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A Nazi U-boat heading back for repairs unintentionally cruises right into the middle of a large Allied convoy on March 16, 1943. It is a lucky accident that sets the stage for the largest convoy battle of World War II. Relive this momentous chapter in the war for the Atlantic, an intense game of chess pitting Admiral Karl Donitz's wolf pack against a battered British Navy. It's a three-day showdown with unparalleled violence and unexpected outcomes that will turn the tide of the war.
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00:00March 16th, 1943, Nazi U-Boat U-653 limps back to base after a month of combat on the North Atlantic.
00:16The submarine is having engine troubles.
00:22The bridge watchman sees a brief spark and a red glow against the darkness.
00:27A sailor on deck lighting his cigarette has revealed the presence of an allied ship.
00:36Lookouts scan the surrounding seas and find themselves surrounded by the ghostly shadows of dozens more.
00:47U-653 has somehow managed to sail into the midst of an allied convoy.
00:52It is a lucky accident that sets the stage for the largest convoy battle of the Second World War.
01:00In World War II, subsea weapon allows warriors to fight from beneath the waves.
01:11With cunning, force, and tenacity, their enemies strike back.
01:22Revolutionary, but still sometimes primitive.
01:26It's a desperate bid to change the course of war.
01:32Their stories are legend.
01:35After blundering into the middle of an allied convoy,
01:54Capitaine Leutnant Gerhard Feiler orders a crash dive to escape detection.
01:59Everything.
02:10Safely submerged, U-653 tracks the vessels that pass overhead.
02:18Who is on the team?
02:20That's right.
02:21That's right.
02:21We're on the team.
02:23Who is on the team?
02:24That's right.
02:25I'm Through and Issei.
02:26How?
02:27Now there do we provide you with the ship.
02:28Hours later, Veiler resurfaces just behind the columns of ships to send a convoy sighting
02:38signal to U-boat headquarters.
02:41Within an hour, 28 U-boats home in on U-653 to form one of the largest Wolfpack forces
02:49ever.
02:52The destruction inflicted by Nazi U-boats over the next three days will bring them to
02:57the brink of victory in the Battle of the Atlantic.
03:09March 15th, 1943.
03:13Allied convoy HX-229 plows through stormy seas on a north-northeasterly course.
03:20The merchant ships are escorted by warships for protection.
03:26More than three years into the war, most of the goods and raw materials required by the
03:32war effort travel in convoys from North America to Britain.
03:36The great benefit of putting ships in convoys is you make the rest of the sea empty and then
03:41you concentrate your defenses around the only target that matters so the submariners have
03:45to fight their way in.
03:47All convoys are given names for identification.
03:52HX originally indicated a departure from Halifax.
03:57229 means that 228 convoys left before it.
04:04HX-229 gradually advances on another convoy, a slow convoy, SC-122, which left from New York.
04:14Together they contain nearly 100 merchant ships.
04:20Lieutenant Commander Gordon John Luther leads the escort group protecting HX-229 as it crosses
04:272,500 miles of ocean.
04:31With just five warships to protect 40 ships, the escort group has limited capability.
04:38He hasn't got the assets to give the convoy anything like the degree of protection it needs.
04:43It is Lieutenant Commander Luther's second transatlantic escort.
04:48His first was without incident.
04:51But this time, he won't be so lucky.
04:57Nazi naval intelligence is expecting him.
05:01When these two convoys were leaving North America, the German B-Deans, the German intelligence
05:07department, was able to read the Allied convoy signals.
05:13And this of course gave the opportunity to send out the U-boots to find and to fight that
05:19convoy.
05:21For Gross Admiral Carl Dönitz, cutting off Allied shipping to Britain is the key to winning
05:26the war.
05:27It's often said that Dönitz wanted 300 submarines to go to war against Great Britain.
05:33And in January of 1943, he's got 300 submarines.
05:38The big difference by 1943 is that the production has come on stream and now there are very large
05:45numbers of U-boats.
05:47Dönitz can deploy 50 or more in several packs against individual convoys.
05:54And so the U-boats have never been stronger.
05:58Dönitz thinks he now has the U-boat fleet to knock Britain out of the war.
