The last days of the Hochseeflotte. The mystery of the sinking of the German fleet in scapa flow

On September 11, 1916 - commander of the 2nd reconnaissance group (in March-May 1916 - acting), on November 26, 1916 he was promoted to rear admiral.

On January 22, 1918 he was appointed 2nd commander of the 1st reconnaissance group, in February and August 1918 he replaced Admiral Franz von Hipper as commander of the light forces of the fleet.

From 08/11/1918 - the first commander of the reconnaissance forces of the fleet and the commander of the 1st reconnaissance group.

He became the last commander of the German High Seas Fleet, replacing Admiral von Hipper in the 2nd half of November 1918.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Ludwig von Reuther was able to earn the respect of not only his own subordinates, but also the British by his behavior. On June 21, 1919, he surrendered his command and left for Germany, where he was greeted as a national hero.

Five months after returning from England, von Reuther was asked to resign from the Navy. The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to drastically reduce its fleet, left without an appropriate command, and given the rank and age, von Reuter left the fleet.

After moving to Potsdam, he became an adviser. Wrote a book about the sinking of the High Seas Fleet.

On August 29, 1939, in honor of the anniversary of the Battle of Tannenberg, he was promoted to the rank of full admiral.

In 2014 the Russian army flooded old ship "Ochakov" in order to block the exit of several Ukrainian ships from Lake Donuzlav in Crimea, where they were at that moment. Similar actions in the history of the fleet happened repeatedly. We will talk about five the most famous cases of sinking warships different states for different reasons.

The sinking of Russian ships in Sevastopol. 1855

In the history of the Russian fleet, the most famous such case occurred in 1854-1855 during the Crimean War. This conflict, provoked by Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, from the very beginning did not develop in favor of Russia. The foreign landing force, which landed in Evpatoria on the first day of autumn 1854, was rapidly advancing along the Crimean coast towards Sevastopol. And the battle on Alma, which took place on September 20, ended in the defeat of the Russian troops.

The Russian command, realizing that the situation could become critical, ordered to flood several old ships at the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay. At that time, steam ships had already appeared, and therefore there was no need for sailboats. They decided to let them under water in order to block the interventionist fleet from penetrating into the bay.

The first seven ships were sunk on 11 September. In November-December, two more went to the bottom, in February 1855 - six. And on August 27, the rest of the fleet was flooded - Russian troops left the southern part of the city. They returned there only in 1856 after the Paris Congress.

In 1905, a monument to the scuttled ships was opened in the bay of Sevastopol - one of the hallmarks of the city.

Cruiser "Varyag". 1904

An equally famous case of deliberate sinking of Russian ships took place on February 9, 1904 in the waters of the Korean port of Chemulpo (now Incheon). It was the first day of the Russo-Japanese War. At night, several destroyers of the Land of the Rising Sun carried out a torpedo attack on Russian ships stationed on the outer roadstead of the city of Port Arthur, and at noon a battle began between the Varyag cruiser, supported by the Koreets gunboat, and the Japanese squadron, consisting of fourteen ships.

During a short unequal battle, the Varyag cruiser received a lot of damage, and 31 members of its crew were killed. Realizing that further resistance was impossible, the captain of the ship, Vsevolod Rudnev, gave the order to return to the raid in Chemulpo, where the Varyag was flooded and the Korean was blown up. The Russian ship "Sungari", which was in the port, was also launched to the bottom.

The feat of the Russian sailors who sank the ships, but did not surrender them to the enemy, was enthusiastically received all over the world, including in Japan, where after the war they even built a museum in memory of Russian heroes. Newspapers from different countries were full of news about the fate of the Varyag, and our sailors were received with honors along the entire length of their route home to St. Petersburg.

The song “Our proud Varyag does not surrender to the enemy”, by the way, is not of Russian origin, but German. The poem that formed the basis of it was written by the Austrian poet Rudolf Greinz based on the news read in the press. The work became famous in Russia in the translation of Evgenia Studenskaya. The music was composed by the musician of the 12th Astrakhan Grenadier Regiment Alexei Turishchev.

