The War Archive: The Grey Wolves | U-Boats 1942-1943 (Volume 2)

Volume 2: The first six months of 1942 saw the war assume a truly global dimension with the entry of the United States into the conflict. For the U-boat arm, the heavy coastal traffic off the eastern seaboard of the U.S. provided such fertile hunting ground that the high number of vessels sunk led this period to be christened by the submarine crews as the 'second happy time'. The belated introduction of convoy tactics by the US Navy saw U-boat victories off the U.S. coast sink to a low of just three in July 1942. While U-boat numbers had increased - 249 on operations and in training - this figure disguised a dispersion of effort with submarines in action in the Arctic, in the Mediterranean, in the South Atlantic. With the bulk of this total in training and many others in dock Doenitz still had the problem of having too few submarines actually on station in the decisive North Atlantic. He now set out to exploit the 'gap' in the mid-Atlantic where convoys were beyond the range and protection of long range allied aircraft. By 1943 with more boats available 'Wolf Packs' exploited this 'gap' to inflict heavy losses on the convoys with 120 ships sunk in March - the high point of the U-boat campaign in World War II.

In volume two of the 'Grey Wolves' this story will be related with film covering the building of U-boat pens in France, the training of the new crews in the Baltic, 'Milch Cow' operations, Japanese subs in St. Nazaire and all the other elements that go to help understand the on-going battle between hunter and hunted above and beneath the cold, grey waters of the North Atlantic - the most decisive theatre of World War II.

Volume 3: https://rumble.com/v4v6zzr-the-war-archive-the-grey-wolves-u-boats-1943-1945-volume-3.html