Hermann von Fischel

class="fn" colspan="2" style="background-color: #B0C4DE; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;" | Hermann von Fischel
colspan="2" style="background-color: #B0C4DE; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;" |
colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-size: 90%; border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa; line-height: 1.5em;" | File:Admiral Hermann von Fischel bei der Besichtigung und Inspektion einer Küstenstellung, Kanalküste (Belgien oder Frankreich), September 1941 II.png Admiral von Fischel in September 1941
Birth name	Hermann Friedrich Ferdinand Fischel
Birth date	13 January 1887(1887-01-13)
Place of birth	Kiel, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	13 May 1950 (aged 63)
Place of death	Budirka camp near Moscow
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Kaiserliche Marine File:Freikorps Flag.png Freikorps Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1905–1919 1919–1920 1920–1935 1935–1945
Rank	Admiral
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Iron Cross German Cross in Gold
Relations	∞ 1913 Karin Maria Bertha Josephine Gräfin von Schack ∞ 1923 Gertrud Wilhelmine Katharine Elise Gräfin von Schack

Hermann Friedrich Ferdinand Fischel, since 1908 von Fischel (13 January 1887 – 13 May 1950), was a German officer of the Kaiserliche Marine, the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine, finally Admiral in World War II. As a U-Boot ace in WWI, Kapitänleutnant von Fischel sank 44 ships (71,940 tons) and damaged two further ships (6,493 tons) as Kommandant of SM U 65.

Military career (chronology)

File:Award ceremony of the Spanish-Moroccan Order of Mehdauia for Konteradmiral Hermann von Fischel and Kapitän zur See Otto Ciliax on board the Panzerschiff „Admiral Scheer“, 5 March 1938.png

Award ceremony of the Spanish-Moroccan Order of Mehdauia for Konteradmiral Hermann von Fischel and Kapitän zur See Otto Ciliax on board the Panzerschiff „Admiral Scheer“, 5 March 1938

File:Admiral Hermann von Fischel visiting Dieppe on 22 August 1942, just days after the failed Allied amphibious attack.png

Admiral Hermann von Fischel visiting Dieppe on 22 August 1942, just days after the failed Allied amphibious attack (Schlacht von Dieppe).

