Iron Coffins: A U-boat Commander's War, 1939-45 (Cassell Military Paperbacks) |
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Author:
Herbert Werner
By Phoenix
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £4.36
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 359
EAN: 9780304353309
ISBN: 0304353302
Label: Phoenix
Manufacturer: Phoenix
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 1999-09-16
Publisher: Phoenix
Studio: Phoenix |
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Great story and very honest but grim reminder of nazis, 2006-06-27
The other reviews have covered the basics well. Werner does a great job writing and telling the story. It's fascinating, fast moving, I couldn't put it down.
But he says how he found his true calling being a submariner, torpedoing ships. He got lured into militarism but paid a very high price (as did the german nation). They were crushed and occupied for 50 years. His parents and sister died in the bombing. He never realized that his cause was sick, and his fuhrer insane. I would have liked him to comment on nazism and what he was fighting for.
He knew how to shoot at ships, and run his U boat. But he hadn't the faintest idea of what the war was about. I wonder what he thought of the concentration camps when he found out about them. I wonder what he thinks of the war today. germany was attacking everyone around them. He was part of it.
However, it doesn't distract from the book. It's a great read, and the guy seems to be honest, maybe a little narrow in his outlook, but honest anyway.
Superb....Better than fiction, 2006-06-02
I have read loads of books on WW2. It was such a huge event.Yes, of course, being a world war thats obvious. But my point is that there are so many many aspects and stories that I doubt we will ever learn everything that happend in the vastness of WW2.
This book has left me in sheer awe and wonder. Awe in as much as what Herr Kapitan Werner endured throughout the years of the war firstly as an officer aboard a U Boat following training at the Naval College then eventually as Commander.
In the first years of war we hear of the battle in the Atlantic where convoys were very easy pickings for the 'wolfpacks'. We learn that the 'tide soon turns' and following the joining of the USA and advances in allies technology, the hunter becomes the hunted. U Boats become easy pickings for allied destroyers.
There is no doubt that Herr Werner was an extremely skilled commander but it will leave you in wonder at how he survived against all odds throughout the war. His survival includes overcoming the madness and senseless orders of U Boat Command and the sheer arrogance and mindlessness of senior officers (those in the main having seen little if any action other than indulging in their own oppulence).
We also hear of the heartbreak and loss as families of Herr Werner and his crew are wiped off the face off the earth by allied bombers.
Irrespective of which side they were on, there were millions of extremely brave and courageouse men and women during WW2 and this book provides an amazing story of just some of those. When the book brings us to the wars end you will no doubt breath a sigh of relief for the safety of the Commander and his loyal crew. Rest not....following capture and becoming a prisoner of war the story continues to have the reader glued to each page.
Believe me....fiction could not better this incredible story.
 Incredible acount, 2007-11-24
This is a magnificent "other side of the hill" book, describing what was perhaps one of the most terrifyng and courageous "jobs" of all the combatants of world war two. It's a vivid image of what was life about inside and outside a U-Boat. Great book of U-Boots.
Excellent, 2005-11-16
This is a magnificent account of the u-boat war. Alot of detail has gone into this book, along with an excellent portrayal of the pressures that submariners had to endure in those violent times of war. Even if you are only moderately interested in the u-boat war then you must buy this book. simply excellent
A brilliant read which is well written, 2007-02-14
I was lent this book by a colleague and he has a lot to answer for as I've not been able to put it down. The descriptions of the battles are brilliant and very gritty. Even the on-shore events are not too long and help to round the whole story.
It is unbelievable what they actually went through and the orders from shore were incredible cruel and suicidal sometimes. He describes the events perfectly. I finished the book actually feeling sorry for the enemy as-was during the war. This is a must-read.
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