The 3. Schnellbootsflottille of the Kriegsmarine was formed on 15 May 1940 in Kiel under the initial temporary command of Oberleutnant zur See Werner Töniges before Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Kemnade assumed leadership on 23 May 1940, receiving the older boats S 10 to S 13 together with the Begleitschiff Tsingtau and later the Adolf Lüderitz. Operating first from bases along the Dutch and Belgian coasts and in the English Channel, the flottille conducted night attacks, minelaying and patrols against Allied shipping. In late May 1941 it transferred to the Baltic for Unternehmen Barbarossa, operating from Pillau, Libau, Windau, Riga and Turku; boats such as S 54 sank the Soviet destroyer Smely on 27 July 1941 and the unit took part in the mine operations around Reval as well as actions against Soviet naval forces. In November 1941 the flottille undertook an unusual overland and river transfer via the Rhine and Rhône canals into the Mediterranean, where it came under the Deutsches Marinekommando Italien and temporarily the Deutsches Marinekommando Tunesien. From bases including Augusta, Derna, Bizerta and La Goulette its boats escorted Axis supply convoys to North Africa, attacked Allied shipping during Operation Torch, damaged the British cruiser Newcastle and sank numerous vessels off Tobruk and elsewhere. After the loss of Tunisia the flottille operated around Sicily, in the Tyrrhenian Sea and later moved via the Po River to Venice; from July 1943 it formed part of the 1. Schnellboot-Division. On 13 October 1944 it was reorganized in Pola as the core of a new 3. Schnellbootsflottille incorporating elements of the 7. and 24. Schnellbootsflottille, continuing operations in the Adriatic and Aegean from bases such as Pola, Zara, Split, Dubrovnik, Cattaro, Patras and Piraeus until the final surrender in May 1945, having proven one of the most active and versatile Schnellboot units of the war under successive Flottillenchefs including Korvettenkapitän Kemnade, Fregattenkapitän Herbert Max Schultz, Kapitänleutnant Albert Müller and Kapitänleutnant Günther Schulz.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Wuppermann (1916-2005) was born on 15 December 1916 in Berlin as the son of a bank director and joined the Kriegsmarine on 3 April 1936, serving as Seekadett aboard the Emden from September that year before becoming Adjutant to the 1. Schnellboot-Flottille in April 1938 and later to the U-Boots-Schulflottille. From March 1939 he commanded Schnellboot S 20 and then S 25 in the 1. Schnellboot-Flottille, taking part in patrols during the Invasion of Poland in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and English Channel as well as in the Norwegian Campaign, for which he received the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 20 April 1940 and the 1. Klasse on 28 May 1940 after sinking the French destroyer Sirocco and a tanker. Promoted to Oberleutnant zur See on 1 October 1940, he transferred to the 3. Schnellboot-Flottille, assumed command of S 60 on 21 December 1940 and briefly acted as Chef of the flottille in February-March 1941. On 7 March 1941 near Great Yarmouth he led attacks that sank two destroyers, two freighters and a tanker; during Operation Barbarossa with S 60 he sank the cargo ship Gaisma on 21-22 June 1941, the Soviet submarine S 3 two days later and, with other boats, two destroyers and a torpedo boat on 27 June, actions for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 3 August 1941 as Kommandant of S 60. From October 1941 he commanded S 56 in the Mediterranean, where on 14 June 1942 he torpedoed and severely damaged the British cruiser Newcastle, sank several patrol vessels and, during the fall of Tobruk on 21 June 1942, destroyed numerous ships including freighters and landing craft; these further successes earned him the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 14 April 1943 as the 226th recipient while still Oberleutnant zur See and Kommandant of S 56, along with the Schnellboot-Kriegsabzeichen mit Brillanten. Promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 1 April 1943, he later served as Ausbildungsleiter, Chef of the 21. and 22. Schnellboot-Flottille, in the Stab of the Führer der Schnellboote and finally as Chef of the 1. Schnellboot-Division in the Adriatic until the end of the war, after which he was released from captivity in June 1946 and later reached Fregattenkapitän der Reserve in the Bundesmarine; he died on 15 April 2005 in Osnabrück.
Korvettenkapitän Friedrich Kemnade (1911-2008) was born on 12 December 1911 in Schwarmstedt near Hanover and joined the Reichsmarine on 1 April 1931 as a naval officer candidate. After training he served on cruisers including Karlsruhe, Königsberg, Nürnberg and Emden, where he was I. Torpedooffizier and Adjutant at the outbreak of war and was promoted to Kapitänleutnant. From mid-May 1940 he commanded the 3. Schnellbootflottille, operating in the North Sea, Baltic, English Channel and from 1942 in the Mediterranean. On 11 September 1940 he was seriously wounded aboard S 13 during a British air raid on Vlissingen. Under his leadership the flotilla conducted 171 sorties, sinking, damaging or capturing some 70 warships including two cruisers, 14 destroyers and several submarines as well as twelve merchant vessels of about 100000 GRT. The Ritterkreuz was awarded on 23 July 1942 for Mediterranean successes, including the attack on a British convoy in which two cruisers were torpedoed, one probably sunk, plus earlier sinkings of a destroyer, escort, submarine chaser and 15000 GRT of shipping off the Libyan coast. Promoted to Korvettenkapitän, he received the Eichenlaub on 27 May 1943 as the 249th recipient for continued outstanding leadership, especially in supporting the Tunisian bridgehead after the Allied landings in North Africa, where his flotilla was the first German-Italian naval unit to raise the flag in Tunis and Bizerta and secure supply lines while inflicting heavy losses. From July 1943 he served as Referent in the Seekriegsleitung. After the war he worked in insurance until joining the Bundesmarine on 1 April 1956 as Fregattenkapitän, later rising to Konteradmiral and holding posts including commander of the Schnellbootflottille, Befehlshaber der Seestreitkräfte Ostseezugänge and Befehlshaber im Wehrbereich I before retiring on 30 September 1970. He died in Hamburg on 29 January 2008.
Source :
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/heer-luftwaffe-kriegsmarine-uniforms-third-reich/3-schnellbootflottille-wappen-525852/
