U-Boat Adventures - Firsthand Accounts from World War II

Twenty-two U-boat veterans tell their chilling stories in this collection of their combat experiences in World War II, recorded by the author during several years of travel throughout Germany. It is one of very few books to examine the lives of the enlisted crew in the infamous submarines. Melanie Wiggins interviewed seventeen men and five of their commanders to take readers into the terrifying world of underwater warfare where every man helped determine the fate of his boat.

While tracking down the U-boat veterans, Wiggins came across photographs and secret diaries and gained access to personnel records. A reunion of the U-682 crew and interviews with Admiral Otto Kretschmer two months before his death and the ninety-four-year-old Commander Jürgen Wattenberg netted a wealth of information. Among the individual sagas included are Radioman Hans Bürck's description of his 1942 patrol to Aruba and Herman Wien's description of U-180 transporting an Indian anarchist to Madagascar.

Available from:
Naval Institute Press

Favourable Winds - free book to download

Favourable Winds - A Twentieth Century Odyssey tells the personal story of Gerry O'Neill, who sadly passed away last year.

Gerry was a member of the Merchant Navy during the Second World War, and while this book covers his entire life, the chapters relating to his wartime experience are of particular interest. I have extracted these from the table of contents to indicate a flavour of the content of Favourable Winds.

Growing Up in North Dublin and Going to Sea 1925-41

Canadian Pacific Steamships, 1941-42

• R.M.S. Empress of Asia
• Escape from Singapore

Irish Shipping Limited, 1942

• s.s. Irish Larch (ex Haifa Trader)
• The Matriculation Examination

British Merchant Navy, 1942-43

• s.s. Lornaston
• Air Raid on London Dockland
• Invasion of North Africa

Ministry of War Transport, 1943

• North Africa – Interpreter, Algiers and Oran
• Spared by a German Airman
• Danke Schön, Fritz, Für Unserer Leben, und Guten Reisen

Marriage and a Brief Honeymoon, 1943

• Another Welcome Respite from the War
• Du Bist Mein Ganzen Herz

Special Exercises, 1943

• Operations Mincemeat and Cockade
• We bury "The Man Who Never Was" at Huelva
• An Abortive Invasion Attempt
• Liaisons Dangereuses

Canadian Pacific Steamships, 1943-44

• R.M.S. "Empress of Australia"
• A Passage to India and the East
• A Venture into the Carpet Trade

The Loneliest Christmas I Ever Spent, 1943

• A Bleak Day in Belfast
• No Room at the Inn

Stranded in Cork, 1944-

• A Most Opportune Football Match

Farm Labourer, 1944

• A Welcome Break from Hostilities
• A Few Peaceful Days in Bangor, North Wales
  

Further Episodes on the R.M.S Empress of Australia, 1944

• Encounter with a Hurricane
• Momentous First Visit to New York

Russian Convoy, 1944

• Repatriation of Soviet Prisoners from French Labour Camps
• Inability to Save Lives at Sea
• Libera Nos a Malo

Flower Class Corvettes

• North Atlantic Convoys

North Atlantic Convoys, 1944-45

• The Toss of a Coin and the Loss of a Friend
• A Great Personal Tragedy
• Non Nobis sed Vobis

Off to War in the Pacific, 1944

• A Frightening Passage through the Panama Canal
• Russian Roulette in New Guinea

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944

• The Most Incisive Battle of the War against Japan
• “War is too important to be left to the generals” - Winston Churchill

The Battle of Iwo Jima, 1945

• A Hard-Fought Encounter with the Japanese
  

The Last and Costliest Battle of the War – Okinawa, 1945

• Fortunate to Survive a Near Fatality

Sojourn in Honolulu, 1945

• Experience of U.S. Care and Attention

Favourable Winds is downloadable free of charge in PDF format, or you can purchase the print edition from Lulu.

Welsh Sailors of the Second World War

Welsh Sailors of the Second World War is predominantly a book of first-hand accounts of the experiences of Welsh men and women serving in the Merchant Navy, the Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm, dockyards and naval bases during the Second World War.

The book also contains chapters focusing on particular snapshots of the war at sea - the contribution of one Welsh Port, Barry, to the Merchant Navy; the sinking of the Anglo Saxon by the German raider Widder and the survival of two of her crew members after 51 days adrift in the Atlantic; the sinking of the SS Elwyn; and the story of the war service of the seven Hortop brothers.

The personal recollections recall service on a large number of Royal Navy and Merchant Navy ships and Fleet Air Arm Squadrons including (but not limited to) 767 Squadron and HMS Ark Royal (sinking of the Bismark); HMS Swift; Merchant Aircraft Carriers; LCTs at D Day, Merchant Navy crewmen on the Russian and Atlantic convoys; the sinking of the MV Empire Cromwell; HMS Jamaica; HMS Catterick; a DEMS Gunner on the Empire Prince; HMS Talent; MV Dolius; LST 165; 206 Squadron (Coastal Command); Baron Oglivy; HMS Glasgow; MV Empire Confidence; HMS Warspite; HMS Frobisher; MTB 469; and the Royal Navy Patrol Service.

At over 400 pages, this is a considerable book - the coverage is comprehensive, and is going to be of interest to anyone with an interest in the Royal and Merchant Navies during the war.

Available from:
Glyndwr Publishing

Further reading:
Barry Merchant Seamen

A Long Night for the Canteen Boat - The Story of HMS Cassandra

A Long Night for the Canteen Boat is subtitled 'The Torpedoing and Salvage of HMS Cassandra December 11th 1944.

HMS Cassandra was torpedoed by the U-387 during the night of the 11th December 1944 while part of a convoy from Murmansk. 62 members of her crew were lost. HMS Cassandra was towed back to Kola Inlet and was later returned to the UK.

This interesting little book is a compilation of the recollections of 16 members of HMS Cassandra's crew, describing the torpedoing, their experiences marooned in Murmansk while the ship was repaired and interaction with the Russians, and their return to the UK. While the book covers a very specific incident, it provides an enlightening insight into the experiences of Royal Navy crews who escorted the convoys from the Shetlands to Russia.

Available
From the publisher Arcturus Press

Further reading
HMS Cassandra memorial and Roll of Honour
HMS Cassandra information on naval-history.net
Photos of HMS Cassandra