Kriegsmarine

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

The Kriegsmarine (literally "war navy") was formed in May 1935 after Hitler passed his "Law for the Reconstruction of the National Defence Forces" to resurrect the German armed forces which had been banned under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1920) following World War I. As the Weimar Republic, Germany was allowed a small defence force called the Reichswehr which was limited in size to 100,000 service personnel. The Reichswehr had two forces – the Reichsheer (army) and the Reichsmarine (navy). Hitler's 1935 Law renounced Versailles and the Reichswehr became the Wehrmacht which had three forces – the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy), and the Luftwaffe (air force).

The Kriegsmarine had many famous individual ships including the KMS Admiral Graf Spee, KMS Bismarck, KMS Gneisenau, KMS Scharnhorst, and KMS Tirpitz. However, it was most effective in its use of naval formations, especially its U-boats which would operate in groups called "wolfpacks". A third aspect of the Kriegsmarine was its shore-based militia which not only provided support for maritime operations, but also took part in critical military activities such as manning the Atlantic Wall and using artillery on the Eastern Front. Some naval units are known to have fought in the Battle of Berlin at the end of the war.

Over 1.5 million people served in the Kriegsmarine during World War II. More than 170,000 were reported killed or missing and some 21,000 were seriously wounded. 318 seamen received the Knight's Cross, the highest German service award. These were mostly submariners. The Kriegsmarine surrendered in May 1945 and was officially disbanded in August 1946 by the Allied Control Commission.