Shadow Divers How Two Men Discovered Hitler's Lost Sub and Solved One of the Last Mysteries of World War II Anz Only

Description

February 1945 - The war is almost over and Britain and America rule the waves. To enlist for a German U-boat is suicidal. But sixty young Nazi soldiers choose to enter the cramped underwater conditions of the U-869 for the most difficult mission of all - to reach and then bomb the coast of America. Several weeks later the boat barely has enough fuel to make it home and radio links with Germany are broken. The commander, Neuerberg, must make a tough decision: to carry on to America and risk death in the pursuit of glory, or to admit defeat and return home. Driven by pride, patriotism and determination, he decides to risk it. June 1991 - A group of deep-sea divers hear about the wreck of a U-boat 260 feet beneath the sea. There are virtually no records of the Nazi submarine, and an on-location investigation is extremely dangerous. The recommended limit for diving is 130 feet: if a diver succeeds in getting that far down they are likely to be trapped inside the wreck or to die from compression on the way up. But twelve divers decide to take the risk. Over the next six years, a team led by John Chatterton and Richie Kohler embark on a series of dives (on which they discover a mass grave in a front compartment), complex historical research and false leads, from which they eventually piece together an incredible story. In the process three of the divers die, marriages collapse, and history is made. Deep water wreck diving is the world s deadliest sport, and John Chatterton and Richie Kohler pushed its limits. This is a beautifully written, dramatic book about one of the greatest of human traits the resolve people find in moments of deepest peril.

Robert Kurson is a freelance journalist who writes for Esquire. He is writing this book with cooperation from Chatterton and Kohler, and from the sole survivor of the U-boat.

Superlative .... If the publishers are dreaming of another Perfect Storm, they may get their wish. - Publishers Weekly A tremendously suspenseful story of discovery that comes as close as any book could to providing the reader with approximate sensations of deep sea diving and of life on a submarine at war, and that leaves us with a hell of an impression of the grit, guts, and compassion of a U-boat crew and the two American divers who risked everything to solve the mystery of their last mission. - John McCain, author of FAITH OF MY FATHERS Robert Kurson's SHADOW DIVERS is a gripping account of real-life adventurers and a real-life mystery. In addition to being compellingly readable on every page, the book offers a unique window on the deep, almost reckless nature of the human quest to know. - Scott Turow, author of PRESUMED INNOCENT Robert Kurson's status as an undiscovered pleasure among Chicago readers is about to change, I suspect, in a hurry. SHADOW DIVERS is so culturally astute and terrifyingly suspenseful that it should reach the sort of audience John Berendt, Susan Orlean, Jon Krakauer and Laura Hillenbrand have recently earned. Kurson's new focus is the larger historical world a world of U-Boats, forensics and lung-crushing pressure and his prose is, as always, plain gorgeous. - James McManus, author of POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET An engrossing saga of t