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00:01História não é uma ciência exacta.
00:05Ela nunca é fechada.
00:16Quando o tempo passa, a conhecimento do passado é refina e evolui.
00:29Mas, por definição, recebe ideias têm thick skin e são difíceis de se transformar.
00:43I am a dream that all men are free to me.
00:49Para entender as realidades dos mundos, você às vezes tem que desistir e desistir os factos
00:55por olharem de outra maneira.
01:16Posterity has it that German U-boats were fearsome fighting machines
01:20which ruled the Atlantic Ocean throughout World War II.
01:24But were they?
01:39In February 1939, Hitler personally presented to the world
01:44the new flagship of the German fleet.
02:06A fine show of strength to intimidate potential enemies, because since the dismantling of
02:13its fleet after World War I, Germany had lost its standing as a naval power.
02:21The Führer had clearly broken the Treaty of Versailles, but rebuilding a Kriegsmarine
02:26takes years.
02:29The Bismarck looked impressive, but could it rule the waves?
02:33Among the Nazi chiefs of staff, a handful of admirals doubted it.
02:55Admiral Eric Reder, commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine, congratulated himself on having two giants,
03:02like the Bismarck and its twin, the Tirpitz, launched two months later.
03:11Hitler was eager to attack, but the Admiral had to admit to his subordinates.
03:17At this moment in time, the Kriegsmarine is clearly insufficiently armed for the great combat against Britain.
03:28An opinion shared by his second-in-command, Rear-Admiral Karl Dönitz.
03:35But Dönitz suggested an alternative to a surface conflict, a plan B, using inexpensive craft,
03:42which were discreet, easy to mass-produce, and able to patrol furtively through the seven seas,
03:48the Unterseeboats, or U-boats.
03:56This phantom menace strategy wasn't unanimously agreed upon in the Nazi camp.
04:02Reder opposed it, and a rivalry was instilled between the two admirals.
04:16On September the 1st, 1939, Hitler's troops invaded Poland without warning.
04:28The attack was mainly by land, with some backup from a battleship,
04:32which decimated the garrisons in the port of Danzig.
04:34The Kriegsmarine had to prove its strength.
04:40Following the attack on their ally, Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
04:48That very day, the U-boats made their entrance.
04:54Their orders were to destroy all enemy ships without distinction.
05:01The biggest war news of these early days has been the criminal sinking of the Athenia.
05:05The liner, with about 1,400 people on board, was outward-bound across the Atlantic,
05:10when, without any warning whatsoever, she was torpedoed by a Nazi submarine 200 miles west of the Hebride.
05:16These survivors, landing at Greenock, en route for Glasgow, are victims of Hitler's first crime by submarine.
05:25Submarines that methodically hunted for victims.
05:28One woman survived to tell the tale.
05:31About two o'clock the next morning, we were drifting around and spotted the submarine,
05:36thinking at first it was one of the destroyers come to our rescue.
05:40And we turned around and tried to drift away from it, which we did.
05:44And we drifted for about four more hours when we were finally picked up by the destroyer.
05:51The death toll, 112.
05:54The affair caused uproar.
05:56It revealed the true face of Nazi Germany,
05:59which disregarded the rules of war and sent 112 innocent civilians to their death.
06:09The U-boats were already under battle orders,
06:11while their opponents were still unfit for combat.
06:17And on dry land in Europe, there had yet to be any clashes.
06:25The British and French were taking their time to mobilize their armies,
06:29when the unthinkable happened.
06:34In mid-October, the British battleship HMS Royal Oak was torpedoed and sunk in Scarpa Flow,
06:41the chief naval base in the Orkneys north of Scotland.
06:46A symbolic place, because it was here that the German fleet had been scuttled 20 years earlier.
06:54The time for revenge had come.
07:05At the helm of U-47, bearing its emblem of a snorting bull,
07:10the instigator of the sinking entered into legend.
07:18Described as arrogant and a fanatic Nazi,
07:22Captain Gunther Prien was given a hero's welcome on his return to Germany.
07:29He was decorated with the Iron Cross by Hitler himself.
07:37Submariners became the new heroes of the Third Reich,
07:40proud to have struck behind enemy lines.
07:46Wir haben uns durchgemogelt durch die Bewachung und waren plötzlich drin.
07:51Wir haben unsere Torpedos gelöst.
07:54Im nächsten Mal krachte es und erst der Erfolge getroffen und dann flog die Reulog in die Luft.
08:00Der Eindruck war unermesslich.
08:02Und wir haben uns auf demselben Wege in ähnlicher Weise, wie wir reingekommen sind, auch wieder hinausgeschlichen,
08:10dicht anbefachen vorüber, aber wir haben uns nicht gesehen.
08:16For a long time looked down upon, German submariners had earned a new status.
08:22Otto Kretschmer, another renowned captain, stated,
08:26After four years of training, we suddenly felt like the elite of the Navy.
