Procure The Wolf: A Classic Adventure Story Of How One Ship Took On The Navies Of The World In The First World War Originated By Peter Hohnen Presented As File
at the height of World War I, a seemingly mundane freighter left port in Germany, It was no ordinary ship, however, and the voyage on which it was embarking would become one of the most audacious and successful of its kind, for the Wolf was, in fact, a German commerce raider, and one that would not only sinktrading vessels and enemy warships, but stay at sea continuously for more thandays while serving as home to more thanprisoners including women and children fromnations.
This is both a wellresearched work of history and an entertaining and gripping seafaring tale, giving as it does a vivid view into the lives of not only the German crew, but the Americans, Britons, Australians, Kiwis, Japanese, Spaniards and others who came to be imprisoned on Captain Karl Nerger's raider.
"The Wolf" reads like a novel, and the authors expertly weave together the stories of several of the captives while putting the entire tale in the context of a world in transition from the days of Victorian chivalry to the beginnings of modern industrial society.
Highly recommended.
This Wolf is a decent book, interesting in its way but probably not among the best of the books on the subject.
It is not a typical naval commerce raider book, Unlike most books about commerce raiders, The Wolf looks not only at the activities of the ship and crew, but also at its effects on the enemy, and most importantly, the reactions of the Royal Navy, the British Government, and the government of Australia.
Covering the ways in which the enemies of the SMS Wolf addressed her activities is by far the most notable feature of this book.
The book, without being apologetic or selfserving, also offers a notably different view of the participants in the First World War showing a kinder and more chivalrous view of the Germans and a definitely less kind view of some of the Allied powers.
As a recounting of the actions of a raider the book is a bit anemic, Quite simply, what happened to the Wolf wasnt that exciting, Unlike many raiders, she successfully avoided contact with enemy military forces thanks in great part to the lies and deceptions of the governments and militaries supposedly tasked with finding and destroying her.
So, the critical activities were the interactions of the crew and the ever increasing number of prisoners kept onboard,
The Wolf is a history, not a tale of exciting naval action, As such, it is not a book to be grabbed and read for fun, Its appeal would seem to be more specific to those interested in the prosecution of naval operations during the First World War or interested in naval commerce raiding.
For those with these interests, this book should be required reading, Story of a lesser known German raider during WWI, This extraordinary voyage from Kiel to New Zealand and back to Kiel took well over a full year, The ship never went into a harbor during this time, coaled at sea from captured ships,
The story of other raiders are better known and celebrated but this one is the real deal, Emden, Seeadler
Horrible living conditions on board, because of the influx of captured crews and passengers made it a challenge to keep discipline.
Diseases amongst captured and captors because of deficiency in Vitamin C, meager food rations made this a hellish trip,
The book is factual narrative of the trip intertwined with stories of interaction between the Germans and captured passengers and officers.
Complicating it all was the presence of several captured women,
It also goes into detail how by trying to keep the actions of the raider a secret and creating fictitious stories of sabotage and spies the Australian and New
Zealand government put other ships at risk and created an environment of hysteria against people of German origin.
Well worth reading,
A very readable non fiction WWnaval adventure, The authors have pieced together a German merchant raiders cruise where they took prizes of enemy freighters, mined enemy waters and kept alive overprisoners.
Recommended for all the sea story affictionados, This is a great seafaring story in the classic tradition yet told with a careful eye for our much greater knowledge of the events portrayed than the people who participated in them possessed.
Authors Richard Guilliatt and Peter Hohnen tell a stirring tale of seamanship and courage without any whitewash, Virtue is acknowledged but so are vices and human frailties, The jingoism and bigotry that was common on both sides during the First World War is portrayed, but so are unexpected friendships and camaraderie that developed between both allies and enemies.
The hardships endured by the men and women aboard SMS Wolf and her prize ships is both staggering and inspiring, This is a detailed account of one "minor" episode in a global war that tells us much more about the world ofthan many survey histories of larger, "more important" events.
Guilliatt and Hohnen bring the period to life in the experiences of a few hundred people crowded together at sea formonths.
I highly recommend this very enjoyable and informative book, The Wolf is a well researched and well written book it is easily read and very interesting, The book brought to light an interesting and not well know chapter in WWI naval history, Very interesting story of a German commerce raider traversing the worlds oceans, taking cargo and prisoners, destroying ships, laying mines along sea lanes and evading often narrowly allied naval patrols.
The book goes into detail about life aboard the ship and its secondary raiders for crew and prisoners, as well as their lives before and after the voyage.
It also does a good job of providing context, detailing political and military realities, and their development throughout the Wolfs voyage, the world over.
