Iron Coffins: A U-boat Commander's War, 1939-45

[Herr-Berbunch]

Off the top of my head I recall it being a good book, but a lot of people here will shout it down as being written with poetic licence.

They still all enjoyed it though.

[Maki4444]

Hahhahaha, can't beat a Rock'n roll grandpa

[mookiemookie]

I think there are better books out there. Steel Boats, Iron Hearts, for example, and U-Boat Ace: The Story of Wolfgang Luth.

[minett]

thanks for the feed back esp sailor steve for shooting us down , must remember to scroll the archive of the forum in future

Ill check them other books out to mookie thanks

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by minett

thanks for the feed back esp sailor steve for shooting us down , must remember to scroll the archive of the forum in future

Not at all. You might never have found them. I've been around long enough to remember those threads.

If it's factual accounts you want, you might start here:
http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-U-Boat.../dp/0679640339
http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-U-Boat.../dp/0394588398

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Maki4444

Hahhahaha, can't beat a Rock'n roll grandpa

Sure you can. All you need is a big enough stick.

[Iron Budokan]

It's a very well written book. I like it a lot.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Noobs!

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...t=iron+coffins
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...t=iron+coffins
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...t=iron+coffins
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...t=iron+coffins

Review:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...17&postcount=1

I think we need a few more threads, just to be sure.

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Off the top of my head I recall it being a good book, but a lot of people here will shout it down as being written with poetic licence.

They still all enjoyed it though.

I agree with this. If one reads this for the sake of entertainment, the book will most certainly achieve its purpose. As far as a factual account, the answer is "no".

One must definitely de-fog the periscope before looking through it on this one. I think what makes this work draw so much venom is that people expected a recreation of events while the book is pretty much a romanticization of them. Likewise with Das Boot, Werner wrote this decades after the war and admitted in the book that he destroyed his journals on one of his patrols. As long as the book is not taken too seriously, it is good. Its scholastic merit is negligible except as an example of literature.

[Ducimus]

Iron coffins is a fantastic novel.

[minett]

ah ok well i was looking for more factual accounts , journels of events ill still read this but im looking for a book that offers that

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by minett

ah ok well i was looking for more factual accounts , journels of events ill still read this but im looking for a book that offers that

I'd recommend "Steel boat Iron hearts". While i'm sure some of it might be varnished through recollection from years later after the events, It's not often you read from a crewman's point of view, and it paints a far more accurate picture then Werner's novel.

Amazon link

Excerpt from book here:
http://ubootwaffe.net/books/books.cgi?a=4

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Hinrich Schwab

I think what makes this work draw so much venom is that people expected a recreation of events while the book is pretty much a romanticization of them.

I think the problem lies in the fact that Werner, or his publicist, claimed that it was fact. It's not the poetic license that causes a bad reaction, it's the pretending that there was none.

Likewise with Das Boot, Werner wrote this decades after the war and admitted in the book that he destroyed his journals on one of his patrols. As long as the book is not taken too seriously, it is good. Its scholastic merit is negligible except as an example of literature.

Here I disagree. Buchheim said that his account was fiction, loosely based on fact. That makes all the difference.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I think the problem lies in the fact that Werner, or his publicist, claimed that it was fact. It's not the poetic license that causes a bad reaction, it's the pretending that there was none.

Agreed.

Here I disagree. Buchheim said that his account was fiction, loosely based on fact. That makes all the difference.

What I said didn't come out right, apparently. What I meant to say was that the time gap between the events themselves and the publishing of the respective works was sufficient to where fiction or not, there would be details lost over time. Das Boot, despite its intended fictionalization of events, portrays some accurate details. I was just discussing on the U-Boot HAHD forums that Trumann* from the novel is a fictionalization of Peter Zschech.


*Just a refresher, Trumann was the guy that shot up the club.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Hinrich Schwab

What I said didn't come out right, apparently. What I meant to say was that the time gap between the events themselves and the publishing of the respective works was sufficient to where fiction or not, there would be details lost over time. Das Boot, despite its intended fictionalization of events, portrays some accurate details. I was just discussing on the U-Boot HAHD forums that Trumann* from the novel is a fictionalization of Peter Zschech.


*Just a refresher, Trumann was the guy that shot up the club.

Ah, got it. That's interesting.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Ah, got it. That's interesting.

The movie/miniseries doesn't give enough info to make the connection, but the book does when cross-referenced with information from Hans Goebeler's Steel Boat, Iron Hearts regarding Zschech's personality and the same reputation for always limping back to port. The irony is that given the sheer number of times U-505 was sabotaged, not only did it survive the war, but it is a museum exhibit now.