08:32In a handful of operations,
08:35submarines proved they were far more effective than surface vessels.
08:40Moreover, one of the Kriegsmarine's flagships,
08:43the battleship Graf Spee, was sunk by the Royal Navy.
08:48A slap in the face for Admiral Reder.
08:55Hitler ordered the construction of an armada of U-boats.
08:59The cost of one Bismarck or Tirpitz could pay for 50 submarines
09:04to compose a fleet much more capable of hassling Allied ships.
09:11Dönitz had won the battle against his superior,
09:14but would nonetheless concede,
09:17In 1939, we weren't ready.
09:18We had only 23 U-boats capable of reaching the Atlantic from Germany.
09:25The French and British had twice as many submarines as the Germans.
09:30But this clear advantage didn't impress the Nazis.
09:39Karl Dönitz, a veteran submariner from World War I,
09:43promised his Führer victory.
09:50His plan was to choke the British Isles.
09:55Britain was importing almost 50% of its meat,
09:5870% of its sugar,
10:00and 90% of its grain and fats.
10:0322 million tons a year,
10:05just in foodstuffs.
10:16So it depended heavily on the 8,000 merchant ships
10:19that delivered this produce.
10:26They were prime targets for the U-boats,
10:29which day by day chipped away at this vital supply line.
10:45As a result, in March 1940,
10:48a famished Briton was forced to introduce meat rationing
10:51as shortages worsened.
11:00Public parks were turned into vegetable patches.
11:04But Germany's tonnage war strategy was beginning to pay off.
11:09British citizens saw their daily life suffer.
11:12Part of public opinion began to put pressure on the government
11:15to bring an end to the blockade.
11:18Some politicians even suggested negotiating with the enemy.
11:25only First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill,
11:28categorically refused to make a pact with the devil.
11:33And events were soon to prove him right.
11:46Eight months after the declaration of war,
11:49ground combat began.
11:54In just six weeks,
11:56the French army was swept aside by the Wehrmacht.
12:02With this blitzkrieg victory,
12:05Germany took over the naval bases
12:06along the French coastline.
12:08From Norway to France,
12:10the coasts of Europe were under Nazi control.
12:13The gateways to the Atlantic
12:15were now wide open to the U-boats.
12:28Great Britain stood alone in the face of the Third Reich.
12:35In the summer of 1940,
12:37the pilots of the Royal Air Force
12:38put up fierce resistance to repeated attacks
12:41from the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.
12:47after three months of aerial combat,
12:50Britain inflicted a first defeat on Germany.
12:57Victory in the skies,
12:59but heavy losses at sea.
13:03245 Allied ships were sent to the bottom of the ocean.
13:06That's two wrecks a day.
13:08The Creeks Marine lost only seven of its submarines.
13:14An unbeatable ratio,
13:16which led the British war leader to say,
13:19The only thing that really frightened me during the war
13:22was the U-boat peril.
13:30Dönitz's gamble had paid off.
13:32He had the enemy quaking.
13:36In the autumn of 1940,
13:38he established his base
13:39in the strategic city of Lorient,
13:42where the U-30
13:43was the first submarine to report.
13:50Docked in Brest, Lorient, and Saint-Nazaire,
13:53the U-boats gained a week at sea
13:55compared to their former bases in Germany,
13:58and also avoided the North Sea and the Channel,
14:01which were under Royal Navy control.
14:04After one year of war,
14:06almost 600 Allied ships had been sunk
14:09against only 38 German submarines,
14:13but an insufficient number
14:15to wipe out the British merchant fleet.
14:19With only a dozen operational craft,
14:22Dönitz needed to increase pressure.
14:25So he experimented with a tactic
14:27which had been maturing for years,
14:29the wolf pack.
14:32From then on,
14:34U-boats would attack in numbers.
14:39At radio stations dotted along the coasts
14:42from Norway to Spain,
14:43the Kriegsmarine decipherers
14:45were able to localize enemy ships.
14:48From his HQ in Lorient,
14:50Dönitz would send his U-boat packs
14:52to the pinpointed zones.
15:03The moment a convoy was spotted on the horizon,
15:06the pack dived.
15:10A lieutenant on the U-224 explained,
15:15We were lurking around like wolves.
15:18Then we attacked,
15:19fired our torpedoes,
15:21and got out again.
15:23The best fun is to hunt.
15:32Another submariner confessed.
15:35It was grand fun
15:36when we made the attack on the whole convoy.
15:39Everybody picked out their own victim.
15:44It was easy hunting
15:46because when they resurfaced,
15:48the wolves were faster than their targets.
15:53But contrary to the legend
15:55which persisted even after the war,
15:57U-boats didn't really have the true capacity
15:59to carry out undersea attacks.
16:02As derivatives of surface ships,
16:05they could only perform short dives.
