The “Happy Times”: Hitler’s U-Boat Campaign in the Atlantic 

For anyone interested, my late grandfather was Captain of a Canadian ship, he wrote a book about the armament of a few civilian ships called Three Princes Armed - anyone particularly interested in this topic would definitely really appreciate his take.

You should make a video about radar. One of the most important war innovations since gunpowder.

My great grandfather sunk 10 U-boats by himself. The kreigsmarine said he was the worst mechanic they ever had!

Almost on the date of the release of this video..... I was actually visiting U-995 at the German Naval Memorial close to Keil. Fascinating place to go if your passing btw. So as someone with a deal of interest in this subject, the view being expressed here is very simplified but a good layman introduction Anyway just a few points missed/incorrect- Germany had fewer submarines in 1939 than the Italians The interwar treaties did eventually have Submarine limits on size and tonnage from 1930 up to the colapse of the naval treaties in 1935. The 50 US lend lease Destroyers were old WWI vessels and required refits to make them suitable for ASW work The RN loaned modern corvettes to the USN/Coastguard when the US entered in 1941....until they could build enough DE vessels and Admiral King got his ass into gear and was forced into using a British style convoy system off the East coast. Finally .......Simon and his team fail to mention the importance of the Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU) mostly staffed by Women, who trained escort commanders in the tactics of how to sink Uboats in the Battle of the Atlantic and working out new German methods of attack - and you can go to the Western Approaches museum in Liverpool to see that story along with the details of the whole Battle of the Atlantic. On equipment... whilst Type VII boats were modern in 1939 they were becoming rapidly obsolete towards 1944 because they were essentially too small for the job they were being asked to undertake in the Atlantic. They carried too few supplies and not enough fuel (, they even built submarine tankers as a sticking plaster for this very problem); the larger Type IX were much better at working in the far side Atlantic were made in very low numbers and many were used as cargo transportation for rare materials that Germany obtained from Japan. As for casualties, that huge list of names of the men who never cam home at wars end, who''s grave is an unknown patch of sea floor, are not firgotten entirely - they are on the wall of Uboat memorial for both wars is also at Leboe, near Kiel. Thank you for reading this SC

Michael Gannon wrote 2 great books on this, "Black May" and "Operation Drumbeat". Both can usually be found in most larger library systems and are very good reads. Also recommend Simon Parker's "A game of birds and wolves" about how the anti-sub tactics were developed. They were so good, i ended up buying copies for my library.

The submarine warfare didn't bring the US into the war because Pearl Harbor beat them to it. But it did bring Brazil and Mexico into the war. Germans didn't learn the lesson from WW1 that U-boat warfare tends to annoy neutral countries.

Would be interesting to see a video about the Sinking of the Lancastria and it's cover up

You should do a video on the Monitor vs the Virginia during the US Civil war

1:20 - Chapter 1 - Conception & fleet 5:05 - Chapter 2 - The 1st happy time 10:15 - Chapter 3 - Contested waters 14:50 - Chapter 4 - American shooting season 19:20 - Chapter 5 - War weary sailors

If you're ever in Chicago, its worth your time and money to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. They have a whole U-Boat on display, and the story about how it was captured, floated from the coast of Africa to Chicago, set up for display and then restored and moved to a better indoor exhibit hall is quite a tale. The fact that they also do tours onboard is just icing on the cake. Can't recommend it enough.

My great-grandfather was in the US merchant marine. I always felt a connection with the Battle of the Atlantic.

My great grandfather was a merchant seaman during the second world War. He said he saw other ships sink due to german uboats. I couldn't imagine fearing that the enemy could be just underneath you.

I went to a state Maritime academy for university in America, and the battle of the Atlantic is still seared into our identify. The federal merchant marine academy at kings point is the only service academy that sent cadets into combat zones aboard the merchantmen, and they lost 142 of their cadets as a result. Every day they have a ceremony where they turn the pages of the book of their fallen shipmates Because of this, they are the only military academy in the United States that has a unit battle flag

Last month, I went with family to a local science museum. While I was in there, 8 was shocked find that they had a U-Boat on display. With that I was shocked that they had an anchor. I thought they just were always moving if they weren't in port.

i remember hearing somewhere that Churchill was more anxious and distressed about the Battle of the Atlantic than the Battle of Britain.

U should do a video on U-402 and its captain. U-402 was able to sink dozen ships between late 1942 and mid 1943 all against heavily escorted convoys! The exploit of this specific boat is astounding

love this channel

You might do a video on how many U-boats Germany could have started the war with if it hadn't devoted so many resources to building the _Bismarck, Graf Spree_ and others.

