It was November of 1939, and the Second World War was entering its third month and Poland had been overrun along with large swathes of central Europe; however, the western allies and Germany, for the most part, were inactive or ineffectual on land or in the air. This period of the second world war was called the phony war. But, the war at sea was active; the cruiser Admiral Graf Spee continued her commerce raiding mission in the south Atlantic, and the Deutschland was returning to Germany after her commerce raiding mission. So far in the war, Germany had yet to employ their newest and strongest surface units, the two ships of the Scharnhorst class. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. By late November, the Kriegsmarine would employ these two powerful vessels in an operation that would test the strength of the northern patrol of the royal navy and then probe the screens guarding the entrances into the Atlantic. Though there would not be a subsequent breakout into the Atlantic as admiral Erich Raedar wanted to faint a penetration into the North Atlantic that would hopefully relieve the pressure mounting on the Admiral Graf Spee, which I promise I will finish up her story at some point. In this feint, the germane ships would encounter the armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi; although outgunned and outmatched, Rawalpindi elected to fight. As a disclaimer the map animations in this video are not entirely accurate, they are there to give you a visual aid and to give you a general sense of where the ship was.


Sources/Further Reading:

https://www.amazon.com/British-Cruisers-World-Wars-After/dp/1399097911

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Guns-Atlantic-Germanys-battleships/dp/147284596X

https://hmsjervisbay.com/Story.IllustratedLondon.php


Video Information:
Copyright fair use notice. All media used in this video is used for the purpose of education under the terms of fair use. All footage and images used belong to their copyright holders, when applicable.

Title Credits:
KONSTAM, ANGUS. Big Guns in the Atlantic Germany's Battleships and Cruisers Raid the Convoys, 193941. RANDOM HOUSE, 2021.