Moj put do Scapa Flowa: sa 8 slika

Memoirs of one of the most famous German submarine aces of World War II. Günther Prien (1908–1941), commander of U-47, in this book personally recounts his life journey – from his boyhood days and naval school, through the difficult years of unemployment in the Weimar Republic, to the beginning of World War II and his greatest wartime success.

The central event of the book is the daring night raid on the British naval port of Scapa Flow on October 14, 1939, where Prien torpedoed the battleship HMS Royal Oak (24,000 tons), killing 833 British sailors. This feat is considered one of the bravest and most spectacular attacks in the history of submarine warfare. For this action, Prien was personally awarded the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves by Adolf Hitler.

The book is written in a dynamic, simple and militarily precise style. Prien describes the everyday life of a submariner, the tension of convoy hunts, the psychology of a commander and the drama of being in a narrow steel tube under the sea. Although the work was written in 1940 under the supervision of Nazi propaganda, it nevertheless provides a valuable insight into the mentality of German submariners and the atmosphere of the beginning of the war.

Croatian editions were popular during the 1940s and 1950s, and were often read as exciting war literature. The work is a classic example of submarine memoir and remains one of the most widely read testimonies from the perspective of the Kriegsmarine. Prien died in March 1941 when his submarine U-47 was sunk west of Ireland.