Kummetz, Oskar.

Kummetz, Oskar, born 21-07-1891 in Illowo, district of Neidenburg, the son of the chief customs inspector and Hauptmann of the reserve Ferdinand Kummetz (last residing in Vreden / Kreis Ahaus) and Anna, born Schmidt, who was widowed at his wedding in 1919 (last residing in Lüneburg).

Oberleutnant zur See Friedrich Wilhelm Oskar Kummetz married his fiancée Irmgard Maria Helene Wagner in Berlin-Schöneberg on 29-12-1919 (born 10-06-1894 in Berlin), daughter of the secret medical councilor Dr. Gustav Otto Georg Wagner and Anna Gabriele, born von Horn.

Oskar joined the Kaiserliche Marine on 01-04-1910, age 18, as a Sea Cadet on the Cruiser SMS “Victoria Louise” until March 1911. Promoted to Fähnrich and in September 1913 as Leutnant zur See on the Line Boat SMS “Helgeland”, followed by the SMS “Posen” until March 1916. Soon after his promotion to Oberleutnant zur See he was transferred to the fast Torpedo Boats Service  where he served from April 1916 until March 1918 as a Wachtofficer on the torpedo boat. On 20-03-1918 he got the first command of Torpedo boat G-10 until February 1919. After the war he was allowed in the Reichsmarine  and appointed to Commander of the Mine Hunter boat M-84. Promoted to Kapitänleutnant in January 1921 and commander of the Torpedo Boat V-1 until September 1924 and assigned in the Staff Service. Appointed to Chief of III Torpedo Boat Half Fleet from October 1927 until October 1929 and promoted to Korvettenkapitän zur See in December 1928. Fregattenkapitän from 01-07-1942 and from October 1934 Commander of the destroyers. Promoted to Kapitän zur See  in April 1936 and Chief of Staff of the Fleet Commando under Admiral Hermann Boehm  until October 1939. Then Inspector of destroyer fleet. Kummetz became a Konteradmiral on 01-01-1940. With the occupation of Norway, Operation Weserübung in April 1940 Kummetz was the commander of Kampftruppe Oslo with the heavy cruiser “Blücher” and “Lützow” and the cruiser “Emden”, three destroyers, eight mine boats and two troop boats. The cruiser Blücher was sunk in the East Fjord for the Norway coast by coast batteries, Konteradmiral Oskar Kummetz was saved but the event gave a delay in the occupation of Oslo. Oskar was awarded with the Knight Cross of the Iron Cross on 18-01-1941 for the occupation of Oslo.

Kummets was promoted to Vice Admiral in April 1942 and Commander of the Cruise ships . Grand Admiral Erich Raeder,  Commander in Chief of the Navy, Admiral Schniewind and Vice Admiral Oskar Kummetz, summer 1942, shortly before the “Rösselsprung” operation, during an inspection trip by the Grand Admiral on a battleship off Norway. After he became  an Admiral on 01-03-1943 Kummetz commanding the new Kampfgruppe der Kriegsmarine, Battlegroup of the Navy, until end February 1944. The most important feat of arms of the Kampfgruppe was “Operation Silesia in September 1943 against the Allied base in Spitzbergen. Kummetz commanded the battle ships Tirpitz and the Scharnhorst, three destroyers and a battle group of Grenadier Regiment 345 in the strength of a Battalion, destroyed Allied equipment and encampment. It was the last successful battle of a large German Fleet and the last battle of the Tirpitz which on 12-11-1944 near Tromsö was sunk by British Bombers.

         In the aftermath of the attack, rescue operations attempted to reach men trapped in the hull. Workers rescued 82 men by cutting through the bottom hull plates. Figures for the death toll vary from approximately 950 to 1.204. Approximately 200 survivors of the sinking were transferred to the heavy cruiser Lützow in January 1945. The flag of the Tirpitz was rescued too and is hanging in the museum of the Mürwick Marine School in Flensburg, see above. In March 1944 Kummetz took the command of the Navy Command “Ostsee” in Kiel and on 16-09-1944 promoted to General Admiral. In this position he in the last months of the war was responsible for the evacuation of fugitives from East and West Prussia and Pommern over the East Sea. He landed in British captivity from July 1945 and released Kummetz lived from the grow and sale of vegetables until he started as a receptionist of the Casino in Bad Dürkheim. Kummets retired in 1956 and moved with his wife, born Radloff, to Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, where he at the old age of 89 died on 17-12-1980 and is buried in Eckernförde, Schlewiger Strasse 37, in Section 3.At the time of his death, he was the last surviving Kriegsmarine Generaladmiral. Coincidentally, the last surviving Großadmiral of the Kriegsmarine, Karl Dönitz,

died one week later on 24-12-1980.

Death and burial ground Kummetz, Oskar.

Wolfgang Linke from Frankfurt am Main visited the cemetery and found out that Kummetz was buried in the family grave of the family Radloff but that the gravestone in 2000 is removed and still made some pictures for me of the graveside where Boehm’s remains still rest.

Message(s), tips or interesting graves for the webmaster:    robhopmans@outlook.com