The SS rank system was unique in that it did not copy the terms and ranks used by the Wehrmacht's branches ( Heer (" army "), Luftwaffe (" air force "), and Kriegsmarine (" navy ")), but instead used the ranks established by the post-World War I Freikorps and taken over by the SA.

* 1939 – The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted.

Several SS units, including an NCO training battalion and a panzergrenadier reserve battalion, were being prepared to enter combat and Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine personnel were being grouped into Fliegerhorst and Schiffstammabteilung formations.

Units of Kampfgruppe Von Tettau attacked the Border's positions ; men of the SS NCO school overran Renkum and Kriegsmarine troops engaged the British all day as they withdrew.

Most of the brightest youth were pulled by expert campaigners, toward the Waffen SS and Kriegsmarine.

On October 24, 1941 a British merchant ship convoy comprising SS Carsbreck sailing from Mediterranean sea to the Atlantic from Almería, Spain, to Barrow-in-Furness, England, was sunk by a Kriegsmarine U-boat ( U-564 ) which fired five torpedoes at the convoy.

Along these lines, the Japanese Army and Navy, contacted their corresponding Wehrmacht intelligence units, Schutzstaffel ( SS ), or Kriegsmarine concerning information regarding Europe and vice versa.

During the Nazi regime ( 1933 – 1945 ) new combinations were issued: DR, Deutsche Reichsbahn ( German state railway ); OT, Organisation Todt ( civil and military engineering ); Pol, Deutsche Polizei ( police ); RAD, Reichsarbeitsdienst ( state labour service ); RK, Deutsches Rotes Kreuz ( Red Cross ); SS, Schutzstaffel (" protection squadron "); WH, Wehrmacht Heer ( army ); WL, Wehrmacht Luftwaffe ( air force ); WM, Wehrmacht Kriegsmarine ( navy ); WT, Wehrmacht Straßentransportdienst ( army transport service ).

The MP18 remained in limited service with the German armed forces during the Second World War, specifically with the Sicherheitsdienst, later eastern foreign divisions of the Waffen SS and also with Kriegsmarine coastal artillery units.

The Kriegsmarine, already numerically far inferior to Britain's Royal Navy, had lost a sizable portion of its large modern surface units in April 1940 during the Norwegian Campaign, either as complete losses or due to battle damage.

The SA also had several military training units, the largest of which was the SA-Marine which served as an auxiliary to the Kriegsmarine and performed search and rescue operations as well as harbor defense.

Altogether A. G. „ Weser ” built 146 units for Imperial Navy and 196 units for Kriegsmarine ( Source: Pamphlet 125th anniversary of AG Weser, 1986 ).

* 1937-1938 ; Destroyer class 1934A for Kriegsmarine, 4 units Z5 – Z8

To the west of Arnhem was Kampfgruppe Von Tettau, a force equivalent to seven battalions made up of all manner of German units ( including Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, rear echelon and Waffen-SS troops ) under the command of General Hans von Tettau at Grebbeberg.

Operation Rheinubung was the latest in a series of raids on Allied shipping carried out by surface units of the Kriegsmarine.

In September 1941, while awaiting production of Italian-made radar units in quantity, the Regia Marina requested from the Kriegsmarine installation of a FuMO 24 / 40 G DeTe unit on Italy's newest destroyer, Legionario ( then still under construction ).

Consisted of the Heer ( Army ), Kriegsmarine ( Navy ) and Luftwaffe ( Air Force ), but not the Waffen-SS or the Police even though they both fielded combat units during the war.

Most of the Kriegsmarine < nowiki >'</ nowiki > s major units were also deployed to the campaign.

Twenty less injured men responded, joining the remains of the other destroyed units including a unit of the Kriegsmarine and supported by the single remaining Panther tank.

Also, some TN units served in the Kriegsmarine ( Navy ), although it is poorly documented.

Naval Artillery War Badge or the War Badge for Naval Artillery () is a German military decoration awarded for service to the crews of Kriegsmarine land-based marine artillery and anti-aircraft units.

A notable contradiction existed in Hitler's strategic planning between embarking on an anti-British foreign policy, whose major instruments consisted of a vastly expanded Kriegsmarine and a Luftwaffe capable of a strategic bombing offensive that would take several years to build ( e. g. Plan Z for expanding the Kriegsmarine was a five year plan ), and engaging in reckless short-term actions such as attacking Poland that were likely to cause a general war.

When Franz Halder, the Chief of the Army General Staff, heard of the state of the Kriegsmarine, and its plan for the invasion, he noted in his diary, on 28 July 1940, " If that plan is true, all previous statements by the navy were so much rubbish and we can throw away the whole plan of invasion ".

The Kriegsmarine later used some of the motorized Sea Lion barges for landings on the Russian-held Baltic islands in 1941 and, though most of them were eventually returned to the inland rivers they originally plied, a reserve was kept for military transport duties and for filling out amphibious flotillas.

