num_pages: 592
description: This outstanding anthology is a testament to the courage, tenacity, initiative and humour of the many thousands of Second World War submariners who served their countries, often in the most difficult and extraordinary circumstances. It allows men of all ranks and nationalities to tell their stories in their own words. Some are taken from post-ar autobiographies, but many have been gained during interviews and correspondence with veterans themselves.Follow U-47's attack on HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, as written by her commander just a few months after the event, and the account by a German midshipman of the sinking of the ace U-boat U-99. A Royal Navy officer describes how he pulled off a fiendishly difficult attack on a tanker; a young French sub-lieutenant narrates the poignant account of his submarine's escape from the German attack on Toulon in 1942; and a Norwegian wireless operator tells of his epic escape from Norway. The aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor is recounted by the US torpedoman whose boat was fired upon by a US destroyer as it returned from patrol, and British and Italian accounts cover Operation Pedestal, the desperate Allied convoy that came to the aid of beleaguered Malta. The X-craft convoy attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz are also included, along with the moving account by the pilot of one of Japan's Kaitens - the manned torpedoes that literally sent their operators to their deaths.
language: English
title: Submarine: An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts of the War under the Sea
publisher: Conway