Wolfpack: Inside Hitler's U-Boat War

by Roger Moorhouse Narrated by Roger Moorhouse

Overview

From a top scholar of World War II, the “¿fascinating”¿ (John C. McManus) definitive history of Germany's U-boat campaign that challenged British naval supremacy and brought international trade to its knees

Winston Churchill once remarked that the only threat to truly frighten him was the peril of Nazi U-boats. Over the course of World War II, Germany's submariners sank over three thousand Allied ships, nearly three-quarters of Allied shipping losses in all theaters of the war. In the process the submariners endured horrific conditions and suffered a 75 percent death rate, the highest of any arm of service in the conflict. Yet their story has never been told in full.

In Wolfpack, historian Roger Moorhouse tells the story of the Battle of the Atlantic from the point of view of the German submariners. He tracks these men from the enthusiasm of the war's early days, buoyed with optimism about their cause, through the challenges of the Allied counterthreat, to the final horrors of enemy capture and death in the depths. It is a story of courage, certainly, but also of fear, privation, and-ultimately-failure.

Drawing extensively on war diaries, archival records, and the voices of the German submariners themselves, Wolfpack is a story of technological brilliance, dramatic naval engagements, and extraordinary human endurance.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Moorhouse excels at the details. Drawing on diaries, letters, memoirs, and archives, he delivers gripping accounts of training, operation, living conditions, tactics, accounts of captains, crewmen, victims, and often tragic actions, all overlaid with a heavy dose of Nazi politics.”—Kirkus

“The ‘Allied version of history’ tends to be repeated ad infinitum, and the search goes on for realistic interpretations of the Second World War. By writing an account of the Battle of the Atlantic from the perspective of German U-boatmen, Roger Moorhouse has done much to restore the emotional balance and to complete an inclusive picture. Very readable, humane, comprehensive, well sourced, and gripping.”—Norman Davies, author of Europe: A History

“A fascinating exploration of the real war experienced by German submariners—the sights, the smells, the highs, the lows, and their greatest fears.”—John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die

“Roger Moorhouse is becoming a major authority in his field. Wolfpack is a significant contribution and rightly places the U-boat campaign at the heart of Germany’s strategy during the Second World War. Compellingly written, he seamlessly blends fascinating technical detail with human experience—often profoundly moving—and authoritative strategic insight. Wolfpack is a superb work of history.”—James Holland, author of Normandy '44

“In this impeccably researched and beautifully constructed book, Roger Moorhouse tells the thrilling but ultimately tragic story of Germany's U-boats in the Second World War. Fighting bravely in cramped and claustrophobic conditions, Hitler's Wolfpacks came close to throttling Britain's supply lines in 1941. But thereafter, thanks to radar, convoys, and codebreaking, the U-boatmen's sacrifice—resulting in a scarcely credible death rate of 75%, the highest of the war—produced increasingly diminished returns. This superb history tells the story from a new perspective.”—Saul David, author of Operation Thunderbolt

“A thrilling account from a master of Second World War history.”—Dan Snow, host, HistoryHit podcast

Kirkus Reviews

2025-08-02
The U-boat story, from fresh eyes.

Prize-winning historian Moorhouse, author ofBerlin at War, begins with facts well known to scholars if not to Hollywood. One is that, despite Churchill’s famous confession that “the U-boat war was the only thing that ever really frightened him during the conflict,” ship sinkings never came close to disrupting Allied supply lines. Another fact, as readers familiar with the classic 1981 German filmDas Boot will recall, is that the reality of submarine warfare included no lack of courage and technological marvels but also boredom, filth, stench, unimaginable human endurance, and death. Nearly 75% of U-boat crews died, the highest mortality of any service branch. No less surprising, German rearmament during the 1930s gave no priority to U-boats. Hitler focused on building a surface fleet. When he found Germany unexpectedly at war with Britain, numbers of submarines were far fewer than his fiercely energetic U-boat chief, Admiral Karl Dönitz, felt were necessary. Production ramped up, but that was a slow process. In the meantime, the existing fleet inflicted painful losses on Allied shipping, which peaked in the fall of 1942. By then the U.S. had entered the war, and its massive shipbuilding capacity, combined with sophisticated technology and tactics, turned the tide; in May 1943 German losses forced Dönitz to withdraw from the North Atlantic. Other historians, led by Clay Blair and John Keegan, deliver the big picture. Moorhouse excels at the details. Drawing on diaries, letters, memoirs, and archives, he delivers gripping accounts of training, operation, living conditions, tactics, accounts of captains, crewmen, victims, and often tragic actions, all overlaid with a heavy dose of Nazi politics.

A vivid approach to a well-worn subject.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940194790685
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	10/21/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos