The Last U-boat

by Peter Sasgen

With the Axis in its death throes, Japan pleads with Germany for help to defeat their mutual enemy, the United States. Adolf Hitler approves a secret plan, code-named Kondor, for a U-boat to deliver biological weapons to Japan for use against American forces. In exchange, the Japanese will give Hitler gold bullion which the Reich needs to mount a final stand against the Allies. Kaptäinleutnant Horst Bekker, Germany’s top U-boat skipper is ordered to undertake the mission. A battered and cynical survivor of the U-boat wars, Bekker mourns his wife and daughter killed in a Berlin air raid, and is haunted by guilt over their deaths and his survival. He agonizes over issues of loyalty to a Führer and a regime he despises, and doubts the morality of a scheme to win the war by unleashing deadly strains of anthrax and plague. Nevertheless, Bekker and his crew sail for Japan aboard the U 233. Alerted to the Nazi plan, the Allies dispatch a task force to find and destroy Bekker’s U boat and its deadly cargo. When they learn that a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest levels of Britain’s MI-6, the discovery sets off a race to prevent the cargo from falling into Russian hands. Hunted by American, British and now Soviet forces, Bekker and his men fight a series of underwater battles where survival depends on stealth, deception, and extraordinary courage. Faced with an uncertain future, Bekker must decide whether to carry out a mission that will prolong the war or to consign the Reich’s weapons to the North Atlantic deep. His decision could alter the course of history. The Last U-boat published in Germany as Red Alert.

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2010