Walter Lohmann

An early career image of Walter Lohmann
Born	(1878-12-30)30 December 1878 Bremen
Died	29 April 1930(1930-04-29) (aged 51) Rome
Cause of death	Myocardial infarction
Allegiance	Germany
Service / branch	Reichsmarine
Years of service	1897-1927
Rank	Captain
Unit	Naval Transport Division
Known for	Lohmann Affair

Walter Lohmann (born 30 December 1878 in Bremen; died 29 April 1930 in Rome) was a German Reichsmarine officer with the rank of captain.^[1] From 1920 to 1927 as commander of the Naval Transportion Division, Lohmann ran a secret rearmament and research program on behalf of the Ministry of the Reichswehr in an attempt to circumvent the Versailles restrictions. Lohmann's access to naval offices in Königsberg, Lübeck, Stettin, Hamburg, and Bremen gave him access to very specialized information and financial resources. He used this knowledge in his work in a way that was far beyond his authority and technical competence. Favoured by the interests of the Chief of Naval Headquarters, Admiral Paul Behncke, it led to uncontrolled scope for legal violations, criminal activity and high-handed action by individuals within the ministry. When his work was discovered in 1927, the scandal became known as the Lohmann affair in Germany and led to the resignation of Reichswehr Minister Otto Gessler in January 1928^[2] and director of naval command Admiral Hans Zenker.^[3] Lohmann himself was retired and his pension was cut, but he was never prosecuted, because to uncover the affair's true background would have been too great a risk. Completely impoverished, Lohmann died three years later of a heart attack.^[4] After he was relieved of duty, the clandestine rearmament programme was continued and expanded.

Lohmann was the youngest son of Johann Georg Lohmann (1830–1892), who was a director of the German shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd^[5] and Clarissa Lohmann, née Frost (1838–1920), an English woman.^[6] His older brother was Alfred Lohmann (born 1870), who was president of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce.^[5]

After attending school, Lohmann joined the Imperial Navy as a naval cadet on 7 April 1897. After his officer training, he was deployed to the Far East: first in 1903 to the gunboat SMS Tiger, and then from 1910 as company commander in the German colony of Tsingtau. With the outbreak of World War I, he was appointed to the rank of Korvettenkapitän I artillery officer aboard the dreadnought Prinzregent Luitpold where he worked as a non-combat logistics specialist.^[7] In March 1918, he was transferred to the Imperial Naval Office (Reichsmarineamt), where he worked in the Navy Transport Division (See-transportabteilung in der Marineleitung) from December 1918.^[6]

As a representative of the Sea Transport Department in the General Naval Office, Lohmann took part in the maritime armistice negotiations in 1919 in England.^[8] While there he worked with the Permanent Naval Allied Armistice Commission (PANAC) organisation to enable German shipping to commence overseas lines, which were critical to the recovery of the German economy.^[9] Lohmann secured over 1000 travel authorisations to enable German ships to pass through the blockade of Germany.^[9] He was still in England when the Kapp Putsch occurred on 13 March 1920, so his career was not compromised. When he returned, he was appointed commander (Chef der Seetransportabteilung der Reichsmarine) of the Naval Transport Division (BS) on 28 October 1920.^[7]

He was also on very good terms with Chief of Naval Headquarters, Admiral Paul Behncke and this further consolidated his position, receiving significant promotion of himself and the field of work.^[8] At the time, Behncke required an overview of the merchant marine as he believed it still had a role even under the Treaty of Versailles.^[10] Behncke subordinated Lohmann to the Ministry for Reconstruction on 21 December 1920 with a request that he attend all meetings where commercial shipping was discussed.^[8] In May 1921, Lohmann managed to secure some shipping that had been seized by the British and used for prisoner of war transports that were returned to their former owners, which raised his reputation amongst his colleagues considerably and set a precedent for future purchases.^[11] In October 1921, he visited Leningrad to reach an agreement for the release of German shipping that were still considered seaworthy ^[12][7] with Leon Trotsky and foreign minister Georgy Chicherin.^[13] He also used the visit to determine if Germany and the Soviet Union could collaborate on the development of submarines during discussions with Yevgeny Berens.^[14] A further visit followed in May 1922, with a delegation to complete negotiations with the Russian Admiralty.^[7] While there, he met the German ambassador Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau^[13] and informed him that due to the influence of Hans von Seeckt, negotiations with Trotsky and all official bodies had turned sour.^[14] During his visits, he became acquainted with Else Ektimov, a Russian women of German descent and arranged for her to return to Germany.^[12]