War is such a waste. It's the lesson we have to keep learning again and again.

I love watching new informative episodes with this guy. He actually makes history and historical events come to life. Always look forward to new episodes, keep them coming sir.

Uh, Whistle Boy? The treaty of Versailles absolutely forbid Germany from the acquisition or maintenance of submarines. They were not allowed to keep any of the submarines they had already built. That's kind of a big part of the restrictions placed on germany in the treaty. No submarines, no planes, and no tanks. They acquired all three anyway, but for Germany, all three were strictly forbidden.

Love you take on geopolitics

Although Simon mentioned Convoy SC-5 as being from Nova Scotia, since it was from Sydney, Cape Breton (SC) it should have been mentioned. In fact, because most of the slow conveys left from Sydney, these were the convoys that had the most dangerous trips. The Royal Canadian Navy base that coordinated SC convoys was HMCS Protector. Other convoys such as, Sydney-Port aux Basque (SPAB) in Newfoundland, and Sydney-Greenland (SG). It was an SPAB convoy that the greatest loss of life during the war in Canadian patrolled waters occurred. The marine ferry S.S. Caribou was sunk in the early morning on 14 October 1942. 137 people died, of those 57 were military personnel; 49 civilians including some children; and 31 out of 46 crew members. This attack can be considered also part of the Battle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Anyway good video, just wish Sydney was correctly identified as both it and Halifax are part of Nova Scotia.

I don't remember hearing about the Elektroboot before, I've got some reading to do. Thank you!

I got to walk through a WW2 USA submarine (It is a floating museum in San Francisco) It struck me how confined those brave men were (even officer quarters) I cant even imagine being in one for days or longer

My great-grandfather was too young to enlist in the army in WWII, so instead he joined up as a merchant mariner (still having to lie about his age to be able to do so). He did not know how to swim, and yet had two separate ships shot out from under him. To his dying day, he never forgave the British navy, who was responsible for both if his ships when they were sunk. He claimed to have lost his hearing in the English Channel during one of those sinkings and when my sister went to study abroad in England, he told her to look for it for him. She said she looked, but never found it.

Your videos are incredible! Do agincourt!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Request for future warographics episode, the German 12th Army and Walther Wenck not obeying orders, and instead going on a rescue mission, even asking his men for one more effort, "not about Berlin, not about the Reich", on a mission to save as many lives as possible

Hey Fact boy, are we getting anymore biographics or geographics videos? Please say yes those are my fav

Thanks

Suggestion: The Navajo Code/Wind Talkers.

Can't forget the contributions of Mr. Limpet too

There's a German U-boat in my town (1 of only 4 left in the world) in NW England, U-534. They are so much bigger than I thought, despite being built in 1942, she never sank any ships and was destroyed days before the war ended. The area is rich in naval history, home to Cammel lairds shipbuilders and just on the opposite side of the river to Liverpool.

My cousin was stationed on the USS Nautilus. He said those sailors on the U boats had balls of steel for what they had to engage in. I know he was right but those merchant seamen had no weapons and they went anyway. I look upon those men as true heroes who didn't get enough credit for what they did.

It would be very nice if there was a video from this channel regarding the 9 years of war in Yemen.

The Kriegsmarine punched well above its weight class for the limited resources given. Very much like the IJN in the Pacific, their biggest enemy was the ever evolving Allies tactics and technologies. Had the Axis been able to keep up in the tech arms race, the outcome may be completely different.

Thanks for the great videos, but are you sure about the range of 15700 kms for the 7c?

Since this Idea got no traction on your other channel Megaprojects, would you be willing to do the IL2 on this channel?

The treaty of versailles did ban submarines along with tanks and an airforce

For any travelers who are interested there are two existing U-Boats that you can go through. The first is in Germany in a small town outside Kiel. I went there myself. It’s a fun side trip. The other is in Chicago in the states. My mother went to both and loved it. Her first husband was a navy flyer who was on U-Boat patrol in the Atlantic and she read everything she could find on the Battle of the Atlantic

Winston Churchill actually said, he was more anxious about the battle of the Atlantic than he was about the battle of Britain 🇬🇧 Goes to show how dicey the situation was!

I truly do love listening to any content that is about the slow dismantling the Wehrmacht went through

How does attacking at night reduce sonar???

