1
00:00:03,770 --> 00:00:07,604
Hidden in a fold of Kent countryside,
just thirty miles from London,

2
00:00:08,008 --> 00:00:11,603
is the home of Britain's wartime leader -
Winston Churchill.

3
00:00:13,513 --> 00:00:16,914
Casting his mind back over five bloody
and uncertain years,

4
00:00:17,384 --> 00:00:21,616
he would write that during the war,
only one thing ever frightened him.

5
00:00:22,188 --> 00:00:23,553
The U-boat peril.

6
00:00:27,060 --> 00:00:29,620
'Battles might be won or lost,'
Churchill wrote,

7
00:00:30,096 --> 00:00:33,156
'but our power to fight,
to keep ourselves alive,

8
00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,927
rested on the outcome of the struggle
for control of the Atlantic.'

9
00:00:41,708 --> 00:00:44,575
lt was one of the longest campaigns
in Naval history.

10
00:00:45,011 --> 00:00:48,640
Bitterly fought over three million
square miles of hostile ocean.

11
00:00:49,783 --> 00:00:53,219
When it began, the U-boat didn't seem
to be a peril at all.

12
00:00:53,853 --> 00:00:58,381
And yet within eighteen months it was able
to take Britain to the brink of defeat.

13
00:00:59,692 --> 00:01:04,220
ln 1942, this battle for survival
was at its height.

14
00:01:08,334 --> 00:01:12,862
Those lost fighting it have no grave.
There are only names.

15
00:01:13,506 --> 00:01:16,532
This series remembers their war.

16
00:01:30,290 --> 00:01:33,919
At a little before midnight
on October 13th, 1939,

17
00:01:34,294 --> 00:01:37,320
a lone U-boat slipped
through the line of sunken ships

18
00:01:37,497 --> 00:01:41,627
that guarded the entrance to one of the
Royal Navy's most important bases.

19
00:01:48,541 --> 00:01:53,001
U-47 was about to attempt
what the British believed impossible.

20
00:01:53,446 --> 00:01:57,212
An attack on the Fleet in the safety
of its anchorage at Scapa Flow.

21
00:02:00,453 --> 00:02:04,287
lts Commander - Gunther Prien -
kept a log of his mission.

22
00:02:05,725 --> 00:02:07,989
'There are warships anchored inshore.

23
00:02:08,228 --> 00:02:10,719
We close to a distance of
some three thousand metres.

24
00:02:11,231 --> 00:02:12,789
We will attack the big one.'

25
00:02:14,167 --> 00:02:16,761
She was the thirty thousand ton Royal Oak.

26
00:02:17,036 --> 00:02:19,470
The flagship of the
Second Battle Squadron.

27
00:02:20,340 --> 00:02:24,037
That night, the Oak was at anchor
at the eastern end of the Flow.

28
00:02:28,014 --> 00:02:32,542
Most of her crew, twelve hundred men
and boys, were asleep below.

29
00:02:36,990 --> 00:02:38,514
Suddenly, without any warning at all,

30
00:02:38,691 --> 00:02:42,092
there was an enormous explosion
right up forwards somewhere.

31
00:02:42,996 --> 00:02:47,899
lt shook the ship from end to end
and l hopped out of my hammock

32
00:02:49,035 --> 00:02:51,196
and l told them all to get out
and get dressed

33
00:02:51,371 --> 00:02:53,271
and they just sort of leaned over
their hammock and said,

34
00:02:53,439 --> 00:02:55,270
'ah, don't worry about it.'

35
00:02:57,577 --> 00:03:00,444
We were talking, saying, you know,
'What the Dickens was that?'

36
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,815
Somebody thought it sounded like
an anti-aircraft gun,

37
00:03:03,983 --> 00:03:05,644
but nobody really knew.

38
00:03:07,420 --> 00:03:11,220
One of Prien's torpedoes had hit the Oak,
close to the anchor chain.

39
00:03:11,958 --> 00:03:14,722
Her Captain thought
it was a small internal explosion

40
00:03:14,928 --> 00:03:17,089
and that there was no need
to rouse the crew.

41
00:03:17,997 --> 00:03:22,161
Two out of every three men on that ship
only had twelve minutes to live -

42
00:03:22,835 --> 00:03:24,097
- and they didn't know it.

43
00:03:35,782 --> 00:03:38,046
Prien fired three more torpedoes.

44
00:03:43,756 --> 00:03:49,126
The ship seemed to jump out of the water,
you know. lt was an enormous explosion.

45
00:03:49,362 --> 00:03:54,299
The last one set off the cordite magazine
and this blast,

46
00:03:54,601 --> 00:03:57,331
hot orange blast came up through the deck -

47
00:03:58,204 --> 00:04:01,469
and l wondered how long it took,
you know, to die.

48
00:04:02,709 --> 00:04:06,975
And um, excuse me a moment.

49
00:04:11,017 --> 00:04:12,644
Brings back a lot of memories.

50
00:04:20,059 --> 00:04:22,027
'There was a terrible roaring and cracking.

51
00:04:22,295 --> 00:04:25,924
Columns of water and fire,
fragments were flying through the air.

52
00:04:26,566 --> 00:04:31,094
One battleship sunk. Every tube empty.
l decided to leave.'

53
00:04:37,277 --> 00:04:38,505
You have to admit,

54
00:04:38,678 --> 00:04:41,670
it was an incredible achievement
for Prien and his boat,

55
00:04:41,981 --> 00:04:45,007
with all the great difficulties
of navigation he faced.

56
00:04:45,885 --> 00:04:49,651
He managed to get into Scapa Flow
and then get out again.

57
00:04:54,694 --> 00:04:55,626
On the Oak,

58
00:04:55,862 --> 00:05:00,390
most of the crew were trapped between
the decks as the ship began to capsize.

59
00:05:12,679 --> 00:05:16,046
l must have slipped down many feet
and hit the water.

60
00:05:16,516 --> 00:05:18,245
Something touched me
on the back of the neck,

61
00:05:18,418 --> 00:05:20,579
l thought blimey,
it's coming down on top of me,

62
00:05:20,853 --> 00:05:23,879
and l did the fastest hundred yards
l've ever done in my life.

63
00:05:27,527 --> 00:05:30,963
The next thing l remember was um,
funnily enough,

64
00:05:31,130 --> 00:05:34,964
my Divisional Officer coming over
with a great lump of wood

65
00:05:35,134 --> 00:05:36,533
that he was hanging onto -

66
00:05:37,103 --> 00:05:39,071
and he said, 'Who's that?'

