Monday, February 6, 2012

Black Flag The Surrender of Germany's U-Boat Forces on Land and at Sea


Black Flag The Surrender of Germany's U-Boat Forces on Land and at Sea
Seaforth Publishing
By
Lawrence Paterson
Hardback ISBN: 9781848320376 Published: 21 August 2009
£15.00

On the eve of Germany's surrender in May 1945, Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz commanded thousands of loyal and active men of the U-boat service. Still fully armed and unbroken in morale, enclaves of these men occupied bases stretching from Norway to France, where cadres of U-boat men fought on in ports that defied besieging Allied troops to the last. At sea U-boats still operated on a war footing around Britain, the coasts of the United States and as far as Malaya.
Following the agreement to surrender, these large formations needed to be disarmed - often by markedly inferior forces - and the boats at sea located and escorted into the harbours of their erstwhile enemies. Neither side knew entirely what to expect, and many of the encounters were tense; in some cases there were unsavoury incidents, and stories of worse. For many Allied personnel it was their first glimpse of the dreaded U-boat menace and both sides were forced to exercise considerable restraint to avoid compromising the terms of Germany's surrender.
One of the last but most dramatic acts of the naval war, the story of how the surrender was handled has never been treated at length before. This book uncovers much new material about the process itself and the ruthless aftermath for both the crews and their boats.

British Warships and Auxiliaries 2012/13




British Warships & Auxiliaries 2012/13
Maritime Books
By Steve Bush
2012 £6.99 | $10.90

Published every year since 1979, first edited by Mike Critchley and latterly by Steve Bush, this book is indispensible for follower of the Royal Navy. Of particular interest are the supplementary craft operated by private contractors; many of which are of new construction or charter and some of the previous craft operated by the Royal Marine Auxiliary Service (RMAS) before  privatization.
This reasonably priced reference comes in full color format and is highly recommended (as usual!)