Background
Johann Gunther Lutjens was born in Wiesbaden in Hesse-Nassau, a province of the Kingdom of Prussia, on 25 May 1889. He was the son of merchant Johannes Lutjens and his wife Luise, née Volz.
Johann Gunther Lutjens was born in Wiesbaden in Hesse-Nassau, a province of the Kingdom of Prussia, on 25 May 1889. He was the son of merchant Johannes Lutjens and his wife Luise, née Volz.
Gunther Lutjens growing up in Freiburg im Breisgau, he graduated from the Berthold-Gymnasium with his diploma (Abitur) aged seventeen. He entered the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) as a Seekadett (midshipman) on 3 April 1907 at the German Imperial Naval Academy in Kiel, where he received his initial infantry training.
In early April 1940, Vice-Admiral Gunther Lütjens temporarily replaced Admiral Wilhelm Marschall as Chief of Fleet during the invasion of Norway (Operation Wesserübung). In 9 April 1940, in command of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, his force briefly engaged the British battlecruiser Renown. On 14 June 1940, Lutjens was awarded the Knight's Cross (Ritterkreuz) for his actions during the Norwegian campaign.
Lutjens reputation stood very high within the naval circles, and he had somehow managed to earn Grand Admiral Raeder's trust. On 8 July 1940, Lütjens was appointed as the new Chief of Fleet, and, on 1 September, he was promoted to full Admiral. His rise was meteoric, in exactly nine months from January to September 1940 he had been given the command of the German fleet and promoted twice.
Lutjens most successful action came in the winter of 1941. In a two-month campaign in the North Atlantic (Operation Berlin), his battleship force (Scharnhorst and Gneisenau) sank or captured 22 ships (116,000 tons) before entering Brest on 22 March. This action encouraged Raeder to approve Bismarck's sortie in the spring of 1941, although Lutjens preferred to postpone that mission until the autumn. Operation Rheinübung cost him his life. Admiral Lütjens was last seen in the early morning of 27 May 1941, before Bismarck's final battle with the British battleships.
After the war, Admiral Lutjens was highly recognized. On 11 August 1967, the first German guided-missile destroyer (Zerstörer Lütjens D185) of the Bundesmarine was christened after his name. The ship remained in service after the German reunification and continued to serve in the German Navy until December 2003.
Lutjens married Margarete Backenköhler, daughter of the Geheimen Sanitätsrat ("Privy Counselor on Hygiene", honorary title given to a distinguished doctor) Dr. Gerhard Backenköhler, in the summer of 1929. She was 27 at the time of the wedding and the sister of Otto Backenköhler. Admiral Otto Backenköhler was Lütjens' chief of staff at the Fleet-Command (24 October 1939 – 31 July 1940). A year later, their first son, Gerhard, was born on 31 August 1930 in Swinemünde. The marriage produced a second son, named Gunther after his father, on 28 August 1932 in Berlin. Their daughter Annemarie was born on 27 August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Less than a month after Lutjens' death, his wife gave birth to their fourth child, Peter.
