World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseFriedrich Oskar Ruge was born in Leipzig, Germany to an educator. He joined the German Navy in Mar 1914. Between 1914 and 1916, he served in the Baltic Sea, and in 1917 and 1918 he participated in destroyer raids in the North Sea and the English Channel. During the inter-war years, he remained in the German Navy. Between 1921 and 1923, he commanded a minesweeper. He also studied at Berlin Institute of Technology during this time. By 1937, he had become a commanding officer of a minesweeper division. When the European War began, he operated in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and the English Channel between 1939 and 1940. In late 1940, he was transferred to France. In 1943, he served in Italy for several months as the senior naval officer. In Nov 1943, he was assigned to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel as his naval advisor. In Aug 1944, he was named the German Navy's Director of Ship Construction; he would remain in that role until the end of the European War. He was imprisoned by the Allies between 1945 and 1946. Upon his release, he became a translator, writer, educator, and politician in Cuxhaven, Germany. In the 1950s, he was called out of retirement to become the Inspector of the German Navy; he held that position until 1961. He was hired as a consultant for the 1962 film "The Longest Day" and played himself. After his second retirement from military service, he became a professor at Tübingen University in Germany. He passed away in 1985.

Photographs

Friedrich Ruge Timeline