Grey Wolves

The U-Boat War 1939–1945

By: Philip Kaplan

Narrated by: A. T. Chandler

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

In the early years of the Second World War, the elite force of German submariners known as the Ubootwaffe came perilously close to perfecting underwater battle tactics and successfully cutting Britain's transatlantic lifeline. To the Allies, these enemy sailors were embarking on a mission of unequivocal evil.

Each member of the Ubootwaffe understood that he must take pride in being part of a unique brotherhood. He had to do so because he was setting out - in claustrophobic, unsanitary, stench-filled, and ultimately hellish conditions - on a journey that would test his mental and physical endurance to the very limits, and which he had little chance of surviving. Those that did return soon ceased to take comfort in friends or family, dwelling only on the knowledge that another patrol awaited them. By the end of the war, of the 39,000 men who went to sea in the U-boats, 27,491 died in action and a further 5,000 were made prisoners of war. Of the 863 U-boats that sailed on operational patrols, 754 were lost.

Grey Wolves captures life on board a U-boat, in text, letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, prose, and poetry, relaying tales of the mundane and the routine, dramatic and heroic; the fear and resilience of every crew member, from Kapitainleutnant to Mechaniker. It is a vivid, brutally realistic portrait of the men who fought and died beneath the surface of the Atlantic in what was, perhaps, the most critical battle of the war.

©2014 2014 by Philip Kaplan (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Gripping

I learned a lot about things I didn't know that I didn't know. Thanks

Pretty decent

Definitely a good listen, except for the last 15-20 minutes that was the worst part

Great!!!

Awesome book and very good narrative. Do not requires a complete knowledge about it to understand.

Good book for those who love submarines.

The strategic information is one thing that sets this book apart. where were they and when is so important to understanding the prosecution of the war.

Not what I hoped in a U-Boat book

I got to listen to this book on Audible with my membership and glad that I didn’t pay for the actual book. The author skips around on subjects. I was listening to a 1940 convoy battle and the subject then switched to World War 1 with the sinking of the Lusitania and sinking’s during that period. The descriptions range from US bombers attacking to U-Boat pens to French civilians describing the bombing, which was interesting. I expected more of descriptions from U-Boat personnel.

Great information and subject matter hard to follow at times

Great information and subject matter in the book and you can tell how many individual stories andPOV’s the author tried to capture. However, although I did enjoy the book I feel like the book skipped around slightly In-between chapters, making it a little harder than usual to follow along with where the story may or may not be taking place at times throughout the book.
Still have nothing but positive things to say about the author and the book. If you enjoy World War II history, naval history or just military history in general, I would consider this a must try.

Respectfully,
C.J.

Not quite the submarine book I thought it was going to be

The story was good but it was not great. I expected a more in-depth history of the U-boats during World War II. This book seems to be 1/3 U-boat, 1/3 air war, and 1/3 miscellaneous other facts such as World War II history and maritime history. My review falls in line with others, the author does seem to jump around quite a bit. One minute you’re talking about submarines the next minute you’re talking first hand accounts of a B-17 raid over a city in Germany. I don’t quite see the parallel of the two. Overall the story about the U-boats was interesting I actually learned some new facts. Overall the story is not great but it’s also not terrible at the end of the day I did find it entertaining.

Good listen.

It was a fun listen. The book was a little disjointed in its layout. The narrator did fine.

gets off on tangents

the author gets off on tangents with stories that don't really concern the subject matter which is supposed to be the gray wolves or U-boats of the Atlantic war. although interesting little side trips to the other takes I would rather read them in the books that he takes them from instead of dicing up the story or subject matter with them. very distracting and not why I bought the book

Great history book and very comprehensive.

great history book and very comprehensive. I reccomend this book to anyone who loves history.