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This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII. 
Tips for books on U boats
Posted by: MPC ()
Date: October 14, 2007 09:00AM

Kia Ora Dave,

Some of the books I have. Problem is many are now out of print.

WW I - German

Die Fahrt der Deutschland - Kptlt.d.R. Paul Koenig
About the Untersee-Frachtschiff SMU Deutschland and her visit(s) to the USA before she was armed and renamed SMU 155

Unser Recht auf den U-Bootkrieg - K.Adm Karl Hollweg
Justification of the German U-Boat war (1917)

300,000 Tonnen Versenkt - Meine U-Boots-Fahrten - Kptlt Max Valentiner

Kreuzerfahrten und U-Bootstaten - Otto v. Gottberg
Early months of 1st World War at sea

Wir an den Machinen -F.Kapt(Ing) Wilhelm Reinhard
A lot of information on SM U-Boats

Die Maenner von U 96 - Karl Wiebicke
Story of U 96 (Kptlt Heinrich Jess) by a crew member (WO ?)

UBoote am Feind - Werner v. Langsdorff
U-Boat stories of World War 1

U 38 - Wikingerfahrten eines deutschen U-Bootes - Kapt.z.S. Max Valentiner, SMU 38 (autobiography)

Alarm! Tauchen!! - UBoote im Kampf und Sturm -
Kptlt a.D. Werner Fuerbringer (Cdr of 7 SMUB boats)
(autobiography)

Kapitaenleutnant Otto Steinbrinck - Bodo Herzog
Die Geschichte des erfolgreichsten U-Boot-Kommandant in der Gewaessern um England

Der See-Krieg - Kapt.z.S L.Persius
includes early photos and information on U-Boats (c.1915)

Der Bau von Unterseebooten auf der Germaniawerft - H. Techel
Technical publication about Germaniawerft U-Boats in WW1

Vom U-Boote zur Kanzel - Oblt.z.See Martin Niemoeller
Autobiography of a WW1 U-Boat commander who became a pastor and was a personal political prisoner of Hitler for seven years

Die Verluste der Kriegsflotten 1914-1918 - Jacob Rehder
Neu erbabeitet und erweitert von Helmut Sander
Warship losses (all causes) listed by country

K. und K. Korvettenkapitaen George Ritter von Trapp
Der erfolgreichste U-Boot-Kommandanten Oesterreich-Ungarns im Ersten Weltkrieg
Guenter Schoemaekers Boigraphy of the most successful U-Boat commander in the Austro-Hungarian Navy

Ehrenrangliste der Kaiserliche Deutschen Marine 1914-1918 - Konteradmiral a.D. Stoelzel Berlin 1930
Complete list (if it's not it's not far short) of German Naval officers in the Great War. Gives early career details of German naval officers who served in the 2nd World War - eg Doenitz Godt etc (1888 pages - extremely rare)



WW I - English

The Diary of a U-Boat Commander - Anon
Introduction and explanatory notes by Etienne London Hutchinson & Co 1920

U-Boat 202 - Kptlt Freiherr von Spiegel
(Komdt SMU 32 & SMU 93) Autobiography

Raiders of the Deep - Lowell Thomas
A collection of tales of daring-do by some early U-Boat commanders
Well written and worth having in the library as it was recently reprinted in the US and available still (I believe) in England

The Log of a U-Boat Commander - Kptlt Ernst Hashagen
Autobiography of the commander of SMU 62

U-Boat Stories - Narratives of German U-Boat Sailors
Edited by Kptlt Karl Neureuther (SMUB 24 & others) and Claus Bergen,
a brilliant German War Artist

The German Submarine War 1914-1918 - R.H.Gibson & Maurice Prendergast
A truely excellent work on the U-boats of the Great War. A book by which others should be measured. THIS SHOULD BE REPRINTED

British Merchant Ships Sunk by U-Boats in the 1914-1918 War - A.J. Tennant
A private publication (It does not include ships under 500 tons, fishing vessels & sailing ships)

U-Boats Destroyed
U-Boat Intelligence 1914-1918
Both by Robert M. Grant
Both worth reading

Slaughter at Sea - The Truth Behind a Naval War Crime - Alan Coles
The murder, by the British, of Kptlt Bernd Wegener (SMU27) and some of his men whilst helpless in the water. (The Public Record Office files on this subject were closed for 50 years but as far as I know it is now 100 years)