67
00:05:39,238 --> 00:05:42,401
and l said, 'Leading Seaman lnstance
and l'm burnt to buggery.'

68
00:05:43,176 --> 00:05:44,837
So he said, 'Oh, bad luck, old man.'

69
00:05:46,145 --> 00:05:49,376
Eight hundred and thirty three men
were lost on the Royal Oak.

70
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lt was a national humiliation.

71
00:05:52,618 --> 00:05:57,317
A British battleship sunk at anchor in a
place symbolic of the country's sea power.

72
00:06:06,566 --> 00:06:09,694
By the time U-47 returned to its base
at Wilhelmshaven,

73
00:06:10,002 --> 00:06:12,129
the name 'Prien'
was known throughout Germany.

74
00:06:12,405 --> 00:06:14,896
He had become the 'Bull of Scapa.'

75
00:06:20,947 --> 00:06:22,676
Prien became a national hero,

76
00:06:23,082 --> 00:06:27,542
and the public became very aware of the
U-boats and their potential in this war.

77
00:06:43,503 --> 00:06:44,834
Only a month before,

78
00:06:45,171 --> 00:06:48,436
Hitler had been openly skeptical
about the value of the U-boat.

79
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Now it seemed to represent
just the image of military ingenuity

80
00:06:52,345 --> 00:06:55,075
and courage he wanted to foster
in the Reich.

81
00:06:56,282 --> 00:06:59,740
He told Prien he was responsible
for a unique triumph.

82
00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:03,550
lf forty four men and a lone U-boat
could sink a battleship,

83
00:07:03,856 --> 00:07:05,949
what could a fleet of submarines do?

84
00:07:12,565 --> 00:07:15,363
Prien's mission had been
meticulously planned by the staff

85
00:07:15,535 --> 00:07:17,833
at U-boat Command in Wilhelmshaven.

86
00:07:26,813 --> 00:07:29,441
The leader of the U-boat arm,
Karl Donitz,

87
00:07:29,715 --> 00:07:32,047
had forged his men into a fighting elite.

88
00:07:32,518 --> 00:07:34,816
Their training was dominated
by the prospect of war

89
00:07:34,987 --> 00:07:38,479
with Germany's natural enemy at sea,
Great Britain.

90
00:07:40,993 --> 00:07:45,828
The task was to find out how to cut the -

91
00:07:46,265 --> 00:07:50,395
supplies across the Atlantic
within a reasonable time

92
00:07:50,736 --> 00:07:54,570
so that may be Britain would
get in serious trouble.

93
00:07:59,045 --> 00:08:03,038
When war came, although he commanded
just fifty-seven U-boat,

94
00:08:03,382 --> 00:08:06,317
Donitz planned to launch
a ruthless sea blockade,

95
00:08:06,619 --> 00:08:10,146
which he believed in time would
starve Britain into submission.

96
00:08:16,896 --> 00:08:18,090
Sixty years ago,

97
00:08:18,498 --> 00:08:22,332
this forgotten wasteland was full of ships
and merchant seamen preparing

98
00:08:22,502 --> 00:08:25,369
to make the three thousand mile voyage
across the Atlantic.

99
00:08:30,376 --> 00:08:33,277
Before the war,
some sixty million tons of food

100
00:08:33,446 --> 00:08:36,847
and raw materials passed
through ports like Liverpool.

101
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We realised that we were the lifeline.

102
00:08:44,056 --> 00:08:49,323
Without the Merchant Fleet
there'd have been no food,

103
00:08:50,429 --> 00:08:51,418
there'd have been no fuel.

104
00:08:51,597 --> 00:08:54,828
Where were all the other forces
going to get their stuff from

105
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if we didn't bring it from America?

106
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None of the glamour of the Royal Navy,

107
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but sailors of the finest type
for all that.

108
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One hundred and thirty thousand men sailed
under the Red Ensign.

109
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How old are you?

110
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Twenty-nine.

111
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They were officially non-combatant,

112
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but these were the men who would bear
the brunt of the U-boat attack.

113
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You were directed by what was called
the Pool and you had no - choice.

114
00:09:22,962 --> 00:09:29,925
lf they says, take that,
SS Maas, Endon Dock, you just went down -

115
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- and signed on.

116
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l joined the Beatus.
She was a tramp, a tramp steamer.

117
00:09:43,115 --> 00:09:45,242
She had the smell of sugar and oil on her,

118
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you know, it was - dirty old tramp,
they call them.

119
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They never came back to me and said,

120
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'well now, we've got these new ships
but we can't can man them.'

121
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There were always coming forward for this
very risky and very ill paid and very -

122
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- uncomfortable job.

123
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This nation owes those people a great deal.

124
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Well, it was ourjob.

125
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We knew we were going out,
you mightn't come back,

126
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but you never - you never,
you never dwelt on it.

127
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From the first,

128
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it was the U-boat rather than
Germany's small fleet of warships

129
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that threatened this life-line.

130
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Faith in Britain's ability to protect it,

131
00:10:50,816 --> 00:10:55,014
rested on the most powerful surface fleet
in the world - the Royal Navy.

132
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The Admiralty in London was quick to
introduce a system of protected convoys.

133
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Merchant ships would be escorted for part
of theirjourney by warships.

134
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The busiest convoy routes were those across
the North Atlantic to Canada and America.

135
00:11:15,174 --> 00:11:19,406
lt was along these that most of the
country's vital imports would pass.

136
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Ships were given their station in a box.

137
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You have several in a row there and
several behind them in rectangle.

138
00:11:30,523 --> 00:11:34,084
and you steamed out in a succession which
you already agreed from Liverpool,

139
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slowly at first and
then gradually getting under way.

140
00:11:38,864 --> 00:11:42,732
Well, you could be looking six mile
across the front of the convoy

141
00:11:43,602 --> 00:11:47,538
and you could be looking six mile
down the length of the convoy,

142
00:11:48,007 --> 00:11:52,034
so you're covering a fair area
with a sixty ship convoy.

143
00:11:52,611 --> 00:11:55,705
We, in the escort, went round
at speed looking at all the ships,

144
00:11:55,881 --> 00:11:57,314
checking them by name,

145
00:11:57,516 --> 00:12:00,451
checking they'd got their right positions
in the convoy and so on.

146
00:12:00,653 --> 00:12:02,644
Usual thing,
eight knots a quarter of a mile apart.