06:06By early 1943, nearly 11 million tons of raw materials, supplies and food has been sunk
06:14in the Atlantic.
06:16Britain is reaching a tipping point.
06:19Something like 22% of all the shipping that sailed from the 1st of March to the 21st of March
06:25fails to make it to the other side.
06:27It is absolutely the low point of the war.
06:29It's nearly catastrophic.
06:31However, for Dönitz, the challenge remains locating Allied ships.
06:40His crews practice the Wolfpack tactic.
06:43A Wolfpack is a group of submarines lined up across a known convoy route, so the ships pass
06:50in between and are detected.
06:55If a convoy is sighted, a locating signal message is sent to U-boat headquarters.
07:01Nearby submarines are ordered to converge and prepare for attack.
07:06The only chance to fight a convoy with U-boats would be the simultaneous attack of a number
07:13of U-boats, just to keep the escorts busy and so giving other boats the chance to actually
07:20torpedo the merchant vessels.
07:23Dönitz positions a Wolfpack, Gruppe Raubgraaf, northeast of Newfoundland.
07:30So at this time, Dönitz got the information of a very large convoy moving from west to
07:38east with supplies for the Allied forces.
07:42And he put his submarine battle groups en route to intercept this convoy.
07:51But a different Allied convoy gets attacked by Rob Graaf first.
07:55And gives away the Wolfpack's position.
08:02The Allies immediately change course for both convoys, HX-229 and SC-122.
08:11With the help of stormy weather, they squeak past the south end of the Rob Graaf Wolfpack.
08:18They are safe, for now.
08:25But German intelligence also intercepts the Admiralty's rerouting signal.
08:34Like a chess player, Dönitz then moved his boats, like you move your chess figures, and
08:41try to gather as many U-boats as possible for attack on convoys.
08:47Dönitz activates two more Wolfpacks, Gruppe Sturma and Drange, to locate and destroy the
08:53merchant ships.
09:00Still five days from its destination in Liverpool, Lieutenant Commander Luther's convoy approaches
09:06the most dangerous part of its journey, what some call the Devil's Gorge.
09:12The Germans would tend to concentrate their Wolfpacks in this area, in mid-Atlantic.
09:17And by early 1943, there are a lot of U-boats.
09:25Important protection to Allied shipping comes from air coverage.
09:30Long-range aircraft equipped with radar and armed with depth charges drive U-boats underwater
09:35to deter attacks against merchant shipping.
09:42But far out in the Atlantic is an expansive ocean beyond the range of air support.
09:48The Allies call it the air gap.
09:51There is a gap in the middle of the Atlantic which cannot be covered by aircraft flying from
09:55Canada or Iceland or flying from Northern Ireland.
09:58Given the range of most of the aircraft, essentially, therefore, sensibly, the U-boats concentrate
10:04on that area where the threat to them is least.
10:09It takes two or three days for ships to pass through the air gap.
10:14Without aerial coverage and only five warships to protect convoy HX-229, Luther steams ahead
10:21unprepared for what Dönitz has in store.
10:25Somewhere along that stretch between the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the approaches to
10:29Ireland, they're going to find you.
10:34March 1943, in the Mid-Atlantic.
10:46Allied convoy HX-229 passes just south of a U-boat Wolfpack, consisting of eight subs, codenamed
10:54Grupa Rob Graf, the Robber Barons.
10:59The convoy is headed to Britain from Canada.
11:03Its 40 merchant vessels are defended by an escort of just five warships.
11:09Lieutenant Commander Gordon John Luther knows it won't be enough if a wolf pack finds them.
11:16Luther's job is further complicated by heavy seas.
11:22U-boats from Grupa Rob Graf continue to search for the convoy, battered by a winter storm.
11:33You have a wind blowing with up to 60, 70 miles per hour, sometimes into the face of the cruise,
11:42temperatures a little bit above zero centigrade, and you have the water spilling over the open
11:50bridge.
11:53They have to be there on the counting tower with their binoculars and spotting into the
11:58three directions to get any possible contact.
12:03Finding ships is not easy at the best of times.
12:07It was really hard for a submarine to spot an allied convoy, still like the search for
12:14a needle in a haystack.
