Georg Gerth saw pre-war naval service off West Africa at the time of the brutal suppression of the Herero and Nama peoples. Bored by his initial time in the Baltic, he volunteered for excitement and a u-boat command to counter England's attempt to blockade and starve Germany into submission.
His patrols in 1917 took him from his base in Flanders into the North Sea, the English Channel and the French Atlantic coast. His faulty equipment led to some terrifying experiences. He engaged his enemy with torpedoes, canon, machine guns, bombs and even stopped a coalcarrying sailing ship with a revolver fired from his conning tower.
Gerth became infamous when his u-boat stranded south of Calais. It was falsely claimed it had been captured by the Belgian cavalry. The intelligence gain from the wreck and crew was described officially as minimal, particularly as Gerth blew up and set fire to his boat. This claim was subterfuge; the intelligence gained was substantial and, to this day, kept very quiet.
Confined on a French Atlantic island, Gerth attempted a daring escape by u-boat arranged through secret ink letters to his fleet commander. He was kept in prison till long after the war ended as part of the bargaining around reparations and the Versailles Treaty.
Gerth used his time behind bars to study philosophy. He later sought to become a recluse, content with his books and a glass of red wine. However, his past and WW2 caught up with him and would not let go.
The War of The Raven is the true story of Georg Gerth's career, backed by extensive research across European archives and supported by private interviews with his descendants, finally rediscovered in Bavaria.
This book is a companion volume to the career of Erich Gerth, Georg's older brother, also a u-boat captain, titled Saints & Sinners.