147
00:12:02,822 --> 00:12:07,156
Now let's count them.
Three, four, five...

148
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,087
They'd come charging round and er,

149
00:12:10,262 --> 00:12:13,129
at high speed and pull up alongside like,
you know.

150
00:12:13,299 --> 00:12:15,767
'You're too far behind' like,
you know,

151
00:12:15,935 --> 00:12:17,800
'are you all right?
Do you require assistance'

152
00:12:17,970 --> 00:12:19,369
or anything like that and they'd say,

153
00:12:19,538 --> 00:12:22,336
'No, it's just the best -
this is our best speed.'

154
00:12:22,975 --> 00:12:24,806
Try to keep up, old man.

155
00:12:28,514 --> 00:12:29,913
Some are slower than others.

156
00:12:30,716 --> 00:12:32,183
The top speed of that Beatus l was in,

157
00:12:32,351 --> 00:12:34,785
all she could do was six knots;
you could walk faster.

158
00:12:38,557 --> 00:12:43,688
The weather was dreadful and
people were very sick and people went

159
00:12:44,330 --> 00:12:47,231
and just slept in a corner soaking
wet from watch

160
00:12:47,500 --> 00:12:49,365
and they were soaking wet
when they went on watch again.

161
00:12:51,570 --> 00:12:53,538
lt is a main factor
in the Battle of the Atlantic

162
00:12:53,706 --> 00:12:56,300
after trying to kill each other,
was the weather.

163
00:12:57,910 --> 00:13:00,504
You'd be on look-out in the masts.

164
00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:05,082
You were looking out for periscopes,
which was a hell of a thing.

165
00:13:05,251 --> 00:13:14,523
You know you're looking and - and er,
you might see a few, a few porpoise come -

166
00:13:14,693 --> 00:13:17,355
zooming at you.
lt would scare the wits out of you,

167
00:13:17,530 --> 00:13:19,964
cos it's just a torpedo coming
through the water.

168
00:13:23,202 --> 00:13:24,726
ln the first months of the war,

169
00:13:25,004 --> 00:13:29,031
the U-boat fleet sailed out to the
convoy routes from the north German ports.

170
00:13:29,508 --> 00:13:33,968
lt meant a long and dangerous haul across
the North Sea and round the British coast.

171
00:13:34,780 --> 00:13:36,680
But the crews were full of confidence.

172
00:13:36,916 --> 00:13:38,440
They were the U-boat Waffe,

173
00:13:38,684 --> 00:13:41,175
the spearhead of the assault
on the old enemy.

174
00:13:58,804 --> 00:14:02,296
War patrols would last for as long as
there was fuel and torpedoes.

175
00:14:02,808 --> 00:14:04,105
For three weeks or more,

176
00:14:04,343 --> 00:14:08,211
fifty men would be confined to
what some called their 'iron coffin.'

177
00:14:09,315 --> 00:14:11,340
The U-boat arm made its own rules.

178
00:14:11,784 --> 00:14:14,048
Donitz believed this would play
its part in building

179
00:14:14,220 --> 00:14:16,745
the right sort of fighting
spirit in the crews.

180
00:14:31,103 --> 00:14:35,301
There is no uniform onboard
and no indication of rank,

181
00:14:35,641 --> 00:14:43,173
just overalls. lt was informal.
lt wasn't really the usual military order.

182
00:14:51,790 --> 00:14:55,658
The whole boat smells of diesel.
Diesel is ingrained everywhere.

183
00:14:55,928 --> 00:14:59,227
Because there are full tanks there was
always something dripping somewhere.

184
00:15:07,172 --> 00:15:10,141
There was no comfort aboard a submarine,
no comfort.

185
00:15:10,509 --> 00:15:13,376
Because you share your bunk
with another one,

186
00:15:13,679 --> 00:15:17,012
because he has the same -
the same job aboard the ship as you have.

187
00:15:17,216 --> 00:15:18,843
For instance, the wireless operator.

188
00:15:19,018 --> 00:15:23,011
He is on watch four hours
and you have time to rest-

189
00:15:23,188 --> 00:15:25,816
and then he goes into this bunk.

190
00:15:25,991 --> 00:15:29,392
And this is er - the bunk is still hot,
still hot.

191
00:15:37,236 --> 00:15:40,103
Of course it would smell of sweat
because no one washed properly.

192
00:15:40,506 --> 00:15:42,235
There was quite a stench sometimes.

193
00:15:54,653 --> 00:15:57,213
lt was mostly boring,
you've got to admit that.

194
00:15:58,891 --> 00:16:00,984
Boredom, there was nothing.

195
00:16:01,660 --> 00:16:04,094
A boat would run its course,
little by little,

196
00:16:04,296 --> 00:16:06,457
nothing happened from one hour to the next.

197
00:16:12,338 --> 00:16:15,330
The hunt depended on the vigilance
of the boat's watch.

198
00:16:15,975 --> 00:16:19,376
Days were spent searching an empty,
featureless horizon.

199
00:16:25,451 --> 00:16:27,942
We rode some pretty massive
North Atlantic storms

200
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:29,951
which were really very impressive.

201
00:16:33,125 --> 00:16:36,288
Nobody could see, move,
aim at or do anything.

202
00:16:36,762 --> 00:16:38,127
And then there were those occasions

203
00:16:38,297 --> 00:16:41,596
when you suddenly saw a single ship
which you would normally have attacked,

204
00:16:41,900 --> 00:16:44,630
but with which you just
steer a parallel course.

205
00:16:44,970 --> 00:16:46,870
You couldn't harm each other.

206
00:16:47,272 --> 00:16:51,038
Everybody thought of their own survival
during those heavy seas.

207
00:16:52,811 --> 00:16:54,005
Nothing else mattered.

208
00:16:58,584 --> 00:16:59,676
For the convoy,

209
00:16:59,952 --> 00:17:03,547
survival depended on its ability to lose
itself in the Atlantic.

210
00:17:04,356 --> 00:17:07,723
Just a moment of carelessness could reveal
its position to the hunter.

211
00:17:09,528 --> 00:17:14,431
You got ships that were indisciplined,
especially in the early stages of the war.

212
00:17:15,567 --> 00:17:19,628
They were told not to throw over certain
kinds of rubbish from the ship's side

213
00:17:19,805 --> 00:17:23,332
because a trailing submarine
would pick that up.

214
00:17:24,143 --> 00:17:28,807
And the other thing was a real problem.
Er, the coal fire chips.

