Naval districts were the direct operational forces for all shore units of the Kriegsmarine and were assigned coastal areas of responsibility as well as operational command of any permanently assigned submarine or ship flotillas (although administratively, these units were under the various
type commanders). Most naval regions also maintained a staff headquarters unit, signals unit, war correspondence company, as well as a regional medical clinic. Navy districts were operationally subordinated to Navy group commanders and were organized by either geographical region or country of occupation. The "Admiral Deutsche Bucht" was headquartered in
Wilhelmshaven and commanded German ports along the North Sea. The "Admiral z.b.V. Südost" was in command of inland waterways, river units, and was headquartered at
Traunstein.
France and the Low Countries After the
occupation of France and the
Low Countries, the Kriegsmarine established a single regional command for these areas which was known as "Admiral West". The command was first stood up in May 1940, while the
Battle of France was still ongoing, with its first commander Admiral
Karlgeorg Schuster. In June 1940, following the surrender of France, the command's name changed to
Kommandierender Admiral Frankreich and was headquartered in Paris. In May 1941, command as "Admiral Frankreich" was passed to
Otto Schultze. In August 1942, the final commander,
Wilhelm Marschall was appointed and would hold the command until that November. At that time the naval region of France was broken up into smaller areas as a result of
Case Anton when Germany occupied the entirety of France. The three late war naval districts of France were: • Admiral Atlantikküste (Western
France) • Admiral Kanalküste (
English Channel) • Admiral französischen Südküste (Southern France)
Friedrich Rieve commanded the English channel district during the
Invasion of Normandy while
Ernst Scheurlen commanded southern France during
Operation Dragoon. In both these cases, the commands were disbanded shortly thereafter due to an overrun of the districts by Allied forces. The "Atlantic Coast" command, overseeing the majority of naval forces in western France, remained active until early 1945 under its final commander, Admiral
Johannes Bachmann. A special naval area was also established for the city of Paris and was known as the
Höheres Kommando der Marinedienststellen in Groß-Paris (Supreme Command for Naval Services in the Greater Paris Area). The command contained a headquarters staff, several transport units, a signals and communications division, legal office, and medical staff.
Werner Lindenau served as naval commander of Paris from June 1943 until the Germans evacuated the city the following year. German port facilities in
occupied Belgium were never formed into an independent command and were subordinated to other regions and naval districts. Naval shore authority in the
Netherlands was originally a subordinate officer to Admiral West and was known as the
Marinebefehlshaber in den Niederlanden. The original commander was
Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière who briefly held the post for a one month in May 1940 before command was assumed by
Helmuth Kienast. In June 1943, the post was past to
Vizeadmiral Kurt Caesar Hoffmann who was in turn relieved by
Gustav Kleikamp in March 1943. the following month, the Netherlands district became an independent command known as the
Kommandierender Admiral in den Niederlanden. The final command of the district was Vice Admiral
Rudolf Stange, who held command in January 1945 until the Germans evacuated the country in the face of advancing Allied forces.
Denmark and Norway When German
occupied Denmark in April 1940, the Kriegsmarine established a naval command for the entire country known as the
Marinebefehlshaber Dänemark. The command was first held by Admiral
Raul Mewis and maintained two subordinate naval districts known as the
Abschnitt Nordjütland and the
Abschnitt Südjütland und dänische Inseln. In March 1943 the name of the command was changed to the
Kommandierender Admiral Dänemark, frequently shortened to simply "Admiral Dänemark". The command was then assumed by Vice Admiral
Hans-Heinrich Wurmbach, who held the post until the end of World War II. In April 1944, after Germany had placed all of
Denmark under military occupation the previous fall, the command name was again changed to
Kommandierender Admiral Skagerak. The
German occupation of Norway, with its direct access to the North Sea, required the Kriegsmarine to form a major naval command to deal with the vastness of the Norwegian coastline, along with its many ports and harbors. The originally Norwegian naval command was known as the
Kommandierender Admiral Norwegen and the post was held by
Hermann Böhm between 1940 and 1943. By the end of 1940, the Norwegian naval area had been elevated to the status of a naval region (the region name would formally change in February 1943), with the following subordinate Norwegian naval regions established. • Admiral norwegische Nordküste (Northern Norway) • Admiral norwegische Westküste (Central Norway) • Admiral norwegische Südküste (Southern Norway) • Admiral norwegische Polarküste (
Polar Norway) The Norwegian naval region and areas would continue in full operation until the end of World War II and consisted of the largest number of Kriegsmarine forces which remained intact upon Germany's surrender in May 1945.
