U-Boat Combat Missions (2007)

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This book was a little different to the others I’d written. Its format was that of a large, heavily illustrated book – kind of what people call a ‘coffee table book’. The idea was to show every part of a Type VIIC U-boat with images both from wartime and taken aboard U995 in Laboe. These, coupled with as many first-hand accounts as I could obtain through interviews and artefacts from the U-Boot Archiv in Cuxhaven, combined to make a great representation of life aboard a combat boat.  The photographer, Neil Sutherland, captured some fantastic images as we were given full access to all of U995, including the bridge and upper deck.

Synopsis

This book takes the reader through every aspect of a combat U-boat, giving a comprehensive view of hat it was like to live – and fight – in an ‘Iron Coffin’. Uniquely, first-hand accounts from crewmembers are grouped with commissioned photographs of a Type VIIC U-boats, U995; together with the many rare memorabilia and archive photos that are also featured, the book brings the experiences of the U-boat men alive in vivid detail.

  • First-person accounts, most previously unpublished, from serving World War II U-boat crewmembers.
  • Crewmembers from every U-boat section are featured in turn – from the Bow Torpedo Room to the Diesel Engine and Electric Motor Rooms – giving a complete overview of what it was like to be on patrol in a combat U-boat.
  • Illustrated with more than 120 items of memorabilia, some 50 specially commissioned photos of the last surviving Type VIIC U-boat, U995, and over 170 archive photos.

First published by Barnes & Noble Inc. with the Elephant Book Company, 2007.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7607-8936-0
156 pages.
Illustrated throughout.

Available from the Barnes & Noble website and other book outlets

U-Boat Combat Missions: The Pursuers & The Pursued: First Hand Accounts Of U-Boat Life And Operations

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