Submarines - Germany: Books - Typ IX and Typ XIV (2/2)

Darkest Before Dawn - U-482 and the Sinking of the Empire Heritage 1944

In the autumn of 1944 the Second World War was coming to an end. In the Atlantic the U-boats had been beaten back through a massive programme of Allied shipbuilding combined with tactical, technological and intelligence improvements. The threat to Allied shipping had diminished. But it had not disappeared, and a lone U-boat on its first active patrol slipped into the North Channel; in just a few days five ships lay broken on the seabed including the Empire Heritage, one of the largest Allied ships lost during the war, and the Jacksonville, an American tanker sailing out of New York.

In "Darkest Before Dawn" John Peterson presents the story for the first time of how U-482 managed to slip undetected into the busy shipping lanes of the North Channel and carry out the last great U-boat patrol of the war. It is the story of the attack, the aftermath and the men involved, including the aristocratic U-boat commander von Matushka, who was on the Bismarck when it was sunk earlier in the war - was he driven by revenge to torpedo the Pinto, a rescue ship trying to pick up the survivors of Empire Heritage - an act that some claimed to be a war crime?
Based on new research and previously unpublished material, "Darkest Before Dawn" presents the definitive account of the attack on convoy HX-305 and unravels the mystery of the fate of U-482.

Hunt and Kill - U-505 and the U-boat War in the Atlantic

One of WWII's pivotal events was the capture of U-505 on June 4, 1944. The top secret seizure of this massive Type IX submarine provided the Allies with priceless information on German technology and innovation.
After the war U-505 was transported to Chicago, where today several hundred thousand visitors a year pass through its well-preserved hull at the Museum of Science and Industry.

"Hunt and Kill" offers the first definitive study of U-505. Chapters include her construction, crew and commanders, combat history, an assessment of Type IX operations, naval intelligence, the eight fatal German mistakes that doomed the ill-fated boat, her capture, and final transportation and restoration for posterity.

The contributors to this fascinating volume - a Who's Who of U-boat historians - include: Erich Topp (U-552, Odyssey of a U-boat Commander); Eric Rust (Naval Officers Under Hitler); Timothy Mulligan (Neither Sharks Nor Wolves); Jak Mallmann Showell (Hitler's U-boat Bases); Jordan Vause (Wolf); Lawrence Patterson (First U-boat Flotilla); Mark Wise (Enigma and the Battle of the Atlantic); Keith R. Gill (Curator, U-505, Museum of Science and Industry), and Theodore P. Savas (editor, Silent Hunters: German U-boat Commanders of World War II; author, Nazi Millionaries).

U-Boat War Patrol : The Hidden Photographic Diary of U-564

This unique account charts the complete story of a single U-boat patrol through the summer of 1942 based around a remarkable collection of photographs that were 'liberated' from a concrete U-boat pen in Brest at the end of the war and which had, until recently, remained hidden in a shoe box.

The boat in question, U-564, carried the famous three black cat motif of Reinhard 'Teddy' Suhren who, along with Prien and Kretschmer, was one of the top U-boat commanders during the battles of the Atlantic.

This remarkable book provides unique access into both the day-to-day life of a U-boat at sea and into the detailed workings of the Kriegsmarine.
Through the successes and trials of U-564 the reader is transported to that vast and watery battlefield that was perhaps the most significant theatre of the Second World War.

German submarine U-1105 Black Panther : The naval archaeology of a U-boat

Now in its final resting place at the bottom of the Potomac River in Maryland, the U-Boat U-1105 is unique among German World War II submarines. Technologically innovative, it was the only U-Boat to conduct a wartime patrol while equipped with the snorkel, GHG Balkon passive sonar and a rubberized coating known as Alberich designed to reduce its acoustic signature and hide from Allied sonar.
After the end of World War II, it was the subject of instense testing and evaluation by the Allies, before finally being sunk to the bottom of the Potomac River.

This highly illustrated book uses many new and previously unpublished images to tell the full story of this remarkable U-Boat, evaluating the effectiveness of its late war technologies, document its extensive postwar testing and detail all the features still present on the wreck site today.