Killing Shore: The True Story of Hitler’s U-boats Off the New Jersey Coast

Killing Shore: The True Story of Hitler’s U-boats Off the New Jersey Coast
by: K. A. Nelson (Author)
Publisher:Casemate Publishers
Publication Date: 15 Feb. 2024
Language:English
Print Length:395 pages
ISBN-10:1955041296
ISBN-13:9781955041294
Book Description
It is January 1942. Nazi Germany is about to commence an assault along the US East Coast, but this “Atlantic Pearl Harbor” would prove far more devastating than Japan’s attack on Hawaii five weeks earlier. The wolves are closing in, and few Americans realize their beaches and boardwalks will soon witness the worst naval defeat in US history.The United States is already grappling with its unpreparedness for war as the Japanese Empire annihilates US forces in the Far East and the Nazis stand triumphant over vast swaths of Europe. Britain’s survival, meanwhile, depends on cargoes delivered by civilian-manned merchant ships. America’s economic resources and latent military strength represent a light in the darkness―yet Hitler’s favorite admiral also knows this, and he has set in motion a plan of unprecedented boldness.The ensuing fiery months saw German submarines, or “U-boats,” sink hundreds of ships from Maine to Texas. This gambit, which threatened to cripple the Allies, pitted Germans against Americans in a desperate struggle that stained East Coast waters with blood and oil. Plying the seas amid this deadly game of cat-and-mouse was a motley but stalwart contingent of civilian merchant mariners carrying the fuel, food, weapons, and raw materials the Allies needed to crush the Third Reich.Several American states became battlefronts in 1942, but the events that transpired off the Jersey Shore illustrate the savagery and scope of a campaign waged across the Western Hemisphere. Even in the 21st century, shipwrecks still attest to the countless ways to die which friend and foe faced only miles from the Garden State’s most popular summer destinations. These seafarers’ lives were forfeit, but the battle they fought would decide the fate of millions.
About the Author
Review “An amazing and keenly accurate saga of the horrific loss of men, merchant ships, and naval vessels off the Jersey Shore during World War II.” –Capt. Hugh Stephens, retired US Merchant Marine officer and WWII naval combat veteran”An extraordinary investigation… a compelling and thoroughly researched account of a little-known chapter of global history. Undoubtedly of interest to both serious military historians and casual readers.” –Senator Kenneth Pugh Olavarría (Chile), retired admiral and nephew of Toltén second mate”These words are real literature, not only war history… Your research and story gave me a new perspective on my father and enabled me to learn things about him I had never known.” –Dr. Wolf Hänert, son of U-550 commander About the Author K. A. Nelson is a Penn State graduate and avid wreck diver who served six years as a US Marine Corps officer. Killing Shore is his first book. He resides near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.