THE KILLING TIME: THE U-BOAT WAR 1914-18. de Gray, Edwyn A - 1972

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972. 241 pp, 8vo (8 1/2" H). B&w plates. "The explosion which followed Kapitanleutnant Schweiger's curt order to fire on the afternoon of 7 May 1915 far exceeded even his most fervid imaginings. For the torpedo which streaked away from U 20 in response to his command sent to the bottom of the sea the liner Lusitania and with her 1,195 innocent men, women and children, many of them citizens of neutral America and the howl of indignation which followed this cold-blooded atrocity resounded throughout the world. (The author) looks at the German side of the picture and in the process raises some very topical moral issues. When two countries are at war is it to be total or limited war and, if the latter, who is to define the limits? The problem was to bedevil the German Submarine Service throughout the First World War as the Kaiser and his Admirals weighed and reweighed the effects of the British blockade against the value of American neutrality and no incident, except perhaps the invasion of Belgium, more clearly defined the problem than the sinking of the Lusitania. Edwyn Gray tells the exciting story of those extraordinarily brave submariners, some like Schweiger, utterly ruthless, others the very paragon of chivalry. Given the facts the reader is left to make his own judgement as to the ethics of their behaviour." Light wrinkling at top/bottom of spine. Dust jacket has been price-clipped, has large light water stain at bottom of rear flap-fold/rear panel, light wear at top/bottom of spine and flap-fold has been colored in with black dye or ink.. Book Club Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good+.