Schlachtschiff Bismarck | Das wahre Gesicht eines Schiffes
 

Battleship Bismarck

The True Face of a Warship

Over 75 years ago the pride of the German Kriegsmarine sank, taking the majority of the crew with her. Many were young men who had joined the navy a short time before, fresh out of basic and advanced training, who had a short but harrowing deployment behind them. Success, good luck, bad luck and twists of fate had been their lot. Then on 27 May 1941 it was over. Fatally crippled by a torpedo hit on her rudder which left her unable to maneuver and surrounded by enemy ships, Bismarck was sunk, a fate shared by countless ships on both sides during the war. Yet with the Bismarck something fascinating, something special lingers and makes her famous.

Much has been written about the Bismarck since then, and the ship itself is almost always the focus. It is the crew that provides a ship with its true identity and image. We wish to illuminate this aspect of the Battleship Bismarck in this area. We will attempt to portray the lives of the sailors aboard the Bismarck, what they experienced, where they came from, and what life on board was really like. Who were these men, and where did they come from? Why did they join the Kriegsmarine? What did they think of the mighty ship? Who were their mates? These are just some of the questions we try to answer in speaking with survivors, family members of those who died and eye witnesses.

An extensive work emerged which we are publishing in at least seven volumes. The volumes present as far as possible the individual stories and fates of the crew members. We tell the stories of over 600 crewmembers who served in different divisions on board from high-ranking officers to lower grade enlisted men.

 
 

Volume 1.1

Ship’s Command, Seamen (officers and non-commissioned officers)

The 2016 published 368 pages long book focus on the ship's command and the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Seamen. We tell the Stories of 68 crewmembers, like the Boatswain's Mate Josef Würzinger, who married a few weeks before sailing and died after just 45 days of marriage or the Boatswain's Mate Gerhard Oesper, who went to the navy to see the world and enjoyed his service time. Besides the exciting stories of the crewmembers we present present their workplace which espacially includes the ship's artillery, anti aircraft guns and fire directory in an large chapter.

In November 2019 we published an updated version of the book with 48 pages more and a total of 416 pages. Updated and six new stories of crewmembers are included.

All books are only available in german language so far.

 
 

Volume 1.2

Seaman (men A to L)

With volume 1.2 of our book series, we continue to tell the extensive story of seaman personnel. With more than 1,000 men, this made up more than half of the entire crew and fills three books of our series. The volume 1.2, published on May 27, 2020 for the 79th anniversary of the sinking of the Bismarck, alone has 400 pages and is therefore thicker than the first edition of its predecessor, Volume 1.1. In it we tell the personal stories of the sailors with the surnames starting with A to L. It contains the exciting stories of 134 crew members, such as that of the young Austrian Alois Bacher who was looking for the exoticism of seafaring or the experienced Leading Seaman Kurt Langerwisch from Brandenburg, who survived the sinking with good luck and later became a teacher and school director in the GDR.

As already known from the previous parts, the portraits are preceded by the corresponding section from the crew list. Around 435 images and technical drawings illustrate the book, which is available (in german language only) on our website for € 33.50.

 
 

Volume 1.3

Seaman (men M to Z)

Volume 1.3 ends our small series in the book series on the history of seaman personnel. The new volume comprises 320 pages and tells the stories of 85 crew members of seaman career I with the surnames M to Z. For example the story of the young East Prussian Ernst Mareck who learned the trade of gardener before he volunteered for the Navy and met a girl during his training in Danzig. Or that of Heinz Ziegler from Lübeck, who lost both his parents as a child and grew up with his sister at his grandparents. While his sister emigrated to relatives in America before the impending war, he joined the Navy.

As already known from the previous parts, the portraits are preceded by the corresponding section from the crew list. Around 420 images and technical drawings illustrate the book, which is available (in german language only) on our website for € 33.50.

 
 

Volume 2

Administrative and Medical Personnel

Gunnery Mechanics and Pyrotechnicians

Navigation, Intelligence Personnel, Ship’s Band

After long work, our second book "Battleship Bismarck - The True Face of a Ship Volume 2" was published in May 2013. On 340 pages, we present the stories of 84 crew members from the specialist career. Including many exciting stories, such as that of the Navy Surgeon Dr Hans-Joachim Krüger, who worked as a medical missionary in the Westafrican bush before his time in the Navy, or that of Oberleutnant (W) Bruno Köhler, who swapped command with a friend to get on the Bismarck. Click on the book to take a look inside and read some selected stories under the Crew tab.