Last Days of the German Fleet - Ludwig Freiwald
Includes the German mutiny in Kiel and gives some information of the part played by the U-Boat men in helping to quell it

German Warships of World War 1 - Introduction by Norman Friedland
The Royal Navy's Official Guide to the Capital Ships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines and Small Craft 1914-1918

German Warships 1815-1945 - (Erich Groener)
Revised and expanded by Dieter Jung & Martin Maass

Submarines and the War at Sea 1914-1918 - Commander Richard Compton-Hall RN
(Former commander of HMS/M's & later director of the Submarine Museum, Gosport)



WW II - English

The Laughing Cow - A U-Boat Commanders Story - K.Kapt. Jost Metzler
Autobiography of U 69's first commander

The Golden Horseshoe - Terence Robertson
Biography of Otto Kretschmer

Enemy Submarine - Wolfgang Frank
biography of Guenther Prien

The Month of the Lost U-Boats - Geoffrey Jones
U-Boat losses during May '43

U-Boat 977 - Heinz Schaeffer
Story of the epic voyage of 66 days underwater to Argentina & surrender there

I Sank the Royal Oak - Guenther Prien

U-Boats under the Swastika - J.P. Mallmann Showell

The Critical Convoy Battles of march 1943 - Prof.Dr. Juergen Rohwer


Single or Return, The story of the only German PoW to escape from the West and get home - Fritz Wentzel
Mainly about Franz v. Werra but has some info on U 32 as the author was about to become a U-Boat commander and was doing a patrol under Kptlt Hans Jenisch

Children of the Benares - A War Crime and its Victims - Ralph Barker
The sinking of the Benares by Kptlt Bleichrodt in U 48

U-boat 'Wilhelm Bauer'
Technology Museum Booklet about the ex U 2540 now a museum in Bremerhaven

Grey Wolf, Grey Sea - E.B. Gasaway
The story of U 124

Convoy - Battle for Convoys SC122 & HX229 - Martin Middlebrook

We Captured a U-Boat - R.Adm Daniel V. Gallery USN
The capture of U 505

U-Boats to the Rescue - The Laconia Incident - Leonce Peillard
About this sinking by U 156 under K.Kapt Werner Hartenstein

The Hunters and the Hunted - Joachen Brennecke
Tales of U-Boats well worth reading

The type XXI U-Boat - Fritz Koehl & Eberhard Roessler

The Type VII U-Boat - David Westwood

The U-Boat War in the Atlantic 1939-1945 - Compiled by F.Kapt Guenther Hessler
2 vols for MoD(Navy) HMSO Expensive but worth the money


WW II - German

Feind im Fadenkreuz - U-Boot auf Jagd im Atlantik
Kapt.z.S. Werner Hartmann (U 37)
Some excellent photographs of wartime U-Boats (most probably quite rare as the book was published in 1942)

Boot Greift wieder an! - K.Kapt Wolfgang Lueth & Kptlt Claus Korth
Written by two U-Boat commanders during the war

Oberleutnant zur See Hans Trojer - Karl Alman
Biography of the commander of U 221

Die Lachende Kuh - K.Kapt Jost Metzler
Original German book of U 69 (publ. as 'The Laughing Cow' in English)

Was jeder vom deutschen U-Boote wissen muss - K.Kapt(Ing) Max Bartsch

Die Deutschen U-Boote 1906-1945 - Bodo Herzog
Tables and photos of both wars

60 JAHRE DEUTSCHEN UBOOTE 1906-1966 - Bodo Herzog
Tables & photographs covers a great deal of information

U-Boote im Einsatz 1939-1945 - Eine Bilddokumentation - Bodo Herzog
A great number of photos with text in both German and English

U-Boots-Liste 1956 - Oblt.z.S. Herbert Zeissler
A U-Boat commanders private publication - very comprehensive and informative considering it was compiled not long after the war (I doubt you'll ever see a copy but its a good historical document)

Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine 1939-1945 - W. Lohmann & H.H. Hildebrand
A very comprehensive work on the Kriegsmarine in 3 vols. Vol 1 has info on U-Boats amongst other things and Vol 3 is a list of German Naval officers and their careers. Not complete but it cannot be far short

