World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseMinesweeper M612 as commissioned into service very late in the war, on 1 Apr 1945, and was assigned to 12th Minesweeper Flotilla. On 4 May 1945, the ship was ordered to set sail for the German Baltic coast line to evacuate German troops surrounded by the Soviets. On the next day, some of the crew mutinied, locking the officers in a cabin. Suspecting that the end of the war was imminent, they set sail for Flensburg, Germany, the temporary capital of Nazi Germany after the death of Adolf Hitler, so that the crew would not needlessly lose their lives when the end was near. They were stopped by a German torpedo boat off the coast of southeastern Denmark, and the crew members responsible for the mutiny were arrested. A quick military trial was held, with 11 crew members found guilty, and all 11 were executed aboard M612 in the evening. Their bodies were dumped into the sea; 7 bodies would drift ashore later and were given a proper burial. After the war, M612 remained in service, clearing mines under the German Mine Sweeping Administration, an organization under the control of the Allied occupation administration. She was broken up for scrapping in the United Kingdom in 1948.

Minesweeper M612 Interactive Map

M612 Operational Timeline

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1.  Alan John Chanter says:
21 Mar 2023 05:47:26 AM

On Saturday 5th May 1945, eleven German sailors were executed at Sonderborg. They had committed mutiny aboard the minesweeper M612 by locking their officers inside to sail to Flensburg. But they were discovered by German torpedo boats and captured. Although the war was only hours away from ending, Grand Admiral Karl Dӧnitz, Hitler’s successor, still needed to display harsh discipline over his armed forces.