Silent Hunters: German U-Boat Commanders of World War II

by Theodore P. Savas

This volume features six essays by leading U-boat scholars on the careers of German submarine commanders; includes an essay by Admiral Erich Topp, wartime commander of U-552. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591148170
• ISBN13: 9781591148173
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.1" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

collection of several short biographies

This book tells us a story about selected u-boats commanders from the times of the II world War. Authors chose commanders, who are not widely known to the readers. This is a good feature of this short book. Presented stories are short but their style is very informative. Book is well written and the reader is never bored with its text. In my opinion this book has a slightly pro-german character. But maybe this is the effect of the fact that authors of this book really like their heros.

The personal stories of six WW2 U-Boat Commanders.

When reviewing a book about U-Boats some weeks ago, I automatically thought of (and mentioned) Gunther Prien and Otto Kretschmer. There were, of course, many other U-Boat commanders far to numerous to mention here and, for different people with an interest in this particular aspect of WW2, those and other names will come readily to mind. This book is about six very different U-Boat commanders and each account is written by a different author. Apart from Endrass, I had not heard of the others - and I am certain to be admonished for that in some quarters. Each chapter tells the complete story of the subject German officer from start to finish. It includes their lives, their backgrounds and, as the title of the book might suggest, their achievements in battle for each of these men was indeed a silent hunter. Jurgen Oesten is a holder of the Knight's Cross and a former commander of U-16, U106 and U-861. On the back of this book he has written the words "As a former member of the same trade and based on my own knowledge, I can say that each of the six authors succeeds in presenting an excellent description of the individual personalities of their subjects, building up a memory that is worth keeping." Some might say this book could be improved by the addition of more historic photographs but I found it contained just the right photograph at the right time. An excellent read and a book which adds a little extra to one's overall knowledge of the U-Boat campaign of WW2. NM

More great commanders besides Prien, Schepke and Kretschmer

An excellent book that shows us the sides of U-Boat commanders other than Prien, Schepke and Kretschmer. These guys were not as well known as Wolfgang Luth or Erich Topp, but they definitely made their marks during their service.Silent Hunters is an appropriate title for the book in more ways than one. The U-Boats were silent hunters, and these commanders were more silent, not grabbing the headlines as much as those listed above.The gripping account of U-615's struggle is amazing as Kapitsky struggles to save himself and his crew.Relive Guggenheimer's victory in the Mediterranean as he sinks the British carrier Ark Royal just a few weeks after the carrier had helped to sink the Bismarck.Relive the trial of Commander Eck, the only U-Boat captain to be executed for a war crime.Informational reading that many people may not know about. I love researching U-Boats, and this book gave me more details. A nice addition to my growing archive!