16:09Below the surface,
16:11an electric engine took over
16:12from its diesel counterpart,
16:14which couldn't function underwater.
16:17Then, autonomy and speed
16:19were considerably reduced,
16:21meaning they could only pursue
16:22the slowest cargo ships.
16:25So it was impossible
16:26to launch decisive underwater attacks.
16:29And moreover,
16:30their torpedoes had an infuriating tendency
16:32to detonate too early.
16:38Renowned U-boat captain Otto Kretschmer
16:40admitted,
16:42We had the worst torpedoes in the world.
16:45Nearly half of them were deficient.
16:50So the U-boats merely carried out
16:52stealth approaches
16:53and once in range of the enemy,
16:55resurfaced.
17:00All the pack had to do then
17:02was to pound the defenceless cargo ships.
17:11Submariner Heinz Scheffer gave this account.
17:14A tanker breaks in the middle.
17:18Each crew member has permission
17:19to look through the periscope.
17:23The powerful ship sinks into the waves.
17:27A poignant vision.
17:28The demon of destruction is at work.
17:36Simultaneous attack by the wolf pack
17:38meant that several allied ships
17:40could be sunk in one go.
17:51Ambushes were all the more effective
17:53when carried out after nightfall.
18:00Then the attackers would slip silently away
18:03through the dark waters of the Atlantic.
18:13From Newfoundland to the tip of Ireland,
18:16the merchant ships had to navigate
18:17between the wolves.
18:22In convoys of 10 to 20 ships,
18:25a huge floating target
18:2610 kilometers long
18:28by 3 kilometers wide
18:29took to sea.
18:32Their orders were,
18:34Keep your distance.
18:35500 meters between each ship.
18:38Never stop,
18:38even if another ship is sinking.
18:48On board,
18:50life went on
18:50thanks to His Majesty's rum ration
18:52which kept the sailors' spirits up.
19:08But fear haunted daily life.
19:13Merchant Navy officer John Harvey,
19:16who made 12 Atlantic crossings,
19:17recalled,
19:19We were hopeful rather than scared.
19:22With a cargo of minerals,
19:24we slept fully dressed
19:25in the hope of escaping
19:27because it would only take
19:28three minutes for the ship to sink.
19:30If it was a cargo of explosives,
19:33then we slept in pajamas
19:34and we were happy if we woke up in the morning.
19:41The Royal Navy dealt with the threat phlegmatically,
19:44banking on ASDIC,
19:46the ancestor of sonar,
19:47which could detect a submarine
19:48900 meters away.
19:56The Admiralty believed that corvettes,
19:59light, fast destroyers equipped with depth charges,
20:02were enough to protect the vast convoys.
20:11Churchill called them
20:12from the cheap and nasties.
20:15Officer John Harvey continued,
20:19My worst memory was sailing
20:21by the survivors of a sinking corvette
20:23and being unable to help
20:24because in a convoy,
20:26you cannot stop.
20:33The Royal Navy thought
20:35that the bigger the convoy,
20:36the less chance of a U-boat attack
20:38since the ships guaranteed mutual defense.
20:42But the sailors of the Merchant Navy disagreed.
20:47They constantly felt under threat
20:50because they were too easy to spot.
20:58Sailing at the speed of the slowest vessel,
21:01each cargo ship became vulnerable.
21:03At 13 kilometers an hour,
21:05it was like crossing the Atlantic
21:07on a bicycle.
21:12And the risk increased halfway across
21:15when the naval escort about turned
21:17to provide protection
21:19for the next convoy.
21:21A weakness that the Germans had spotted.
21:30On October 5th, 1940,
21:33convoy SC-7 left Nova Scotia
21:36with 35 ships heading to Liverpool
21:43A wolf pack of eight U-boats
21:45commanded by the ruthless Otto Kretschmer
21:47patiently waited for the naval escort
21:49to leave the convoy
21:50before pouncing on their prey.
22:02Only 15 ships made it to England.
22:0420 had been sunk,
22:06including an oil tanker.
22:07A record.
22:10And this came on top
22:12of another convoy
22:13on the same route,
22:14also losing 12 of its ships.
22:23The sinking of 32 ships in 48 hours
22:26gave the wolves
22:27their most impressive victory yet.
22:32Dönitz, who commanded the operation
22:34in person, was triumphant,
22:36especially as his eight U-boats
22:38all made it home intact.
22:43Here, the submariners gloat
22:45with a collection of lifebelts
22:46filched from their victims
22:48as war trophies.
22:52On the mast of the periscopes,
22:54pennants display the amounts
22:55of tonnage sunk.
22:59Rankings were even established
23:00between the different crews
23:01used to motivate the men
23:03based on who sank
23:04the biggest ship.
23:15At this point in the war,
23:17Allied convoys had lost
23:1820% of their fleet.
23:20In 1940, 563 ships were sunk
23:24against only 23 U-boats.
