Red Star Under the Baltic

- Soviet version of the classic German U-boat story Das Boot - Graphic and humane record of service on a submarine
Submarines were uninviting enough, with dank, claustrophobic conditions and little hope of escape if disaster struck, and the relatively shallow waters of the Baltic only compounded the dangers. That's where Soviet submariner Viktor Korzh served, hunting and sinking German shipping. His memoir unfolds as a heart-pounding series of nonstop action, sonar pings, depth-charge concussions, and constant underwater peril. Somehow Korzh and his comrades survived their frightful ordeal and witnessed the victory over the Germans.

Viktor Korzh graduated from the Soviet Naval Training College in 1938, served throughout the war, and remained involved with submarines as a researcher and instructor, retiring as a captain first rank in 1960. He died in 1993.