Detmers joined the Reichsmarine in 1921 and served on the battleships Hannover and Elsass. He was educated on the sail training shipNiobe and also served on Berlin. Detmers became a sublieutenant on the cruiser Emden. From 1926 to 1928, he served on the Albatross. In 1927, he was promoted to lieutenant. From 1930 to 1932, he served as staff officer and was then stationed on the cruiser Köln, on which he visited Australia in 1933.[6]
In 1934, he served on torpedo boats and destroyers of the Reichsmarine. In October 1938, he was in command of the destroyer Hermann Schoemann and participated in Operation Weserübung in April to June 1940.
In July 1940, Detmers became captain of the commerce raider Kormoran, and captured or destroyed 11 enemy merchant ships. On 19 November 1941 Kormoran was intercepted by HMAS Sydney. Detmers tried to pose as a Dutch merchant ship. He allegedly lacked the necessary naval codes, however, and was finally forced to engage Sydney.[7] Detmers sank the Australian cruiser in battle off Western Australia. His own ship was severely damaged and had to be scuttled,[8] after which Detmers was captured and became a prisoner of war (POW).[3]
Detmers' Prisoner of War Service and Casualty Form
From 1941 to January 1947, Detmers was held as a POW at HM Prison Dhurringile. While a prisoner, he wrote a coded account of the battle between HMAS Sydney and German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran that survived the war.[9][failed verification]
Detmers tried to escape Australian captivity with other members of his crew, through a tunnel and then hoped to capture a sailboat to get to Indonesia; however, the attempt was unsuccessful. Later during his imprisonment, he suffered a stroke.[3]
Detmers returned to Germany in 1947 and was released from British captivity in Munster. Due to his stroke, he was ineligible for service in the post-war German navy. In the early 1950s he married Ursula Reinhardt, daughter of a Protestant pastor. They had no children and he died in Rahlstedt, Hamburg in 1976. Detmers wrote a book about his Kormoran experiences,[1] which was translated into English.[2]
^ abFellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 - 1945: die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945: The Holders of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas. p. 135. ISBN978-3-7909-0284-6. OCLC1463536895.
^ abScherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Ranis: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN978-3-938845-17-2. OCLC213394371.
^Nicholson, Ian (29 February 2000). "Captain Detmers' book revisited by a member"(PDF). Quarterly Newsletter (78, March 2000). Palmyra: Australian Association of Maritime History: 7–8. ISSN1440-5164. Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 May 2008. Admiral Doenitz in his memoirs of 1959, the same year Deters' book was published, states they were able to read most signals giving the position of British ships, convoys and submarines, and this was a very great advantage, especially as it was not suspected that the codes were being broken.
