About this item
On June 15, 1942, as thousands of vacationers lounged in the sun at Virginia Beach, two massive fireballs erupted just offshore from a convoy of oil tankers steaming into Chesapeake Bay. While men, women, and children gaped from the shore, two damaged oil tankers fell out of line and began to sink. Then a small escort warship blew apart in a violent explosion. Navy warships and aircraft peppered the water with depth charges, but to no avail. Within the next twenty-four hours, a fourth ship lay at the bottom of the channel - all victims of twenty-nine-year-old Kapitnleutnant Horst Degen and his crew aboard the German U-boat U-701.In The Burning Shore, acclaimed military reporter Ed Offley presents a thrilling account of the bloody U-boat offensive along America's east coast during the first half of 1942, using the story of Degen's three war patrols as a lens through which to view this forgotten chapter of World War II.
About the Author
Ed Offley is the author of of Turning the Tide: How a Small Band of Allied Sailors Defeated the U-boats and Won the Battle of the Atlantic (Basic Books, New York, April 26, 2011, www.turningthetidebook.com). He previously wrote Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon - the Untold Story of the USS Scorpion (Basic Books, New York, 2007).He has been a military reporter and defense specialist for thirty years in a wide variety of journalism assignments throughout the United States, including reporting, editorial writing and commentary. He has been a frequent guest commentator and numerous national television and radio shows to discuss military and defense issues, including Fox News, ABC, C-SPAN, CNN, National Public Radio, National Geographic Television and the Veterans Radio Network.A 1969 graduate of the University of Virginia, Offley served in the U.S. Navy during 1969-71 including a deployment to Vietnam on the aircraft carrier USS Midway.Offley, 63, lives in Panama City Beach, Fla., with his wife, Karen. They have two adult daughters, Elaine and Andrea.
