Walter Georg Lohmann

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Walter Lohmann
Konteradmiral Walter Georg Lohmann.jpg
Birth name Walter Georg Lohmann
Birth date 11 December 1891(1891-12-11)
Place of birth Siegen, Province of Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date 13 April 1955 (aged 63)
Place of death Hamburg-Bergedorf, West Germany
Allegiance  German Empire (to 1918)
 Weimar Republic (to 1933)
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch  Kaiserliche Marine
 Reichsmarine
 Kriegsmarine
Years of service 1910–1945
Rank Vizeadmiral
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Awards German Cross in Silver
Relations ∞ 1922 Marguerite Gruson
Other work Author

Walter Georg Lohmann (11 December 1891 – 13 April 1955) was a German naval officer, finally Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) of the Kriegsmarine in WWII. He must not be confused with Kapitän zur See Walter Lohmann (1878–1930).

Life

Signature
King Boris III of Bulgaria, visiting the "Emden", followed by Kapitän zur See Walter Lohmann
Großadmiral Erich Raeder and Vizeadmiral Walter Georg Lohmann at the Naval-School Mürwik, 1942
  • Entered the Navy asa Seekadett with "Crew 1910" and Attended Basic-Training and On Board the Heavy Cruiser ‘Freya’ (01 Apr 1910-28 Mar 1911)
  • Naval-School Mürwik and Special-Briefings (29 Mar 1911-30 Sep 1912)
  • On Board the Liner ‘Lothringen’ (01 Dec 1912-30 Sep 1913)
  • Transferred to the Ships-Youth-Division and School-Ship ‘König Wilhelm’ (01 Oct 1913-31 Mar 1914)
  • On Board the Heavy Cruiser ‘Hansa’ (01 Apr 1914-01 Aug 1914)
  • Battalion-Adjutant with the I. Sailor-Division (02 Aug 1914-04 Aug 1914)
  • Adjutant, Signals and Radio Officer on the Heavy Cruiser ‘Prinz Heinrich’ (05 Aug 1914-26 Aug 1915)
  • Training with the Submarine-Battalion and U-Boots-School (27 Aug 1915-27 Nov 1915)
  • Watch-Officer with the IV. Submarine-Flotilla (28 Nov 1915-31 Dec 1915)
  • Course on Board the School-Ship ‘Württemberg’ (01 Jan 1916-01 Mar 1916)
  • Adjutant and Watch-Officer on the Torpedo-Boat ‘T 137’ of the III. Submarine-Flotilla (02 Mar 1916-13 Jun 1916)
  • Flag-Lieutenant in the Staff of the Commander of Submarines (14 Jun 1916-10 Nov 1917)
  • Placed to the Disposal of the II. Submarine-Flotilla (11 Nov 1917-27 Nov 1917)
  • Watch-Officer on ‘U 46’ of the III. Submarine-Flotilla (28 Nov 1917-16 Jun 1918)
  • 2nd Admiral-Staff-Officer in the Staff of the Commander of Submarines (17 Jun 1918-05 Feb 1919)
  • Processing of the Service-Office of the Commander of Submarines and Granted Leave (05 Feb 1919-23 Sep 1919)
  • Detached for Service to the Staff of the Naval-Station of the Baltic Sea (24 Sep 1919-09 Sep 1920)
  • Inspection-Officer at the Naval-School Mürwik (10 Sep 1920-16 Mar 1922)
  • At the same time, On Board the Sail-Tender ‘Niobe’ (01 Apr 1921-30 May 1921)
  • At the same time, Commandant of the Minesweeper ‘M 90’ (08 Aug 1921-20 Aug 1921)
  • Company-Chief in the Naval-School Mürwik (17 Mar 1922-31 Mar 1924)
  • At the same time, Commandant of the Sail-Tender ‘Niobe’ (26 Aug 1922-16 Oct 1922)
  • Acting-Assistant with the Torpedo-Test-Institute (01 Apr 1924-18 May 1924)
  • Temporary-Adjutant and Advisor with the Inspection of Training Affairs of the Navy (19 May 1924-30 Sep 1924)
  • Course and Ship-Cadre on ‘Hessen’, Torpedo-School (01 Oct 1924-05 Jan 1925)
  • Torpedo-Officer on the Liner ‘Hessen’ (06 Jan 1925-20 Sep 1926)
  • At the same time, Subsidiary-Leadership-Course with the Inspection of Training Affairs of the Navy (08 Feb 1926-20 Mar 1926)
  • Assistant and Advisor at the Torpedo-Test-Institute Eckernförde (21 Sep 1926-30 Sep 1928)
  • Advisor for New-Officers and Training-Questions at the Naval Command (01 Oct 1928-25 Sep 1931)
  • First Officer on the Cruiser ‘Königsberg’ (26 Sep 1931-27 Sep 1933)
  • Admiral-Staff-Officer in the Staff of the Admiral of the Reichsmarine-Service-Office Hamburg (01 Feb 1935-03 Jul 1935)
  • Admiral-Staff-Officer in the Staff of the Admiral of the Kriegsmarine-Service-Office Hamburg (04 Jul 1935-25 Aug 1936)
  • At the same time, Command-Indoctrination-Journey with the ‘Wahehe’ to Africa (14 Aug 1935-18 Dec 1935)
  • Commandant of the Cruiser ‘Emden’ (26 Aug 1936-19 Jun 1937)
  • Leader of the Kriegsmarine-Service-Office Königsberg (20 Jun 1937-28 Sep 1937)
  • Chief of the Naval Household Department, OKM (29 Sep 1937-12 Oct 1939)
  • Commander of the Naval-School Mürwik (13 Oct 1939-30 Sep 1942)
  • Admiral (position, not rank) of the Kriegsmarine-Service-Office Hamburg and Commander of the Naval-Board-Flak-Brigade North (01 Oct 1942-22 Feb 1945)
  • Placed to the Disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of Naval-High-Command North and Granted Leave (23 Feb 1945-30 Apr 1945)
  • Retired (30 Apr 1945)[1]

