Customer Reviews
Incredible acount - By: Luis Miguel Vale, 24 Nov 2007 
This is a magnificent "other side of the hill" book, describing what was perhaps one of the most terrifyng & courageous "jobs" of all the combatants of world war two. It's a vivid image of what was life about inside & outside a U-Boat. Great book of U-Boots.
A brilliant read which is well written - By: D. Wilson, 14 Feb 2007 
I was lent this book by a colleague & he has a lot to answer for as I've not been able to put it down. The descriptions of the battles are brilliant & very gritty. Even the on-shore events are not too long & help to round the whole story.
It is unbelievable what they actually went through & the orders from shore were incredible cruel & 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.
Great story and very honest but grim reminder of nazis - By: Dana F. Geiger, 27 Jun 2006 The other reviews have covered the basics well. Werner does a great job writing & 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 & occupied for 50 years. His parents & sister diedin the bombing. He never realized that his cause was sick, & his fuhrer insane. I would have liked him to comment on nazism & what he was fighting for.
He knew how to shoot at ships, & 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, & the guy seems to be honest, maybe a little narrowin his outlook, but honest anyway.
Superb....Better than fiction - By: D. M. Liffen, 02 Jun 2006 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 & stories that I doubt we will ever learn everything that happendin the vastness of WW2.
This book has left mein sheer awe & wonder. Awein 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 battlein the Atlantic where convoys were very easy pickings for the 'wolfpacks'. We learn that the 'tide soon turns' & following the joining of the USA & advancesin 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 youin wonder at how he survived against all odds throughout the war. His survival includes overcoming the madness & senseless orders of U Boat Command & the sheer arrogance & mindlessness of senior officers (thosein the main having seen little if any action other than indulgingin their own oppulence).
We also hear of the heartbreak & loss as families of Herr Werner & 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 & courageouse men & women during WW2 & 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 & his loyal crew. Rest not....following capture & 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.
Excellent - By: Lee Hardy, 16 Nov 2005 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 endurein those violent times of war. Even if you are only moderately interestedin the u-boat war then you must buy this book. simply excellent
