Reichsmarine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Reichsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic. It was the naval branch of the Reichswehr, it existed from 1918 to 1935. In 1935 it became the Kriegsmarine, a branch of the Wehrmacht; a change implemented by the Nazi regime.
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[edit] Vorläufige Reichsmarine
The Vorläufige Reichsmarine (Temporary Imperial Navy) was formed after the end of World War I from the Kaiserliche Marine.
[edit] Revolution and the Kapp Putsch
[edit] Scuttling of the High Seas Fleet and the Versailles Treaty
The provisions of the Versailles Treaty restricted the German navy to 15,000 men and no submarines, while the fleet was limited to six battleships (of less than 10,000 tonnes), six cruisers and 12 destroyers.
[edit] Reichsmarine
[edit] Tasks of the Reichsmarine
[edit] Extent and equipment
The Treaty of Versailles limited the size and armament of the Reichsmarine and prevented it from introducing new technologies. The restrictions were intended to prevent the German navy from becoming a threat to the Allied powers. On the other hand, the Allies had made certain that the Reichsmarine would be in the foreseeable future the strongest power in the Baltic Sea, in order to serve as a counterweight against the new Soviet Union, which was viewed with distrust by the Allies.
The Reichsmarine tried to meet the arms restrictions with secret armament and technical innovations.
[edit] Transition to Kriegsmarine
According to my memory of post-WWI German Naval history, Wilhelm Franz Canaris, being a Naval Intelligence Officer, had kept a log of all secret codes and call signatures of every German ship in the Imperial Navy during the war. He positioned himself very close to the negotiations at Versailles. He was part of that group of German citizens believing in an imperial form of government. They were composed mainly of men and women who had shared power as extended members of the royal family, their loyal followers, military officers, etc. They believed that an autocratic form of government much as a kingdom or empire was necessary for a successful German future. They believed democracy was a foolish experiment.
At the beginning of the ceasing of hostilities, again using his position as a Naval Intelligence Officer, he obtained and destroyed all records of ships he could get his hands on, their locations, their captains and crews keeping the only record for himself. This meant no one had a complete list of the ships Germany had or where they were located. Right after hostilities ceased he sent messages ordering a full load of fuel for all ships to be billed to the sinking German National Imperial Government.
Then early-on in the negotiations, disapproving of what he saw as the coming result of the treaty of Versailles, he used his secret list and codes to send each captain of selected ships, especially submarines, cruisers, and destroyers of the Imperial Navy, a coded CW message dispersing them to different and selected ports around the world.
Heavy battleships would attract too much attention so only two were included. They were secreted in two ports, one in Argentina and one in Chili, both German friendly countries. In affect with each ship's fuel topped off this dispersal hid a lot of the German Navy from the Allies. He kept a secret record of each ship, its location, and its captain. Most ship captains being of royal linage were in sympathy with his thinking. These ships were to remain in those selected ports until they heard from him. He kept the record of each and every ship always keeping some ongoing communications.
Because of elevated inflation which finally reached 22,000%, and the resulting confusion in the economy, the allies turned their attention elsewhere believing Germany was in such a mess there was no danger. This provided Canaris with the perfect opportunity to return some of these secreted ships, first destroyers to attract little attention, to provide needed police and fire protection. The Allies turned their back when they saw the stability these crews provided. This encouragement provided the emphasis needed so he brought more and more ships back to Germany. Providing this protection put him in the debt of leaders of those communities benefitting from that needed protection. He, as the man behind the messages to those ship captains, held real power. He ordered the ships to commandeer whatever was needed from the local areas. Though locals protested they also realized they would be in worse shape if those ships left their communities. The men stationed aboard those ships lived well thus doing away with any desire to desert their station.
During that horrific inflation of the early 1920s Canaris ordered ships around accessible ports at his will acting as police and firemen for those communities who would render him the power he wanted behind the scenes. If the leaders of a community refused he ordered the ships elsewhere, and goon-squads would soon fill the vacuum. Though some community leaders suspected his followers being responsible, nothing was ever proven.
Local leaders would soon come around to his way of thinking because these ship's crew-members provided the real stability they could not provide for themselves. They brought to an end the anarchy which filled the vacuum when policemen and firemen walked off the job. Thus these ship's personnel, always under penalty of death for desertation, provided a necessary element of police and fire protection for communities whose only payment for such was a few necessities and political loyalty to this shadowy man behind the scenes.
Canaris never saw himself as a leader out in front. To the casual observer he was just another man trying to work in little military position. He preferred to remain behind the scenes. He had an awsome ability to choose subordinates who would be loyal to him even in the face of death which they did later on. And during this period of the 1920s he somehow commanded this seemingly total loyalty from the top of not only his own chosen countrymen, but in international politics as well, like members of the governments of Spain, Portugal, Chili, and Argentina. He could call in, and did receive, actual favors of support for those ships hidden around the world.
Though suspicious and reluctant to share his power with anyone, especially the elected government leaders, when Hitler advance up in power to a point Canaris believed he could provide that desired stable autocratic form of government, Canaris set up a series of meetings eventually putting his influence behind Hitler. Though he never gave up his secret codes or other information this in effect gave Hitler a lot of influence over the police and fire protection of many of the cities of Germany during those times of high inflation.
In exchange for this support Canaris later received absolute control over Military Intelligence as head of ABWEHR in the Third Reich. Though his nature was to be suspicious of Hitler and his NAZI followers, he was seemingly loyal to Hitler until personally observing atrocities in Poland in the later 1930s.
