This is the fascinating account, as told from the German perspective, of
the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest-running, continuous military
campaign in World War II, spanning from 1939 through to Germany's defeat
in 1945. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, which was
announced the day after the declaration of war, although it quickly grew
to include Germany's counter-blockade. The name "Battle of the
Atlantic", was coined by Winston Churchill in 1941 and he famously
stated that the U-boats were the only thing that really frightened him.
The U-boat war encompassed a campaign that began on the first day of the
European war and lasted for six years, involved thousands of ships and
stretched over thousands of square miles of ocean, in more than 100
convoy battles and perhaps 1,000 single-ship encounters. In the 68
months of World War II, 2,775 Allied merchant ships were sunk for the
loss of 781 U-boats.
This is the story of that massive encounter from the German perspective.
Published in three volumes, this work was compiled under the supervision
of the U.S Navy Department and the British Admiralty by Fregattenkapitan
Gunther Hessler. The author, though without previous experience as a
writer, had firsthand experience of U-boat warfare having commanded a
U-boat in 1940 and 1941. For the remainder of the war he was Staff
Officer to the Flag Officer commanding U-boats. He had access to German
war diaries and other relevant documents concerning U-boat command, and
this work based on these many documents, tells the story entirely from
the viewpoint of that command. For this reason this work is essential
reading for anyone interested in the history of World War II from
primary sources and will be of enduring interest to those engaged in
attempting to unravel the true nature of submarine warfare in World War
II.
