January 2009

The Panzerjaeger the Kriegsmarine: the Schwere Kreuzer Prinz Eugen

Our main field of interest, writing of history, are the land units of the Wehrmacht, but the ships and men and equipped, have always had a special fascination for us, even as they have had some importance in our lives. Of all the ships, one has particularly affected because of its history and beauty of her profile: the Schwere Kreuzer Prinz Eugen. Aesthetically, its sleek profile and proportions of the superstructure goes well with the towers of 20.3 cm, which, relatively small size for a ship of this tonnage, made it sleek and streamlined its line. Moreover, in addition to the famous and tragic fate with the Bismarck, Prinz Eugen had been employed at the end of the war in largest - and least known - an operation of the Kriegsmarine, the Rettungsaktion, the attempt to save the inhabitants of the eastern provinces of Germany by the advance of the Red Army, also support their ground troops. In this action, which involved hundreds of ships of the Merchant Navy, from fishing vessels to cruise ships of KdF was used what remained of the Kriegsmarine from Schnellboot to Minesweepers from Torpedoboot Zerstörer to the crossroads. Some words that now seem pompous and bombastic as "honor," "supreme effort" or "Herculean effort" I think it can safely be cited in this context, given that more than 2,000,000 of refugees were evacuated, even using coal to ships like the battleship Schlesien, a veteran of World War I, the Admiral Burchard, Marine-Befelshaber Ostsee, organizer of the operation, he was seized with an attack of the constant stress, and that the Finally, in German ports affected devastated by Allied bombing, or the bottom of the Baltic, were all major German ships but one, just the Prinz Eugen, the "lucky ship" of the Navy. An overview of total sacrifice for their people - the hundreds of thousands of women, the elderly and children, saved from the sufferings of the Trek or the violence of the Red Army - that few can boast Marine. Then remember the Prinz Eugen, because a few times in the history of seafarers in war, the defeated achieve a victory as big as the one obtained from ships and men of Rettungsaktion in early 1945.

The Panzerjaeger the Kriegsmarine: the Schwere Kreuzer Prinz Eugen

Andrea Lombardi

The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of June 18, 1935 enacted, among other things, that the German naval power could not exceed 35% of the UK, considering separately the various classes of ships.
Then, as the British cruisers gave a base of 146,800 tonnes, the Kriegsmarine could possess up to five cruisers, for a total of 51,380 tons, armament guns
limited to 203 mm.
be noted that these agreements were reviewed by the British in 1937, allowing the Germans to be able to build more ships, in view of Russian intentions to equip its Navy of at least seven cruisers.
On July 9, 1935 were set cruisers Admiral Hipper and Blücher, launched in 1937, while in 1936 it was set Schwerer Kreuzer "J", launched August 22, 1938 by Magda von Horthy, wife of the Hungarian Regent Nicholas Horthy.
To christen the ship was chosen, initially, the name of von Teghettoff, the winner of the Battle of Lissa, not to offend the sensibilities of Italy was chosen instead as the great leader of the armies of the Habsburg Prince Eugene of Savoy, Prinz Eugen, exactly.
In 1939, he considered the idea of \u200b\u200bselling to Russia three heavy cruisers still incomplete, including the Prinz Eugen, but actually it was sold only Lützow.
In July 1940, the Prinz Eugen, not yet operational, was hit by RAF bombers on two separate occasions while he was at the berth in Kiel, where, August 1, 1940, was finally commissioned.
He then began training the crew, which continued without incident until April 22, 1941, when the Prinz Eugen was damaged by a magnetic mine, causing damage to the optic telemetry devices and pointing.
After fast repairs, May 18, 1941, the Prinz Eugen sailed from Gotenhafen under the command of Captain Helmuth Brinkmann, accompanying the Schlachtschiff Bismarck in his fateful trip.
On 23 May 1941, at the 0822 British cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk can see the two German ships in the Strait of Denmark, and start to follow them.
After a brief exchange of blows between the Bismarck and Norfolk, the English ships lost radar contact, radar shortly after the failure of Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen take the leading position.
On 24 May at 0347, the Suffolk resumes Radar contact with the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen, and a few hours after the battle cruiser Hood and the ship battleship Prince of Wales, under the command of Vice-Admiral Holland, make contact with the German heavy units.
At first Holland confuse the Bismarck with Prinz Eugen, concentrating its fire against the first two units, to further disadvantage for British ships to the German units were "crossing the T" of the English ones, allowing them to direct the shot across the main artillery on enemy ships, while Holland could not rely on so its superior firepower, they can only fire crew with the towers of his team. Moreover, given the strong similarity of the profile of the two German ships, the Prinz Eugen and the Bismarck was in front, due to a failure Radar to the smaller vessel, Holland focused on the shot Schwere Kreuzer, then, cleverly error, move the fire on Bismarck, losing precious minutes, having to readjust its sights. The British then Apiro fire already from a distance of 24 km, and save after save and fell into the sea a short distance from German ships, on board the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen, the officers and gunners waited with increasing anxiety the order to open the fire, while the distance decreases by the minute.
After the first British subject, Admiral Lutjens, from Bismarck, will give the order to open fire when the distance between the four vessels was equal to 20 km, concentrating fire on Hood, the first salvo to hit the British cruiser Prinz Eugen was fired from, the next shots were to sign the 38cm instead of the Bismarck, which caused catastrophic damage to the hood, making it sink in seconds.
The Prince of Wales recorded on board the impact of four bullets from 38cm to 20.3cm of Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen three, forcing the commander of the British ship survivors to break the contact.
The Guns of the Prinz Eugen had pulled into the brief clash 179 bullets and 66 by 20.3cm by 10.5cm.
At 1814, the two parted, the Bismarck going to meet his fate, the Prinz Eugen able to return to Brest June 1, 1941. The following month
Prinz Eugen was damaged by an RAF night bombing, 60 dead, including the First Officer Otto Stoos.

