By Herbert A. Werner

Not even going to argue about how biased it is, this is one good read about the U-boat war from the German side.

It's a great book. I'm re-reading it at the moment. However there is one quote that always comes to mind when I think about it, it was made by a former U-boat skipper who was asked to review it:

"If I were to to use a red pen to highlight every inaccuracy, the manuscript would look like a bloodbath."

But, on the whole, it is very good. I don't know exactly what is so inaccurate but in terms of giving a fairly good idea of what it was like to go to sea and fight in one of those things it can't easilly be beat.

I agree it is a fine read. As for the inaccuracies...If you were to tally up all the ships sunk (according to Werner) and cross reference the U-boats Werner served on (at U-boat.net), it would appear that Werners claims may be a tad optimistic.

That doesn't detract from his excellent descriptions of life in the Kriegsmarine. It's even more fscinating when you realise that when the book was written, the world did not yet know about the breaking of the Enigma code..

I'm halfway through it and am enjoying it

What I thought was missing, was the authentic feeling. Although Werner obviously was in the U-boat service, I got a feeling that he wrote the whole thing from a detached point of view, taking his stylistic cues from pulp fiction.

I prefer Victor Korszh "Red Star of the Baltic". Even though the WWII Soviet submarine history isn't nearly as interesting as the German one, this book gives you a much better impression of what it was like being there. I think this is largely due to Korszh integrating the details of day to day life aboard into the story, as well as technical details of operating the sub.

Since their equipment is of "Soviet quality" (in other words: crap), there's always something in need of repair and his descriptions of this tells you a lot about what makes the sub tick. You also get to know a lot more about the operation procedures and tactics from Korszh than from Werner.

Some details in "Red Star ..." are funny in an ironic way, such as the part where Korszh tells about the celebration of the anniversary of the day "Latvia was taken into the Soviet Union" and regrets that there was no Latvian present to take part in the celebration. Sure Victor, fat chance that the Latvians would celebrate being invaded by a brutal dictatorship...

Needless to say, "Red Star ..." was written in the days when a careless word of critisism would render you a tour in the torture chambers of the Lubjanka prison basement.

Though "Red Star ..." is not a great literary accomplishment, Korszh bests Werner stylistically with a comfortable margin. I guess Korszh had a ghost writer, while Werner would had needed one.

Still, Werner's book is also an interesting read.