German Zerstörers in Narvik 1940

[hucks216]

If you are still searching for photos of personnel of that battle, I a have couple of photos of the Captain of the Z 18 Hans Lüdemann destroyer Herbert Friedrichs. He was my paternal grandfather

That is so cool! I have been looking just about all over online for as much as possible on KKpt. Herbert Friedrichs. So far what I have been able to glean has been very minimal. For instance, I understand he provided excerpts of his journals to some WWII authors. And I also read somewhere that he chose not to captain another vessel. I am very curious about Kapitan zur See Herbert Friedrichs, so I'm hoping you can tell me a bit more about his biography -- e.g. his formative years and what else he did after the scuttling of the Hans Ludemann and what his personal interests were -- kind of like in the style of Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica biographical entries. I have not been able to find any biographical reference (nothing on Wikipedia, for instance), so if you can provide me with a biography of Kapitan zur See Herbert Friedrichs, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Kapitän zur See Herbert Friedrichs
Born: 29 Jul 1902 in Leipzig.
Promotion Date: 01 Aug 1942
Kommandant, Zerstörer Z18 'Hans Lüdemann' - 00 Oct 1938-00 Apr 1940
Lazarettaufenthalt - 00 Apr 1940-00 May 1941
Admiralstabsoffizier, Stab Deutsches Marinekommando Italien - 00 Jun 1941-00 Oct 1942
im italien Commando Supremo - 00 Apr 1942-00 Oct 1942
stellvertreter Quartiermeister I, Marinegruppenkommando West - 00 Nov 1942-00 Mar 1943
im Stab Marinegruppenkommando West - 00 Mar 1943-00 Aug 1943
Chef des Stabes, Stab Kommandierender Admiral Adria - 00 Sep 1943-00 Apr 1944
Seekommandant Süddalmatien - 00 May 1944-00 Dec 1944
A I Marine, Wehrmachtführungsstab Ostküste - 00 Jan 1945-00 Mar 1945
Marineverbindungsoffizier zum Heeresgruppe Weichsel - 00 Mar 1945-00 May 1945
Entlassen - 26 Feb 1946

(Source: http://www.reocities.com/~orion47/WEHRM ... See_F.html)

[Reader+Writer]

Thank you, hucks216

Meanwhile, does anyone else have information on Herbert Friedrichs' childhood and formative years? What were his hobbies? What did his parents do before him? How did he get started in the navy from being born in Leipzig? What was his career like in the German navy before he was on the Hans Lüdemann (e.g. what led to him being korvettenkapitan of Z18)? And what did he do after 1945?

I ask because I have to do a school report on him, and I have been scouring all over the internet, but there's so little information on him to have anything to turn in at school, so any further information on Kapitän zur See Herbert Friedrichs would be greatly appreciated Thanks so much again

[Erunamo]

Hello, after the death of my grandfather, I took up his unfinished work to fill in the blanks of family history. From family records and chronicles, I found out that his father belonged as a non-commissioned officer to the crew of one of the ten destroyers sunk during the fighting in Narvik. However, he survived the sinking of his ship and was subsequently killed on March 2, 1945. Unfortunately, I no longer know which specific ship he served on. Are there any lists of the crews of these destroyers?

[hucks216]

There are some crews listed here but they are not complete.
https://historisches-marinearchiv.de/pr ... ?lang_cl=2

You can contact the Bundesarchiv and ask for a copy of your grandfather's service history which will tell you what and where he served.
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/EN/Content/ ... en-en.html

[Erunamo]

Thank you so much for the links. Unfortunately, nothing was found on the first page. But thanks to the second, I found a grave site. Now I know new information that my great-grandfather was Obergefreiter. I couldn't find a list of crews for any of the destroyers, so I still don't know the specific ship. In one of the two paintings, the great-grandfather has the number 12 or 21 on the shoulder insignia (either 1 or 2 is painted upside down). Don't know what that could mean? Because 21 was the number of the destroyer Wilhelm Heidkamp and 12 Erich Giese.

[hucks216]

That's an army uniform with the numbers showing his regiment or battalion.

[Erunamo]

But the hat looks like a navy cap. Even though I still have this photo.
The top picture is painted by hand. It is possible that the painter did not know what a navy uniform looked like.

[hucks216]

Looks like he transferred from the navy to the army at some point.
Bundesarchiv might well have his service history if you contact them.

[Erunamo]

Is it possible that after the sinking of his ship in Narvik, he came under the army and put on the appropriate uniform? Because, as far as I know, the surviving crew members were involved in the defense of Narvik as infantry, or as operators of dismantled artillery guns from ships.

[hucks216]

But by the time the portrait was done he'd of been wearing his navy uniform again. It does look like he was transferred to the army.

[Erunamo]

Mystery solved - there are two different people in the photos. Respectively, brothers. The first in a field uniform served in the 7th Mountain Division as a mountain engineer and died in an accident in Narvik. The other in a navy uniform was captured by the Americans, but I don't know yet what ship he served on. It confused me how similar they are to each other.

[Kingfish]

Is it possible that after the sinking of his ship in Narvik, he came under the army and put on the appropriate uniform? Because, as far as I know, the surviving crew members were involved in the defense of Narvik as infantry, or as operators of dismantled artillery guns from ships.

The DD sailors who fought as infantry were equipped with Norwegian weapons and uniforms taken from the army depot at Elvegardsmoen.

German supplies did come in via trains from Sweden, and some by airlift, but I don't think German uniforms were included.