Customer Reviews

Grey Wolves: U-Boats 1939-1941

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I bought this dvd blind out of curious interest. Risky move, considering the packaging is generic, along with the description, which is misleading. I thought, well I was hoping this would be a detailed history of the actual U-boat submarines, not a general history of the U-boat war which is what these are.

What you have here is German war reels narrated by a British guy who is giving a VERY broad interpretation of the battle of the Atlantic. It's not bad though, not at all, because to my happy surprise virtually all the footage is taken from German cameramen assigned to U-boat duty during the war. You will see sinkings, and candid behavior aboard the u-boats, including some very nice WWI footage.

I estimate 75% of the footage I had not seen before. I was very happy with this. Some of it is familiar, but its always interesting to watch like the launching of the Bismarck, Graf Spee and Scharnhorst capital ships.

You have to watch yourself to not fall asleep as the British narrator is strictly going through the motions and is quite boring. Get this only for the excellent footage. All black/white.

Presents a detailed review of the status and effectiveness of the UBoat campaign in the early years of WW2. Shows the impact the fall of France had in allowing the use of UBoat bases on the Biscay coast, allowing extended times at sea, which effectively increased the number of UBoats on station in the Atlantic at a time.

This DVD, along with its sister volumes covering the 1942-1943 and 1944-45 periods, provide excellent video footage on the U-Boat war. Most of this footage consists of German newsreels so it provides a perspective intended to diplomatically intimidate outside of Germany and to garner support for the war effort and the Nazi Party within Germany. As a result one sees plenty of video footage that is quite unrealistic but very impressive (i.e., a flotilla of u-boats working a few hundred yards from each other in open seas, etc.). Needless to say, a good deal of this is not very realistic. However, much of the footage provides good footage of vessels being sunk, life on board the vessels, refueling from submarine tankers and even the application of a manned helicopter being launched from the deck of a u-boat). In addition, there is footage of surface craft also. Much of this would be of interest to not only the novice, but the knowledgeable viewer also.

The video not only has good film footage but is fairly informative (at least for the novice), even though the voice over is in a very dull British accent. Not only is the history of the boats recounted but there is good analysis regarding their strenghts, weaknesses per se as well as factors affecting the u-boat arm in general (i.e., deterioration in crew training and quality, slow development of boats superior to type VII and IXs [i.e., type XXIs], etc.). All and all quite informative. Far more so than documentaries one would normally see on the topic on History, Discovery or Military Channels in the U.S.