Review by Choice Review
After WW II the British Admiralty recruited Hessler, a former U-boat commander and staff officer, to write a history of the German U-boat offensive in the Atlantic. Given access to German war diaries, U-boat logs, and other primary sources, Hessler produced a history covering strategy, technological problems, signals intelligence, U-boat tactics, weapons, and operations. This is a history of the U-boat campaign in the Atlantic from the German side: the early victories, problems with torpedoes, battles with the unprepared US Navy, Allied countermeasures and German responses, the mounting U-boat casualties in 1943, and the final defeat. Because Hessler did not have access to the then-classified records of Ultra, the decryption of German signals enciphered on the Enigma machines, many incidents puzzled him. Editorial notes supply explanations. Charts and diagrams are included. The most important of these, in a separate folder, enable the reader to trace the record and deployment of every U-boat. Hessler's book will delight WW II buffs. Strongly recommended for every library with a WW II collection. -K. Eubank, Queens College, CUNY, Emeritus
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
