Buchheim's "U-Boat War" - a few quotes
 

I'm reading Buchheim's "U-Boat War", basically his diary of a patrol on U-96 (I think .. it's not named in the book, but I think I've seen it referred somewhere). Obviously he drew on these experiences for "Das Boot" and some were picked up in the movie, but it's fascinating to read the real-life of some of these, or at least the hints of them that ended up in the movie. This is the translation of course, which now and then is a bit wonky. A few quotes (sound familiar?):

"The first watch officer has to eat after everyone else, because he's on bridge duty. We sit there ostentatiously glued to his every move, which makes him quite jittery ... At breakfast he picks even the tiniest black specks from his porridge with a great display of distaste. We have to watch him at it all too often."

A tanker is torpedoed ... "But the carcass is still afloat. Tongues of red flame flicker along its entire length. They tint the belly of the monstrous maggot of smoke, now swelling to huge proportions out of the ship in place of the pillar; the smoke is sucked upward as though by a whirlwhind."

"What a tedious day. At daybreak I already had a hunch that it was going to be a dead loss. ... The entire ocean seems devoid of ships."

"In the U-room an off-duty diesel mate has a question: "A misfortune, with four letters?" He looks up at me expectantly. I stare back at him as though confronted with a lunatic. Crossword puzzles? At a time like this?"

I already read that book.

Well good for you.

Where can I find that book? I've read Das Boot but I'd like to read some of the other books he's written. It is a shame that he passed on though in Febuary.

I found it at my local library. For some reason though they didn't have the other more famous book by him.:nope:

Come over to my house and you can read my copy:smug: .

I'm about half-way through the copy I got at the library. I highly recommend it.

Buchheim's description of the what's involved in maintaining the balance of the boat while underwater really made me appreciate the skills of a chief engineer.