Book Review: To the Last Salute: Memoirs of an Austrian U-Boat Commander

Archives

by Georg von Trapp, translated & with an introduction by Elisabeth M. Campbell

Lincoln, Nb.: Bison/University of Nebraska Press, 2007. Pp. xvii, 192. Illus., notes. . $14.95 paper. ISBN:0803246676

Georg von Trapp was an ace Austro-Hungarian submarine commander during World War I, and the pater familias of the "Trapp Family Singers" memorialized in the film The Sound of Music.

To the Last Salute, written in 1935, is von Trapp's memoir of the war, and is a very readable, but professional account of naval operations in the Adriatic. Although focused on life and service in the amazingly primitive u-boats of the age, the book puts this within the framework of the overall naval war between Austria-Hungary, with slight aid from Germany, and the combined resources of Italy, France, and Britain. 

With several gripping accounts of a number of now long forgotten but often interesting naval actions, surface as well as undersea, this is a good read for anyone interested in the naval side of the Great War, naval tactics, and naval operations in general.

Reviewer:    


Buy it at Amazon.com




X

ad
0
20

Help Keep Us Soaring

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling. We need your help in reversing that trend. We would like to add 20 new subscribers this month.

Each month we count on your subscriptions or contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage. A contribution is not a donation that you can deduct at tax time, but a form of crowdfunding. We store none of your information when you contribute..
Subscribe   Contribute   Close