by Gareth Collins

Formed in Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein on 15 May 1940 and from then to May 1941 was employed on the Dutch coast, then in the English Channel, operating from Boulogne, Ostend & Rotterdam. It was then moved to the eastern Baltic Sea until the autumn of 1941 where it operated from Pillau, Liepāja, Ventspils, Riga & Turku. In November 1941 the Flotilla was moved over the Rhine & Rhône to the Mediterranean where it was placed under the command of Deutsches Marine Kommando Italien & for a short time, Deutsches Marine Kommando Tunesien. The Flotilla was employed at North Africa, Sicily, then Crete. After that it was operating in the western Mediterranean in the area of Naples, Toulon & Marseille. In November 1943 boats were transferred from the Tyrrhenian Sea to Venice via the Po. Until the wars end the Flotilla was employed in the Adriatic & Aegean, chiefly employed at Pula, Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor & in the Aegean Patras & Piraeus.

Chef

Oberleutnant zur See Werner Töniges (m.W.d.G.b.) (15 May 1940-00 May 1940)
Korvettenkapitän Friedrich Kemnade (00 May 1940-00 Jul 1943)
Fregattenkapitän Herbert Max Schultz (00 Jul 1943-00 Sep 1944)
Kapitänleutnant Albert Müller (00 Sep 1944-00 Oct 1944)
Kapitänleutnant Günther Schulz (00 Oct 1944-08 May 1945)

Sources used

Research by Gareth Collins
Erich Gröner - Die Schiffe der deutschen Kriegsmarine und ihr Verbleib 1939-1945, J.F. Lehmanns Verlag, München (1976)
Hans H. Hildebrand - Die organisatorische Entwicklung der Marine nebst Stellenbesetzung 1848 bis 1945, Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück(2000)
Hans H. Hildebrand & Ernest Henriot – Deutschlands Admirale 1849-1945, Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück (1989)
Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr & Hans-Otto Steinmetz – Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe, Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg (1980)
Walter Lohmann & Hans H. Hildebrand – Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine, Verlag Hans-Henning Podzun, Bad Nauheim (1956)

Reference material on this unit

Franz Kurowski - Korvettenkapitän Werner Töniges: Der erste Eichenlaubträger der Schnellbootwaffe