It also goes into great detail of the anti ethnic German hysteria that gripped Australia and South Africa throughout the First World War.
I love finding books about events I have never heard of before and this book covers one of them, The Wolf made aday voyage from Germany to South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, the South Seas, Singapore and back to Germany with stopping in any ports.
She refueled and reprovisioned herself by capturing other ships on the high seas, Often she was laying mines and in the process of capturing ships she managed to to take on board more thanof their crew and passengers captives.
A fascinating and well written book, A fascinating book, providing an indepth history of one of the more successful of World War One German Commerce Raiders as well as an explanation of the mechanisms of commerce warfare.
SMS WOLF was a converted merchant ship, outfitted with guns, torpedoes, mines, and an aircraft, and loaded with enough coal and supplies to make an extended voyage.
Her mission was to proceed to Britains faraway trade routes and cause disruption through mining of ports and destruction of ships, She returned to Germany afterdays at sea, having sunk over,tons of shipping mostly through mines laid at unsuspecting ports, Her success and longevity stemmed from a strict policy of taking prisoners vice releasing captured crews and a highlevel game of information warfare.
The first full picture the British authorities had of her presence in the Western Pacific was through a message in a bottle dropped by one of the merchant seaman imprisoned onboard, but only given to the government officials months after she had started her return transit.
The story itself rivals any fictional tale, containing military action, social drama, and plenty of intrigue, The author includes deep analysis of commerce warfare, explaining that the WOLFs secrecy of operations actually limited her success, even though it assured her survival.
Commerce warfare which isnt publicized doesnt prevent sailings or increase insurance rates, negating the secondary effects which are crucial to its success.
My one complaint, the long background stories on individual Prisoners personal dramas, though entertaining, did distract from the focus on the overall story.
Highly recommended for those wanting to better understand WWIs merchant raider methodology and read about a great, and true, nautical tale, Almostyears from the start of WWI and thousands of books written, sitelinkThe Wolf: The German Raider That Terrorized the Southern Seas During World War I in an Epic Voyage of Destruction and Gallantry demonstrates there are still stories of bravery and survival against the odds to be told.
The Wolf chronicles the amazing voyage of a German commerce raider, a warship disguised as a commercial cargo vessel, The Wolf slips out of a northern German port and raids Allied shipping for the next fifteen months, The Wolf sails around the tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean and out to the Pacific around Australia and New Zealand.
She lays minefields off the coasts of South Africa, India, Australia, Malay Peninsula, New Zealand, All the while the Wolf captures and sinks Allied shipping, taking the crews of those ships prisoner, The book also tells the story of how the Allies had no idea what was going on for a very long time.
Who gets blamed for the disappearing ships is a sad chapter as politicians lie and finger point in all directions, The chivalry of the German captain and crew is a last vestige of an earlier time, I really enjoyed this sea story, I hope you do too, Stars.
What a great gem, This is a well documented story, that the authors have made into a readable and human adventure, This is somewhere between a war memoir and naval history book as we follow the launching of the Wolf in Novto its return to Germany in Feb.
It travels the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, sinkingships, The ship is unusual in that it is an armed merchant ship that takes on all prisoners from the ships it sinks.
Almost as riveting as the constant adventures of the ship itself are the interactions of the multinational group on the vessel and the actions of governments ashore that mislead and misinform the public as to what is actually happening.
The book bogs down a little in the middle when the authors delve into Australian politics, but overall this is a fascinating book.
Even if you aren't interested in this era, I would still recommend this book, Solidstars. Pretty amazing non fictionmonths at sea, the German raider avoids all contact, Puts out mines that are activated when glass vials holding sulfuric acid are broken, capture other ships for their coal, munitions, food.
Add to their responsibilities of housing and feeding hundreds of prisoners including women and children, Fascinating tale. I'm pretty well read on WWI and I'd never before heard this story,
Synopsis without actual spoilers, Picture a commerce raider, disguised as a freighter, but armed with,inch main guns and torpedo tubes, plus mines for minelaying, that sneaks out of Germany, captures more than a dozen ships with no timeofcapture casualties other than one Japanese ship that resisted lays all of its mines with many later successes from them and eventually gets back to Germany with a couple hundred prisoners in its hold.
And, those prisoners are British, Japanese, some Swedish, Australian, Chinese, etc,
The book almost lost a star early on, The authors accept Wilson's definition of US neutrality at face value, and then initially appear to accept the "poor Lusitania" story, They mostly but not quite entirely right the ship, so to speak, a few pages later, They note the Lusitania was carrying munitions as well as passengers, though they neglect to note it was armed, They do point out the British blockade by extension and use of food as a blockade tool were as illegal under international law as German submarine war.
.