At the time there were two prevailing views in German Naval Command. The official strategy developed and advanced by the Chief of the Fleet Department Wilfried von Loewenfeld [de] and supported by Admiral Hans Zenker was to build Deutschland-class cruisers, unofficially known as "pocket battleships" by the British and officially called armoured ships in Naval Command, that were officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Versailles treaty.^[15] These diesel driven ships were lightly armoured but heavily armed with six 11-inch guns and were to be fast with a range that exceeded any other cruiser or capital ship of the period.^[15] In this way, Loewenfeld and Zenker hoped to tie up the French Navy in support of their merchant fleet in the Atlantic, while keeping the sea lanes clear in the north of Scotland to ensure it wouldn't be subject to any further naval blockades.^[15] It also had the added benefit of what was known as "Bündnisfähigkeit" (alliance capability), i.e. should there be an alliance, the vessels would make a strong contribution to that alliance.^[15] By technically staying inside the terms of the treaty, they hoped to persuade the signatories of the treaty, Great Britain, USA, France, Italy and Japan to accept Germany into the group of countries with a navy and thus abolish the restrictions.^[13] Lohmann along with Rear Admiral Arno Spindler [de], Director of submarines advocated for a rapprochement with the Soviet Union as they believed it could provide prohibited war materials and at the same time, improve economic ties with Germany.^[13] However Lohmann's views were rejected by Naval Command.^[13] Although his views were not welcome, he had a remarkably free hand as the officer responsible for relations with Moscow.

The Occupation of the Ruhr beginning in 11 January 1923, failed to dent Lohmann's career.^[11] The Reichsbank provided 100 million gold deutsche marks to the Reichswehr for the possible escalation of hostilities, which never occurred. At the end of the occupation, the monies were never returned, instead what remained was shared amongst the services. By that point Behncke trusted Lohmann completely and in early 1923, assigned the Reichsmarine's share of what constituted black funds, amounting to 10 million Reichsmarks for Lohmann to administer.^[11] Other monies were collected by the Reichsmarine during that period by the sale of warships and submarines that were scrapped.^[7] This raised the black funds to 25million marks.^[12] A further deposit of 2.5million Reichmarks from Reichstag coffers along with 2.25million from other source was provided for distribution by Lohmann, bringing the total to 29.75million marks.^[16]

When he received the funds, Lohmann began to gradually develop a plan under the title "Principle of Reconstruction", to both finance and secure prohibited war materials, believing he could count on receiving further funding totaling 40-50million marks in the future.^[17] A 1926 ministry memorandum "Denkschrift über die Notwendigkeit der Beschaffung eines langfristigen Kredites zur Sicherstellung gewisser militärisch notwendiger Marinebelainge, denen aus verschiedenen Gründen beim Ordentlichen Marinehaushalt nicht Rechnung getragen Werden kann" (Memorandum on the necessity of obtaining a long-term loan to secure certain militarily necessary naval assets which, for various reasons, cannot be taken into account in the regular naval budget) illustrated Lohmanns financial concept.^[17]

Lohmann planned to finance the plan by seeking private business loans which he would use to create businesses whose income would fund the expansion.^[17] The businesses would be structured in such in a manner to build trust abroad, populate the supply chain correctly and at the same time, provide intelligence of the capabilities of foreign industry. The 1926 memorandum described how the plan was split into two categories; surface vessels that were required and subsurface vessels i.e. U-boats required.^[17] For each individual type of craft, code words and sentences were used in identifying the vessel types, to hide their existence, e.g. U-boats were classed as "auxiliary vehicles under the water".^[18] To move quickly to production of naval vessels, i.e. the event of war, prototyping would be used and the companies that supplied the construction materials would be financially secured.^[18] The ministry calculated that a budget of 50million Reichmarks would be needed over a 10year period, for the supply of 16 large vessels, 10 medium vessels and 100 smaller vessels.^[18]

To maintain the strictest secrecy in financing, when a particular project was started, only the defence minister and the finance minister were informed verbally of the details and nature of the loan. No paper trail was created. Then the department head would be informed and they would be responsible for signing the loan agreement and ensuring any legal details were correctly dealt with.^[18] Once the loan was secured, the repayment details were hidden in the naval budget, under a category of spend that couldn't easily be monitored or audited.^[19]

Although the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the formation of the German airforce, Lohmann still took steps to maintain naval air power.^[20] In 1925, he purchased 76% of the shares^[21] in the aircraft manufacturer Caspar-Werke, located in Travemünde.^[20] The purchase of the shares was managed by Berliner Bankverein AG and the deal arranged in a manner to ensure the Reichswehr did not appear as the main shareholder.^[21]

