Few commanders symbolize the evolution of the German U-boat arm during the Second World War as does Adalbert "Adi" Schnee. In 1940, Schnee successively commanded three Type II U-boats--U-6, U-60 and U-121-- in which he registered his first successes in the Atlantic. From the beginning of 1941, he was appointed commander of U-201, the first Type VIIC U-boat allotted to I Flotilla. During seven patrols with this U-Boot, which would take him to the coasts of America and Africa, he would receive the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. With 15 ships sunk in convoys in the mid-Atlantic, he became the specialist in this form of attack. Commanding U-2511 in May 1945, he alone carried out an actual combat mission in the Type XXI U-boat. With the aid of logbooks and the recent discovery of a considerable collection of images from a war correspondent on one of U-201's missions, this book examines Schnee's incredible combat career.

Luc Braeuer, born in Paris in 1970, is a computer engineer and officer in the reserve. Specializing in German submarines in France, he is the French correspondent for the U-Boat Archive, Cuxhaven. With his brother, he created three WWII museums in France.