The Sinking of the Laconia and the U-Boat War
Author: James P. Duffy
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2013-04-01
Total Pages: 148
ISBN-13: 0803245408
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Originally published: Santa Barbara, California: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2009.
Lanterna Rally
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The Laconia Affair
America's U-Boats
Author: Chris Dubbs
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2014-11-01
Total Pages: 221
ISBN-13: 0803271662
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The submarine was one of the most revolutionary weapons of World War I, inciting both terror and fascination for militaries and civilians alike. During the war, after U-boats sank the Lusitania and began daring attacks on shipping vessels off the East Coast, the American press dubbed these weapons “Hun Devil Boats,” “Sea Thugs,” and “Baby Killers.” But at the conflict’s conclusion, the U.S. Navy acquired six U-boats to study and to serve as war souvenirs. Until their destruction under armistice terms in 1921, these six U-boats served as U.S. Navy ships, manned by American crews. The ships visited eighty American cities to promote the sale of victory bonds and to recruit sailors, allowing hundreds of thousands of Americans to see up close the weapon that had so captured the public’s imagination. In America’s U-Boats Chris Dubbs examines the legacy of submarine warfare in the American imagination. Combining nautical adventure, military history, and underwater archaeology, Dubbs shares the previously untold story of German submarines and their impact on American culture and reveals their legacy and Americans’ attitudes toward this new wonder weapon.
The Laconia Incident
Author: Gene Masters
Publisher:
Published: 2020-03-11
Total Pages: 212
ISBN-13: 9781734675016
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The Laconia Incident is the true story of Korvettenkapitan Werner Hartenstein, captain of the WWII German submarine, U-156. It is Hartenstein's boat that attacks and sinks the Laconia on September 12, 1942. The subsequent, unprecedented actions taken by him, his crew, and the German U-Boat Command, after the actual torpedoing and sinking of the Laconia, make for a truly amazing tale. It's a story of how civility and mercy survive, even amidst the savagery and brutality of all-out war. It also shows how even the best-intentioned efforts can be foiled by stubborn adherence to well-established preconceptions, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The Sinking of the Laconia
Author: Frederick T Grossmith
Publisher:
Published: 1994
Total Pages: 236
ISBN-13: 9781871615685
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Laconia incident - A High-Risk Military Rescue Operation of WWII Under The Line of Fire
Author: Edgar Wollstone
Publisher: AJS
Published:
Total Pages: 43
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The years 1939-1945 is etched on the minds of many for myriad reasons. It was an epoch of terrible chaos, devastating loss, and inexplicable horror. The Second World War was wreaking havoc all over the world. Several events have shaken the collective conscience of mankind. Hitler’s pathological hatred for the Jews, the holocaust, the Auschwitz concentration camps and its horrors, the atomic bomb and its long-term detrimental repercussions, the economic perils, rampant epidemics, severe shortage of food and supplies, deaths due to starvation, etc. are well known dark pages of history. Though these events have been repeated ad nauseum, they still don’t fail to send shivers down one’s spine. But the Laconia Incident that transpired on the eve of September 12th, 1942, stood apart in its scale and tragedy. An armed British ship was intercepted by a German U-boat. The teal waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific was no safer for anybody. It was replete with U-boats and submarines that took the cover of darkness and the sinister waves to waylay enemy ships. They waited in stealth to pounce on the enemy and scuttle the ship on sight. The Laconia Incident is a bone-chilling tale of tragic killing of hundreds of people when a German U-boat torpedoed a British armed ship. The RMS Laconia was unescorted and a sitting duck to the German U-boat. The commanding officer ordered it to be torpedoed. The orders were carried out in an instant. When the German commanding officer Captain Hartenstein surfaced the submarine hoping to collect any intelligence from the sinking ship, he was appalled by the innumerable upturned faces dotting the violent shark-infested sea. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were scrambling for life. What should the German captain do? Should he rescue the enemy civilians? Should he execute the dictator Fuhrer’s orders of eliminating all survivors? Should he follow the calls of his heart and embark on a near-impossible rescue mission? The Captain unlike his Fuhrer had his heart in the right place. He dared to carry out a mission to save the enemy jeopardizing his own life and career. And for this act of humanity and compassion, will he be honored or cursed? Read the book to know the tragic story of the Laconia Incident and the German Captain Hartenstein who risked his own life and career to rescue the enemy.