12:26After operating with Grupa Rob Graf for a month, U653 starboard engine is failing.
12:34Low on diesel, Capitain Leutnant Gerhard Feiler must rendezvous with a fuel tanker before returning
12:41to base for repairs.
12:45Despite their dwindling capacity to attack, the lookouts remain posted.
12:52As they hobble away, the bridge watch makes a startling discovery.
13:00Visibility is very poor, but unfortunately in one of the ships, somebody lights a cigarette
13:05and this shows through the mist and it tells the submarine that, oh, there's a target over
13:09there.
13:11U653 has cruised right into the middle of an allied convoy.
13:17Feiler does not have the torpedoes to attack, but he commands the most powerful U-boat in
13:22the Atlantic.
13:23We are in the middle of the convoy.
13:28He must keep the convoy within reach without being discovered.
13:34Feiler orders a crash dive to preserve their invisibility.
13:42Non-essential crew rush forward to get the bow down fast.
13:57They listen, discerning different ships of the convoy that pass overhead.
14:01Then use the sounds of the propellers to track them without revealing the sub.
14:26Years later, Feiler surfaces behind the columns of merchant ships and their escorts still undetected.
14:33The radio operator issues a coded sighting report to U-boat headquarters, three letters in Morse
14:41code.
14:42If one submarine in the operational area is in contact with the enemy, it reports the
14:49position.
14:50So they could plot an interception course to make a coordinated night attack when there
14:57are enough submarines.
14:59The wolf pack is predicated entirely on the free use of the radio.
15:04There's no other way to do it.
15:06Karl Dönitz is the mastermind.
15:08He controls them on a high-frequency radio link lead so he can move the pack around, up,
15:15down, left, right, forward, backwards, based on the intelligence.
15:19The sighting report thrills Dönitz.
15:22He now has a precise target.
15:26The rest of Gripa-Rabgraf is just 80 miles away.
15:31Dönitz orders them to proceed at top speed towards the convoy.
15:38U-653 continues to transmit location updates as it shadows the convoy.
15:50Eleven U-boats from the Sturma and Drenger wolf packs also set course from the east.
15:57By nightfall, 38 U-boats advance on the lightly defended ships.
16:03One of the largest numbers of U-boats was gathered for attack on those convoys.
16:11Very low on diesel, Filer is released to refuel and return to port.
16:17But now U-615 and three other U-boats stalk convoy HX-229
16:23and the thousands of tons of Allied shipping it protects.
16:28They send the short-coded signal to update their location every two hours.
16:34The information is relayed to other U-boats to update their bearings.
16:44The wolf pack gathers, but they need more U-boats to launch a full attack.
16:50They follow Luther's convoy into the air gap.
16:55The largest number of sinkings in the greatest area of operations is the North Atlantic air gap.
17:01Because it's the place by the end of 42 and early 43 that they could use submarines with impunity.
17:07The U-boat commanders know they only have two or three days to execute their assault
17:13before Allied air coverage arrives to drive them off.
17:26March 16th, 1943. The North Atlantic.
17:31U-boats have been trailing convoy HX-229
17:34and relaying coordinates by wireless to allow neighboring wolf packs to close in.
17:40But radio operators at U-boat headquarters aren't the only ones listening.
17:52The Allies also intercept the messages via stations along the coasts.
17:57While details of the signal reports cannot be decoded by Allied naval intelligence,
18:02the transmissions provide critical information.
18:08Even if you can't read the codes of what the submarines are saying,
18:12you can tell it's a submarine by what's called DF'ing, direction finding.
18:18The Allies intercept signals using two or more shore stations,
18:21equipped with high-frequency direction-finding technology.
18:25Then, with basic triangulation, the Allies can determine the approximate location of the U-boat.
18:32Any radio message could be picked up, could be triangulated,
18:35and you knew there was a submarine there.
18:37So the Operational Intelligence Center could keep a pretty good tab on where German submarines were.
18:44The Admiralty relays the calculations to Luther aboard HMS Volunteer.
18:53General Commander Luther is in a terrible situation.
18:56He knows from his intelligence reports that he's surrounded by a huge number of U-boats.
19:01He only has three of his own ships plus a destroyer.
