One of WWII's pivotal events was the capture of U-505 on June 4, 1944. The top secret seizure of this massive Type IX submarine provided the Allies with priceless information on German technology and innovation. After the war U-505 was transported to Chicago, where today 1,000,000 visitors a year pass through her at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Hunt and Kill offers the first definitive study of U-505. The chapters cover her construction, crew and commanders, combat history, general Type IX operations, naval intelligence, the eight fatal German mistakes that doomed the boat, and her capture, transportation, and restoration for posterity.
The contributors to this fascinating volume--a Who's Who of U-boat Erich Topp (U-Boat Ace, commander of U-552); Eric Rust (Naval Officers Under Hitler); Timothy Mulligan (Neither Sharks Nor Wolves); Jak Mallman Showell (Hitler's U-boat Bases); Jordan Vause (Wolf); Lawrence Patterson (First U-boat Flotilla); Mark Wise (Enigma and the Battle of the Atlantic); Keith Gill (Curator, Museum of Science and Industry), and Theodore Savas (Silent Hunters; Nazi Millionaries).
Savas Beatie LLC is an El Dorado Hills-based book publishing company established in 2004. The company has published more than 100 military, general history, and sports history titles, many of which have won awards and been selected by national book clubs.
When I picked up Hunt and Kill I was plesantly surprised by the book. Theodore Savas is the editor for a very well selected group of U-Boat Historians rather than the author. I was expecting a rather ordinary coverage of the U-505 instead this book was a well researched and well written account of the U-505.
Each Historian has one part of the U-505's "life" starting with a forward by the late Erich Topp (U-Boat ace, Captain of the U-522, Rear Admiral of the West German Navy and author of the excellent autobiography Odyssey of a U-Boat Commander) to the current Curator of the U-505 Keith Gill. Each chapter builds on the previous. Eric Rust (translator of Topp's autobiography) creates an overview of the Atlantic Campaign from the German perspective. The most enjoyable chapter was from Timothy Mulligan (who wrote an excellent biography of Werner Henke: Lone Wolf)who covered in real human terms and statistical data of the crew of the U-505. Mulligan made and gave convincing evidence that the U-505 was indeed a lucky boat rather than unlucky. Lawrence paterson (author of U-Boat War Patrol) gave an overview of the U-505's operational history. Then Mark Wise and Jak Showell gave a brief history of the US Navy's intelligence activities against the U-Boats in WWII. Jordan Vause has an essay discussing the decisions the U-505's captain and officers made during the attack by Task Group 22.3. Finally Keih Gill brings the book to a close by telling the U-505's story from the ed of the war to modern day.
The very best part of this book is how each author is critical of the decisions made by both sides. The only time a clear bias can be detected is by Keith Gill and this can be overlooked to a certain degree since he is writing about the institution he works for and an artifact (the U-505) that he clearly cares for. As someone who does maintance and restoration on a museum ship the artifact does become something akin to family and less like an artifact. Therefore Gill's bias is something I understand and can overlook.
Hunt and Kill is strongly recommended to better understand the U-Boat cmpaign in general but specfically to understand the motives of the men who crewed the U-Boats.