215
00:17:29,548 --> 00:17:32,210
Stoking up,
you could see them from fifty miles away.

216
00:17:33,952 --> 00:17:36,216
And of course the U-boats loved that.

217
00:17:39,391 --> 00:17:43,418
ln the first months of the war,
a cameraman accompanied U-99.

218
00:17:43,829 --> 00:17:46,263
The most successful hunter
in the North Atlantic.

219
00:17:46,765 --> 00:17:49,165
lts Commander was Otto Kretschmer.

220
00:17:51,303 --> 00:17:57,902
My Captain, Otto Kretschmer,
was a - a very intelligent man.

221
00:17:59,011 --> 00:18:07,578
Very cold blooded and er, knew exactly
what kind of risk he could take.

222
00:18:09,121 --> 00:18:11,055
At first there were easy kills.

223
00:18:13,392 --> 00:18:16,259
Lone ships traveling
beyond the Navy's protection.

224
00:18:16,962 --> 00:18:19,590
But as more ships sailed
under the Admiralty's umbrella,

225
00:18:20,099 --> 00:18:21,794
commanders like Kretschmer
were forced to run

226
00:18:21,967 --> 00:18:24,902
the much greater risk
of attacking the convoys.

227
00:18:28,173 --> 00:18:31,438
This was done at first as
it was done during the First World War.

228
00:18:33,312 --> 00:18:36,304
By day we'd expect
to enter a convoy underwater,

229
00:18:36,582 --> 00:18:39,813
approach it and fire
at it from underwater.

230
00:18:50,829 --> 00:18:56,131
lt was a calm, smooth day, in summer and
suddenly the Jersey City went back.

231
00:18:58,203 --> 00:19:02,037
A lovely clear day and so calm one -
one should have seen the periscope,

232
00:19:02,207 --> 00:19:03,265
but one didn't.

233
00:19:05,077 --> 00:19:10,276
You went out in an ever widening circle
trying to find the submarine by ASDlC.

234
00:19:11,083 --> 00:19:15,076
ASDlC, or sonar, was the new weapon
in the Admiralty's armoury.

235
00:19:15,554 --> 00:19:17,249
lts underwater searchlight.

236
00:19:24,129 --> 00:19:25,027
Contact.

237
00:19:25,364 --> 00:19:27,696
A pulse of sound was sent out
from the ship.

238
00:19:28,233 --> 00:19:31,566
lf the sound wave struck the U-boat
they were reflected back.

239
00:19:32,104 --> 00:19:34,902
This echo gave the range
and bearing of the target.

240
00:19:38,377 --> 00:19:43,314
lf convoy was the first pillar of the
Navy's defence, ASDlC was the second.

241
00:19:45,517 --> 00:19:51,478
At once there was contact from the ASDlC
of this destroyer and er -

242
00:19:51,657 --> 00:19:53,750
he was running right overhead,

243
00:19:54,593 --> 00:19:56,561
you could hear the swish of the propellers

244
00:19:56,728 --> 00:19:59,094
and then he turned
and came back and he threw -

245
00:19:59,364 --> 00:20:00,592
- his depth charges.

246
00:20:06,638 --> 00:20:10,506
Depth charges were three hundred pound
drums packed with high explosive.

247
00:20:10,842 --> 00:20:14,243
With a fuse that could be set to detonate
at different depths.

248
00:20:16,748 --> 00:20:20,707
Within fifty feet of the U-boat's hull,
the shock wave would cause damage.

249
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:23,584
Within twenty, it would kill.

250
00:20:26,058 --> 00:20:31,758
Once ASDlC contact was made -
the hunter became the hunted.

251
00:20:35,968 --> 00:20:41,201
The escort destroyers started pursuing us
in a very clear and determined manner.

252
00:20:44,076 --> 00:20:46,874
And because we were so
very slow underwater,

253
00:20:47,546 --> 00:20:50,310
they had no difficulty
in tracking our course.

254
00:20:54,419 --> 00:20:56,216
All instruments were destroyed, you see.

255
00:20:56,388 --> 00:21:01,189
Glasses broken, there is no light anymore
only small flashlights.

256
00:21:01,693 --> 00:21:06,027
We went down to this unbelievable depth.

257
00:21:14,940 --> 00:21:19,309
The cook put on a life-jacket and turned up
wide-eyed at my command post.

258
00:21:20,112 --> 00:21:22,307
l kept telling him to go back
but he didn't.

259
00:21:22,481 --> 00:21:25,848
l said to him, 'Come on, Franz',
that was his first name,

260
00:21:26,051 --> 00:21:29,782
'Sit down, give daddy your hand,
nothing will happen to you. Come on,'

261
00:21:29,955 --> 00:21:33,550
l said. Then he sat down,
gave daddy his hand,

262
00:21:33,792 --> 00:21:36,488
held my hand tightly and calmed down.

263
00:21:37,229 --> 00:21:39,424
Daddy was twenty-four years old.

264
00:21:50,742 --> 00:21:52,403
The boat went deeper and deeper.

265
00:21:52,611 --> 00:21:54,511
Of course,
everyone had the feeling this is it.

266
00:21:54,746 --> 00:21:57,840
One second more and there's one big crack and -

267
00:21:58,083 --> 00:22:02,850
you are er,
pressed together like an empty tin can.

268
00:22:15,867 --> 00:22:18,199
The air supply became very scarce.

269
00:22:18,704 --> 00:22:24,142
Everyone had to lie down and be still and
breath through the oxygen cartridges.

270
00:22:25,277 --> 00:22:28,838
They kept us underwater
for seventeen hours.

271
00:22:31,149 --> 00:22:35,848
On this occasion, depth charges were not
well aimed enough to be fatal.

272
00:22:37,522 --> 00:22:44,086
We went to depths of 150 metres or more.
The depth charges were all above us.

273
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,735
The depth charge fuses were
on too shallow a setting.

274
00:22:52,270 --> 00:22:53,897
The U-boat was able to take refuge

275
00:22:54,072 --> 00:22:57,064
at a much greater depth than
the Royal Navy thought possible.

276
00:23:00,479 --> 00:23:03,778
Yet at the Admiralty,
figures compiled by Naval staff suggested

277
00:23:03,949 --> 00:23:06,509
that merchant shipping losses
would be manageable.

278
00:23:06,918 --> 00:23:10,615
ln the first nine months of the war,
215 ships were sunk,

279
00:23:10,956 --> 00:23:13,948
but only twenty-two
within the umbrella of a convoy.

