Recommended reading on the U-Boats

Discussions on all (non-biographical) aspects of the submarine forces of the Kriegsmarine.
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Optiow
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#16

Post by Optiow » 19 Jan 2010, 23:38

I would recommend The Admirals Wolfpack by Jean Nolli. It provides outstanding information about the U-boat war from 1939 right to the end of the war. It talks of all the famous Commanders (Kretschmer, Prien etc) and it even follows some of their stories further than the U-boats. For example it recounts a a prison camp riot which Kretschmer started in Canada. It really is a good read, and all who want to know about U-boats must at least glace at it.

zansocap
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#17

Post by zansocap » 11 Mar 2010, 17:24

Check out this book's website. Its a very well researched novelization of U 29's first war patrol. Great book.

greywolf-anovelinhistory.com


zansocap
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#18

Post by zansocap » 20 Aug 2010, 22:10

Hi all. The book in this post (Grey Wolf A Novel In History) came in as a quarter-finalist in this years Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition and received an Honorable Mention, and has been nominated for another award to be named later, by the Military Writers Society of America. Its a great read and very well researched.

Its available through Amazon (US and UK) and is in print and Kindle formats. At $12.00 [print] and $9.00 [Kindle] (US), its a steal.

zansocap
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#19

Post by zansocap » 20 Nov 2010, 08:02

Hi All. Grey Wolf A Novel In History won the Honorable Mention in Historical Fiction from the MWSA. Its a really good read for any U-boat afficianado. I highly reccomend it if you havent read it yet.

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Andy H
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#20

Post by Andy H » 29 Nov 2010, 16:28

Black Flag-The surrender of Germany's U-Boat forces 1945 by Lawrence Paterson

Regards

Andy H

U-333
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#21

Post by U-333 » 09 Dec 2011, 23:18

Hi All,
I can recommend two very good and informative books. The first is KNIGHT'S CROSS HOLDERS OF THE U-BOAT SERVICE from the Knights Of The Wehrmacht series by Franz Kurorski and the second is The U-BOATS, The Seafarers , Time Life Books.

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hucks216
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#22

Post by hucks216 » 30 Dec 2011, 14:41

A new release and one that looks to be a must have is U-Boat Attack Logs. My copy has only just arrived so can't give a proper review of the book but it gives details of the sinking of 110 warships where the attacking U-Boat's attack log has survived. To quote a part of the paragraphs explaining the scope of the book...
'The criteria for according a vessel a full entry is the survival of the U-Boat log recording the sinking of either (a) a surface unit in excess of approximately 600 tons displacement (excluding trawlers, navy tankers, landing ships, troop transports and miscellaneous vessels) or (b) a submarine of whatever size.
Those sinkings not meeting these criteria are listed in the Gazetteer, which together with the main entries means a total of 246 vessels are treated in this volume.
'

The book is very large in size and with 450 pages. The introductory chapter of the book gives details of the U-boat in general, its weapons & tactics and operations and the layout of the Kriegstagebücher.
For the main entries, each is afforded its own chapter, with the chapters being in chronological order, with a photo of the 'target' (the first such vessel covered is HMS Courageous and the last is HMS Bullen), the targets basic details, the attack co-ordinates along with the KM Code (i.e. Quadrat) for the attack, a career of the target and a background to the attack. Then it shows a direct translation of the attack log for the attack including weather, visibilty and sea conditions and then the attack as entered in time format, i.e.
1605 - Steamer approaches from the west. The sun is right behind it, making it difficult to discern properly until quite late. Our boat appears to be more or less on her general course line - course 80 dgrs, speed 13-14 knots.
1617 - Dived. Vessel is zigzagging so must be English. A freighter capaable of carrying passengers. But what is it?

..and so on. The above entry is the attack log for U-29 for the attack on HMS Courageous. The chapter then covers the fate of the crew and then brief coverage of the U-Boat and its Commanding Officer for the remainder of their respective war time careers.

All in all, even just by having a brief look through it I would recommend this book.

U-Boat Attack Logs - A Complete Record Of Warship Sinkings From Original Sources 1939-1945 by Daniel Morgan & Bruce Taylor (ISBN: 978-1-84832-118-2)

jopower
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#23

Post by jopower » 05 Dec 2012, 12:31

I also thoroughly enjoyed Grey Wolf - Grey Sea many times since my 1st read at 16. I always warn loaners to set aside a day if they were going to start it, as they might be "pressed" for the duration. The best 200-odd pages I've devoured about the sea that didn't have "Shackleton" on the cover.

Not mentioned above and included in the text of GW-GS is the connection of U 124 to U 64, sunk by aircraft during the invasion of Norway. The crew who escaped the U 64 during and after the sinking made up the bulk of the new U 124's crew. Good info on how a U-crew was trained in such an emergency.

