Description
Die Kriegsmarine
Heft 2 · Berlin, zweites Januarheft 1942
Marine-Verlag Heinrich Beenken, Berlin C2, Wallstraße 17–18
16 pages scanned. Instant PDF download.
Subtitled „Deutsche Marine-Zeitung“; „Herausgegeben mit Unterstützung des Oberkommandos der Kriegsmarine“; cover price 25 Pfennig frei Haus.
Cover Page
Caption: „Vernichtung der „Prince of Wales“ und der „Repulse“ (im Vordergrund) durch die Japaner“ (“Destruction of the ‘Prince of Wales’ and the ‘Repulse’ (foreground) by the Japanese”).
Subject: Dramatic painted scene of the British battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse sinking under Japanese air attack off Malaya, with an attacking torpedo bomber overhead.
Location: Off Kuantan, Malaya (South China Sea).
Photo credit: Zeichnung: W. Zeeden.
Major Headlines & Content
Das Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes für Kapitän z. S. Krüder † (The Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross for Captain Krüder †) — Reports the posthumous award of the Oak Leaves to Kapitän zur See Ernst-Felix Krüder, commander of the auxiliary cruiser „Pinguin“, killed with most of his crew when the raider was sunk by the British heavy cruiser „Cornwall“ in the Indian Ocean after sinking or capturing 200,000 BRT of Allied shipping. Companion photo of Kapitänleutnant Mengersen, a U-boat commander awarded the Knight’s Cross. Photo credits: Foto Wb, Foto Scherl.
Versenkung des britischen Flugzeugträgers »Ark Royal« (Sinking of the British aircraft carrier ‘Ark Royal’) — Short item with a photograph of the torpedoed carrier Ark Royal under tow by a British destroyer east of Gibraltar following its sinking by a German U-boat in the Mediterranean. Photo credit: Foto Wb.
Hongkong – Das Sonnenbanner weht über dem Hafen (Hong Kong – The rising-sun flag flies over the harbour) — Tokyo dispatch of 20 December 1941 announcing the fall of Hong Kong to Japanese forces, ending British colonial rule over the territory. Photo credit: Foto Scherl.
Die Schlachtschiffneubauten der USA (The USA’s new battleship construction) — Critical technical analysis of new American battleships – the „Washington“, „North Carolina“ and „Massachusetts“ – commissioned since May 1941, including full technical data, armament and armour details, framed as evidence of US economic imperialism. Author: Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Höflich. Photo credits: Fotos Wb, Scherl, AP.
Japans Marine versenkte: – Amtlicher japanischer Abschlußbericht (The Japanese Navy sank: – Official Japanese final report) — Photo gallery of Allied battleships lost at Pearl Harbor and off Kuantan (Prince of Wales, Repulse, West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma), accompanied by the official Japanese Imperial Headquarters report (Tokyo, 18 December 1941) claiming five U.S. battleships sunk, three damaged, and 450 U.S. aircraft destroyed. Photo credits: Foto Atl., PBZ, Wb, Archiv Busch.
Die USA-Kriegsmarine (The US Navy) — Two-page annotated photomontage identifying the ships of the United States fleet by class and name, cross-referenced to the Japanese loss report. Photo credit: Archiv F. O. Busch.
Flugzeugträger (Aircraft carriers) — Essay on the strategic role and vulnerability of aircraft carriers in the war at sea, reviewing British carrier losses (Courageous, Royal Oak, Glorious, Ark Royal) and German successes against the type, including the Bismarck’s sinking by carrier-launched torpedo aircraft. Author: Konteradmiral Lützow.
Flugzeugträger und ihre Verwendung in der britischen Flotte (Aircraft carriers and their use in the British fleet) — Illustrated technical spread explaining British carrier flight operations – launch and landing procedure, escort screening, and evasive manoeuvring against air attack – with labelled aircraft (Blackburn Skua, Hawker Osprey). Illustration signed Walter Zeeden, 19.6.41.
Deutscher Hilfskreuzer im Kampf (German auxiliary cruiser in battle) — First-person narrative account of a German auxiliary cruiser’s dawn engagement with and destruction of a much larger armed British auxiliary cruiser in the Atlantic, as told to the correspondent by a naval officer aboard. Author: Kriegsberichter Hermann Rink. Photo credits: Foto OKM, Foto A.P.
Spähtruppunternehmen zur See (Naval reconnaissance patrol operations) — Account of small German motor-boat units carrying out minesweeping, patrol and reconnaissance missions along the Baltic coast and around Soviet-held islands in the Moon Sound, including a tense night approach past enemy-held Moon Island. Author: Kriegsberichter Werner Hartmann.
Aus der Seekiste (Sea Chest miscellany)
Die Bücherkiste — Book review column covering new naval and wartime titles, including F. O. Busch’s „Die Kriegsmarine an der Kanalküste“ and „Unsere Schnellboote im Kanal“, Wilhelm Ziegler’s „Großdeutschlands Kampf“, R. v. Volkmann-Leander’s fairy-tale collection „Vom unsichtbaren Königreiche“, Hans Schadewaldt’s „Was will Roosevelt?“, and the reference annual „Weyer, Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten 1941/42“. Author: F. O. Busch.
Humor und Rätsel (Humour and Puzzles)
Humour column — Four short military jokes: „Besichtigung“, „Der Schnarcher“, „Vorstellung“ and „Instruktionsstunde“.
Puzzles — A Silbenrätsel (syllable puzzle) by H. Brodführer and a Rösselsprung (knight’s-move puzzle) by Gustav Gölz, plus the solution to the previous issue’s Netzrätsel; no solutions recorded here.
Other Content
Advertisements — Agfa, Dr. Kurt Herberts, Ing. Paul Hoffmann & Co., Uniformen Seidler & Mannstein, Rud. Hoffers, Fasan Solingen, Uniformen B. Hamkens, Lampen-Borchers, Bayrisches Kabelwerk (Bayka), Gustav Metzler, C. Koehn Stettin, Hautz & Schmidt, Richard Schönborn, Franz Schilbach, Gustav Schulz, Stettiner Oderwerke, W. & M. Witt, J. H. Jaeger & Eggers, Heinr. Jung & Sohn, J. D. Flügger, Gottfried Hagen Akt.-Ges., Vereinigte Aluminiumfabriken, J. Tischendorf, Vauen Pfeifenfabrik, Janssen & Mordhorst-Werkstätten, Togal Tabletten, Hohner, Melabon, Efasit Puder, Emil Fritz-Betriebe Bremen, J. Robrecht Kiel, Holst’s Hotel, Nikolai Hohwü, Molslahn, Continental Hansa-Hotel Kiel, Böninger Tabak, Sonnal Klingen, Eusovit, Lambostin-Lecithin, Nerventee, Biotamin, Tintenkuli, Greiling Zigaretten, Rasiquick, Adox Film, Edgar T. Schneider, TraumaPlast.
Reference chart — Back-page comparative silhouette chart „Flugzeugträger“ listing Japanese, British and American aircraft carriers by name, marked as in service, under construction, or planned. Illustration: W. Zeeden.