Nethy Bridge, Scotland

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

Did all Maori and Dorsetshire Bismarck survivors end up at a POW camp in Nethy Bridge for their first interrogation? Josef Statz says: high above Edinburgh...does he mean Nethy Bridge?

[Patrick McWilliams]

Did all Maori and Dorsetshire Bismarck survivors end up at a POW camp in Nethy Bridge for their first interrogation? Josef Statz says: high above Edinburgh...does he mean Nethy Bridge?

I checked this, Ulrich, and Nethy Bridge is a small village or community in the Scottish Highlands about 100 miles north of Edinburgh and about 35 miles from the Moray Firth.

[RF]

''high above Edinburgh'' could be a reference to Edinburgh Castle, which is mounted on the throat of an ancient volcanic plug, high above the city. Is the translation exactly right?

Looking at the Edinburgh Castle website I notice that a detailed up to date history is shown, but the WW2 years are airbrushed out, as if there was some secret military use.

[Patrick McWilliams]

''high above Edinburgh'' could be a reference to Edinburgh Castle, which is mounted on the throat of an ancient volcanic plug, high above the city. Is the translation exactly right?

Looking at the Edinburgh Castle website I notice that a detailed up to date history is shown, but the WW2 years are airbrushed out, as if there was some secret military use.

I reread the Baron's book recently and don't recall any references to Scotland in his captivity era. Then again, as the senior surviving officer he was marked for "special interrogation treatment", if you like, in London, to see if the British could get him to divulge any secrets about Bismarck.

I doubt that Bismarck prisoners were kept anywhere near Edinburgh, where prospects for escape would have been higher. The reference to Nethy Bridge must mean the place in the Highlands.

[Rob Peters]

I think that Not being the only surviving officer of the Bismarck, but being a survivor officer überhaupt meant that Müllenheim-Rechberg was whisked off to Trent Parks, a WW2 interrogation centre, a building which houses today part of Londen University, where my Welsh girlfriend used to teach 'Computer Ethics' . After talking about it with the Baron by phone, it turned out the SAME classroom where 'Ethics' were thaught once held him captive..
These 'by chance occurances' certainly add to the adventure of being involved in Battleship Bismarck and its history.
http://www.bismarck.nl

[RF]

I think that Not being the only surviving officer of the Bismarck, but being a survivor officer überhaupt http://www.bismarck.nl

This is somewhat ambiguous as to meaning, possibly due to the double negative; the Baron and one other officer survived, the remainder of the survivors were from the enlisted ranks and petty officers.
A selection of the survivors were chosen for interrogation, and the British were not impressed with the quality of those men as naval operatives, as their reports showed.

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

I think what Rob means is that M-R was a "born" survivor ("überhaupt" meaning here "without a doubt"). Even surviving as a POW showed it ..... when he had to worry about danger from his own comrades as well as the enemy. He made the best of his confinement and survived, and his illustrious post-war career also shows his survivor's instincts.

[RF]

Thanks Ulrich for the clarification. My German is evidently not up to scratch!

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

Don't trust my interpretation of what Rob says ..... I am just guessing. "überhaupt" has a lot of meanings that are not in the dictionary.

[Rob Peters]

Anyway, I seem to omit words, thinking the AngloAmerican language so efficient, that words like that - so - then
are often left out, and so on. My dealings with Müllenheim-Rechberg was anything but romantic or Schönes Wetter Sailing, they were so full of little errands, that getting him to talk about the bismarck was not easy, especially since I met him in the A.B. period of his life (After Bismarck) when the African Continent and the time he spent there as Ambassador (with a 'ringseat' near all the faulty and criminal meddling of the west and likewise behaviour of the Africans themselves) which needed all his energy, "proofreading, typography and bookcoverdesigns, contacting careless editors, whatever help the meanwhile bedridden baron needed I tried to comply. For after all he was the sole officer survivor [*] and closer to the Battleship I could not come, you can understand that, Dear Ulrich.
Yes, after a few 'sabbatical years' I'm back in the saddle with my Battleship Art. Let's raise a glass of "Yellow Sea "
on it.

[* after Junack died ]

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

Rob, I am very glad you are well. I know that you had conversations with M-R that must remain very private forever. Sometimes, memories must also go "down with the ship". I am struggling now with memories and facts of my father that I am not sure I wish to transmit to my grown children.....

[Rob Peters]

Likewise, dear Ulrich, very glad to hear from you.
It seems like ages ago that you furnished your kitchen with those battlehips who were engaged in the battle of Tsushima (Yellow sea) for my documentation...Although with the Bismarck we are already near the end of these complicated constructions, my feelings for these smoke belching tubs that seemed so victorious in carrying their heavy artillery to such faraway and desperate places on the globe have not diminished...
About your last remark all I can say, it takes the right circumstance; a car ride through the night, a fishing trip in a boat...

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

Did all Maori and Dorsetshire Bismarck survivors end up at a POW camp in Nethy Bridge for their first interrogation? Josef Statz says: high above Edinburgh...does he mean Nethy Bridge?

I would guess what Statz said and meant in German was: "oberhalb von Edinburgh" which simply would mean "above" or north of ....... I don't think he meant "high above....hoch über Edingburgh. I am sure he meant Nethy Bridge.