Hitler's U-Boat War: The German Navy in World War II, Vol. 1: The Hunters, 1939-1942
1998; The MIT Press; Volume: 78; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0026-4148
Autores Tópico(s)Maritime Security and History
ResumoHITLER'S U-BOAT WAR: The German Navy in World War II, VoL 1: The Hunters, 1939-1942, by Clay Blair. 809 pages. Random House, New York. 1996. $40.00. This meticulously documented book tells the German submarine service story during the first three years of World War II, when they consistently had things their own way. It is the type of history that could only have been written many years after the war, when those on the spot had told their stories and the archives of both sides were available for review. Blair, an American ex-submariner with combat experience, relies heavily on German navy war diaries and on German Admiral Karl Donitz's testimony and records. Donitz was the guiding hand of the German U-boat service throughout the war. This book's main value is its carefully compiled record of war patrols, sinkings and personnel. Predictably, its 109 pages of appendixes and index will become the reference source for future students of submarine warfare. Every merchant or military sinking is recorded, cross referenced and put in context within the campaign stage in which it occurred. Each submarine commander is mentioned by name and often by age and experience. It is testimony to the style of this experienced writer and historian that such an enormous amount of data is presented in a readable and interesting manner. Blair does this by personalizing Uboat commanders, whose number and tonnage of sinkings is recorded, and comparing them to other aces, much as is common practice with baseball hitting stars whose home runs and batting averages are regularly computed. Indeed, the reader must often stop to remember that these grizzly averages represent dozens and often hundreds of lives lost. But that was the deadly game of war they were playing-the majority of the submarine aces and their crews were, themselves, soon destroyed. Blair is far too experienced a historian to allow this book to be merely a data source. He develops the familiar theme that World War II submarine warfare epitomized the effect of the ebb and flow of scientific, technologic and naval warfare discoveries. First, it controlled the effectiveness of the submarine offense, then the antisubmarine warfare (ASW) defense: radar and anti-radar detection; torpedo technology; mine warfare; radio transmission and detection, SONAR, submarine and ASW ship design and performance; and of course, the now familiar performance of designing codes and their reading by each side in the ebb and flow surrounding Enigma. …
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