The sinking of the High Seas Fleet. 1919

And in 1919, for a similar reason, the Germans also sank their warships. The First World War turned out to be a defeat for Kaiser's Germany. The country, which for several centuries could boast of the most powerful army in Europe, generally lost the right to create its own armed forces. And the weapons that were on its territory were subject to transfer to other states. In particular, the German High Seas Fleet was subjected to internment - several dozen warships, which were considered the pride of Germany.

While the Allies were deciding among themselves the fate of this fleet, the ships were in the bay of Rock Flow in the Orkney Islands, where at that time the main base of the British Navy was located. German crews remained on the ships, and the overall command was carried out by Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuther. The latter decided to flood his fleet on the eve of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, so that it would not go to the allies.

At 10:30 am on June 21, 1919, von Reuther gave the order to sink all the ships of the High Seas Fleet. The sailors raised the German naval flags on their ships and opened the kingstones. The British did not expect such a course of events at all, and therefore did not have time to interfere with the plans of the German sailors. They managed to save only 22 ships, 52 went under water.

Paradoxically, the British command took the news of the sinking of German ships with great relief. After all, now they did not need to be divided between the allies, which made it possible to get rid of long disputes on this issue. In Germany, Ludwig von Reuther and his subordinates were received as heroes.

The sinking of the French fleet at Toulon. 1942

But in 1942 the situation was radically different. Germany, recovering from the defeat in the First World War, again had the most powerful army on the continent and regained its former political power. By this time, she managed to capture or subjugate almost all of Europe, including France, which would be divided into the territory occupied by the Germans and a small satellite state in the southern part of the country, which also controlled part of the French colonies in Africa.

But in November 1942, British and American troops, supported by French patriots, occupied North Africa. At the same time, they concluded an agreement with the commander of the Navy of the Vichy regime, Francois Darlan, that he becomes the leader in the liberated territory. Enraged by these agreements, Hitler ordered the introduction of German troops into the remnants of continental France, as well as the capture of the fleet stationed at the base in Toulon.

German soldiers launched an attack on Toulon at 4 am on November 27, 1942. Upon learning of this, the leadership of the French fleet, located in the port of Toulon, decided to flood the ships so that the Germans would not get them. 77 ships went under water that night. The Nazis managed to save only 3 destroyers, 4 submarines and 40 small ships. Part of the flotilla was able to break out of the encirclement and reach Algeria, liberated by the allies.

The sinking of ships on Lake Donuzlav. year 2014

Lake Donuzlav is one of the most convenient natural harbors in Crimea. In Soviet times, it became one of the bases of the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR, and after 1991 - of Ukraine. And during the Crimean crisis of 2014, a confrontation began between the Russian and Ukrainian military in Donuzlav.

In early March 2014, the Russian fleet blocked two Ukrainian warships in Donuzlav. And on the morning of February 6, this blockade was strengthened by the flooding of two old ships of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation - the large anti-submarine ship Ochakov and the rescue tug Shakhter. Prior to this, most of the Black Sea Fleet of the Ukrainian Navy managed to leave the Crimea and arrive in Odessa.

Under the terms of the armistice concluded on November 11, 1918 between Germany and the countries of the Entente, which ended the First World War, the German High Seas Fleet was subject to internment. But, since not a single neutral country took responsibility for its maintenance, the German ships were escorted to the main base of the British fleet - in Scapa Flow Bay, where they were kept for more than six months, waiting for the winners to decide their fate. German crews were left on the ships, German Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter was appointed commander, the British did not board German ships without his permission.

On the eve of the end of the armistice and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, von Reuther, not without reason, feared the transfer of the German fleet to the allies. To prevent this, the German sailors decided to sink their ships.