19:04But he knows it's totally inadequate for the scale of the attack that is coming.
19:09Luther's situation is bleak.
19:12German U-boats often wait to exploit the cover of darkness.
19:16And the sun has begun to set.
19:27The attack usually comes at night, out of the dark.
19:30With the submarines slightly awash, so only the Koning Tower really showing above.
19:35And you come in at full speed, and it's basically being attacked by motor torpedo boats on the high seas.
19:42Expecting an attack from the north, Luther positions his ship, HMS Volunteer, on the port column of the merchant ships.
19:54He orders the other escorts to adopt defensive positions around the convoy.
19:58Seven Nazi U-boats already draw near.
20:05Dornitz, on occasion, would actually hold off until he's got six, eight, in some cases 15 or 20, assembled around the convoy.
20:17And then the order would be given that at the right moment in the dark of night, you're free to attack.
20:22Aboard U-603.
20:26Auftauchen!
20:28Oberleutnant Zuertzi Betelsmann prepares for surface attack.
20:33Bertelsmann, he manages to get between two of the escort vessels.
20:39One of them H.S. Beverley, an American-built destroyer in Royal Navy service, and one of the corvettes.
20:44And he skillfully maneuvers between the escorts, so that he can fire his torpedo into the convoy.
20:53While Bertelsmann lines up his shot, Lieutenant Commander Luther orders the convoy to turn south, hoping to evade U-boats detected to the north and west.
21:02You need luck, because even so, you are moving into a position which is perfect.
21:09As soon as the convoy zigzags away from you, your position is totally wasted.
21:14And another submarine, before that, being in a stupid position, is all of a sudden in a perfect position.
21:21Luther's detour puts Bertelsmann in a position to attack sooner than anticipated.
21:29U-603 and its crew have been at sea for more than a month.
21:36They've already sunk two ships from another convoy.
21:40They only have four torpedoes left, but some are armed with new technology called FAT.
21:48The Germans had developed a new pattern-running torpedo known as the FAT.
21:52It didn't actually have to penetrate the convoy.
21:55You actually could fire a torpedo from outside into the convoy, and it would run in a pattern.
22:00A torpedo armed with FAT guidance system makes regular turns and sweeps through until it runs out of fuel or makes a hit.
22:09And it also gave the appearance that the U-boat was inside the convoy even when it was outside.
22:12But it's risky. FAT torpedoes do not discriminate between allied ships and German U-boats. Both are in danger.
22:27Bertelsmann's radio operator sends out a warning to other U-boats that FAT-armed torpedoes are about to be launched.
22:34When the submarine gets the information about one submarine firing the FAT torpedo, they have to leave the area where the torpedo is moving, or they have to get deeper, so that the torpedo would pass above them.
22:52Then orders the crew to fire the four remaining torpedoes.
22:55Of course, it was tended to be chance what one of these torpedoes did, and it actually missed two ships, but eventually it found its mark.
23:14Loaded with a full cargo of wheat and manganese, the LNK suffers a crippling blow.
23:23When Luther realizes one of his ships has been struck, he orders what the Navy calls a half-raspery.
23:31All escorts turn outwards to sweep their sector, following a triangular route to locate the submarine that has fired the torpedo.
23:40Radar is used to detect U-boats on the surface.
23:47A type of sonar, called ASDIC, sweeps for submarines below.
23:53But Bertelsmann dives without being detected, and returns to base.
24:01Luther's escorts fail to locate any U-boats as each scans its sector.
24:05But during its sweep, HMS Pennyworth discovers the lifeboats of the LNK, the ship sunk by Bertelsmann.
24:20Luther's convoy lacks a designated rescue ship.
24:24Standard convoy procedure then requires the last merchant ship in the column to recover the survivors.
24:29But the sailors from the LNK have been left behind.
24:35Now one of Luther's few precious escort ships is occupied with rescue.
24:42As midnight approaches, only three escorts are positioned to defend the ship's goods and crews of convoy HX-229.
24:55More U-boats converge and adopt attack positions.
25:00U-758, commanded by Helmut Mansek, has been in contact with the convoy for over 12 hours.
25:09He moves in on the unprotected starboard side.
