A rapid reference source for every aspect of a boat's activities, from the laying of the keel to its ultimate fate.

This is the second of two volumes covering the career histories of all of the U-boats which saw action in World War II. The histories of some 1200 vessels are covered and each entry aims to be easily accessible. Every aspect of a boat's activities are covered, from laying the keel to its ultimate fate. Each entry gives locations and dates of units and any boats served with, commanders, number of patrols undertaken, ships sunk along with names of vessels and locations, incidents of note, re-fuelling by U-tankers and supply ships, attacks on shipping, survivors picked up and finally the ultimate fate. Appendices allow cross-referencing and contain such material as Deutsche Feldpost Numbers.

The first of two volumes covering the career histories of all of the U-boats which saw action in World War II. The histories of some 1200 vessels are covered and each entry aims to be easily accessible. Every aspect of a boat's activities are covered, from laying the keel to its ultimate fate. Each entry gives locations and dates of units and any boats served with, commanders, number of patrols undertaken, ships sunk along with names of vessels and locations, incidents of note, re-fuelling by U-tankers and supply ships, attacks on shipping, survivors picked up and finally the ultimate fate. Appendices allow cross-referencing and contain such material as Deutsches Feldpost Numbers.

A rapid reference source for every aspect of an individual U-boat's activities, from the laying of the keel to its ultimate fate.

No weapon platform sank more U-boats in the Second World War than the Allied aircraft. Whether it was an American ’plane operating from American escort carriers, US aircraft from Royal Air Force bases, or British aircraft from bases throughout the world, these officers and men became the most decisive factor in turning the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic against the German submarine threat. While the German crews could threaten escort vessels with torpedoes, or avoid them by remaining submerged, their leaders never developed an effective strategy against aircraft. However, the Allied aircraft did not enjoy much early success. British, Canadian and Australian air crews that fought the U-boats from 1939 until 1941 achieved few triumphs. They possessed neither the aircraft nor the bases necessary to deliver consistent lethal attacks against German submarines. In 1941, the Royal Air Force finally began implementing an effective aircraft response when it initiated training on the American-built Consolidated B-24 Liberators. Supported by other types then in service, these four-engine bombers would prove to be decisive. With America’s entry into the war, the United States Navy and the United States Army Air Forces also began employing Liberators against the U-boats so that by mid-1943, the Admiral Karl Dönitz, commander of U-boat forces, withdrew his submarines from the North Atlantic in recognition of the Allied aircraft’s new dominance. From Dönitz’s retreat to the end of the war, Allied aircraft continued to dominate the U-boat battle as it shifted to other areas including the Bay of Biscay. Dönitz eventually ordered his U-boats to remain on the surface and engage Allied aircraft as opposed to submerging. This approach did lead to the demise of some Allied aircraft, but it also resulted in even more U-boat being sunk. Most critically, Dönitz acknowledged with his new policy that he knew of no tactics or weapons that would defend his submarines from Allied aircraft. In the end, it was a matter of choosing whether his submariners would die submerged or die surfaced. Either way, Allied aircraft prevailed. The Allied Air Campaign Against Hitler’s U-Boats is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of this most crucial battle which helped turn the Battle of the Atlantic irrevocably in favour of the Allies.

These two volumes cover the career histories of all the U-boats which were commissioned in the Second World War. Ten years of research from both primary and secondary sources has ensured both the accuracy and remarkable detail of the material. The histories of some 1200 vessels are covered. Sold as a set.

The accepted historical narrative of the Second World War predominantly assigns U-boats to the so-called 'Battle of the Atlantic', almost as if the struggle over convoys between the new world and the old can be viewed in isolation from simultaneous events on land and in the air. This has become an almost accepted error. The U-boats war did not exist solely between 1940 and 1943, nor did the Atlantic battle occur in seclusion from other theatres of action. The story of Germany's second U-boat war began on the first day of hostilities with Britain and France and ended with the final torpedo sinking on 7 May 1945. U-boats were active in nearly every theatre of operation in which the Wehrmacht served, and within all but the Southern Ocean. Moreover, these deployments were not undertaken in isolation from one another; instead they were frequently interconnected in what became an increasingly inefficient German naval strategy. This fascinating new book places each theatre of action in which U-boats were deployed into the broader context of the Second World War in its entirety while also studying the interdependence of the various geographic deployments. It illustrates the U-boats' often direct relationship with land, sea and aerial campaigns of both the Allied and Axis powers, dispels certain accepted mythologies, and reveals how the ultimate failure of the U-boats stemmed as much from chaotic German military and industrial mismanagement as it did from Allied advances in code-breaking and weaponry.