KILLING SHORE

KILLING SHORE
By K.A. Nelson

The author is a veteran of the US Marine Corps and a wreck diver who has been in the unique position of seeing for himself the victims of and also the wrecks of some of the German U-boats he now writes about.

On reading a few books on the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of the U-boat attacks close to the American coast probably hasn't had the coverage it deserves. 
I say this because the book begins with a map of the US Eastern Coast revealing all of the wrecks of both U-boats and their victims, a surprising number to me.

The book is split into two parts. Firstly the author provides an overview of the battle in the Atlantic dating back to the first world war.
The second part of the book is divided into chapters that cover a particular ship or event, with the basis very much on capturing the stories of the men involved.
Whilst the author wrote this as a local history book, his research and attention to detail deserves a greater readership.
I found the book both very interesting and engaging and I'm sure readers of naval history will too.

The paperback book is available now and published by Brookline Books, an imprint of Casemate Publishers. 
For this review copy I must thank Script Books, an imprint of Pen and Sword Books. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LUFTWAFFE INTRUDER OPERATIONS OVER THE UK

Image
LUFTWAFFE INTRUDER OPERATIONS OVER THE UNITED KINGDOM  By Chris Goss.  Close to a relative's house in the Lincolnshire Wolds, there is a small memorial to the crew of a Lancaster lost on the night of 3/4th March 1945. Included in the dedication are the words;  'victim of a Luftwaffe intruder.' According to this book, this crew were sadly not the only fatalities that night. Over the course of the second world war, Luftwaffe night fighters would fly planned routes that would bring them close to RAF bases. If lucky, they would find an unsuspecting Allied bomber returning to base and/or would attack an airbase with its payload of bombs. Many Allied crews fell victim to these surprise attacks, often  flying too low to be able to bail out or have time to react before crashing.  Overtime the RAF's own night fighter force improved, which would see the Luftwaffe's losses  rise significantly. Despite this, as Chris explains, the Luftwaffe were still in th...
Read more

MITCHELL

Image
MITCHELL: Father of the Spitfire  By Paul Beaver. The majority of readers will have heard the name R.J. Mitchell and certainly his most famous aircraft design, the beloved Spitfire. Yet many, myself included, might not have known that his career began in railway engineering. This and so much more is revealed by author , Paul Beaver, who shares the full story of this remarkable man who became Supermarine's chief designer at the age of just 24. Alongside Reginald's career, we also learn how the Supermarine company was founded and then grew during the decades between the two world wars.  Mitchell's answering of Supermarine's job advertisement  would prove to be the beginning of a remarkable legacy. Importantly, o ne the author also states came about with the brains and skills of a talented group of people who have been too often overlooked. This legacy is of course far more than just the Spitfire. Many other types of aircraft especially flying boats were also d...
Read more

THE DUMMY DRONE

Image
THE DUMMY DRONE BY Rob More. Away from the Battle of Britain in the skies over the English Channel and Southern counties, or the devastating blitz bombing of London and other major cities, surely  the far North of Scotland would hardly be effected by the second world war?  Well the opposite was true. In this fabulous new book, local author and resident, Rob More reveals how the county of Caithness was a scene of great change from the coastline and beaches to the farmland, hills and villages. Not forgetting all those who lived and worked there.  With the area hosting a range of wartime installations and airfields it received many visits from the Luftwaffe. As we learn in the book, civilians and their properties would also be caught up in these raids. From the radar stations searching for enemy aircraft, to those recruited for the local Home Guard and the lesser known Auxiliary Units. Communities the length of Britain prepared for an expected German invasion. Ro...
Read more