Theodor Krancke

Theodor Krancke
Admiral Theodor Krancke (left), General der Infanterie Walther Buhle, Hauptmann Lang, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel
Born	(1893-03-30)30 March 1893 Magdeburg
Died	18 June 1973(1973-06-18) (aged 80) Wentorf bei Hamburg
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1919) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Kaiserliche Marine Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1912–45
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	battleship Admiral Scheer
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Theodor Krancke (30 March 1893 – 18 June 1973) was an admiral with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Under the command of Krancke, during the five-month-long raiding cruise, the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer sank 13 merchant ships, one armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay, and captured three merchant ships representing 115,195 tons of Allied and neutral shipping.

During the Allied Invasion of Normandy Admiral Krancke, as Commander-in-Chief of Navy Group Command West headquartered in Paris, controlled all German naval vessels in France, as well as the various land-based naval units and the naval coastal artillery and antiaircraft batteries along the French Atlantic coast.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class (May 1915)
  • 1st Class (27 September 1919)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Sudetenland Medal 1939
• High Seas Fleet Badge 1941
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (29 October 1939)
  • 1st Class (20 April 1940)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 21 February 1941 as Kapitän zur See and commander of heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer
  • 614th Oak Leaves on 18 October 1944 as Admiral and commander in chief of Marinegruppenkommando West (Navy Group Command West)
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 26 June 1941

References

Bibliography

• Dörr, Manfred (1995). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Überwasserstreitkräfte der Kriegsmarine—Band 1: A–K (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2453-2. CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6. CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Range, Clemens (1974). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kriegsmarine. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3-87943-355-1.
• Schaulen, Fritjof (2004). Eichenlaubträger 1940 – 1945 Zeitgeschichte in Farbe II Ihlefeld - Primozic (in German). Selent, Germany: Pour le Mérite. ISBN 978-3-932381-21-8. CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Thomas, Franz (1997). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2299-6. CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

External links

• Theodor Krancke in the German National Library catalogue
• Theodor Krancke @ geocities at the Wayback Machine (archived October 29, 2009)
• Theodor Krancke @ Special Camp
• Theodor Krancke @ Encyclopædia Britannica
• Theodor Krancke @ Lexikon der Wehrmacht (German)

Military offices
Preceded by Generaladmiral Wilhelm Marschall	Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine Group Command West 20 April 1943 – 20 October 1944	Succeeded by Kriegsmarine High Command West
Preceded by Kriegsmarine Group Command West	Commander-in-Chief of Kriegsmarine High Command West 20 October 1944 – 18 April 1945	Succeeded by none
Preceded by Admiral Otto Ciliax	Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine High Command Norway 26 April 1945 – 26 August 1945	Succeeded by none