Kriegsmarine Auxiliary Cruisers

By Gordon Williamson

Despite the popularity of the U-boats and larger surface vessels like the Bismarck and the Graf Spree, the vast majority of vessels within the Kriegsmarine served in the coastal forces. Though the public may generally have forgotten these smaller ships, many gave crucial service during the war and continued to serve decades after VE day, either in the German Navy or in the navies of the victorious Allies. Indeed, Kriegsmarine minesweepers and their German crews, still in their old uniforms with the swastikas simply removed, continued to serve after 1945 under the control of the Royal Navy, engaged in the dangerous but necessary task of clearing old wartime minefields.

The ships and boats included in the coastal forces ranged from such minesweepers to torpedo boats, patrol boats and blockade breakers. These latter were merchant vessels, whose daunting task was to evade the Allied warships to bring essential supplies into Germany. Also included in the coastal forces was Hitler's personal yacht, the Ostwind. This book tells the often-forgotten story of the vessels that formed the backbone of the Kriegsmarine, and combines fascinating anecdotes, detailed technical information, and full-color artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781782000013

Gordon Williamson

Gordon Williamson is a retired civil servant who spent several years working for the Royal Military Police (TA). He has written over 60 military books, including a number of titles for Osprey: ELI 183 U-boat Tactics in World War II, MAA 434 World War II German Police Units etc. Amongst his primary interests are the German Navy in World War II, U-Boats, and the Military Police forces of the Allied and Axis armies. He lives near Edinburgh in Scotland.

Reviews for Kriegsmarine Auxiliary Cruisers

[setnahkt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Disappointing; Kriegsmarine Auxiliary Cruisers is full of errors, or at least at odds with other references. Author Gordon Williamson is described in the inside cover blurb as specializing in Third Reich decorations and seems to spend an inordinate amount of time describing the Auxiliary Cruiser War Badge (there’s a picture of the badge, a picture of a document awarding the badge, a picture of a seaman wearing the badge, and a picture of Kapitän zur See Bernhard Rogge of the Atlantis wearing the unique Badge with Diamonds) rather than the ships themselves. In the error department (I’m most familiar with Atlantis and Kormoran; there may be other errors about other ships):
*HMAS Sydney, victim of the Kormoran, is listed as a “heavy cruiser”; she was a Perth-class light cruiser with 6” guns.
*Atlantis is described in a caption as “the most successful [raider] to survive” while in fact (correctly reported in the main text) she was sunk by HMS Devonshire in the South Atlantic in 1941.
*Kriegsmarine Auxiliary Cruisers says the prize Ole Jacob was sent into Kobe; Sea Raider Atlantis says she was sent to Yokohama.
*The color illustrations of Orion and Atlantis appear to be reversed; the ship identified by the caption as Orion is shown with her 150mm guns in below-deck level mounts concealed by hull panels, with four of the six guns ahead of the bridge; while other sources have this arrangement used on Atlantis. The ship identified in the caption as Atlantis is shown with seven 150mm guns in turrets, three concealed by fake deckhouses and four by side panels; she is also shown with two quadruple trainable torpedo mounts. This doesn’t match descriptions of either Atlantis or Orion but is closer to Orion. Further, the supposed Atlantis has Beemsterdijk painted on her side, which is an alias used by the Orion.
*The caption for Kormoran correctly describes her as having six torpedo tubes. However, the illustration shows her with two trainable quadruple mounts; in fact she had two trainable double mounts and two submerged tubes.
I expect if I was more familiar with the other ships, I might find more errors as well. This is exceptionally annoying in a New Vanguard/Osprey publication, since these are not cheap.