www.charlesmccain.com - Charles McCain reviews "Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War Two" by Herbert A. Werner. "I'm fascinated by the comments I have received on this review, all of them so vituperative it is as if they are relatives of Herbert Werner. I removed them all either for their profanity or lack of familiarity with the subject. Werner died in 2013 and had been an American citizen since the late 1950s. All I will say is this: several German naval officers in a position to know the facts told me of the widespread skepticism among both modern day officers of the Deutsche Marine and surviving officers of the Ubootwaffe. Further, the Kriegsmarine commissioned almost 1200 U-Boats so those who suggested becoming a U-Boat kommandant was difficult are not in possession of the facts. The Ubootwaffe only wanted regular German naval officers or regular officers who had left the navy but were called back, to command Uboats. They did not have such a thing as reserve officers. So the regular officers were stretched to the limit to command the huge number of boats and the quality of UBoot kommandants declined precipitoulsy after April of 1943.
