Description
The Flussräumflottille Niederlande (Netherlands river clearing flotilla) was a security unit of the German Navy during the occupation of the Netherlands. Their base was in Dordrecht.
After the occupation of the Netherlands by the Wehrmacht, the Navy formed the Netherlands river clearing flotilla in December 1940 in order to be present on Dutch waters as well. The flotilla was initially under the naval commander in the Netherlands and was led by Kapitänleutnant d. R. Emmerich Steppwieser, set up in Dordrecht and commanded with interruptions until September 1944. From January 1941, the subordination changed to the leader of the motorboat associations in the Netherlands with the naval commander in the Netherlands. The Maas flotilla (April 1941 until the transfer to the Rhine flotilla in February/March 1945) and the Rhine flotilla (set up in January 1940) were also subordinated to this.
The task of the flotilla was to clear Dutch inland waterways of mines and, where necessary, to lay new mine barriers. In the course of the war, other tasks were added, such as escorting merchant ships and defending against Allied bombers. On February 8, 1945, the unit was dissolved by order of the naval high command and in February/March 1945 the remaining boats were handed over to the Rhine flotilla. The rest of the crews were transferred to land units and were locked up by the Allies in Fortress Holland as the war progressed.
The Flussräumflottille Niederlande consisted of the following parts:
Hafenschutz Flottille SüdHolland
Hafenschutz Flottille NordHolland
FlüssRaum Flottille Niederlande
Führer de Mototbootsverbände Nierlande
Maas Flottille
Rhein Flottille
The here offered silver Schnappsbecher was for the Rheinflottille. These cups were given as presents to men who had served.
The Rheinlandflottille formed in January 1940 and was originally conrolled by the NSKK. From august 1940 it was taken over by the Kriegsmarine and became subordinate to the Marinebefehl;shaber in den Niederlanden, then from January 1941 it was moved to the control of the Führer der Motorbootsverbände Niederlande. It was commanded by:
- Kapitänleutnant der Reserve Carl Krämer (august 1940-december 1943)
- Fregattenkapitän Alexander Stein (januaru 1944 – January 1945)
- Korvettenkapitän der Reserve Heinrich Engel (january 1945 – March 1945)
- Fregattenkapitän der Reserve August Nettelrodt (march 1945 – May 1945).
The cup has the name Rheinflottille engraved, as well as a German Kriegsmarineflag. On the back is the autograph of Kapitänleutnant der Reserve Carl Krämer (who commanded the Rhein Flotilla from august 1940-untill december 1943. There is also an autograph by “Ehrhardt”.
The cup is on the underside silver hallmarked with BK 830.
The cup has a height of 5 centimeters and is in excellent condition. Due to the silver color it’s very hard to take good pictures. In hand it is very good!
——–
Also included in this lot is besides the cup a citation named to Matrose. O. Gefreiter Ludwig Spinrad, awared at Christmass 1942. It contains stamped the same autograph by Carl Krämer. The items don’t belong together, but due to the interesting same autpgraph on both i sell them together.
These are very rare items and it’s only the first time i can offer them in all my collecting life.
