Is anyone here familiar with cases of Kriegsmarine personnel, of any rank/occupation, defecting to the Allied side during the war? In this case I don't just mean deserting and getting captured by the Allies, but actually swapping service from the Kriegsmarine to the Allies in some capacity.
I've heard one or two stories of this happening in other branches of the German armed forces, such as the Austrian conscript Richard Wadani who deserted from the German army and joined the Czechoslovak exile army.
Were there any Kriegsmarine defectors?
-
lupodimare89
- Member
- Posts: 594
- Joined: 07 Mar 2013, 02:32
Re: Were there any Kriegsmarine defectors?
Being Italian i know one of these stories,
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Ja ... 3%A4mpfer)
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Jacobs
He was liutenant-captain (Kapitänleutnants) serving in the engineer corps of the Kriegsmarine in La Spezia (Italian Liguria region) where he first complained and struggled for the treatment of civilians. After he believed his entire family was killed by an Allied air-raid in Germany (it was wrong news), he defected with his adjutant (Johann Fritz, i have no information about him), joining the Partisan Garibaldi Brigade "Ugo Muccini" (a communist unit). He fell in action on 3 November 1944 while attacking a fascist barrack alongside Johann Fritz, five Italians and 3 Soviets (there were plenty of ex-Soviet POWs escaped from prisony camps who joined the Partisan resistance in North italy): they disguised as Germans for the attack but they were discovered and his weapon malfunctioned.
I should stress that while he joined ranks of an unregular partisan military forces, the Garibaldi Brigades because of their political nature were quite well-armed, organized and militarized (even if not at the level of Yugoslavian's Tito partisans).
(here the italian wiki page with the brief history of the partisan brigade he served: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigata_G ... Muccini%22
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Ja ... 3%A4mpfer)
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Jacobs
He was liutenant-captain (Kapitänleutnants) serving in the engineer corps of the Kriegsmarine in La Spezia (Italian Liguria region) where he first complained and struggled for the treatment of civilians. After he believed his entire family was killed by an Allied air-raid in Germany (it was wrong news), he defected with his adjutant (Johann Fritz, i have no information about him), joining the Partisan Garibaldi Brigade "Ugo Muccini" (a communist unit). He fell in action on 3 November 1944 while attacking a fascist barrack alongside Johann Fritz, five Italians and 3 Soviets (there were plenty of ex-Soviet POWs escaped from prisony camps who joined the Partisan resistance in North italy): they disguised as Germans for the attack but they were discovered and his weapon malfunctioned.
I should stress that while he joined ranks of an unregular partisan military forces, the Garibaldi Brigades because of their political nature were quite well-armed, organized and militarized (even if not at the level of Yugoslavian's Tito partisans).
(here the italian wiki page with the brief history of the partisan brigade he served: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigata_G ... Muccini%22