This silent German film "Mit Kruezer Emden In Die Welt" shows the exploits of the light cruiser Emden in World War II, starting with footage shot in 1936/1937. The film shows the ship cruising to Cagliari, Sardinia at 1:14, with rare footage shot aboard the ship showing crew activities including cleaning, sewing, laundry, etc. At 2:30 the ship arrives to a heroic welcome in Sardinia. At 3:03, the title card states "a visit to the Opera Ballila", or the Opera Nazionale Balilla, which was the Italian version of the Hitler Youth. At 3:56, the ship goes to the Dardanelles and via the Bosporus to Varna, Bulgaria (4:28). At 4:55, a title card indicates that Turkish migrants are being shown, apparently refugees from Ataturk (although our translation of the title card may be erroneous). At 5:43, the commander of the Emden places a wreath at the WWI Bulgarian naval memorial. At 6:00, memorials for fallen German soldiers are seen in Bulgaria and similar honors paid. At 6:30, King Boris visits the Emden. At 7:30 the ship returns through the Bosporus. At 8:20 views of Constantinople are seen, including the Golden Tower and at 9:00 the Hagia Sofia. At 9:45 honors are paid to German war dead who helped defend the Bosporus from the Australian expeditionary force that assaulted it during WWI during the Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign.
Emden was built by the Reichsmarine in the early 1920s. She was the only ship of her class and was the first large warship built in Germany after the end of World War I. She was built at the Reichsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven; her keel was laid in December 1921 and her completed hull was launched in January 1925. Emden was commissioned into the German fleet in October 1925. Her design was heavily informed by the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the dictates of the Allied disarmament commission. She was armed with a main battery of surplus 15 cm (5.9 in) guns left over from World War I, mounted in single gun turrets, as mandated by the Allied powers. She had a top speed of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph).
Emden spent the majority of her career as a training ship; in the inter-war period, she conducted several world cruises to train naval cadets. At the outbreak of war, she laid minefields off the German coast and was damaged by a British bomber that crashed into her. She participated in the invasion of Norway in April 1940, and then resumed training duties in the Baltic Sea. These lasted with minor interruptions until September 1944, when she was deployed to Norway to serve as the flagship of the minelaying forces there. In January 1945, she carried the disinterred remains of Paul von Hindenburg from East Prussia to Pillau, to prevent his remains from falling into the hands of the advancing Soviet Army. While undergoing repairs in Kiel, Emden was badly damaged by British bombers and later run aground outside the harbor and was blown up. The wreck was ultimately broken up in 1949.
Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) was an Italian Fascist youth organization functioning between 1926 and 1937, when it was absorbed into the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL), a youth section of the National Fascist Party.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
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