LIFE AND DEATH UNDER THE ATLANTIC AS THE SUBMARINE CREWS OF GROSSADMIRAL KARLDONITZ’S SAIL TO SINK OUR ALLIED WARBOATS AND BRITAIN-BOUND LIBERTY CARGO RELIEFSHIPSReviewed and highly recommended by Don DeNevi“DONITZ’S CREWS – Germany’s U-Boat Sailors in World War II”, by French L. MacLean. ASchiffer Military History Book, Atglen, PA: 2009, 333 pages, hc; $69.99. See:
[email protected], or www.schifferbooks.com.
Sure, Grand Admiral Karl Donitz’s U-boat sailors, covered with medals and loaded with awarddocuments, enjoyed two “happy time” periods between September 1, 1939, the outbreak ofWorld War II, and February 1943. For almost four years they wracked up huge gross-tonnagelosses of Allied shipping and cargoes, to say nothing of human lives, due to the absence ofcombined American-British tactics, technology, personnel, and operations. Shipping wasBritain’s lifeblood, and, by late 1942, it was on the brink of being severed.Hitler and Nazi sycophants, Admiral Erich Raeder, CinC of the German Navy from 1928 toJanuary of 1943, and Donitz, the ardent Nazi who would succeed Hitler as head of state on May1 st , 1945, were absolutely convinced they had won the Battle of the Atlantic. After all, they hadintroduced new and advanced torpedoes; larger, deeper, faster, greater distancing Type 1Xsubmarines; and upgraded precious “Milch Cows” (trailing noncombatant oil and supply U-boats); new crops of commander strategists and better trained aces and crewmen; moreaccurate surface artillery and magnetic shells (and mines); improvements of aging underwaterradar, etc. Furthermore, with battle actions in the Far East Pacific, and off the coast of NorthAfrica, a virtual thinning of American and British surface and air submarine hunters seemed tobe taking place. German sailors and their officers were jubilant.Yes, Hitler and Donitz (Raeder had been fired) concluded Germany’s wolf packs and the rest ofthe Kriegsmarines’s heavyweights ruled the waves of the Atlantic and European seas, finallyallowing the Fuhrer to turn his full attention to battling the Russians to the bitter end. But, inreality, Germany was gradually losing the war on all fronts. In short, the Battle of the Atlantic,on the surface and underwater, was not over. By the pivotal month of May 1943, “Black May”to the U-boat sailors who survived WWII, the Allies had defeated the German Navy by
perfecting anti-submarine techniques.
Now, thanks to the brilliant foresight of provident publishing, as well as distributing the bestbooks of international military publishers, WW II buffs are presented a masterwork, “Donitz’sCrews — Germany’s U-Boat Sailors in World War II”. With dozens of historical documents andalmost 500 photographs, author French L. MacLean not only provides a first of its kindcomprehensive history of U-boat crews and the undersea war in and around the “happy times”,but also gifts those of us with moderate curiosity, or solid interest in the underwater war withU-boat related issues, successes, and defeats, tracing many engaging in battle to specificnumbered, or named, boats. Reading actual reports of what those boats and crewsaccomplished, and, thankfully, failed to accomplish, gathered from the nonpareil research byFrench MacLean, grants us via 333 pages of priceless hours to not only peruse half a thousand
crystal clear black and white photos, but also honest military literature.
