It was a real delight to find edition #12 of U-boot im Focus in the mails the other day. I look forward to each volume of this great book as it provides coverage of an aspect of WWII that many of us rarely get to see. I'm constantly amazed at the photos the editors manage to find as they frequently show aspects of daily operations that are often overlooked in other books on the subject.

This particular edition concentrates on the last months of the war with several articles covering the immediate post war period. A staple of the book are stories of various boats. This includes their war patrols and what happened to them. This edition is no different except that we get to look at some very unusual boats. In this case a pair of type XVIII boats that were scuttled at war's end and then raised and put into operating condition again by the British. There has always been some conjecture that these boats had been sunk by bombers and the story clears things up as best as can be 70 years after the event.

Another is the fate of U-622, which ran into issues in an allegedly safe haven for U-boats and U-249 which was surrendered intact and tested by the British after the war. This article has a ton of photos of the boat when it pulled into Portsmouth and disembarked its crew following the official surrender by its captain to British authorities.

Included are the usual short stories as well as conning tower artwork that seems to be a focus for so many U-boat enthusiasts.  If you have an interest in these boats, then you should seriously consider a subscription.