23:29This striking result, however,
23:31didn't have the hoped-for impact.
23:34Despite the tonnage sunk,
23:3680% of cargo ships
23:37made it to port,
23:39and the British had been able
23:40to adapt their farming techniques.
23:43Shortages were a thing
23:44of the past.
23:47The first lieutenant
23:49of the U-32 stated,
23:51the English can hold out
23:53under existing conditions
23:54for years.
23:55You only need to look
23:56at the shops.
23:58The U-boats' arms
23:59will not break them.
24:03The blockade didn't seem
24:05to dampen British spirits.
24:15It was impossible
24:16for Admiral Dönitz
24:17to step up a gear.
24:19He could only send out
24:2035 units at any one time,
24:22which wasn't enough.
24:28The U-boats leaving the shipyards
24:30only replaced the losses,
24:32and military command refused
24:33to provide extra means.
24:37The Kriegsmarine's requests
24:38generally played second fiddle
24:40to those of the Wehrmacht,
24:42which was better represented
24:43in the Nazi hierarchy.
24:45And now the commander
24:46of the Luftwaffe,
24:47Hermann Göring,
24:48was asking for even more.
24:52In early 1941, however,
24:55Göring agreed to supply
24:56a handful of reconnaissance planes,
24:58which became the U-boats' eyes.
25:03With their first collaborations,
25:05the U-boats notched up
25:06new successes.
25:08It was the era of the aces.
25:15Victory after victory,
25:17new heroes added to the ranks
25:19of legendary captains.
25:23After Gunther Prien,
25:25the bull of Scarpa Flow,
25:26it was the turn
25:27of Joachim Schepke to shine.
25:30He was even invited to Berlin
25:32to tell of his exploits
25:34at the helm of the U-100.
25:39But the king of tonnage
25:40was Otto Kretschmer,
25:42or Silent Otto.
25:46Responsible for 46 sinkings,
25:48the captain of the U-99
25:49was never dethroned.
25:52The Nazi propaganda machine
25:55was quick to flaunt
25:56its hero's feats.
26:11Omnipresent in the field,
26:13the Third Reich's film cameras
26:14magnified each action and gesture.
26:19Unrelentingly,
26:20the wolves were portrayed
26:21as demigods,
26:25footage that fueled a legend
26:27which would last
26:27for years to come.
26:33In truth,
26:34there was little heroism
26:35in the U-boat attacks.
26:38Their victims were essentially
26:40defenseless merchant ships.
26:49One submariner on the U-55
26:52admitted as much.
26:53We sink everything
26:55without previous warning,
26:56but the British
26:57must not know that.
26:59We always allow the crew to drown.
27:02What else can you do?
27:09An order that broke
27:10the rules of war.
27:13Most of the victims
27:14were civilians
27:15left to their sad fate.
27:19The Nazi submariners
27:20were pitiless.
27:22At best,
27:23they threw some bread
27:24and a compass
27:25to the wrecked survivors
27:26and wished them good luck.
27:30Nobody was spared.
27:32One submariner revealed,
27:35the BDU sent through,
27:37there's a convoy,
27:38a children's transport.
27:40The children's transport
27:42is so big,
27:46we sank a children's transport.
27:49All are dead.
28:04After 18 months of war,
28:06British technology
28:07had progressed.
28:11ASDIC could now detect
28:12a U-boat
28:13two kilometers away,
28:15making counterattacks
28:16more effective.
28:19The days of impunity
28:21were over.
28:27In March 1941,
28:29the U-boat aces
28:30were caught unawares.
28:36On March the 7th,
28:37Gunther Prien,
28:38with his record
28:39of 30 ships sunk,
28:41disappeared
28:41with his U-47.
28:43On the 17th,
28:45it was the turn
28:46of Joachim Shepke,
28:47author of 37 sinkings,
28:49to go down
28:50with his U-100.
28:52On the 22nd,
28:54Otto Kretschmer
28:55was captured
28:56southeast of Iceland,
28:57having scuttled
28:58his U-99.
29:00The ace of aces
29:01was a prize capture.
29:07In two weeks,
29:08the wolf pack
29:09was decimated.
29:10And for Dönitz,
29:12the trouble
29:12was only just beginning.
29:18in May 1941,
29:20one of the Nazis'
29:21cipher machines,
29:22the famous Enigma,
29:23was delivered
29:24to MI6 headquarters
29:25at Bletchley Park.
29:29The machine,
29:30along with its
29:31instruction manual,
29:32came from a U-boat
29:33captured by a British destroyer.
29:39By a twist of fate,
29:41it was the man
29:41who sank
29:42the passenger ship
29:43Athenia,
29:43Captain Fritz Julius Lemp,
29:45who, failing to scuttle
29:47his U-110,
29:48allowed the British
29:49to take the equipment
29:50left on board.