The Germans carefully prepared for the sinking of the ships, despite the fact that the execution of this plan was accompanied by certain difficulties. In order to prevent German sailors from violating the terms of the truce (for example, by trying to escape to neutral Norway), the British kept a squadron of battleships and many patrol ships in Scapa Flow. Radio stations were removed from German ships, sailors were forbidden to move from ship to ship, but the Germans managed to establish communication through an English ship carrying mail. Most of the crews of the German ships were taken to Germany in order to facilitate the remaining evacuation from sinking ships. The date of the sinking of the fleet was chosen in advance - June 21, the expected day of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Shortly before this, von Reuther became aware that the signing of the treaty was being postponed for two days, but he decided not to delay his plan, especially since the British, who did not suspect anything about his plan, on the morning of June 21, took away a squadron of battleships for exercises.

On June 21, 1919, at 10:30 a.m., von Reuther gave a prearranged signal. The crews raised the German naval flags on the ships and opened the kingstones, jamming them. Within 5 hours, 10 battleships, 5 battlecruisers, 5 light cruisers and 32 destroyers were sunk. One battleship ("Baden"), 3 light cruisers ("Emden", "Nuremberg" and "Frankfurt") and 14 destroyers were thrown aground by the British, who managed to intervene and bring the ships to shallow water. Only 4 destroyers remained afloat. It was difficult for the British to prevent the sinking of ships, since they did not know anything in advance. They fired on sinking ships, climbed on them, demanding that the Germans close the kingstones, tried to do it themselves. Nine German sailors died in fighting on board (including the captain of the battleship "Markgraf" Schumann) or were shot dead in boats. They became the last victims of the First World War.

The British and French were angry that the German fleet had sunk. Since von Reuther and his subordinates violated the terms of the armistice, they were declared prisoners of war. However, the English admiral Wemyss remarked:

“I look at flooding as a genuine gift from heaven. He removed the painful issue of the division of German ships. I guess there will be a lot of screaming at first, but when the facts become known, everyone will think, like me: “Thank God.”.

After returning from captivity, Rear Admiral von Reuter was greeted at home as a hero who defended the honor of the German Navy.

The fate of the German ships in Scapa Flow

Battlecruisers:

• Seydlitz Sunk 13.50 Raised November 1929
• Moltke Sunk 13.10 Raised June 1927
• Von der Tann Sunk 14.15 Raised December 1930
• Derflinger Sunk 14.45 Raised August 1939
• Hindenburg Sunk 17.00 Raised July 1930

Battleships:

• Kaiser Sunk 13. 15 Raised March 1929
• Prinzregent Luitpold Sunk 13.15 Raised March 1929
• Kaiserin Sunk 14.00 Raised May 1936
• Koenig Albert Sunk 12.54 Raised July 1935
• Friedrich der Grosse Sunk 12.16 Raised 1937
• Koenig Sunk 14.00 He raised
• Grosser Kurfurst Sunk 13.30 Raised April 1933
• Kronprinz Wihelm Sunk 13.15 Not recovered
• Markgraf Sunk 16.45 Not salvaged
• Baden Run aground and transferred to England, sunk as a target 1921
• Bayern Sunk 14.30 Raised September 1933

Light cruisers:

• Bremse Sunk 14.30 Raised November 1929
• Brummer Sunk May 13 Not salvaged
• Dresden Sunk 13.50 Not salvaged
• Coln Sunk 13.50 Not salvaged
• Karlsruhe Sunk 15.50 Not salvaged
• Nurnberg Run aground Transferred to England, sunk as a target 1922
• Emden Ran aground ceded to France, broken up 1926
• Frankfurt Run aground Transferred to USA, sunk as a target 1921

Destroyers:

