Rolf Carls

Rolf Carls
Born	(1885-05-29)29 May 1885 Rostock
Died	24 April 1945(1945-04-24) (aged 59) Bad Oldesloe
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1919) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Imperial German Navy Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1903–43
Rank	Generaladmiral
Unit	SMS Stein SMS Mars SMS Fürst Bismarck SMS Breslau
Commands held	SM U-124 SMS Hessen
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Rolf Hans Wilhelm Karl Carls (29 May 1885 – 24 April 1945) was a Generaladmiral of the Kriegsmarine during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership and is one of the highest military leadership awards.

Career

At the start of the World War I, Carls was a member of the crew of the cruiser Breslau. He later served on the battleship König and then commanded two u-boats, first U-9 and then U-124.

After the war, Rolfs was made Chief of the Training Division at the Supreme Naval Command of the resurrected German navy and was then given command of the old battleship Hessen.

In 1933, Rolfs was made Chief of Staff of the Fleet Command, and a year later Commander-in-Chief Battleships.

Rolfs was Fleet Commander from 1937 to 1938 and then became Commanding Admiral for the Baltic. At the same time he held the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Group Command East. Still later he became Chief of the larger Naval Group Command North.

Early in 1943, Erich Raeder resigned as the commander of the Kriegsmarine after a dispute with Hitler. Raeder nominated either Rolfs or Karl Dönitz to succeed him, and Hitler chose Döntiz. Rolfs later resigned, possibly to prevent friction among the naval leadership.

Admiral Carls was killed in an air raid on Bad Oldesloe on 24 April 1945. Carls together with 29 other people were killed in the cellar of the Vocational school in the Königstraße.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class (19 May 1915)
• Imtiyaz Medal in Silver with Sabres (Ottoman Empire)
• Ottoman War Medal (Turkish: Harp Madalyası), better known as the "Gallipoli Star", or the "Iron Crescent" (12 August 1915)
• Silesian Eagle 2nd and 1st Class (27 January 1920)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (24 December 1934)
• Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords (6 June 1939)
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
• German Cross in Gold on 28 February 1943 as Generaladmiral in the Marinegruppenkommando Nord
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 14 June 1940 as Admiral and Marinegruppenbefehlshaber Ost
• Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty 1st Class with Star and Swords (27 April 1942)
• Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy
• Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, First Class
• Mentioned twice in the Wehrmachtbericht on 10 April 1940 and 21 October 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. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. 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. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• 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 Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 1, 1. September 1939 bis 31. Dezember 1941 (in German). München, Germany: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. 1985. ISBN 978-3-423-05944-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

External links

• Rolf Carls in the German National Library catalogue
• Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Rolf Carls". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 18 August 2016.