25:15He fires four torpedoes into the convoy.
25:26Two merchant ships are struck.
25:30Once they get the battle to tumble, it's chaos for the allies.
25:34Fire!
25:35Almost simultaneously, another U-boat fires.
25:43The effect is devastating.
25:46The cargo ship SS Harry Lukenbach is hit.
25:49Submariners are coming in from all directions.
25:51Ships are going down hither and yon.
25:53Just pure chaos.
25:55But managed chaos in a way that works for the Germans.
25:57Then, shortly after midnight, Capitaine Leutnant Siegfried Strelow launches his own attack.
26:05Feuerlauben.
26:10The American Liberty ship William Eustace, carrying 7,000 tons of sugar, is struck.
26:20Again, the last merchant ship in the column fails to retrieve the lifeboats.
26:27With the other escorts already performing rescues, to Luther's dismay, he must now choose.
26:35In an attack like this, where ships are going down, the escort commander is always on the horns of a terrible dilemma.
26:43Does he pick up survivors, or does he go after submarines?
26:47And it's very, very difficult, particularly in this case, when there wasn't a dedicated rescue ship on this convoy.
26:53So, therefore, he is faced with a terrible choice.
26:58Luther does not hesitate for long.
27:02He, too, falls back to rescue survivors.
27:08The remaining ships of convoy HX-229 carry on, completely unprotected.
27:14Crews hope that the U-boat attacks have ended.
27:20But, in fact, the carnage has only just begun.
27:25In the early morning hours of March 17, 1943, Allied convoy HX-229 regroups after a series of assaults by Nazi U-boats.
27:44Four merchant ships have already been sunk.
27:48While the destroyers and corvettes that make up the escort scramble to rescue survivors, the remaining merchant ships are left entirely undefended.
27:59However, as the minutes pass, no attack comes.
28:04HMS Volunteer is the first escort to retake its position on the perimeter of the convoy.
28:12Soon afterwards, HMS Beverly and Mansfield also resume defensive positions.
28:18But the reprieve proves short-lived.
28:26Aboard U-600, Capitaine Leutnant Bernhard Zermullin has followed silently for four hours, monitoring the assault.
28:37Having completed his U-boat training in September of 1941, Zermullin would commission and serve as the only commander of U-600.
28:48He maneuvers his U-boat ahead of the convoy.
28:54Then fires a salvo of five torpedoes.
29:04Then fires a salvo of five torpedoes.
29:09Torpedo one, fire!
29:11Torpedo one, fire!
29:12Torpedo four, fire!
29:24Three ships are struck, including the Southern Princess, a tanker carrying 10,000 tons of fuel oil.
29:30The U-boats consistently, over time, nibble away at the convoy, like U-600, which sinks a tanker.
29:40And very satisfactorily for the submarine, not so much for the convoy, it has a typical tanker explosion.
29:52Luther orders two escorts to carry out sweeps along the starboard side.
29:57His own ship, HMS Volunteer, prowls to the port side.
30:07Two submarines are detected on the surface, and driven away.
30:11Luther, he does the best he can.
30:13He chases submarines away, but he just hasn't got the assets for the danger into which he's sailing.
30:22Echo bearing green 2-0, drawing right.
30:24Although escorts detect U-boats with their Aztec, they hunt without success.
30:29But Zermulin's attack is the last of the night.
30:34When dawn comes, the sun rises on a decimated convoy.
30:36Four hundred and forty-seven of five hundred and ninety sailors have been rescued, thanks to the quick response by Luther's men.
30:45When dawn comes, the sun rises on a decimated convoy.
30:51Four hundred and forty-seven of five hundred and ninety sailors have been rescued, thanks to the quick response by Luther's men.
30:58The Ravgraf U-boats successfully sink eight merchant ships from HX 229.
31:07About a hundred miles ahead, slow convoy 122 has also been attacked overnight.
31:16One of the first Sturma Grupa U-boats makes contact, and four more ships are lost.
31:21The first attack by the U-boats of the first pack sinks twelve allied ships, quite a good ratio.
31:29It's a one-sided fight. Just two U-boats are damaged in the battle.
