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Auction: 18005 - British and Foreign Coins and Commemorative Medals
Lot: 698

Germany, Fregattenkapitän Nerger, silver Medal, 1918, three-quarter right bust, head facing, fregatten-kapitan nerge around, rev. Prussian eagle holding olive branch above globes, SMS Wolf below, 33.5mm., 14.54g, attractive cabinet tone over brilliant prooflike surfaces, a pleasing extremely fine

In 1916, Nerger assumed command of auxiliary cruiser SMS Wolf and began a lone operation into the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans that lasted for 451 days. Throughout the expedition, enemy shipping was first located by the onboard seaplane 'Wölfchen', which was also used to carry resupplies aboard during the voyage. In all Nerger records sinking 35 merchant vessels and two warships. In February 1918, SMS Wolf successfully evaded the tightening British naval blockade and returned to its home base at Kiel. In 1939 he was appointed Rear-Admiral of the Navy, but his subsequent actions remain shrouded in mystery. It is however known that he was captured by the Russians in 1945 and interred on the site of the former Sachsenhausen Concentration camp, where he died in 1947.

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