New in Osprey's 'Elite' series is this one on U-boat Tactics during the Second World War. Like all methods of waging war, the German U-boat fleet had to constantly revise how it did business. At first, there was not much in the way of opposition to the German submarine fleet. Of course, the Germans also didn't have a whole lot of boats. The convoy system was something far off and so the Germans basically started where they had left off in WWI.

Submarines of the time were not only quite slow when submerged, but they had very limited battery power. They also had limited numbers of torpedoes. For this reason, many of the successful U-boat captains preferred to do most of their attacking on the surface and to use the deck gun. When coming up against a single ship. This was pretty much the way to go. They first had the ship stop and if determined to be involved in carrying war material or being one of the enemy's ships, the crew was allowed to abandon ship prior to the submarine sinking it with their deck gun. The now ship-less crew was often towed to the shipping lanes where they could be saved, or left with dry clothes and survival rations.

Even later in the war, when convoys became more the norm, submarine captains frequently snuck into the midst of the convoy on the surface and started sinking ships. One ship; one torpedo was the motto of many and some ship captains were able to do just that. However, as the war progressed and the Allies developed more potent anti-submarine warfare gear, the U-boats had to switch their tactics. No longer was the lone U-boat the way to go. Packs or groups of submarines were sent out to stalk and ambush a convoy; sometimes with fewer than half the ships actually making it to their destination.

German submarines had to come up with decoys and ways to stay under water longer. However, despite technological advances, they rarely lasted long and something else had to be developed.

In his book, author Gordon Williamson has a look at how submarines operated at various stages of the war. There are sections on associated equipment, offensive and defensive weapons/equipment, and various defensive tactics used. This latter was more and more important as the war went against the German submarine fleet. All of this is illustrated by a goodly selection of period photographs and that artwork of Ian Palmer, who shows some very well done charts of how both the submarines and Allied shipping dealt with the submarine war. It makes for a book I found quite engrossing and one that I can easily recommend to you.

November 2010

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