280
00:23:16,128 --> 00:23:18,528
The First Lord of the Admiralty,
Winston Churchill,

281
00:23:18,897 --> 00:23:21,331
was more than satisfied
with the navy's record.

282
00:23:22,501 --> 00:23:25,595
We feel ourselves more confident,
day by day,

283
00:23:26,371 --> 00:23:31,536
of our ability to keep open and
active the salt water highways

284
00:23:32,077 --> 00:23:37,811
by which we live and along which
we shall draw the means of victory.

285
00:23:38,683 --> 00:23:44,588
Our faithful ASDlC detector smells them
out in the depths of the sea

286
00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:51,392
and l do not doubt that we shall break
their strength and break their purpose.

287
00:23:56,401 --> 00:23:58,062
But in June 1940,

288
00:23:58,370 --> 00:24:02,898
the victories won by Hitler's armies on
land were to transform the war at sea.

289
00:24:04,576 --> 00:24:07,306
As Hitler celebrated
the Fall of France in Berlin,

290
00:24:07,546 --> 00:24:11,744
the commander of his U-boats was on
his way to the Atlantic coast of France.

291
00:24:14,319 --> 00:24:16,287
The ports were all in German hands.

292
00:24:16,621 --> 00:24:20,717
Donitz and his men wasted on time
in establishing bases along the west coast.

293
00:24:22,260 --> 00:24:23,352
Here in Lorient,

294
00:24:23,595 --> 00:24:27,964
work began on the huge bomb-proof sea
bunkers which would house the U-boat fleet.

295
00:24:31,069 --> 00:24:35,130
For the first time, the U-boats had
an open door to the Atlantic.

296
00:24:40,445 --> 00:24:44,643
The situation was now, l would say,
the one we'd always wished for.

297
00:24:51,056 --> 00:24:53,183
From his new headquarters in Lorient,

298
00:24:53,458 --> 00:24:56,791
Donitz would direct an all out assault
on Britain's lifeline.

299
00:24:58,730 --> 00:25:00,925
The new French bases on the Atlantic coast

300
00:25:01,132 --> 00:25:03,828
would shave almost a fortnight off
a U-boat's journey.

301
00:25:04,436 --> 00:25:07,098
Time that could now
be spent hunting for convoys.

302
00:25:14,946 --> 00:25:19,178
Above all, they offered the chance for
Donitz to introduce his new tactic,

303
00:25:19,518 --> 00:25:23,420
so carefully developed before the war.
The pack attack.

304
00:25:26,424 --> 00:25:30,087
This was the beginning of a new phase
in the Battle of the Atlantic.

305
00:25:31,563 --> 00:25:36,557
l was anxious that not a day should pass
without the sinking of a ship somewhere.

306
00:25:39,671 --> 00:25:44,699
Donitz began to arrange his U-boats
into search lines across the convoy routes.

307
00:25:45,544 --> 00:25:47,444
When one of the boats sighted a convoy

308
00:25:47,612 --> 00:25:50,445
it was to report its position
to U-boat Command.

309
00:25:50,916 --> 00:25:54,852
lt was not the contact boat,
with orders to shadow the target.

310
00:26:08,300 --> 00:26:13,203
U-boat Command was able to direct the rest
of the pack to home in on the contact boat.

311
00:26:14,573 --> 00:26:17,064
Donitz was confident that
the Royal Navy's defences

312
00:26:17,242 --> 00:26:19,574
would crumble under the weight
of a pack attack.

313
00:26:20,445 --> 00:26:24,882
The attack would be carried out at night
and in an entirely unexpected way.

314
00:26:29,854 --> 00:26:33,915
One of the first U-boats to be involved
in a pack attack in the autumn of 1940,

315
00:26:34,225 --> 00:26:36,853
was Otto Kretschmer's U-99.

316
00:26:39,164 --> 00:26:44,329
A warship comes into view, followed
by smoke plumes and the convoy, at last.

317
00:26:45,003 --> 00:26:50,202
We pass a surfacing U-boat, U-101 .
l am positioned in front of the convoy.

318
00:26:53,712 --> 00:26:56,977
The pack tactics pioneered
by commanders like Kretschmer,

319
00:26:57,215 --> 00:26:59,445
would change the course of the war at sea.

320
00:27:03,755 --> 00:27:06,315
We stayed ahead of the convoy all day long.

321
00:27:06,825 --> 00:27:11,194
And then, in the evening, when it was dark,
we dived in front of it.

322
00:27:13,098 --> 00:27:14,929
Then we surfaced inside it.

323
00:27:18,269 --> 00:27:22,262
Through my binoculars l cold see
there was a - a shadow of a ship.

324
00:27:22,741 --> 00:27:28,646
But from time to time l could see
that someone was er, lighting a cigarette.

325
00:27:30,281 --> 00:27:32,715
Everyone was alert
wherever you went and everything

326
00:27:32,951 --> 00:27:34,748
and that night the moon was that wide.

327
00:27:37,555 --> 00:27:39,546
You're thinking, someone's out there.

328
00:27:44,629 --> 00:27:50,898
l went out on the wing of the bridge
and there was the um, U-boat,

329
00:27:51,503 --> 00:27:56,406
Well, a hundred yards away with all
the officers in the conning tower.

330
00:27:57,776 --> 00:28:04,113
l gave the order to go hard aport,
that would put the put the U-boat stern on.

331
00:28:10,055 --> 00:28:14,549
lt's like big game hunting,
you have to attack from a forward position.

332
00:28:15,794 --> 00:28:20,629
So the normal distance
for torpedo attacks at night -

333
00:28:20,799 --> 00:28:22,460
- is about six hundred metres.

334
00:28:30,442 --> 00:28:36,039
Before l could answer the helm,
we were hit.

335
00:28:43,755 --> 00:28:46,315
Everything sort of disintegrated around us.

336
00:28:46,958 --> 00:28:49,984
The concussion shot up your legs,
up your backbone,

337
00:28:50,261 --> 00:28:53,890
into your skull and everything,
and lifted you at the same time.

338
00:28:58,503 --> 00:29:00,937
l went round to the engine room and -

339
00:29:01,106 --> 00:29:05,543
- looked down the engine room
and then there was nothing left.

340
00:29:05,944 --> 00:29:10,745
So everything had collapsed. The engine
room was three parts full of water.

341
00:29:11,483 --> 00:29:15,579
Those poor men down below what -
let's hope it was very quick,

342
00:29:15,987 --> 00:29:20,822
their death, cos if must be dreadful,
must have been dreadful. Dreadful.