The company had some initial success with the Caspar C 24 that won in the Deutschlandflug [de], although the company never became profitable even with the injection of new funding by Lohmann^[20] The department that built the C24 was expanded and became a new stangalone legal entity that was attached the ministrys naval aviation department,^[20] Gruppe BSx (Allgemeines Marineamt Seetransportabteiling) and funded by Lohmann.^[22] In 1925, Lohmann secured a 3.5million Reichmarks loan from Deutsche Bank, to build an seaplane manufacturing facility in Altenrhein, Switzerland, to develop the Dornier Do X, in a joint project between Dornier Flugzeugwerke and Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.^[23] Profits from the project were accrued by Lohmann. The Ministry of Economics (Reichswirtschaftsministerium), the Reich Ministry of Labour and the Reich Ministry of Transport were involved in establishing the project.^[23]

By 1927, Lohmann had invested 1.5million Reichmarks, but the company was losing money.^[24] He decided to divest the shares and began negotiations with Hamburg America Line (Hapag) but was unable to secure a sale.^[24] The company continued operating after Lohmann left the ministry in 1927^[25] as a test centre for seaplanes, aircraft catapults and naval radio equipment.^[23] While he was negotiating the sale, he worked on the development catapult launchers on passenger ships.^[23]

Lohmann was directly involved as both financier and mastermind in the secret development of speedboat armaments in violation of the Versailles Treaty.^[24] Lohmann became involved in 1923, when he tried to sell the Reichsmarine speedboat flottilla to the Soviet Union as they were in violation of the treaty, but they were uninterested.^[23] In 1924, Lohmann founded Travemünder Yachthafen AG (Trayag) in the northern German port of Travemünde on the Priwall Peninsula, to provide mooring berths and manufacturing facilities for the development of a new speedboat design. At Trayag, 13 speedboats that were equipped with torpedo tubes were designed with unofficial funds procured by Lohmann.^[23] The initial cost for establishing the project was 450,000Reichmarks and yearly cost for development approximately 150,000 to 200,000Reichmarks.^[26] To ensure the speedboats did not appear as official Reichsmarine shipping, they were registered as owned by the Lohmann founded, Navis GmBH, a covert shipping and administrative company.^[23][9] The extensive testing program on each design that was run by Trayag on behalf of the Reichsmarine was intended to provide the basis for future Schnellboot construction. In 1925, Lohmann purchased a shipyard in Wagria and formed "Neustädter Slip GmbH" as an additional repair base and training facility for technical personnel.^[23] This was followed up in February 1925 by Lohmann forming the German High Seas Sports Association [de] (HANSA).^[27] As part of that organisation, the Hanseatic Yacht School [de] was established to train personnel in seamanship^[28] and radio communications.^[29] In 1926, Lohmann paid the Motor Yacht Club of Germany (Motoryachtclub von Deutschland e.V.) 60,000Reichsmarks to recommend the speedboats being developed by Trayag to club members.^[30] Lohmann also paid for the design of a 1000 hp engine by MAN SE.^[23]

Lohmann had contact with the Swedish munitions, i.e. gunpowder manufacturer, Skänska Bomullskrutfabriks A.B (SK), in Landskrona, ostensibly to secure the supply of various mines and hand grenades.^[31] At the end of 1922, Lohmann through Otto Sprenger began negotiations with Carl Tranchell, the director of SK to collaborate on certain naval projects.^[31] Lohmann wished to establish an out-of-country testing operation where he could conduct experiments of a type that couldn't be done in Germany.^[31] The agreement detailed that Tranchell would make his facilities and personnel available to Lohmann, who would provide specialist personnel via Sprenger along with the design itself that would be provided free and both Lohmann and Tranchell would provide the sum necessary to fund the experiments together.^[31] In early 1923, agreement was reached and it was decided together to create Carola AG, to supply munitions developed from the collaboration and from Skänska Bomullskrutfabriks A.B itself.^[31] Lohmann together with Sprenger conducted sales negotiations with Japanese companies.^[31] They also sales in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.^[31]

At the end of 1925, a report was published by the German admiralty that identified a need for three oil tankers that could maintain a minimum speed of 16knots.^[32] Correspondence between John T. Essberger [de], the officer in charge of naval tankers, a department civil servant and an engineer examined the idea of building the oil tankers in a way that they could be used as aircraft carriers known as "aircraft mother ships" as well as "fast boat mother ships".^[32] To maintain the Lohmann provided 6.5 million Reichsmarks to the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Elbing, 3 million of which were assigned to build one small tanker.^[32] Lohmann financial engineering ensured that extra money in the contract used to cover interest payments on his loans, were returned to him. By 5 October 1926, Lohman was the managing director.^[32] During his management tensure, Lohmann produced a smaller tanker using funds from the Reich Ministry of Economy.^[33]