29:56Lemp was killed,
29:57his crew captured,
29:59and his U-boat
30:00finally sunk.
30:03The Nazis,
30:05unaware of what had happened,
30:06didn't change their code.
30:11This event marked
30:12a turning point
30:13in the intelligence war.
30:15The Nazis'
30:16most complex code
30:17was broken.
30:20The machine,
30:21designed by the British
30:22computer scientist
30:23Alan Turing,
30:24could decipher
30:25the enemy's messages
30:26within 36 hours.
30:29The most important
30:30transatlantic convoys
30:32were diverted
30:32to protect them
30:33from attack.
30:35But sparing all transport
30:37would arouse
30:38Germans' suspicion.
30:40So the Admiralty
30:41sacrificed a number
30:43of its ships
30:43to maintain
30:44its precious advantage.
30:51But Nazi tactics
30:52went unchanged.
30:54The fall of the Aces
30:56didn't stop
30:56the methodical killings.
30:59U-boats sank
31:00five times
31:01as many cargo ships
31:02as German battleships did.
31:05The commander-in-chief
31:07of the Kriegsmarine,
31:08Admiral Rader,
31:09remained convinced
31:10that his giants
31:11still had a role to play.
31:15In May 1941,
31:16he deployed
31:17his fleet's flagship,
31:19the fearsome Bismarck,
31:20for its first
31:21Atlantic sortie.
31:24Reputed to be
31:25unsinkable,
31:26even Churchill
31:27called it
31:28the world's
31:28most powerful battleship.
31:40Just one week
31:41after setting sail,
31:43chased down
31:43by the Royal Navy,
31:44it was pounded
31:45with almost 3,000 shells
31:47and sank,
31:49taking down
31:50more than 2,000
31:51crewmen with it.
31:54The Bismarck
31:55had not survived
31:56its first mission.
32:02Hitler ordered
32:03all surface vessels
32:04back to Germany.
32:08The Third Reich
32:09could not rule
32:10the waves
32:10in regular fashion.
32:12Only the underhand
32:13tactics of the U-boats
32:14could keep
32:15to keep the illusion
32:15going.
32:24On June the 22nd, 1941,
32:27Germany invaded
32:28the Soviet Union,
32:30once again
32:31with no prior warning.
32:37German divisions
32:39plowed through
32:39Soviet defenses
32:40at lightning speed.
32:45The Red Army
32:46was staring
32:47at defeat.
32:53Donitz received
32:54orders to deprive
32:55the Soviets
32:55of all kinds
32:56of support.
33:00He dispatched
33:01his squadrons
33:02towards the Arctic Circle,
33:03where Allied convoys
33:04were supplying
33:05the port of Mermansk.
33:14The wolf packs
33:15now prowled
33:16the Arctic Ocean,
33:17one of the most
33:18dangerous and inhospitable
33:19zones on the planet.
33:26On board,
33:27the conditions
33:27were deplorable.
33:34The extreme cold
33:35put sailors' bodies
33:36to a severe test.
33:44At this point
33:45in the war,
33:46U-boats held sway
33:47in the seas
33:48from the North Atlantic
33:49to the Mediterranean.
33:56They sank more ships
33:58than the Allies
33:59could produce.
34:04But American industry
34:05was ready
34:06to step in.
34:09Of all America's
34:10contributions
34:10to Allied victory,
34:12a vast shipbuilding
34:13program is perhaps
34:14the most vital
34:14at the moment.
34:16Shall we beat
34:17the Axis effort
34:17to torpedo our plans
34:19for attack?
34:19The answer is yes.
34:28In late 1941,
34:30the United States
34:31became the arsenal
34:32for democracy.
34:38Tanks, planes,
34:39and munitions
34:40were produced
34:40at a dizzying pace
34:42to rescue Europe.
34:49The shipyards
34:50of Baltimore
34:50launched the first
34:51Liberty ships,
34:52which inaugurated
34:53the longest production line
34:55of ships
34:55ever established.
35:01almost 3,000 ships
35:03were mass-produced
35:04in record time,
35:05thanks to the ingenuity
35:07of American industrialist
35:08Henry J. Kaiser,
35:10who introduced Fordism
35:11into his shipyards.
35:19This new type
35:20of cargo ship
35:21symbolized
35:22the strength
35:23of the American
35:23war industry.
35:25Extremely fast
35:26to construct,
35:27it could carry
35:27up to 10,000 tons
35:29of equipment,
35:30jeeps,
35:31locomotives,
35:31tanks,
35:32and planes,
35:33and be transformed
35:34into an oil tanker
35:35or troop ship.
35:40It sailed
35:41at 20 kilometers
35:42an hour,
35:43sufficiently fast
35:44to escape
35:44from the U-boats.
35:46On board,
35:4735 gunners
35:48kept a constant lookout.
35:51Nazi military command
35:52didn't expect
35:53to see such an armada
35:54spring up.
