The German Pirate; His Methods And Record

The conflict at sea during the First World War was as tense and gripping as the battles on land; as the Allies fought the German Armies in France, the Royal Navy sought out the German Kriegsmarine on the High Seas for a decisive engagement. The German Navy was outnumbered and outgunned, and so sought to avoid fleet actions and concentrate on commerce raiding across the globe. If they could sink the lighter armed oilers, troop ships, and merchant vessels, they could force the British to the sue for peace as their sea-borne commerce dried up. However, the ships and submarines could not always distinguish between British targets and those of neutrals; the German Navy gained a reputation for ruthlessness in interpreting the rules of war. There was much indignation from the British for acts of Teutonic ‘Beastliness’ on the waves and hence this book detailing the cases of German misconduct and brutality. The Author, although he wrote under a pseudonym, was clearly a man of much naval experience and describes the engagements with great detail and passion.