Customer Reviews

The Wolf: How One German Raider Terrorized the Allies in the Most Epic Voyage of WWI

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When its High Seas Fleet was unable to break the Royal Navy's blockade in 1916 and unrestricted submarine warfare risked sparking war with the United States, the Imperial Germany Navy decided to use disguised merchant raiders (Hilfskreuzer) to attack Allied shipping on the high seas. The merchant ship Wachtfels was chosen for endurance, not speed, and she was armed with concealed 5.9-inch guns and duly commissioned as the raider SMS Wolf. This book, by authors Richard Guilliatt and Peter Hohnen, chronicles the 451-day voyage of the Wolf in 1916-18 which destroyed about 110,000 tons of Allied shipping. In many respects, this is a fascinating and well-written piece of history, which delves in considerable detail into a chapter of the First World War at sea with which few readers will be familiar. However, the emphasis in this book is on the human story - particularly the privations of the prisoners taken from captured ships and the Wolf's Captain Karl Nerger. Readers expecting more military detail and insight will find these details often shoved to the background in favor of descriptions about what the prisoners were eating. Yet even though I was quite familiar with the Wolf's cruise - having written a book on German Second World War commerce raiders - I still learned a number of new pieces of information that the authors had unearthed in their diligent research. Overall, The Wolf shines a spotlight on an obscure corner of the First World War and a style of conduct in warfare that now appears almost quaint.

The Wolf is divided into twelve chapters and has four appendices (the Wolf's specifications, a list of ships mined or sunk, a by-name list of the Wolf's crew and a list of the Wolf's prisoners). The book also includes two maps, a very nice cutaway diagram of the ship itself, 16 B/W photos and a 5-page bibliography. Although much of the book is reliant upon post-war memoirs by German officers and former prisoners, the authors have included research from other archival sources to fill out the rest of the Wolf's story. The book focuses very heavily on a few characters, such as the captured Cameron family, Captain Nerger and his Leutnant Rose, and much of the cruise is seen from their perspective. However, many of the other prisoners are simply annoying, such as the alcoholic Mabel Whittaker or Gerald Haxton (whom the authors continually refer to as the "secret lover of novelist W. Somerset Maugham"). Who cares? Many readers would have preferred that the authors allow the Germans to throw these prisoners into the cargo hold, slam the hatch shut and forget about them, instead of returning every few pages to their whining about not having whiskey and soda aboard the raider. The authors also diverge onto a few characters, such as Carl Newman, who were neither prisoners or crew members. Newman was a ethnic German who lived in Australia as a fisherman but was jailed under suspicion that he was aiding the Wolf somehow by surreptitious meetings off the coast. Newman's story is tragic but barely related to the Wolf and it would have been more pertinent to discuss some of the Allied officers involved in hunting for the Wolf. Throughout the book, Allied efforts to counter the Wolf are discussed rather haphazardly and focus more on what the Allied media was saying, rather than naval intelligence.

My opinion of Karl Nerger and his crew did change considerably with this book. Heretofore, Nerger was regarded as virtually the epitome of the sea corsair and his crew the cream of the Imperial Germany Navy. While these authors do continue to depict Nerger's humane side, he comes across as less than daring and his aloofness from his crew contributed to a serious deterioration in morale. After a year at sea, Nerger's crewmen were often involved in drunken and violent incidents, one of which nearly sparked a mutiny. Nerger's decision to keep over 700 prisoners on board - over three times what the prisoner hold was designed for - seriously reduced the efficiency of his ship, consumed resources such as food and water at an alarming rate and created endemic morale problems. As the author's discuss, the presence of women prisoners aboard a ship with men who have been at sea for over a year caused real problems and Nerger seemed oblivious to it all. During the Second World War, German raiders made greater efforts to transfer prisoners to auxiliary ships or drop them off on isolated islands, but Nerger seemed obsessed with their potential to give the Allies information about his ship's activity (which they did through other means, including a message in a bottle).

Most readers should enjoy this book, with its in-depth characters and periodic adventure (including two prisoners who try to swim to an island), although specialist readers will not learn much about strictly military issues. The cruise of the Wolf belonged to a different era of warfare, where enemies could still act with a certain basic human decency toward each other and the combatants respected non-combatants (and to a lesser degree) neutrals.