35:56And another event
35:57would soon change
35:58the balance of power.
36:05On December 7, 1941,
36:08the Japanese attack
36:09on Pearl Harbor
36:10brought the United
36:11States into the war.
36:14Hitler could finally
36:15have a stab
36:16at Uncle Sam.
36:19Dönitz dispatched
36:21his U-boats
36:21to attack the United
36:22States in
36:23Operation Drumbeat.
36:26The objective,
36:27to cut off the supply
36:29of Texan oil
36:30to Europe.
36:32The wolf packs
36:33were put under
36:34increased strain.
36:35The American coast
36:37lay 5,500 kilometers
36:38from Lorient,
36:41a distressing voyage
36:42for the submariners.
36:49In the spring of 1942,
36:51American waters
36:52were infested
36:52with Nazi U-boats,
36:54so close to shore
36:55that at nighttime,
36:56the crewmen
36:57could admire
36:57the nearby city lights.
37:07Dönitz noted,
37:10our boats soon discovered
37:12the best way to proceed.
37:14During the day,
37:15they rested between
37:1750 and 150 meters deep
37:19on the bottom,
37:20a few nautical miles
37:21from the cargo route.
37:24Then, at dusk,
37:26they approached the coast
37:27and surfaced
37:28once night had fallen.
37:34The American coasts
37:36became akin
37:37to a fairground turkey shoot,
37:39made all the easier
37:40by the incompetence
37:41of U.S. naval command.
37:44The commander-in-chief
37:46of the Navy,
37:46Admiral Ernest J. King,
37:48obsessed with the war
37:49against Japan,
37:50didn't take
37:51the U-boat threat seriously.
37:57Despite warnings
37:58from the British,
37:59King stubbornly refused
38:00to form convoys,
38:02which he considered pointless.
38:07A stance which infuriated
38:09his highest-placed peers.
38:12In his journal,
38:13an exasperated
38:14General Eisenhower wrote,
38:17One thing that might
38:18help win this war
38:19is to get someone
38:20to shoot king.
38:23The outcome,
38:25the 30 or so U-boats
38:27lying off the U.S. coasts
38:28sank more than 500 ships
38:30in six months.
38:32One ship's captain
38:33recounted,
38:35I fished out wrecked survivors
38:37choking on fuel spillage.
38:39Once I fished out a woman
38:41whose torso
38:41was cut in two.
38:48and Canada wasn't spared.
38:51The U-boats
38:52sneaked into the mouth
38:53of the St. Lawrence River,
38:54the departure point
38:56for many convoys.
38:59Cargo ships
39:00were sunk
39:01under the very noses
39:02of the Royal Canadian Navy.
39:08citizens were ordered
39:09to cork their windows
39:10and cover their car headlamps
39:12with opaque plaster.
39:16Contrary to what we think,
39:17Americans were also
39:18victims on home soil.
39:311942 would be the year
39:33of the greatest U-boat successes.
39:401,322 sinkings
39:42for the loss
39:43of just 84 U-boats.
39:47For each submarine lost,
39:49the Creek's Marines
39:49sent 16 Allied ships
39:51to the bottom of the ocean.
39:59And every month,
40:0120 new vessels
40:02joined the Wolfpack.
40:04Dönitz finally had
40:06more than 100 U-boats
40:07on active duty.
40:13In January 1915,
40:15Hitler appointed Dönitz
40:17Admiral-in-Chief
40:18of the Krieg's Marine.
40:22Reder was forced
40:23to give up his position
40:24to the indefatigable
40:25promoter of U-boats.
40:32Dönitz savored his triumph,
40:35but he took command
40:37at the very worst moment.
40:44early in 1943
40:45came the turning point
40:47of the war.
40:48The Nazis were retreating
40:49on every front.
40:53In the Atlantic,
40:55the Allies now had
40:56800 warships
40:57escorting the convoys,
40:59the means to foil
41:01the Phantom Menace.
41:04A strike force
41:05equipped with the latest
41:06scientific advances,
41:08providing decisive assets
41:09in anti-submarine warfare.
41:16Since 1942,
41:18the U.S. Navy
41:18had been perfecting
41:19a system invented
41:20by the British.
41:23Radar,
41:24a crucial
41:25technological advance.
41:28The new compact models
41:30fitted into the noses
41:31of reconnaissance aircraft
41:33covered a radius
41:34of 300 kilometers
41:35compared to the
41:36previous 35.
41:40German submariner
41:41Heinz Schaeffer
41:42regretfully admitted,
41:44They now have
41:46the ability
41:46to detect us
41:47in any kind of weather,
41:49in the rain,
41:50the fog,
41:50or at night,
41:51when we're at the surface.
41:54Our means of attack
41:55have diminished.
41:56Our losses
41:57are increasing.
41:58Maybe our command
42:00underestimated
42:01the capabilities
42:01of radar.
