Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. On 24 February 1940, without prior warning, M-1 rammed and sank four Esbjerg based Danish trawlers, Ejjam (East 92), Gerlis (East 456), Mercator (East 348) and Polaris (East 504) in the vicinity of the Dogger Bank. Bartels reported to his superiors that no one was rescued due to "military reasons".
16 fishermen from the then neutral Denmark lost their lives.
He was transferred to command the Kleinkampfverbände (small combat units) and after a training course was appointed leader of the Kleinkampf-Flottille 261 (261st Biber flotilla), operating the midget submarine Biber, in August 1944. After the war ended Bartels was retained in British custody and was assigned to a Minenräumkommando (German Mine Sweeping Administration), where he was killed in an accident near Rendsburg on 31 July 1945.
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