Erich Bey

Erich Bey
Born	23 March 1898(1898-03-23) Hamburg, German Empire
Died	26 December 1943(1943-12-26) (aged 45) North Cape, Norway 72°16′N 28°41′E
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Kaiserliche Marine Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1916–1943
Rank	Konteradmiral
Commands held	Z14 Friedrich Ihn 4. Zerstörerflottille
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Battle of North Cape
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Erich Bey (23 March 1898 – 26 December 1943) was a German naval officer who most notably served as a commander of the Kriegsmarine's destroyer forces and commanded the battleship Scharnhorst in the Battle of North Cape on 26 December 1943, during which the German ship was sunk. He was killed during that action. Bey was also a 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.

Military career

Bey joined the Kaiserliche Marine on 13 June 1916 and served in its destroyer arm. Following the end of World War I, Bey stayed in the weakened German Navy, now known as the Reichsmarine. He continued his career with the rise of the Nazi Party in power in Germany, and by the start of World War II was a Commander.

As a Commander in the Kriegsmarine, Bey led the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of the destroyers Z11 Bernd von Arnim, Z12 Erich Giese and Z13 Erich Koellner, as part of Commodore Friedrich Bonte's force that carried General Eduard Dietl's mountain troops for the occupation of Narvik during the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940. In the following Battles of Narvik on 10 April and 13 April, Bey distinguished himself by leading a small group of destroyers in a brave though doomed action against a superior Royal Navy force that included the battleship HMS Warspite. Due to his distinguished service at Narvik, Bey was awarded with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 9 May 1940. The next day he was promoted to Captain and appointed commander of the German destroyer force (Führer der Zerstörer), succeeding Commodore Bonte, who had been killed on 10 April in the first Battle of Narvik.

Captain Bey then commanded the destroyer screen protecting the ships of the Brest Group (Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Prinz Eugen) during Operation Cerberus (the “Channel Dash”) in February 1942. Of the three, Scharnhorst suffered extensive damage, having struck a naval mine laid off the Dover Straits.

Promoted to Rear Admiral, on 25 December 1943, Bey led a task force consisting of the battleship Scharnhorst and the destroyers Z29, Z30, Z33, Z34, and Z38 out of Alta Fjord in Operation Ostfront. Intending to intercept the Allied Convoy JW-55B en route to Murmansk, but with his ship’s radar destroyed by a lucky shot fired by British screening force, Bey encountered a superior Royal Navy force led by the battleship HMS Duke of York. Initially, Bey had five destroyers (which were superior to the escorting British destroyers in terms of firepower), but concerning poor weather, heavy seas and inadequate Luftwaffe reconnaissance, and his inability to locate the convoy, lead to the detachment of his destroyers, which opened Scharnhorst to torpedo attacks. In the ensuing Battle of North Cape, the Scharnhorst was sunk after a long battle. Of her crew of 1,968, Royal Navy vessels fished 36 men alive from the icy sea, not one of them an officer. Bey was reported as having been seen in the water but was not rescued.

Bey received the admiration of his British counterpart, Admiral Bruce Fraser, who commanded the British force during the Battle of North Cape, for his brave command against the superior odds. When Admiral Fraser briefed his officers on board Duke of York later on the evening of 26 December 1943 he said: "Gentlemen, the battle against Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today".

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd Class
• Hanseatic Cross, Hamburg
• Preußische Rettungsmedaille am Band
• Cross of Honor
• Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis II. Klasse
• Memel Medal
• Sudetenland Medal
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (16 October 1939)
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 1st Class (20 November 1939)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 9 May 1940 as Kapitän zur See and chief of the 4. Zerstörer-Flottille
• Destroyer War Badge (October 1940)
• Narvik Shield (1940)
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 27 December 1943

Reference in the Wehrmachtbericht

Date	Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording	Direct English translation
27 December 1943	Am 26. Dezember hat ein Verband deutscher Seestreitkräfte unter Führung des Konteradmirals Bey im Nordmeer einen für die Sowjetunion bestimmten Geleitzug angegriffen und ihm sowie den feindlichen Sicherungsstreitkräften schwere Schäden zugeführt. In lang anhaltenden Gefechten mit weit überlegenen englischen Seestreitkräften ist das unter dem Kommando des Kapitäns zur See Hintze stehende Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst" nach heldenhaftem Kampf, bis zur letzten Granate feuernd, gesunken.	A German sea task force under the leadership of Counter Admiral Bey attacked a convoy heading for the Soviet Union and damaged it and its security forces severely on 26 December. The battleship "Scharnhorst" under the command of Captain at Sea Hintze sank in prolonged and heroic combat, firing to the last shell, with superior British sea forces.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Dörr, Manfred (1995). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Überwasserstreitkräfte der Kriegsmarine—Band 1:A–K (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag. ISBN 3-7648-2453-0.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Claasen, A.R.A.: Hitler's Northern War: The Luftwaffe’s Ill-Fated Campaign, 1940–1945. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001. ISBN 0-7006-1050-2 pp. 92–93, 230–232
• Range, Clemens (1974). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kriegsmarine. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-87943-355-0.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). 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.
• Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 2, 1. Januar 1942 bis 31. Dezember 1943 (in German). München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 1985. ISBN 3-423-05944-3.

External links

• Erich Bey at the German Knight’s Cross recipient site (German)
• Persons involved with Norway during WWII

Military offices
Preceded by none	Chief of the 4. Zerstörerflottille April 1939 – 13 April 1940	Succeeded by disbanded
Preceded by none	Chief of the 6. Zerstörerflottille 14 May 1940 – 1 November 1940	Succeeded by Kapitän zur See Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs
Preceded by Kapitän zur See Friedrich Bonte	Führer der Zerstörer 10 April 1940 – 14 April 1940	Succeeded by Korvettenkapitän Alfred Schemmel
Preceded by Korvettenkapitän Alfred Schemmel	Führer der Zerstörer 14 May 1940 – 26 December 1943	Succeeded by Kapitän zur See Max-Eckart Wolff