THE GERMAN NAVY IN WORLD WAR II

by Robert Jackson

Brown Books
Bradley's Close
74-77 White Lion Street
London N1 9PF
ISBN 1-897884-48-6

Military Book Club Price $43 (Cdn)

By Bob Pearson

Following the end of WW1, Germany was left with a small navy that was more suited to coastal defence than global projection of national aims. All but two of their large ships were either scuttled at Scapa Flow, or split among the victorious allies. They were also forbidden to construct submarines or have naval aviation. In 1925 the light cruiser Emden was launched and the Kreigsmarine began on a new program of rebuilding that over the next 20 years would see it grow to include the two battleships that so transfixed allied planners and the submarine force that so nearly won the "Battle of the Atlantic", before it was once more destroyed or dispersed amongst its conquerors.

A new book out on the German Kreigsmarine is this volume by Robert Jackson. Within its 156 pages it covers all the major combatants of the DKM - minus the smaller R-Boats and other coastal escorts. Beginning with the reduced 1920's navy, Jackson describes the rebirth of the Kriegsmarine from its secret dealings with Finland and Turkey to design submarines, to the rationale of the 'pocket battleship'.

A listing of the contents shows the following chapters within

Introduction: Rebirth Of A Navy
1/ The Commerce Raiders
2/ Germany's Battleships
3/ The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
4/ The Heavy and Light Cruiser Forces
5/ Destroyer Forces
6/ Torpedo Boats: "Maids Of All Work"
7/ S-Boats: "Challenge OF The Channel"
8/ U-Boats: "Weapon That Almost Succeeded"

Each chapter describes the various ship types concerned, and then goes on to give the operational histories and fates of each ship. Within each section are numerous colour profiles and photographs to illustrate the various ships. The illustrations come from three different studios and vary in their quality. only one or two impress me with their technical ability. . and even then the colours are amusing . .. . and more to the point there are details of them that are incorrectly illustrated. the one profile that did impress me was of Z-23 .. . it is nicely done, but flawed in that she is shown with a knuckle bow whereas it was actually a strake to reduce spray on the deck. For those who note such things Bismarck is shown with yellow turret tops.

Conclusion

As an overview of the ships of the DKM, I feel that this is a passable introduction to the reader with little knowledge of the subject, however there are many errors in both text and captions (ie the first Gneisenau was lost at Jutland in 1916) that tend to make its value to this audience of dubious use. Those with a more thorough knowledge will find little new here.