Things that bother me about "Iron Coffins"

Steeltrap · 04-16-10, 12:23 AM

Both of O'Kane's books are great (Wahoo and Clear the Bridge). So is Cremer's U333. I have all three.

Cremer does a great job of conveying the sadness and stupidity of the exercise. His matter of fact discussions of rather hair-raising events are remarkable. I remember seeing him intervierwed in World at War where he describes the episode where U333 is caught on the surface by a corvette (HMS Bluebell? I'm going from memory....could look it up I guess!). His wounds were dreadful. As he says in the book, he and the skipper of the corvette went on to exchange Christmas cards after the war (I'm pretty sure the skipper was a New Zealander, and he and his wife sent Cremer food parcels when they learned he was alive and the conditions of post-war Germany; I might be wrong).

O'kane, too, is great to read. So much around the technical abilities of the boats and the issues around pre-war doctrine and crappy torps etc etc.

My preference is for writings that are not sensational in their presentation, but describe sensational things.

I've also read some of the many 'reference works' (i.e. academic in nature) available.

Never read Iron Coffins.

p.s. let's try to keep bitchiness out of here, please?

04-16-10, 12:23 AM	#21
Steeltrap Grey Wolf Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 818 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Both of O'Kane's books are great (Wahoo and Clear the Bridge). So is Cremer's U333. I have all three. Cremer does a great job of conveying the sadness and stupidity of the exercise. His matter of fact discussions of rather hair-raising events are remarkable. I remember seeing him intervierwed in World at War where he describes the episode where U333 is caught on the surface by a corvette (HMS Bluebell? I'm going from memory....could look it up I guess!). His wounds were dreadful. As he says in the book, he and the skipper of the corvette went on to exchange Christmas cards after the war (I'm pretty sure the skipper was a New Zealander, and he and his wife sent Cremer food parcels when they learned he was alive and the conditions of post-war Germany; I might be wrong). O'kane, too, is great to read. So much around the technical abilities of the boats and the issues around pre-war doctrine and crappy torps etc etc. My preference is for writings that are not sensational in their presentation, but describe sensational things. I've also read some of the many 'reference works' (i.e. academic in nature) available. Never read Iron Coffins. p.s. let's try to keep bitchiness out of here, please?