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voor de liefhebbers van submarine stories :)
U-Boat 977 (Paperback)
~ Introduction Nicholas Monsarrat Heinz Schaeffer (Author)
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This is a fascinating book for several reasons: it encapsulates the postwar moods of various constituents of Germany; presents Schaeffer's interesting personal experiences in his own words; deals firmly with the myth that Hitler escaped to South America in a U-boat; and, not least, begins with a highly uncomplimentary and ill-willed introduction by Nicholas Monsarrat, author of The Cruel Sea. [Please note that this review refers to the 1952 English edition; other editions may not contain Monsarrat's introduction.]
This introduction, the first text to meet the reader's eyes, is most unpromising. It begins with the words "If U-boat 977 were not two things - a readable book, and an engrossing piece of war history - I would not touch it with a depth charge." It ends, after five pages of anti-German prose, with the statement "Reading [this book], absorbing its filthy and violent outlines, we know just how far politics can travel on the road to insanity, and what men can do to other men in their greedy lust for power." In between, Monsarrat repudiates both war apologists and those who hold that the majority of German people were not Nazis. Statements such as "No one save a power maniac, a sadist, or a nautical romantic can hold any brief for submarine warfare. It is a repellent form of human behavior" are plentiful in this introduction.
Next, Schaeffer explains his reason for writing the book: to lay to rest the persistent rumors, which began when he reached Argentina, that, in company with U-530 in a sort of "ghost convoy", he had carried Hitler, Eva Braun, and Martin Bormann and set them ashore somewhere on the Argentinian coast or at a secret base in Antarctica. These rumors and stories, entirely false, nevertheless pursued him for years...
Product Details
Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine (1951)
Thanks to Xrypto :)
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