Love these videos, but there does seem to be a small mistake at time 3:00: Treaty of Versailles "NAVAL CLAUSES. ARTICLE 181. After the expiration of a period of two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty the German naval forces in commission must not exceed: 6 battleships of the Deutschland or Lothringen type, 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, or an equal number of ships constructed to replace them as provided in Article l90. No submarines are to be included. All other warships, except where there is provision to the contrary in the present Treaty, must be placed in reserve or devoted to commercial purposes."

@warographics One important part of this battle that you missed that would be worth a video itself is the contribution of the Western Approaches Tactical Unit.

Wow, 10-15 uboats in a wolfpack? How did they not constantly collide with each other?

I'm diggin the Wu-Tang stache ngl 14:40 😂

Without meaning to disparage the sacrifice of the merchant navy (and my grandfather was in the merchant navy), saying that the merchant navy had the highest death rate of the Second World War with 27% dying isn't true. Of the airmen of Bomber Command, 45% were killed, 6% seriously wounded, 8% Prisoners of War, and only 41% survived with lesser injuries or unscathed.

What's a Marchant aircraft carrier? Sounds like a good one for side projects.

The value and development of Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) and Electronic Counter-Countermeasures (ECCM) are best exemplified by the Naval Regime in the 1930s and 1940s. The vast distances allowed time for those tactics to be viable. TODAY, those tactics must be employed at the speed-of-light.

The Treaty of Versailles ABSOLUTELY banned Germany having U Boats! They had sunk many allied ships during WWI and there was a concerted effort to remove a key German weapon of war. The treaty limited Germany's standing army to just 100,000 men, banned them having an airforce and allowed them 6 battleships only. Given that Kaiser Wilhelm II made it a point of pride to rival the British navy just before WWI it was an exceedingly bitter term in the treaty for the Germans to accept.

You should do a history of submarine

Are there any regulations against such tactics in the Gevena Conventions? If only there was a Fact Boy who could answer this.

In Prague this weekend …. Didn’t see Simon or his broken bones …. Disappointed …AM I RIGHT PETER !!!!

Video recommendation the extremely boring but important naval mine warfare. You've covered it a few times like ruso-japanese but not as a category unless I missed it

The anti-war hangover from World War I was pervasive in the American public, and even among the elected representatives to Congress. That is why the United States did not modernize the Navy. Sending ships that would not make a port of call in England was part of King Roosevelt II Strategy to bolster support for the war. Even after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, there was not as much support for the war as the king wanted, as Hawaii was not yet a part of the United States other than being a territory. And a small distant territory at that.

My grandmother's first husband was a merchant marine, he was killed when his ship was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Alabama. I never knew the Germans got so close to our waters.

Need some nice map/location images

1:31: ⚔ The Battle of the Atlantic was Hitler's campaign to cut off Britain's supplies and force a peace treaty. 4:00: 🚢 During the early years of World War II, German U-boats posed a significant threat to Allied convoys, as the Royal Navy lacked effective means to detect and counter them. 8:00: 🚢 The German U-boats were able to form packs and coordinate hunting tactics, leading to devastating attacks on Allied convoys during the first Happy Time of 1940. 11:13: ⚔ The Battle of the Atlantic between German U-boats and Allied forces intensified in 1941, but the Allies gained the upper hand with the help of radar, code-breaking, and increased armament on merchant ships. 14:42: 💥 During the battle of the Atlantic, German submarines took advantage of America's disorganization and sank numerous ships, causing devastating losses for the Allies. 18:21: ✨ The Battle of the Atlantic turned in favor of the Allies due to advancements in technology and increased resources. 22:53: 💥 The Battle of the Atlantic resulted in devastating losses for both the Allies and the Germans, but the Allies ultimately won and it marked the collapse of Nazi Germany. Recap by Tammy AI

B-29s were not used in the battle of the Atlantic, your visual might give the wrong impression. The US and Britain used B-24's and B-17s to a lesser extent.

Had Hitler focused more resources on building large numbers of Uboats rather than huge battleships like the Bismarck and Tirpitz that served no actual strategic purpose then the war would have been much more difficult for the Allies. Same for tanks, rather than building less than two thousand Tigers they could have made thousands more Panzer IV’s and Stugs.

I'm begging for a Simon Whistler "What if the British Empire had sided with Nazi Germany?" video.

To the best of my knowledge, merchant sailors whose ship was sunk just died because no other merchant ship or escort would stop to pick up survivors.

