1945 : The Heligoland Annexation :
Winston Spencer Churchill had never ignored the necessity of warfare, but as Hitler's forces retreated within Germany's borders, he was already considering the ways to reinforce a peace. Germany would surrender - that much was true - but a period of occupation of that unhappy land was as inevitable as the war. What Churchill was concerned about was the risk of a resurgant Germany threatening Britain again - and that meant blocking the U-boat menace that had nearly brought Britain to a 1941 Armistice. Heligoland had been fatally handed over to the Kaiser, had been an obstacle in the Great War and then again in the Second World War, but it had been British for 83 years and German for only 55. There were military proposals to bomb the island and also use up surplus ammunition, or to demolish it with ammunition scheduled for disposal, but Churchill had been advised that anything more than a sandbank might be fortified again. Thoughtfully, he looked at a chart and at reports of the weapons installed by Hitler, then came to a decision; Britain would have to annex the Island permanently as part of any war settlements. It was already feared that Stalin had annexed the Baltic States permanently and wanted to have parts of Arctic Finland and Pomeranian Germany as part of Russia, so Churchill needed Truman to concede that Heligoland's annexation by Britain was essential. As his first step, Churchill vetoed a thousand-bomber raid upon Heligoland, timed for April 18th 1945, as he thought it would be possible to have the island surrendered to Britain as a going concern.
Karl Donitz, in line to become Hitler's successor, was similarly troubled by the future of Germany; he was aware that Hitler meant to hold out in Berlin until the end, so his own appointment as Reichsprasident might be only a matter of time. He wanted, like others, to surrender Germany to the Western Allies. Unfortunately, his advisers warned him that Truman and Churchill would keep to agreements with Stalin, so Donitz already had actioned 'Operation Hannibal' in January 1945, to move westwards as many people as possible into areas controlled by the Western Allies. It is a historical fact that nearly 800,000 German citizens were moved westwards, an achievement that ranks as Donitz's greatest success. By the time word arrived on April 30th 1945 that Hitler was dead, the efficient Donitz had already set up a government at Flensburg on the Danish border, with his successor in the Kriegsmarine, Generaladmiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, tasked with negotiating a surrender. On May 4th 1945 Friedeburg met Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery at Timeloberg Hill on Luneberg Heath. There, Friedeburg had to surrender unconditionally all German forces:-
"...in Holland, in northwest Germany including the Frisian Islands and Heligoland and all other islands, in Schleswig-Holstein, and in Denmark… to include all naval ships in these areas..."
This phrase is the key to much of what happened subsequently, for it surrendered those forces to Britain, not to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces Europe, then based at Reims in France. Montgomery had received sealed orders direct from Churchill that he was to send a senior Kriegsmarine Officer to Heligoland to arrange for a complete surrender of the entire island and its fortifications. Vice-Admiral Harold Tom Baillie-Grohmann, then semi-retired and aged 57, was to meet with that senior officer and take command of 'HMS Heligoland' with a unit of Royal Marines and some Royal Navy gunners. It was abundantly clear to Montgomery that Churchill meant to seize the whole setup as a working military base - and that he did not want any interference from any quarter. In his memoirs, Montgomery later admitted that he knew it would cause friction with General Eisenhower, but at the same time it was a guarantee that Heligoland was no threat to the British Sector of Occupied Germany. If the German garrison refused to surrender unconditionally, the RAF would blast the island's defences to rubble. There was an obvious choice of 'senior Kriegsmarine Officer', Generaladmiral Friedeburg being ordered by Donitz to carry out the duty in a phonecall that was monitored by the Intelligence services.
"Hans, the British are afraid of us. If giving back Helgoland makes them feel safer, so be it. They may treat us more kindly than the Russians and French. You will serve the Fatherland by doing this."
