Product Description

Late in the morning of 27 May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck was sunk by an overwhelming British armada in a fierce battle that lasted ninety minutes. Admiral Gunther Lutjens, Captain Ernst Lindemann and 2,206 men of her crew were lost, only 115 survived. Five days earlier, an RAF reconnaissance plane flying low off the coast of Norway spotted four large warships in the sea below. At 19,000 tons fully loaded, the sight of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen was shocking enough; even more so was the sight of the 50,000 ton battleship Bismarck - the pride of the German navy - a ship shrouded in myth, an awesome and mysterious behemoth of destruction. Their purpose in these waters was obvious and chilling: the German navy was sending this powerful four-battleship task force to seize control of the North Atlantic sea lanes. The survival of free Britain was at stake. With almost all of Europe under Hitler's thumb, and the United States still frustratingly neutral, Britain was left alone to fight Nazi Germany. The only hope lay in the convoy route across the North Atlantic from the United States. The fate of Britain and the United States hung in the balance, and all knew that the destruction of the Bismarck would be a dramatic turning point in the war. Noted historians Bercuson and Herwig have uncovered much new information on the Bismarck, including a close examination of classified British and United States diplomatic files, only recently opened, revealing secret diplomatic manoeuvrings between Churchill and Roosevelt. They tell the full story of the Bismarck for the first time, from the key strategic decisions of the national leaders, to the gripping hour-by-hour account of the battle. This is the definitive account of one of the most dramatic and momentous events of the Second World War.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #309093 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From the Publisher
A dramatic retelling of one of the key incidents in the Second World War.

About the Author
David J. Bercuson is Professor of History and Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. Holger H. Herwig holds the Canada Research Chair in Military and Strategic Studies at the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. He is the General Series editor of Naval Policy and History and is the author of more than a dozen books on German military history. Together, Bercuson and Herwig are consultants for an American-teamed documentary film about the sunken Bismarck, working alongside Titanic director James Cameron.

Excerpted from Bismarck! by David J. Bercuson, Holger H. Herwig. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
THE FIFTH OF MAY 1941 was a clear, blustery day in the eastern Baltic Sea. The newly commissioned fleet flagship, the Bismarck, rode at anchor in Gotenhafen (now Gdynia) Roads, off Danzig. The fleet chief, Admiral Günther Lütjens, and the Bismarck’s skipper, Captain Ernst Lindemann, anxiously peered over the railings at the approaching dispatch vessel Hela. Lindemann had mustered his officers and crew in their finest uniforms on the upper deck. As the Hela off-loaded her small boarding party at 10:20 A.M., a special pennant snapped up the battleship’s mainmast: the "Führer’s Standard." The band struck up "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" and the Nazi party’s anthem, the "Horst Wessel Lied." Adolf Hitler was piped over the side. Accompanying him were Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces (OKW) and two service adjutants, Major Nicolaus von Below of the air force and Commander Karl Jesko von Puttkamer of the navy.1 The Führer, who had come to inspect both the Bismarck and her sister ship, the Tirpitz, looked pale and sullen. "On land I am a hero," he liked to boast, "at sea I am a coward."2 Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, commander in chief of the Kriegsmarine, was conspicuously absent. It was the first time that he had not accompanied Hitler on an inspection tour.3
After reviewing the honor guard and assembled crew, Hitler toured the battleship. Fascinated by technology, he chatted with specialists about numerous pieces of equipment. The Führer was especially taken with the Bismarck’s intricate fire-control system, and in the after gunnery tower he received a detailed briefing from Lieutenant Friedrich Cardinal. A lance corporal in the Great War, Hitler keenly paid attention to the ratings. "You are the pride of the navy," he assured them. In the admiral’s cabin, Lütjens briefed Hitler on the details of his recent sortie into the Atlantic Ocean (Operation Berlin) with the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst,
during which he had ranged as far south as Sierra Leone and as far west and north as Halifax. The raid had destroyed twenty-two Allied merchant ships totaling 115,622 tons and had disrupted the British convoy system. The Bismarck, with 15-inch guns, he explained to Hitler, was more powerful than the Scharnhorst class, with 11-inch guns, and hence ideally suited to prey upon even well-protected convoys. The admiral brushed aside the Führer’s rejoinder that the Royal Navy’s numerical superiority needed to be kept in mind.4 The Bismarck, Lütjens patiently explained to Hitler, was superior in firing and staying power to any single British unit. Still, Lütjens conceded that hostile seaborne airpower remained a concern. Privately, Hitler did not share Lütjens’ enthusiasm about Operation Berlin. "The
U-boats do these things better and faster," the Führer confided privately to Puttkamer, "and without such incredible expenditures."5 But he was not about to cross Raeder or Lütjens.
Lunch, a simple one-course vegetarian meal specially catered for the Führer, was served in the wardroom. Hitler was uncharacteristically silent. Not a word about the 50,500-ton (fully loaded) marvel of German naval engineering. Not a word about her intended sortie into the Atlantic. Not a word about the proposed date of departure. Not a word about the fact that battleships were not designed to act as high-seas commerce raiders. Not even a word about Admiral Raeder’s absence.6 When Captain Lindemann showed Hitler Franz von Lenbach’s prized portrait of Otto von Bismarck and suggested that it might be put ashore during the sortie, Hitler cut him short: "If anything happens to the ship, the picture might as well be lost too."7
Then, as if on cue, Hitler delivered one of his celebrated monologues. It ranged from the Transylvanian Germans in Romania, whom he intended "to haul back into the Reich in short order,"8 to the possible entry into the war of the United States, which he dismissed because of the Republic’s poor combat performance in the First World War. When Captain Lindemann responded that American intervention in the present struggle should not be easily dismissed, the lunch abruptly ended. Admiral Lütjens closed the four-hour visit with a brief, general overview of the impending Atlantic raid, and vowed to crush British ships wherever they appeared. Hitler left the Bismarck at 2:18 P.M. Alongside the jetty he next inspected the Tirpitz, whose commander requested permission to accompany the Bismarck, and then returned to Berlin.
Throughout the meeting with Hitler, Lütjens had spoken only in generalities about another projected sortie in the Atlantic. He had avoided any discussion concerning the detailed planning for what in Raeder’s innermost naval circles was officially classified as the top-secret Rhine Exercise (Operation Rheinübung). This was to
be the greatest naval sortie of the war, including not only the
battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, but also the world’s two newest and most powerful battleships, the Bismarck and the Tirpitz.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Read
Great read, so well written, clear and precise in it's description, it makes the pursuit of the Bismarck take on a certain level of romance and myth, especially after it sinks 'the mighty Hood'. I found myself spurring on the Bismarcks capture but at the same time admiring it's brilliance. This really was a book that I simply could not put down. An intriguing story of a magnificent structure and scenario which my generation will never see the likes of. The excitement is matched only by the Bismarks tragic fate, triggered by an invention that would eventially spell the end for the battleship in general....the aeroplane.

Fantastic Read
Great read, so well written, clear and precise in it's description, it makes the pursuit of the Bismarck take on a certain level of romance and myth, especially after it sinks 'the mighty Hood'. I found myself spurring on the Bismarcks capture but at the same time admiring it's brilliance. This really was a book that I simply could not put down. An intriguing story of a magnificent structure and scenario which my generation will never see the likes of. The excitement is matched only by the Bismarks tragic fate, triggered by an invention that would eventually spell the end for the battleship in general....the aeroplane.