Made in WWII for the German civilian or home market and sold as silent 16mm prints, these newsreels were part of a series. The first is entitled “Gneisenau and Scharnhorst Engage the Enemy” the film shows “Operation Berlin”. This was a successful commerce raid performed by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau between January and March 1941. The commander-in-chief of the operation was Admiral Günther Lütjens, who subsequently commanded the famous cruise of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.
The film shows some of the battle including the attack on HMS Glorious (1:54), the sinking of an oil tanker at (3:00) and a large British troop transport at (4:00). The second newsreel begins at (4:34) showing S-boats or Schnellboot — the “Stukas of the Sea” in action. These were also called E-boats by the Western Allies’. These were fast attack craft that could range in size from a patrol craft or armed motorboat to a large Torpedoboot.
The two ships sailed from Kiel on 22 January 1941. They were spotted en route through the Great Belt and the British Admiralty was informed. Admiral Sir John Tovey sailed with a strong force (three battleships, eight cruisers and 11 destroyers), hoping to intercept the German ships in the Iceland—Faroe Islands Passage. Instead, Lütjens took his flotilla through the Denmark Strait into the Atlantic, where they were positioned to intercept convoys between Canada and Britain.
Convoy HX-106 was intercepted, but the attack was aborted when the escorting battleship HMS Ramillies was spotted. Lütjens had orders to avoid action with enemy capital ships. The British failed to make an accurate identification of the German battleships.
After refuelling, the German ships missed convoy HX-111, but happened upon an empty convoy returning to the U.S. Over 12 hours, five ships were sunk but the attack was reported. The squadron moved south to the Azores to intercept the convoy route between West Africa and Britain. A convoy was sighted but, once again, was not attacked due to the presence of the battleship HMS Malaya. Instead, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau shadowed it, acting to guide in U-boat attacks.
The two ships moved back to the western Atlantic, sinking a solitary freighter en route. Two unescorted convoys were attacked and 16 ships were sunk or captured. One of these ships—Chilean Reefer—caused problems. It made smoke, radioed an accurate position and returned Gneisenau’s fire with its small deck gun. Lütjens, uncertain of the freighter’s capabilities, withdrew and destroyed it from a safe distance. During this action, HMS Rodney appeared, possibly in response to the radio calls. The German ships bluffed their way to safety while Rodney picked up survivors.
The German ships were ordered back to Brest. They met air and sea escorts on 21 March and docked the next day. In total, they had sailed nearly 18,000 mi (16,000 nmi; 29,000 km) in 60 days and destroyed or captured 22 ships. They were supported by supply ships and the tankers Uckermark, Ermland, Schlettstadt, Friedrich Breme and Esso Hamburg.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