The Schnellboote (E-boat) that left Bremerhaven for Heligoland on May 6th 1945 had been stripped of all armament and was crewed jointly by Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy personnel, both groups initially highly suspicious of one another. Rarely, if ever, had there been so much top brass on so minor a fleet unit; one German engineering officer broke the ice by wondering if the ship would be 'krank' ('top-heavy'), which had both groups laughing. Baillie-Grohmann - a spry 57 - grinned at Friedeburg and remarked that it was a most unlikely occurrence, but found the Generaladmiral was greatly depressed, held together only by discipline and his orders.
"You have family, Hans?" 'B-G' asked. "I have a wife and two sons."
"A wife, a son." Friedeburg admitted. "They live in Hesse. I haf - have not heard from them, some weeks." His was the fear of every family in every conquered country.
"I will ask the Admiralty to find them and make sure they can contact you." 'B-G' assured him, moved to that small kindness. "You and I must work together on the transfer of powers. I have asked Prime Minister Churchill to let me list your Kriegsmarine personnel on Heligoland as Royal Navy Auxiliaries. That's Royal Navy regulations and rates of pay. I regret it makes you a Kapitan under my command - for the moment."
Friedeburg digested this; it made him commander of the last vestige of the Kriegsmarine - or the first part of the postwar German navy, under whatever name might be chosen. With the growl of the diesels hiding their conversation, Friedeburg asked some searching questions and had some unexpected answers. The Royal Navy estimated that 600,000 mines had been laid off the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, so Admiral Harold Burrough had already requested that Kriegsmarine Mine Sweeping vessels be retained under their crews for clearance work. As this amounted to 300 vessels and 27,000 men, Burrough had tasked Baillie-Grohmann with Heligoland and another Vice-Admiral, Henry England, to be in charge of minesweeping operations. But there was still a need for German officers in charge of their men, so 'B-G' anticipated an early re-promotion of Friedeburg to Contreadmiral, or some similar Flag rank. Although a Party member and a dedicated nationalist, Friedeburg was no fanatical Nazi and had not taken part in any war crimes, so might be considered a 'trusty'. Donitz was in a more difficult position, but 'B-G' hoped that the undoubted professionalism of the U-boat force's commander would prevent him from the worst of a War Crimes Tribunal. Friedeburg confirmed that Hitler and Goebbels were dead by their own hands, a matter that had shocked him deeply, but it seemed as if he and his men had fallen upon their feet.
The approach of the Schnellboote to Heligoland had been the most dangerous part; the garrison had respected the wireless message sent by Donitz from Flensburg, but were ready to fire on the small ship flying the white flag. Diesel engines barely grumbling, the torpedo-boat slid inside the U-boat pens and was moored with calm professionalism by the Kriegsmarine sailors there. They were astonished by the presence of Grossadmiral Friedeburg but not entirely surprised by the British contingent, piping the officers ashore in best naval tradition, before the Kapitan zur See commanding Heligoland came to salute his superior - using the standard salute not used since the Reichsmarine of 1935. Baillie-Grohmann realised then that Donitz muxt have been busy on the wireless, for there were no signs of Nazi insignia on the uniform of the Kapitan or his sailors. That meant a surprising absence of cap badges and bare flagmasts, except for one Kriegsmarine flag and the pennant of the Second Schnellboote Flotilla, based at Heligoland. Only one U-boat was present in the pens but five early-model Schnellboote were tied up there, their crews fallen-in on the quayside.
"Does the Herr Generaladmiral require an inspection?" The Kapitan asked; Freideburg shook his head.
"Nein, Herr Vizeadmiral Baillie-Grohmann is the new Governor of Helgoland." The two Kriegsmarine officers glanced at one another, then at the less-impressively dressed 'B-G' in his Royal Navy dress uniform. "And our new Commandant. Part of the Kriegsmarine is retained as the Mine Sweeping Administration, of which one base will be here. The officers and men will be paraded and told." He paused. "At least it guarantees our pay as naval personnel."
"That will give the men reassurance." The Kapitan nodded. "But - what does this mean? A Governor? There has always been a Commandant here."
"The British are resuming control of Heligoland as a Crown Colony." Friedeburg was careful to say it as Baillie-Grohmann had instructed him to. "They owned Helgoland between 1807 and 1890. They are annexing the Island and Hallem permanently."