Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
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- Jul 11, 2008
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"Schiff 16"...
On March 31, 1940, the German auxiliary cruiser "Atlantis"...
...under the command of my uncle, Captain Bernhard Rogge...
...from Wilhelmshaven to his first war service.
The ship with the code name "Schiff 16" is the converted Bremen freighter "Goldenfels" of the shipping company "DDG Hansa", which was confiscated when the war broke out...:
The mission: "Schiff 16" is to capture as many Allied merchant ships as possible and either send them home as a "prize" (booty) or sink them.
For its now warlike purpose, "Atlantis" carries six camouflaged 15 cm guns set up as deck cargo or below deck (behind flaps) with...
...in addition, a so-called "stopping gun" (for the obligatory shot in front of the bow) with a caliber of 7.5 cm, several anti-aircraft guns and a torpedo tube - also camouflaged.
My uncle left me these photos:
They show the deck gun camouflaged as a general cargo box (ship, crew and "cargo" are camouflaged as a USA freighter)...
...and after the command "Fallen Tarnung!" ("Fallen Camouflage!") ready for action...:
...and the "Arado" reconnaissance plane, which was also carried along...:
In addition, the auxiliary cruiser has many different cloaking devices on board, with which it can constantly change its appearance:
The masts are extendable to change their length; there are two more masts that can be set up quickly; a second timber-framed canvas funnel can also be added - and there is enough wood and canvas on board to construct new "deck superstructures" that change the ship's silhouette.
All photos that come now are always about the same ship - the "Atlantis"...:
During its war voyage, which will lead to the Pacific, "Atlantis" succeeds - again and again in new camouflage - to mobilize 22 enemy merchant ships with valuable war contraband for the Allies; most of them, however, are sunk because a transfer home seems hopeless.
The crews of the captured ship are initially held on "Atlantis" as prisoners of war; twice, however, specially neutral ships are stopped, onto which the prisoners then change and are released in this way.
All the time the ship is supplied from the captured steamers, several times also from German submarines and once even from the German "pocket battleship" "Admiral Scheer"!
Four ships - with a German crew - can be sent home as prizes; everyone arrives!
A fifth, the Norwegian tanker "Ketty Brøvig" (with aviation fuel on board for the Royal Air Force)...
...is also set to march to France (meanwhile occupied by the Germans), but sighted by British destroyers shortly before reaching the destination - and is sunk by the own crew...:
The "Atlantis" came to an end after Captain Rogge received the order in October 1941 to break off the trade war and to act as a submarine supplier.
Since the British had captured the U-boats' Enigma key when they captured "U 110", they can read the radio messages to the U-boats and thus find out the meeting point.
On the other hand, they had never been able to decipher the radio keys of the auxiliary cruisers, since these mostly kept radio silence!
On November 22, 1941, the auxiliary cruiser - in the camouflage of the Dutch motor ship "Polyphemus" while supplying U 126, northwest of the island of Ascension, was caught by the British heavy cruiser HMS "Devonshire"...:
"Atlantis" cannot outrun the British, the cruiser is faster!
So Captain Rogge gets involved in a hopeless artillery duel with the far superior "Devonshire"!
After a short time, the auxiliary cruiser was so damaged that Rogge ordered self-scuttling on the morning of November 23.
HMS "Devonshire" sails away without launching any rescue attempts - but Rogge still managed to radio in on his latest position.
The Italian submarine "Tazzoli" is then ordered to the site of the sinking, which fishes up the shipwrecked people.
On deck of the submarine (there is no space below deck!) the "Atlantis" crew drives the long way to France...:
The small picture in the picture shows Captain Rogge together with the Italian submarine commander Capitano Fecio di Cossato.
On New Year's Day 1942, the "Atlantis" people at the Saint Nazaire base finally get their feet back on solid ground!
The next picture is also from my uncle's estate - after the landfall, the crew gathers around their commander (with the white cap) for roll call...:
With more than 600 days, the voyage of the auxiliary cruiser "Atlantis" is the longest ever undertaken by a German warship...
