Beware Raiders!: German Surface Raiders in the Second World War

Beware Raiders!: German Surface Raiders in the Second World War

<DIV><B>A British naval historian recounts the victories and defeats of two of the most infamous German Navy vessels during World War II.</B><BR />  <BR /> Bernard Edwards’s <I>Beware Raiders! </I>tells the fascinating story of two German ships and the havoc they caused amongst Allied shipping in World War II. One was the eight-inch gun cruiser <I>Admiral Hipper</I>—named for World War I’s German fleet Admiral Franz von Hipper—fast, powerful, and Navy-manned. The other was a converted merchant man, Hansa Line’s <I>Kandelfels</I> armed with a few old scavenged guns manned largely by reservists, and sailing under the nom de guerre <I>Pinguin</I>.<BR />  <BR /> The difference between the pride of the Third Reich’s <I>Kriegsmarine</I>’s fleet and the converted cruiser was even more evident in their commanders. Edwards emphasizes the striking contrast between the conduct of Ernst Kruder, captain of the <I>Pinguin</I>, who attempted to cause as little loss of life as possible, and the callous Iron Cross–decorated Wilhelm Meisel of the <I>Admiral Hipper</I>, who had scant regard for the lives of the men whose ships he had sunk.<BR />  <BR /> Contrary to all expectations, as Edwards reveals in his thrilling accounts of the missions performed by each ship, the amateur man-of-war reaped a rich harvest and went out in a blaze of glory. The purpose-built battlecruiser, on the other hand, was hard-pressed even to make her mark on the war and ended her days in ignominy.</DIV>