding the organisation of the large units of the Kriegsmarine ??


Were the battleships, cruisers, etc... organised in units/flotilles/... ??? Or were they used independently ???


Any info (and I mean ANY info) is very welcome....


Thanks in advance..

[Peter K.]

Hello KONRAD!


The organisation chanced during the war, but f.e. in september 1939:

Flottenchef with
1. Befehlshaber der Panzerschiffe (B.d.P.)
battleships and pocket battle ships
2. Befehlshaber der Aufklärungstreitkräfte (B.d.A)
light cruisers
with
2.1. Führer der Torpedoboote (F.d.T.)
2.2. Führer der Minensuchboote (F.d.M.)
3. Führer der Unterseeboote (F.d.U.)

For a detailed look into this topic I would recommend

Lohmann/Hildebrand
Die deutsche Kriegsmarine 1939-1945
no ISBN
... very rare, but a standard reference!!!

I hope, I could help you a little bit!

Greetings from Austria
Peter K.

[Konrad]

Thanks for the reply....


Does that mean that there is just 1 "Befehlshaber" for the cruisers and 1 for the battleships and pocket battleships ??

Weren't the large units organised in units ??


And what then are those "Marinestation" units/structures/... ??? (Marinestation der Nordzee, Marinestation de Ostzee,....)


Thanks,

[Stefan]

I beg your pardon, but if you want to organize a fleet into several Geschwader (i.e. like those of the Imperial Hochseeflotte), you need to have an appropriate number of ships. In 1939, the KM had only two battlecruisers and three Panzerschiffe designed for independent raiding operations. With the exception of Weserübung, when several Kriegsschiffgruppen were formed for the landing operations at the different Norwegian ports, the cruisers usually either belonged to the Kampfgruppe (that is, the small number of heavy units formed around the "Tirpitz" in Norway) or the Ausbildungsverband der Flotte.

[Konrad]

yes, I know that there were only a limited number of heavy units in the Kriegsmarine....

So I don't expect to get a list of battleship 'Geschwader' and other units from the Kriegsmarine....


What I want to know is how the heavy units fit into the organisatorial structure of the Kriegsmarine...

For example (for the U-Boote):

There was 1 BdU for all the U-Boote... but each U-Boot was assigned to a flotille which was assigned to a region (ie Norway).... Each commander of a flotille was responsible for that region and coördinated all the U-Boote in his region...

I would find it logical that all the smaller vessels of the Kriegsmarine (destroyers, minesweepers, s-boats, etc... which were organised in flotilles) were assigned to a certain region (ie the Nordsea)...
And, I would think that there was someone in command of all the flotilles assigned to that region.... wether they were destroyers or minesweepers.... (maybe Marinestation der Nordzee ???)
(exact the same way that Army Group commanders were in responsible for a region and controlled all the units in their region, wether they were Panzer, Infantry or Gebirgjäger units...)



So, were the large units assigned to certain regions/units/marinestationen/... or were they used completely independent ????


I hope I clarified what I mean....


Thanks

[Visje]

You can also try this site:

http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/chronik2.htm

Regards,
Visje

[Stefan]

The Flottenkommando was in administrative command (truppendienstliche Führung) of all surface vessels. Subordinate to the Flottenkommando were the Kampfgruppe (from 1943, formerly Befehlshaber der Kreuzer, formerly Befehlshaber der Schlachtschiffe, formerly Zweiter Admiral der Flotte), the Ausbildungsverband der Flotte, the Führer der Zerstörer, the Führer der Schnellboote, the Befehlshaber der Sicherungsstreitkräfte (with subordinate Führer der Minenschiffe) and the Führer des Troßschiffverbandes. But the operational command (einsatzmäßige Führung) fell to the Marinegruppenkommandos (in the case of large-scale operations) or the Marinestationen / Kommandierender Admirale for operations within their areas of control. The Marinegruppenkommandos were transformed or divided into Marineoberkommandos in 1943/44.
The Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote was subordinate directly to the OKM / Skl from 1942 onwards.