31:33A stream of signals arrives at U-boat headquarters, claiming almost ninety thousand tons of merchant shipping has been sunk.
31:46Eventually, Dönitz realizes that his U-boats have located not one, but two allied convoys.
31:57In this case, they had a bad operational planning in sending the convoys on the same route,
32:04so that they had to pass all through the contested area with German submarines.
32:10And it was a mistake they reassessed later on, and they didn't do it a second time.
32:15Dönitz sends a message to the U-boats to continue to press the attack.
32:19Because of this HX convoy, in particular, suffering the greatest losses of any convoy of the war,
32:27there are rumblings in London that perhaps convoy isn't protecting merchant ships,
32:33so perhaps an alternative would have to be found.
32:36But the trouble is, there isn't one.
32:41During the day that follows, the crisis only worsens for the Allies.
32:45Previously well behind, HX-229 is catching up with slow-moving allied convoy SC-122.
32:59Nazi U-boats have trapped nearly a hundred sparsely defended merchant ships,
33:04in just over a hundred square miles.
33:06Most of the early Ravgraf boats, low on fuel and torpedoes, drop out of the battle.
33:14But Sturma and Drenger boats begin to assert their presence.
33:20HX-229 is still well beyond range of most aircraft.
33:30If it had not been diverted so far to the south, air support might have been possible.
33:40But as of March 17th, the convoy is still far out in the air gap.
33:45Basically, the Admiralty says to the escort group and the convoy Commodore,
33:55bash your way through until we can get air support to you.
33:59With more U-boats converging, Lieutenant Commander Luther's escorts will have to fight for themselves.
34:06Thirty-eight U-boats from the Sturma and Drenger Groupas surround the two convoys.
34:17Risking the daylight of March 17th, they continue to pick off merchant ships one by one.
34:23The size of this battle is quite extraordinary.
34:42I mean, well over a hundred assets involved on both sides, escorts, merchant ships, U-boats.
34:47Over fifty U-boats were actually deployed by Dönitz in this, at which forty make contact.
34:53This is an absolutely extraordinary scale of battle.
35:04But as the day goes on, the weather improves,
35:08allowing the Allied corvettes and destroyers to go on the offensive,
35:12to locate and attack U-boats.
35:14Their most effective weapons are depth charges,
35:19underwater bombs designed especially to sink submarines.
35:25They can be set to explode at different depths,
35:28to create a sandwich effect of explosions above and below the U-boat.
35:33What destroys the sub is the overpressure.
35:37So you're not blowing it up in the sense that you strike it with a shell,
35:40and the shell penetrates and detonates it.
35:44You just need to squeeze it.
35:48On his first patrol,
35:50Capitaine Leutnant Kurt Langer commands U-530.
35:54He has just located HX-229 and transmits his sighting report.
35:58He has just located HX-229 and transmits his sighting report.
36:03When he submerges to avoid being spotted, the destroyer HMS Beverly, new contact,
36:18picks him up on her Aztec and charges.
36:23U-530 crash dives to evade an attack.
36:27The U-530 crash dives to evade an attack.
36:41Beverly's sonar continues to ping off the U-boat.
36:44Guided into position by the contacts.
36:58HMS Beverly, drops its depth charges overboard.
37:01It's quite hard for the commanding officer to keep his crew calm.
37:18Everybody is only supposed to wait to hold.
37:22Because they can't do anything.
37:24Outer structures are damaged in the blasts and begin to fill with water.
37:37The added weight drags the U-boat down.
37:43The boat sinks to nearly 800 feet.
37:49Everybody is under stress.
37:51You have a lot of adrenaline in yourself and you can't get rid of your adrenaline.
37:55You can't move.
37:57Water swirling in around their feet.
38:00Boat creaking under pressure.
38:04Capitaine Leutnant Lange and his crew hear the destroyer directly overhead.
38:12He had to realize that now he is in the position of the prey
38:17and he is depending on luck.
38:20Because he can't do anything against the escorts.
38:29The thing about submarines is they are not a lot of wounded.
38:36If the sub goes down, everybody goes with it.
38:38Nobody is walking home.
38:39March 17, 1943.
38:50Nazi U-boats have sunk more than a dozen merchant ships.