Baltic Sea Naval District The Baltic Sea naval area was first formed in November 1941, headquartered at
Danzig, and responsible for German port and harbors east of the main naval region out of Kiel. The geographical area of the command was relatively small and the posted commander never held a higher rank than
Kapitän zur See. After Germany
invaded the Soviet Union, and occupied the
Baltic states, the command's responsibility increased and eventually held authority over several naval shore facilities, including medical units, arsenals, and communication commands in
Libau,
Reval, and
Riga. Two of the more unique units assigned to the Baltic area were a
Pathologische Abteilung, consisting of naval medical personnel conducting
pathology research, as well as an island station at
Tütters. The area command also oversaw several coastal monitoring stations (
Küstenüberwachungsstellen) which were incorporated into the Kriegsmarine system of
sea defense zones. In 1944, as the Baltic countries came under danger of liberation by
Soviet forces, the Baltic Sea area was divided into two geographical regions (east and west) with Vice Admiral
Werner Lange assuming command in the west (as
Admiral Westliche Ostsee) while
Theodor Burchardi assumed command as
Admiral östliche Ostsee in the east. Following liberation by Soviet forces, the naval commands in Riga were accused of war crimes for utilizing Slavic and Jewish slave labor for hard labor on German controlled
docks.
North and Black Seas The Kriegsmarine maintained four smaller naval commands to deal with various shore facilities not covered under another major naval area. The largest was the "Admiral Nordmeer", formed in October 1941 as a direct subordinate to the Naval regional commander for the North Sea.
Hubert Schmundt served as the North Sea area commander until 1942 when he was replaced by
August Thiele.
Otto Klüber then held the post until command was assumed by a deputy in 1944. An independent naval region was the "Admiral Schwarzes Meer", responsible for shore operations in the
Black Sea. The command had originally been established as a navy expeditionary group before being renamed as the
Deutsche Marinemission Rumänien in 1942. The name of the command was changed the following year to "Admiral Schwarzes Meer" before adopting its final name as the
Kommandierender Admiral Schwarzes Meer in 1944. Several officers held this posting until Germany finally withdrew from the area in the face of
Red Army advance.
Black Sea area commanders •
Vizeadmiral Friedrich-Wilhelm Fleischer: Feb 1941 – Apr 1942 •
Vizeadmiral Hans-Heinrich Wurmbach: May 1942 – Aug 1942 •
Konteradmiral Hellmuth Heye (acting commander): Sep 1942 – Oct 1942 •
Vizeadmiral Robert Witthoeft-Emden: Nov 1942 – Jan 1943 •
Vizeadmiral Gustav Kieseritzky: Feb 1943 – Oct 1943 •
Vizeadmiral Helmuth Brinkmann: Nov 1943 – Oct 1944 The Black Sea area command held the same authority as a naval region and possessed a headquarters staff at
Konstanza with an attached signals unit and naval pioneer battalion. The area command also held operational control over the deployment of two assigned
submarine chaser flotillas as well as a flotilla of auxiliary minesweepers and patrol-sentry boats. The
30th U-boat Flotilla was also deployed to the area, however operational control was held by the
Befehlshaber der U-Boote. Later in the war, the Black sea area gained a
submarine netting unit known as
Netzsperrgruppe Schwarzes Meer. In addition to standard ports and harbors, the Black Sea area maintained a number of commands for smaller inlet naval stations, known as
Seetransportstelle. Around the Black Sea area were also interspersed naval directorate stations (
Marine-Intendanturdienststelle) which coordinated all activities across the geographical region.
Aegean and Adriatic Seas Following the German
conquest of Yugoslavia and the
invasion of Greece, the Kriegsmarine set up two naval commands for regional operations in the
Aegean and
Adriatic Seas. The Aegean naval command was first established in February 1941, under Rear Admiral
Hans-Hubertus von Stosch. Command was then assumed in the fall of that year by
Erich Förste, who held it until February 1943, when command was past to
Werner Lange. The Aegean naval command consisted of a headquarters staff as well as an attached signals unit and pioneer battalion. A naval garrison (
Wachkompanie) was stationed at
Salamis while the shipyards in
Athens also fell under the regional command. The region further maintained a transportation company, two war correspondence companies, and was the administrative senior authority for the third
destroyer flotilla and the
23rd U-boat Flotilla. Later in the war, the region added a legal office,
quartermaster command, as well as a
submarine netting squadron (
Netzsperrgruppe Süd). The region was also the reporting senior for two German
hospital ships. The Adriatic naval region ("Admiral Adria") was established in September 1943 under
Vizeadmiral Joachim Lietzmann. The command originally consisted of a headquarters staff in
Trieste accompanied by a communications unit and pioneer command. By 1944, smaller offices of the region, dealing with logistics, operations, torpedo armament, and naval artillery placements, had been established in
Pula,
Dubrovnik (Ragusa),
Spalato, and
Durrës. In July 1944, command was assumed by Vice Admiral
Werner Löwisch. ==Naval areas==