Theodor Krancke

Under the command of Krancke, during the five-month-long raiding cruise, the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer sank 13 merchant ships, one armed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay, and captured three merchant ships representing 115,195 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied and neutral shipping.

During the Allied Invasion of Normandy Krancke, as Commander-in-Chief of Navy Group Command West headquartered in Paris, controlled all German naval vessels in France, as well as the various land-based naval units and the naval coastal artillery and anti-aircraft batteries along the French Atlantic coast.

Dates of Rank

• Fähnrich zur See – 12 April 1913
• Leutnant zur See – 22 March 1915
• Oberleutnant zur See – 25 December 1917
• Kapitänleutnant – 1 September 1922
• Korvettenkapitän – 1 October 1930
• Fregattenkapitän – 1 November 1935
• Kapitän zur See – 1 April 1937
• Konteradmiral – 1 April 1941
• Vizeadmiral – 1 April 1942
• Admiral – 1 March 1943