The U-Boat War

"The first complete history of the U-boat war in its entirety, a story which began on the very first day of hostilities in 1939 and did not end until the final torpedo sinking on 7 May 1945. It details the Wehrmacht's disastrous decision to despatch Dönitz's U-boats to the Mediterranean; the actions of U-boats at the extremities of the Eastern Front, where, despite the legendary destruction of the PQ17 convoy, they failed to turn the tide of war; and smaller but crucial operations throughout the Indian Ocean and southern Africa. What becomes increasingly clear throughout these dangerous and costly deployments is how U-boat operations were inexorably tied to an increasingly inefficient global naval stategy. This ... book details the U-boats' often direct relationship with land, sea and aerial campaigns of both the Allied and Axis powers, dispels certain accepted mythologies, and reveals how the ultimate failure of the U-boats stemmed as much from chaotic German military and industrial mismanagement as it did from Allied advances in code-breaking and weaponry"--Dust jacket flap.