• S-32 Sunk Raised June 1925
• S-36 Sunk Raised April 1925
• G-38 Sunk Raised September 1924
• G-39 Sunk Raised July 1925
• G-40 Sunk Raised July 1925
• V-43 Run aground Transferred to USA, sunk as a target 1921
• V-44 Run aground Transferred to England, broken up 1922
• V-45 Sunk Raised 1922
• V-46 Run aground Transferred to France, broken up 1924
• S-49 Sunk Raised December 1924
• S-50 Sunk Raised October 1924
• S-51 Ran aground Transferred to England, broken up 1922
• S-52 Sunk Raised October 1924
• S-53 Sunk Raised August 1924
• S-54 Sunk Raised September 1921
• S-55 Sunk Raised August 1924
• S-56 Sunk Raised June 1925
• S-60 Ran aground Handed over to Japan, broken up 1922
• S-65 Sunk Raised May 1922
• V-70 Sunk Raised August 1924
• V-73 Ran aground Transferred to England, broken up 1922
• V-78 Sunk Raised September 1925
• V-80 Ran aground Transferred to Japan, broken up 1922
• V-81 Run aground
• V-82 Ran aground Transferred to England, broken up 1922
• V-83 Sunk Raised 1923
• G-86 Sunk Raised July 1925
• G-89 Sunk Raised December 1922
• G-91 Sunk Raised September 1924
• G-92 Ran aground Transferred to England, broken up 1922
• G-101 Sunk Raised April 1926
• G-102 Run aground Transferred to USA, sunk as a target 1921
• G-103 Sunk Raised September 1925
• G-104 Sunk Raised April 1926
• B-109 Sunk Raised March 1926
• B-110 Sunk Raised December 1925
• B-111 Sunk Raised March 1926
• B-112 Sunk Raised February 1926
• V-125 Run aground, transferred to England, broken up 1922
• V-126 Ran aground Transferred to France, broken up 1925
• V-127 Ran aground Transferred to Japan, broken up 1922
• V-128 Ran aground Transferred to England, broken up 1922
• V-129 Sunk Raised August 1925
• S-131 Sunk Raised August 1924
• S-132 Run aground Transferred to USA, sunk as a target 1921
• S-136 Sunk Raised April 1925
• S-137 Ran aground Transferred to England, broken up 1922
• S-138 Sunk Raised May 1925
• H-145 Sunk Raised March 1925
• V-100 Ran aground Handed over to France, broken up 1921

On June 21, 1919, in the bay of Scapa Flow, the main base of the British navy, the German warships of the High Seas Fleet interned under the terms of the armistice were flooded by their crews.

The history of the High Seas Fleet begins in 1871, when, during the Franco-Prussian War, ten days before the surrender of Paris, the North German Confederation, which consisted of twenty-one states, the leading force and inspiration of which was the Kingdom of Prussia, united with four South German states to form a single German Empire. . The Prussian king became the German emperor, the Prussian army was the core of the imperial land forces, and the Prussian fleet laid the foundation for the fleet of a united Germany.

First and Second Squadrons of the High Seas Fleet at Keele (U.S. National Archives)

The second half of the 19th century in naval construction was marked by the flourishing of battleships, which replaced the sailing ships of the line as the main strike force of the fleets. Rapidly developing technologies provided a continuous increase in the power of propulsion, the power of artillery and the quality of protective and structural materials. The wooden hulls were replaced by composite ones with iron armor, which, in turn, were replaced by steel ones; smoky gunpowder was replaced by pyroxylin, smooth gun barrels - rifled, round cores - oblong shells, reciprocating steam engines were replaced by steam turbines. At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1906, the "mistress of the seas" Great Britain launched a ship of a new class, due to the use of technological innovations and breakthrough ideas of shipbuilders, qualitatively superior to any battleship in the world. He received the name "Dreadnought", and this name became a household name for the entire class. The subsequent rapid rearmament of the fleets of the main powers was called the dreadnought race. The development of technology led to the obsolescence of warships that had not yet had time to join the fleet. The number of dreadnoughts measured the political importance of the state on the world stage. Not every economy could afford the luxury of acquiring and maintaining ships of this kind, and not every industry could cope with the construction of armored monsters. The main competition unfolded between Britain and Germany.