The February 11, 1942 the Prinz Eugen was one of the ships participating in Operation Cerberus-Donnerkeil, crossing the Channel in order to bring more German ships from French ports to those in Germany and Norway.
The transaction, very risky, involving ships Gneisenau, Prinz Eugen Scharnorst and, escorted by destroyers and Torpedoboote, proceeding in open corridors to minesweeper, while hunting from the air day and night, as well as the Junkers Ju 52 Radar disorder, waiting English reaction.
After long hours of sailing at 30 knots, the British finally responded by launching against the German team, led by Vice-Admiral Otto Ciliax, dozens of bombers and torpedo planes escorted by fighters, as well as torpedo boats and destroyers.
Artillery framed the Prinz Eugen and the destroyers HMS HMS Mackay Whitshed, forcing them to walk away, and struck the destroyer HMS Worster, who, even if ignited, could repair the port.
The Prinz Eugen, who fired dozens of artillery in the fighting major and minor, and up to 5,000 rounds of machine gun 2 cm and 3.7 cm, reached the designated anchorage, Brunsbüttel, on the morning of 13.
On February 21, will depart from Kiel, with the Admiral Scheer, to Norway, when it was torpedoed near Trondheim, February 23, the Trident submarine RN SS.
Severe damage was caused to the stern, subject to structural failure, then having to be removed to Kiel, where he will undergo the Prinz Eugen, on May 18, another air strike in the RAF: 27 and 19 torpedo bombers attacked, but caused no damage : the ship will be able to avoid the operation as many as 22 torpedoes!
remained in German waters for the remainder of 1942, the Prinz Eugen, along with Scharnorst, will attempt to overcome the close of the Kattegat, but being discovered by aerial reconnaissance and interrupting English the attempt.
From May 1943 to June 1944, the Prinz Eugen is used as a training ship, given the heavy restrictions given by Hitler to the operations of ships larger than the Navy.
The conduct of the war on the seas during this period, is entirely handed over to the U-boats and smaller vessels, from the Zerstörer Schnellboote.
But after a year of enforced inactivity of the larger units, the biggest challenge faced by the Kriegsmarine looming to the east to allow for the evacuation of refugees from the eastern provinces of Germany and support the units in the Heer and Waffen-SS in desperation fighting against the Russian army.
Naval units German, from cruisers to destroyers, up to the patrol vessels, vessels with armed motozattere to continue to take the sea from German ports, buried bomb raid by British and Americans, in defiance of Russian aviation and submarines, to load thousands of refugees from coastal cities of Prussia, whose landings often ended in pitched Russian artillery range, and sometimes also by direct fire against tank cannons.
On 7 June 1944, the Prinz Eugen was deployed for three weeks off Uto, September 4 and Finland concluded an armistice with Russia, the Prinz Eugen intervened, along with Zerstörer Torpedoboote and to ensure evacuation the units in the Heer in Lapland. In July
is formed Kampfgruppe 2, under the command of Vice-Admiral Thiele, consisting of the Prinz Eugen, from Zerstörer Z25, Z28, Z35 and Z36, T23 and T33 and Torpedoboote.
In August 1944 the ship is used in actions to support ground troops in the Gulf of Riga off Tukum, allowing you to reconnect with the German ground forces in Courland.
In October 1944, the Prinz Eugen Back in action: 10 to 15 of the same month the big guns of the crossing heavy fling dozens of broadsides against the Red Army units near Memel and Sworbe, in spite of the numerous attacks' Russian aviation.
Artillery Prinz Eugen 663 will pull the main bullets from 20.3 cm on 11 and 12, followed by 246 and 368 shots on 14 to 15. On 10 October the
Oberwachtmeister Dammert, radio communications officer shot in the direction of the Prinz Eugen, commanded by Fregattenkapitän Schmalenbach, contact an Advanced Artillery Observer (VB) on the floor and began to direct the shooting of 20.3 cm, when Soviet bombers attacked the ship, which, thanks to a series of abrupt maneuvers, the specialty of Kapitän zur See Reinick commander, managed to avoid being hit. The ship was called the Blue SS by the Russians, while the Landser, the ship that a group of dispersed armored Soviet after another with his trip, helping them in their desperate fight, became the Panzerjäger the Navy. Support operations continued until 28 October with the participation of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and Admiral Scheer and Lützow, with their triple towers of 28 cm, capable of the range of 35 kilometers. The first targets of the ships were placed at 15 km east of Memel, and were beaten all day long by 28 cm by 20.3 cm, and occasionally by 15 cm and 10.5 cm of the German ships, which were provided during the night anchored in Gotenhafen. More than 28 fire-support missions were performed by the Prinz Eugen October 10 to 15 in the area of \u200b\u200bMemel.

