SOURCE:http://tradreviews2.blogspot.com/2007/08/captain-georg-von-trapp.html

Captain Georg von Trapp
Title: To the Last Salute; Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander
Author: Georg von Trapp, Translated by Elizabeth M. Campbell
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2007
RadTrad Review Rating: SECY non-religious, secular book, worth a read
Why: This neglected masterpiece not only draws the reader into an ignored chapter from a forgotten war, but also illuminates a true Catholic gentleman, who was tragically reduced to a bombastic caricature in the movie, "The Sound of Music." Originally published in 1935, it has at last been translated into English by the author's Grand Daughter, who has also produced a forward describing his subsequent life and personality.
Summary in a Sentence: Describing his life as a Naval officer in the Adriatic during World War I, a self effacing hero reveals how, in spite of primitive death traps and bureaucratic bungling, a handful of submariners from feuding nationalities were molded into a crew which defied the might of the Allies, and transformed their commander into a legend.

Reviewed by Kingstown Galloway


When the First World War began in 1914, the submarine was considered something of an embarassment by the Navies of the world. They were considered a dishonorable and unchivalrous weapon, suitable to be commissioned for appearances only. All that, however, was about to change.


In the waters surrounding the British Isles, the U-Boats of the German Imperial Navy would wreak havoc on Allied shipping, and nearly starve England to the point of surrender. However, far from the headlines and many casualties produced by the battle of the Atlantic, another struggle was being waged.


Along the Adriatic coast of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a Navy mocked and jeered at by the rest of the world battled the Allies with every obsolete rust bucket they could muster. Held in even deeper contempt than the surface fleet were the men of the Submarine Service, which one of Captain von Trapp's colleagues referred to as "the neglected step-children" of the Navy.


This was no exagerration. The U-Boats commissioned by Austria-Hungary were a far cry from the sleek marvels produced in Germany. They were stinking gasoline burners whose vile fumes reduced large numbers of crewmen to a coma during every dive. Unable to travel far from the shore and bereft of even the most basic equipment, Austrian U-Boatmen were reduced to scanning the horizon with binoculars, desperately searching for enemy shipping. When Lieutenant Otto Hersing, the German Kaiser's most prolific U-Boat Ace, was shown the inside of an Austrian sub, he snapped, "I would refuse to travel in this crate."


This was the world into which Captain Georg von Trapp entered in 1915 when he was transferred from a command in the surface fleet. He would find himself in command of S.M.S. ("His Majesty's Ship") U-5, a primitive death trap crewed by a feuding cross section of the Empire's many nationalities. An Austrian officer and gentleman of the old school, Captain von Trapp would command his vessel with paternal charisma, while bluntly forcing his men to get along with each other.


Determined to close off the flood of Allied munitions being shipped into hostile Montenegro, Captain von Trapp and his fellow officers found themselves confronting an enemy who refused to fight by the rules. While the Allies openly smuggled war materiel into Montenegro through neutral shipping companies, the politicians in Vienna refused to permit an attack against any vessel flying neutral colors.


Nevertheless, the wily Captain of the S.M.S. U-5 vowed to carry the war to the enemy. Soon, his tally of sunken vessels began to make the Adriatic Sea to run red. As word of his triumphs spread, the name of Georg von Trapp became such an institution that he once told his wife that he would need to adopt the manners of Royalty if he continued to be followed by swarms of admirers.


However, the Catholic Monarchy which the Captain loved so very deeply had already been marked for the historical dustbin by the politicians of London, Paris, and Washington, D.C. Carefully preparing to replace the ancient Monarchies of Europe with American-style Republics, they were certain that they could build a kinder, gentler world upon their ashes. Ironically, the resulting chaos would set the stage for Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and the Godless, Atheistic Liberalism of today.


The day would come when the Baroness Agathe von Trapp would need to remind their children to be very kind to their father, a broken man who had lost both the Navy and the War. Ever more devastating griefs were to come before the day when a young convent girl arrived at the doors of his palace near Salzburg. For well may it be said of Captain Georg von Trapp, "Once upon a time there was a man who lost his King. Then he lost his country, and then he lost everything..."

Editor's note: Even his good name thanks to Rogers and Hammerstein