The Diary of a U-boat Commander | 
 enlarge | Author: Karl Von Schenk
Creator: Etienne
Publisher: LeClue22
Category: EBooks
Buy New: $0.99
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 50303
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Publication Date: June 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
The diary (translated into English) of a World War One U-Boat commander. As well as being a fascinating glimpse of life on the German U-boats during the intense submarine blockade, this also reminds us there were humans involved - on both sides of the action - as we read too of the intimate thoughts and intense love of a man longing for his sweetheart.
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| Customer Reviews:
Unexpected Gem! November 8, 2008
Phil Geusz
I didn't expect much for a buck. Even more, twenty pages into this read, I hated Herr Schenk with a passion-- his diary revealed him to be the very image of a stereotypical arrogant Prussian nobleman, who constantly referred to even his own captain as an "inferior" because of his lack of a blue-blooded family lineage. And yet, this work ended up being one of the greatest reads I've experienced in years. It wasn't the grand military adventure I was led to expect-- far from it! Instead, the iron-spined Herr Schenk fell head-over-heels in love with someone he really rather should not have. And, in so-doing, he was compelled to face the moral failings of his society and his nation. For the first time, I ran into a German officer who finally "gets it".
I've read dozens if not hundreds of German officers' memoirs over several decades. In fact, I've read so many of them that I'm sick to death of empty platitudes like "patriotism" and "national honor" and "the legitimate needs of the German people". Yet never, ever before have I come across the story of a man who came to such a profound understanding of the evil nature of the war machine and social order he served. You'll find no weasel-words here; in the end Schenk, the most unlikely of penitents, _understood_. Over a period of a handful of months, he went from arrogant pride at being singled out for a few words from the Kaiser to faking his attacks on Allied ships so that his crew might believe that they were actually fighting. He ended the war disgraced in the eyes of his peers, but at last a whole man in every other regard.
Of all the German memoirs I've read, this one _quite_ unexpectedly turned out to be the most powerful and memorable. Halfway through, I'd have dismissed it (and Schenk) as eminently forgettable. I'd have been wrong, too!
My only caveat regarding this book is that its story seems almost too good to be true. A quick spot of internet research doesn't find any historical mention of Herr Schenk, where his (minor) exploits as a U-Boat commander before his great change of heart should at least have earned him a byline. (He sank several ships, according to "Diary", including a Q-ship.) Yet, I find nothing, which makes we suspicious as to the work's authenticity. On the other hand, his "lingo" (all the way down to referring to the gyrocompass by its brand-name) is spot-on. It _feels_ authentic, in other words. Yet, I harbor suspicions.
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