False Flags: Disguised German raiders of World War II

Stephen Robinson

Exisle Publishing, Aug 1, 2016 - History - 368 pages

False Flags tells the epic untold story of German raider voyages to the South Seas during the early years of World War II. In 1940 the raiders Orion, Komet, Pinguin and Kormoran left Germany and waged a ‘pirate war’ in the South Seas — part of Germany’s strategy to attack the British Empire’s maritime trade on a global scale.

Their extraordinary voyages spanned the globe and are maritime sagas in the finest tradition of seafaring. The four raiders voyaged across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans as well as the Arctic and Antarctic. They sank or captured 62 ships in a forgotten naval war that is now being told in its entirety for the first time. The Orion and Komet terrorised the South Pacific and New Zealand waters before Pearl Harbor when the war was supposed to be far away. The Pinguin sank numerous Allied merchant ships in the Indian Ocean before mining the approaches to Australian ports and capturing the Norwegian whaling fleet in Antarctica. The Kormoran raided the Atlantic but will always be remembered for sinking the Australian cruiser Sydney off Western Australia, killing all 645 sailors on board in tragic circumstances. 

False Flags is also the story of the Allied sailors who encountered these raiders and fought suicidal battles against a superior foe as well as the men, women and children who endured captivity on board the raiders as prisoners of the Third Reich.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• 1 The raiders prepare: 3
• 2 The Orions Atlantic war: 17
• 3 The Hauraki Gulf operation: 31
• 4 The Pinguins first victories: 46
• 5 The Northeast Passage: 62
• 6 The Tasman raider: 70
• 7 The Far East squadron: 86
• 8 The Australian minefields: 97
• 9 The Indian Ocean pursuit: 110
• 10 Nauru and the phosphate ships: 124
• 11 Hilfskreuzer Kormoran: 133
• 12 The castaways of Emirau Island: 143
• 13 Von Luckner spies and the fifth column: 152
• 14 Return to Nauru and intrigue in Japan: 164
• 15 The raider war in Antarctica: 172
• 16 The Kormoran in the Atlantic: 179
• 17 Remote encounters and the islands of despair: 189
• 18 Tanker hunt in the Arabian Sea: 204
• 19 A new operational area: 218
• 20 The voyage of the Adjutant: 231
• 21 Destination Bordeaux: 238
• 22 The Galápagos Islands raider: 248
• 23 Encounter off Shark Bay: 259
• 24 The KormoranSydney battle: 268
• 25 The fleet of lifeboats: 285
• Epilogue: 294
• The raiders: 300
• Glossary: 308
• Acknowledgments: 312
• Notes: 313
• Bibliography: 340
• Index: 351
• Copyright: 360
• Back Cover: 362

About the author

Stephen Robinson studied Asian history and politics at the University of Western Sydney, graduating with First Class Honours. He has worked at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs researching British atomic weapons tests and as a policy officer in the Department of Defence. Stephen Robinson is also an officer in the Australian Army Reserve and has served as an instructor at the Royal Military College. He also graduated from Australian Command and Staff College.

Bibliographic information

• Title: False Flags: Disguised German raiders of World War II
• Author: Stephen Robinson
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Exisle Publishing, 2016
• ISBN: 1775593029, 9781775593027
• Length: 368 pages
• Subjects: History / Military / General; History / Military / Naval; History / Military / World War II