The Journal of Submarine Commander Von Forstner

Description

The Journal of Submarine Commander Von Forstner by George-Gunther Freiherr von Forstner is an invaluable work for readers interested in World War I, especially in submarine warfare. Fostner served as commander on a German U-boat during the war and his journals provide a vivid account of the day-to-day life of the soldiers on the submarine as well as on the torpedo attacks they were involved in.

The book is not only eventful, but also full of well-penned and complex characters. Life on a U-boat was difficult and only the toughest and bravest were selected for submarine crew, so the commander was surrounded by the best soldiers, making Forstner’s account of their life on the boat disciplined and very manly.

The Journal is an exciting read for anyone interested in submarines and underwater battles, but what made Forstner’s name really well-known was his article published in a German newspaper, the Deutschen Algemeine Zeitung in 1933 about his account of witnessing the Loch Ness Monster. The article raised considerable interest as Forstner claimed that he was not the only one who had seen the monster – five other members of the crew saw the gigantic creature as well.

Forstner is also known for his account of having witnessed another underwater creature, a giant sea monster just off the coast of Ireland while he was on a U28 submarine – a sea serpent or sea crocodile that at the time was believed to have been living in those waters since the age of the dinosaurs. Though the sighting of the sea monster took place in 1915, Forstner makes no mention of it in his Journal published in 1917, his reasons for keeping the spectacular event secret for more than 15 years probably being at least partly informed by the political atmosphere that dominated the first decades of the 1900’s.
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