The stills in question appear to have been grabbed from cine-film and as such are blurred and indistinct. So much so, that people whom one would call experts on the subject of the battle and who have studied the photos for many years are still not able to say concretly which way around and from what angle they should be seen and are largely unable to find agreeement with what others appear to be able to see.

It is to this question that a few of us have addressed ourselves and for this, the writer of these lines has chosen to focus on and highlight visible details on the ship with coloured lines and to elicit comments from other users of this site, as to what they think is, or isn't visible.

To begin. The first photo I have used has been the centre of lots of discussion and that is photo No. NH69726 which I have reproduced here and enlarged so that we can see more clearly.

1. The red line is pointing to the searchlight platform on the battlemast, or tower. The white highlight appears to be slanting down toward the bow, but on closer inspection it can be seen to be made of two parts, one the lower, slanting down toward the bow and the other rising vertically. The latter is I believe the searchlight and the former is where the light has struck the canvass dodger which has been lashed to the platform's guard rails. That the two parts of this detail are bridged so as to give the appearance of one single structure is I think the action of flash and not a true representation of the ship's structure.

2. The slanting shadow indicated by the blue line appears to have been cast by the funnel, or is caused by the box-like structure to the rear of the battlemast. Just below this shadow is a pale inverted semi-circle, which I think must be the dome of the forward AA director, which if correct is a key datum mark which tells us very clearly that this shot was taken from the bow. Had the ship been photographed from the quarter, this domed structure would appear much further forward.

3. The dark mass for ward of the battlemast and indicated by the green line is the forward main rangefinder. This structure which I believe to be trained so that it's back is towards the camera seems to have been lit, by light passing between the searchlight platform and the admiral's bridge. This light also passes under the rangefinder and lights up the armoured control position below. Again the picture is indistinct and the separate parts are bridged by the action of flash.

4. The dark shadow marked by the yellow line is I think, cast by the funnel and an extension of the shadow indicated by the blue line.

5. The structures indicated by the orange lines, are the most perplexing of all, since we have all firmly believed them to be the 150mm turrets of the secondary battery. I now believe them to be the lighter mountings of the tertiary, or AA battery. In a bow shot - the correct angle of which is found by taking account of the height of the masts and the distances between them - the position of these mountings match exactly those on any acccurate model. Right below these mountings can be seen ship's boats. I believe the flash has illuminated the tops of the guns and also the covers on the boats which may also have reflected the flash upwards and back onto the sides of the AA mountings. This possibly explains why these patches of intense light appear distorted. I really don't think they can be the 150mm mountings as I had originally thought.

I welcome comments on this and perhaps other details which I have not mentioned, but which others think are key to correct identification.

Frames 1-3 show no initial pinpoint of flash, though it appears that the forward guns have fired the salvoe.

Frames 4-6 show another salvoe being fired, again without anything by which to pinpopint the gun muzzels. This time it appears that the after guns have fired.

Frames 7-12 show a flash from the previous salvoe degenerating and giving way to the flash from another salvoe; frame 9 shows the fireball from the previous salvoe (frames 4-6) rolling over the quarterdeck and frame 10 shows another flash begining to light up the smoke residual from that salvoe. This is a pinpoint, but it seems to have been shaped by the ship's structure, perhaps it is light coming round the side of the after turrets. The pinpoint brightens considerably, but retains it's shape in frame 11, though the major whiteout is already beginning to lighten the ship's structure.

Incidentally this last salvoe appears to have been fired from the after guns again which might mean that Bismarck was firing 2- gun salvoes at this time.

To my mind, these developments are inconsistent with the firing taking place on the near side of the ship.