"Tirpitz and the Battle for the North Atlantic, The" by David Woodward 1953.

Good for a bedtime story.

Just started Clay Blair's "Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942".
Tons of information to digest.

:)

:rotfl2:

"Not...slept, Caesar..."




@ Buddahaid: That sounds like a good one. I have a copy of C.S. Forrester's The Last Nine Days Of The Bismarck. Short, but sweet.

@ sharkbit: It's hard to go wrong with Blair. I have all of his histories, as well as some of his biographies. He was the author of McArthur, which the Gregory Peck movie was based on.

Am currently reading.
It Never Snows in September: The German View of Market-Garden and the Battle of Arnhem September 1944. By Robert Kershaw

Am about half way through. Have found it it a very interesting read so far. Lots of detail of the set up of the German Forces and the moral of the average German solider on the ground.

I ordered Pearl Harbour: The Verdict of History by Gordon W. Prange. I really enjoyed "Miracle at Midway" and thought At dawn we slept of a very interesting read indeed. Just noticed that i bloody ordered two copies of the book. :damn:

Silent Victory by Clay Blair Jr.
 

'For the upteenth time - and still (LOL) frustrated by his writing style!

Regards,

J. P. Kelly

Yeah he's not the easiest read in the world. sometimes gets very bogged down with facts and figures rather than narration, but in terms of reference material he's harder to fault than most. He's definately a excellent researcher and will highlight where conflicting reports make it hard to determine what was right or wrong.

Good book, I read that one when it first came out, still got it some where in my pile of books. :up:

Heres a list of books I have read over the last year and bit.

Hitler's War On Russia..by Charles D. Winchester

The Wages of Destruction, The Making & Breaking of the Nazi Economy..
by Adam Tooze

Red Army Tank Commanders, The Armored Guards.. by Richard N. Armstrong

D-Day, The Battle for Normandy..by Antony Beevor

Luftwaffe fans of the Ost Front will like this series by Christer Bergstrom
Barbarossa - The Air Battle: July-December 1941
Stalingrad - The Air Battle: 1942 through January 1943
Kursk - The Air Battle: July 1943
Bagration to Berlin - The Final Air Battles in the East 1944-1945

First U-Boat Flotilla..by Lawrence Paterson

Second U-Boat Flotilla..by Lawrence Paterson

Wow good to see you around again Steed.:up:
Nice list above, have added some to the ever increasing wish list.

Are these any good?

I read his "U-Boats in the Mediterranean"-I was kinda "Meh" about the book. Now I'm a little gun shy about buying these two. I have them on my list at Amazon.

:)

These books are not what I call a detailed history, the books charts the flotilla war diary a record of admin matters & combat results compiled by the flotilla commander.

Examples are short entrys not all are like this, half a page to three pages. -

Chapter 6
27th June 1941
The war diary of 1st U-Flotilla recorded the inaugural use of its facilities:
"The U-Support Station of the 1st U-Flotilla in Brest has received its first Front boat and hence fulfilled its actual purpose. The base, as it stands, is ready for 15 U-boats, the docks currently for two to three boats, thereafter six, and then more later,"

Chapter 7
16th May 1942
U116 departed for the North Atlantic and her first voyage as supply ship. Following the new directive from Bdu regarding optimal sailing times, she slipped from harbour at 2000hrs in the wake of her vorpostenboote escourt.

29th July 1942
U203 1600hrs; Mutzelberg arrives. Celebrations for the new Flotilla Oak Leaves holder.

11th August 1942
Kptlt. Werner Schult brought U582 into her concrete bunker at 1730hrs. As well as four victory pennants claiming 32,000 BRT of shipping sunk while part of the Hai pack.

Chapter 8
1st March 1943
Winter noted the following transfers to 1st U-Flotilla:
"New boats U305, U306, U415 from Dnzig's 8th U-Flotilla, veteran U209 from Bergen's 11st U-Flotilla."

Hmmmm....sounds a little dry. I think I'll pass on the books for now although they sound like they might be an excellent research source.

Thanks.

:)

I bought them both together for a rock bottom price. I didn't find that dry as they are a kind of books you can read put down and not loose your place, maybe you should put them on your bargain basement list. :03:

I'm waiting for a couple of books to hit bargain basement as the author is very deep and very very dry but well written.

Just finished re-reading...

Deadlock Before Moscow

Army Group Centre 1942/43

By Franz Kurowski


Good Read.

Two Books
 

I'm currently reading "The Admiralty Regrets...." about the loss of HMS Thetis that sank in full view in Liverpool Bay.

A fascinating story of stupidity and at times almost wilful incompetence on the part of the Admiralty when it came to rescue operations.

The other book I'm close to finishing is "Death in the Doldurms - U Cruiser Actions Off West Africa".

The book is incredibly detailed and very revealing when it comes to the actual detail of the long patrols that took German sailors to far flung places in their search for Allied Vessels. The reaction of the Admiralty to the news that 'large U-Boats' were active in 'safe' waters is one of near panic and the effort that was expended in trying to deal with the U-Boat menace is quite remarkable given the very small force the German Navy actually deployed!