The Sinking of the Laconia and the U-Boat War
Author: James P. Duffy
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2013-04-01
Total Pages: 148
ISBN-13: 0803245408
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOriginally published: Santa Barbara, California: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2009.
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Operation Rising Sun
Author: David W. Jourdan
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2020-06-01
Total Pages: 257
ISBN-13: 1640123202
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn 1944 Allied codebreakers learned the Imperial Japanese Navy had dispatched the cargo submarine I-52 to occupied France with tons of military supplies and payment--in gold--for German assistance. I-52 undertook the mission as part of the Yanagi missions, a military program meant to alleviate Japan's desperate need for military material and technical knowledge. After tracking I-52 from Asia to the Atlantic, the Allies destroyed the vessel in a battle that ended the Yanagi missions and left I-52 an unlikely treasure ship on the seafloor. David W. Jourdan adds to the history of I-52 with a spellbinding account of his efforts to find the sunken submarine. One of the first joint American-Russian research expeditions, the search for the wreck combined a team effort, exhaustive detective work, and a dramatic battle with the sea. The effort paid off when the group found I-52's nearly intact hull three miles down. The expedition also earned an unexpected historical dividend when it uncovered one-of-a-kind recordings of American Avenger torpedo bomber attacks on an enemy submarine. Part war tale and part seagoing adventure, Operation Rising Sun tells the story of the two very different missions to find submarine I-52.
The Laconia Affair
Author: Léonce Peillard
Publisher: Hassell Street Press
Published: 2021-09-09
Total Pages: 292
ISBN-13: 9781013791000
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
America's U-Boats
Author: Chris Dubbs
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2014-11-01
Total Pages: 190
ISBN-13: 0803269471
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe submarine was one of the most revolutionary weapons of World War I, inciting both terror and fascination for militaries and civilians alike. During the war, after U-boats sank the Lusitania and began daring attacks on shipping vessels off the East Coast, the American press dubbed these weapons “Hun Devil Boats,” “Sea Thugs,” and “Baby Killers.” But at the conflict’s conclusion, the U.S. Navy acquired six U-boats to study and to serve as war souvenirs. Until their destruction under armistice terms in 1921, these six U-boats served as U.S. Navy ships, manned by American crews. The ships visited eighty American cities to promote the sale of victory bonds and to recruit sailors, allowing hundreds of thousands of Americans to see up close the weapon that had so captured the public’s imagination. In America’s U-Boats Chris Dubbs examines the legacy of submarine warfare in the American imagination. Combining nautical adventure, military history, and underwater archaeology, Dubbs shares the previously untold story of German submarines and their impact on American culture and reveals their legacy and Americans’ attitudes toward this new wonder weapon.
So Close to Home
Author: Michael J Tougias
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2016-05-03
Total Pages: 303
ISBN-13: 1681771713
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOn May 19, 1942, a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico stalked its prey fifty miles from New Orleans. Captained by twenty nine-year-old Iron Cross and King's Cross recipient Erich Wurdemann, the submarine set its sights on the freighter Heredia with sixty-two souls on board. Most aboard were merchant seamen, but there were also a handful of civilians, including the Downs family: Ray and Ina, and their two children, eight-year-old Sonny and eleven-year-old Lucille. Fast asleep in their berths, the Downs family had no idea that two torpedoes were heading their way. When the ship exploded, chaos ensued—and each family member had to find their own path to survival. Including original, unpublished material from Commander Wurdemann’s war diary, the story provides balance and perspective by chronicling the daring mission of the U-boat—and its commander’s decision-making—in the Gulf of Mexico. An inspiring historical narrative, So Close to Home tells the story of the Downs family as they struggle against sharks, hypothermia, drowning, and dehydration in their effort to survive the aftermath of this deadly attack off the American coast.
Hitler's U-boat War
Author: Clay Blair
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Published: 2000-04
Total Pages: 909
ISBN-13: 9780304352616
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe second volume in Clay Blair's history of Hitler's U-boat war, covering years 1942 to 1945. Told chronologically, it is divided into two sections: the war against Britain and her empire, and the war against the Americas. Clay Blair served in World War II in the submarines. He chronicles dramatic scenes of naval actions and makes interpretations and conclusions about all aspects of the Battle of the Atlantic.
Major Blunders of the Second World War
Author: Andrew Sangster
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Published: 2024-12-30
Total Pages: 242
ISBN-13: 1036112810
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA mistake is an error of judgement, a blunder is a mistake caused by carelessness or ignorance, implying incompetence. Blunders are not always the result of incompetence; a chess player may give a critical piece away being distracted by noise, but in war it results in death with serious repercussions. This book explores such errors during the Second World War, some hardly known, a few contentious, many embarrassing. An American destroyer which fired a live torpedo at a battleship carrying Roosevelt, an American officer who unintentionally passed British information to Rommel, and a German plane crash-landing in neutral territory with plans for invasion are some little-known incidents. Overconfidence resulted in a Luftwaffe raid hitting exposed American gas shells killing Italian civilians, British and American military. Self-assurance led to an American general who lost men and tanks failing to rescue his son-in-law from a PoW camp. Inadequate planning brought disaster in the raid on Dieppe. Poor tactics deployed in the bombing of Monte Cassino was bad propaganda for the Allies but assisted the German defense. There are some issues which remain disputed, as with the British sinking the French Fleet, but whether it was a blunder remains questionable. There is the issue of the abdicated King Edward often accused of being a traitor, which may not have stood a court case but possibly a Judas caused by immature naivety. Finally, Dönitz was condemned at Nuremberg, but his U-boat warfare was no different from the Allies and at times almost chivalrous.
One Common Enemy
Author: Jim McLoughlin
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Published: 2018-11-05
Total Pages: 222
ISBN-13: 1743056206
DOWNLOAD EBOOK'I'll see the world,' Jim McLoughlin told his parents as he set off to join the Royal Navy in 1939. 'It'll be fun.' Months later, this Liverpool lad was sailing to war aboard the massive battleship HMS Valiant. He saw some of the world, but it wasn't fun. In One Common Enemy, he recounts how the chaos and carnage of war at sea in the Norwegian and Mediterranean campaigns led him to a fateful rendezvous with a much-loved ship from his boyhood, the passenger liner Laconia. Nostalgia turned to disaster when Laconia was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the South Atlantic. Despite a remarkable rescue attempt by a courageous, compassionate foe, Jim was condemned to a drifting lifeboat and a harrowing voyage of death and madness. One Common Enemy is a story of a desperate personal battle for survival, but also a moving narrative of innocence lost and a lifelong battle with confronting memories.
Target: America
Author: James Duffy
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2011-11-08
Total Pages: 209
ISBN-13: 1461745896
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDetails the Third Reich’s shocking plans for worldwide offensives using secret weapons, including Hitler’s plan to bring World War II to the American homeland.
The Laconia Incident
Author: Gene Masters
Publisher:
Published: 2020-03-11
Total Pages: 212
ISBN-13: 9781734675016
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Laconia Incident is the true story of Korvettenkapitan Werner Hartenstein, captain of the WWII German submarine, U-156. It is Hartenstein's boat that attacks and sinks the Laconia on September 12, 1942. The subsequent, unprecedented actions taken by him, his crew, and the German U-Boat Command, after the actual torpedoing and sinking of the Laconia, make for a truly amazing tale. It's a story of how civility and mercy survive, even amidst the savagery and brutality of all-out war. It also shows how even the best-intentioned efforts can be foiled by stubborn adherence to well-established preconceptions, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