File:Hermann von Fischel II.png

• Entered the Navy as a Seekadett and Attended Basic-Training and on Board the School-Ship ‘Stosch’ (01 Apr 1905-31 Mar 1906)
• Attended Naval-School and Special-Briefings (01 Apr 1906-30 Sep 1907)
• Departed to East Asia for the Deutsches Kreuzergeschwader Ostasien (01 Oct 1907-27 Nov 1907)
• On Board the Light Cruiser SMS ‘Arcona’ (28 Nov 1907-18 Oct 1909)
• Returned Home and Company-Officer, I. Torpedo-Division (19 Oct 1909-14 Sep 1910)
• At the same time, Watch-Officer on the Torpedo-Boat ‘G 134’ (04 Jan 1910-22 Feb 1910)
• At the same time, Watch-Officer on the Torpedo-Boat ‘G 132’ (23 Feb 1910-31 Mar 1910)
• At the same time, Watch-Officer on the Torpedo-Boat ‘S 141’ (01 Apr 1910-14 Sep 1910)
• Company-Officer, Mine-Battalion (15 Sep 1910-30 Sep 1911)
• At the same time, Commandant of the Torpedo-Boat ‘T 56’ (03 Apr 1911-27 May 1911)
• At the same time, Commandant of the Torpedo-Boat ‘T 56’ and Auxiliary-Instructor at the Ship-Artillery-School (18 Jun 1911-29 Jul 1911)
• At the same time, Commandant of the Torpedo-Boat ‘T 50’ (21 Aug 1911-15 Sep 1911)
• 2nd Artillery-Officer and Divisions-Officer on the Light Cruiser ‘Mainz’ (01 Oct 1911-21 Jan 1913)
• At the same time, Detached to Course on the Light Cruiser ‘Stuttgart’ (01/ May 1912-04 Jul 1912)
• 2nd Artillery-Officer and Divisions-Officer on the Light Cruiser ‘Königsberg’ (22 Jan 1913-19 Jun 1913)
• 2nd Artillery-Officer and Divisions-Officer on the Light Cruiser ‘Mainz’ (20 Jun 1913-30 Sep 1913)
• Watch-Officer (Wachoffizier) on the Liner ‘Hannover’ (01 Oct 1913-01 Jun 1915)
• Course on the School-Ship ‘Württemberg’ (02 Jun 1915-10 Jul 1915)
• Submarine-Training, Submarine-School (11 Jul 1915-25 Nov 1915)
• Commandant of the Torpedo-Division-Boat ‘D 5’ (25 Nov 1915-26 Dec 1915)
• Commandant of the Unterseeboot ‘U 17’ (27 Dec 1915-28 Mar 1916)
• Commandant of the Torpedo-Boat ‘S 125’ (28 Mar 1916-20 Apr 1916)
• Commandant of the Submarine ‘U 65’ (11 May 1916-00 Aug 1918)
• 2nd Admiral-Staff-Officer, Staff of the Submarine-Flotilla Pola (00 Aug 1918-00 Nov 1918)
• Instructor at the Submarine-School then Placed to the Disposal of the Inspection Of Submarine-Affairs (00 Nov 1918-31 Mar 1919)
• Commander of the II. Battalion in the 5th Naval-Regiment, III. Naval-Brigade (01 Apr 1919-30 Jun 1920)
  • He served in the Marine-Brigade „von Loewenfeld“ with other notable officers like Kapitänleutnant and later Generaladmiral Rolf Carls, Korvettenkapitän and later Vizeadmiral Hans Kolbe as well as Kapitänleutnant and later Vizeadmiral Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, the most successful U-boat commandant of the First World War.
• In the Personnel-Office of the Naval-Station of the Baltic Sea (14 Jul 1920-13 Nov 1920)
• Company-Leader, Coastal-Defence-Battalion III (14 Nov 1920-03 Jan 1922)
  • At the same time, was Acting-Commander (30 Aug 1921-07 Sep 1921)
• 3rd Admiral-Staff-Officer in the Staff of the Commander of the Sea-Force of the Baltic Sea (04 Jan 1922-30 Sep 1922)
• 2nd Artillery-Officer, Liner ‘Hannover’ (01 Oct 1922-25 Sep 1924)
• Commander of the 1st Battalion, Ship’s-Cadre-Division of the Baltic Sea (26 Sep 1924-28 Aug 1925)
• 1st Artillery-Officer on the Liner ‘Elsaß’ (29 Aug 1925-26 Sep 1927)
• Instructor and Staff-Officer with the Staff of the Ship-Artillery-School (27 Sep 1927-22 Sep 1930)
• Leader of the Naval-Training-Group then Naval-Training-Department, Naval-Command (23 Sep 1930-14 Mar 1933)
• With the Ship’s-Cadre ‘Deutschland’ (15 Mar 1933-31 Mar 1933)
• Commandant of the Armoured-Ship ‘Deutschland’ (01 Apr 1933-29 Dec 1935)
• Chairman of the Test-Command for Ships (30 Sep 1935-30 Sep 1936)
• Commander of Armoured-Ships or Befehlshaber der Panzerschiffe (1. Okt 1935/25 Nov 1936-08 Sep 1938)
• At the same time, Commander of the Sea-Force at Spain (16 Dec 1936-19 Mar 1937)
• At the same time, Commander of the Sea-Force at Spain (14 May 1937-22 Jun 1937)
• At the same time, Commander of the Sea-Force at Spain (08 Sep 1937-07 Oct 1937)
• Commander of the Sea-Force at Spain (08 Feb 1938-13 Mar 1938)
• Placed to the Disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine (14 Mar 1938-31 Mar 1938)
• Chief Of The General-Naval-Office, OKM (02 Apr 25 Oct 1938-25 Oct 1939)
• Placed to the Disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine (26 Oct 1939-31 Dec 1939)
• Chief of the Test-Command for Warship-Construction (01 Jan 1940-08 Jan 1941); At the same time, Chief of Sea-Command-Office Von Fischel and Designated Leader of Transport-Fleet ‘B’ cover-name for Operation ‘Sea Lion’ (29 Aug 1940-27 Oct 1940)
• Commander of Security West (09 Jan 1941-16 Apr 1941)
• Naval-Commander Channel Coast (20 Feb 1941-31 Jan 1943)
• Commanding Admiral Channel Coast (01 Feb 1943-10 May 1943)
• With the Instruction-Staff for Luftwaffe Questions or Lehrstab für Luftwaffenfragen (11 May 1943-18 Jun 1943)
• Director of the Luftwaffe-Instruction-Staff or Leiter des Luftwaffenlehrstabes (19 Jun 1943-14 Sep 1944)
• Placed to the Disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of Naval-High-Command North (15 Sep 1944-30 Nov 1944)
• Retired (30 Nov 1944)

Death

After the surrender of the Wehrmacht, Admiral a. D. von Fischel, like so many Germans, was deported eastwards by the Red Army or NKVD and died on 13 May 1950 in the Budirka POW camp near Moscow under unclear circumstances.

