[Subnuts]

Amazon just decided to randomly delete my review of Hitler's U-boat Strike Force, so I'll just post it here instead. Millions of people on Amazon have posted more malicious reviews than this, and they never got theirs deleted in less than four hours.

Writing serious military history, especially that focused on Nazi Germany, requires a level of clinical detachment from the subject matter that many readers might find distasteful. I've owned and read a number of books on the military on the subject over the years, mostly on the Kriegsmarine and the U-boats in particular. For the most part, they've mercifully taken a "just the facts, here's what happened and when, this unit was organized like that, this weapon or equipment worked like such..." approach. "The Nazis were bad and did horrible things" isn't exactly a controversial statement. Any intelligent reader should recognize that and move on.

And then there's Jak P. Mallmann Showell. I read his "Hitler's Wonder U-boats" three years ago, and I have no idea what compelled me to purchase another one of his books. How this guy got to be a respected U-boat historian is a wonder; I've been reading Geirr Harr's "No Room for Mistakes" and the difference in quality is staggering. Once again, most of the text is frequently unfocused and written at a vaguely introductory level, German terms and titles have tildes inserted between syllables, and no attempt is made to disguise the fact that the author is a bitter nationalist crank. Here's a couple of choice quotes in which he describes the aftermath of World War I and the Allied occupation of Germany:

"The victorious Allies cowered in the shadows and did very little or nothing to stem the increase of ethnic violence throughout the new states which they had created."

'What we are left with are piles of one-sided and somewhat misleading propaganda, generated by those who won the majority of battles..."

"They did not shy away from using their guns against starving Germans who could only watch when the food and goods they had produced were taken away. In view of this cruelty, it was thought highly likely that this army of occupation would return, to confiscate any military violations of the Versailles "Treaty," the peace 'treaty' that the Germans were forced to sign at the end of the First World War."

Boy, for someone upset about "propaganda," Mr. Showell certainly has no problem repeating a lot of pre-war Nazi grievances! Why the editors at Frontline Books thought anyone would want to read the author's bitter ramblings in a book advertised (perhaps disguised) as a technical and operational study is incomprehensible to me. Then again, this book currently has a 4.5-star rating, so what do I know? I'm giving it two stars, simply because it has some nice pictures and diagrams, and the Kindle edition was only $2.99. I certainly wouldn't want to spend any more on it.