SCHLACHTSCHIFF TIRPITZ VOL.5 - THE LONELY QUEEN OF THE NORTH

Di pubblicazioni sulla Tirpitz nel corso degli anni ne sono state scritte tante ma quest’opera, programmata in 5 volumi, sicuramente raggiunge il top della classifica di libri da non lasciarsi sfuggire.  Ogni volume contiene un apparato iconografico di prim’ordine con fotografie in maggior parte inedite corredate da concise e accurate didascalie, profili a colori del camouflage e dettagliate mappe.

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Final Volume V describes the transformaion of the TIRPITZ from a mighty offensive weapon into a steel giant that had become more and more difficult to protect. Both the high quality and quantity of the hitherto unpublished photo material illustrate the life of the ship until its capsizing off Tromsø.

After years of research spent on evaluating historic documents such as the war diaries and after finding the locations associated to the diary entries, it has been possible to allocate almost the entire range of photos to certain locations and time frames. It is again possible to view history in its chronological order – from moving to a permanent stay in northern Norway to the berthing in Kaafjord. Furthermore, the last of the large-scale sorties – against the Allied weather station on Spitsbergen in Sept. 1943 – is documented, as well as the near-destruction by British midget submarines. The following and more intensively conducted air strikes made the final destruction of the largest German battlship by the RAF inevitable.

All of this is supplemented by detailed technical information and projections depicting the individual stages of fitting-out, the camouflage patterns of the warship as well as the operation routes. Furthermore, photos of past and present are shown side-by-side for comparison purposes in order to identify the sceneries that have not changed much until today.

Despite having been a German warship, the TIRPITZ – and her famous sistership, the BISMARCK – still receives strong worldwide attention today. For this reason the German texts and captions are accompanied by their respective English translations to make this historic period of the German Kriegsmarine linguistically accessible to non-German readers.