38:55But U-530 is being hunted by an allied escort.
38:59It's probably like going from positive adrenaline, like you are hunting your prey in the woods and all of a sudden a bear or a wolf would stand in front of you and then you have to run away.
39:17But it's U-530's lucky day.
39:23HMS Beverly loses contact with the U-boat.
39:35When the seas fall silent, the crew jumps into action.
39:38carefully managing their remaining battery power.
39:46They ascend in 30-foot intervals.
39:49He has to conserve his battery fuel because he needs it for propulsion.
39:56Otherwise the submarine would sink deeper and deeper.
39:59After the two-hour attack, Lange's crippled U-boat breaks the surface.
40:13Their ordeal is over.
40:22They are fortunate to be alive.
40:30Additional allied attacks throughout the day of March 17th.
40:34Force 12 German U-boats to lose contact with the convoy.
40:39What you're trying to do as the escort commander is to break contact.
40:45It's a bonus if you can attack it.
40:47It's even better if you can sink it.
40:59Gradually, the scales tip in the allies' favor.
41:03Although U-boats continue to pick away, the two convoys approach the edge of the air gap.
41:12Allied aircraft can reach the convoys from Europe.
41:16The wolf packs are now also being hunted from the sky.
41:21Long-range air patrols, liberators, Sunderlands and fortresses provide cover from the convoy,
41:29relieving pressure off the exhausted escorts.
41:32Like the cavalry coming over the hill, the arrival of Coastal Command aircraft alters the situation very significantly.
41:40Aircraft can force submarines down.
41:43Once submarines are submerged, their mobility is greatly reduced.
41:46A 206 squadron flying fortress flies into a squall astern of the convoy, hoping to catch a U-boat unaware.
41:57U-384 doesn't have a chance to dive before four depth charges are dropped.
42:10Explosions are spotted on either side of the U-boat.
42:19U-384 sinks to the ocean floor, taking with it the crew of 47.
42:26The Nazis' lethal weapon has become their iron coffin.
42:29Now the convoy is under the air umbrella, which can be quite aggressive.
42:40So the sensible thing to do is to withdraw the U-boats so that they can go back into the gaps and find another convoy without air cover.
42:48Dönitz finally calls off the attack.
42:53HX-229 and SC-122 have endured a three-day assault, suffering a record amount of destruction.
43:07Fire!
43:08Between the two convoys, 22 ships totaling more than 146,000 tons has been destroyed.
43:21On the remaining vessels, 11 carried more than 1,100 survivors between them.
43:26During the U-boat attacks of March 1943, Dönitz's Wolfpack strategy works perfectly.
43:39The successful operations provide reason to believe Germany is on the brink of winning the war for the Atlantic.
43:45For the first three weeks in March of 1943, 100% of the convoys crossing the North Atlantic were intercepted.
43:52Over 50% of them were actually attacked by U-boats.
43:57But at the end of March, circumstances shift again.
44:01The resources are on the horizon, and so is better weather, and it all changes almost in a heartbeat at the end of March.
44:10Longer spring days, better technology, and more airplanes allow the Allies to close the air gap.
44:16When air power becomes really oppressive in spring of 1943, when the North Atlantic air gap disappears because of small aircraft carriers, four-engine aircraft, all radar equipped, there's no place left for Dönitz to go.
44:32He has to quit at the end of May, because he has literally nothing left.
44:36The Germans go from near victory, whatever that might have been, to catastrophic defeat in about eight weeks.
44:46The battle against the convoys SC-122 and HX-229 is a minor battle in the context of the whole war, but it marks the shift of the Battle of the Atlantic.
44:59But increased air cover is not the only reason German U-boats meet tougher times.
45:08The key to the Wolfpack tactics was radio control, centralized radio control from BDU.
45:17The problem was it gave away the position of the submarines, and so it contained the seeds of its own destruction.
45:24The Allies regain their intelligence edge, the weather improves, and the air gap disappears.
45:34The Nazis have nowhere left to hide.
45:39In May, Admiral Dönitz orders his U-boats out of the North Atlantic.
45:44The Wolfpacks would never again come as close to cutting off the Allies as they did during the long dark nights of March 1943.
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