Kurt Weyher

Kurt Weyher
Born	(1901-08-30)30 August 1901 Graudenz
Died	Wilhelmshaven
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Kaiserliche Marine Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1918–45
Rank	Konteradmiral
Commands held	sail training ship Horst Wessel auxiliary cruiser Orion (HSK-1)
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Great Cross of Merit

Kurt August Viktor Weyher (30 August 1901 – 17 December 1991) was a Konteradmiral of the Kriegsmarine who, during World War II, commanded a merchant raider. Material on the command of the raider Orion was published online at [1].

Weyher was heavily decorated during his active lifetime and progressed to Konteradmiral (equivalent to Rear Admiral) during the war, so he seems to have been an effective officer at the least.

Although it was not mentioned in his book "The Black Raider", it seems that Weyher was a non-trivial painter; in a feature article author Keith Gordon tells that on the voyage of the Orion Weyher did about 30 paintings on subjects connected with the ship's activities. The one painting illustrated seems to have had narrative merit and to have represented the topographic background recognisably.

Awards

• Silesian Eagle 2nd and 1st Grade
• Bewährungsabzeichen der III. Marine-Brigade
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Olympic Games Decoration 2nd Class
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award 4th to 2nd Class
• Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938
• Spanish Cross
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (9 July 1940)
  • 1st Class (30 August 1940)
• Kriegsabzeichen für Hilfskreuzer (23 August 1941)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 21 August 1941 as Fregattenkapitän and commander of auxiliary cruiser Orion (HSK-1)
• Order of St Alexander Kommandeurkreuz mit Schwertern
• German Cross in Gold on 18 May 1944 as Kapitän zur See and chief of the Deutsches Marinekommando Konstanza (German naval command Constanța)
• Order of Michael the Brave 3rd Class
• Order of the Star of Romania Commodore with Swords
• Cross of Merit on ribbon (29 April 1977)

References

Bibliography

• Weyher, Kurt; “The German navy in the south-eastern area of Europe from the summer of 1941 to the autumn of 1944 ; under the orders of the Southern Naval Command”. Publisher: U.S. Navy (1947).
• Weyher, Kurt; Ehrlich, Hans Jürgen; “The Black Raider”. Pub: ELEK Books London (1955) hardback. Also: Panther Books; Panther edition (1958) paperback.

External links

• Kurt Weyher @ Geocities at the Wayback Machine (archived October 29, 2009)
• Kurt Weyher @ Geocities - 2 at the Wayback Machine (archived October 29, 2009)