Hi Vidar,

I also have “U-Boote Crews” however it only has a fraction of the errors that “U-Boote 1935-1945 The History of the Kriegsmarine U-Boats” contains and again it has some really great photos.

My interest in books like these is primarily in the photos and sometimes I don’t even read the text. In the case of these two books although I have owned “U-Boote 1935-1945 The History of the Kriegsmarine U-Boats” for years now and “U-Boote Crews” for several months I only just recently sat down and read them cover to cover.

In my experience books like those two (primarily photo books) try to cover the entire U-boat war from start to finish and they seldom do a real good job of it so I don’t expect too much from the text. It is the photos I am really after. However “U-Boote 1935-1945 The History of the Kriegsmarine U-Boats” contains so many errors in both the photo captions and the text it really frustrated me.

I have no experience with the book publishing process so I don’t know who would be responsible for a doctored photo. I would have guessed that the author supplied the photo (and did the doctoring) and the editor and the publisher just missed it though. On the other hand I also would have guessed that the publisher would have been responsible for determining who holds the copyright for every photo and they should have discovered that the photo had been doctored during that process.

At any rate whoever decided to use a doctored photo in something that is supposed to be historically accurate should be made to suffer for it though it might not have been Pen & Sword that was responsible. I also have enjoyed their books over the years.

It would be great to hear the details of who is responsible for what in the publishing process from someone out there who has had a book published.

What really bends me all out of shape is the video footage used in TV programs that are supposed to be historically accurate. Nova, National Geographic and the History Channel all have very high quality historically accurate programs but they all have a few duds too, especially when it comes to WWII German U-boats. I watched one the other day that had footage of WWI U-boats and WWII British submarines all portrayed as being WWII German U-boats! That’s just way too much “literary license” for me, especially in a show that is supposed to be historically accurate.

I have often wondered if it was done as an expedient because they couldn’t find historically accurate footage and they just assumed the general public wouldn’t know or care that it wasn’t correct or if the person selecting it was just a brain dead moron.

If it is just a novel or a movie I can live with them painting a swastika on an American tank and calling it a panzer, but I still won’t like it. However if it is supposed to be historically accurate then whoever produces/publishes it should at least have someone that is very familiar with the subject matter verify the photos and/or video footage in my opinion.

It will be interesting to hear Pen & Sword's reply to your e-mail.

Regards,

Ken Dunn