5 BYAU-BOATCOMMANDER WHOFOUGHTFORGERMANYIN THE BATTLEOFTHEATLANTIC HERBERTA.WERNER / FOREWORDBY CAPTAINEDWARDLBEACH, / U.S.NAVY(RET.) / RELIVETHETRIUMPH ANDTHETRAGEDY OFAWORLD AFIREWITH BANTAM WAR BOOKS 1940 April7—TheH.M.S. Sealionwatchesthe German invasionfleetsailtoward Norway whilerulesofengagementpreventanattack inSubmarineCommanderbyBen Bryant. 1941 December7—TheJapanesesavagely attacktheU.S. fleetatPearl Harborandthe air-seawarinthePacificTheaterbeginsin AboveandBeyondbyWilburMorrison. December24—Thegallantdefendersof Wake Islandprovetheirfightingmettleagainst anoverwhelmingJapaneselandingforcein TheStoryofWakeIslandbyBrig. Gen. JamesRS. Devereaux. 1942 August7—TheU.S. Marinesmakeabrave and bloodylandingonGuadalcanal in The >o BattleforGuadalcanalbySamuel B. Griffith II. 1943 July8—HansRudel'scannon-firingStuka takespartinthebiggesttankbattleofWWII inStukaPilotbyHansUlrich Rudel. r\j: o= »o V THE ICEWATER OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC WAS THEIR SHROUD Few escaped these iron coffins that still con- tain somany ofHitler's navy. They were brave men, heroes in a wrong cause. They believed that they were all that stood between their country and disaster. Expecting death, most of them found it. This is their story, a terrifying tale of Germany's U-boat service as told by a survivor. THE BANTAM WAR BOOK SERIES This series ofbooks is aboutaworldonfire. The carefully chosen volumes in the Bantam War Book Seriescovertheftilldramatic sweepofWorldWarII. Manyare eyewitness accounts by the men whofoughtinaglobal conflict as the world's future hung in the balance. Fighter pilots, tank commanders and infantry captains, among many others, re- count exploits of individual courage. They present vivid por- traits ofbrave men, true stories ofgallantry, moving sagas of survivalandstarktragediesofuntimelydeath. In 1933 Nazi Germany marched to become an empire that was to last a thousand years. In only twelve years that empire was destroyed, and ever since, the country has been bisected by herconquerors. Italy relinquished hercolonial lands, asdid Japan. Thesewerethelosers. Thewinnersalsolosttheempires they had so painfully seized over the centuries. And one, Russia, lostovertwenty milliondead. Those wartime 1940s were a simple, even a hopeful time. Hats came in only two colors, white and black, and after an initial battering the Allied nations started on a long laborious march toward victory. It was a time when sane men believed the world would evolve into a decent place, but, as with all futures, there was no one then who could really forecast the worldthatweknow now. There are many ways to think about war. It has always been hard to understand the motivations and braveries ofAxis soldiersfightingto enslaveanddominatetheirneighbors. Yetit is impossible to know the hammer without the anvil, and to comprehend ourselves we must know the people we once foughtagainst. Through these books we can discover what it was like to take part in the war that was a final experience for nearly fifty million humanbeings. In sodoingwemaydiscoverthestrength to make a world as good as the one contained in thosedreams and aspirations once believed by heroic men. We must under- stand our past as an honor to those dead who can no longer choose. They exchanged their lives in a hope for this future that we now inhabit. Though the fight took place many years ago, each ofus remains asalivingpartofit. IRON COFFINS A personal account of the German U-boat battles of World War U HERBERT WERNER by A. TM FQLCOW <8> BANTAMBOOKS NEWYORK • TORONTO • LONDON • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND Thiseditioncontainsthecompletetext oftheoriginalhardcoveredition. NOTONEWORDHASBEENOMITTED. IRONCOFFINS ABantamFalconBookIpublishedbyarrangementwith Holt,RinehartandWinston PRINTINGHISTORY Holt,RinehartandWinstoneditionpublishedJune1969 AselectionoftheBook-Gf-The-MonthClubJanuary1970 BantameditionIOctober1978 falconandtheportrayalofaboxed'/"aretrademarksofBantamBooks, adivisionofBantamDoubledayDellPublishingGroup,Inc. DrawingsbyTomBeecham. MapsbyAlanUcKnight. Allrightsreserved. Copyright©1969byHerbertA.Werner. CoverartcopyrightCbyWilliamS.Phillips. Illustrationscopyright 1978byBantamBooks. Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedinany formorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,including photocopying,recording,orbyanyinformationstorageand retrievalsystem,withoutpermissionInwritingfromthepublisher. Forinformationaddress:Hob,RinehartandWinston, 6277SeaHarborDrive,Orlando,FL32821. ISBN0-553-23347-5 PublishedsimultaneouslyintheUnitedStatesandCanada Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division ofBantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting ofthe words"BantamBooks"andtheportrayalofarooster,isRegisteredin(7.5. Patent and Trademark Office andin othercountries. Marca Registrada. BantamBooks,666FifthAvenue,NewYork,NewYork10103. PRINTEDINTHEUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA 98765432 RAD 11 10 DEDICATION Totheseamenofallnationswho diedintheBattle oftheAtlantic inWorldWarn, andespeciallyto myU-boatcomradeswholieentombed intheirIronCoffins There are no roses on a sailor's grave, No lilies on an ocean wave, The only tribute is the seagulls' sweeps, And the teardrops that a sweetheart weeps. — Germansong Contents Foreword, byCaptainEdwardL.Beach, USN (Ret.) xiii Introduction xix Part One: Years of Glory i Part Two: Above Us, Hell 135 PartThree: Disaster and Defeat 255 Epilogue 387 Appendices 409 I: U-boat Losses 1939-1945 411 II: Balance Sheet of the Battle of the Atlantic 412 Glossary 413 AtlanticU-boat,TypeVIJ,WorldWarII 1. Superstructure 2. Pressure! 3. 45.. Officers*quarters 6. Towercomportment 7. 8. Skyperiscope 9. Directionfinder 10* Attackperiscope 11. Anti-aircraftguns(2cm.) 12. Anti-aircraftaims(3.7cm.) 13. 14. tearhydroplanesandtwinscrews. IS. Motorroomandafttorpedotube 16, Dieselroom • 17. Galleyandwashroom 18. Pettyofficers9quartersandBatteryIbelowdeck 19. Controlroomandroarbulkhead