I got hooked into reading the true naval stories about the WWI German Naval raiders through the exploits of Count Luckner: Count Luckner: The Sea Devil by Lowell Thomas, and Count von Luckner;: Knight of the sea, by Edwin Palmer Hoyt. The sea- tales of these chivalrous latter day privateers are fascinating, and you can root for the "underdog" with a clear conscience as most of these captains followed the rules of naval warfare scrupulously and with the sort of chivalry not seen since.

If you haven't read about Count Luckner, now is the time, you won't be disappointed.

This is the story of The Wolf, a armed merchant cruiser that sailed the seas late in WWI. She was also the first raider to use a seaplane with good effect. Fregattenkapitän (Commander) Karl August Nerger kept his ship at sea for 451 long days, baffling the Allies. When he finally brought his ship back to Germany, he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, aka "the Blue Max".

The story has been told before but not as often as some of the other raiders, and never to this depth.

The authors here have added quite a bit of focus on two subjects not covered as much: the Allies propaganda and censorship campaign, and the travails of the prisoners on board. I found the sections about the prisoners to go on a bit too long, and focus too much on the hardships. However, the research is impeccable. The personal stories are well done.

The info about the Allies censorship and propaganda campaigns is fascinating. The Allies refused to let the real story out, blaming the sinkings on "Hun saboteurs" leading to more sinking of ships in the minefields that they should have been able to avoid, and the persecution of German born Australians who were thought to have planted bombs and put mines loose in the seas.

Readers wanting more about the naval actions and military detail can find that in: Edwin P. Hoyt, "Raider Wolf, The Voyage of Captain Nerger,"), which is a very exciting book.

Further reading on this subject:Hoyt, Edwin P Elusive Seagull
Lochner, R. K. Last Gentleman-Of-War: Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden
The Germans who never lost;: The story of the Konigsberg, by Edwin Palmer Hoyt

I found that I could not put the book down. The Author's had carried out fantastic research to present such a detailed account of a German Raider, a converted coal burning merchant steamship, which went on a 15 month "rampage" from Kiel across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and return without going to a port to refuel.

The rampage took place at the time of the First World War from November 1916 to February 1918 laying mines in the main shipping routes off South America, South Africa, India, Singapore Australia and New Zealand.

Many Ships captured and sunk after bringing on board Wolf, passengers and crew as prisoners and transferring coal, supplies, and all other equipment required by Wolf at the time. A very good read.

"Wolf" is a very well-written, well-researched true life story surrounding the events of WW1. German raiders ships roamed the world hijacking ships of any nation and stripping them of any sort of materiel that could be used by their nation and even themselves, as no provision was made for restocking them. Often the prisoners were held for weeks or even months. This book follows a well-documented case, and if you like WW1 history, this book will teach you a lot.

If you are interested in learning about WWI German Raiders, search Amazon for "The Kaiser's Pirates." If you are interested in epic sea voyage stories (HMS Bounty, Shackleton in the Antartic, Nansen and the Fram), this is a good read. If you like The Wolf and can read German, pick up a copy of the "Seeadler."

This was a quite successful raider! In both world wars, the merchant raiding ships that Germany sent out to terrorize the oceans did a spectacular job, but very few ever returned to port, especially with the enemy navies being so close. But the WOLF, a raider of over 5,700 tons, departed Kiel, Germany, in November of 1916 and returned to Kiel in February of 1918. I ordered this book because the reviews talked about the ship and all, but not completely about it's exploits, so I had to read all about it and finished the book just today.

Captain Karl Nerger kept the WOLF at sea for 444 days and traveled more than 64,000 miles in one unbroken voyage, equivalent to nearly three circumnavigations of the earth, without pulling into any port. He traversed three of the four major oceans and evaded the combined navies of Britain, France, Japan, Australia, and the United States, while carrying out a military mission that sank or damaged 30 ships, totaling more than 138,000 tons. When he returned to port, he had lost only a handful of crew and prisoners and had maintained extraordinary discipline on a ship crowded at times with nearly 750 men, women, and children.

You'll read about how one young, little girl, the daughter of one of the prisoners, became the darling of the German ship, how exceptional treatment was given to many of the prisoners, and how one enemy cruiser passed to within a mile of the WOLF and it's battle-ready crew at their stations, awaiting the order to fire, and the cruiser passed on without even seeing them! You'll hear about the storms they encountered, the minefields the ship laid out, and the consequences of those mines, some of which weren't even recovered for decades. One mine was even found on the shores of New Zealand in 2008!