A British cartoon dedicated to the decisive battle planned by the German command for August 19, 1916, but which did not take place due to an unfavorable operational situation. News Of The World, 27 August 1916

Great Britain, trying to follow the "two-power standard" approved in 1889 by the Naval Defense Act, was in the lead in the dreadnought race. Germany, however, setting itself the task of ensuring the safety of maritime transport in any development of events, found itself in the position of catching up. By the beginning of the First World War, the German fleet was the second most powerful in the world.

During the war, the direct activity of the surface fleets of the opposing sides was rather limited and did not lead to a decisive superiority of either side, even despite the largest naval battle in history near the Jutland Peninsula that took place in 1916. In the main, the naval forces solved the purely strategic tasks of securing their own supplies and hindering the supply of the enemy, while the task of gaining dominance at sea through a decisive battle, although constantly meant, was invariably postponed in anticipation of an ideally favorable situation. It is clear that the British fleet, having a numerical superiority and relying on centuries of experience in "dominion of the sea", coped with such tasks much better. The battles that took place were for the most part battles of cruising forces at a great distance from the main theaters of operations: near the Falkland and Cocos Islands, near Zanzibar, Penang, on the Black Sea, and so on. The line forces of the opponents met only a few times, and no one achieved a decisive victory, although the overall superiority of the British fleet was quite noticeable.

The finale of the First World War is directly connected with the autumn offensive of the allied forces on the Western Front, which began on October 14, 1918. By this point, Germany was exhausted both physically and mentally. To the lack of food, industrial, mobilization resources, fatigue from the four-year war was added, already with absolutely no visibility of at least any prospect in the future. The political leadership was fully aware of what was happening and made efforts to stop hostilities. On October 1, the government was dismissed, on the 3rd a new government was formed, headed by the Prince of Baden, who had a reputation as a pacifist. Already on October 4, the newly formed government turned to the United States with a proposal for peace talks. And for a whole month, until the end of October, an exchange of views dragged on between the governments of Germany and the United States on the conditions under which peace negotiations could still be started.

But if the political leadership of Germany, although trying to gain better conditions and wasting time, still sought to end the already lost war, many senior military officials, and in particular the commander of the fleet, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, thought differently.

German sailors fishing from a destroyer in Scapa Flow

They swore allegiance to the empire. They swore they would spare neither blood nor life when the time came to fight.

The time has come, moreover, the time has already passed; the war is already lost - and the surface fleet, the practically intact steel fist of the empire, remains peacefully anchored in anticipation of surrender? The admiral could not endure such a shame. On October 24, an order was issued for the fleet to enter the "last decisive battle." It was supposed to engage in battle with the English fleet with all the available forces of the fleet. That same general battle, after which only one of the two opposing fleets remains, according to the generally accepted at that time and military doctrines that have not lost popularity to this day. The same battle that Jutland never became.

This order was not agreed with the government, which clearly would not have been delighted with such a prospect on the eve of peace negotiations. From a political point of view, this battle would hardly have led to an easing of the conditions for a peace treaty. The British fleet outnumbered the German fleet by at least twice the number of ships, so there were no hopes of victory from the very beginning. But even a victory in this battle could not in any way affect the collapse of the Western Front, and, consequently, would only increase the number of deaths on both sides.

Map of the placement of the ships of the German fleet in the parking lot in Scapa Flow

On October 30, the fleet was scheduled to go to sea from the anchorage in Wilhelmshaven. But unexpectedly, the plans for a heroic death in battle were violated. The crews of the ships did not see any point in such a hecatomb, especially since it was they who were supposed to be the victims on this altar. The outlook of a conscript army soldier, as a rule, differs from the training of regular officers in greater practicality, and the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bkilling several tens of thousands more people in an already lost war on the eve of the conclusion of peace did not find any support among the sailors. The crews rebelled.

