Walther Kinzel

Walther Kinzel
Birth name	Karl Walther Kinzel
Birth date	17 August 1880 (1880-08-17)
Place of birth	Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	3 October 1964 (1964-10-04) (aged 84)
Place of death	Bad Mergentheim, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Kaiserliche Marine Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1899–1918 1919–1932 1939–1944
Rank	Vizeadmiral z. V.
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Iron Cross War Merit Cross German Cross in Silver

Karl Walther Kinzel (1880–1964) was a German naval officer of the Kaiserliche Marine, the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine, finally Vizeadmiral z. V. with the Kommandierender Admiral Frankreich (Commanding Admiral France) in World War Two.

Military career (chronology)

General Eberhard Kinzel's graceful farewell letter to brother Walther Kinzel

• Entered the Navy as a Seekadett and Attended Basic-Training and On Board the School-Ship ‘Stosch’ (10 Apr 1899-03 Apr 1900)
• Naval-School and Special-Briefing (04 Apr 1900-30 Sep 1901)
• Departed to Nagasaki (01 Oct 1901-17 Dec 1901)
• On Board the Heavy Cruiser ‘Fürst Bismarck’ (18 Dec 1901-12 Sep 1902)
  • SMS Fürst Bismarck completed repairs in Nagasaki on 15 January 1902 and in early February she rendezvoused with SMS Hertha and SMS Bussard in Singapore. There, Vizeadmiral Felix von Bendemann returned to the ship, though days later on 15 February, he turned command of the squadron over to VAdm Richard Geissler. Later that month, the light cruiser SMS Thetis joined the squadron; further changes to the composition of the squadron followed shortly thereafter, with SMS Kaiserin Augusta, S91, and S92 returning to Germany in February and March. In April, SMS Schwalbe, SMS Geier, and SMS Luchs went to Ning Po to protect Europeans from unrest in the city while SMS Fürst Bismarck and the rest of the East Asia Squadron toured East Asian ports, ranging from Japan to the Dutch East Indies. During this period, they also conducted various training exercises and alternated visits to Tsingtao and Japan for periodic maintenance. SMS Schwalbe returned to Germany in September (Kinzel was on Board), though her place was taken by SMS Geier.
• Returned Home from Tsingtau, the capital of the German Kiautschou Bay concession in China (13 Sep 1902-03 Nov 1902)
• On Board the Liner ‘Kaiser Wilhelm II’ and Placed to the Disposal of the II. Naval-Inspection (04 Nov 1902-24 Mar 1903)
• On Board the School-Ship ‘Moltke’ (25 Mar 1903-13 Mar 1905)
• Court-Officer with the I. Sailor-Division (01 Apr 1905-31 Mar 1906)
• Watch-Officer on the Liner ‘Elsaß’ (01 Apr 1906-30 Sep 1908)
• I. Course at the Naval Academy (01 Oct 1908-30 Jun 1909)
• Artillery-Officer on the Coastal-Armoured-Ship ‘Siegfried’ (22 Jul 1909-15 Sep 1909)
• II. Course at the Naval Academy (01 Oct 1909-30 Jun 1910)
• Detached to the I. Shipyard-Division (01 Jul 1910-30 Sep 1910)
• Transferred to the Weapons-Department, Reichsmarineamt (01 Oct 1910-13 Aug 1912)
• At the same time, Artillery-Officer on the Liner ‘Zähringen’ (09 May 1912-12 May 1912)
• Artillery-Officer on the Liner ‘Zähringen’ (14 Aug 1912-28 Sep 1912)
• Artillery-Officer on the Liner ‘Kaiser’ (29 Sep 1912-10 Apr 1916)
• At the same time, Admiral-Staff-Officer with the Staff of ‘Detachierte Division’ (07 Dec 1913-28 Jun 1914)
• Department-Head at the Department for Artillery and Handheld-Weapons Construction, Weapons-Department, Reichsmarineamt (11 Apr 1916-14 Jul 1919)
• Department-Head in the Weapons-Department of the Admiralty (15 Jul 1919-14 Sep 1920)
• Department-Head in the Weapons-Department, Naval Command (15 Sep 1920-01 Oct 1921)
• Placed to the Disposal of the Chief of Naval Command (02 Oct 1921-01 Apr 1922)
• Commandant of the Cruiser ‘Thetis’ (02 Apr 1922-30 Sep 1923)
• Chief Of Staff of the General Naval Office, Naval Command (04 Oct 1923-04 Jan 1925)
• Chief of the Naval Weapons Department, Naval Command with the Reichswehrministerium (06 Jan 1925-30 Sep 1928)
• Inspector of Naval Artillery (Inspekteur der Küstenartillerie) and President of the Artillery-Test-Command (01 Oct 1928-29 Sep 1932)
• At the same time, Acting-Inspector of Naval-Depots (25 Jul 1929-10 Aug 1929)
• Retired (30 Sep 1932)
• Placed to the Disposal of the Kriegsmarine (01 Jan 1939-10 Oct 1940)
• Placed to the Disposal of the Naval-Command-Office, OKM (10 Oct 1940-19 Oct 1940)
• Chief of Senior-Shipyard-Staff France (20 Oct 1940-31 Mar 1944)
  • As Chef des Oberwerftstabs Frankreich he succeeded Kapitän zur See Wilhelm Rhein (August to October 1940) and was suceeded by Konteradmiral (Ing.) Max Schenitzki (March to October 1944)
• Placed to Disposal and Granted Leave (01 Apr 1944-30 Apr 1944)
• Retired (30 Apr 1944)

