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Title: German E-Boats 1939-45 (New Vanguard 59) by Ian Palmer, Gordon Williamson ISBN: 1-84176-445-0 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: October, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: German E-Boats 1939-45 Review
Comment: Despite its limited number of pages the volume is quite fact packed and detailed in a well structured and easily readable way.
The tactics employed in the use of the E-boats are unfortunately not covered in the volume (or only covered in a very superficial way).
Nor is there much mentioning of the personalities of the e-boat service.
The side view illustrations are ok, but the cutaway illustration is rather rough and the "in action" drawings/illustrations of the boats are also somewhat rough and un-life like and reminds one quite a bit of the sort of graphics one encounter in computer games (and have probably been created with the same sort of software (i.e. Maya) with the limit of such graphical tools with regards to the level of detail one can put into the illustration.
I also miss cross section drawings of the hulls, that can be quite handy with regards to getting a real impression of the hull shape of the boats.
And though the author is undoubtedly knowledgeable about the subject of his book, through some phrases here and there in the book, I somehow get the impression that the author are somewhat lacking with regards to sea-legs and knowledge of nautical terms.
F.ex if a picture shows e-boat crew wearing fur-skin caps, it doesn't have imply that the picture is taken mid winters.
As anyone who has done a bit of sailing in European waters know, you don't need to go all that far offshore to experience a quite noticeable drop in temperature even well into the spring/summer season, from what one's accustommed to on the shore.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good Account on Neglected Subject
Comment: Most accounts of the German Navy in the Second World War focus on either the U-Boat arm or the occasional sorties of celebrity warships such as the Bismarck or Scharnhorst. However, very little has been written about the small surface warships of the Kriegsmarine that fought throughout the war and in many theaters. This Osprey Vanguard Edition on E-Boats (or the German S-Boats), provides a good summary of the equipment and operations of the German motor torpedo boats in the Second World War.
German E-Boats consists of short sections on the development of fast motorboats in the German Navy, a general description of the E-Boats, armament, power plant, color schemes, radar, organization of the E-Boat squadrons, and operational use. Technologically, the E-Boats suffered from lack or radar and this deficiency would reduce their effectiveness by 1943. The book includes seven color plates: four depicting various E-Boat configurations, two action scenes and one cutaway diagram.
The author spends almost fifteen pages detailing E-Boat operations in the North Sea, the Channel, the Baltic, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Several points are interesting. First, the E-Boats could inflict substantial damage and sank or crippled a surprising number of enemy destroyers. Second, the E-Boats were capable of massed attacks on convoys with up to 20-30 boats involved in one action. Third, the Germans lost a significant number of E-Boats in accidents. Fourth, despite complete Allied air superiority, the Germans were still able to conduct E-Boat attacks on coastal convoys as late as April 1945 (given the complete suppression of the U-Boat arm by this point, the ability of E-Boats to score successes in 1945 is phenomenal). Although the author's narrative is succinct, he does mention individual E-Boat successes and losses.
There are a few deficiencies in the volume, but given the size constraints of the series, understandable. The author does not discuss E-Boat tactics in any detail, and it would have been worthwhile to mention exactly how 10-20 E-Boats would attack a convoy (how was command and control accomplished? Was it a decentralized or centralized method of attack? How did E-Boats deal with convoy escorts?). There is also no final tally of how many E-Boats were built, how many were lost and what their total successes were in terms of tonnage sunk. Finally, it would also have been useful for the author to discuss E-Boat construction (where? How long? How much did they cost?) and what kind of resource trade-offs the Kriegsmarine made in regard to E-Boats, U-Boats and the surface fleet. Nevertheless, this account sheds further light on this neglected aspect of the Second World War.
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Title: British Motor Torpedo Boat 1939-45 by Angus Konstam, Tony Bryan ISBN: 1841765007 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: S-Boote: German E-Boats in Action (1939-1945) by Jean-Philippe Dallies-Labourdette, Bruno Pautigny, Jean Phileppe, Dallies Labourdette ISBN: 2913903495 Publisher: Histoire & Collections Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: German Heavy Cruisers 1939-45 (New Vanguard, 81) by Gordon Williamson, Ian Palmer ISBN: 1841765023 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: German Battleships 1939-45 (New Vanguard, 71) by Gordon Williamson, Ian Palmer ISBN: 1841764981 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: German Pocket Battleships 1939-45 (New Vanguard 75) by Gordon Williamson, Ian Palmer ISBN: 1841765015 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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