Rolf Carls

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rolf Carls
Rolf Carls (pre WWII).jpg
Birth nameRolf Hans Wilhelm Karl Carls
Born(1885-05-29)29 May 1885
Rostock
Died24 April 1945(1945-04-24) (aged 59)
Bad Oldesloe
Allegiance German Empire (to 1919)
 Weimar Republic (to 1933)
 Nazi Germany
Branch Imperial German Navy
 Reichsmarine
 Kriegsmarine
Years of service1903–43
RankGeneraladmiral
UnitSMS Stein
SMS Mars
SMS Fürst Bismarck
SMS Breslau
Commands heldSM U-124
SMS Hessen
Battles/warsWorld War I
World War II
AwardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Rolf Hans Wilhelm Karl Carls (29 May 1885 – 24 April 1945) was a high-ranking German admiral during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.

Career[]

At the start of the World War I, Carls was a member of the crew of the cruiser Breslau. He later served on the battleship König and then commanded two u-boats, first U-9 and then U-124. After the war, Carls was made Chief of the Training Division at the Supreme Naval Command of the resurrected German navy and was then given command of the old battleship Hessen. In 1933, Carls was made Chief of Staff of the Fleet Command, and a year later Commander of Liners.

Carls was commander of German naval forces, during the Spanish Civil War, and then became Commanding Admiral for the Baltic. At the same time he held the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Group Command East. Still later he became Chief of the larger Naval Group Command North.[1] Early in 1943, Erich Raeder resigned as the commander of the Kriegsmarine after a dispute with Hitler. Raeder nominated either Carls or Karl Dönitz to succeed him, and Hitler chose Dönitz. Carls later resigned, possibly to prevent friction among the naval leadership.

Death[]

Admiral Carls was killed in an air raid of the Royal Air Force on Bad Oldesloe on 24 April 1945, only two weeks before the end of the war.[Notes 1] Carls together with 49 other people[4] were killed in the cellar of the Vocational school (Präparandeum) in the Königstraße.[5] Bad Oldesloe was nearly destroyed, and between 700 and 1000 Germans lost their lives, mainly women and children.[6]

Promotions[]

Awards[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Some sources claim that he was killed on 15 April 1945 while another source indicates that the aerial attack on Bad Oldesloe was on 24 April 1945.[2][3]
  2. ^ According to Scherzer as commander-in-chief of Marinegruppenkommando Ost.[3]

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ Blair, Clay (1998). Hitler's U-Boat War. New York, NY: Random House. p. 155. ISBN 0-679-45742-9.
  2. ^ "60 Jahre nach dem Feuersturm auf Hamburg: Kreisarchiv Stormarn erhält einmaligen Fotofund". Kreis Stormarn (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Scherzer 2007, p. 257.
  4. ^ "Zeitreise in die Jahre des Schreckens" [Time Travel to the Horror Years]. Stormarner Tageblatt (in German). sh:z. 23 April 2015.
  5. ^ Hitler's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation of the Kriegsmarine 1935 - 1945
  6. ^ 24. April 1945 – Oldesloes schwarzer Tag, LN Online, 10 September 2014
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Dörr 1995, p. 119.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Dörr 1995, p. 120.
  9. ^ Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 72.
  10. ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 152.

Bibliography[]

  • Dörr, Manfred (1995). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Überwasserstreitkräfte der Kriegsmarine—Band 1: A–K [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Surface Forces of the Navy—Volume 1: A–K] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2453-2.
  • (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
  • Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.
  • Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
Military offices
Preceded by
Admiral  [de] 		Fleet commander of the Kriegsmarine
21 December 1936 – 31 October 1938 		Succeeded by
Admiral Hermann Boehm
Retrieved from ""