Johannes Spiess

Johannes Spieß (25 July 1888 – 30 March 1972) was an Imperial German Navy U-boat commander during World War I.

After the war ended, he retired from the navy in 1920, and lived through the interwar period of the Weimar Republic, the rise of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the subsequent division of Germany. ("Sechs Jahre U-Boot Fahrten").

He had also translated First Sea Lord, John Jellicoe's Memoirs from English to German.

World War II After World War II broke out, Spiess was recalled for duty and was active in several administrative roles. In 1940, he served in the OKW Wehrmacht propaganda department. Later on, he accompanied, the German advance into France to occupy the French naval ministry and then provisionally took over the docks at Nantes and St. Nazaire.

In 1941, he served with the Abwehr in a station defence role. In 1942, he was appointed Port Commander at La Pallice and St. Jean de Luz. In 1942/1943, he was active with the Marinegruppenkommando West in Paris, while in 1943/1944 he was active with the OKW der Marine.

He was dismissed in 1944.

Personal life Spiess married Carola Eckhusen (1903-2001) on 7 April 1923.

They had 5 children. Joachim (b. 1923), Jobst Dieter (b. 1926), Juergen (b. 1928), Jutta (b. 1934), and Jens (b. 1939). It is interesting to note that all Spiess' children names start with the letter 'J' and had the moniker of "the J half-flottilla".

Even though the family lived through the chaos of World War II, they all managed to survive. From this perspective, Spiess seems to have had a blessed life since many naval officers of his generation did not survive both world wars, or at least had lost children during World War II.

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