42:08Detection,
42:09which made surfacing
42:10an act of suicide.
42:14U-boats could
42:16no longer hide
42:17or communicate.
42:20Their conversations
42:21were picked up
42:22by a new system
42:23called Huff-Duff,
42:24which could locate
42:26the origin
42:26of a radio wave.
42:29With Huff-Duff,
42:31any ship
42:32within a range
42:32of 30 kilometers
42:33was immediately spotted.
42:40Without communication,
42:42the wolves
42:42could no longer coordinate,
42:44bringing an end
42:45to hunting as a pack.
42:48An officer
42:49at Dönitz's headquarters
42:50admitted,
42:52the enemy
42:53has every asset
42:54in hand.
42:56He knows
42:57all our secrets,
42:58while we know
42:59none of his.
43:09As well as detection tools,
43:11weapons had also evolved.
43:15Already fitted
43:16with radar,
43:17reconnaissance planes
43:18were also equipped
43:19with Mark 24 mines,
43:21highly accurate
43:22acoustic anti-ship torpedoes.
43:33And thanks to new
43:34powerful spotlights,
43:36U-boats were visible
43:37at night
43:37as if it was day.
43:40Hunting now took place
43:4124 hours a day.
43:45Submariner,
43:45Heinz Sheffier,
43:46conceded,
43:49the submarine
43:50doesn't have time
43:51to activate
43:52its anti-aircraft defenses.
43:54The gunners
43:55are caught
43:55in the thick
43:55of the action.
43:58The U-boat
43:59is lost.
44:01It's rare
44:02for a single man
44:03to escape death.
44:10Another lethal weapon
44:11was the hedgehog.
44:14This device
44:15fired 24-spigot mortars
44:18ahead of the ship.
44:22This increased
44:24the chances
44:24of making a hit
44:25with newly developed
44:26shells
44:26that only exploded
44:28on contact.
44:32Here,
44:33pools of spilled fuel
44:34form on the surface,
44:36as if they were
44:36funeral wreaths.
44:50in 1942,
44:52the life expectancy
44:53of a U-boat
44:54was more than 12 months.
44:56One year later,
44:58it was no more
44:59than 12 weeks.
45:12The Allies
45:12had found
45:13the riposte
45:14and took
45:14full advantage.
45:16It was
45:17Dönitz's turn
45:18to taste
45:18the bitterness
45:19of defeat.
45:20His dream
45:21of sinking
45:22more ships
45:22than the Allies
45:23could produce
45:24evaporated.
45:26Altogether,
45:27the 16 American
45:28shipyards
45:29were launching
45:29one Liberty
45:30ship every day.
45:36The Admiral
45:37accepted
45:37the obvious
45:38conclusion.
45:39On May 24,
45:401943,
45:41he ordered
45:42his units
45:43to withdraw
45:43from the North
45:44Atlantic.
45:47But Dönitz
45:49wasn't one
45:49to throw
45:50in the towel.
45:54He informed
45:55his wolves
45:55of his new
45:56strategy.
45:58We know
45:59that the
45:59presence alone
46:00of our U-boats
46:01will occupy
46:01two million
46:02of our enemies.
46:04So we must,
46:05in spite of
46:05everything,
46:06dispatch our
46:07boats to
46:07distract the
46:08enemy,
46:09even if they
46:09never sink
46:10another ship.
46:15Fifteen U-boats
46:16entered the
46:17North Atlantic
46:17to simulate
46:18the presence
46:19of several
46:19wolf packs.
46:21Dönitz staked
46:22everything on
46:23his most
46:23experienced
46:24captains.
46:30It was a
46:31wasted effort.
46:32The last
46:33wolves were
46:33sunk one
46:34by one.
46:39The crewmen
46:40weren't unaware
46:41of the fate
46:42awaiting them.
46:44They lamented,
46:45all of these
46:46U-boat sorties
46:47are now
46:48suicidal.
46:50In 1943,
46:53238 U-boats
46:54were lost.
46:58First Lieutenant
46:59Heinz Schaeffer
47:00bemoaned,
47:02we feel bitter,
47:04a curse
47:04on this war,
47:05on mankind,
47:06on the inventors
47:07of submarines,
47:08on ourselves.
47:12After four
47:12years of war,
47:13half of the U-boats
47:14had been sent
47:15to the bottom
47:15of the ocean.
47:16the surviving
47:18units were
47:18transformed
47:19into life rafts.
47:22The wolves'
47:24fangs
47:24were well
47:25and truly
47:25blunted.
47:31Since the
47:32Normandy landings,
47:34Germany was
47:35in its death
47:35throes.
47:38Early in
47:391945,
47:41Berlin fell
47:41to the Red
47:42Army.
47:45on April
47:46the 30th,
47:47Hitler
47:47committed
47:47suicide.
