Recommended reading on the Kriegsmarine

[Marcus Wendel]

The idea of this sticky is to collect recommendations on good books dealing with the Kriegsmarine.

Please post the title, author and a short (or long) explanation as to why you feel that particular title deserves to be included.

/Marcus

If you buy through the below links you not only get the books you want but you also support the forum while shopping!
* Amazon.com (UK, Germany, France, Canada)
* Abebooks
* Helion & Company

[Benoit Douville]

Let's get this thread started.

-The Battle of the Atlantic by Andrew Williams.

It focuses on the U-boat menace and the impact of this on the war at sea. It contains a wealth of quotes from U-boat crews, from allied naval and considers the Battle from start to finish, interspersed with details of individual encounters in the war at sea between ships and U-boats. Overall, a well written and very authorative work on the subject. A must have for everyone interested by the Battle of the Atlantic.

Regards

[Gauntlet]

"Hitler's Secret Pirate Fleet" by James P. Duffy.

A nice little book about the nine hilfskreuzers in Kriegsmarine service. Each ship gets a chapter which describes her captain, her crew, her servic and ultimatly her fate. Covers most aspect about each ships, but I'm sure there is heavier books on the suspect.

[Charles78]

Novels:

Sharks and Little Fish by Wolfgang Ott.

The Boat (Das Boot)

[Shc]

Hitler's U-Boat War: the Hunters, 1939-1942
by Clay Blair (Author)

Hitler's U-Boat War: the Hunted, 1942-1945
by Clay Blair (Author)

Comprehensive books of the battle of the Atlantic. (although I only read the first part only)
Not always easy to read (some dull moments) but very complete.

~Shc~

[stril]

Hello
The best starter for info on the Kriegsmarine is as i see it the book/papers from Hildebrand/Lohmann, Kriegsmarine 1939-45. It contains loads of info, ships, units, sea and land units, commanders, etc. etc.
This one cant be left out when it comes to research about the KM.
regards
stril

[coburg22]

Hello,

Another great book that just came out on the Kriegsmarine is "Torpedo Los" by
Gordon Williamson. It covers all collectibles relating to the U-Boat Crews such
as Uniforms, Cloth Insignia, Decorations, Edged Weapons ect... The cost is not
to high at $79.95 and can be purchased by Roger James Bender Publishing. There
are 416 pages and 1,151 photos.

Coburg22

[papa]

Hello

"Iron Coffins"

by Herbert A. Werner

Herbert Werner's book is a fascinating account of the Battle of the Atlantic told from the view of a U-boat Officer. A sea cadet of 19 at the outbreak of war in 1939, Werner was graduated from the German Naval Academy of Flensburg in
April 1941. Assigned to submarine duty as an Ensign, then as an Executive Officer and finally as a Captain, he saild
the Atlantic Ocean,the English Channel,the North Sea,the Baltic Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Mediterranean and even
planted mines in Chesapeake Bay in front of the U.S. Naval Base at Norfolk in the summer of 1943. After surviving the war and English, American and French captivity he went to the United States in 1957.

[Pips]

There have been relatively few books written about the naval war between Germany and Soviet Russia. It's all but ignored. Two fascinating books that I have are:


Soviet Naval Operations in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.
By V.I. Achkasov & N.B. Pavlovich

Once you get past the (to be expected) rhetoric it's a very detailed and factual book. Fascinating look on how the Soviets percieved the role of naval power, both strategic and tactical, as a support function in a war otherwise dominated by massive land actions. In some ways the Soviet Naval Staff were intimidated by the more experienced Kriegsmarine and as such decided at an early stage to avoid large ship conflicts. As a counter they deliberately developed a highly practical strategy of small ship operations that were superior to Germans naval operations. One of the most interesting things to come out of the book is the people and personalities of the Soviet navy, who up to now have been all but hidden.

The book is organised by topic rather than chronologically so initially it may make for hard reading. But given the nature of the sea war, and the vastly different area's fought over, it does ultimately work quite well. Contents are:
Soviet and German navies before June 1941;
Defensive minefields;
Defense of naval bases;
Amphibious landings;
Repelling amphibious landings;
Artillery support of ground forces;
Operations against maritime communications;
Defense of our own maritime communications;
Daily combat activity

[Pips]

The second book I have is much easier to read, but not necessarily any more factual. It does provide an excellent contrast to the Soviet view.

The Soviets as Naval Opponents 1941-1945,
By Friedrich Ruge

Ruge provides the German view on how the Soviets operated, and Germany's response. He examines the naval role, strategy and tactics of Russia in the three main areas where they met German marine forces --- the Baltic, Black Sea and the Northern Theatre --- and compares this with the response of the Kriegsmarine. His main finding is that the Soviets were reluctant to commit their major ships to combat, preferring to employ light forces, aircraft and submarines.He covers also the Soviet amphibious operations and the German failure to realise in the planning stages that sea power would be influential in each theatre and finds that, in fact, Soviet naval operations had significant impacts on the land campaigns.

[lisset]

"Axis Submarine Successes of World war Two - German , Italian and Japanese Sucesses 1939-45" Professor Jurgen Rohwer ( Greenhill / Naval Institute Press).

In short this book identifies the out come of every attack made and every torpedo fired , what was claimed , what actually was hit ( or not hit) , the ship sunk or damaged , nationality , cargo , everything is listed. Footnotes add detail - an excellent and very useful tool.

"German U-Boat Losses Durring World War II - Details of Destruction" (Greenhill / Naval Institute Press)- Axel Niestle.
The fate of all U-boats , who what when and where - it can answer all questions.

" German U-Boat Commanders of World War Two" Busch and Roll
(Greenhill / N.I.P.).
A biogrpahical record of all U-boat Commanders.

"Neither Sharks Nor Wolves" Timmothy Mulligan. ( N.I.P.)
A study of exactly who the U-Boat men really were.

" Search , Find and Kill - Coastal Command Successes against the U-boat".
Norman Franks
(Grub Street).
Every attack , listed by group , which damaged or resuted in a sinking is listed and presented in some detail - excellent !

" Chronology of War at Sea-1939-45" Professor Jurgen Rowher.
A day by day listing , every moth , every year , every theatre of Operations , what took place , when , where , how and why.
A work of great clarity and detail - outstanding.

[leandros]

For details on the KM assets for Operation Sea Lion the best one must be Karl Klee's Unternehmen Seelöwe and Peter Schenk's Landung in England. Klee's details the auxilliary vessels and Schenk is very specific on the work performed on the invasion barges and auxilliary vessels.

[lisset]

coburg22

Hello,

Another great book that just came out on the Kriegsmarine is "Torpedo Los" by
Gordon Williamson. It covers all collectibles relating to the U-Boat Crews such
as Uniforms, Cloth Insignia, Decorations, Edged Weapons ect... The cost is not
to high at $79.95 and can be purchased by Roger James Bender Publishing. There
are 416 pages and 1,151 photos.

I have recently bought Gordon's book - it fills a useful corner for both historians and collectors alike.
If I won the "lotto" I could have an instant library ........ could waste money on worse things.

[FAlmeida]

Another great book that just came about Korvettenkapitän Helmut Friedrich Witte Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes Commander Officer of U 159
http://www.helmut-witte.de/

Cheers, Fernando

[NASAFAN101]

Dose this just have to be on the Kriegsmarine or can it also be on the ships and U-boats?
Nikki