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09-17-10, 12:03 PM | #1 |
Grey Wolf
Join Date: Apr 2004
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What next after "Iron coffins" And what was false about it??
I have about 30 pages to finish, but I searched on here and couldn't decide which thread to jump back up, so I started my own.
First.. I would like to know why and how this book was debunked.. What was false about his story? His girlfriends stories? His few battle stories (a couple pages for each) Is Werner still alive? I searched online and found a 90 year old guy named Herbert A. Werner that lives in Florida.. I feel like calling the published number and talk to him (if its still him) Finally.. I just read my first U-boat book AND LOVED IT!, thank you guys for recommending it to me.. But I feel I just read the "Saving Private Ryan" of books and nothing else will compare or give me the feeling of being there.. What would be a good choice after this book? something to follow a personal experience..., Again. THANKS EVERYONE! |
09-17-10, 12:48 PM | #2 | |
Rear Admiral
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From Michael Hadley's Count Not The Dead:
Quote:
Das Boot stirred up a lot of controversy when it was published as well, but of course it was marketed and sold as a novel based on an assortment of real events, not a non-fiction retelling of them. It's also a great read and the paperback version is readily available from Amazon. Also good are Peter Cremer's memoir - in the English version I have, I think the title is U-333 - and Jordan Vause's books Wolf and the one about Wolfgang Luth, the title of which I've forgotten. I found Michael Gannon's Operation Drumbeat to be another compelling read. |
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09-18-10, 08:13 AM | #3 |
Mate
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Here's Subnuts post about the book: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...17&postcount=1
He's probably still alive and lives in the US. |
09-18-10, 08:37 AM | #4 |
Lucky Jack
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Just a throw away book, you read it once or twice then throw it out and buy a book that is factual and not rose tinted glasses.
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Dr Who rest in peace 1963-2017. To borrow Davros saying...I NAME YOU CHIBNALL THE DESTROYER OF DR WHO YOU KILLED IT! |
09-18-10, 05:53 PM | #5 | |
Grey Wolf
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 779
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Quote:
Thanks! I just read through most of that.. I don't remember any homing torpedo that was dropped after him.. But I might of missed a page ? Also, I don't see how its impossible to shoot down a plane with a WW1 gun.. A lucky shot could of easily done it and with the amount of times he had many chances.. Either way, This guy lives not 2 hours or so from me.. I think I am going to call him and see what happens if I start talking.. |
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04-29-12, 08:49 PM | #6 |
Bilge Rat
Join Date: Apr 2012
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I was looking around for people in my past, and thought of a guy my dad used to work for. Yes, his name was Herbert A. Werner. My old man left for New Jersey around 1985, and came back home in 1987. I just remember the guy with his Mercedes Benz and his over-use of cologne.
I am very surprised to see he is still alive. |
04-30-12, 05:54 PM | #7 |
Fleet Admiral
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For your next read, try Edward Beach's Run Silent Run Deep.
I think people are being a bit hard on Iron Coffins. It is a great read and I am sure there are many of us for whom this was one of the first submarine books we read. The story that Werner tells is true even if some number of the facts are not. Life on a WWII submarine is mostly boring so Werner, in trying to "tell his story" had to speed things up, combine things, and even fill in literary holes. If one is looking for an encyclopedic read like Clair Blair, Werner's book is not for you. If, however, you are looking for a perspective into the human aspects of German WWII submarine life, Werner's book captures the humanity. I have read a few submarine books in my time and few have been able to describe the human side of the German navy like Werner's book. Why would anyone be surprised at an old navy guy telling war stories that are not 100% factual? Perhaps he should started the first chapter with "there I was, no <expletive>, staring death in the face....
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abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right. |
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