Education is rewarded

[UKönig]

I recently picked up a copy of Clay Blair's book "Hitler's U-boat war" (part 1 of 2), and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in war history, especially as it relates strongly to the subject matter. I learned tons of new stuff, and it completely shattered my view of what I thought the U-boat war was all about. I will never look at it the same way ever again.

[RConch]

Read part 2.

Spoiler alert-it ends badly.

[UKönig]

... I know...

[UKönig]

But it's funny because I read and re-read Werner's book "Iron Coffins", and he claims to have hit and sunk more tonnage than the official records show. One convoy action he claims 4 hits and 30,000, when the reality was maybe half that and ships they assumed sunk were only damaged and later salvaged and returned to service. How embarrassing...
And the general description of the type XXI and how while it had some nice points, it also had several serious design flaws, making it far less than the 'supersub' that it could have been. Makes me reconsider using it myself...

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by UKönig

But it's funny because I read and re-read Werner's book "Iron Coffins", and he claims to have hit and sunk more tonnage than the official records show. One convoy action he claims 4 hits and 30,000, when the reality was maybe half that and ships they assumed sunk were only damaged and later salvaged and returned to service. How embarrassing...
And the general description of the type XXI and how while it had some nice points, it also had several serious design flaws, making it far less than the 'supersub' that it could have been. Makes me reconsider using it myself...

"Iron Coffins" is a work of fiction posing as a memoir and Werner was a self-aggrandizing fraud. The misrepresentations begin on the cover, where the author is identified as "Commander Herbert A. Werner". The highest rank Werner ever held was three grades lower - equivalent to a USN Lieutenant Junior Grade or a RN Sub-Lieutenant. His claims of hits and sinkings, and his descriptions of engagements are just made up. Don't think of "Iron Coffins" as a source of historical facts.