Fips: Legendary U-boat Commander Book

Translated by Geoffrey Brooks.

In a desperate attempt to blockade Britain into surrender during World War I, the U-boat arm of the Imperial German Navy attacked and sank any allied vessel-from troop transport to fishing boat-found along the British and French coastlines. Werner "Fips" Furbringer was one of these U-boats' most successful commanders, and he recounts his true-life adventures with the epic sweep of a skilled novelist. From his early assignment on board the submarine that sank the Lusitania in 1915 to his three years as a commanding officer, Fips shows how with skill, daring, and sheer luck he overcame the dangers of mine fields, searchlight barriers, Q-ships, and armed light houses. His controversial capture and his life as a British prisoner-of-war completes the valiant story.

Available in English for the first time, this classic German memoir vividly depicts an experience that few survived to tell. A brave officer who inspired fierce loyalty in his crews, Fips was a decent man who adhered to an archaic code of chivalry as this frank and eminently readable work clearly indicates.