This 1981 English edition hardback is in very good condition, with some slight suggestion of spotting on the edge of pages, only visible when the book is closed. The price clipped dustjacket is bright and clean. This lovely book has been enhanced with highly relevant pieces of memorabilia. There is a mounted piece of Fairey Swordfish fabric from an aircraft which saw combat in WW2 with the Fleet Air Arm and was also used in the making of the movie ‘Hunt The Bismarck’. There is also a large pencil drawing remarque of the Bismarck by Steve Teasdale. Underneath the drawing is the professionally mounted genuine pencil signature of Hans Hellwig who worked on the guns of Bismarck and who was rescued from the sea when she was sunk. All this makes for an incredibly collectable copy. Published to much acclaim in 1980, this is the story of the legendary German battleship that sunk the pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, on May 24, 1941, and three days later was hunted down and sunk by the British during one of the most dramatic pursuits in naval history. Told by a German naval officer who witnessed both sinkings, the book chronicles the brief but sensational career of what was thought to be the grandest weapon of the Third Reich. Burkard Baron von Müllenheim-Rechberg, the Bismarck's top-ranking survivor, tells the battleship's story from commissioning to the moment when the captain gave a final salute and went down with his ship.
The epic battle between the two great enemy ships captured the imagination of an entire generation and became a popular subject for movies and songs. The book also provides insights into the author's life as a prisoner of war in England and Canada and the friction that existed between the Nazis and non-Nazis Germans in the camps. Such a personal look at one of the most famous sea encounters in the history of World War II makes absorbing reading.