The Battle of the Atlantic

World War II #5

by Time-Life Books

2ND PRINTING. Quality pages with a light stain on pages 131/2. A little rubbing on the bottom corners of the cover. Full of photos and information. A very interesting book.

Genres: History, War, World War II, Military History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Reference

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good start for anyone interested in submarine warfare. This book gives a general history of the submarine and gives wartime accounts of both Allied and German submarines. Good photographs and paintings throughout the book. The chapter "A Submariners Eerie World" had really neat photos of the daily, miserable lives and living conditions these men endured.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long before panzers roared through Paris and Stukas littered the fields of France with burned-out machines, the Phony War existed only in name. The months of silence on land in Europe that prevailed between the Allied declaration of war and Hitler's spring seizure of everything in grabbing distance were loud indeed on the sea -- filled with crashing waves as U-boats and raiders plowed through the waves hunting for supply ships to sink. So sooner had the war begun than ships inbound to England were being sent to the bottom, and with them precious lives and supplies. The threat of strangulation by U-boat had imperiled Britain before, during the Great War, but naive trust that future conflicts would abstain from a now verboten weapon meant Britain's neck was again on the line. Battle of the Atlantic, part of the Time-Life history of World War 2, combines full-page spreads and photo essays to deliver a sense of the action and peril at sea, where civilians were military targets and the stakes were never higher for the Allies.

Unlike the Battles of France and Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic stretches out over not weeks or months, but years. Despite catastrophic losses -- over half the boats and lives committed by German to the U-boat fleet would be claimed by the sea -- Germany continued producing and sending out submarines against Allied shipping until the very end of the war. The worst ravages would be over by 1943, but for Britain and her allies, the struggle was uphill. Lessons of the Great War's anti-submarine campaigns had to be relearned, and new strategies created as the U-boats came this time not alone, but in radio-coordinated packs. The convoy system was Britain's best hope, comprising multiple cargo ships guarded by whatever escorts could be found. Escorts were not necessarily warships, even aged ones; a fishing trawler equipped with racks for depth charges might qualify for duty. The U-boat menace could have been even more dire had Hitler committed naval resources to a full undersea fleet, instead of insisting on a 'balanced' fleet that involved big and shiny surface ships like the Bismarck, which made for great press but poor strategic weapons. The Allies also produced new weapons to take down the U-boats, developing shipboard radar that could locate vessels on the surface of the sea, where -- despite their name -- Unterseebooten spent most of their time. They also learned to use the U-boats' frequent radio communication (vital in coordinating the wolf packs) to triangulate on their position, and began to incorporate airplane patrols to boot. By the time the German command realized how advanced British radar had become and began to develop countermeasures, Germany was waist-deep in Russia and fighting an Allied invasion of Rome. The combination of bitter experience, new tactics, new weapons, and increasingly green and scattered German mariners, broke the wolf packs' control of the sea.

The Battle of the Atlantic is valuable as a brief overview of the naval war between the Allies and Axis, providing raw data as well as first-hand accounts by both British and German mariners (sometimes from the same battles) to put the reader on the deck of their subjects. There is also a collection of art produced by sailors who wanted to recreate the scenes burned into their memory, like the despair of huddling lifeboats, watching as their home sinks into the deep. I appreciated the attention given surface ships at the beginning, and the surprising chapter on Caribbean altercations. The data presented is also surprising -- while I knew U-boats patrolled the eastern seaboard of the United States, the amount of tonnage sunk places the seaboard as one of the most perilous places to sail, along with the 'western approaches' that paralleled German U-boat bases in France.

[spike marlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these books. I like the pictures and the anecdotes from both sides of the war. This book tracks the Battle of the Atlantic. It talks about the start of the war the floundering of the Royal Navy in fighting the U-boat menace. It then goes through the maturing of tactics and the development of technology to counter the u-boats. Most important was the use of convoys and how this changed as the war progressed. The arrival of the Americans and their floundering until they got it right. The only criticism is the lack of acknowledgement of the Canadian contribution to the battle.

[Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a a good introduction to the WW2 Battle of the Atlantic. The amount of text and pictures are in proportion in order to give you a good understanding of all the perils ships crews had to go through. The war at sea during WW2 claimed more than 4600 merchant ships. On top of that come all the Navy ships, that a lot of crews who never came home.

[William Razavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good volume for punching some holes in the myth of the German juggernaut. In 1939 the Germans barely had 40 U-boats. That's a good chunk of this story right there. The Germans picked a fight they were unprepared for, were late in key aspects of technological advancement (sorry, History Channel) and yet still did a ton (many tons) of damage.
Also, this is a quick book for learning more about how much neutrality was pressed to the limits in the naval war.
It's not like reading Samuel Morison's tome on the subject when it comes to depth but it does have a pretty engaging narrative.

[Phool Chand Jangir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battle of Atlantic was so great that the battle of Trafalgar & Cape St. Vincent seemed as a firecracker show. It was the great Atlantic wall which was breached and the allied troops landed on the Normandy. It was a battle of such a magnitude that it will never be repeated.
As far as the book is concerned it gives a parenthetic details about the battle though it consist of many rare photographs of that time. The thing that disappointed me about this book is that it gave little information about some of the most epic battles such as how the Bismark was Brought to halt and destroyed later and the Normandy landing itself.
Over all the book is good for beginners and full of thrills and knowledge.

[D-day · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the Time Life series of WW2 this volume deal with the Battle of the Atlantic

Chapter 1 -the U-boat raid on Scapa flow, and the shortcoming of Royal Navy doctrine at the beginning of the war
Chapter 2 - Surface Riders, Graf Spee in 1939 Bismark in 1941
Chapter 3 - The "Happy" times for U-boats June to Dec 1940
Chapter 4- The Royal Navy adopts the convoy system (first half of 1941)
Chapter 5 - The Royal Navy improves tactics and technology (2nd half of 1941)
Chapter 6 - The US enters the war and the return of Happy times for the U-boats, the Murmansk run to help the Soviet Union (1st half of 1942)
Chapter 7- The allies start to grind down the U-boats with improved technology, air power and sheer numbers of ships (2nd half of 1942 through to mid 1943)

[Robert Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this Life Time series in the early 1980's on WWII, a volume came to the house every 2 or 3 months so I could take my reading. It was very informative and enjoyable read, I still use it for reference.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of Axis and Allied naval operations in the Atlantic.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite book series is this Time-Life series on World War II. I have read each of these books multiple times. Very easy to read with plenty of first person accounts.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the U-boat chapters more than the Allied ones. Reading this book, it is a wonder how much shipping tonnage lies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean from WWII...