Operation Drumbeat: The Dramatic True Story of Germany's First U-Boat Attacks Along The American Coast in World War II
- Book Review,
by Michael Gannon
Amazon.com
Historian Michael Gannon argues that the systematic assault by German submarines on merchant tankers and freighters along the U.S. eastern seaboard in 1942 "constituted a greater strategic setback for the Allied war effort than did the defeat at Pearl Harbor." The case for the claim is intriguing and includes a damaging assessment of the U.S. naval command, which ignored information that might have allowed it to avert the disaster, but Gannon never lets his argument distract from the compelling wartime story. Through original interviews and archival research, he describes the exploits of U-123 and its 28-year-old Lieutenant Commander Reinhard Hardegen, who terrorized American home waters on two separate missions. Operation Drumbeat presents a remarkable picture of life on the U-boats. (Fans of the movie Das Boot especially won't want to miss it.) Gannon's book eventually may become a classic work of naval history; for now it's a great book on a particular aspect of the Second World War. --John J. Miller
From Publishers Weekly
Interviews with a U-boat skipper, former German crew members and U.S. and British military personnel help explain why the Allies lost nearly 400 ships to U-boat attacks; evidence suggests that well-informed British intelligence was disregarded by the Anglophobic U.S. chief of naval operations. "The book will be of enormous interest to sub warfare buffs," said PW. Photos. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A vivid history of the World War II German submarine war on Allied shipping off the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts in 1942. Two perspectives are used, that of the skipper and crew of one sub, U-123, and that of strategic analysis of the U.S. response to the attacks. The first is well researched, but perhaps too much of the research has been included. The strategic analysis is not as well documented and, in comparison, seems judgmental: Admiral King is held largely responsible for a response so slow that it posed a grave threat to the Allied war effort. The charge may have merit, but is too hastily arrived at here. Many books have examined the Battle of the Atlantic, including Edwin Hoyt's fine U-Boats Offshore (LJ 11/1/78). This one is for specialists or informed laypersons.- George H. Siehl, Library of CongressCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Book News, Inc.
Operation drumbeat was the code name of the first German assault against the US in World War II. Gannon focuses on U-123, the most successful U-boat in the assault force, and on her commander, Reinhard Hardegen, who sank 19 ships on two American patrols and twice received Germany's highest decoration, the Knight's Cross. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
"Gannon's book is a crisply written, vivid and thoroughly researched account of the adventure of U-123 inAmerican waters."
Michael L. Hadley, author, U-Boats Against Canada
"Gannon's book is a crisply written, vivid and thoroughly researched account of the adventure of U-123 inAmerican waters."
Elting E. Morison, author, Men, Machines and Modern Times, and Admiral Sims and the Modern American Navy
"Operation Drumbeat is a splendid book, moving in description, instructive in well supported analysis. Gannon knows how everything worked in a U-Boat, and he gives brilliant descriptions of all the technological conditions that shaped its warfare. He also makes a memorable contribution to our understanding of the nature of the U-Boat war and warriors. He is fully informed and he is full, fair and justifiably critical of some [U.S.] policies, personalities, and performances."
Capt. Edward L. Beach. author, Run Silent, Run Deep
"Engrossing reading, most especially the part in which the dereliction of our naval leaders along the eastern seaboard is so well described."
Houston Chronicle
"It is difficult to fault Gannon's assertion that in the face of the U-boat threat [Admiral] King's failure to act decisively was `like a sentry asleep at his post.'"
Clay Blair, author, Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan
"Operation Drumbeat is a truly wonderful bookthe best by far that I have read on U-boats and believe me I have read them all. It combines a great knowledge of U-boats and meticulous scholarship with dramatic narrative. The upshot is an important and riveting story that gives the reader the most reliable and penetrating account of U-boat warfare ever written. Furthermore the `Atlantic Pearl Harbor' thesis is well developed and unassailable. On every page the author demonstrates complete mastery of immense primary source material with shocking new revelationssuch as the failure to bring the 25 American destroyers into play despite clear warning from Bletchley Park that Drumbeat was afoot."
Thomas Fleming, author, Time & Tide
"I started reading Operation Drumbeat and literally could not stop. I think it's an absolutely stunning bookrevelatory. It should startle everyone who thinks there is nothing more to be said about World War II. His expos of the U.S. Navy's incompetence in the opening months of the war is the stuff of Pulitzer Prizes. His grasp of the German side of the story is equally remarkable. On top of all that it often reads like a novel."
Book Description
The dramatic national bestseller and remarkably exciting account of Germany's little-known U-boat campaign against merchant shipping along the North American Atlantic coast during the first six months of 1942.
About the Author
Michael Gannon is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Florida, where he taught the history of World War II. He resides in Gainesville and is the author of seven books. In the l950s he wrote on military subjects from Europe. In 1968 he served as a war correspondent in Vietnam. Also a scholar in the field of Spanish colonial history, he has received numerous awards and honors, including Knight Commander of the Order of Isabel la Catolica from King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
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