Customer Reviews

U-Boat War

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The English translated text is very good. The original book title was 'U-Boot Krieg." However, I believe the authors anti-war views after WWII detract from the epic story of U-96 and its captain and crew. The photos taken during WWII are excellent for the time and the conditions under which they were shot. Especially, the photos of the meeting of U-boats during the Atlantic Storm. The two conning towers appear and disappear between the Atlantic swells and valleys. It makes you wonder how these little boats could ever survive the elements, let alone a depth charge attack from a British Corvette or a U.S. Destroyer. In addition, You get an insight as to how the crew and captain handle being the hunted. The 29 year old captain, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, was a man of steel who earned the respect and confidence of his crew. The crew placed their lives and fortunes into his abilities to out fox the enemy. He was one of the very few U-boat captains to survive WWII. He was born on December 11, 1911, and died on April 18, 1986, in Bremen, Germany. If you are interested in U-boats and want to see what it was like to be onboard in time of war, then this book is for you! ...

Hundreds of high quality photos taken while under way during the war make this a valuable and informative book for any serious student of the era of U-Boats and submarines in general. Authentic, detailed, and an easy read.

For anyone who is interested in the history of submarines, submarine warfare, and WW2 specifically this book is a must. The photos in it take you into the heart of the depths along the crew. The text is well written and enhances the what the photos show. Reading through the book made me count my blessings, and ideology aside it will make you respect the men who served in the U-Boats.

Buchenheim's book serves to remind the public that tragic novels like "Das Boot" are not merely fiction. No one "writes" stories like these -- someone had to have actually LIVED the horror.

The submarine arm of the Kriegsmarine suffered 75% fatalities during WW II. By the end of the war, the average age of a U-Boat captain was about 20, and crews were often pre-pubescent children -- too young to even grow beards. Brave, inexperienced children in outmoded boats, with heads filled with Nazi Reich propaganda, who faced battle-hardened Allied commanders more than twice their age. They were little more than depth-charge fodder. As a journalist for that propaganda ministry, Buchenheim came to know the real truth and the real horror of submarine warfare.

U-Boat crews have been maligned in history. Buchenheim reminds us that, like submariners of all nations, they were exceptionally brave young men who often went to sea knowing they had little or no ! chance of survival.

Buchenheim is very critical of Doenitz and the Wermacht/Kriegsmarine High Command in this outstanding first person account of World War II through the German eyes.

I received a former library copy of "U-Boat War."

It was in perfect condition with strong binding. Very pleased.

I obtained this book when it first came out in print. If you read the introduction, you will discover that the author was a war correspondent assigned to U Boats during WWII and took thousands of pictures while accompanying a U-Boat on at least three war patrols. In the 60's he discovered a box of undeveloped 35mm films in his attic taken during these voyages. The author had them developed, high-graded what he had, and using them, produced "U-Boat War". This book, in my opinion, is the best documentary of what it was like to be part of a U-Boat crew on a war patrol.

Pictures portray the boredom of "frigging around", looking for prey and then the chaos of depth charge attacks after a successful attack. You are literally inside the submarine with the crew enduring the terror of the escorts' attack and then, having survived, enjoying the after-action celebration. The pictures and the narrative are spectacular.

If you have seen the movie of Das Boot, you will be amazed at the similarity between the physical attributes of the actors in the movie to the actual officers and crew of the U-Boat in "U Boat War". This documentary is a must for any serious student of the U-Boat war during WW II and is also a very easy read.

Das Boot, again in my opinion, is one of the best U-Boat novels and movies to depict the many facets of Germany's untersee boots in World War II and this documentary provides credibility to the accuracy of the the author's novel. Read this book, follow it with reading "Das Boot and the movie.

I was knocked over by Das Boot when it first appeared in the theater and it prompted me to hunt down the book. Though I usually find the original book superior to the film, in this case I was not as impressed, I suspect the fault may have been a lackluster translation.

Years later I ran across this book by the same author in a used book store and picked it up. It is a treasuretrove of factual material on which he based his semi-autobiographical novel. The amazing photos and the engaging text combine to create an experience that will leave the reader astonished at the hardships these men and boys had to endure. Sadly, it now seems to be out of print. I hope someone sees fit to issue a new edition one day... the book is quite unique and should be available.

There is no comparable record of the war at sea - especially the U-Boat war at sea, if only because no similar collection of photographs exist. The author, who was not a submariner, was ordered to join the crew of a U-Boat and to bring back photographs for propaganda purposes. Very soon he became appalled by what he saw and, using his unlimited stocks of film, began to photograph everything around him. Eventually he secreted away over 5,000 photographs until the war was over.

More than 200 of those photographs are reproduced here as Buchheim takes us on a journey that is no joy-ride. Instead it is a blow by blow account of the lives of men inside their tin coffins who's only real orders were to kill or be killed. It is an incredible account of war inside a U-Boat and an excellent read.

NM