29th November 1941
Bremerhaven
Picture postcard sent via feldpost depicting part of the harbour at Bremerhaven. The lighthouse seen to the center right still exists in this position, the Tiergarten and Aquarium now form the 'Zoo am Meer' attraction. The building to the central left, the 'Strandhalle' also survives intact. the postcard is written by a soldier attached to the Ersatz Marine Artillerie Abteilung (E.M.A.A. - Naval coastal artillery replacement battalion) in Zeven. Ref 29.11.1941
Bremerhaven
(Ãœberroller-post - Allied occupation 08.05.1945)
Bremerhaven is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the city-state of Bremen. The River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser.
Bremerhaven was founded in 1827 as a seaport for Bremen, and it remains one of the busiest ports in the country. It was historically rivalled by Geestemünde on the opposite side of the Geeste, which belonged to Hanover (and later Prussia). Geestemünde united with neighbouring Lehe to form the city of Wesermünde in 1924, and Bremerhaven was itself annexed to Wesermünde in 1939, but the entire conurbation was restored to Bremen in 1947.
As possibly the most critical North Sea base of the Kriegsmarine, 79% of the city was destroyed in the Allied air bombing of Bremen in World War II; however, key parts of the port were deliberately spared by the Allied forces to provide a usable harbour for supplying the Allies after the war.
All of Wesermünde, including those parts which did not previously belong to Bremerhaven, was a postwar enclave run by the United States, separate to but within the British zone of northern Germany. Most of the US military units and their personnel were assigned to the city's Carl Schurz Kaserne. One of the longest based US units at the Kaserne was a US military radio and TV station, an 'Amerikanischer Soldatensender', AFN Bremerhaven, which broadcast for 48 years.
In 1993, the Kaserne was vacated by the US military and returned to the German government.
Source: Wikipedia
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