Osel During the fighting in the peninsula of Sworbe, Willy Meier, runner in the Panzerjäger-Abteilung 218. Infanterie-Division, wrote:

"The warships helped us with their big guns to the best of their abilities. The Russians attacked with tanks, and were turned back by heavy naval guns, directed by ground observers. We could see the silhouettes of ships at sea, and we could observe their prejudice and individual shots, which seemed to us as of the curtains or reddish balls of fire. I do not think we would not have done it without them. "

On 15 October, the Prinz Eugen spurs, in the mist, the light cruiser Leipzig, the two ships will be released only after fourteen hours of complex maneuvers. On 19 November
the Kampfgruppe 2 - Thiele, named after its commander, aboard the Prinz Eugen, and Kampfgruppe 1 - Rogge, commanded by Admiral Rogge, the Lützow, are en route to Osel, escorted by 6. Zerstörer-Flotilla and 3. Torpedoboot-Flotilla.
On 18 November the Soviet Eighth Army had launched its attack on the peninsula of Sworbe, and German naval units has intervened to provide fire support and to evacuate wounded soldiers, well only 22 to 23 November 4491.
The Prinz Eugen was noted for the accuracy of its artillery, infantry and concentrated bombardment of media and hitting the advancing Russian armored with a total of 514 strokes by 20.3 cm
Given the heavy losses in artillery German ship, the Russians suspended the attacks, while making aviation: the first attack of the Flak rejected by Prinz Eugen consisted of some forty aircraft, one of whom was shot down. Even a battery of 172 mm Russian tried to attack the German ships, but was destroyed by the Prinz Eugen after a few blanks.
On 20 November, while on board the Prinz Eugen, finished the last mission of fire, the gunners to secure the pieces and their ammunition, the local commander, the Generalleutnant Schirmer, sent the following radiogram to Kampfgruppe 2:
" The garrison of Festung Sworbe thanks for the effective support. The enemy suffered heavy losses as a result of the fire well guided. I would grateful if the troops would try hard to have additional fire support by 0730 tomorrow. "
From 0710 to 1500 of November 21, the Prinz Eugen, with its stock took a new firing position, hitting targets in the peninsula at Sworbe Turju.
The last action of the Prinz Eugen against Russian positions in Sworbe took place on November 23, with the artillery that struck many secondary batteries of field artillery Soviet Union, while the main artillery struck other targets reported by the VB to the ground. At
0810 was a first attack of four ground-attack aircraft Ilushin IL-2, escorted by two fighter jets, against a Torpedoboot of Commons, with the demolition of IL2. At 0820 four
come hunting 3./Jagdgeschwader 54, who struck another IL2 by a group of eight. At eight other IL2
0907, taking advantage of the clouds, take a dive attack against Kampfgruppe but affect only the foam left by the propellers of ships engaged in evasive maneuvers. At 0958
eight twin-engine bombers attacking from the average, dropping several bombs to 1001: the Prinz Eugen, which was launched at 22 knots, with a sharp turn avoids. Shortly after arriving
three torpedo bombers at low altitude: the Prinz Eugen approaches to the strikers to submit a lower target, and while the main and secondary guns continued to pull the designated ground targets, the anti- the ship and the stock rejects the air strike.
