Hellmuth Guido Alexander

Hellmuth Heye, born 09-08-1895 in Beckingen, Saar, son of  graduated from high school in Berlin, Gauleiter Joseph Goebbels (see Goebbels) (did you know) in early 1914 and immediately joined the Imperial Navy. From April 1939 to September 1940 he commanded the Heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper. While taking his ship to Trondheim in April 1940 to land invasion troops there, Operation Weserübung, (see General Falkenhorst) he encountered the British destroyer HMS Glowworm and sank it. Heye sent a message to the British Admiralty through the Red Cross praising the gallantry of Glowworm's commander and crew, and this contributed to Lieutenat Commander Gerard Roope,  receiving, posthumously, the first Victoria Cross of World War II. Lieutenant-Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope VC RN was a posthumous British recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Being a 35-year-old Royal Navy commanding officer, his action was the first awarded a VC in the Second World War, although the award was gazetted after the hostilities, and he is one of very few to have the award justified, in part, by a recommendation and supporting evidence provided by the enemy. In 1941 Heye was promoted to Vice Admiral, and from September to November 1942 he was commanding admiral of the German naval forces in the Black Sea. From April 1944 onward he was commanding admiral of the small naval combat forces, which included mini-submarines, combat divers, etc. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 18-01-1941.   After the war Heye published a number of works on naval strategy, history and warfare. He subsequently advised the German government on issues concerning the establishment and organization of a new military. In 1953 he joined the centrist party CDU, Christian Democratic Union of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (see Adenauer) and represented this party in the Federal Parliament  from 1953 to 1961, elected for the district of Wilhelmshaven-Friesland. On 08-11-1961 the Bundestag elected him unanimously as its Ombudsman for the Military. In the autumn of 1964, Heye published a series of articles in a German news journal, warning of a risk of the German military once again drifting into isolation from society at large. This triggered a vigorous and sharply worded debate between him and the ministry of defense. Frustrated by what he perceived to be inadequate support from Parliament, Heye resigned his position on 10-11-1964. Retiring in Wiesbaden, a very popular place for many WWII Generals (see Südfriedhof). Heye died at the 75, on 10-11-1970 and is buried with his wife Luise, born Emenne, who died age 75 in 1971, on the Nordfriedhof of Wiesbaden, together with the Generals, Franz Bentivegni (see Bentivegni), Oskar Bertram (see Bertram), Ernst Dehner (see Dehner), Friedrich Eberhardt (see Eberhardt). Kurt Fischer (see Fischer), Victor Gaissert (see Gaissert), Ernst Graewe (see Graewe), Friedrich Hanesse (see Hanesse), Hans von Herudt von Rohde (see Herudt von Rhode), Erich von Keiser (see Keiser), Erich Homberg (see Homberg), Herbert Giese (see Giese), Horst von Mellethin (see Mellethin), Hans von Salmuth (see Salmuth), Bruno Uthmann (see Uthmann), Horst Voigt-Ruscheweyh (see Voigt Ruscheweyh) and vice admiral Ralf von Marwitz (see Marwitz).