Signed Bismarck survivor photograph

[Scott Banaszynski]

Signed 8 x 10 photograph of Bismarck survivor Bruno Rzonca. He was awarded the EK2 during the Norwegian campaign and spent several years as a P.O.W. before eventually emigrating to the USA. He was the only Bismarck survivor living in the USA and used to appear at Chicago area militaria shows in the 1990's. He passed away in Crown Point, Indiana in 2004.

[real steel]

Fantastic item !! Great info to go along with it.

Thought the whole "Bismarck" tragedy was pretty sad. The money & manpower spent to build the "Pride of the German Navy", only to last a few days & the loss of life was pathetic.

Thanks for showing this

[KMMorris]

Great signed photo, Bismark signed photos have become very collectable in the last few years.
Morris

[Anderson]

A rare memento and reminder of the appalling loss of life in Naval battles in WW2 (not to mention WW1). I've always had an interest in the story of the hunt for the Bismarck as my grandfather had served on HMS Hood in the mid 1920's. The "Hood", the pride of the Royal Navy, was the Bismarck's earlier victim. Even less crew from the Hood survived the sinking. In the Bismarck's case, the scuttling, ordered by the ranking junior officer (all the senior officers were dead) probably resulted in a greater loss of life than had an order to abandon ship been given. By then it was beaten, guns could not fire, listing low in the water but not sinking fast.
Hitler of course was furious and completely lost faith in the effectiveness of the surface Naval fleet, even suggesting the remaining battleships should be stripped of their guns to bolster the Atlantic Wall defences. That didn't happen but sister ship Tirpitz spent the rest of her war hiding in a fjord until the aircraft got her. The age of the battleship ended by the age of aircraft.

[Scott Banaszynski]

Thanks for the kind words and interesting replies. The classic "What if ?" scenario regarding surface ships vs. U-boat is always present when discussing Bismarck.

[Chopperman]

I used to see and talk to Bruno at the military show in St.Paul all the time.
He was a very nice man and would always hustle my wife when she was with me.
I miss seeing him there.