The book has dense submarine material but presents a strongly one-sided account. Its strength is the detailed movement of boats, flotillas and German operations, illustrated here by transfers during the invasion of Western Europe. Its limitation is that the Allied response and the interaction between attackers and defenders remain largely outside the frame. It works best as one half of a paired operational history, because anti-submarine forces and U-boats developed in response to one another.
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A rich U-boat history that needs its counterpart
Lawrence Paterson's First U-Boat Flotilla earns a recommendation for its depth, while prompting a call for an equally strong account of the opposing side.