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Otto Kretschmer: The Life of Germany's Highest Scoring U-boat Commander Hardcover

4.5 136 ratings

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Naval Institute Otto Kretschmer: The Life of Germany's Highest Scoring U-boat Commander (Hardcover)HardcoverPublisher: Naval Institute PressLanguage: EnglishPublication Year: 2018

Language

English
Publisher

Naval Institute
Dimensions

6.42 x 1.5 x 9.49 inches
ISBN-10

1784381926
ISBN-13

978-1784381929
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Product details

Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1784381926
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1784381929
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.42 x 1.5 x 9.49 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,411,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 136 ratings

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Lawrence Paterson

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I have been writing non-fiction Second World War Kriegsmarine history books since 2000; my first book published by Pen & Sword in 2002.

It’s a subject that has always interested me – not just military history but the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in particular. This probably stems from both my Grandfathers; one of whom fought in the Australian Army during World War One at Gallipoli, the Somme and Paschendale to name but three, the other in the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy during World War Two in the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Growing up in New Zealand there were many veterans of that conflict that lived nearby and the war still seemed very raw to most New Zealanders even 30 years after its end. However, rather than be part of the ‘black hat/white hat’ approach to Germans and other former enemies, both of my Grandfathers taught me that war is a very complex and personal experience and that most events were ‘shades of grey’. It is rarely a simple ‘good guy versus bad guy’ thing – regardless of whether the cause that soldiers serve is a just one or not. That lesson stays with me today.

The desire to write about the U-boat service first began when I was living near Brest in Brittany, France. I am a scuba diving instructor and spent a great deal of time diving on wrecks left behind by the Kriegsmarine, all in the shadow of the huge U-boat bunkers created in Brest’s military harbour. Encouraged by authors Jon Gawne and Robert Strauss I submitted the proposal for the ‘First U-Boat Flotilla’…and it went from there.

It has since been my privilege to write about many aspects of the Wehrmacht and also finish my first book on Allied forces about the remarkable men of Operation Colossus and the birth of the British Airborne service.

Some of my books have been translated into French, German, Finnish, Spanish, Dutch, Czech, Latvian, Japanese and Polish.

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Bev Thompson

Fascinating !

Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2023

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This man was a true German -- not a Nazi, mind you, but a true patriot. We would have liked him very much, as everyone did. The book is a good read, well-written, and keeps the interest high. I think hubby and I have read every book on the U-boats, and, while some were better, this one stands out because of the man it's written about. Remarkable man.

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2021

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It is a well written and accurate biography.

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2019

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This was a Christmas gift!

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Militarybooks

A Simply Outstanding Biography of "Silent Otto"

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2018

Anyone who has so much as glanced in the direction of the Battle of the Atlantic knows of Otto Kretschmer. The top German U-boat ace ruled the waves during the early months of the war, scored an astonishing string of victories, and, about eighteen months later, vanished from the scene almost as quickly as he entered it. What is equally surprising is that, until now, no credibly researched and written study of the influential U-boat commander had appeared. Thankfully, the yawning gap in that historiography is now capably filled with veteran author Lawrence Paterson’s outstanding "Otto Kretschmer: The Life of the Third Reich’s Highest Scoring U-boat Commander."

Paterson covers his subject’s early years in just a handful of pages, but the extent of primary information available to do more simply does not exist. Kretschmer was born in 1912 in what is today Poland, the son of a schoolmaster. Before he joined the Reichsmarine at 18, he studied English and literature at Exeter University in England. During the prewar years in the early 1930s he finished his officer training and served aboard the light cruiser Emden, transferred at the end of 1934 to the light cruiser Köln, and in early 1936 joined the U-boat arm, which at that time had just a handful of boats but offered better opportunities for advancement.

Kretschmer’s wartime career is well-known and easily discovered, so there is no reason for this review to go into extensive depth in that regard. His first operational posting was aboard the 2nd U-Flotilla’s U-35, a Type VII that would become the workhorse of the Kriegsmarine. His fledgling career nearly ended during a rigorous training event when, while inspecting the deck gun, the boat submerged and left him in the frigid waters. Fortunately, the commander realized there was a man in the water and resurfaced to save him. Command of his own boat arrived relatively quickly when, in September 1937, he took of U-23, a small Type II boat he took out on eight separate patrols in the North Sea off the English and Scottish east coasts after the war broke out in early September 1939.

