U Boat War in the Atlantic 1939 1945

After the end of the Second World war, Fregattenkapitan Gunter Hessler (a son-in-law of Donitz) was given free access to the war diaries and other primary sources of the German Navy to write a history and analysis of the German U-boat offensive in the Atlantic. It covered many aspects, such as general strategy, signals intelligence, tactics and weapons, adopting a largely German viewpoint. It also investigated Allied countermeasures and the response of the U-boat Command. Written at the request of the Admiralty, the three-volume work was classified material, never available to the general public. This facsimile edition of the volumes, with a fresh introduction by Lt Cdr Andrew Withers, is a valuable addition to the published history of the war, and contains information available nowhere else. Corrections and explanations have been added to the original text - incidents puzzling to Hessler can be better understood, for example, now that we have the full story of British intelligence work in deciphering German signals. For students of military, naval or intelligence history, The U-Boat War in the Atlantic is a unique account, not least because the many charts and diagrams allow the record of each U-boat to be traced, including its deployment on any particular day.