The 3. Marine-Brigade was raised by Wilfried von Loewenfeld in Kiel following the naval mutiny there. It was one of the first Freikorps units to be formed.
It seized Breslau in support the Kapp Putsch and was disbanded after its failure.

A memorial in memory of the fallen of this Freikorps unit was inaugurated 25 June 1934 in Dorsten, it carried the inscription:

Den Freikorps Lichtschlag/Loewenfeld, Februar 1919 - März 1920. Unsern Befreiern aus Spartakistengewalt. Mit Adolf Hitler im zweiten Jahr des dritten Reiches 1934. Euch was vehüllt. Nun ists am Tag. Ihr schlugt den ersten Hammerschlag.

It was thrown into the river by British soldiers after the war. It was salvaged in 1949 and used as a memorial for prisoners of war.

Commanders

Wilfried von Loewenfeld

Formed in the area of

Generalkommando des Garde-Korps (Berlin)

Order of battle

5. Marine-Regiment
6. Marine-Regiment
Sturm-Btl. Arnauld de la Perière (commanded by WW1 Uboat ace Lothar von Arnauld de la Perriere)

Notable members

Konteradmiral (Ing.) Dipl. Ing. Max Adam
Vizeadmiral z.V. Lothar Arnauld de la Perière
Kapitän zur See Fritz Berger (Knight's Cross holder)
Konteradmiral Erich Bey
SS-Standartenführer Otto Binge (Waffen-SS)
Konteradmiral Hasso von Bredow
Fregattenkapitän der Reserve Dr. Ing. Karl-Friedrich Brill (Knight's Cross holder)
Generaladmiral Rolf Carls
NSFK-Korpsführer & General der Flieger Friedrich Christiansen
Konteradmiral z.V. Franz Claassen
Konteradmiral z.V. Siegfried Claassen
Konteradmiral Robert Eyssen (Knight's Cross holder)
Reichstag deputy & SA-Gruppenführer Graf Fink von Finkenstein
Admiral Hermann von Fischel
Admiral Erich Förste
Vizeadmiral (Ing.) Dipl. Ing. Walter Fröhlich
Konteradmiral Hans-Joachim Gadow
Kapitän zur See Günther Gumprich (Knight's Cross holder)
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Dipl. Ing. Julius Heimberg
SS-Obergruppenführer August Heissmayer
Konteradmiral Wilhelm von Haxthausen
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Wilhelm Johannsen
Vizeadmiral (Ing.) Karl Kaufmann
Charakter als Vizeadmiral Ludwig Kaulhausen
Charakter als Konteradmiral Reinhold Knobloch
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Dipl. Ing. Waldemar Kober
Konteradmiral Hans Kolbe
Generalmajor Peter Körte
Konteradmiral Ernst Kratzenberg
Vizeadmiral Leo Kreisch
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Walter Kühn
Charakter als Vizeadmiral Wilhelm Friedrich (gen. Wilfried) von Loewenfeld
Admiral Raul Mewis
Konteradmiral Hans Karl Meyer
Konteradmiral Hans Michahelles (Knight's Cross holder)
Konteradmiral Hans Mirow
SS-Oberführer Cassius Freiherr von Montigny
Konteradmiral Rudolf Peters
SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl
Konteradmiral Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer
Generalmajor Hans Rauch (Luftwaffe)
SA-Brigadeführer Han Ramshorn
Generalleutnant Heinrich XXXVII Prinz Reuss (j.L.) (Luftwaffe)
Vizeadmiral Friedrich Rieve
Vizeadmiral Bernhard Rogge
Konteradmiral Richard Rothe-Roth
Konteradmiral Werner Scheer
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Max Schenitski
Albert Leo Schlageter (1)
Generalleutnant Wilhelm Schmalz (Luftwaffe)
Admiral Hubert Schmundt (Knight's Cross holder)
Konteradmiral Werner Schönermark
SS-Gruppenführer Vizeadmiral Geberal der Flaktruppen Ludwig von Schröder
Generalmajor Otto Schroeder-Zollinger (Luftwaffe)
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Alfred Schulze
Vizeadmiral Kurt Slevogt
Konteradmiral Siegfried Sorge
Vizeadmiral Rudolf Stange
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Walter Steiner
Konteradmiral Werner Stichling
Vizeadmiral (Ing.) Ernst Stieringer
Vizeadmiral Hans Stohwasser
SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach
Konteradmiral Ludwig Stummel
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Wilhelm Tackenberg
SS-Brigadeführer Willy Tensfeld
Konteradmiral Clamor von Trotha
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Hans Voß
Konteradmiral Georg Waue
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Carl Weber
General der Flieger Rudolf (Ralph) Wenninger (Luftwaffe)
Konteradmiral Kurt Weyher
Konteradmiral Waldemar Winther
Konteradmiral (Ing.) Paul-Willy Zieb
(the ranks are the highest ranks reached in the Third Reich era)

Insignia

Members of the brigade wore a pair of gold metal devices on the collar featuring a fouled anchor set within a wreath.

Officers of 3. Marine-Brigade Loewenfeld

Footnotes

1. Albert Leo Schlageter, a WW1 veteran and Freikorps member, was arrested 5 Apr 1923 by the French troops in the occupied Ruhr for taking part in sabotage operations. He was sentenced to death by a French military tribunal and executed by firing squad 26 May 1923. Within 24 hours the Schlageter-Gedächtnis-Bund was formed and plans were made for a memorial (a large cross erected in 1931), Schlageter was becoming a martyr of the right-wing groups, among them the NSDAP as he had been a member of the NSDAP and SA as well as other fringe groups.
His name was given as a honour title to two SA-Standarten (SA-Standarte 39 Schlageter at Düsseldorf and SA-Standarte 142 Albert Leo Schlageter at Lörrach) and one Luftwaffe wing, Jagdgeschwader 26 Schlageter.

Sources used

Verkuilen Ager - Awards of the German Freikorps 1919-1935
Bruce Campbell - The SA generals and the rise of Nazism
Jill Halcomb Smith & Wilhelm P.B.R. Saris - Headgear of Hitler's Germany Vol 2
Nigel Jones - The birth of the Nazis: How the Freikorps blazed a trail for Hitler
Georg Tessin - Deutsche Verbände und Truppen 1918-1939
Robert Thomas & Stefan Pochanke - Handbuch zur geschichte der Deutschen Freikorps
Robert G. L. Waite - Vanguard of Nazism: The Free Corps Movement in Postwar Germany 1918-1923

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -