Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. From 1961 to 1963 he was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Commander-in-Chief of the German Fleet of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, id est (that is) the "Flag Officer Germany" of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (CINCGERFLEET). Smidt was born in Neuenhaus, district of Grafschaft Bentheim, in the Province of Hanover on 30 August 1903, the son of pastor Reinhard Petrus Wolbertus Smidt.
He began his naval career with the Reichsmarine on 31 March 1922 as a member "Crew 1922" (the incoming class of 1922) after graduation from the humanistische Gymnasium (humanities-oriented secondary school) in Hameln with his Abitur (diploma).
Smidt married Ruth Kühl in 1930. Smidt joined the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) with pastor Hermann Steen in Holthusen, district of Weener, after making an official visit to the Emsland-concentration camp Esterwegen near Papenburg in 1935.
Bibliography.