A great sub battle was the Battle of the St Lawrence, where U-boats were able to enter the gulf of the St Lawrence to sink ships

🎵To their own shore came the world war Gleaves and the Ingham leading the Bury west In their own track Came the Wolfpack Gleaves led the convoy into the hornet’s nest Under fire, under water May ‘42 when Bury did fail the test To their own shore came the world war Gleaves and the Ingham leading them into death🎵 - Sabaton, “Wolfpack”

Something I find starkly interesting about the 3rd reich is the general consensus that they steamrolled in the beginning because they were willing to try new ideas, tactics, ect (Definitely could make some arguments against that but nonetheless “general opinion”). From what I can see, yes they did try some more pioneer type concepts/ideas yet they never adapted or opted to continue their so called “ingenuity” after 39/40. In their campaigns you can clearly see that Hitler and high command did not foresee the need to change or adapt further than their September polish campaign and the blitz of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They rather just kept using what worked, similar to Japan especially considering their “Banzai Charges” that basically played into the strength of every nation they fought against, minus the Chinese but only the later from a lack of machine guns.

Admiral "Jelly" Doenitz was lucky to have escaped with his life at the end of the war. Admiral Nimitz testified that the Americans had used the same tactics against the Japanese. Jelly was, after all, Hitler's successor...

Popular alarm at the sinkings was dealt with by a combination of secrecy and misleading propaganda. The US Navy confidently announced that many of the U-boats "never enjoy the return portion of their voyage" but that unfortunately, details of the sunken U-boats could not be made public lest the information aid the enemy. All citizens who had witnessed the sinking of U-boat were ask to help keep the secrets safe.

My “Happy Times” last roughly 15 or less so I’d say it was a good run.

The British learned a hard lesson with the first happy times , the us admiral in charge of the navy was not a fan of the brits and refused to listen to there advice on the uboat menace, unfortunately they learned the hard way .

22:10 - Mega/Side projects on those unfinished Submarines?

it was the u boats that helped the Allies break the Enigma Codes thanks to the captured machine and settings from a stricken U-boat

Doenitz wanted to buid at least 300 U Boats before the war but this didn't happen. I always wondered what would have happened had the Kriegsmarine focused on the UBootwaffe

A bunch of seamen taking part in "happy times" with their tubular objects? Sounds like a sticky situation indeed...

I had 2 family members serve in the baby in WW2 and one was in the mediterranean theatre and to my knowledge was sunk by the U boats but survived the war

RU-vid gave me this notification an hour ago wtf

It's hardly the first error in this script but the treaty of versailles banned germany from the construction or aquisition of submarines. this is an error so fundamental that you need to start again using history and facts.

Hitler focusing on "one-punch" weaponry and not adaptability was his downfall. Also his hubris about Russia

Have you done the US submarines in the Pacific? That's a good story

4:11 the problem is the person in charge of Britian at the time was Winston "the bulldog" Churchill who's "never surrender" speech really basically said to Nazis Germany "Give us hell then! We aren't surrendering u bastard!"

that turn naval ace how do you become a naval ace anyway

What a concidence today is 23 year anniversary of the Kursk Submarine sunk 😂😂

The greatest anti tank ditch - the English channel

27% casualty rate is not the highest of all military branches during the war I'm afraid. Bomber command lost 49%!

you know if plan z (building a large surface fleet) was never a thing then Germany would've had a much larger uboat fleet at the outbreak of the war. Though they probably wouldn't have been able to conquer norway and gain safe access to important raw materials from Sweden

Its called DURNITZ not Darnitz

Had England on the ropes

Worth noting, the Allied invasion of Iceland was them fully just taking over a neutral country so it could be used as a military waystation. *FAR* from the worst of the many crimes of this war, far, even, from the worst of the crimes perpetrated by the Allies in WWII, but...still not okay

Its DÖnitz, not DOnetz

My great Grandfather served on U-75 during the happy Times .

If sufficient time was had for the type XX submarine the tide may have favored the Germans

19:56 through 20:17 made no sense to me? Bombers targeted bombers? And North Africa waters? I’m lost or really stupid

Did the britts not have any submarines of them self at first?

👍

Uboats have always amazed me. I know their destruction but at the same time the German had great minds building great equipment. Thank God Hitler was defeated.

It would have been kind of interesting to see what would have happened if Hitler had focused on aircraft carriers and not the Bismarck and her sisters

At this point in time it would've been considered his majesty when referring to the UK due to having king George in charge

The Germans may have invented the Wolfpack, but the US improved it. The US Sub fleet utterly DESTROYED Japan's merchant fleet. They were to a point they were using wooden sanpans to carry cargo. They did to Japan what the Germans could not do to England.

In ww1, the UK blockaded Germsny and nearby forced it into starvation. Guess Hitler thought he was returning the favor.

It is „Dönitz“ not „Donitz“.