High Seas Fleet Destroyer Minesweeper E-Boat Auxiliary Cruiser Blockade Runner U-boat U-Boat Combat Clasp Coastal Artillery Naval Combat Clasp Small Battle Unit War Badges Index

 

The German Navy (Kriegsmarine) fought the duration of the war with a significant inferiority in the number of surface ships.   The battleships groups they did possess found themselves at the disadvantage of having to fight against the odds, and were sunk fairly early in the war.  This surface disadvantage was counteracted by the wide use of submarines, and indeed u-Boats caused grave difficulties in Allied shipping reaching the English Island.  For a while, it looked as if their goal of bringing England to starvation would be achieved.  However, with the development of radar and the uncoding of enigma, the fortunes of war turned against these brave men.  

Though most famous, U-boat and Battleship crews were obviously not the only warriors in the Kriegsmarine arsenal. There were a significant number of Kriegsmarine personnel employed in other venues, such as coastal defense, anti-aircraft duties, e-boats (fast attack boats), and escort ships.  At the end, these landlocked sailors found their glory defending on the ground and desperately evacuating the Eastern territories as the Red Army poured into Europe. 

These are the Badges they received.