This was far in excess of what Kriegsmarine could supply, and final plans were more modest, calling for nine divisions to make an amphibious landing with around 67, 000 men in the first echelon and an airborne division to support them.

The Kriegsmarine torpedo boats were classified Torpedoboot with " T "- prefixed hull numbers.

The captains of the Dithmarschen class ships and Kriegsmarine warships and submarines were trained in transferring goods and fuel from the Dithmarschen ships to the warships / submarines at open sea, a most difficult operation that required considerable practice.

In November 1941, Raeder was to complain that the Kriegsmarine would fight better if only the sailors were more indoctrinated into National Socialism, and ordered his officers to do more to indoctrinate their men into National Socialism.

Royal Navy reports of captured Kriegsmarine officers and sailors often commented as one report from October 1940 noted the POWs " were all fanatical Nazis and hated the British intensely, which had not been so evident in previous cases ".

Hitler overruled him, arguing that such harsh terms were bound to be rejected by the French and that the French fleet would sail over to Britain to continue the struggle if confronted by such a demand ; as a result of the armistice of 21 June 1940, the Kriegsmarine was only allowed to take over the French Navy's bases on the Atlantic coast.

The importance of naval bases in the Canaries and Morocco to Germany is shown by the fact that the Germans passed up their best chance of bringing Spain into the war rather than give up their demands for bases in and off north-west Africa, which were intended to support the Kriegsmarine in a future war with the United States.

Raeder himself was personally pleased by the sinking of the Bismarck, feeling this had won the Kriegsmarine some much needed glory on the high seas and was consistent with his goal of " full engagement " where the Kriegsmarine capital ships were to sent into action until they all were sunk to win his service glory, but Hitler was more than annoyed at the loss of the Bismarck.

The retired Admiral Gerhard Wagner had told Lynch that many Kriegsmarine officers would liked to join the new Bundesmarine in order to fight the Soviets should World War Three break out, but refused to do so as long as Raeder and Dönitz were still prisoners.

Raeder greatly enjoyed attending and speaking at gatherings of Kriegsmarine veterans, which were one of the chief joys of the last five years of his life.

Heye ended his speech that both Raeder and Dönitz were heroic men and excellent officers who had kept up morale in the Kriegsmarine to the very end despite heavy casualties, and he hoped that every German would see them as role models.

There was even more fragmentation since the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe operations had their own commands ( Oberkommando der Marine ( OKM ) and Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( OKL )) which, while theoretically subordinate, were largely independent from the OKW or the OBW.

The U-boats were thus forced to relocate to Norway and Germany in August, restoring the many of the difficulties faced by the Kriegsmarine in 1939 and early 1940.

The German Kriegsmarine operated FL-Boote ( ferngelenkte Sprengboote ) which were radio controlled motor boats filled with explosives to attack enemy shipping from 1944.

In 1941, a newly launched Kriegsmarine ( navy ) seaplane tender was also named Richthofen.

The open discussions on an Allied expedition to northern Scandinavia, also without consent of the neutral Scandinavian countries, and the Altmark Incident on 16 February, alarmed the Kriegsmarine and Germany by threatening iron ore supplies and gave strong arguments for a German securing of the Norwegian coast.

The Kriegsmarine also took part in the campaign, primarily by sending U-Boats into the Mediterranean, but latterly by controlling the few remaining Axis naval forces after the Italian surrender.

It was used by the Kriegsmarine and was also sold commercially.

It not only serviced the German submarine fleet, but was also the only dry dock on the Atlantic capable of housing the German battleship Tirpitz, one of two Bismarck-class ships built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

The Kriegsmarine also used the rank of general admiral ( Generaladmiral ) which was senior to a full admiral, but junior to a grand admiral.

He attempted to force his way onto one of the lifeboats by assault and battery, not only against fellow refugees but also against serving members of the Kriegsmarine.

* The Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers, two German Kriegsmarine aircraft carriers laid down in the mid-1930s, also named after Count Zeppelin

As such, he was a civilian contractor for the Royal Navy and also had regular contact with the Kriegsmarine in Kiel.

The Feldpost military mail organisation of the Wehrmacht armed forces not only served Army, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine service members, but also SS-Verfügungstruppen, Waffen-SS and Reichsarbeitsdienst members in the field, becoming the general postal authority of the occupied territories.

The Kriegsmarine also started development of submarines capable of launching aircraft and ordered four very large " cruiser " U-boats in early 1939.

The Badge was also awarded to the crews of Kriegsmarine torpedo boats and fast attack craft until the institution of the Fast Attack Craft War Badge.

A handful of Destroyer War Badges with diamonds were also manufactured but there were no bestowals of the diamond upgrade to any Kriegsmarine member.