343
00:29:28,066 --> 00:29:33,766
l saw the water coming into the wheelhouse,
you know, that high,

344
00:29:34,639 --> 00:29:40,407
you know, waist high to me and
l'm eventually in it and then under it.

345
00:29:44,682 --> 00:29:49,984
And l was reaching out to rails and pulling
myself and trying to get myself clear.

346
00:29:50,221 --> 00:29:54,658
l was panicking. And then suddenly
l was making my way to the surface.

347
00:29:56,761 --> 00:30:01,255
And l was coughing and spluttering
and l looked around and -

348
00:30:01,432 --> 00:30:10,306
could hear shouts and er,
l turned and tried to locate them,

349
00:30:10,942 --> 00:30:13,570
but l wasn't sure what direction
they were coming from.

350
00:30:13,745 --> 00:30:17,772
But apparently they were only shouts
of lads that were drowning.

351
00:30:30,128 --> 00:30:34,064
What follows now resembles the raging
of a wolf in a flock of sheep.

352
00:30:35,066 --> 00:30:37,398
l fire a torpedo at a large freighter.

353
00:30:40,538 --> 00:30:44,872
lt explodes and there is a high column
of flame which rips

354
00:30:45,043 --> 00:30:47,273
open the ship from the bow to the bridge.

355
00:30:52,851 --> 00:30:56,480
The propaganda newsreels caught
only the ships torpedoed by day.

356
00:30:57,222 --> 00:31:00,658
But by the autumn of 1940,
most were being sunk at night.

357
00:31:01,259 --> 00:31:05,195
The wolf packs were using the cover
of darkness to attack on the surface.

358
00:31:09,234 --> 00:31:11,429
This was the tactic Donitz
would turn to time

359
00:31:11,603 --> 00:31:14,800
and again in his pursuit
of victory in the Atlantic.

360
00:31:20,678 --> 00:31:23,272
We can hear torpedoes fired
by the other boats.

361
00:31:24,582 --> 00:31:29,610
The convoy breaks up completely.
The ships run alone and in small groups.

362
00:31:30,922 --> 00:31:34,881
The largest group includes a tanker.
This we shall now attack.

363
00:31:39,264 --> 00:31:43,792
We was carrying er, aviation spirit
which is the worst of the lot.

364
00:31:44,936 --> 00:31:47,871
l must have said my prayers more times
than the local vicar,

365
00:31:48,072 --> 00:31:49,562
because l was really frightened.

366
00:31:52,343 --> 00:31:55,835
l was on the after poop deck of the ship
when we heard -

367
00:31:56,014 --> 00:31:59,711
- that there was a torpedo coming and you
could see it when they - when they yelled.

368
00:31:59,951 --> 00:32:01,077
You could see the wake.

369
00:32:15,667 --> 00:32:21,765
There was a two hundred metre high tongue
of orange flame and in these flames -

370
00:32:21,940 --> 00:32:25,774
there were human bodies and
parts of the ship whirling round

371
00:32:26,010 --> 00:32:28,501
and then falling back into the Atlantic.

372
00:32:34,385 --> 00:32:35,443
l didn't hesitate.

373
00:32:35,620 --> 00:32:38,885
l'd seen the big flames and
l jumped straight over the stern

374
00:32:39,057 --> 00:32:40,422
and when l surfaced -

375
00:32:40,591 --> 00:32:42,889
- well, the ship had disappeared in -
into flames.

376
00:32:44,896 --> 00:32:47,558
You could hear these -
your buddies in the water hollering.

377
00:32:51,002 --> 00:32:54,836
'Save me, save me.'
But, you know, you were going by them,

378
00:32:55,006 --> 00:32:57,065
the ship was still in a forward motion.

379
00:33:06,050 --> 00:33:09,281
l asked to come up to the conning tower
to have a look -

380
00:33:09,988 --> 00:33:15,756
- at the burning tankers and er,
because this was er -

381
00:33:17,862 --> 00:33:21,320
for a navy man who was asked to sink ships,
was a wonderful sight.

382
00:33:22,867 --> 00:33:26,462
There was a lot of fuel on the water
and gasoline burning.

383
00:33:27,672 --> 00:33:30,971
lt sticks to you because
it's - it's petroleum.

384
00:33:32,310 --> 00:33:35,837
l heard a cry for help and l swam to him.

385
00:33:36,214 --> 00:33:40,514
His face was all black, burnt.
Oh, he was in a terrible state.

386
00:33:46,024 --> 00:33:49,983
We heard shouts of
'Hitler, help. Hitler, help.'

387
00:33:50,728 --> 00:33:53,663
And then something happened
that l thought was terrible.

388
00:33:54,232 --> 00:33:56,427
Standing next to me
was the U-boat's second -

389
00:33:56,601 --> 00:34:01,937
officer. He yelled into the night,
'Why do you pigs sail for England.'

390
00:34:02,507 --> 00:34:04,975
l was horrified and
l gave him a jab and said,

391
00:34:05,410 --> 00:34:06,968
'What do you expect them to do?

392
00:34:07,812 --> 00:34:11,077
These people are doing their duty,
just as you are.'

393
00:34:15,119 --> 00:34:18,850
Those left in the sea watched
as the convoy passed on.

394
00:34:19,657 --> 00:34:23,616
The other merchant ships were under strict
orders not to stop for survivors.

395
00:34:25,496 --> 00:34:28,397
As we ploughed through them
you could hear them shouting,

396
00:34:28,566 --> 00:34:34,766
'help.' 'Help.' We couldn't stop -

397
00:34:35,473 --> 00:34:40,001
and l knew this and l could see over the -
just down there,

398
00:34:41,145 --> 00:34:46,344
the little lights on their
lifejacket drifting past. Very sad.

399
00:34:52,924 --> 00:34:55,722
The first pack attacks
in the autumn of 1940,

400
00:34:56,094 --> 00:34:58,654
caught the Navy's escorts
completely off guard.

401
00:34:59,931 --> 00:35:02,297
We realised they were on the surface.

402
00:35:02,767 --> 00:35:06,498
We tried to light up the area so that
we could see a submarine,

403
00:35:06,671 --> 00:35:08,866
but we wouldn't know what area to light up.

404
00:35:09,407 --> 00:35:13,503
l remember feeling so helpless
when you see these ships being sunk.

