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00:00♪♪♪
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00:50♪♪♪
00:55And now, design for war.
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01:10♪♪♪
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02:06War has begun.
02:08Ships are sinking.
02:10Men are dying.
02:12It is September 1939.
02:18While German Panzer Divisions race toward Warsaw,
02:21the German Navy, powerful, efficient,
02:24its morale high, prepares for a greater, more decisive struggle.
02:28The Battle of the Atlantic.
02:30Hitler's admirals know that command of the sea
02:32means the death of Great Britain and victory in Europe.
02:36They also know if the stronger Royal Navy
02:39bars the way on the surface,
02:41victory may be won in the depths.
02:44At the outbreak of war,
02:46they begin expanding their U-boat fleet
02:48by as much as 1,000 percent a month.
02:50Germany's ablest scientists and technicians
02:52concentrate on perfecting the submarine,
02:54multiplying its range and deadliness.
02:57For fascism to survive, it must kill.
03:04The time has come,
03:06and Hitler hurls his U-boats into the Atlantic
03:08to ravage and destroy.
03:10The elite of the Nazi Navy, its best commanders,
03:13its most highly trained crews, man the submarines.
03:16To them falls the crucial mission of isolating Great Britain,
03:20of severing the arteries that feed her.
03:23If enough of England's ships are sunk,
03:26the issue will not be in doubt.
03:29England starves.
03:31Europe dies.
03:33As war begins, England expands her now
03:36hopelessly inadequate merchant marine.
03:38In addition, hundreds of escort vessels
03:41are desperately needed to protect the cargo ships.
03:44For months to come, they will be pitifully few.
03:57Patiently, doggedly, Englishmen build the ships
04:03which make so little showing in the statistics of naval strength.
04:07The ships without which England cannot live.
04:12Canada's men and material enlist in the cause
04:14of decency and survival.
04:16Canada is quick to act with all her means.
04:19Precious goods from her farms and arsenals
04:21are loaded aboard ancient, poorly armed merchant ships.
04:28The ships of the British Navy
04:30and the French Navy
04:32and the British Navy
04:34and the French Navy
04:36and the French Navy
04:38are the ships.
05:03The early makeshift convoy set out for the perilous crossing
05:06under the patchwork protection of converted yachts,
05:09the fishing fleet, and, if they are lucky,
05:13a ship or two of the hard-pressed Royal Canadian Navy.
05:17The sailors are sustained chiefly
05:19by the knowledge that the sea is wide
05:22and the U-boats cannot cover every mile of every route.
05:27It's a pitiful, feeble way of making war,
05:32hoping and praying to dodge the enemy.
06:02♪♪
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06:12♪♪
06:17♪♪
06:22♪♪
06:27War can be tedious,
06:30but it can be boring.
06:32Weeks of monotonous routine
06:34become almost unbearable for sailors
06:36who live under the constant threat of an enemy attack.
06:40Theirs is a cruel death,
06:42should they be torpedoed.
06:45The convoy cannot stop.
06:47It must go on until,
06:49until it reaches England
06:51or until it's spotted by the Germans,
06:54whose submarines are prowling, shadowing,
06:57waiting to move in for the slaughter.
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07:15♪♪
07:20♪♪
07:25♪♪
07:30♪♪
07:35♪♪
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07:45♪♪
07:49People escorts fight back,
07:51but it's seldom effective.
07:53How can World War I equipment cope
07:55with World War II submarines?
07:58But the sub must be fought.
08:03♪♪
08:07♪♪
08:12♪♪
08:17♪♪
08:20If the war at sea is deadly,
08:22the war on land seems phony.
08:24The Sitzkrieg is on,
08:26fought with propaganda balloons and leaflets,
08:29slogans and serenades.
08:31♪♪
08:36♪♪
08:41The Maginot Line seems impregnable
08:43and the French soldiers relax.
08:46But the Germans are not dancing.
08:48Their strength is building.
08:50Their plans are laid.
08:52Hitler's finger is on the trigger.
08:54♪♪
09:03♪♪
09:10Holland is crushed.
09:12♪♪
09:25Belgium is smashed.
09:27♪♪
09:41France is broken.
09:43♪♪
09:47♪♪
09:59Dunkirk.
10:01What man can know that this is the prelude
10:04to England's finest hour?
10:07Britain's sea power rescues Britain's army,
10:09but at a cost of abandoning all its equipment
10:11and all its stores.
10:13The British stand stripped of their armor,
10:16their weapons struck from their hands.
10:19♪♪
10:28It is the hour of catastrophe.
10:30♪♪
10:33It is the hour of the brown triumph.
10:35♪♪
11:04The path of glory leads to the forest of Compiègne.
11:07♪♪
11:12With vulgar histrionics,
11:14the Nazis stage France's humiliation
11:16in the same railway car
11:18where the Germans capitulated 22 years earlier.
11:21♪♪
11:24The French surrender,
11:26and it is Hitler's turn to dance.
11:28♪♪
11:37♪♪
11:42But conquest ends at the English Channel
11:44where sea power blocks the way.
11:46Yet with the French ports in German hands,
11:49the striking power of the Nazis grows enormously.
11:52The enemy moves into powerful new positions
11:54that menace England's very shores.
11:57Now the submarine bases are a mere night's run
11:59from the ship lanes that sustain England's life.
12:02Now the U-boats are at England's throat.
12:06Six weeks of blitzkrieg has made them
12:08ten times as dangerous as before,
12:11twenty times as potent.
12:14♪♪
12:23And from newly acquired air bases on England's threshold
12:26comes something new to warfare,
12:28new to history.
