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Summary: An outstanding and powerful personal account.
Review: This book is an excellent personal journey through the war in the Atlantic as viewed from the other side. It is both an emotional account of an individual's experiences fighting at sea as well as a valuable history of the u-boat war.
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Summary: This book provides a biographic timeline of U-boats in WWII.
Review: This book lacked the dryness of a typical WW2 history book. By that I mean that the author's imagery and detailed explanation let you feel the humidity, smell the rotten food, and feel the tension of being chased by destroyers. You will follow the author as he enlists in the German navy, rises through the ranks and eventually commands various U-boats.
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Summary: A sobering account of how war is.......
Review: I have a 1969 copy of this book and have read it many times over the 20 years that I have owned it. It's a fascinating account of how tenuous an existence these men led - their triumphs and defeats. Werner writes well - it reads somewhat as a diary in places but I think that adds to the atmosphere. Get this book and read it, then get a video of Das Boot (The Boat) and ally the two. They're not that dissimilar in their portrayal. I recently toured a submarine (HMS Ocelot) berthed at Chatham Dockyard in Kent, England. The guide told us that this ship was half as big again as the average U-Boat, and there was still no room in it !Can anybody tell me if Werner is still alive??
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Summary: amazing story of adventure, courage and resilience
Review: This book amazed me. I read it 10 years ago and looked up the title today because I was looking up reviews on BLACK MAY: THE EPIC STORY OF THE ALLIES' DEFEAT OF THE GERMAN U-BOATS IN MAY, 1943. I am pleased that IRON COFFINS is back in print! What struck me 10 years ago and still strikes me about IRON COFFINS is that this story was almost "lost" several times -- at sea as the tide of battle turned against the U-boats in 1943, and on land after the Germans surrendered; in the days immediately following the war, the author used his wits to escape death by the Russians and end up in the hands of what history has shown to be the more merciful victors.
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Summary: An excellent personal account of the U-boat war
Review: I first read this book in the early 70s. It is an excellent read, and anyone who reads it will never forget it. Werner has been criticized for some inaccuracies and exaggeration; there are factual errors in the book (such as the size of some of the convoys her encountered whole XO on U-230). Still, it is the most engrossing account by a German sailor I've ever read. I very highly recommend it; everyone I've recommended it to loved it.
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Summary: Great read! Solid adventure!
Review: Not often that the defeated soldier/sailor documents a war experience, so it is interesting to learn about the war from the German perspective. Werner is clearly not a literary genious, these pages read more like his diary, and one suspects the tales have grown a bit over between the fighting days and 1969 when the book was published. Some of it is clearly self-aggrandizing. But a very fine summer read for me, and if you enjoy action-adventure this will be a great book for you. (I read "Iron Curtains" immediately after finishing Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" about the Everest adventure, and the similarities of adventure-tragedy are apparent between the two books.)
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Summary: Best submarine story anywhere!
Review: Herbert Werner has written one of the best stories of life on a German U-boat I've ever read. The reader is drawn into the lives of these men, who endured incredable hardships, in what they believed, was for the good of their country. Werner puts a human face on the life aboard these mythical boats, and gives the reader a sense of how these men existed.
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Summary: it's not the truth
Review: I was fascinated by this book so I did some research and found that all of the subs that he said that he commanded had either been destroyed before haveing been completed,or simple didn't list him as commanding.It's a great book and I think he knows alot about German subs,but I couldn't find supporting evidance SORRY!
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Summary: Required reading!
Review: One of the great accounts of W.W.II. This book should be required reading in public schools so that generations to come are never allowed to forget what war is really like. Finally after so many years of being impossible to find it has been re-released. Take advantage of this opportunity and READ THIS BOOK! If you enjoyed this book you MUST read The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer.
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Summary: This is the BEST account of WWII U-boat operations, EVER!
Review: I do not read many books; however, a friend thought I might like to read this one...He was right! Werner shows, through personal experience, that the coming of age of a young man in wartime is tougher than most people would think it would be. He is thorough, not only in his technical knowledge, but in the way he recalls his shore leave. There is more to this book, and it's author, than meets the eye. My recommendation is this-obtain a copy, then read it 3 times! I found an early printing of this book-1969...in case anyone was wondering. I am, eagerly, awaiting the new edition. Paul
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