Sharks and Little Fishes

By Ott, Wolfgang
1976, Ballantine Books
ISBN 0345303903
The book is a fiction

Descripton: This highly acclaimed novel realistically describes the life of a German U-boat officer in WWII. The first 300 pages focus on minesweepers, at which point the main character transfers to U-boats. His commander is hard and bitingly sarcastic, feared by the crew, but has already racked up 100,000 tons of shipping sunk and bears a grudge against the British because he once observed through his periscope a British surface ship machine gunning survivors of a sinking U-boat. The remainder of the book is a succession of hellish experiences - North Atlantic storm, Caribbean heat, on shore a gruesome revenge attack by the Maquis, torpedo tubes used as not-so-cold storage for the bodies of fallen crewmen, and various mutilations suffered by the crew in the line of duty. A movie based on the book was released in 1957.

- This book has been translated from another language.