KC Winner Postcard - Günther Prien Commander of U - 47.

Is a beautiful mint never mailed black and white real picture postcard, KC Winner Postcard - Günther Prien Commander of U - 47. In excellent condition. World war 2. Scarce. Knights corss winner.

Günther Prien joined the Reichsmarine in January 1933 after several years in the Merchant Navy, at first as a seaman on full-rigger sailing ships. After a year on the light cruiser Königsberg, he transferred to the U-boat force in October 1935. In 1938 he served on U-26 under Kptlt. Hartmann patrolling in Spanish waters during the Civil War. He took command of his own boat in 1937, and in 1939 he and U-47 became famous for his audacious sinking of the British battleship HMS Royal Oak in the heavily defended British Home Fleet main harbour at Scapa Flow on 14 October. Even Winston Churchill described it as "a remarkable feat of professional skill and daring". Prien was the first U-boat commander to win the Knights Cross. During the next 18 months Prien proved himself one of Germany's top U-boat commanders. On his sixth patrol in June 1940 he sank eight ships with a total of 51,483 tons. In convoy battles Prien was often the first to find the convoys, and then vectored in other boats. For instance, in the action against HX 79, it was Prien who discovered and shadowed the convoy and then brought in the other boats before then sinking four ships himself. Admiral Dönitz suggested to Prien at that time that Prien should transfer to a training unit, but Prien decided to remain with his boat. The death of Günther Prien U-47 left Lorient (France) for her tenth patrol on 20 February 1941. Only four days later they attacked convoy OB 290 and sank four ships totalling 16,310 tons. The last radio message from U-47 was received on the morning of 7 March, giving a position south of Iceland in the North Atlantic. It had been long supposed that U-47 was sunk with all hands (45) on 8 March 1941.