[benetofski]

Not wishing to 'poop on your cornflakes' there is, as I am sure you are aware, both fact and fiction out there in the literary world, including u-boat accounts and stories. U-boat scholars should be able to discern between or question the differences at some stage....

I have a copy of 'Iron Coffins' by Werner (which I honestly admit is an enjoyable read) however it is fairly well known that the book was written with some degree of 'poetic licence' and 'cut and paste' from 'others' war patrols - steered towards an audience unable (generally) to disprove Werner's own (personal account) story from non-fiction...

The books 'forward' - written by Edward L. Beach (USN retd) even admits that he only knows of Werner through 'his story' .

Perhaps Beaches' own story would have been a more factual one?

There is an interesting (Iron Coffins) book overview by Michael Hadley (Professor of Germanic studies, University of Victoria and author of several well researched books including U-Boats against Canada, 'A Nations Navy', Tin Pots and Pirate Ships and 'Count not the Dead.

Basing his study on some two-hundred-and-fifty German novels, memoirs, fictionalized histories, and films (including Das Boot), Michael Hadley examines the popular image of the German submarine (refering to 'Count not the Dead) and weighs the values, purposes, and perceptions of German writers and film makers.


Here it is:

Excerpt from “Count not the Dead”, by M.Hadley


On closer examination, however, “Iron Coffins” proved to be one of the worst distortions of the postwar period. It is, in fact, just as propagan­distic in its own way as u-boat books that had appeared during the war.

Jurgen Rohwer, Germany's premier naval historian, savaged the book in a scathing review. "If one wanted to underline the factual errors [in red], almost every page would be like a blood bath," he observed. On the basis of documentary evidence - some of which consisted of reports submitted by Werner himself during his wartime service - Rohwer condemned the book as sheer hyprocisy. Werner had spliced other submariners' achievements onto his own record, had wildly exaggerated circumstances and events, did not have access to witnesses on whom he claimed to draw, invented orders that never existed, and distorted statistics and records - all to sustain his charge that the naval leadership had irresponsibly "fuelled up" submariners to undertake suicidal missions.

Werner's book was motivated less by a sense of duty towards his fallen comrades than by cheap sensationalism in the attempt to make a literary hit. By this time, of course, Werner was already enjoying major sales on two continents.

Confiding to a former Crew-Kamerad in 1974, Werner commented on his book's continuing success. It had appeared in fourteen coun­tries including Japan. It had given rise to tours across the United States for some Tv and radio interviews, and lectures at schools, univer­sities, and naval bases. He had become, in effect, the paramount image-maker: "I was thus in the extraordinary position of informing our former opponents about the truth of our epic struggle. I know I have done more for the esteem of our U-Boat Arm and its men than all those little pen-pushers together.

Significantly, the Association of German Submariners had fully supported the findings of Jurgen Rohwer's debunking review; it had dissociated itself from any claims in the memoir and had rejected Werner's "hack-work as totally without foundation." Fortunately for Werner, however, his fame and his mes­sage outlived the review.

However, as I said earlier - an enjoyable read!