U-Boat Commander Oskar Kusch

Reviews / Votes

Eric C. Rust's commendable book carries the truth of Doenitz's failures into the world and documents the bravery of this young officer in the German Navy." -Dr. Dieter Hartwig, Fregattenkapitaen a.D. (Commander, German Navy, Ret.), Naval historian, author of Grossadmiral Karl Doenitz, Legende und Wirklichkeit (2010)

"This is an excellent book, and a great read. The story of Oskar Kusch was always out there on the periphery of popular U-boat literature, but until now it was only a troubling footnote, not well known or understood. Eric Rust has shown us what it really was: a human tragedy, impossible to ignore, in which everyone did the wrong thing, or assumed someone else would do the right thing, or both, and a good man died as surely and predictably as if it were scripted." -Jordan Vause, author of U-Boat Ace: The Story of Wolfgang Lueth and Wolf: U-Boat Commanders in World War II

"Eric C. Rust has written a gripping account of the tragic death of a young U-boat captain, Oskar Kusch, who was betrayed by his subordinates and judicially murdered by Nazi fanatics. Thoroughly researched and well written, this book is a page-turner." -Dwight R. Messimer, author of Verschollen: World War I U-boat Losses, The Baltimore Sabotage Cell: German Agents, American Traitors, The U-Boat Deutschland During World War I, and Eleven Months to Freedom: A German POW's Unlikely Escape from Siberia in 1915

"In May 1944 U-boat captain Oskar Kusch was executed for sedition and defeatism; he had stopped believing in total victory. In Rust's words, it was judicial murder by a 'politically corrupt and ideologically obsequious naval justice apparatus.' In a brilliant analysis, the author puts to rest the myth that the U-boat service was a 'band of Nelsonian brothers.' This is a must read for today's managerial elite, be it civilian or military." -Holger H. Herwig, author of "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888-1918; professor emeritus, University of Calgary

"This book, the first scholarly study of the subject in English, is an important contribution to the historiography of the German navy from the end of World War II, and the larger issue of Germany's post-war efforts to confront its past objectively. Dr. Rust offers a well-researched analysis of this complex tragedy, the execution of a U-boat captain, Oskar Kusch, and the motivations of his accusers and his conviction under the Nazi 1938 sedition offence of 'undermining the fighting spirit.' The author's description of the role of Kusch's superiors, especially the key role played by the navy's commander, Karl Donitz, the legendary and revered spirit of the U-boat 'brotherhood,' also reveal insights into the long and difficult path to Kusch's rehabilitation in the late 1990s. This thought-provoking book also provides a new perspective on the degree of the navy's integration into the National Socialist system as well as both the military justice and immediate post-war civil courts." -Keith W. Bird, author of Erich Raeder: Admiral of the Third Reich

"Eric C. Rust has written a masterful account of Oskar Kusch's story. Where, in previous accounts, the protagonists are frequently almost caricatures, Rust presents balanced flesh-and-blood reality that fractures some of the fragile mythology surrounding the U-boat service. Ultimately, this tragedy also perhaps provides a timely reminder of the perils of totalitarianism." -Lawrence Paterson, author of U-boat War Patrol: The Hidden Photographic Diary of U-564