At first, it seemed that the rebellion was quite easy to suppress: two rebellious ships, under the gun barrels of the remaining ships, went to the base in Kiel, where the crews were arrested. But three days later the uprising flared up again, the city was in the hands of the sailors, red flags were hoisted on the ships. A few days later, the uprising spread throughout Germany. The Kaiser fled to Holland. Admiral Scheer resigned. Of course, no one else remembered the decisive battle. On November 11, 1918, the next new German government accepted the terms of the armistice proposed by the Allies. Among the conditions was the internment in neutral or, if there were none, allied ports, most of the previously disarmed German surface ships until the signing of a permanent peace treaty, which would finally decide their fate. The last commander of the fleet was Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuther.

The light cruiser Cardiff leads German battlecruisers to the port of Rosyth in the Firth of Forth.

On the morning of November 21, the British Navy launched the last operation of the First World War, called "Operation ZZ". Coming out of the Firth of Forth, the warships lined up in two wake columns, each stretching for 15 miles. At about ten in the morning they met with a column of the German fleet. It had five battlecruisers, nine battleships, seven light cruisers, and forty-nine destroyers. Two more battleships and one cruiser were to arrive later, after repairs. One destroyer (V-30) ran into a mine on the way and sank, subsequently a replacement was sent to him. By November 27, all German ships subject to internment, except for those delayed in Germany, with all their crews, anchored in Scapa Flow. A squadron of English battleships and a flotilla of destroyers, which performed security functions, were also located here. Now the German fleet had to wait for a permanent peace treaty, which was supposed to decide its fate.

Battleship "Baden"

The wait went on for many months. The crews were forbidden to move from ship to ship, but the British were also allowed to visit ships only with the permission of the German admiral. For all the time, only one significant violation of the regime was noted, when on May 31 imperial flags were raised on German ships to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, but since many ships raised red flags along with the imperial ships, the admiral could not be blamed for this, they attributed it to the unreliability of the crews and revolutionary sentiment.

Pointing to this very revolutionary insecurity, Admiral Reuther gradually reduced the number of crews to a minimum: from about twenty thousand at the beginning in several receptions to seventeen hundred people at the end of the wait. From the point of view of the British authorities, the easier it was to observe the security regime, to organize supplies, and the less likely it was that the German crews, having rebelled, would try to take the ships to neutral Norway, which at first they were very afraid of. The admiral willingly went to meet.

Scapa Flow. Fleet in the parking lot

The Allies, having every reason to believe that the peace treaty would leave the German ships at their disposal, prepared the necessary orders, formed boarding parties and even conducted their exercises. The signing of the permanent peace treaty, which became known as the Treaty of Versailles, was scheduled for 21 June. On this day, a few hours before the expected end of the truce, Admiral Reuter planned the flooding of the fleet, and when shortly before the scheduled date it turned out that the signing of the treaty had been postponed for two days, the admiral did not change plans. The order to sink the fleet was issued on 17 June. Despite the ban on the movement of crews between ships, the Germans established communication between ships with the help of an English ship carrying mail. The fulfillment of the plan was facilitated by the fact that, having learned about the postponement of the date of signing the agreement, the commander of the English squadron, Rear Admiral Sidney Fremantle, took the squadron to the exercises.

At 10:30 on June 21, on the light cruiser Emden, where Admiral Reuter transferred the flag from the flagship battleship Friedrich der Grosse, the signal "Paragraph 11 - confirmation" was raised. The crews of the ships raised the imperial flags and opened the kingstones.

The sinking of the battlecruiser Derfflinger

After 1200, Fremantle received news of the sinking of German ships. At 1400, the squadron returned to Scapa Flow and tried in vain to cope with the situation. Parties of sailors landed on board the ships that were still afloat: but trying to fight for the survivability of an unfamiliar large ship, when its crew took measures to hinder such a struggle, is a rather hopeless business. By 5pm it was all over. The battleship "Baden", three light cruisers and fourteen destroyers managed to be towed into shallow water, four more destroyers remained afloat. Fifty-two ships went down. Different sources cite different versions of the armed clashes: either the British fired at the boats, or the skirmishes happened on board the dying ships - one way or another, nine German sailors, including the captain of the battleship Markgraf, were killed, and sixteen more were wounded. These sailors are considered the last victims of the First World War.