1932 to 1939

After leaving the Reichsmarine, Kinzel, a member of the Schiffbautechnische Gesellschaft, became a representative of several well-known German armaments companies and their foreign subsidiaries (among them Zeiss, Rheinmetall, Krupp and Loewe). In 1933, he was sent to China (accompanying the new Chinese Minister of Finance Kong Xiangxi/Kung Hsiang-hsi, who had been in Germany), but also Thailand and Japan. In June 1933, Hans von Seeckt published the memorandum to Marshal Chiang Kai-shek on his program to industrialize and militarize China. Kinzel not only informed his companys but also Werner von Blomberg (de) in the Reichswehrministerium. He was retired, but in his soul a loyal soldier of the Vaterland. From Kobe in Japan he travelled to San Francisco, where he arrived on 29 August 1934 and later returned home.

Family

Lineage

Kinzel was born the son and first child of Geheimer Studienrat Prof. Dr. phil. Karl Wilhelm Julius Kinzel (b. 17 March 1849 in Berlin, d. 24 February 1940 in Bad Salzuflen; literary historian, Gymnasium teacher, philologist) and his first wife Eva Marie Emilie Mathilde, née Seiler (b. June 1854), who died on 2 November 1897 only two weeks after the birth of youngest child Hans Eberhard. He had three siblings:

• Marie Hildegard Kinzel (1882–1969), ∞ 29 April 1908 Friedrich „Fritz“ Johannes Martin Lützow, Oberleutnant zur See, Korvettenkapitän of the Kaiserliche Marine, Konteradmiral of the Reichsmarine and finally Vizeadmiral z. V. of the Kriegsmarine; five children
  • Kinzel was therefore the uncle of Korvettenkapitän Werner Lützow (⚔ 24 November 1943 as Flottillenchef der 4. Schnellboot-Flottille auf Schnellboot „S 88“) and Luftwaffe ace (Flieger-As) Günther Friedrich „Franzl“ Lützow, Oberst and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
• Friedrich Gerhard(t) Kinzel (1884–1949), Pastor, ∞ 11 October 1910 Johanna Katharina "Käthe" Wilkens (1887–1971), daughter of the building inspector Heinrich Wilkens in Berlin; four children (among them Roland: b. 1911 in Berneuchen; ⚔ 1943 at Stalingrad)
• Hans Eberhard Kinzel (1897–1945), German Hauptmann of the Reichswehr and General der Infanterie of the Wehrmacht

Father and widower Karl married on 28 December 1899 in Berlin Charlotte Henriette Antonie Karges (b. 29 April 1847 in Cottbus), who would become a loving step-mother for all four children.

Marriage

Oberleutnant zur See Kinzel married in Frankfurt (Oder) his fiancée Margarete "Margreth" Antonie Klothilde von Stössel (b. 28 October 1882 in Oppeln) on 30 May 1908, daughter of Geheimer Regierungsrat Max Sigismund Eugen Karl Friedrich Hugo von Stössel. It is believed, although not confirmed, they had two children: Gisbert "Gisi" and Joachim "Jochen".

Promotions

• Seekadett of the Crew of 1899 (10 April 1899)
• Fähnrich zur See (10 April 1900)
• Leutnant zur See (27 September 1902)
• Oberleutnant zur See (1 April 1904)
• Kapitänleutnant (13 October 1908)
• Korvettenkapitän (24 April 1916)
• Fregattenkapitän (1 April 1922)
• Kapitän zur See (1 January 1925)
• Konteradmiral (1 January 1929)
• Charakter als Vizeadmiral (30 September 1932)
• Vizeadmiral z. V. (1 September 1941)

Awards and decorations

• Order of the Medjidie, 4th Class (TM4) on 9 January 1904
• Red Eagle Order (Roter Adlerorden), 4th Class on 24 June 1914
• Chile Medal of Merit, III. Class (Chilenische Verdienstmedaille) on 31 August 1914
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
• Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with the Crown and Swords (BMV4mKr⚔/BM4mKr⚔)
• Großherzoglich Mecklenburg-Schwerinsches Militärverdienstkreuz, II. Class (MMV2/MK2)
  • The Militärverdienstkreuz II. Klasse is listed for Kinzel in the 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1926 Ranglisten, but strangely not afterwards.
• Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg (HH)
• Prussian Long Service Cross for 25 years (Königlich Preußisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz)
• Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
• War Merit Cross, 2nd and 1st Class with Swords
• German Cross in Silver on 31 March 1944 as Vizeadmiral z.V. and Chef der Oberwerftstab Frankreich