The U 124 also has a connection to the Bismarck mentioned in GW-GS. It was one of several "godfather" craft for the battleship (as there were for other KM vessels) which were to assist the ship if it was in trouble (at least on an emotional basis). U 124 was returning from a tour near the eastern US when the hunt for Bismarck occurred. She arrived on the final scene unable to do more than document the end, having used all her torpedoes on merchants. It as a very sad end to a successful sortie.

GW-GS completely turned my head around about the "enemy" point of view at a time when I was young and still very much of the opinion that US forces were in all ways superior. 15 years before Das Boot's excellent Jürgen Prochnow filled the screen, U 124's Korvettenkpt. Schulz was a very respected hero of a sort. I was happy to read he survived the war. My family wasn't very understanding when I made a Type 7c plastic model (with Edelweiß on the conning tower, of course) to go with all of my American ships. Afterwards, I spend many days in the stacks of the Texas A&M Library, filling in the holes of my military education. You might find the wall on 3rd floor near a window where I may've worn off the paint... :milwink:

James S
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#24

Post by James S » 23 Apr 2013, 14:34

Hucks 216 mention of "U Boat Attack Logs" (Seaforth Publishing) is very well worth looking at a really well put together work and informative account of the Allied warships sunk as well as the U Boat , it's commander and fate of the crew.

Also worth obtaining " Suppliers of the Grey Wolves" from http://www.luftfahrtverlag-start.de/uboot.en.html , the magazine "U Boat in Focus" is also an extremely good buy, not cheap but simply excellent in terms of what you get.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 9&t=196639

Also worth obtaining Axel Niestle's book "U Boat losses in WW2" and Jurgen Rowher's"Axis Submarine Successes" .

Thomas Craig
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#25

Post by Thomas Craig » 30 Apr 2013, 01:34

James S wrote:Hucks 216 mention of "U Boat Attack Logs" (Seaforth Publishing) is very well worth looking at a really well put together work and informative account of the Allied warships sunk as well as the U Boat , it's commander and fate of the crew.

Also worth obtaining " Suppliers of the Grey Wolves" from http://www.luftfahrtverlag-start.de/uboot.en.html , the magazine "U Boat in Focus" is also an extremely good buy, not cheap but simply excellent in terms of what you get.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 9&t=196639

Also worth obtaining Axel Niestle's book "U Boat losses in WW2" and Jurgen Rowher's"Axis Submarine Successes" .
I just received my copy of "Suppliers of the Grey Wolves". It is from the same folks who brought you U Boot Im Focus. It is a fine book. Highly recommend it. Little pricey at $85 bucks or so, but worth it. Can be found at RZM.com.

Also heard that U Boot Im Focus 9 will be released soon.
Torpedo Los!

Igorak89
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#26

Post by Igorak89 » 22 Jul 2014, 11:37

I recommend the following:
-Lawrence Paterson, U-Boats Combat Missions: The Pursuers & the Pursued: First-Hand Accounts of U-Boat Life and Operations
It is an account on life in submarine (describes life in every compartment - on mission or when off), followed by photos of interior or exterior and quotes of famous U-Boats' commanders.

-Gordon Williamson, U-boat Tactics in World War II
Describes attack on convoys by day or night, offensive/defensive equipment, wolfpack tactics. Every situation is followed by illustration of position of submarine in initial and final stages of an attack on enemy.

-Eberhard Rossler Die Torpedos der Deutschen U-Boote
German language only. A detailed account on German U-Boats' torpedoes from the first steps in XIX century till WWII-Nazi Germany built acoustic-homing torpedoes. A lot of blueprints with detailed torpedo parts and inner sections. Try not to build torpedoes at home :D

I hope that I helped a little bit :).

Herr_Shep
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#27

Post by Herr_Shep » 21 Aug 2014, 09:43

Although this is not a historical or documentary book but a novel, it's very good one and about U-Boots and how life as a u-boot marine looked like.

Wolfgang Ott - "Haie und kleine Fische"
Lothar Günther Buchheim - "Das Boot"

josephrohdes221
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#28

Post by josephrohdes221 » 18 Sep 2014, 08:07

Yes U-boats of germany during second world war played an important role and i would like to appreciate this forum very much as a source of information through some of good books mentioned.

BubbaScott80
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#29

Post by BubbaScott80 » 15 Nov 2015, 11:02

I will also recomend U-Boat Attack Logs. I bought it off of Amazon earlier this week. I've only had a chance to skim over it, but already its like information overload. Its like being a kid in a candy store. Very well organized. Im just blown away by this.

Felix C
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Re: Recommended reading on the U-Boats

#30

Post by Felix C » 15 Nov 2015, 22:14

Agreed regarding U-Boat Attack Logs. I purchased as well and excellent book.

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