The sinking of the battleship "Bayern"

After the sinking, the German sailors were declared prisoners of war as violating the truce. The scandal turned out to be big, with mutual accusations, excuses, claims, demands and other political inadequacy. The Berlin government diligently denied the actions of Admiral Reuter: however, they met him, upon returning to Germany, as a hero. Among the indignant choir of politicians, the sober assessment of the English admiral Wemyss sounded dissonant: “I look at the flooding as a genuine gift from heaven. It removed the painful question of the division of German ships. I suppose that at first there will be a lot of screaming, but when the facts become known, everyone will think, like me: "Thank God."

As a result, five more light cruisers were demanded from Germany, as well as a large number of various naval equipment, in particular floating docks. It is noteworthy that these two docks were subsequently purchased from the British government on the cheap by a certain scrap metal dealer Ernest Cox. When he bought the first dock, he just wanted to cut off a huge steel cylinder used to test the strong hulls of submarines and sell it for scrap. So he did, and only later, trying to figure out what to do with the dock itself, came across the idea of ​​​​selling that pile of scrap metal that lies at the bottom of Scapa Flow. So most of the flooded fleet was raised. The raised ships were dismantled for metal and sold.

Raised turret of the main caliber of the battleship "Von der Tann"

However, the fate of the ships launched in shallow waters turned out to be no better: most of them were also dismantled within a couple of years, several were used as targets and sunk.

Three battleships and four cruisers lie at the bottom of the bay to this day.

Affiliation Type of army Rank Battles/wars Awards and prizes

Biography

Born into a family with a long military tradition. During the First World War he commanded cruisers in the German Navy.

On September 11, 1916 - commander of the 2nd reconnaissance group (in March-May 1916 - acting), on November 26, 1916 he was promoted to rear admiral.

On January 22, 1918 he was appointed 2nd commander of the 1st reconnaissance group, in February and August 1918 he replaced Admiral Franz von Hipper as commander of the light forces of the fleet.

From 08/11/1918 - the first commander of the reconnaissance forces of the fleet and the commander of the 1st reconnaissance group.

He became the last commander of the German High Seas Fleet, replacing Admiral von Hipper in the 2nd half of November 1918.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Ludwig von Reuther was able to earn the respect of not only his own subordinates, but also the British by his behavior. On June 21, 1919, he surrendered his command and left for Germany, where he was greeted as a national hero.

Five months after returning from England, von Reuther was asked to resign from the Navy. The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to drastically reduce its fleet, left without an appropriate command, and given the rank and age, von Reuter left the fleet.

After moving to Potsdam, he became an adviser. Wrote a book about the sinking of the High Seas Fleet.

On August 29, 1939, in honor of the anniversary of the Battle of Tannenberg, he was promoted to the rank of full admiral.

Awards

• Iron Cross 2nd class
• Cross "For Faithful Service"
• Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg

see also

Write a review on the article "Reuther, Ludwig von"

Literature

• Zalessky K. A. Who was who in the First World War. Biographical encyclopedic dictionary. M., 2003

Links

• (German)

