Introducing chapter V of “History2″

by on Mar.04, 2013, under General

CHAPTER V – “Jochen Burnus”
(112 pages, 67 photos, 4 technical illustrations)

The chapter on Jochen Burnus describes his period of duty as a combat swimmer, from his posting away from Yugoslavia in 1944 and his training in northern Italy to his missions at the Elbe, where he ended up in American captivity in April 1945. After his release he worked in Hamburg Harbour as a recovery diver, together with other former combat swimmers, including Siegfried Köneke, who also belonged to the “Einsatzgruppe Keller” in the Second World War. Burnus later received his friend’s Panerai watch from Köneke’s parents, after Sigi was killed at the age of 28 in tragic circumstances while working in Hamburg Harbour on March 14th, 1949. Thus the stories of two combat swimmers merge inseparably and allow us to trace the journey of a combat swimmer watch and its earlier owners from 1944 to the present day.

Preview of page 458 – 459:
One of several photos provided by the veteran himself, Jochen Burnus, showing him in the rank of Lance Corporal in 1944 when he became a “Kampfschwimmer”.

Preview of page 510 – 511:
Photo of a helmet diver in the Hamburg harbour, where Jochen Burnus and other former “Kampfschwimmer” untis were working for the British soon after the Second World War, cleaning the Harbour from ship wrecks and mines.

Preview of page 542 – 543:
Photo of Sigi Köneke’s Ref. 3646 / Type D watch with a current excerpt from our historical Panerai database.

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