A complete illustrated study of the German Kriegsmarine throughout
World War II.
Hamstrung at first by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, during the
1930s, the German Navy underwent a program of rearmament in defiance of
the restrictions, building modern warships under limitations which
forced technological innovation. Submarines were strictly prohibited by
the treaty, and yet, following years of covert development, they became
one of the Kriegsmarine's most deadly weapons.
Blooded in the Spanish Civil War, the surface ships of the Kriegsmarine
went on to play a crucial role in the opening salvoes of World War II
during the invasions of Poland and Norway, although serious losses here
set back plans for the invasion of Britain, and by the end of the war,
only a handful of surface vessels remained to be divided up among the
Allies. From the beginning of the war, but especially after the fall of
France, the dreaded and extraordinarily successful U-boats stalked the
Atlantic, threatening vital British shipping convoys and choking off the
lifeline of munitions and supply from the US. Once Italy and Japan
entered the war, German naval operations expanded to the Mediterranean
and the Indian Ocean.
This highly illustrated volume is a comprehensive study of the German
Navy throughout the war, from pocket battleships to torpedo boats.