12:31An attempt to pound the world power into submission
12:34by bombardment from the sky.
12:37Coolly and brilliantly,
12:39the English organize their defenses,
12:41meeting the new menace with new methods.
12:44But the Nazi squadrons come over around the clock.
12:48♪♪
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13:47By caring not how she expends her blood, sweat, and tears,
13:52England stands firm.
13:54Hitler does not force her to her knees.
13:57A democratic people wins the Battle of Britain.
14:00But for Britain's leaders, the situation remains desperate.
14:04If freedom is to survive in the old world,
14:06the new world will have to act.
14:09♪♪
14:13In America, public opinion is slowly, surely forming.
14:18The issues are becoming clear.
14:21♪♪
14:23Congress moves boldly to safeguard American security
14:26by forthright aid to Great Britain.
14:29♪♪
14:42The British Navy needs destroyers.
14:44Needs them badly.
14:46America has many left over from World War I.
14:49Stopgap strategy in the Battle of the Atlantic
14:52calls for an exchange of destroyers
14:54for British bases in the Caribbean and the Atlantic.
14:57♪♪
15:00Step by step, America begins forging her armor.
15:05The absolute necessity for naval strength
15:07is demonstrated by Britain's plight.
15:10America needs not one, but two navies.
15:13One to guard the Atlantic,
15:15the other to counter aggression in the Pacific.
15:18The shipyards begin working travel ships,
15:21merchantmen, warships, auxiliaries
15:24begin sliding down the ways in increasing tempo.
15:27All our production becomes the goal throughout the land.
15:31The pace of preparedness quickens.
15:34♪♪
15:51But materials by themselves are no longer enough.
15:54From coast to coast, the barracks go up by the thousands
15:57to receive draftees by the hundreds of thousands.
16:01♪♪
16:05Far off areas become vital to the United States.
16:08Greenland lies at the crossroads of the North Atlantic.
16:12In May of 1940, she asked United States protection.
16:16Her creolite mines and weather stations
16:18are denied the Germans.
16:20♪♪
16:24American marines move into Iceland a year later,
16:27relieving the British garrison there.
16:29The Leathernecks forestall the German threat.
16:32Whoever possesses Iceland holds a pistol pointed at England,
16:36the United States, and Canada.
16:39♪♪
16:51In mid-summer 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt
16:54meet off Newfoundland to proclaim the Atlantic Charter.
16:58The four freedoms.
17:00Freedom of speech and of worship.
17:03From want and from fear.
17:09But these are the realities that support the ideals.
17:13The ships, the men, the supplies on which all depends.
17:18The ships plod along the North Atlantic convoy routes
17:21at dangerously sluggish speed.
17:24Their pace regulated by the slowest merchantmen in the convoy.
17:28And the slower the convoy,
17:30the easier it falls into the trap of roving U-boats.
17:34♪♪
17:52The shortest course to Europe lies across the North Atlantic.
17:55Concentrated here is the flow of Allied ships
17:58and enemy submarines.
18:01While convoys are underway,
18:03Royal Canadian Control Centres keep them instructed
18:05and informed on the basis of coordinated intelligence.
18:09♪♪
18:22At sea, protection is weak.
18:25The menace grave.
18:28Around the rim of the convoy, the escort vessels keep station,
18:31herding the merchantmen toward their destination.
18:34In September 1941, the United States Navy
18:38joins the British and Canadians in protecting the convoys
18:41half their way across the Atlantic.
18:44American sailors are in the shooting war,
18:47though their country is not.
18:50♪♪
19:14Soon, too soon,
19:18a lone U-boat spots the convoy.
19:21♪♪
19:25Its mission is to plot the convoy's course and speed
19:28and relay the information by radio
19:30to German naval headquarters on the French coast.
19:33♪♪
19:43Admiral Dunitz, the genius of German submarine warfare,
19:46orders his submarines out for the kill.
19:49♪♪
20:05The U-boats in the area of the convoy are alerted
20:07and directed to an assembly point
20:09where they coordinate into a unified striking force
20:12known as a wolf pack.
20:15Wolf pack, rendezvous for the attack.
20:45♪♪
20:51The convoy is on guard.
20:53Sonar, ASDIC as the British call it,
20:56sends a sound wave into the depths,
20:59searching for a return echo from the enemy.
21:02♪♪
21:07All hands on all ships are alerted in these dangerous waters
21:11where sinkings are routine.
21:14♪♪
21:38♪♪
21:51Contact.
21:53Too late.
21:55♪♪
22:06Man your battle stations.
22:09♪♪
22:29♪♪
22:39♪♪
22:59♪♪
23:14♪♪
23:29♪♪
23:58The battle is over.
24:01Home are the victors.
24:03Home safely from the sea.
24:06They have brought England a little closer to starvation,
24:09closer to defeat.
24:12Triumph and glory are theirs.
24:15♪♪
24:33Outstanding heroes are flown to their capital, Berlin,
24:36for further celebration.
24:38The victories against England prove to the Germans
24:41the invincibility of the Third Reich.
24:44All Germany rejoices.
24:47All Germany honours its undersea sailors.
24:50♪♪
25:20Death and destruction are the cause of the celebrations.
25:26Even before the United States enters the war,
25:30the bottom of the Atlantic is a formidable cemetery of Allied ships.
25:36But there are no tombstones in the sea,
25:40only the drifting remnants of disaster.
25:45♪♪
26:05And this is just the beginning.
26:09This is just the beginning.
26:13♪♪