Smoke and Mirrors: Q-Ships against the U-Boats in the First World War

✍ Scribed by Lake, Deborah

• Book ID: 109112528
• Publisher: The History Press
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 10 MB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9780750979078

✦ Synopsis

The Q-ship, an ordinary merchant vessel with concealed guns, came into its own during World War I, when used by�the Royal Navy to trap and destroy German U-boats. The Q-ship operations�are�covered here in detail, by following the careers of the eight men who won the Victoria Cross on Special Service Operations; and by accounts of German U-boat crews being on the receiving end. No book on Q-ships can avoid the Baralong incident in which a Q-ship's crew allegedly executed the survivors of the German submarine U-27, on August 19,�1915. In a subsequent encounter with U-41, more British atrocities were alleged by the only two German survivors. Revealing extracts from the diary of a Royal Marine who served on board the Baralong are reproduced�here,�together with other first-hand accounts. With charge and counter-charge, this incident provides a fascinating story.