Audio recording of Bismarck's Launch Ceremony

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paulcadogan
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Audio recording of Bismarck's Launch Ceremony

Post by paulcadogan »

Came across this today. In response to a question by Phil Gollin in the "Two questions" thread, I was searching for any German radio announcements on Bismarck and came across this website which has an archive of speeches by Hitler (among other things) which includes the launch of Bismarck, plus the German radio announcement of the sinking of Hood.

The launch recording lasts for just over 5 minutes beginning with Hitler's speech (the translation is here: http://www.kbismarck.com/construci.html ), then Raeder says a few words then Frau Loewenfeld says her bit and you hear the bottle smash against the ship's bow.

I know we've all seen the film footage of the launch, but to hear the audio is certainly eerie! You're torn between the uneasiness of listening to the voice of Adolf Hitler, and experiencing the launch ceremony for the ship that would become the legendary focus of our attention!

To listen to the recording, follow the link below and in the dark grey dialogue box on the right, scroll down to item 59 and click on it. For the Hood announcement scroll down to item 402.

http://www.archive.org/details/Hitler_Speeches
Qui invidet minor est - He who envies is the lesser man
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Patrick McWilliams
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Re: Audio recording of Bismarck's Launch Ceremony

Post by Patrick McWilliams »

Paul,

I'm amazed no one has commented on this - amazing stuff.

While I don't speak German, I listened boh to Hitler's and Raedar's speeches at the ship's launch, and the German Radio announcement of the sinking of the Hood, and was able to pick up enough words to have an idea of what was being said.

The radio broadcast about Hood was very striking, with sounds of heavy guns and shells to the fore.

As we head towards the 71st anniversary of 24-27 May 1941, many thanks for this lead.

Patrick
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paulcadogan
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Re: Audio recording of Bismarck's Launch Ceremony

Post by paulcadogan »

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for the reply.

What struck me about the Hood announcement is that the news reader sounds so "matter of fact" - no excitement at all at the stunning victory he was announcing. (Compare to the triumphant glee of the German announcer portrayed in the "Sink the Bismarck" movie showing just how different the reality can be.)

Paul
Qui invidet minor est - He who envies is the lesser man
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