Like all warships, the organic component making up each individual u-boat was critical to its success. The close working relationships aboard these boats form a large part of the 'mystique' that intrigues so many of us. Timothy Mulligan shows why U-505 personified Karl Döntz's famous statement that a U-boat crew was a "community bound by fate." In a chapter of the same name, and in his customarily meticulous but easy style, Mulligan covers in depth the men who made up U-505's crew, their positions, and their changing makeup due to crew turnover during the boat's career. He cuts through the numbers and details to paint a clear picture of what was really going on in U-505 and the larger U-bootwaffe at different times as fortunes waxed and waned.

For readers who enjoyed Mulligan's masterful examination of the men of the U-bootwaffe in his book Neither Sharks Nor Wolves, this is a welcome repeat demonstration of his talent for seeing through numbers, names and dates and finding an underlying trend, a human side to the procession of more than 100 different men who served aboard U-505. Where Mulligan's book turns a scholar's eye to the whole community of submariners, this chapter focuses on the story of a single boat. As he concludes, the background and character of the men who crewed U-boats are not easily defined, and thus defy stereotyping.

Mulligan offers relevant insights into the background and personal stories of many who served on U-505. One hundred and fifteen officers and men were assigned to U-505. Unfortunately, there was not room to give them all mention, but the examples we see are representative in their variety. This section is a pivotal element to the book, for the events that follow are indeed those of a shared community, who like any other combat unit, had its fair share of ordinary men, enigmatic men, men who rose to the occasion, men who did their best, and some men who failed when put to the test. Mulligan also disproves the notion that U-505 was an unlucky boat, for most of the men who served on U-505 survived the war. For a service that suffered losses like no other before or since, that alone is a noteworthy observation.

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