405
00:35:14,545 --> 00:35:18,379
We would scurry around and
try to find out the submarine,

406
00:35:18,549 --> 00:35:20,483
but the ASDlC was useless.

407
00:35:21,519 --> 00:35:24,977
The underwater detector in which
the Admiralty placed so much faith,

408
00:35:25,356 --> 00:35:27,824
was unable to find
the U-boat on the surface,

409
00:35:28,526 --> 00:35:31,825
and the U-boat was almost invisible
in the Atlantic night.

410
00:35:34,699 --> 00:35:38,362
On the surface the U-boat could wring
1 7 knots from its diesel engines,

411
00:35:38,636 --> 00:35:41,161
and that made it faster
than some of the Navy's escorts.

412
00:35:42,607 --> 00:35:45,667
The Royal Navy was prepared to fight a war
against a submarine,

413
00:35:46,144 --> 00:35:48,874
but the U-boat was really
nothing of the sort.

414
00:35:50,615 --> 00:35:54,881
All the boats we had during the war
were actually surface craft

415
00:35:55,153 --> 00:35:57,553
who had just the possibility to dive.

416
00:36:04,061 --> 00:36:07,690
As these boats were depending on batteries,

417
00:36:07,999 --> 00:36:12,800
they were very slow as soon as
they were submerged.

418
00:36:12,970 --> 00:36:15,734
Out of about twenty ships l sank,

419
00:36:15,907 --> 00:36:20,173
l mean l sank - sank nineteen at night
on the surface.

420
00:36:28,386 --> 00:36:30,354
The Navy rescued those it could,

421
00:36:30,755 --> 00:36:35,089
but survivors in the water made the job
of protecting the convoy even tougher.

422
00:36:37,695 --> 00:36:39,925
The main problem of survivors
in the water is that

423
00:36:40,097 --> 00:36:43,123
they are usually where the U-boat
is and you want to -

424
00:36:43,301 --> 00:36:47,829
depth charge the U-boat and you can't,
cos you're gonna kill your survivors.

425
00:36:48,139 --> 00:36:52,508
And that on one or two occasions happened
during the war. Very unpleasant.

426
00:36:57,782 --> 00:37:00,216
Er, we heard someone shouting
on a loud hailer.

427
00:37:00,384 --> 00:37:04,013
He said, 'l can't stop,
l've got scrambling nets over the side -

428
00:37:04,255 --> 00:37:05,984
l can't stop, U-boat in the area,

429
00:37:06,257 --> 00:37:09,658
you'll have to jump for it
and scramble aboard.' And we did.

430
00:37:12,396 --> 00:37:14,956
They carried us down to different parts
of the ship

431
00:37:15,132 --> 00:37:20,934
and l remember going to this
particular mess, l don't know,

432
00:37:21,372 --> 00:37:26,571
and er, we laid on a - laid on a bunk
and they brought hot coffee round.

433
00:37:26,744 --> 00:37:29,076
Oh God, it was so beautiful.

434
00:37:32,550 --> 00:37:38,546
ln just two nights in October 1940,
a pack of five boats sank twenty ships.

435
00:37:39,857 --> 00:37:42,451
Even well protected
convoys appeared powerless

436
00:37:42,627 --> 00:37:44,993
to prevent the wolf packs sinking at will.

437
00:37:50,401 --> 00:37:53,996
By the end of the year,
more than a thousand ships had been sunk.

438
00:37:54,538 --> 00:37:57,200
Six thousand merchant seamen lost.

439
00:38:03,180 --> 00:38:07,412
On the Atlantic coast of lreland,
the human cost was all too obvious.

440
00:38:09,587 --> 00:38:13,284
The first body that came in was over
in them rocks over there.

441
00:38:14,759 --> 00:38:18,286
The boat must have been sunk off away
out in the Atlantic some place

442
00:38:18,462 --> 00:38:20,123
and the body was washed in here.

443
00:38:22,300 --> 00:38:23,631
There was a disc on him.

444
00:38:23,968 --> 00:38:27,734
And his number was on it,
l don't - couldn't tell you the number,

445
00:38:27,905 --> 00:38:32,239
but l know the name,
he was a Sergeant Derby of the Marines.

446
00:38:34,078 --> 00:38:35,705
Then there was other bodies.

447
00:38:36,147 --> 00:38:41,414
One body came in
and it was badly decomposed.

448
00:38:42,420 --> 00:38:48,552
We had a bit of a cliff to climb and
he had to be tied on to a stretcher -

449
00:38:50,795 --> 00:38:54,287
And soon as we put the legs
over on the body,

450
00:38:54,465 --> 00:39:00,495
the stomach collapsed,
bursted and there was a terrible smell.

451
00:39:00,971 --> 00:39:02,905
Oh, you would nearly throw up.

452
00:39:03,274 --> 00:39:10,271
And then we took him to this hotel that -
where the bodies was all usually was taken.

453
00:39:11,682 --> 00:39:16,142
lt was very sorrowful.
l mean we were - a lot of us there was,

454
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:18,385
well we were sad but we couldn't do,

455
00:39:18,556 --> 00:39:21,923
we had a job to do and
we done it and that was it.

456
00:39:25,062 --> 00:39:28,122
This was what the U-boat men
called their 'happy time.'

457
00:39:37,141 --> 00:39:41,339
On the journey home to their French bases,
the crews prepared their victory bunting.

458
00:39:41,645 --> 00:39:44,512
Each flag marked
with the tonnage of a ship sunk.

459
00:40:14,311 --> 00:40:18,372
No more than six boats were operating
against Britain's lifeline at any one time.

460
00:40:19,083 --> 00:40:20,641
Just three hundred men.

461
00:40:31,796 --> 00:40:34,731
Much was being asked of a handful
of U-boat crews.

462
00:40:35,099 --> 00:40:39,058
ln return, Donitz ensured that
they were very well rewarded.

463
00:40:44,508 --> 00:40:46,874
This was notjust a 'happy time' at sea.

464
00:40:47,178 --> 00:40:49,806
The crews were to enjoy
the best of life ashore.

465
00:40:52,583 --> 00:40:56,280
A hundred thousand bottles of wine were
requisitioned by Donitz for his men.

466
00:40:56,654 --> 00:40:58,383
'Onkel Karl' cared.

467
00:40:59,957 --> 00:41:04,690
There were special food parcels.
U-boat hotels, and extended leave.

468
00:41:12,503 --> 00:41:15,336
Usually we would seek out
some dive and then of course

469
00:41:15,506 --> 00:41:18,498
if there were girls present
we would try to dance with them.

