My Imperial Postcards

[Troy Tempest]

I have a few of these, I'll post them as I can. This is actually an American postcard, celebrating the first voyage of the U-Kreuzer Deutschland to America, in July 1916. Check out the postage rates, 2 cents to anywhere in the world! From Wiki: Deutschland departed on her first voyage to the US on 23 June 1916 commanded by Paul König, formerly of the North German Lloyd company. She carried 750 tons of cargo in total, including 125 tons of highly sought-after chemical dyes, mainly Anthraquinone and Alizarine derivatives in highly concentrated form, some of which were worth as much as $1,254 a pound in 2005 money. She also carried medical drugs, mainly Salvarsan, gemstones, and mail, her cargo being worth $1.5 million in total. Passing undetected through the English Channel she arrived in Baltimore on 9 July 1916 (some sources say 7 July) after just over two weeks at sea. A photograph by Karle Netzer dates the arrival 10 July ('erreichte Baltimore Hafen 10 Juli 1916'). During their stay in the US, the German crewmen were welcomed as celebrities for their astonishing journey and even taken to fancy dinners. American submarine pioneer Simon Lake visited the Deutschland while she was in Baltimore, and made an agreement with representatives of the North German Lloyd line to build cargo submarines in the US, a project which never came to fruition. She stayed at Baltimore until 2 August, when she sailed for Bremerhaven, arriving on 24 August with a cargo of 341 tons of nickel, 93 tons of tin, and 348 tons of crude rubber (257 tons of which were carried outside the pressure hull). Her cargo was valued at $17.5 million, several times the submarine's construction costs. She had traveled 8,450 nmi (15,650 km/9,720 mi), having been submerged for 190 nmi (350 km/220 mi) of them.

[spandau]

What a fab bit of history ! If she had arrived a year later they'd have been in trouble !

thanks for sharing.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Nice card: we have a very good thread on the Deutschland on the forum here:

Cargo Submarine U-Deutschland Artifacts and Model

Cheers, Ade.

[oradour]

Nice card: we have a very good thread on the Deutschland on the forum here: Cargo Submarine U-Deutschland Artifacts and Model Cheers, Ade.

As Ade has stated...great piece of history !
Prost ! Steve.

[Troy Tempest]

Next up is my General-Oberst Paul von Hindenburg. It is not dated, and I'm guessing pre-WWI, but it has to be pre-November 1914 at the latest, as that's when he was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall.

[Troy Tempest]

They come!

[Troy Tempest]

Dr. Ing. Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin. It does say 1969 in the bottom LH corner, but I don't believe that means the date of the postcard, it certainly doesn't look, feel, and most importantly, smell, like a modern repro. Any opinions gents?

[Troy Tempest]

Here is one commemorating the death of Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen in 1915, franked 25.1.1916. He had a remarkable, albeit brief, career as a U-boat skipper - from Wiki:

He was born in Herford and started his military career in the Kaiserliche Marine in 1901. In 1910 he was given command of one of the first German submarines, U-9. On 22.9.1914, while patrolling in the region of the southern North Sea known to the British as the "Broad Fourteens", U-9 intercepted the three warships of the Seventh Cruiser Squadron, also known as the Live Bait Squadron. Weddigen fired off all six of his torpedoes, reloaded while submerged, and in less than an hour sank the three British armoured cruisers HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy. Sixty two officers and 1,397 men were killed, only 837 survived. Otto Weddigen was awarded the Iron Cross and, after sinking HMS Hawke and some merchant ships, Prussia's highest military order, the Pour le Mérite.

He became one of only six non-Bavarians to receive the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph, Bavaria's highest military honor. He also received the highest military honors of the other two kingdoms of the German Empire, the Knight's Cross of Saxony's Military Order of St. Henry and the Knight's Cross of Württemberg's Military Merit Order. Weddigen died while commanding the submarine U-29. On 18.3.1915 U-29 was rammed by the British battleship HMS Dreadnought in the Pentland Firth. U-29 had broken the surface immediately ahead of Dreadnought after firing a torpedo at HMS Neptune and Dreadnought cut the submarine in two after a short chase. There were no survivors from the submarine.

(front)


(rear)

[Troy Tempest]

Here is my Military reconnaissance flight over the Masurian Lakes 1915

[Troy Tempest]

Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain from Köpenick). While I haven't seen the silent version, I have seen both the 1931 B&W and the 1956 colour films. You can buy the '56 version from Amazon, but unfortunately the '31 version doesn't seem to be available, which is a pity, as I enjoyed that one more. This is not to say the '56 version is no good, far from it! I just enjoyed the B&W version more, it seemed "more authentic", for want of a better description. Maybe because it was not made in colour, and "seemed" older I thoroughly urge anyone to see the '56 version, it is a great comment on Prußian 'efficiency', as the ex-prisoner tries to go straight, and get a job and a passport. BUT! He can't get a job without a passport, and he can't get a passport without a job! Scheiße! What's a man supposed to do? Based on a true story, the Kaiser pardoned him midway through his prison sentence. Apparently the Kaiser also enjoyed the fact that the average Prußian obeyed his military without question. The 1931 version received an academy award nomination

Wilhelm Voigt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia