Germany, Kriegsmarine. A Japanese-Made Auxiliary Cruiser Badge Of Oberbootsmann Karlheinz Cares

The Auxiliary Cruiser War Badge comes directly from Cares’ family, accompanied by a wartime photo and copies of the pages of his Soldbuch. The badge is constructed of silver, obverse depicts central viking longship sailing over a map of the northern hemisphere, within an oval-shaped oak leaf wreath, topped with German national eagle clutching a mobile swastika, reverse with a wide barrel hinge and flat pinback meeting a round wire catch, marked on reverse with “STERLING” reflecting Japanese design variant, measuring 44.21 mm (w) x 57.18 mm (h) and weighing 49.2 grams, in extremely fine condition.

The photo shows a group of Kriegsmarine soldiers and civilians, with Cares on the far right in the front. He wears the Auxiliary Cruiser War Badge and an Iron Cross 2nd Class ribbon.

The copied Soldbuch pages reveal it as an Ersatz-Soldbuch für Ostasien (Replacement Soldbuch for East Asia). It is dated to April 14, 1944 and signed on behalf of the Navy Attaché in Tokyo.

Footnote: Karlheinz Cares was born on July 26, 1908 in Stettin (present-day western Poland). He served in the Kriegsmarine as an Oberbootsmann (Oberfeldwebel equivalent = Master Sergeant). Cares was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class on March 23, 1942, the Auxiliary Cruiser War Badge on October 19, 1942, and the War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords on September 1, 1944. On March 1, 1945 he was redesignated Oberwachtmeister, which was a new term for his old rank.

According to Cares’ family, he came to Japan on the blockade runner Doggerbank. This ship was the former British freighter Speybank, launched in 1926. On January 31, 1941 it was captured north of Madagascar by the German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis. Since it carried valuable cargo and enough fuel, it was sent to Bordeaux in France with a new crew. There, it was refitted as a mining ship, leaving Europe in January of 1942. It deployed mines in the sea near Cape Town, South Africa, and at Cape Agulhas. On August 19, 1942 the Doggerbank landed in Yokohama, Japan. It left for Europe again on December 17, however Cares stayed behind. The ship was subsequently sunk in the Atlantic Ocean on March 3, 1943 by German U-boat 43, mistaking it for a British cruiser. Only one man, Fritz Kürt, survived.