Germany, Kriegsmarine. A 1940 Press Photograph Of The Return Of The Supply Ship Altmark

(Kriegsmarine Bild). A black-and-white press photograph of three Kriegsmarine officers, two of whom are wearing 1914 Iron Crosses, I Class, with one also wearing an Imperial Submarine Badge, the reverse with a label indicating the that photo was taken on 28 March 1940 in Kiel during the return of the supply ship Altmark, measuring 183 mm (w) x 130 mm (h), in extremely fine condition.

Footnote: The Altmark was an oil and supply ship initially assigned to support the commerce raider Admiral Graf Spee. Following the latter’s scuttling after the Battle of the River Plate, the Altmark attempted to return to Germany carrying 299 captured British merchant seamen rescued from ships sunk by the Admiral Graf Spee. Travelling around British, and later through, neutral Norwegian waters, the ship was attacked by the Royal Navy, subsequently running aground in Norway. Eight of the German crew were killed in scuffles with the British boarding party, which also rescued all 299 British prisoners onboard. Controversy continues over the legality of the British intrusion into then-neutral Norwegian waters, with this event now known as the “Altmark Incident”. The ship later returned to sea, arriving in Kiel, where the photograph offered was taken, and was later renamed Uckermark. It was destroyed on 30 November 1942 by an accidental explosion during repairs while docked in Japan.