Ritter der Sieben Meere - Karl Alman
Short biographies of 18 U-Boat commanders

Angriff, ran, Versenkt! - der U-Bootkrieg im Atlantik - Karl Alman

Mein wechselvolles Leben - Grossadmiral Karl Doenitz

Verdammter Atlantik - Schicksale deutscher Fahrer - Hans Herlin

U-Boottyp XXI - Eberhard Roessler
U-Boottyp XXIII - Eberhard Roessler
Technical books on those two types of U-Boats

Marinekleinkampfmittel - Harald Fock
Technical book on the midget U-Boats


Other Books

Oesterreiches Kriegsmarine 1848-1918 - Karl Gogg
Statistics and photos of k.u.k. U-Boats

K-Men - C.D. Bekker
Of German frogmen and midget U-Boats

The Devil's Device - The Story of the invention of the Torpedo - Edwyn Gray
Interesting read and very relevant to all submarines

Jahrbuch der deutschen Kriegsmarine
German naval year book upto 1944/45 will contain information on all activities of the Kriegsmarine during World War 2

Fuehrer Conferences on Naval Affairs 1939-1945
Forward by Jak P. Mallmann Showell

Weyer's Flotten-Taschenbuch 1954/55
German version of Jayne's Fighting Ships. This vol gives details of Wartime losses as known at the time of printing

Die Deutsche Flotte 1848-1945 - Kroschel-Evers
A great number of photos of German warships from this period

Liederbuch der Kriegsmarine - Heft 1, 2, 3 herausgegeben vom O.K.M.
German Naval/Sailors songs (words and music)

Im Felde unbesiegt
Collection of war stories from WW1 - mainly military but includes one aboout SMUB 57

Canaris - Chief of Intelligence - Ian Colvin
Canaris - Andre Brissaud
both biographies of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris a 1st War U-Boat commander who became head of the German Abwehr

Unterseebootsbau - Prof.Dipl-Ing Ulrich Gabler
U-Boat design and construction by a former wartime Uboat designer who also designed the type 203

The Attack Submarine - A Study in Strategy - Robert E. Kuenne

Few Survived - Edwyn Gray
Of submarine disasters - includes German & Austrian in the tables

The Submarine - The Ultimate Weapon -Commander Nicholas Whitestone RN

Black Saturday - Alexander McKee
Story of the sinking of HMS Royal Oak by U 47

Convoy Commodore - Rear Admiral Sir Kenelm Creighton RN

The Russian Convoys - B.B. Schofield

PQ17 Convoy to Hell - Paul Lund & Harry Ludlam

Submarine versus Submarine - The Tactics and Technology of Underwater Confrontation
Commander Richard Compton-Hall RN
Former commander of three nuclear submarines and former director of the RN Submarine Museum

My Mystery Ships - Vice Admiral Gordon Campbell VC DSO&2 Bars RN
Of the Q-Ships of World War 1

Grimsby's Fighting Fleet - Harry C. Watson
Trawlers vs U-Boats in World War 2

The Floating Inferno - Robert Seamer
The story of the loss of the Empress of Britain, Bombed & damaged by the Luftwaffe and sunk by U 32 under Kptlt Hans Jenisch

Luxury Fleet - The Imperial German Navy 1888-1918 - Holger H. Herwig

Marine Rundschau - various volumes

Die deutschen U-Boote 1939-1945 - Otto Mielke
Small but comprehensive paperback of U-Boat losses - very good from information that was available at the time

Dynamite for Hire - Johann-Heinrich Fehler
Story of U 234 by the commander (who also served on the famous raider Atlantis for 2 years)

Finally - I think Sunk - Commander Mochitsura(?) Hashimoto
The war from a Japanese submarine commanders view


Aroha Nui
MPC

Options: ReplyQuote


Subject Written By Posted
Tips for books on U boats Davenz 10/14/2007 03:50AM
Re: Tips for books on U boats ROBERT M. 10/14/2007 06:58AM
Tips for books on U boats MPC 10/14/2007 09:00AM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Davenz 10/14/2007 06:54PM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Paul Lawton 10/15/2007 05:08PM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Davenz 10/15/2007 09:45PM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Anonymous User 10/16/2007 12:02AM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Nick Clark 10/20/2007 09:44PM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Anonymous User 10/20/2007 11:05PM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Davenz 10/28/2007 08:27AM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Davenz 10/17/2007 08:07PM
Re: Tips for books on U boats MPC 10/17/2007 08:29PM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Barry Scully 10/17/2007 09:05PM
Re: Tips for books on U boats Davenz 10/17/2007 09:36PM


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