An excerpt characterizing Reuter, Ludwig von

The next day, Prince Andrei went to the Rostovs for dinner, as Count Ilya Andreich called him, and spent the whole day with them.
Everyone in the house felt for whom Prince Andrei went, and he, without hiding, tried all day to be with Natasha. Not only in the soul of Natasha, frightened, but happy and enthusiastic, but in the whole house, fear was felt before something important that had to happen. The Countess looked at Prince Andrei with sad and seriously stern eyes when he spoke with Natasha, and timidly and feignedly began some kind of insignificant conversation, as soon as he looked back at her. Sonya was afraid to leave Natasha and was afraid to be a hindrance when she was with them. Natasha turned pale with fear of anticipation when she remained face to face with him for minutes. Prince Andrei struck her with his timidity. She felt that he needed to tell her something, but that he could not bring himself to do so.
When Prince Andrei left in the evening, the countess went up to Natasha and said in a whisper:
- Well?
- Mom, for God's sake don't ask me anything now. You can’t say that,” Natasha said.
But despite the fact that that evening Natasha, now agitated, now frightened, with stopping eyes, lay for a long time in her mother's bed. Now she told her how he praised her, then how he said that he would go abroad, then how he asked where they would live this summer, then how he asked her about Boris.
“But this, this… has never happened to me!” she said. “Only I’m scared around him, I’m always scared around him, what does that mean?” So it's real, right? Mom, are you sleeping?
“No, my soul, I myself am afraid,” answered the mother. - Go.
“I won’t sleep anyway. What's wrong with sleeping? Mommy, mommy, this has never happened to me! she said with astonishment and fear before the feeling that she was aware of in herself. - And could we think! ...
It seemed to Natasha that even when she first saw Prince Andrei in Otradnoye, she fell in love with him. She seemed to be frightened by this strange, unexpected happiness that the one whom she had chosen back then (she was firmly convinced of this), that the same one had now met her again, and, as it seems, was not indifferent to her. “And it was necessary for him, now that we are here, to come to Petersburg on purpose. And we should have met at this ball. All this is fate. It is clear that this is fate, that all this was led to this. Even then, as soon as I saw him, I felt something special.
What else did he tell you? What verses are these? Read it ... - thoughtfully said the mother, asking about the poems that Prince Andrei wrote in Natasha's album.
- Mom, is it not a shame that he is a widower?
- That's it, Natasha. Pray to God. Les Marieiages se font dans les cieux. [Marriages are made in heaven.]
“Darling, mother, how I love you, how good it is for me!” Natasha shouted, crying tears of happiness and excitement and hugging her mother.
At the same time, Prince Andrei was sitting with Pierre and telling him about his love for Natasha and about his firm intention to marry her.

On that day, Countess Elena Vasilievna had a reception, there was a French envoy, there was a prince, who had recently become a frequent visitor to the countess's house, and many brilliant ladies and men. Pierre was downstairs, walked through the halls, and struck all the guests with his concentrated, absent-minded and gloomy look.
From the time of the ball, Pierre felt the approach of fits of hypochondria in himself and with a desperate effort tried to fight against them. From the time of the prince’s rapprochement with his wife, Pierre was unexpectedly granted a chamberlain, and from that time on he began to feel heaviness and shame in a large society, and more often the same gloomy thoughts about the futility of everything human began to come to him. At the same time, the feeling he noticed between Natasha, who was patronized by him, and Prince Andrei, his opposition between his position and the position of his friend, further strengthened this gloomy mood. He equally tried to avoid thoughts about his wife and about Natasha and Prince Andrei. Again everything seemed to him insignificant in comparison with eternity, again the question presented itself: “what for?”. And he forced himself day and night to work on the Masonic works, hoping to drive away the approach of the evil spirit. Pierre at 12 o'clock, leaving the countess's chambers, was sitting upstairs in a smoky, low room, in a worn dressing gown in front of the table and copying genuine Scottish acts, when someone entered his room. It was Prince Andrew.
“Ah, it’s you,” said Pierre with an absent-minded and displeased look. “But I’m working,” he said, pointing to a notebook with that kind of salvation from the hardships of life with which unhappy people look at their work.
Prince Andrei, with a radiant, enthusiastic face renewed to life, stopped in front of Pierre and, not noticing his sad face, smiled at him with egoism of happiness.
“Well, my soul,” he said, “yesterday I wanted to tell you and today I came to you for this. Never experienced anything like it. I'm in love my friend.
Pierre suddenly sighed heavily and sank down with his heavy body on the sofa, next to Prince Andrei.