- At
the start of the Second World War, the German navy, Kriegsmarine was not fully
prepared what lied ahead. Before the war, the whole strategy was based to the
assumption that there would not be any military confrontation with Great Britain
in the near future. France and Poland were thought to be the most likely enemies
and thus the naval construction program was directed towards this kind of
picture, keeping in mind the strengths and weaknesses of those two countries.
- Possible engagement with a naval power nations was thought to be possible in late 1940, but not before that. The Z-plan which was being carried out to equip Kriegsmarine would have been completed by that time. However, after the year 1938 the possible action against Great Britain started to loom in the distance and the naval construction program was speeded up. When the war finally started, Kriegsmarine wasn't equipped to face the mighty of the Royal Navy, navy that held together a vast empire, an empire where the sun never settled.
- During the early years of the war, Kriegsmarine managed to achieve some great success and victories. The invasion of Norway most likely being a best example. Also the German U-boots nearly achieved their goal of strangling the British economy. However, the Allied technological advantage was growing constantly as was their numbers and in the mid 1943, the happy times for the U-boot crews was over.
- When the war finally was over, virtually no Kriegsmarine existed anymore. Only two of the major warships were still operational. The rest of the ships had either been sunk or destroyed to their bases by the Allied air power or by their own crews.
- Between 1939 to 1945, some 1,5 million men served in the Kriegsmarine. From these, over 65 000 were killed, over 100 000 were wounded and over 20 000 missing.
- The book in question is quite interesting. It shows many ships from which I haven't been even aware that those have existed. As that's the case, many of the ships launch and commissioned dates are unknown to me as well as their fates. If anyone can offer me information regarding those ships, please send me an email. I would really appreciate all information I can get about those unknown ships. The book also contains drawn pictures about the Kriegsmarine vessels and among these drawn pictures are the ships which were not completed at that time: Graf Zeppelin the only German carrier which was never completed and also the battleship Tirpiz which was sunk to a Norwegian fjord. What's interesting, that the book doesn't contain any note about the battleship Bismarck, which was already well under way at the time of the printing of this book.
WRITTEN BY: Dr. Paul Reibisch with the permission from Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine
COPYRIGHT: J.F.Lehmanns Verlag, München - Berlin
FOREWORD BY: Grossadmiral Dr.h.c. Raeder, Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine, 29th of June 1940.
- Move to: Thumbnails to see the pictures.