Family

Descent

Hermann was a son of Admiral à la suite Max von Fischel, most recently Chief of the Admiralty of the Navy, who was elevated to the hereditary Prussian nobility in 1908, and his wife Dorothea Marie Adelheid Elisabeth, née Borckenhagen (1853–1892), sister of the later Admiral Friedrich Ludwig Wilhelm Carl Borckenhagen. His siblings were:

• Julius Karl Ludwig Max (b. 28 August 1883 in Kiel), merchant
• Johanna Marie Julie Antonie (b. 12 June 1890 in Berlin); ∞ 25 May 1910 Hans Schwerdtfeger (b. 11 August 1880 in Wetterade near Plön), since 12 April 1898 lieutenant captain of the Kaiserliche Marine (since 17 October 1915 corvette captain; his younger brothers Hermann and Paul Schwerdtfeger were also naval officers)

Marriages

Maria

Oberleutnant zur See von Fischel married his fiancée Karin Maria Bertha Josephine Countess von Schack (1889–1960) in Kiel on 8 November 1913. The marriage produced three children:

• Frauke Gertrude Marie Johanna (1914–1998); ∞ 2 August 1937 SS-Officer Dr. phil. Ernst Günther Krüger, archivist who died on the Eastern Front in 1941
  • One daughter: Gude Sibylle (b. 5 July 1938; d. 20 November 1992 in Nanzig); ∞ Paris 1 April 1964 oral surgeon Dr. Jacques Clément Jean Ville (1936–2001)
• Unno Ulrich Max Albert (1915–1942), U-Boot Kommandant (⚔)
• Wiebke Karin (1917–1997); ∞ the renowned Hamburg lawyer Martin Luther (1906–1985), one of her children was the RAF terrorist Angela Luther

The marriage with Maria was divorced on 16 October 1923. On 15 November 1923, Maria married the distant German-Danish relative Otto Dietrich (Didrik) Count von Schack (b. 11 January 1882 at Schloß Schackenborg; 28 January 1949 ibid), a descendant of the Reichsfeldherrn Hans von Schack (1608–1676), landowner and politician. Four children were born of this marriage between 1925 and 1930.

Gertrud

Kapitänleutnant von Fischel then married Maria's older sister Gertrud Wilhelmine Katharine Elise Countess von Schack (1887–1960) on 3 November 1923. From this marriage came his fourth child:

• Ulrike Kerstin Ehrengard (b. 3 July 1925 in Kiel; d. 8 April 1935 in Wilhelmshaven)

Promotions

• 1 April 1905 Seekadett (Officer Candidate)
• 7 April 1906 Fähnrich zur See (Officer Cadet)
• 28 September 1908 Leutnant zur See (2nd Lieutenant)
• 27 January 1911 Oberleutnant zur See (1st Lieutenant)
• 24 April 1916 Kapitänleutnant
• 1 October 1924 Korvettenkapitän
• 1 January 1930 Fregattenkapitän
• 1 October 1931 Kapitän zur See
• 1 October 1935 Konteradmiral
• 1 April 1938 Vizeadmiral
• 1 September 1941 Admiral

Awards and decorations

File:Hermann von Fischel III.png

File:Hermann von Fischel, Rangliste 1927.png

Rank list 1927, p. 40

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • EK II on 24 August 1916
  • EK I on 22 September 1916
• Oldenburg Friedrich-August-Kreuz, Second and First Class (OK1)
• Order of the Iron Crown (Austria), 3rd Class with the War Decoration (ÖEK3K/ÖE3K)
• Military Merit Cross (Austria-Hungary), 3rd Class with the War Decoration (ÖM3K)
• Gallipoli Star (Eiserner Halbmond; TH)
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔) on 16 August 1918 (other sources state 18 August)
• U-boat War Badge 1918 (U-Boot-Kriegsabzeichen)
• Silesian Eagle Order (Schlesischer Adler-Orden), II. and I. Grade
• Freikorps Trusted Badge (Bewährungsabzeichen der III. Marine-Brigade „von Loewenfeld“)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (1934) with Swords
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 1st Class
• Medal for the Campaign of 1936−1939 (Spanische Feldzugsmedaille)
• Spanish-Moroccan Mehdauia Order („Orden de la Mehdauia“), Grand Cross on 5 March 1938
• Spanish War Cross (Spanisches Kriegskreuz)
• Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords (Spanienkreuz in Gold mit Schwertern) on 6 June 1939
• Grand Cross (IV. Class) of the Spanish Order of Naval Merit with White Decoration on 21 August 1939
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
  • Clasp to EK II on 23 October 1940
  • Clasp to EK I on 1 September 1941
• War Badge for the Naval Artillery (Kriegsabzeichen für die Marineartillerie)
• German Cross in Gold on 25 May 1943 as Admiral and Kommandierender Admiral Kanalküste