Family

Walter was the son of the administrative lawyer, secret governing council, president of the chamber and evangelical theologian Ernst Heinrich Rudolf Lohmann[2] (1863–1941; latterly President of the State Consistory in Hanover and curator of the Loccum Monastery) and his wife Margarethe, née Vogler. He had four siblings, three sisters and brother Werner. His grandfather was the administrative lawyer, civil servant and social reformer Theodor Christian Lohmann[3] (1831–1905), second in importance only to Otto von Bismarck in the formation of the German social insurance system.

Marriage

Oberleutnant zur See Lohmann married in 1920 his fiancée Rose Marguerite Gruson (1896–1985), daughter of Generalmajor Ernst Friedrich Ludwig Gruson (1869–1962) and his wife Elisabeth Marie Helene, née Vogler (1873–1949). Their daughter, Rosemargrit Lohmann (b. 28 March 1921), was a Marinehelferin (female naval auxiliary) during WWII,[4] lived many years in the Kloster Mariensee (convent) near Hanover, worked with the Evangelisches Fortbildungsheim Stapelage, was lastly living in the Diakonissen-Mutterhaus Cecilienstift Halberstadt (church foundation). One of her best friends in Kassel was Afrikakorps veteran Hans Hermann Schmitt-Krahmer (1921–2008). At the proud age of 90, the artist opened her first major exhibition in the Moritzkirche on 6 August 2011.

Promotions

  • Seekadett / Officer Candidate (1 April 1910)
  • Fähnrich zur See / Officer Cadet at Sea (15 April 1911)
  • Leutnant zur See / 2nd Lieutenant at Sea (27 September 1913)
  • Oberleutnant zur See / 1st Lieutenant at Sea (22 March 1916)
  • Kapitänleutnant / Captain Lieutenant (1 January 1921)
  • Korvettenkapitän / Corvette Captain (1 December 1928)
  • Fregattenkapitän / Frigate Captain (1 July 1934)
  • Kapitän zur See / Captain at Sea (1 January 1936)
  • Konteradmiral / Rear Admiral (1 January 1940)
  • Vizeadmiral / Vice Admiral (1 March 1942)

Awards and decorations

Walter-Lohmann-Kapitänleutnant, Denkwürdige Tage aus der deutschen Marine- Kolonial- und Seekriegsgeschichte. - Ein Traditionskalender für die Reichsmarine, 1928.jpg
Die deutsche Kriegsmarine 1939–1945 (Walter Lohmann mit Hans H. Hildebrand).jpg

Writings

In 1945, he wrote the history of his family: Geschichte des Geschlechts Lohmann aus Winsen a. d. Aller. In the 1950s, together with Hans H. Hildebrand, he created the three-volume anthology Die deutsche Kriegsmarine 1939–1945 (Podzun Verlag), in which he fully documented the organization and staffing of the Kriegsmarine.

Further reading

  • Rosemargit Lohmann:
    • 40 Jahre nach der Koloschule mit "Dienste in Übersee" in Afrika – Bericht über die Tätigkeit von Jutta Schött (O 1934/35) als Entwicklungshelferin, 1995
    • with Heinz J. Lohmann: Der Adelige Freyhof Mummental und seine Bewohner, Halberstadt 2003
    • Erlebnisse in kritischer Zeit – Aus dem Tagebuch des Generalmajors a. D. Ernst Gruson im April 1945, in: "Quedlinburger Annalen – Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch für Stadt und Region Quedlinburg". Publisher: vom Förderverein Historische Sammlungen Quedlinburg e. V., Quedlinburg 2004
    • Das Leben von Jean David Gruson (1780-1848), in: "Neuer Familienkundlicher Abend. Familienkundliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft im Förderkreis Gleimhaus e. V." 16 (2007), pp. 97-116

References

  1. Vizeadmiral Walter Georg Lohmann
  2. Ernst Heinrich Rudolf Lohmann
  3. Lohmann, Theodor (Archive)
  4. A fascinating account of the German Navy Interception Station south – west of Bruges in Belgium. A Veteran Remembers, in: "After The Battle", No. 120