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Title: Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted, 1942-1945 (Modern Library War) by Clay Blair ISBN: 0-679-64033-9 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 06 June, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Mr. Blair was a bitter man
Comment: I would only recommend the 2 volumes of "Hitler's U-boat War" to those interested in knowing about numbers and statistics of the naval military operations in the the Atlantic.(U-boats commissioned throughout the war -with precise dates-,
U-boats sunk or lost without a trace, U-boat torpedoes and weaponry, names of each U-boat skipper, tonnage sunk, allied shipyard construction programs, convoys, etc.)
Now if we cast aside the statistical scope of these 2 volumes, something must be said:
When a work is so heavily tainted with bias (it seems like Mr. Blair was a German hater) the final product of the author lacks the necessary objectiveness to render an accurate assessment of what happened in the Atlantic theather in World War II.
Mr. Blair goes way overboard when he refers to the German skippers "as civilian volunteers...manning cheap mass produced submarines". (Maybe Mr. Blair was a "natural born submarine crewmen" who had no necessity to volunteer for the navy.)
Well, not bad for a bunch of "civilian volunteers" manning such "inferior" submarines.
More than 5,000 merchant vessels sank, destroyed or crippled beyond repair. A few hundreds of warships (including 2 battleships, 3 aircraft carriers, several cruisers, and surely hundreds of escort warships including destroyers, frigates, corvettes, ASW trawlers, minesweepers, etc.) and a few hundreds of allied aircraft shot down.
Never before i had the opportunity of reading a book where thousands of "(insert word)"'s are used.
Mr. Blair's "assessments" and arguments are weak "in extremis" in most cases. He says only half the truth on many things.
Mr. Blair surely was a devoted researcher (in order to create such a cumbersome work), but that did not make him an accurate historian, since most of his arguments seem devoted to ridiculize the German naval officers and seamen. (For example, there is an episode of some U-boat which was depth charged by an allied war vessel, the U-boat skipper ordered the crew to abandon and scuttle; the submarine popped up to the surface and the Germans began to abandon their ship, while the allied ship was still conducting the attack firing her guns..then Mr. Blair says how the allied seamen on the victorious vessel "heard the Germans shouting, "begging" and "crying" to be saved"...I would have asked Mr. "Mtyh Destroyer" Blair: Is it possible to hear the shouting or screaming of men from the sea surface while the warship is still firing her guns at the crippled U-boat (not to forget the engine noise of the allied warship conducting the attack)? Were the German survivors "crying" in german or english? Did every allied war vessel had bilingual personnel on board?
Maybe the author believed allied seamen adrift in the ocean once
their ship -whether merchant or military- had been sunk, would "boldly", "bravely" and "gallantly" face death at sea.
I ignore the age of the author while he was serving on U.S.S. Guardfish in the pacific theather, but maybe he was somewhat bitter to know the very young seamen (such as Otto Ites) were INDEED bravely hunting and killing allied shipping in the Atltantic Ocean.
However, Mr. Blair's "myht destroying" entreprise can be of service for those WWII lovers.
Rating: 4
Summary: Hitlers U Boat War
Comment: As someone who has studied The Second World War for 3 decades I found Blair's two volume set about as good as it gets in factual recording of the U Boat War. As with all good historians, he deals with the facts and literally hammers home his case with a barrage of appendices ,which by themselves would constitute a fair sized book. However his American origins show through in his dealings with the "Atlantic Pearl Harbour" and particularly, his over- zealous defence of Admiral Ernest J King's comotose reponse to the Paukenschlag operation. His arguement that King "had other, more important,things to do with his destroyers" when a merciless slaughter was taking place within sight of the American coast, sits uneasily in the un biased context of these volumes.
I would also disagree with his premise that the Allies HAD to sink U Boats to win the Battle of the Atlantic. The prime directive of the convoy commander was "The safe & timely arrival of the convoy" and as long as the Allies could guarantee that (and after 1943 they 99% could) then sinking U Boats was not necessary for victory. A bonus yes,but in a tonnage war, not absolutely vital to ultimate success. Overall, as good a treatment of the Atlantic campaign as Blair's "Silent Victory" was for the Pacific submarine war.
Rating: 3
Summary: An exhaustive work
Comment: I find it somewhat difficult to render a global assessment on Mr. Blair's cumbersome work.
However, i'll try to put it in a very simple form.
The 2 volumes of "Hitler's U-boat War" can be praised as a very valuable source of information on u-boat types and production numbers, names of every skipper, number and even names of most ships sank, crippled beyond repair, salvaged vessels, allied shipyard construction programs, etc.
Nevertheless, there is a certain taste of bias, and even something i would refer to as a very powerful commitment Mr. Blair took on his shoulders to ridiculize and to make fun on the German seamen and staff officers which formed the U-boat arm in the German navy in World War II. Someone much more sensitive and emotional could also believe that Mr. Blair was a German hater.
(For example, where he describes how the survivors of a sunk u-boat "cried and begged" to be picked out of the water by the allied warship in the middle of the attack where their submarine had to be abandoned...i have a question: Did allied seamen "boldly" faced death on the surface after their ship -whether merchant or warship- was sunk or destroyed? And another question, is it really possible to hear the screaming of men on the surface while a depth charge attack is being carried out, not to avoid taking into account the engine noise of the war vessel conducting the attack?)
I quote Mr. Blair: "...German navalists were compelled to resort to cheap, mass-produced submarines, manned mostly by civilian volunteers, to conduct the war at sea..."
I do believe the author goes way overboard with such a statement.
What did he exactly mean with "manned mostly by civilian volunteers"? Maybe there is no precise answer for that.
Perhaps Mr. Blair was a "natural born seamen".
It could be true that the German U-boat force was never close to shut down the flow of imports and war materiel to the United Kingdome as well as of the Murmansk convoys.
But not too bad for a bunch of "civilian volunteers" manning cheap submarines. More than 5,000 merchant vessels destroyed or crippled, a few hundreds of warships, and another few hundreds of allied war planes shot down.
The author is also exhaustively "precise" (just like his style of using hundreds and hundreds of ""'s throughout his work), when it comes to "assess" the number of German submariners lost in action. In the second volume he delivers the big total number of German submariners killed in action. However, he avoids to mention the "precise" total number of allied seamen, either merchant of military, who were killed in action because of the U-boat attacks.
Maybe the author felt a strong sense of bitterness within himself to know that several "civilian volunteers" just a few years older than the author was, while he was serving on U.S.S. Guardfish, where hunting and killing allied shipping in the vast areas of the Atlantic. Not to mention that some of those "civilian volunteers" later were called to join NATO Naval Staff.
I find many of Mr. Blair's statements express only "half truths" and many others are weak "in extremis" and easy to be shattered away.(Like when he mentions the "low state of science during Hitler's Germany"?????????????????)
Mr. Blair and his "myth destruction" enterprise in the form of 2 volumes can be, notwithstanding everything, a "must" for military history scholars and fanatics.
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Title: Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942 (Modern Library War) by Clay Blair ISBN: 0679640320 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 06 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan by Clay, Jr. Blair ISBN: 155750217X Publisher: United States Naval Inst. Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II by Herbert A. Werner ISBN: 030681160X Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title: Operation Drumbeat: The Dramatic True Story of Germany's First U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II by Michael Gannon ISBN: 0060920882 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 May, 1991 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Memoirs by Karl Donitz ISBN: 0306807645 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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