Savas, Theodore P. (editor) Silent Hunters: German U-Boat Commanders of World War II. Campbell, CA: Savas Publishing, 1997

ISBN: 1-882810-17-1
215 pages

Editor's Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; photos; maps; diagrams; Notes; Index.

Theodore Savas in his role as editor has assembled several notable authors of previous books about U-boats and set them each the task of telling the story of a U-boat skipper according to simple criteria: "choose a U-boat commander who has not received the scholarly treatment he deserves, one who either accomplished his record incrementally during several patrols or someone whose experiences were somehow unique and worthy of study."

This they have all achieved. Despite the adventurous -- nay, dangerous -- nature of undersea warfare, these accounts are written (with only a single exception) in a rather subdued and academic fashion. In that sense these are not suspenseful, nausea-inducing stories of high drama on the high seas, but rather carefully considered and tidily constructed essays that to catch and keep our attention rely successfully on the inherently fascinating lives led by these extraordinary sailors.

To these accounts Eric Rust adds a brief Introduction to remind us of the value of such a compilation in bringing to our attention relatively unknown officers, in adding breadth to our knowledge of the U-boat war, and in demonstrating how these men stamped the relentless U-boats indelibly in the minds of all who experienced the Second World War.

Engelbert Endrass
by Erich Topp (U-Boat skipper and autobiographical author of The Odyssey of a U-Boat Commander)

Erich Topp, although an author whose his memoirs were published a few years ago, is best known as one of the most successful of all U-boat captains during the war. His chapter is the one exception to the generally academic style of writing in the book, composed as it was during the war almost as a requiem or a prose death-poem. "I wrote these pages in the lonely wastes of the Atlantic when all hope had vanished that Engelbert Endrass might return alive from his last patrol."

Karl-Friedrich Merten
by Timothy P. Mulligan (author of Lone Wolf: The Life and Death of U-Boat Ace Werner Henke)

Merten (whose memoirs have been published in German but not translated into English) also figured prominently in Wolf by Jordan Vause. Mulligan paints him as not only a submarine ace, but also as the last of a long line of Prussian gentlemen-warriors, "a man of personal integrity and courage." One of the older U-boat skippers in 1942 at age 32, he is said to have been of the perfect temperament for long-range solo patrols as opposed to wolfpack actions. His most interesting patrol was the long-range rescue of survivors of Atlantis and Python, accomplished in part by towing lifeboats behind his U-68 and cruising on the surface day and night. Later, upon sinking City of Cairo he assisted survivors by giving them directions to land and departed with "Goodnight, sorry for sinking you." (He was invited to a post-war reunion of survivors where one observed "We couldn't have been sunk by a nicer man.") In 1948 he was arrested by French authorities and tried in the sinking of the tanker Frimaire but acquitted. Later in life he became involved in a personal feud with U-boat author and screenwriter Lothar-Gunther Buchheim.

Ralph Kapitsky
by Gaylord T. M. Kelshall (author of The U-Boat War in the Caribbean)

"The daring commander of U-615 was Ralph Kapitsky, and the sinking of the Liberty ship Edward B. Dudley was only his third success, and thus he was not considered an ace in the accepted sense. As part of Group Tiger during his second war patrol, Kapitsky attacked convoy ONS 136 in October 1942, sinking his first two ships in the process, the freighters El Lago and the large 12,000-ton Empire Star. But it was the heavy damage suffered by U-615 while shadowing convoy HX 229 in March 1943 that was to have dramatic consequences for both its commander and her crew."

Fritz Guggenberger
by Eric C. Rust (author of Naval Officers Under Hitler: The Story of Crew 34)

Guggenberger's career included sinking the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal in the Mediterranean in November 1941 in U-81 and losing U-513 off Brazil in 1943. Captured and interned in a POW camp in Arizona, he led two escape attempts, in the second being captured within ten miles of the Mexican border (which he mistakenly thought remained neutral territory). After the war he rose to the rank of Rear Admiral in the German Navy.

Victor Oehrn
by Jordan Vause (author of U-Boat Ace: The Story of Wolfgang Luth and Wolf: U-Boat Commanders in World War II)

"And yet Oehrn is a remarkable man who deserves recognition for his stellar -- and unique -- service. He was anything but a common desk lackey and in fact was Karl Doenitz's A1 -- his Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations -- for most of the war. In this role Oehrn was responsible for planning many of the special operations and most of the (relatively) routine patrol activity that made the U-Bootwaffe such a terrible weapon in its time and such a captivating entity in the public imagination then and today. Gunther Prien's sinking of the Royal Oak in 1939 and the U-boat offensive of 1940 are two conspicuous examples of Oehrn's influence. During the brief time he was a commander at sea, Oehrn sank enough tonnage to win the Knight's Cross. In addition, he is given considerable credit for restoring U-Bootwaffe morale after the disastrous torpedo failures of the spring of 1940. Finally, he achieved a personal victory during the war unique in his branch of service: he was gravely wounded in a land battle, captured by the enemy, imprisoned, repatriated and restored to his position-- all within eighteen months."

Heinz-Wilhelm Eck
by Dwight R. Messimer (author of The Merchant U-Boat)

The story of Eck is equal parts war patrol and post-war legal proceedings, the latter taken largely from the actual transcripts. In the South Atlantic in 1943 his U-852 torpedoed and sank SS Peleus. In an attempt to destroy the floating debris which would betray his presence to Allied aircraft, Eck ordered the machine-gunning of all wreckage in the water, including the lifeboats in which huddled the survivors of the Peleus. Some of the crew were killed by machine guns and grenades; others, deprived of shelter, died in the sea. Nonetheless, three men survived thirty-five days adrift and told their story to Allied authorities. Eck, captured later off the Horn of Africa, and two of his officers were tried and executed on the last day of November 1945.

The volume as a whole is a little on the thin side, but each chapter is a workmanlike effort from a distinguished historian (or, in the case of Topp, a U-boat skipper).

Available from online booksellers and local bookshops or directly from Savas Publishing's distributor, Stackpole Books.

Thanks to Savas and Stackpole for providing this review copy.