U-BOAT FAR FROM HOME
The Epic Voyage of U862 to Australia and New Zealand
by David Stevens

In late 1944, with its U-boats defeated in the Atlantic, the German navy sought new areas in which to deploy - distant waters where defences might be weaker and successes easier to achieve. Australia was one such location. U-Boat Far From Home reveals for the first time the full extent of the German plan for an underwater offensive against the southern continent. In an account that is both entertaining and enlightening, David Stevens describes the operation's strategic rationale, its practical implementation and how the Australians and their allies responded. Of all the U-boats allocated to the mission, U 862 was the only one that managed to survive.

But this story is more than pure operational history. U-Boat Far From Home takes the reader into the confined and dangerous world of a submarine at war. David Stevens examines the stresses and motivations of a young crew who for months at a time maintained a twilight existence, and whose fate ultimately depended on the ability of just one man, their captain, Heinrich Timm.

Painstakingly researched in archives around the world and illuminated with many personal accounts form both sides, U-Boat Far From Home is perhaps the most comprehensive account of a U-boat's life ever published in English.

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This page first produced 3 December 2015

This page last updated 23 January 2020