World War One was the last war which was fought with any "civility." The story of the Christmas Eve Truce in 1914 comes to mind. That was when the soldiers in the trenches began singing Christmas Carols and slowly emerged to share with one another, food, wine and photographs of loved ones. Several hours later they went back to killing.
But of all the stories from the Great War, the one that has always fascinated me the most was the story of the German Raider "Wolf." This was an ordinary freighter disguised as a neutral ship. She would plow the seas, making a 64,000 mile journey in search of ships to seize. The ships were emptied of anything that the Germans could use, the passengers and crew were taken aboard Wolf and the other vessel sunk.
The German Navy, after her stunning victory at Jutland in 1916, would be largely absent from the remainder of the war. The new submarines, or U-boats as they came to be known, were doing all the "heavy lifting" while the fleet remained in and around German waters. This was an extreme frustration to German Naval Officers, who finally hatched a plan.
This plan was mainly the idea of Captain Karl Nerger. He oversaw the upfit of the "Wolf", including large tanks for storing fuel. It was his intention to never touch land until his return to Germany. His voyage would last 444 days and take his ship to all corners of the world. She sailed, and prevailed, in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, seizing coal and provisions from all she encountered. By the end of the voyage she was carrying 400 prisoners. Some of these were men, women and children taken off the merchant vessels.
Being so long at sea there was some interaction betwen crew and prisoners. There were even some romances. There was also a "split" system for holding prisoners. After the first vessel is seized and sunk off San Francisco, the Captain of the stricken vessel along with his wife and daughter, are given a private cabin that had been the home of 2 Officers. But as the ship becomes increasingly crowded, things change. Captured ships crews are held below decks in deplorable conditions, while above deck the Officers and wives of the Merchant ships are treated well.
Laying mines and running British blockades are two more of the many perils which give this book the suspense and edge that keep you reading. Just one more page....
When the ship runs aground off of neutral Norway enroute home, things become chaotic. The neutral countries refuse to help her off the sandbar. They also refuse to help her with anything that might violate their own neutrality. This sparks an international political crisis. The passengers/prisoners are finally released and the ship eventually does make it back to Kiel. The followups on the various principals in this story are very intersting as well. Written in an easy and engaging style, this book will give you quite a ride into the past.
While the nature of war never changes, the nature of the people who fight them does. That is the sad lesson I have taken from this book.
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