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The Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third in a class of five vessels, built at the world-famous Germaniawerft in Kiel. The launch on 22 August 1938 was attended by Adolf Hitler, and Reichsstatthalter Arthur Seyss-Inquart made the christening speech. The Prinz Eugen participated in Operation Rheinübung, the attempted breakout into the Atlantic Ocean with the battleship Bismarck in May 1941. The two ships destroyed the British battlecruiser Hood and damaged the battleship Prince of Wales in the Battle of the Denmark Strait.  Later Prinz Eugen was damaged while deployed to Norway. After repairs in Germany it spent several months training Nazi Navy officer cadets in the Baltic before serving as artillery support for the retreating German Army on the Eastern Front. At the end of World War II in May 1945, she was surrendered to the British Royal Navy before being transferred to the US Navy as a war prize.

This is a very nice original hardcover 1943 First Edition of Prinz Eugen im Ersten Gefecht by Korvettenkapitän Fritz Otto Busch, the Kriegsmarine Officer who participated in the first battle of the new heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen.

The chapters about the Prinz Eugen and its actions are accompanied by 56 pages of black & white photos printed on glossy paper. They show Admiral Erich Raeder and Admiral Günther Lütjens visiting the Prinz Eugen, BdM girls waving goodbye to the crew, sailors at work, eating, and napping while at sea, the ship’s heavy weapons, the Prinz Eugen off the Norwegian coast, officers at work, the captain wearing sunglasses, as well as battle photos taken during the encounter with the British battlecruiser Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales, many that include the Bismarck. Several photos are from the private archive of the author.

This 5 x 7-½ inch, 324 page hardcover First Edition of Prinz Eugen im Ersten Gefecht was published by C. Bertelsmann of Gütersloh in 1943. It is complete and in very nice, little used condition and has no unpleasant odor. The front flyleaf and the title page have the rubber stamp of SA-Truppe Thüringen.

The foreword in Prinz Eugen im Ersten Gefecht is by Nazi Admiral Helmuth Brinkmann, the Commander of the Prinz Eugen who says the book is a truthful depiction of the heroic battle, and commemorates the actions of its crew as well as the lost comrades of the Bismarck.