Customer Reviews

Silent Hunters: German U-boat Commanders Of World War Ii

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4 star:		(2)
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An excellent book that shows us the sides of U-Boat commanders other than Prien, Schepke and Kretschmer. These guys were not as well known as Wolfgang Luth or Erich Topp, but they definitely made their marks during their service.

Silent Hunters is an appropriate title for the book in more ways than one. The U-Boats were silent hunters, and these commanders were more silent, not grabbing the headlines as much as those listed above.

The gripping account of U-615's struggle is amazing as Kapitsky struggles to save himself and his crew.

Relive Guggenheimer's victory in the Mediterranean as he sinks the British carrier Ark Royal just a few weeks after the carrier had helped to sink the Bismarck.

Relive the trial of Commander Eck, the only U-Boat captain to be executed for a war crime.

Informational reading that many people may not know about. I love researching U-Boats, and this book gave me more details. A nice addition to my growing archive!

When reviewing a book about U-Boats some weeks ago, I automatically thought of (and mentioned) Gunther Prien and Otto Kretschmer. There were, of course, many other U-Boat commanders far to numerous to mention here and, for different people with an interest in this particular aspect of WW2, those and other names will come readily to mind.

This book is about six very different U-Boat commanders and each account is written by a different author. Apart from Endrass, I had not heard of the others - and I am certain to be admonished for that in some quarters. Each chapter tells the complete story of the subject German officer from start to finish. It includes their lives, their backgrounds and, as the title of the book might suggest, their achievements in battle for each of these men was indeed a silent hunter.

Jurgen Oesten is a holder of the Knight's Cross and a former commander of U-16, U106 and U-861. On the back of this book he has written the words "As a former member of the same trade and based on my own knowledge, I can say that each of the six authors succeeds in presenting an excellent description of the individual personalities of their subjects, building up a memory that is worth keeping."

Some might say this book could be improved by the addition of more historic photographs but I found it contained just the right photograph at the right time.

An excellent read and a book which adds a little extra to one's overall knowledge of the U-Boat campaign of WW2.

NM

I know the editor, which is why I picked up this book. Silent Hunters taught me more things about lesser-known U-boat commanders and amazing experiences than I have learned elsewhere. Erich Topp's gracefully and poignantly written wartime memoir of his friend and ace Englebert Endrass, once he learned of his death, moved me to tears. Ralph Kapitsky's remarkable long-running battle against airplanes in the Caribbean was a real shocker. The Eck trial and execution was a full expose of victor's justice, though Eck deserved what he got (the trial was flawed). All the chapters are deeply researched, well-written and a real contribution. I look forward to this editor's "Hunt and Kill: U-505 and the U-boat boat War in the Atlantic," which I see Amazon also has listed.

The book was well conceived and brings to light the lives of several lesser known U-Boat Commanders who served in World War II. Most have not receive a great deal of historical exposure considering their contributions to the German war effort. It's interesting to note that Erich Topp considered Engelbert Endrass his very best friend and this can be sensed in his description of his loss. Erich Topp's lost his friend on 21 December 1941 and this seems to have followed him to his grave on 26 December 2005 many years after the end of World War II.

Theodore P. Savas is the managing editor for the book and contributing writers are:

In Memoriam Engelbert Endrass: Castor Mourns Pollox by Erich Topp
Karl-Friedrich Merten and the Prussian Tradition by Timothy P Mulligan
Ralph Kapitsky: Battle in the Caribbean and the Death of U-615 by Gaylord T. M. Kelshall
Fritz Guggenberger: Bavarian U-Boat Ace by Eric C. Rust
Victor Oehrn: The Ace With No Name by Jordan Vause
Heinz-Wilhelm Eck: Siegerjustiz and the Peleus Affair by Dwight R. Messimer

The book is well written and easy to read. It's a bit pricy now and the hard cover does go for a premium price. However, I generally only purchase hard cover books for my personal library.

This book tells us a story about selected u-boats commanders from the times of the II world War. Authors chose commanders, who are not widely known to the readers. This is a good feature of this short book.

Presented stories are short but their style is very informative.

Book is well written and the reader is never bored with its text.

In my opinion this book has a slightly pro-german character. But maybe this is the effect of the fact that authors of this book really like their heros.