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Ludwig von Reuter

Ludwig von Reuter (9 February 1869-18 December 1943) was Admiral of the Imperial German Navy during World War I.

Biography[]

Ludwig von Reuter was born on 9 February 1869 in Guben, Brandenburg, Prussia into a military family, and his father was killed in action during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1885, he became a cadet in the Imperial German Army, and he became a captain in 1910. Reuter would command ships at the Battle of Dogger Bank, the Battle of Jutland, and the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight, and he was given command of the high seas fleet after Admiral Franz von Hipper refused to surrender to the United Kingdom's Royal Navy after the 11 November 1918 armistice. After the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, Reuter had 74 ships scuttled, and he was held as a prisoner of war in Britain. In late January 1920, he returned to Germany, and he moved to Potsdam after retiring from the navy. In 1939, Adolf Hitler had him promoted to Admiral in the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany, and Reuter died in 1943 at the age of 74.

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