Dönitz, U-boats, Convoys: The British Version of His Memoirs from the Admiralty's Secret Anti-Submarine Reports

I found this book a great help and the author@s notes and comments extremely helpful much more so in comparion to many others writing on the same subject

Writing is too "functional" and like reading a Manual/Diary. Didn't really enjoy the book 3/10

The book is lacking a good editor. It did not seem to be the revelatory text was promised in the blurb.

Good Comparative HistoryDonitz, U-boats, Conveys is an interesting and well researched book by Jak P. Mallmann Showell that gives two sides of the same story. This is a fantastic read especially for those who have a naval history interest or students of the sea battles of the Second World War. This book uses Donitz's own memoirs along with the reports from the Admiralty in London that give a parallel view of the U-boat war that was raging around the commercial supply routes to and from the UK. This added to the insightful commentary provided by the author makes for interesting reading and also helps to shed light on important areas of war that is often forgotten until too late how to cut the supply lines.The way the book is laid out makes it easy to dip in and out of as well as being an excellent resource. From the introduction where we are told how far to Donitz was from the centre of power in 1939 to becoming Hitler's successor in April 1945. The book guides you through the planning stage and the early months of war to the massive battles out in the Atlantic. We are also able to see the tactics that are used to find and attack the conveys while from the other side how the British hunted down and used new weapons and technology to hunt the U-Boats.This is an excellent book for all those with an interest in naval and maritime history and is unusual in that we now are able to see the two sides of the war from a very safe distance. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

The comparative between Donuts and British sources were very interesting. It helped lay out the phases of the war well.

Bottom Line Up Front: There is not a lot of material drawn straight from Donitz's memoir. Reference to that source consists mostly of the author paraphrasing Donitz. Second, and much larger oversight, this book essentially stops chronicling events in September 1943.I figured there would be a great deal of comparison and contrast between what Donitz wrote after the war and what the British experienced during the war. But there is not. Its almost as if both sources have been edited so they agree on most things, with the exception being that Donitz did not know about ULTRA or some of the radar systems. So I am docking one star for objectivity and somewhat overzealous editing/interpretation/paraphrasing by the author.Am also not sure this book would appeal to anyone other than a specialist. The author has fallen somewhat short of the mark while attempting to amalgamate his sources. I cannot tell if Donitz has been paraphrased but it appears that is the case. The British accounts seem to be written in both past and present tense, so I cannot tell if the author has edited them or not. The author does inject some commentary and correct mistakes, but not on a regular basis.Finally, either the editors or the author failed to do a good job proofreading. We find "but" replaced by "hut" and "and" replaced by "arid" plus other examples.In summary, this book reads like it started off as one thing but the publishers told the author it wouldn't sell so he added some more material to it plus some commentary. The British antisubmarine reports that comprise the core of the narrative, however, are well worth acquiring. Only for the specialist - which is not the case for some of his other books as I bought this one based on earlier acquisitions of works by the same author.

Research

interesting and educationial

The book combined admiralty reports a well as Donitz's exerts from memoirs that were written without Donitz have benefits of enigma decrypts. which was a good thing from a historical perspective. Enigma information was not available publicly until after a number of prominent WW2 figures had passed. Much of the enigma information had to wait for the mid to late 1970s. The combination of Donitz analysis with admiralty reports gives a picture of 'what did they know and when did they know it. The book is useful for those interested in the U-boat war and the role of enigma decrypts in defeating the U-boats.