To build the other two larger tankers, an agreement was reached between Lohmann and the Bremen-based private bank Schröder Bank [de], owned by Johann Friedrich Schröder [de], that was facilitated by the Bremen finance minister for a loan of 12million Reichmarks.^[33] Bremen-based AG Weser shipyard was to receive the contract to build them.^[33] As part of the agreement, it was decided the Navy was to construct a steamer at Norddeutscher Lloyd.^[33] To finalise the deal, the Bremen finance minister insisted that the loan agreement was approved by naval director Erich Raeder and Reich Finance Minister Heinrich Peckert [de] At a meeting of 6 May 1926, Lohmann explained his plan of using a 12million loan to construct two large tankers.^[33] But Raeder and Peckert were looking for extra value from the contract and stipulated that two smaller tanker would be built alongside the one large tankers.^[33]

By buying two smaller tankers, instead of a third large tanker as already planned, Lohmann used the savings to create the Berlin Oil Transport Company that he owned outright, the Bremen Oil Transport Company that he also owned, as well as a freight forwarding company.^[33] In mid-1926, Lohmann had plans to create a vertically integrated oil company similar to BP but the idea was abandoned, due to the complexities of the plan and the huge amount of monies involved to finance it.^[33] Although at the same time he continued to invest in the oil transport companies.^[34]

Another aspect of Lohmann's vision was the subsidising of in-shore pleasure craft that could be modified for naval operations. That included ensuring the ships were capable of a minimum speed of 18 knots, being available for naval exercise for at least 14 days per year and have basic structure that could be converted for naval operations, for example to store ammmunition in a magazine, or the abilty to support deck guns up to 160 tons.^[34]

When the rotor ship Barbara was commissioned, half the monies for construction were arranged by Lohmann from the Reichmarine budget and half was provided by the Reich Ministry of Economics.^[34] At the same time, the funding also covered the end of life maintenance of the decommissioned minelayer SMS Albatross and the construction of the steamships MV Bessel (initially known as the Sorrento) and Amalfi ^[a] at A.G. Weser. The Barbara was built by the shipyard A.G. Weser in Bremen.^[36] Lohmann's wife conducted the ceromonial launch of the ship.^[34]

The Barbaras first voyage to Italy and Spain were used by Lohmann to sell the idea of rotor cargo ships to various contacts and used a film created by Phoebus Film to promote them. His first port of call was to meet the Spanish king Alfonso XIII.^[37] Lohmann also met with Benito Mussolini in November 1926 to discuss an order for an 11000ton tanker that would use the rotor mechanism, but nothing came of the meeting.^[37]

As well as funding many different capital projects, Lohmann ensured that suitable personnel were trained in an on-going basis, an activity that was a clear violation of Article 177 of the Treaty of Versailles.^[37] The Hanseatic Yacht School [de] in Neustadt was established in 1925 to train personnel in seamanship and radio communications in speedboats. Military personnel were sent to be trained by the High Seas Sports Association (HANSA) in Berlin.^[27] Lohmann believed that early training of sailors was important as it gave them the ability to issue orders later in life, in a way that was effective.^[27] As well as providing training for sailors to a military standard, naval pilots were also trained in Neustadt.^[27] Lohmann provided 60000marks to train an initial 60 students.^[27]

Central to Lohmann's ability to organise and run a successful defence organisation was the Navis company.^[38]

During a business trip to Italy, Lohmann died of a heart attack in Rome on 29 April 1930, at the age of 52.^[39]

• "Newspaper articles about Walter Lohmann". Hamburg World Economic Archive (in German). Hamburg: Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft (ZBW). Retrieved 18 September 2023.

• Budraß, Lutz (1998). Flugzeugindustrie und Luftrüstung in Deutschland 1918 - 1945 [Aircraft Industry and Air Armament in Germany 1918 - 194]. Schriften des Bundesarchivs (in German). Vol. 50. Düsseldorf: Droste. ISBN 9783770016044.
• Remmele, Bernd (1997). Die Lohmann Affäre. Geheime Rüstungsmaßnahmen der Reichsmarine in den Zwanziger Jahren [The Lohmann Affair. Secret Armament Measures of the Reichsmarine in the Twenties] (MA thesis) (in German). Freiburg: University of Freiburg.
• Stöckel, Kurt (1954). Die Entwicklung der Reichsmarine nach dem ersten Weltkriege <1919-1935> Äußerer Aufbau u. innere Struktur [The Development of the Reichsmarine after the First World War (1919-1935) - External Structure and Internal Structure] (Phd thesis) (in German). Gottigen: University of Göttingen.