In April of 1940 he commissioned U-99, the Type VII boat he would make famous as one of the most successful in history. Just as General Robert E. Lee imposed his will during the American Civil War on the Army of Northern Virginia, whose audacious actions thereafter matched the personality of its commander, so too did Kretschmer stamp his strong character on his U-boat and its crew. He was bold and daring, but not overly reckless with the lives of his crew. His audacious tactics were soon on full display when he made famous his proclivity for penetrating a convoy on the surface at night, using the boat’s high speed and small silhouette to avoid detection and retaliation. His motto that has outlived him—“One torpedo, one ship” —was coined during this period of his career, and he was also famously tagged with the nickname “Silent Otto” for his ability to operate his boat silently and remain undetected, and his unwillingness to transmit radio many messages during patrols.

“Silent Otto’s” career lasted only about eighteen months—from the outbreak of the war in early September 1939 until March 17, 1941—but during that time he conducted sixteen war patrols, became Germany’s highest-scoring U-boat commander, and sank 47 ships, amassing a total tonnage of 274,333. The next closest was Wolfgang Luth, who also conducted sixteen war patrols and sank 46 ships sunk (for 225,204 tons).

Kretschmer’s last patrol ended on March 17, 1941, off the southeast coast of Iceland after a successful attack against Convoy OB293. It is not known who was in charge of the watch that night, but when the destroyer HMS Walker was sighted, someone ordered U-99 to dive—which was not Kretschmer’s standard operating procedure. Once underwater he was quickly detected on sonar and the boat with the upside-down horseshoe emblem ran out of luck. U-99 was heavily depth-charged and nearly sank, but Kretschmer succeeded in bringing the heavily damaged boat to the surface. Forty members of his crew took to the water before U-99 slid beneath the waves. Three men went down with her, including the boat’s chief engineer who had gone back inside to make sure she sank before the enemy could capture her.

Kretchmer spent six and one-half years in captivity, which Paterson describes in significant and fascinating detail. The coverage of his postwar years, unfortunately brief though interesting, touches on how Kretschmer (and other U-boat commanders like Erich Topp, who had also survived the war) were used as propaganda tools by “a pseudo-historical research organization” based in America to bring in new members and profit off their wartime fame. One wishes Paterson had named the group (most who read in this genre know which group he is referring to), and gone into even more detail.

The author steady workmanlike telling of Kretschmer’s life crafts both a biography of the legendary commander and an operational history of his combat record. Paterson’s prose is smooth, easy to read, and never dull. His deep research necessarily produced a book “heavy on detail,” and the meticulous recreation of his war patrols corrects “major inaccuracies,” which readers of this genre will enthusiastically welcome. Left undiscovered is Kretschmer’s view of National Socialism in general, and Adolf Hitler in particular. The primary record is largely a blank slate in that regard, but the death of the subject in 1998 makes it impossible to now fully answer. The book includes a well-produced full gallery of photos, detailed footnotes, and an appendix of his ranks, war patrols, and successes. Unfortunately, more often than not the detail on the numerous sketch maps reproduced from actual war diaries is too small to be readable.

That small caveat aside, "Otto Kretschmer: The Life of the Third Reich’s Highest Scoring U-boat Commander" is one of the finest biographies of any U-boat ace ever written, and is highly recommended.

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FGS 214

Schönes Buch

Reviewed in Germany on December 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

Ein gutes Buch. Obgleich es bereits seit langer Zeit Literatur von Otto Kretschmer gibt, erfährt man hier dennoch viel Neues und so manch offene Frage wird beantwortet. Zudem sind viele neue Fotos und auch mir bislang unbekannte (und ich beschäftige mich schon lange mit dieser Thematik) Kartenskizzen enthalten.

Schade, dass es das Buch noch nicht in deutscher Sprache gibt.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A Brilliant Man

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

An extroadinary man.unfortunately -outside Germany an unsung hero of his time

3 people found this helpful

Stuart Singleton

Awesome Biography.