On March 31, 1940, the German auxiliary cruiser "Atlantis"...
...under the command of my uncle, Captain Bernhard Rogge...
...from Wilhelmshaven to his first war service.
The ship with the code name "Schiff 16" is the converted Bremen freighter "Goldenfels" of the shipping company "DDG Hansa", which was confiscated when the war broke out...:
The mission: "Schiff 16" is to capture as many Allied merchant ships as possible and either send them home as a "prize" (booty) or sink them.
For its now warlike purpose, "Atlantis" carries six camouflaged 15 cm guns set up as deck cargo or below deck (behind flaps) with...
...in addition, a so-called "stopping gun" (for the obligatory shot in front of the bow) with a caliber of 7.5 cm, several anti-aircraft guns and a torpedo tube - also camouflaged.
My uncle left me these photos:
They show the deck gun camouflaged as a general cargo box (ship, crew and "cargo" are camouflaged as a USA freighter)...
...and after the command "Fallen Tarnung!" ("Fallen Camouflage!") ready for action...:
...and the "Arado" reconnaissance plane, which was also carried along...:
In addition, the auxiliary cruiser has many different cloaking devices on board, with which it can constantly change its appearance:
The masts are extendable to change their length; there are two more masts that can be set up quickly; a second timber-framed canvas funnel can also be added - and there is enough wood and canvas on board to construct new "deck superstructures" that change the ship's silhouette.
All photos that come now are always about the same ship - the "Atlantis"...:
During its war voyage, which will lead to the Pacific, "Atlantis" succeeds - again and again in new camouflage - to mobilize 22 enemy merchant ships with valuable war contraband for the Allies; most of them, however, are sunk because a transfer home seems hopeless.
The crews of the captured ship are initially held on "Atlantis" as prisoners of war; twice, however, specially neutral ships are stopped, onto which the prisoners then change and are released in this way.
All the time the ship is supplied from the captured steamers, several times also from German submarines and once even from the German "pocket battleship" "Admiral Scheer"!
Four ships - with a German crew - can be sent home as prizes; everyone arrives!
A fifth, the Norwegian tanker "Ketty Brøvig" (with aviation fuel on board for the Royal Air Force)...
...is also set to march to France (meanwhile occupied by the Germans), but sighted by British destroyers shortly before reaching the destination - and is sunk by the own crew...:
The "Atlantis" came to an end after Captain Rogge received the order in October 1941 to break off the trade war and to act as a submarine supplier.
Since the British had captured the U-boats' Enigma key when they captured "U 110", they can read the radio messages to the U-boats and thus find out the meeting point.
On the other hand, they had never been able to decipher the radio keys of the auxiliary cruisers, since these mostly kept radio silence!
On November 22, 1941, the auxiliary cruiser - in the camouflage of the Dutch motor ship "Polyphemus" while supplying U 126, northwest of the island of Ascension, was caught by the British heavy cruiser HMS "Devonshire"...:
"Atlantis" cannot outrun the British, the cruiser is faster!
So Captain Rogge gets involved in a hopeless artillery duel with the far superior "Devonshire"!
After a short time, the auxiliary cruiser was so damaged that Rogge ordered self-scuttling on the morning of November 23.
HMS "Devonshire" sails away without launching any rescue attempts - but Rogge still managed to radio in on his latest position.
The Italian submarine "Tazzoli" is then ordered to the site of the sinking, which fishes up the shipwrecked people.
On deck of the submarine (there is no space below deck!) the "Atlantis" crew drives the long way to France...:
The small picture in the picture shows Captain Rogge together with the Italian submarine commander Capitano Fecio di Cossato.
On New Year's Day 1942, the "Atlantis" people at the Saint Nazaire base finally get their feet back on solid ground!
The next picture is also from my uncle's estate - after the landfall, the crew gathers around their commander (with the white cap) for roll call...:
With more than 600 days, the voyage of the auxiliary cruiser "Atlantis" is the longest ever undertaken by a German warship...