I also read a lot about the reactions given about the raider by the people of Australia and New Zealand, which had very little navy support during the entire crisis, and the authorities believing the mines to be laid by German-born citizens in the coastal areas, not to mention the little support of Japan's navy, which was in the area, despite one of their ships going missing, which was the only ship to actually try to fight the WOLF. One Spanish ship that was captured also tried to make it back on the dangerous return trip to Kiel, but ended up being detained by authorities in neutral Denmark.

Towards the end of the book, after the WOLF arrived in Kiel and the crew went on leave to their families, I was eager to know about the fate of such an extraordinary raider that made it back intact. Not much is said about the topic, except that the WOLF was handed over to the French for reparations after the war, and she did a successful trade merchant career under their merchant marine for at least 12 years before she was scuttled in 1931. Why and where she was scuttled is uncertain, but I would like to hear more about this subject.

A great book! And it was told by a crew of such brave men who faced so much dangers!

I could hardly put this book down. It was action packed from start to finish! I first heard about the exploits of the German Raider "Wolf" when I was a little boy from my father. During WWI, my father served as a cabin boy on a German supply ship. He was 15 years old when the Wolf returned from its epic voyage in February 1918. This book well rounded out what I already knew about this raider. It is a gripping story. I appreciated the German and Allied sides to this adventure along with the people and circumstances involved. A great historical account!

I ordered this book as soon as it was available on Amazon and waited in anticipation for it to arrive after being alerted to it by the excellent review in the Wall Street Journal. I was not disappointed! The book is meticulously researched and extremely well written. The book is a about the epic adventures of the Merchant Raider Wolf of the German Imperial Navy of WWI. It recounts the amazing story of this converted merchant ship (bristling with armaments) and its crew and prisoners as it made its way (some 64,000 miles) to South America, S Africa, India and Australia, all the while pirating for food and fuel, and laying mines along the way. The book recounts the brilliance, tenacity and sheer luck of the Captain and his crew that somehow survived a seemingly suicidal mission. I have also read Alexander Roy's Book "The Cruise of the Raider Wolf", which I also enjoyed, however, I really liked how the authors of this book (Richard Guilliat and Peter Hohnen) are able to provide a broader historical context which provide much rich History about WWI that I was not aware of.

I could not put this book down and would recommend it highly as an incredible adventure story. I would give it six stars If I could! I also think this book would make an excellent film, perhaps in the same league as Das Boot. This book was of particular interest to me because my Grandfather was a crewmember and I learned much I did not know about his harrowing journey.

I read this book in three or four days. It is breathtakingly written and fastidiously researched. The book takes you in completely and does not let you go. The language has something restless, like the sea, or the constant effort to avoid enemy war ships, weather ferocious storms, or hunt for more coal and food. It is the tale of a small, slow, all black German raider in WW I, pretending to be a freighter, with guns and a deadly load of mines on board , sent from the Baltic seaport of Kiel on a seemingly suicidal mission. The mission was to destroy as many enemy ships as possible. It sailed through the Atlantic, Indian and Western Pacific ocean and after 15 months against tremendous odds returned to the home port.

The book is much more than a war book. It is about overcoming obstacles, hope when everything looks hopeless, dogged perseverance, moral acts and the never waning human spirit.

The European theater in World War I is covered in numerous books, the Pacific theater much less so. England depended on troops, grain, and supplies from Australia and the East, yet it had stripped Australia of almost all of its defenses and indeed had to call upon the Japan navy to guard Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. When Wolf arrived in Asia, began laying mines and taking prizes, the English refused to acknowledge the problem, leaving ships unwarned of the dangers. In light of this, it seems a miracle that Wolf did not do far more damage -- for all its weapons, Wolf only fought one brief battle with an armed merchant ship.

The author does a good job discussing Australian politics and the anti-sabotage fears. However, while the story of Wolf's long voyage and the saga of its crew and captives has significant potential, the book seems to fall a bit flat in making a reader care about their struggles and their fates or explaining more about the manifest tensions between the various groups of prisoners. The author criticizes the Japanese admiral in charge of defending Australia and hunting for Wolf, but one gets little feel for why the admiral acted as he did.

Thus, three stars for interesting topic and the history portions.