The Naval War Against Hitler

by Donald Macintyre

Book by Macintyre, Donald G. F. W

Genres: History, Naval History, Military History, World War II

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Commander Donald George Frederick Wyville Macintyre DSO & DSC was a Royal Navy officer during the Second World War and a successful convoy escort commander. As Commander of HMS Hesperus Macintyre was involved in the Battle of Narvik during the Norway campaign and the Battle of the Atlantic. Following the war, he published his memoirs U-Boat Killer and authored numerous books on British naval history.

Reviews

[Dj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, one thing I would say is that right from the start the title is only slightly misleading. The title should have British inserted into it. The book does focus on the British Naval War against Hitler, ignoring any commitments outside of that focus, so the Indian Ocean and early Pacific efforts are neither looked into or really mentioned. Which I would have found interesting since that dispersion of force would have to have had an effect on the effort in the European area.

Considering the size of the book, it really doesn't have much space to deal with details of various campaigns in regards to the British Navy against their German opponents, saving most of the detail for Norway and the attacks on the Tirpitz. While the book only delves deep into a few of the battles on the high seas, the overview is very well done. The author makes the book both informative and easy to read.

[Shea Mastison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, written relatively soon after the Axis-defeat, is a summary of the Naval battles against Nazi Germany written from a British perspective.

The detail with which Macintyre attempts to piece together various naval battles and skirmishes is admirable; however, one wonders if he is a trained historian at all. His analysis becomes almost obscenely subjective when it comes to examining the motives of his foes--which must be the danger of writing about any war that you participated in or lived through.

Not exactly a page-turner; but if you like wrestling with boring historical books, you could do worse than this.