Hitler's U-boat War
Author: Clay Blair
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Published: 2000-04
Total Pages: 909
ISBN-13: 9780304352616
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The second volume in Clay Blair's history of Hitler's U-boat war, covering years 1942 to 1945. Told chronologically, it is divided into two sections: the war against Britain and her empire, and the war against the Americas. Clay Blair served in World War II in the submarines. He chronicles dramatic scenes of naval actions and makes interpretations and conclusions about all aspects of the Battle of the Atlantic.
So Close to Home
Author: Michael J Tougias
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2016-05-03
Total Pages: 352
ISBN-13: 1681771713
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →On May 19, 1942, a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico stalked its prey fifty miles from New Orleans. Captained by twenty nine-year-old Iron Cross and King's Cross recipient Erich Wurdemann, the submarine set its sights on the freighter Heredia with sixty-two souls on board. Most aboard were merchant seamen, but there were also a handful of civilians, including the Downs family: Ray and Ina, and their two children, eight-year-old Sonny and eleven-year-old Lucille. Fast asleep in their berths, the Downs family had no idea that two torpedoes were heading their way. When the ship exploded, chaos ensued—and each family member had to find their own path to survival. Including original, unpublished material from Commander Wurdemann’s war diary, the story provides balance and perspective by chronicling the daring mission of the U-boat—and its commander’s decision-making—in the Gulf of Mexico. An inspiring historical narrative, So Close to Home tells the story of the Downs family as they struggle against sharks, hypothermia, drowning, and dehydration in their effort to survive the aftermath of this deadly attack off the American coast.
America's U-Boats
Author: Chris Dubbs
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2014-11-01
Total Pages: 190
ISBN-13: 0803269471
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The submarine was one of the most revolutionary weapons of World War I, inciting both terror and fascination for militaries and civilians alike. During the war, after U-boats sank the Lusitania and began daring attacks on shipping vessels off the East Coast, the American press dubbed these weapons “Hun Devil Boats,” “Sea Thugs,” and “Baby Killers.” But at the conflict’s conclusion, the U.S. Navy acquired six U-boats to study and to serve as war souvenirs. Until their destruction under armistice terms in 1921, these six U-boats served as U.S. Navy ships, manned by American crews. The ships visited eighty American cities to promote the sale of victory bonds and to recruit sailors, allowing hundreds of thousands of Americans to see up close the weapon that had so captured the public’s imagination. In America’s U-Boats Chris Dubbs examines the legacy of submarine warfare in the American imagination. Combining nautical adventure, military history, and underwater archaeology, Dubbs shares the previously untold story of German submarines and their impact on American culture and reveals their legacy and Americans’ attitudes toward this new wonder weapon.
One Common Enemy
Author: Jim McLoughlin
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Published: 2018-11-05
Total Pages: 222
ISBN-13: 1743056206
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →'I'll see the world,' Jim McLoughlin told his parents as he set off to join the Royal Navy in 1939. 'It'll be fun.' Months later, this Liverpool lad was sailing to war aboard the massive battleship HMS Valiant. He saw some of the world, but it wasn't fun. In One Common Enemy, he recounts how the chaos and carnage of war at sea in the Norwegian and Mediterranean campaigns led him to a fateful rendezvous with a much-loved ship from his boyhood, the passenger liner Laconia. Nostalgia turned to disaster when Laconia was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the South Atlantic. Despite a remarkable rescue attempt by a courageous, compassionate foe, Jim was condemned to a drifting lifeboat and a harrowing voyage of death and madness. One Common Enemy is a story of a desperate personal battle for survival, but also a moving narrative of innocence lost and a lifelong battle with confronting memories.
