| 33. Unterseebootsflottille | |
|---|---|
| Active | September 1944–May 1945 |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Kriegsmarine |
| Type | U-boat flotilla |
| Garrison/HQ | Flensburg |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Korvkpt. Georg Schewe Korvkpt. Günter Kuhnke |
33rd U-boat Flotilla ("33. Unterseebootsflottille") was a front-line unit of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
Nazi Germany is the common English name for Germany between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party (NSDAP) controlled the country through a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany was transformed into a totalitarian state that controlled nearly all aspects of life via the Gleichschaltung legal process. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich until 1943 and Großdeutsches Reich from 1943 to 1945. Nazi Germany is also known as the Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", the first two being the Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and the German Empire (1871–1918). The Nazi regime ended after the Allies defeated Germany in May 1945, ending World War II in Europe.
The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer (Army) and the Luftwaffe of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1933 to 1945.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
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The flotilla was founded at Flensburg in September 1944 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Georg Schewe, though Korvkpt. Günter Kuhnke took over the command in October 1944. [1]
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig. After Kiel and Lübeck it is the third largest town in Schleswig-Holstein.
Korvettenkapitän, short: KKpt / in lists: KK, is the lowest senior officer rank in the German Navy / armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr).
Georg Schewe was an officer with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Schewe sailed with U-60 and U-105, sinking sixteen ships on ten patrols, for a total of 85.779 tons of Allied shipping of which 71,450 tons on one patrol alone. It was the second most successful patrol of World War II, second only to Günther Hessler's patrol on U-107.
The flotilla included U-boats that had been based at the French submarine bases captured by the Allied advance during the Normandy Campaign, as well as U-boats operating in the Indian Ocean (the Monsun Gruppe ). The flotilla was disbanded in May 1945 after the German surrender. [1]
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km2 (27,240,000 sq mi). It is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean or, depending on definition, by Antarctica.
The Gruppe Monsun or Monsoon Group was a force of German U-boats (submarines) that operated in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during World War II. Although similar naming conventions were used for temporary groupings of submarines in the Atlantic, the longer duration of Indian Ocean patrols caused the name to be permanently associated with the relatively small number of U-boats operating out of Penang. After 1944, the U-boats of the Monsun Gruppe were operationally placed under the authority of the Southeast Asia U-boat Region.
