Theodor Krancke

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Theodor Krancke
Krancke (left) with General Walther Buhle and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Born	(1893-03-30)30 March 1893 Magdeburg, German Empire
Died	18 June 1973(1973-06-18) (aged 80) Wentorf bei Hamburg, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1919)  Weimar Republic (to 1933)  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Imperial German Navy  Reichsmarine  Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1912–45
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	Cruiser Admiral Scheer
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Theodor Krancke (30 March 1893 – 18 June 1973) was a naval commander (admiral) of Nazi Germany during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

Under the command of Krancke, during the five-month-long raiding cruise, the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer sank 13 merchant ships, one armed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay, and captured three merchant ships representing 115,195 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied and neutral shipping.

During the Allied Invasion of Normandy Krancke, as Commander-in-Chief of Navy Group Command West headquartered in Paris, controlled all German naval vessels in France, as well as the various land-based naval units and the naval coastal artillery and anti-aircraft batteries along the French Atlantic coast.