"During the whole war, the only threat which truly worried me was the U-Boat menace." This statement from Britain's wartime Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, somewhat says it all. The fall of Poland, of France, the Battle of Britain, threatening of the Suez Canal, loss of the Far East...and the only thing which REALLY worried the stout Sir Winston was, "the U-Boat menace."

But when you look at it, U-Boats are 'just' machines. A naval achitect would describe a WW II Type VII or IX U-Boat as, "An oceangoing torpedo boat capable of submerging to twice its length for short periods."

Formidable, complex  war machines, to be sure, but still 'just' machines. And all the world's major navies operated similar vessels. What made the German "U-Boat menace" SO serious? SO serious, the Allies hunted U-Boote with enormous energy...inflicting between 75 and 80 percent personnel casualties...on the component of the Deutsche Kregsmarine which was SO dangerous....

The MEN manning those competent, but fairly "ordinary" for the times, submarines.

In Osprey's Warrior No. 36, U-Boat Crewman Of World War II, one gets an opportunity to look at  the people rather than the campaign or U-Boats, themselves. Both topics are covered briefly in the book, but what makes this volume unique is its focus on the U-Bootsman and his training.

Some teasers, examples why you NEED this book? Sure. Here y' go.

Factoids like officers needing to sign on for 25 years' service and men for 12, like U-Boot commanders' age dropping toward 24 years of age as the war continued...photos like the guy on the over the side "deck throne" making big potty directly in the ocean.

Illustrator Darko Pavlovic's (cool name, eh?) art work is first-rate. Those 8 pages of colour are fine stuff, oh, yeah.... Men, action scenes, leisure scenes, clothing, badges. Yup, good stuff.

For the modeler, the WW II U-Boot crewman is fairly well-represented in figures. The old Squadron / Valiant U-Boat Commander paints up surprisingly well. Andrea Miniatures has a full deck crew for the enormous 1/32 resin Type VII. There are good figures also for the new 1/72 Revell Type VII. An excellent large scale bust is also available.

Re kits...let it be said, there are U-Boote in 1/700, 1/350, 1/400, 1/144, 1/125, 1/72 and 1/32. You CAN model U-Boot sailors and their boats.

Highly recommended.

Review copy courtesy of the reviewer's chequebook.

Purchased at Prosek's Greenhouse and Military Model Shop, Winfield, Illinois

Reviewed by James Hood

For Scott Van Aken's Modeling Madness review of James Hood's novel,
 Adventure--Into The Neverland, go to:  http://users3.ev1.net/~bjmonkeyandcj/James_Hood.htm

April 2005

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