BISMARCK: A Minute by Minute Account of the Final Hours of Germany's Greatest Battleship (Hardcover)

~ Niklas Zetterling (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A gripping tale of heroism -and doom-on the high seas . . .?

The sinking of the German battleship Bismarck-a masterpiece of engineering, well-armored with a main artillery of eight 15-inch guns-was one of the most dramatic events of World War II. She left the port of Gotenhafen for her first operation on the night of 18 May 1941, yet was almost immediately discovered by Norwegian resistance and Allied air reconnaissance. British battlecruiser Hood was quickly dispatched from Scapa Flow to intercept the Bismarck, together with new battleship Prince of Wales. They were ordered to find the ship quickly because, on their way from the USA, several large convoys were heading for Britain.

On 24 May, Bismarck was found off the coast of Greenland, but the ensuing battle was disastrous for the British. The Hood was totally destroyed within minutes (only 3 crewmen surviving), and Prince of Wales was badly damaged. The chase resumed until the German behemoth was finally caught, this time by four British capital ships supported by torpedo-bombers from the carrier Ark Royal. The icy North Atlantic roiled from the crash of shellfire and bursting explosions until finally the Bismarck collapsed, sending nearly 2,000 German sailors to a watery grave.

Tamelander and Zetterling's work rests on stories from survivors and the latest historical discoveries. The book starts with a thorough account of maritime developments from 1871 up to the era of the giant battleship, and ends with a vivid account, hour by hour, of the dramatic and fateful hunt for the mighty Bismarck, Nazi-Germany's last hope to pose a powerful surface threat to Allied convoys.

NIKLAS ZETTERLING, a researcher at the Swedish Defense College, is most recently co-author of The Korsun Pocket: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944. Together with MICHAEL TAMELANDER, a part-time military author, they have written books about the battleship Tirpitz, the D-Day landings and the 1940 campaign in Norway.

REVIEWS

"... a very interesting and useful history ...once you start... you will be very hard pressed to stop until the smoke has cleared and the ship is sunk."Internet Modeler, 08/2009

"...unable to put it down...I highly recommend this book for anyone that likes the study of naval battles or just wants to read about an action-packed sea battle."IPMS, 08/2009

"outstanding book about naval warfare...real time, you are there style that conveys all of the anxiety of actual combat at sea." WWII History, Winter 2009

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Casemate; First Edition edition (May 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935149040
• ISBN-13: 978-1935149040
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #97,151 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #80 in

  Books > History > Military > World War II > Naval

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling account of WW2 naval warfate, July 3, 2009

By	Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Surely, the raid of the German battleship Bismarck into the North Atlantic in May, 1941, and the Royal Navy's search for and destruction of the feared ship is one of the best-known incidents of World War II naval warfare, but perhaps never before has such a comprehensive, thoughtful analysis of the event been published as in Niklas Zetterling and Michael Tamelander's "Bismarck: The Final Days of Germany's Greatest Battleship", looking at what happened from both the German and British perspectives. The Bismarck's mission is carefully placed in the context of the German strategy of commerce raiding, with a comprehensive look at the strategic and tactical problems faced by the commanders of both sides, and possibly alternative actions at each stage are carefully explored. The text is well-illustrated with large-scale maps showing the changing positions of hunter and hunted, making clear the development of events. The narrative text is highly detailed
but does not, as books on naval history so often do, descend into a merely technical hardware descriptiion in which seemingly every bolt is counted and described. Instead, authors Zetterling and Tamelander concentrate upon the human element, always keeping in mind what each side knew and did not know at any given moment, with the result that a feeling of tense suspense builds, even though the reader already knows the Bismarck's fate. All in all, a gripping account.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and well written account, August 26, 2009

By	David Dicicco - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Written from a military historian's perspective, Bismarck: a minute-by-minute account is both intellectual and highly accessible. The authors trace the doomed mission of the Bismarck in detail and give position-by-position accounts of the main players. They also intersperse some eyewitness accounts of the Bismarck's fall to keep things in perspective. My favorite moments are when the authors talk about the Bismarck's impact on Germany's war potential and their "cruiser warfare" policy in general.

Could be longer.

A few typos.

Otherwise, 5 stars through and through.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ..pursuit and death of the Schlachtschiff Bismarck, October 19, 2009

By	N. Page (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

..exciting and competent re-telling of the hunt, pursuit and final destruction of one of the mightiest battleships ever to put to sea. A tremendous British victory, the heroism of the sea-and-airmen involved is calmly and dispassionately portrayed in this fine account. After the shock of the loss of the Royal Navy's battleship Hood with virtually all hands, the attempts to shake off the pursuing pack and the desperate attacks flown by the Navy's venerable Swordfish torpedo bombers are nicely built up by the authors to the final denouement, as the Bismarck, crippled by a torpedo strike, is shelled into oblivion..
A couple of criticisms; the authors don't bring much new information to the table and their style is ponderous and leaden to say the least. This is not helped by the authors attempt to weigh up and evaluate the decision making process undertaken at each stage of the hunt by the various interested parties. On the German side they rely heavily of course on Mullenheim-Rechberg's memoir but don't appear to realise that an English translation was published. The authors are not native-speakers and sentence construction is predictably and unfortunately rather wooden in places, while this work has more typos and omissions than any other similar work I've ever read. In short the text desperately needed copy editing. Recommended despite these shortcomings.