Friedrich Ruge
Friedrich Ruge
|
|
---|---|
Friedrich Ruge visiting a Minensuchflottille
|
|
Born | Leipzig, German Empire |
24 December 1894
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Tübingen, West Germany |
Allegiance | German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany (to 1945) West Germany |
Service/ |
Kaiserliche Marine Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine German Navy |
Years of service | 1914–45, 1955–61 |
Rank | Vizeadmiral |
Battles/wars | World War I
World War II |
Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Great Cross of Merit |
Relations | Peter von Zahn |
Friedrich Oskar Ruge (24 December 1894 – 3 July 1985) was an officer in the German Navy and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He served as the first commander (Inspector of the Navy) of the post-war German Navy.
Contents
Life
Friedrich Ruge was the son and grandson of German educators. Joining the Imperial German Navy as a cadet in March 1914, he was soon a participant in the 1914, 1915, and 1916 Baltic Sea operations. In 1917 and 1918, he sailed with the destroyer raids in the North Sea and English Channel.
After the armistice, Ruge was an officer aboard the German destroyer B-112, interned at Scapa Flow and in June 1919, he played a role in the scuttling of the German Fleet.
Returning to Germany to continue his naval career in the service of the new Weimar Republic, for the next two decades he concentrated on mines and mine warfare. From 1921 to 1923, he commanded a minesweeper. In the UK during the 1930s he met an ex British sailor at a regatta,
- redirect Template:Red links, whose ship, the HMS Partridge was sunk in 1917 by the SMS V100, the ship that Ruge had been serving on. The V100 was the ship that rescued Grey from the water after the sinking and the pair became friends after meeting, their friendship only interrupted by World War II.[1] After studies at Berlin Institute of Technology, he was the senior officer of a flotilla of minesweepers, and, in 1937, achieved the top post in that division.
In World War II, he was a part of the Polish Campaign in 1939 and the North Sea-English Channel operations during 1940. From 1940 to 1943, he was stationed in France, rising through the upper ranks to become Vice Admiral in 1943. Sent to Italy in 1943, he served as Senior German Naval Officer until mid-summer. He was appointed as Naval Advisor to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in November 1943 to supervise the defense of northern France from the predicted Allied invasion. He had no faith in land mines and artillery shells struck underwater, but the marine mines he wanted weren't available. In August 1944, he became the Kriegsmarine's Director of Ship Construction, a position in which he served till the end of World War II.
At the end World War II, he became a POW. In 1946, he started a new life as a translator, writer and educator in Cuxhaven. He was one of four Flag Officers who made up the Naval Historical Team at Bremerhaven, sponsored by the United States Navy.
He entered politics as a political independent to the Cuxhaven Town Council.
During the early 1950s, he advised as to how the navy could be restructured in the new Bundesmarine, as detailed in Searle's Wehrmacht Generals. Called out of retirement when Germany became a part of NATO, Ruge was appointed Inspector of the Navy (a position similar to the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations), a post he occupied until 1961.
Afterward, he became a member of the faculty at the University of Tübingen, eventually becoming an Associate Professor on 21 July 1967 there. He was a guest lecturer at many universities, including the U.S. Naval War College at Newport.
Admiral Ruge was one of the umpires for the 1974 Sandhurst wargame on Operation Sea Lion.
He died in 1985.
Literary works
Ruge was the author of several books, including The Soviets as Naval Opponents, 1941-1945, written for Annapolis Naval Institute in 1979, and Rommel in Normandy, written in 1959.
Quoted at Normandy: Utilization of the Anglo-American air forces is the modern type of warfare, turning the flank not from the side but from above.
In the movie "The Longest Day" (1962), he played himself, and was a consultant to the film.
Decorations
- Iron Cross (1914)
- Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
- Long Service Award 2nd to 4th class (2 October 1936)
- German Olympic Games Decoration 2nd class (21 December 1936)[2]
- Sudetenland Medal
- Clasp to the Iron Cross
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 21 October 1940 as Kapitän zur See and commodore leader of the Minensuchboote West[3][4]
- Minesweeper War Badge (15 February 1940)[2]
- Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 16 February 1942
- Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- Legion of Merit, Commanders Cross (1961)[2]
- Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (28 September 1961)[2]
Wehrmachtbericht reference
Date | Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording | Direct English translation |
---|---|---|
Monday, 16 February 1942 | An dem Gelingen des Durchbruchs unserer Seestreitkräfte durch den Kanal haben die unter Führung von Kapitän zur See und Kommodore Ruge stehenden Minensuch- und Räumboote sowie Sicherungsfahrzeuge hervorragenden Anteil.[5] | In the breakthrough success of our naval forces through the channel, under the leadership of Captain at Sea and Commodore Ruge subordinated mine detection and minesweepers and patrol vessels had a prominent part. |
References
Citations
Bibliography
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Ruge, Friedrich (1984). Rommel in Normandy.
- Ruge, Friedrich (1979). The Soviets as Naval Opponents, 1941-1945.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Searle, Alaric (2003). Wehrmacht Generals, West German Society, and the Debate on Rearmament, 1949-1959. Westport, Connecticut USA: Praeger Pub.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Friedrich Ruge in the German National Library catalogue
- The Citadel Archives: Friedrich Ruge Collection
- Bundesarchiv: www.argus.bundesarchiv.de
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Articles containing German-language text
- 1894 births
- 1985 deaths
- Sportspeople from Leipzig
- Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Kriegsmarine admirals
- Bundesmarine admirals
- German military personnel of World War I
- Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit
- Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class
- Recipients of The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
- Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
- Military personnel referenced in the Wehrmachtbericht
- German prisoners of war
- World War II prisoners of war held by the United Kingdom
- Imperial German Navy personnel
- Reichsmarine personnel
- People from the Kingdom of Saxony
- Naval Historical Team members