Operation Drumbeat: The Dramatic True Story of Germany's First U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II

In 1942 German U-boats sank nearly 400 Allied ships off the East coast of the U.S., threatening to sever Britain's lifeline and cripple U.S. war industry. Gannon, a University of Florida history professor, reveals the appalling degree of unpreparedness and opposition to military intervention on the American side, despite accurate warnings from British intelligence, and traces much of it to the Anglophobia of the chief of naval operations, Admiral Ernest J. King. In an impressive research coup, Gannon located the former skipper and several crew members of one of the U-boats involved in the campaign. Using interviews with these men and former U.S. and British military personnel, and a war diary of the U-123 , Gannon recreates two action-packed patrols and the sinking of 18 Allied ships by that submarine. The book will be of enormous interest to sub warfare buffs. Photos not seen by PW. (June)