German Raiders of the South Seas by Bromby, Robin

German Raiders of the South Seas. by Bromby, Robin

Hardcover with dust jacket, scuffed edges. ISBN 9780868240930 Publisher: Doubleday; Lane Cove, 1985 208 pages, many b/w illustrations, maps.

During WWI German warships and armed merchant raiders took a heavy toll of Allied merchant ships in Indian and Pacific Oceans. Robin Bromby's study relates to the German ships that operated in those waters. The first was the small German cruiser, Emden, which caused loss, disorder and delay to allied merchamt ships in the early days of the conflict. This warship sank or captured more than a 20 ships duriing a short campaqign, mainly in the Indian Ocean. In turn, the Emden was, destroyed in a battle with the Australian cruiser Sydney in a largely chance encounter at Cocos-Keeling Island. This largest section of Bromby's book covers the depredations of the Emden, her encounter with the Sydney and the amazing experiences and dangers of the ship's Cocos landing-party after the battle, on their long and hazardous journey back to Europe. Two other major sections cover the operations of the armed merchant cruiser Wolf whose 15 month cruise from Germany, and return, covered more than 100.00 kilometres during which 140,000.tonnes of shipping was sunk, many of them in the South Pacific or Indian Ocean. The final major section reflects on the colourfull WWI career of Count Felix von Luckner and his sailing ship raider Seeadler. which slipped into the Pacific, via Cape Horn, after sailing down the Atlantic, where were many allied ships were sunk or captured.