The Wolf: How One German Raider Terrorized the Allies in the Most Epic Voyage of WWI

Richard Guilliatt · Peter Hohnen

Apr 2010 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Michael Page

About this audiobook

In 1916, a nondescript freighter left Germany carrying 465 submarine mines, 16 torpedoes, 8 cannons, 1,400 shells, a seaplane, and 346 men who believed they were embarking on a suicide mission. That ship became known to Allied forces as the Wolf, and by the time it returned to Germany more than a year later it was home to more than 800 men, women, and children from twenty-five different nations, including its own crew. Led by Captain Karl August Nerger, an honorable man who sank more than thirty Allied ships but spared the crews and passengers on board by taking them prisoner, the Wolf traveled 64,000 miles and remained at sea for fifteen months without pulling into port. Capturing 400 prisoners, the Wolf became home to an extraordinary collection of humanity, from the secret lover of W. Somerset Maugham to a six-year-old American girl who was adopted as a mascot by the German crew. Forced to survive on plundered food, facing death from scurvy, and hunted by the combined navies of five Allied nations, the Germans and their prisoners came to share a close bond. The Wolf is a gripping war narrative, painting a rich, detailed picture of a world profoundly shaped by global conflict.

About the author

Richard Guilliatt has been a journalist for thirty years and is the author of the book Talk of the Devil? Repressed Memory and the Ritual Abuse Witch-Hunt.

Peter Hohnen was a commander in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve for two decades, has been an independent legal consultant to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, and has made several contributions to the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Michael Page has been recording audiobooks since the mid-1980s and now has nearly 500 titles to his credit. He has won two Audie Awards and several AudioFile Earphones Awards. A PhD and a professional actor, Michael is also a retired professor of theater.