Another attack against an eight-IL2 Torpedoboot Creative Commons is not successful, as another air strike in 1035.
Clearly, the succession of air strikes was considered indicative of the Russians towards the firepower of the German ships, around 1100 it began the first large-scale attack on Russian troops: the artillery of the Prinz Eugen entered immediately into action following the directions of the observations made.
target of more attacks, the Prinz Eugen and Scheer, however, managed to cover the complete evacuation of Festung Sworbe, while a radio message from the Baltic Sea Eastern Command reported: "Your persistence in the face the lack of air cover has a notable advantage Sworbe. The fire support was precisely on target. "
In December 1944 are finally realigned guns, antiaircraft el'armamento improved with the installation of various weapons from 4 cm: the work will be completed in the first week of January 1945. The Prinz Eugen
Samland will therefore work to the end of January, firing in a dramatic crescendo, 855 artillery major, finally suspending operations support for lack of ammunition.
In March 1945, the Prinz Eugen back in action, claiming the last soldiers of the Wehrmacht in Gothenafen, Gdansk and Tiegenhoff. On April 1
undergoes yet another Soviet air attack, a rocket launched from an IL-2 Ilushin hit the cruiser, killing nine people and wounding 14 among the staff to pieces against. On this date in riservette twin towers are only forty hits by 20.3 cm, which will be sold out April 4, 1945, the last action of ground support equipment, from March to early April, the intersection had fired artillery rounds from 4871 well 20.3 cm by 10.5 cm and 2,500. On April 20, 1945, after another raid unscathed in the RAF, the Prinz Eugen reached Copenhagen, where it will remain moored until the end of war.
On 21 April he was awarded the Commander Reinick Ritterkreuz Eisernes der Kreuz-deserved recognition to Ship for its efforts in several months of uninterrupted operations provided in the operating conditions dramatic: just imagine the heavy Allied bombing of the ports where the ship docked, the continual sight of thousands of refugees fleeing the awareness of the Sailors of their small hopes to save, in the cold waters of the Baltic, in case of fire or sinking, and their anxiety for their loved ones on the floor, squeezed between the advancing enemy and bombings, the continuing attacks on Soviet ship when it was involved in the shooting in controcosta support to their fellow soldiers, threatened by the enemy now overwhelming numerical superiority.
On May 9, 1945, the Prinz Eugen, the last major warship of the Kriegsmarine, was placed under British command of the capitulation.
On 13 January 1946, after being assigned to the U.S., set sail for Boston, where it will leave for his final journey: the Prinz Eugen, the first and July 25, 1946 is one of the ships anchored off Bikini, and bear, without appreciable damage, two explosions of nuclear bombs, the first of which just 1,000 meters away (test Able and Baker).
On 22 November 1946, the Prinz Eugen to Enubuh capsizes and sinks, in 1978, upon the initiative of crew members, one of the propellers, heavy 12 tons, is removed, taken to Germany, and placed as a monument to Kiel .

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