Wolfgang Hirschfeld

A very interesting book, based on a diary of a U-Boat telegraphist who served principally on the U-109, before serving on a somewhat mysterious voyage on another submarine in the spring of 1945. The author appears to have been born under a lucky star, in that because of assorted mishaps, he managed to avoid being on a number of vessels that were later sunk. One gets an interesting impression about life on board a U-Boat from these diaries. There were two items that I didn't like; one was a bit of hide-the-ball regarding the final voyage, and what, precisely, was in the cargo. This section was not well-written. It was also not clear from the book where one commander resigned his post in mid-ocean; this was "advertised" in the book, but not made very clear. Otherwise, an interesting read.… (mais)

The original German language account of Hirschfeld's voyages as an NCO radio operator on U-109 and U-234, based on his (illegally kept) personal diary. Very atmospheric and chilling - gives the German submariner's view of the Battle of the Atlantic. Voyages varied between weeks of boredom and days of terror as the U-boots tried to hide underwater from the depth charges of the allied hunter-killer groups, set up to defend the vital allied supply convoys. There were many failed U-boot attacks, often due to torpedo problems. The war might have lasted much longer if the the German torpedoes had functioned better, maybe doubling allied losses in the Atlantic?

The German U-boot service suffered 82 percent fatalities during the second world war, and at the later stages of the war only one in ten boats came back from their missions. Allied technical improvements in air cover range, radar detection and anti-submarine munitions, plus the breaking of the German ENIGMA codes ensured that the bravery and devotion to duty of the crews was not enough to ensure the survival of the German U-boots.… (mais)