Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II: Amazon.de: Herbert A. Werner, Edward L. , Jr. Beach: Englische Bücher

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Kurzbeschreibung

Subtitled }A U-Boat Commander's War 1939-1945{. Part of the }Cassell Military Paperbacks{ series. 76 photos, 3 diagrams. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Taschenbuch .

Synopsis

"With Werner we sweat out attacks in the foul air of the U-Boat, cringing with him at every bomb."--New York Times. The former German U-boat commander Herbert Werner navigates readers through the waters of World War II, recounting four years of the most significant and savage battles. By war's end, 28,000 out of 39,000 German sailors had disappeared beneath the waves.

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4.0 von 5 Sternen A personal account of life in command of a U-Boat., 6. Dezember 2004

Von	Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - Alle meine Rezensionen ansehen

Diese Rezension stammt von: IRON COFFINS (Taschenbuch)

This author commanded a series of German U-Boats throughout WW2 and this is his own personal story. The photographs are also from his own personal collection and are, therefore, unlikely to have been published elsewhere. The Maps, however, could so easily be improved.

In Part One of this book, Herbert Werner takes the reader through the glorious years of success after success for both Germany and her U-Boat offensive. In Part Two, however, we reach that turning point in the war which he aptly describes as "Above us Hell." Finally, Part 3 is equally effectively described as "Disaster to Defeat."

An interesting and well written account of the U-Boat war of WW2 - not only because the author actually took part, but also because he was fortunate enough to survive that war and relive his experiences so that we might read and learn.

NM.

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5.0 von 5 Sternen Highly informative, 8. Juni 2000

Von	DMF - Alle meine Rezensionen ansehen

Diese Rezension stammt von: Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II (Taschenbuch)

What struck me most from reading this was the insight that it gave of the dramatic collapse of Nazi Germany. The author gives a very enduring and readable account of both the horror of living under facist rule and the waste of life that war brings. For these reasons you should read this book.

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5.0 von 5 Sternen One of the best and fullest WWII U-boat accounts, 14. Februar 2000

Von	"martaihen" - Alle meine Rezensionen ansehen

Diese Rezension stammt von: Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II (Taschenbuch)

Well written. Werner was in the "2nd wave" of U-boat officers. Unlike the "1st Wave" of professional officers who scored huge successes against lone ships and unprotected or poorly protected convoys devoid of "Ultra" intercepts, 10 cm radar, "Huff-Duff" short signal location, and swarms of aircraft and then took flotilla shore commands, Werner missed the "Happy Times." He incorrectly portrays his first boat (U-557) as partaking in this successful "Happy Time" by sinking 30,000 tons in a convoy attack in the summer of 1942, when convoy battles were getting very dangerous - this he can be forgiven- most submariners overestimated their kills, especially during this transitory time between the easy huge sinkings and the later suicidal convoy attacks. For the most part, the rest is factual. Note that on a scale of 1-10, German Boats went from about a 2 to a 5 and then a 10 by mid 1943, in terms of difficulty against numerous radar and "Ultra" enhanced warships and especially aircraft- giant clumsy American subs that would have been slaughtered from the get-go in the Atalntic (even in 1945, 500 feet was about as deep as they could go and live to tell - many U-boats exceeded 900 feet early in the war, and 1000 feet later. They had it about 3 the whole war, with mines and poor torpedoes their biggest dificulties.) Werner displays execeptional judgement and intelligence - note his deep suspicion of radio reports as a source of Allied detection, location and destructiion of U-boats - other commanders who should have known better guaranteed their destruction with radio reports. This Werner believed in the late '60's - yet the first break in the silence by the Allied intelligence community ("A Man called Intrepid") wasn't until 1974, leading to large (and still incomplete, though getting close) revelations about Allied codebreaking that blows the mind. Like most fighter pilots, Werner did not rack big scores -though he came too late for much opportunity- but like most good pilots, he was a crafty survivor, and one of the most openly disgusted and critical commanders of the German war effort - for which he should receive big credit, as 20 years of additional time since he wrote his book has largely validated his observations. A really good read, and amazing that he survived. Check "U-boat.net.com" - I believe he is reported to be living in South Florida now. I first read this book in the early 70's and still find it a great read.