Kriegsmarine (2 WŚ) - Niemcy: książki - historia (2/2)

A unique visual record of Hitler`s infamous submarine fleet and a grim account of those that lived, worked and risked their lives stalking the depths of the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas. The book analyses the development of the U-boat, the recruitment and training, and reveals how the crews tried to destroy essential Allied supplies across the Atlantic and bring Britain to its knees.

Using some 250 rare and unpublished photographs together with detailed captions and accompanying text, the book provides an outstanding insight into the various operations and the claustrophobic existence of the crew, where they lived in cramped and often deplorable conditions.

It depicts how this potent force became one of the most dominant German fighting units during World War Two, and became such a worry to Allied shipping that even Winston Churchill himself claimed that the `U-boat peril` was the only thing that ever really frightened him during the war.
On their defeat hung the outcome of the war, and through courageous and determined resistance against overwhelming odds the Allies eventually inflicted such catastrophic damage on the U-boats that its losses were too great to continue. Of the 38,000 men that went to sea onboard these deadly vessels, only 8,000 were to survive to tell the tale.

During the Second World War over 250 Allied warships from a dozen navies were sent to the bottom by German U-boats. This ground-breaking study provides a detailed analysis of every sinking for which source material survives from both the Allied and the German sides, resulting in detailed treatment of the fate of 110 vessels, with the remainder summarised in an extensive appendix.

Uniquely, each entry is built around a specialist translation of the relevant segment of the war diary (log) of the U-boat in question, taken directly from the surviving originals - remarkably, this represents the first large-scale publication of the U-boat war diaries in any language.

The book offers a wealth of new information, not only with respect to the circumstances of the sinkings from both the Allied and German perspectives, but also to the technical environment in which they lived as well as the fate of the crews.
The entries include background details on the vessels concerned and the men involved, with a selection of rare and carefully chosen photos from archives and collections around the world. Each entry is itself a compelling narrative, but is backed with a list of sources consulted, including documents, published works and websites.
A decade in the making, this is probably the most important book on the U-boat war to be published for many a year.

Winston Churchill claimed the 'U-boat peril' was the only thing that frightened him during World War II. The U-boat was developed from a small coastal vessel into a state-of-the-art killer, stalking the high seas picking off merchant convoys, until the introduction of the destroyer escort, and the development of dedicated anti-submarine tactics provided a means of defence and attack against the U-boats.
Gordon Williamson describes the design and development of these two deadly opponents, their tactics, strengths and weaknesses, weaponry and training. He provides an insight into the lives of the Royal Navy and Wolf Pack crews as they played their deadly games of cat and mouse on the high seas, gambling with their lives and the fate of the nations.

Contents: Introduction - Chronology - Strategic situation - Design & Development - Technical Specifications: Discussion of the technical details of the vessels, anti-submarine weapons and the specs of the different types of U-boats - Combatants: A study of the crews, their training and tactics - Combat: A review of specific combat actions - Analysis - Conclusion: A review of the outcomes of the U-boat war, and effect on post-war naval developments - Bibliography and further reading list.