Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II

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Summary: One of the best U-boat accounts from World War II
Review: I first read this book in 1993, I felt as if I was transported back in time to share the experiences of a young German Naval Officer who managed to live through the war and tell the tale. Werner's accounts of the U-boat's early victories and the eventual defeat of the U-boat force is easy reading, and students of world war II history would do well to read this book...

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Summary: WWII submarine U-boat autobiography worth anybody's read
Review: I too am begging for this book to be reprinted. Besides the adventure aspects and the historical drama that usually permiates this sort of war account, I have read several, Iron Coffins is also entirely readable. Werner is an eloquent writer, and all of his experience from family to fiancee to homeland to high-sea adventure and the chill of reading something so seemingly inhuman; if they make a book tape, somebody please tell me about it.

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Summary: Iron Coffins
Review: I read this book ten years ago, so it must have a print date earler than 1991. Werner was a U-Boat commander in WWII. He eloquently documents the coruse of U-Boat warfare in the North Alantic of the early 1940's. Never in the history of war has there been a larger turn arround of advantage in sea power than this. It is a must read! A first person account such as this is rare indeed due to the fact that 90 % of the U-Boat force lies at the bottom of the North Alantic in their own Iron Coffins!

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Summary: Iron Coffins
Review: Iron Coffins seems to accurately portray life on a WWII German U-boat -- especially the terrifying helplessness of waiting for the depth charges to find their mark. The other reviewer is correct...I read this book over 20 years ago, so it has been in print before 1991.

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Summary: I felt I was there!
Review: Iron Coffins: This book is a must for anyone who likes true adventure. Written so well you can sense the smells of the H2S on board of the German U-boat, as well as feel the cold damp cramped confines of the hull. It is a very unique look into the terror that flled the lives of the enemy. These men had feelings, family and fears that are seldom recognized from accounts of the second world war. I could not put it down. I am certain however that this book was in print prior to 1991. Please put this back into print. It is an important documentry of the U-boat.

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Summary: An epic account of an officer's duty on the High Seas
Review: Of all the battles waged during WWII, the Batte of the Atlantic was the most vicious and one of the most important. Herbert Werner's description of this battle shows us the years 1941-45 on the high seas through his eyes. It is a story of triumph , terror and eventually tragedy. From the days of glory for the U-Boot Flotte to the terror of being chased by dept charging corvettes to finally the horrific destruction of the elite U-boat fleets. He examines his personal feelings in all of this , we can see his transformation from an impetuous young officer to a veteran Kapitanleutnant . His feelings also change on the war, his war on the seas was ship against ship, but the new warfare of bombing innocent civilians and obliterating cities horrifies him. The loss of his loved ones crushes him but still he carries out his orders to sail against ever increasing enemy superiority. At the bitter end the tragedy becomes even more manifest when he surrenders, one of the few kapitanleutnant's alive to do so and returns to his homeland , which had changed radically. A heart-breaking story whose message is evident as one reads through the chapters; that war is evil and it destroys men, and it doesn't spare the innocent as well.

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Summary: Incredible insight into a German officer and his duty.
Review: Most war stories are third-person accounts, and, of the available first-person accounts, most that we are exposed to are from the Allies. Even many of the German tales tend to focus on the task at hand, without exploring as deeply the emotional changes as the war was being lost. Werner handles the technical aspects of missions and boat operations as well as any other author has, but at the same time, we get to see a man come to understand the nature of the war he is waging. He is a patriotic officer, while not necessarily supporting (or aware of) the Nazi policies, and he fights for his country, for the citizens on the street and his Naval comrades rather than out of any fanatical loyalty to the Fuehrer. As the war turns against Germany and particularly the U-Boats, he becomes disillusioned in the promises of the leadership and the increasingly desperate missions issued. His descriptions of the cities of France and Germany as time passes, and his personal family losses show him the totality of modern war. One is even compelled to evaluate the conventional view that aerial bombardment is inherently more honorable than the deception of submarine warfare, even though each merchant sailor carrying war materiel knows he is in a war zone, unlike civilians in a city far from the front

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Summary: Another Option
Review: A riveting account, as so many others have noted here. Just a heads-up for those of you who read German: you can get the original version of Iron Coffins (Die eisernen Särge) together with Wolfgang's Hirschfeld's U-boat memoir, Feindfahrten, in one convenient paperback volume from Amazon.de. It includes quite a few photos and illustrations, too.

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Summary: A Regular Guy-An Extraordinary Story
Review: This is one of the top first person accounts of WWII action-any branch of service-any nationality. Despite the fact that this is an English translation from German,the style is extemely readable and the action extremely gripping. Werner's perspective is also extremely unusual for several reasons. The biggest is his survival. He fought from the very beginning to the bitter end of the war. The chances of any sort of front line fighter surviving more than a couple of battles was minuscule. So Werner's perspective is unusal in the fact that it intimately covers so much time in the thick of action. Second,because Werner was stationed in France and the trains were intact to Germany thru the war, Werner is able to describe French and German civilians and their reaction to the war thru a 6 year period. Particularily interesting is his tales of French prostitution. Because he was able to take frequent leave between missions back to Germany, he has contact with many different fighters from the different branches of service and he describes their reactions to the war.But the defeat comes and Werner is involved in an even more astonishing adventure-his decomission from the Navy and his crazy return trip home.That is a tale on it's own! And when you reach the final page,you still want to know more about Werner's story. What happen to him in post-war Germany? Really,it's a great book.

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Summary: The best d**n sub book I've read
Review: It been a while since I have read this.In fact the last time I looked this was out of print.
Everybody has seen "das boot".If this peeked your interest then
come to feast on this real life account.Towards the end I was
cheering for the wrong team. It was that entralling. I am not
a voracious reader. But I enjoyed this thoroughly.
It is definitely a book I use as a reference of quality for the miltary genre.
Definitely up there with "element of surprise", "low-level hell" and "feet wet" books
that have the level of detail that entrace you so much you swear that your right beside them.