Not a few military historians have suggested that Adolf Hitler's strategic military planning in 1944 and 1945 had simply wandered over into the realm of the irrational, stubborn, and vindictive. However, by examining the interrelationships between German land and naval strategy, Grier (history, Erskine College) has come up with an alternative explanation. He argues that Hitler planned to use new, technologically advanced Type XXI submarines under the command of Admiral Karl Dönitz to blockade Britain and halt the shipment of American supplies and troops to Europe. This plan required that Germany control the Baltic Sea and maintain possession of its ports in order to test the new subs and train their crews and, according to Grier, it was this consideration that drove much of German land warfare planning in the Baltic region and German war diplomacy with Finland and Sweden. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)