Niestlé, Axel Albrecht Brandi. Der verkannte Brillantenträger der U-Bootwaffe

After an introductory excursus on the practice of awarding the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its further award levels in the submarine force, this work is the first to deal in detail with all of Albrecht Brandi's enemy voyages as commander of the submarines U 617, U 380 and U 967. The author has succeeded in completely reconstructing and documenting all encounters with Allied air and naval forces on the basis of the surviving operational files.

This includes the identification of all merchant and warship targets attacked by Brandi. In addition, Albrecht Brandi's military curriculum vitae for the years 1935-1945, which is reproduced in the appendix, documents his service in the submarine force in full for the first time on the basis of previously unanalysed files. 10 colour route maps, numerous, mostly previously unpublished photos and an extensive appendix, including the officer appointments of the boats he commanded and facsimile prints of all torpedo shot reports for his attacks, round off the 260-page book. The work closes a long-standing gap in the history of German submarine warfare. The author has endeavoured to portray the naval officer and submarine commander Albrecht Brandi in a fair light, without relinquishing justified criticism or lapsing into inappropriate hero worship. Brandi himself always appeared modest during the war and in the years that followed, emphasising that "a submarine commander always receives his award in the name of and for his entire crew". He also did not believe in a special role for decorated soldiers within a military community. Ultimately, it is up to the reader to form their own impression of the achievements of U-boat commander Albrecht Brandi in the Second World War by studying the military facts.