Description: Annapolis 1990, Naval Institute, first US edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 6x9, FINE/FINE CONDITION, , xxiii, 235 pages, illustrations, notes, bibliog, index. U-BOATS AND THEIR COMMANDERS have long been popular subjects in World War II literature, so it is surprising that until now nothing has been written about the legendary ace Wolfgang Lüth. Lüth is credited with sinking forty-seven Allied ships and a submarine, a record- topped only by the famed Otto Kretschmer-that won him the Third Reich's highest award for valor. In 1944, after sixteen war patrols, including one that lasted a record 203 days at sea, Lüth was named commandant of the German naval academy and, at the age of thirty, became the youngest full captain in the Kriegsmarine. Despite these accomplishments, however, he remains unknown outside his own country. Intrigued by the elusive man behind the legend, Jordan Vause, set out to learn all he could about Lüth. He found precious little material in the German archives but eventually tracked down some of Lüth's crewmen and fellow U-boat commanders. Here, Vause draws on their valuable firsthand information and a variety of written documents to provide a fascinating character analysis of Lüth's strengths and weaknesses. In doing so, he encapsulates the paradoxes inherent in so many German submarine commanders, men spawned by the Nazi regime yet not entirely of it. Through the skillful marshalling of facts, anecdotes, and speculation, Vause portrays Lüth as a man of contradictions: an ardent Nazi ideologue who could bend the rules for a slack sailor, a U-boat ace who could treat survivors of his attacks with clemency but then impetuously gun down other victims in cold blood. Even his best friend admitted Lüth had no remorse for the misery he inflicted on the crews of sunken ships. On the other hand, Lüth's concern for his own men won him their devotion, and he was known throughout the service as an inspiring leader. In the end, it is up to the reader to decide how the scales tip-whether this "hero" was saint or sinner and whether in towing the National Socialist line he opted for an evil that lay beyond the limits of his own comprehension.

Jacket: Jacket

Binding: Hardcover

Edition: First Edition