U-Boat Wars 1916-45

The dominant figure in this excellent history of the evolution of submarine warfare during and between World Wars I and II is Admiral Karl Donitz, who developed tactics and equipment in a desperate struggle to keep German submarines offensively and defensively ahead of Allied countermeasures, wreaking much damage with minimal means and inspiring high morale in an army whose casualty rate exceeded 85%. Though Terraine ( The Road to Passchendaele ) covers U-boat campaigns in all theaters in both World Wars, he devotes the latter half of the book largely to the five-year Battle of the Atlantic, presenting new material on the role of air power and British intelligence in combat during World War II. He describes the fumbling initial contribution of the U.S. Navy at that time and the results of its ``rooted aversion to learning from the hard experience of the Royal Navy.'' Terraine also pays tribute to U.S. ship-builders who ultimately produced more merchant vessels than Donitz could sink. Photos. (Sept.)