47:49In his
47:50last will
47:51and testament,
47:51he named
47:52Dönitz
47:52as his
47:53successor
47:53as head
47:54of state.
47:57Dönitz
47:58announced
47:58the news
47:59in a
47:59nationwide
47:59radio
48:00address.
48:25The
48:26admiral
48:27stubbornly
48:27refused
48:28peace.
48:31to save
48:32the
48:32Kriegsmarine's
48:33honor,
48:34he ordered
48:34the scuttling
48:35of all
48:36ships.
48:38232 U-boats
48:39were sunk,
48:40never to
48:40surface again.
48:46A handful
48:47of rebel
48:48wolves
48:48disobeyed
48:49and helped
48:49themselves
48:50to the
48:50last cargo
48:51ships
48:51of the
48:52war.
48:53The
48:54war
48:59was
48:59the
49:004th,
49:00Dönitz
49:01accepted
49:01the
49:01facts
49:02and
49:02announced
49:03the
49:03capitulation
49:04of
49:04Germany.
49:06The wolves
49:07surrendered
49:08to the
49:08victors,
49:09but not
49:10all of
49:10them.
49:11One
49:12new type
49:13of U-boat
49:13was on
49:14a secret
49:14mission.
49:16Capable
49:16of crossing
49:17the entire
49:18Atlantic
49:18underwater,
49:19it patrolled
49:20freely,
49:20undetectable
49:21by radar.
49:24It could
49:24easily sink
49:25any ships
49:26it came
49:26across,
49:26then flee
49:27in stealth
49:28mode,
49:28but the
49:29war was
49:30over.
49:32This
49:33sole
49:33prototype
49:34was unable
49:34to change
49:35the course
49:35of history,
49:36but it
49:37did pave
49:37the way
49:38for the
49:38design
49:38of modern
49:39submarines.
49:48Of the
49:4940,000
49:49German
49:50submariners
49:51was called
49:51to duty.
49:5230,000
49:53of them
49:53remained
49:54in the
49:54ocean
49:54depths
49:55alongside
49:55their
49:56victims.
49:57A pointless
49:58sacrifice,
49:59because the
50:00destruction
50:00of the
50:00Allied
50:01merchant
50:01fleet
50:01was but
50:02a pipe
50:03dream.
50:06They
50:06hadn't
50:07banked
50:07on the
50:07U.S.
50:08being able
50:08to produce
50:09more ships
50:10than the
50:10U-boats
50:11could destroy.
50:13Faced
50:14with the
50:14industrial
50:15power of
50:15Uncle Sam,
50:16Donitz
50:17was always
50:17a loser.
50:21The
50:23153
50:23surviving
50:24U-boats
50:24were moored
50:25in Allied
50:25ports
50:26or on the
50:26banks
50:27of the
50:27River
50:27Thames.
50:34Churchill
50:35had one
50:35brought to
50:36London
50:36so that
50:37the British
50:37people
50:38could at
50:38last
50:38approach
50:39one
50:39of
50:39the
50:39terrifying
50:40wolves
50:40which had
50:41sunk
50:41more than
50:423,500
50:43Allied
50:43ships.
50:53In
50:54November
50:541945
50:55the
50:56hour
50:56of
50:56judgment
50:56came
50:57for
50:57the
50:57Nazi
50:58war
50:58criminals.
50:59At
51:00the
51:00Nuremberg
51:00trials
51:01Admiral
51:02Karl
51:02Donitz
51:03was at
51:03the
51:03head
51:04of
51:04the
51:04list
51:04just
51:05behind
51:05Hermann
51:05Göring.
51:08He
51:08was
51:09indicted
51:09on
51:09counts
51:10of
51:10crimes
51:10against
51:11peace
51:11and
51:12war
51:12crimes.
51:14With
51:15a
51:15solid
51:15defense
51:16he
51:16was
51:16sentenced
51:16to
51:1710
51:17years
51:17in
51:18prison.
51:19As
51:20the
51:20instigator
51:20of
51:21criminal
51:21warfare
51:22that
51:22accounted
51:22for
51:2272,000
51:24Allied
51:24deaths
51:25half
51:25of
51:25which
51:25were
51:26civilians
51:26Donitz
51:27was
51:27able
51:28to
51:28save
51:28his
51:28image
51:29and
51:29convince
51:30the
51:30tribunal
51:30that
51:31he
51:31wasn't
51:31a
51:31Nazi.
51:33A
51:33little
51:34white
51:34lie?
51:35After
51:36all
51:36Hitler
51:36did
51:36name
51:37him
51:37as
51:37his
51:37successor.
51:39Whatever
51:39the
51:40case
51:40he
51:41preserved
51:41his
51:41reputation
51:42as
51:43an
51:43honest
51:43soldier
51:43until
51:44his
51:44death
51:45in
51:45December
51:451980.
52:16last
52:17time
52:17in
52:27has