Kriegsmarine Southern Command

 This is Lawrence Paterson’s study for Osprey on the Kriegsmarine Southern Command, which fought in the Adriatic, the Balkans, and the Aegean. 

The command coordinated all Axis units in the region and was originally known as Admiral Balkan, which I rather like! However, it was changed to Admiral Südost because ‘Balkanese’ ‘was considered the most serious profanity’, which I was less happy about. What do the Germans know anyway! The command was later elevated to Marinegruppenkommando Süd, which was also responsible for ground units such as coastal batteries and shipyards. In 1943, an Adriatic command was established to take over Italian ships after they exited the war.

The ships were an eclectic collection. The one destroyer was ZG3 Hermes, a former British H-class destroyer, built in Glasgow, which was taken from the Hellenic Navy. Six S-boats (E-boats) were allocated to the Black Sea. R-Boats were designed as coastal minesweepers, but were used in a variety of roles. Some of these were Dutch and operated on the Danube, a common route for getting ships from Germany to the region. Originally, there was one U-boat and two Romanian submarines, but these were to be supplemented with six Type IIB U-boats. The problem was delivery, as it took 10 to12 months to get them there down the Danube. Marinefährprahme (F-lighters) were developed after planning for the aborted Operation Sea Lion invasion of Britain, and they performed a range of duties, including minesweeping, gunboat duties, and serving as landing craft. Finally, there were landing craft and an array of auxiliary vessels. Of the Italian ships, the MAS boats were the most successful.

The shipyards covered the whole region, from Venice to Greece and the Black Sea, subject to the progress or otherwise of ground forces in the Soviet Union. The book also includes an outline of the Romanian Navy, which had modern destroyers, and limited Croatian and later Italian collaborators with the Germans. 

The final section covers a selection of actions these ships fought. They fought the Soviet Union in the Black Sea and the British in the Adriatic and Aegean. The actions off the Russian coast get the most detail, but the Adriatic and Aegean campaigns were also important. The British, based at Vis, regularly intercepted convoys down the Dalmatian coast. The Germans were heavily outshipped in the Aegean and had to cover too many islands with not enough ships. They were saved at key times with close-range air support. There are good maps of the Leros invasion. 

Marinegruppenkommando Süd was given an expansive and complex task, but it was under-provisioned, and its true potential was unrecognised among the highest levels of the Wehrmacht. However, it made excellent use of improvised auxiliary craft, adapted military barges and small surface units.

On the wargames table, Black Seas are the best rules for the small ships involved.