During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, a sea defense zone (''Seeverteidigung'') was a tactical area in the organization of the ''Kriegsmarine'' intended to provide operational command of all German naval forces, within a given geographical area, in the event of actual enemy attack on the coastline of

occupied Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

History

The first sea defense zones were established in the spring of 1940 to protect the large amount of coast line which Germany had acquired after invading the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. Originally, commanders of the sea defense zones were known as "coastal commanders" (''Küstenbefehlshaber''). In the summer of 1940, in preparation for

Operation Sea Lion Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle ...

, the Kriegsmarine established seven "sea command sectors" (''Seebefehlsstellen'') which were commanded by officers ranked ''

Kapitän zur See Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain. Equivalent ranks worldwide include ...

''. All of the sea command sectors had been disestablished by the end of 1941. Original Sea Command Sectors (1940) * ''Seebefehlsstelle Antwerpen'' - Antwerp (Sep 1940 - May 1941) * ''Seebefehlsstelle Boulogne'' -

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C� ...

(Aug - Oct 1940) * ''Seebefehlsstelle Dünkirchen'' -

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label= French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, ver ...

(Aug - Oct 1940) * ''Seebefehlshaber Rotterdam'' -

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

(Jun 1940 - Dec 1940) * ''Seebefehlshaber Ostende'' -

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariake ...

(Aug - Oct 1940) * ''Seebefehlshaber West'' -

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. The p ...

(Aug 1940 - Mar 1941) In the spring 1940, the Kriegsmarine began to reorganize coastal defense under a new position known as ''Kommandant der Seeverteidigung'' (Sea Defense Zone Commander). Between 1941 and 1945, the sea defense zones were expanded and retracted, gaining and losing territory to other zones or to the advance of

allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called a ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

(

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

) forces. Logistically, the sea defense zones were strictly a Navy command, but were integrated into the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

which was generally overseen by the German Army.

Command and control

Sea defense zones were normally commanded by an officer ranked as either ''

'' or ''

Konteradmiral ''Konteradmiral'', abbreviated KAdm or KADM, is the second lowest naval flag officer rank in the German Navy. It is equivalent to ''Generalmajor'' in the ''Heer'' and ''Luftwaffe'' or to '' Admiralstabsarzt'' and '' Generalstabsarzt'' in the '' ...

''. The sea defense zone commander answered to a Navy regional commander and would take tactical control over all shore forces in a given area should an enemy launch an attack against a segment of German coastline. The only units permanently assigned to a sea defense zone were

naval artillery Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for naval gunfire support, shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firi ...

batteries and

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

units. These units also maintained their own administrative chain of command in addition to falling under operational control of a sea defense zone. During an actual enemy attack, the sea defense commander became the direct superior for all Navy units in the zone's geographical area. This included all harbor defense units as well as

naval infantry Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

regiments. Typically, the sea defense zone commander would appoint as a deputy the commander of a major German port. The defense zone commander would himself report to a naval region commander who then acted in the capacity as a ground forces divisional commander. The ultimate command authority for all sea defense zones were the Navy Group commanders.

List of sea defense zones

References

* Lohmann W. & Hildebrand H., Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine, Verlag Hans-Henning Podzun, Bad Nauheim (1956)

Notes

{{German Navies Kriegsmarine Military history of Germany during World War II Fortifications