977 U-boat

[Hitman]

The introduction chapter is... interesting, to say the least.

You mean the introduction by Nicolas Montsarrat?

Yeah, quite interesting....how a man like him still remained embeded in the prejudices and half-sided vision of the british propaganda and traditions even long after the war. Of course germany was not a nation of good will persons hijacked by a uncontrolled band of nazis, but then again WW2 was a direct consequence of WW1 (And the humilliating and unacceptable conditions of the Verasilles Treaty, as well as the post war plundering of Germany by victors) and WW1 itself was a direct consequence of Britain pretending to rule the world and not let others do the same

Montsarrat just sees how germans fought aggression wars, not how they were driven and cornered into fighting them, just as Japan was forced to in WW2. No, I don't justify at all wars, let alone aggression wars, but anyone with some intelligence should at least think that unfairly pushing a proud nation like germans or japanese to the limits would trigger some kind of response...

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Hitman

You mean the introduction by Nicolas Montsarrat?

Yeah, quite interesting....how a man like him still remained embeded in the prejudices and half-sided vision of the british propaganda and traditions even long after the war...Montsarrat just sees how germans fought aggression wars, not how they were driven and cornered into fighting them...

I have owned a copy of the book for many years, and I've always been puzzled by Montsarrat's comments, mainly because in his own personal writing he was just the opposite...or just the same, depending on how you look at it. In The Cruel Sea he talks about the brotherhood of all sailors, and how the Germans were just doing their job like anyone else, and in his short stories you get more of the same; but when writing the preface for Schaeffer's book his attitude is "don't believe them - they really were all hate-filled Nazis!"