“The thrilling wartime novel that inspired Wolfgang Petersen’s Academy Award-nominated, blockbuster film! Written by an actual survivor of Germany’s U-boat fleet, Das Boot is one of the most exciting stories of naval warfare ever published, a tale filled with almost unbearable tension and suspense. In autumn 1941, a German U-boat commander and his crew set out on yet another hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. Over the coming weeks they brave the ocean’s stormy waters and seek out British supply ships to destroy. But their targets travel in well-guarded convoys. When contact finally occurs, the hunter quickly becomes the hunted, and a cat-and-mouse game begins as the U-boat hides deep beneath the surface of the sea. Soon, claustrophobia becomes an enemy almost as frightening as the depth charges exploding around them.”
As far as World War Two Novels go, Das Boot is one of the most thrilling in my opinion. The author, Lothar Gunther Buckheim was a member of the Kriegsmarine during WW2 and survivor of the U-Boat force.
I say “survivor” because of the 40,000 men that served on the U-boat’s, 30,000 did not return home. You read that right. The German U-boat force in WW2 had a 75% casualty rate, the highest of ANY unit during the war, including front line Soviet troops on the Eastern Front and at Stalingrad.
I would also highly recommend the 1981 Movie directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Jurgen Prochnow in the lead role as the skipper.
