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Another Place, Another Time

A U-boat Officer's Wartime Album

Werner Hirschmann

with Donald E. Graves

As a boy growing up in Germany, Werner Hirschmann was fascinated with stories of naval heroes, built ship models, and dreamed of going to sea. In 1940, he was accepted as an officer cadet in the Kriegsmarine, the German navy, and after years of rigorous training, became an engineer officer in the elite U-Boot-Waffe or submarine service.

Using his wartime diaries and his remarkable photograph albums, as well as historical documents, Werner Hirschmann recounts the many interesting episodes in his naval career, including serving on a destroyer that escorted the Bismarck on her last operation, U-boat operations in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, being besieged by the Americans at the U-boat base at Lorient in France, and his last patrol to North America in 1945, during which his submarine, U-190, sank HMCS Esquimalt, the last Canadian warship to be lost during the war.

In Another Place, Another Time, Werner Hirschmann provides a unique view of the day-to-day life of a U-boat officer who, like young men on both sides, did his best to enjoy life while trying to do his duty. An epilogue describes his postwar life as a prisoner-of-war in Canada and Britain and his subsequent postwar move to Canada, where he pursued a successful career and eventually became an honorary member of the veterans' association of HMCS Esquimalt.

A key feature for the many readers interested in Second World War submarines is the technical section that provides a detailed pictorial tour of the Type IX/C40 U-boat, including many previously unpublished photographs discovered in Canadian archives.U-190 was a sister ship to the famous U-505, captured by the US Navy and displayed today at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

Introduced with a foreword by Timothy P. Mulligan, author of the bestselling Neither Sharks nor Wolves: The Men of Nazi Germany's U-Boat Arm, 1939-1945, this book offers a unique view of the life of a German submarine officer.

Jacket front: Submarine U-190 on its way to Bay Bulls, Newfoundland, after surrendering to the Canadian navy (NAC). Inset: The author in Norwegian waters in 1944 (WH col.).

Werner Hirschmann
Born in Düsseldorf in 1923, Werner Hirschmann grew up in Germany and served in the Second World War as an engineer officer on U-boats. After his submarine surrendered to the Canadian navy in 1945, he spent a period in Canada and Britain as a prisoner-of-war before being repatriated to Germany. In the 1950s he emigrated to Canada and pursued a career in the computer business. He lives in Toronto, where he is a keen sailor, a member of the Royal Canadian Military Institute and Naval Officers' Association of Canada, and an honorary member of the veterans' association of HMCS Esquimalt, the warship his U-boat sank.

Donald E. Graves
Donald E. Graves, one of Canada's leading military historians, has written extensively about the Second World War as well as the War of 1812. Among his recent books is
In Peril on the Sea: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle of the Atlantic, in which he describes the RCN's role in fighting the U-boats that came close to bringing Britain to her knees. His Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler's Farm, 1813 was described by one reviewer as "history at its best: exciting, entertaining, and readable," and his South Albertas: A Canadian Regiment at War was praised as "one of the finest unit histories ever published." He lives near Ottawa with his author wife, Dianne.

Click here to go to a complete list of books by Donald E. Graves.

For more information on Donald E. Graves and his writing, see "Sword and Pen," the author's website at <http://www.ensigngroup. ca>.

The details 

  • 256 pages, 8 x 8 inches, on matte-coated paper
  • Hardcover with jacket
  • About 160 photographs and maps
  • Appendices, bibliography, index
  • Publication: August 2004 in Canada, Fall in U.S.A.

ISBN 1-896941-38-9 (in Canada)

In Canada: $44.95

Published in the U.S.A by Naval Institute Press

Published in the U.K. by Chatham Publishing

   
   

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