The War in View #13

Captain Hans Langsdorff, Graf Spee, Montevideo, Argentina.

 

Lützow.

 

Lützow.

 

Lützow in the Stettin Canal, April 1945.

 

Prinz Eugen, Brest, May 1941, after the Bismarck episode.

 

Prinz Eugen, 1945.

 

Prinz Eugen. The dark camouflage paint on the bow is intended to foreshorten the ship; note the false bow wave just behind the camouflage.

 

U9, a Type IIB, pre-war.

 

U-505 after its capture flying an American flag.

 

The American boarding party on the deck of the U-505 working on getting a line attached to the USS Guadalcanal so the U-boat can be towed to the nearest Allied port.

 

The boarding party hoists the American flag on the conning tower of the U-505.

 

Boarding party from USS Pillsbury working to secure a tow line to U-505’s bow in the western Atlantic, 4 June 1944. Note the large United States flag flying from the submarine’s periscope.

 

A salvage party from USS Guadalcanal on the captured German submarine U-505, 4 June 1944 in the eastern Atlantic. Note the twin 20mm anti-aircraft guns and the seashell insignia on the tower.

 

Capture of U-505.

 

Admiral Daniel Gallery on board conning tower of U-505. “Can Do Junior” painted in red on front of conning tower. “Can Do” was the escort aircraft carrier Guadalcanal’s motto. Submarine’s crest is on both sides of conning tower. American flag and German battle flag flies from radio mast.

 

Tirpitz.

 

Gneisenau.

 

Gneisenau.

 

Tirpitz.

 

Tirpitz in camouflage.

 

Tirpitz.

 

Bismarck, 1940.

 

Bismarck, 1940.

 

Bismarck battleship turrets Anton and Bruno.

 

Bismarck.

 

Bismarck.

 

Gneisenau was a German capital ship, built at Kiel and launched on 8 December 1936. Completed in May 1938, the ship was armed with a main battery of nine 28 cm (11 in) C/34 guns in three triple turrets. On the 26 February, the British launched an air attack; one bomb penetrated her armored deck and exploded in the ammunition magazine. In 1945, she was sunk as a blockship, to prevent access in the seaport of Gotenhafen (Gdynia) in German-occupied Poland.

 

Admiral Graf Spee in flames after being scuttled in the River Plate Estuary off Montevideo, Uruguay.

 

Admiral Graf Spee in flames off Montevideo harbor after being scuttled by Captain Langsdorff.

 

The forward 11-inch guns of the German battleship Gneisenau. Her sister Scharnhorst is in the background.

 

Gneisenau the North Atlantic with the heavy cruiser, Admiral Hipper, in background, June 1940.

 

Practice salvo from Tirpitz while on her way to Norway in early 1942.

 

An Axis convoy steams into Tripoli.

 

Schnellboote.

 

German Schnellboote. HMS Beehive, at Felixstowe with Rear Admiral Karl Bruning on board one of the two S boats surrendering, 13 May 1945.

 

Schnellboote S26 and S38.

 

Schnellboote signal.

 

Tsingtau, April 1940.

 

Tsingtau commissioning in September 1934.

 

Launch of Tirpitz.

 

Type XXI U-boat built by Blohm und Voss.

 

Schnellbootes S26 S38 Finland.

 

Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Hitler and Raeder at Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Hitler at Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Hitler at Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Hitler at Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Hitler at Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Hitler at Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Bismarck at Kiel in Summer of 1940.

 

Lookout on Type VII U-boat.

 

Type VII U-boat.

 

Type VII U-boat.

 

Type VII U-boat.

 

U-boat with sailing ship Gorch Fock.

 

Sail training, Kriegsmarine.

 

Sail training, Kriegsmarine.

 

Sail training, Kriegsmarine.

 

Sail training, Kriegsmarine.

 

Sail training, Kriegsmarine.

 

Hitler and Raeder, 4 January 1939.

 

Type VII U-boats.

 

Kiel in the Summer of 1940.

 

Gorch Fock I in Kiel in the Summer of 1940.

 

Admiral Hipper in May 1945.

 

Kiel in Summer of 1940.

 

Admiral Graf Spee in Hamburg in 1939.

 

Prinz Eugen in October 1940.

 

Prinz Eugen at Kiel in March 1942.

 

Prinz Eugen at Kiel in September 1940.

 

Prinz Eugen at Kiel in September 1940.

 

Prinz Eugen in Baltic in September 1940.

 

S26 of 1.Schnellboot Flotilla at Abo in August 1940.

 

Scharnhorst commissioning.

 

Scharnhorst at Kiel in the Summer of 1940.

 

Schnellboote S138 at Le Havre in June 1944.

 

Schnellboote S138 at Le Havre in June 1944.

 

Schnellboote Diesel.

 

A VII U-boat returns to base with severe damage after being attacked with depth charges.

 

A captured member of the crew of the sunk German submarine U175, the senior motor engineer Otto Herzke (maschinengefreiter Otto Herzke), lifted out of the water, aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Duane. Atlantic, April 20, 1943.

 

IJN seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru, c. 1942, likely taken from the Kimikawa Maru. Note the 'X' tail code on the "Jake".

 

Japanese seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru, with a deck full of planes.

 

Admiral Charles Lockwood’s Pacific submarine force annihilated Japan’s merchant marine, cutting off the Home Islands from oil and reducing its population to starvation. If a ship was proceeding in the wrong direction, the Navy sank it.

 

Char 2C heavy tank "99".

 

British carrier in French service.

 

Bren Gun Carrier "Cameroun" in French service, North Africa.

 

French troops on their way to the fighting lines in Tunisia shake hands with American soldiers at the rail station in Oran, Algeria, North Africa, on December 2, 1942.

 

Char B1 bis in German hands, 1940.

 

Char B1 Bis tanks return to liberate France, 1944. The 13ème Régiment de Dragons was created in July 1944 and operated recovered and recaptured French armor. Forty B1 bis in various conditions were recovered throughout western France, many of them at the Renault factory where the Wehrmacht had planned to convert them into flamethrower vehicles. These were stripped for parts, and in the spring of 1945 the 13e Dragons operated 15 B1 bis, as well as 17 recovered SOMUA S 35. Shown is Char B1 bis VERCORS.

 

Crowds gather on Paris' Champs Elysees as American-built tanks and halftracks of the French 2nd Armored Division roll past in celebration of the city's liberation on 26 August 1944.

 

A French train transport of Renault UE after being bombed by Stukas, 1940.

 

French officer and soldiers inspecting German glass mine, circa 1944-45.

 

Chasseurs Alpins carrying their skis on the march, Norway, May 1940.

 

Indian motorcycles and side cars from the 97e GRDI (part of the Foreign Legion). The men are armed with MAS36 rifles and the LMGs are FM Mle1924/29s.

 

French sound locator by Barbier, Bénard and Turenne. It is shown here being evaluated at the Waalsdorp research station in Holland in the 1930s, for possible use by the Dutch army.