Volume 2 is about Bismarck's specialists. These were the so-called functionaries of the 7th Division, with the administrative staff, the carpenters and medical personnel and doctors under the Navy Surgeon Dr Hans Gunther Busch. But these were also the gunnery mechanics and pyrotechnicians of the 8th Division, as specialists in dealing with weapons technology and ammunition. In addition, there were the intelligence personnel of the 9th Division with the signal personnel for the exchange of optical messages, for example between two ships, the radio operators, for example the radio operator Helmut Baltz, who had survived the sinking of the destroyer Georg Thiele, and the teleprinters. The navigation section marked out the course. There were also musicians on board, such as the young sailor Albin Eggerstedt.

An introduction is dedicated to each of these interesting different sections, which introduces the section in detail, for example the ship's hospital and the battle aid stations.

All books are only available in german language so far.

 
 

Volume 3

Engineering Personnel

Aviation and Civilian Personnel

Fleet Staff, Fleet Observer Group, Prize Crews and Combat Correspondents

As the first book in the series "Battleship Bismarck - The True Face of a Ship" our Volume 3 was published in 2011, which dealt with the engineering personal, the additional staff with the on-board pilots and civilian employees as well as the special groups (Fleet Staff, Fleet observer Group, prize crews and war correspondents), who embarked on the Bismarck especially for the "Rheinübung" operation. Volume 3, which is available in a hardcover book for € 34.90, has 436 pages. It contains the stories of 114 crew members from the battleship Bismarck from the aforementioned departments. We tell, for example, the story of the Stoker 2nd Class Herbert Engmann from Hamburg St.-Pauli, who survived the sinking of the Karlsruhe, was assigned on the Bismarck and reassigned shortly before leaving port and thus survived, that of the commander Paul Ascher, who was the first admiral staff officer in the fleet staff served faithfully and even fled from the South American internment after the sinking of the Admiral Graf Spee, although he had to fear for his life in Germany as a so-called "half-Jew", or that of the young Stoker 3rd Class Richard Rebhan from Lindenau, who actually wanted to join the merchant marine and was just 17 years old when he died in the sinking.

The book is available (in german language only) from bookstores under ISBN 978-3-8448-0179-8, or directly from our website.

 
 

Volume 4

Civilian Personnel

So far we have not been able to draw a portrait of one of the 27 civilian employees on board who did their work on board the battleship as cooks, tailors, shoemakers, canteen salespeople or hairdressers and stewards. Volume 3 was published more than ten years ago with a section on civilian employees, but without a single portrait. That has now changed fundamentally. Thanks to the Federal Archives and other sources, we have now been able to research the stories of all 27 civilian employees and want to dedicate a somewhat narrower special volume to them.

We also want to present the various areas of work in detail and go into more detail about the recruitment of civilians in the Navy. So look forward to this completely different area of ​​Bismarck and the people who filled it with life.

All books are only available in german language so far.

 
 

Volume 5

Complementary portraits

Change of perspective

Volume 5 of our book series is currently in progress. In this we want to add further portraits of crew members, which we have been able to research in the meantime. In the book there will be very exciting stories across the sections of the ship. We tell, for example, the story of the naval shipyard engineer Heinrich Schlueter, who rose from a shipbuilding apprentice to high positions at the Wilhelmshaven naval shipyard and played a key role in the construction of the Tirpitz, or that of Helmut Keune, who survived the sinking of the Bismarck and was a prisoner of war when he had an accident as a lumberjack and became paralyzed. He stayed in Canada.

In addition, we want to dare a change of perspective and take a personal look at Bismarck from a different perspective. For example, from the small US coast guard cutter Modoc, which happened to encounter the Bismarck on May 24, 1941 when it was being attacked by British aircraft, or from the destroyer HMS Cossack, which took part in the hunt for the Bismarck. Contemporary witnesses share their personal memories with us and tell us how they experienced their encounter with the Bismarck.

All books are only available in german language so far.

 
 

Crewlist

Battleship Bismarck

May 27, 2021 marked the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the battleship Bismarck. We took this special day as an opportunity to remember the crew and compiled the crewlist of the Bismarck in a book.

The names and dates of the 2,261 crew members who were on board at the time of the "Rheinübung" operation can be found on 248 pages in an embossed linen cover. Including 116 survivors. In addition, seven crew members are named who died on board while they were on active duty.

But the book doesn't just list their names. There is also information about each crew member's birth and origin, rank, position on board, role number or military service. Footnotes refer to the military career or mentions in the literature including our own book series "Battleship Bismarck - The True Face of a Warship". The crew list of the battleship Bismarck complements the already published books in a meaningful way, offers an alphabetical overview and reminds of all the young men who lost their lives in the Atlantic 80 years ago.

The Crewlist is in german language but comes wtih an translation for the forward and last section.

 
 

Contact  |  Updates  |  Legal Notice  |  German

 

Crewlist

Volume 1.1

Volume 1.2

Volume 1.3

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5