470
00:41:18,976 --> 00:41:20,773
Sometimes we even succeeded.

471
00:41:26,951 --> 00:41:30,853
l can still remember, what was the price
of a bottle of champagne?

472
00:41:33,524 --> 00:41:37,460
l think it was twenty Francs,
which was no money at all to us.

473
00:41:43,567 --> 00:41:48,027
Of course we did have a good life,
yes and we would make the most of it, too.

474
00:41:56,547 --> 00:41:59,380
lt was a very different sort of homecoming
for the British seamen

475
00:41:59,550 --> 00:42:01,381
who'd survived the wolf packs.

476
00:42:02,653 --> 00:42:04,245
We got a roll call -

477
00:42:04,421 --> 00:42:06,787
any survivors off one ship,
this ship and that ship,

478
00:42:07,258 --> 00:42:10,455
and it come down to Creekirk,
and l don't why,

479
00:42:10,628 --> 00:42:13,461
when l went up later on l said,
'did anyone come forward?'

480
00:42:13,664 --> 00:42:16,462
He said, 'No, apparently
they've all gone with the ship.'

481
00:42:18,135 --> 00:42:20,660
So l knew, that was two of me friends
and neighbours,

482
00:42:20,838 --> 00:42:22,465
they were dead, l knew that.

483
00:42:33,217 --> 00:42:36,653
l put me arms - put me arms around me mother

484
00:42:38,289 --> 00:42:42,453
and l couldn't tell her about Eddie and
Billy till the next day and l said to her,

485
00:42:42,626 --> 00:42:44,821
'whatever - whatever you do,
mum, don't tell their people,

486
00:42:44,995 --> 00:42:46,758
leave it till they get a telegram.'

487
00:42:50,768 --> 00:42:52,702
So my mother knew,
she knew that they weren't coming back,

488
00:42:52,870 --> 00:42:55,304
they didn't know where they were,
their mothers.

489
00:43:02,146 --> 00:43:05,081
ln Germany, the propaganda ministry
made heroes of those

490
00:43:05,249 --> 00:43:07,410
it called 'The Grey Wolves.'

491
00:43:08,419 --> 00:43:10,546
That winter the Commander of U-100.

492
00:43:10,788 --> 00:43:14,918
Joachim Schepke, took his men on a
skiing holiday in the Bavarian Alps.

493
00:43:30,708 --> 00:43:34,405
The U-boatmen were the guests
of the grateful village of Ruppolding.

494
00:43:34,945 --> 00:43:38,813
They lived with the villagers;
the Commander with the Plenk family.

495
00:43:40,884 --> 00:43:43,978
ln those days it was Prien,
Kretschmer, Schepke.

496
00:43:44,455 --> 00:43:46,889
They were for us boys
so to speak the heroes.

497
00:43:47,191 --> 00:43:48,556
The U-boat heroes.

498
00:43:48,859 --> 00:43:51,384
And we were proud of having
one of them staying in our house.

499
00:43:51,695 --> 00:43:52,992
That goes without saying.

500
00:43:59,737 --> 00:44:02,228
The reception was naturally magnificent.

501
00:44:04,208 --> 00:44:06,733
l can remember that there
were folk evenings at the Kurhaus,

502
00:44:06,910 --> 00:44:08,775
as is the tradition here.

503
00:44:12,282 --> 00:44:15,410
They were certainly unforgettable days
for the crew.

504
00:44:17,187 --> 00:44:20,156
l can remember we were all very proud.

505
00:44:25,262 --> 00:44:29,722
As 1940 drew to a close,
the British public felt under siege.

506
00:44:30,768 --> 00:44:37,435
l get along without sugar.
l never drink any tea. Eggs and bacon...

507
00:44:37,608 --> 00:44:41,374
Before the war, the country imported
twenty-two million tons of food.

508
00:44:41,945 --> 00:44:45,403
By November, that figure was running
at less than twelve million.

509
00:44:45,749 --> 00:44:49,879
One thing l always crave,
and that's why hear me sing,

510
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:57,652
oh when can l have a banana again?
Oh tell me, tell me mother...

511
00:44:57,828 --> 00:45:02,026
The ration book became the key to survival
for nearly every household in the country.

512
00:45:02,933 --> 00:45:05,800
You got two ounces of tea each
and me mother loved tea

513
00:45:05,969 --> 00:45:11,839
and you only got one egg a week
and you got very little cheese.

514
00:45:12,409 --> 00:45:15,572
Very little meat.
You'd have to look for the meat.

515
00:45:18,515 --> 00:45:21,006
lt was hard to - to manage, you know.

516
00:45:22,186 --> 00:45:25,553
Sometimes the word would go around,
oh there's er,

517
00:45:25,723 --> 00:45:30,626
there's something in Postlethwaites
and that was a fruit shop...

518
00:45:31,095 --> 00:45:32,892
All the women would be scurrying up

519
00:45:33,330 --> 00:45:35,992
and l say we'd stand in a queue
and you wouldn't actually know

520
00:45:36,166 --> 00:45:37,793
what you were standing in the queue for.

521
00:45:38,669 --> 00:45:40,796
And l'd say - we'd say,
'What is it, what is it?'

522
00:45:41,238 --> 00:45:43,468
And the man would come out all stern,
you know.

523
00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:46,905
'lt's one orange
and don't anyone ask for two.'

524
00:45:47,077 --> 00:45:49,545
And you'd be so thrilled to get an orange.

525
00:45:55,652 --> 00:46:00,555
Vegetables weren't rationed
so you eat more vegetables.

526
00:46:01,258 --> 00:46:04,989
So if you eat potatoes
you didn't need as much bread.

527
00:46:05,763 --> 00:46:07,856
They'd tell you
that merchant seamen had to risk

528
00:46:08,031 --> 00:46:13,367
their lives to go to Canada to bring
the wheat to make the bread.

529
00:46:13,670 --> 00:46:16,161
So if you eat potatoes
you were helping your country.

530
00:46:16,373 --> 00:46:18,398
...all well known to the enemy.

531
00:46:19,276 --> 00:46:23,906
And we must expect that Herr Hitler will
do his utmost to prey upon our shipping,

532
00:46:24,414 --> 00:46:29,716
his clutching fingers reach out
on both sides of us into the Ocean.

533
00:46:30,788 --> 00:46:33,052
l have never underrated this danger.

534
00:46:33,991 --> 00:46:35,959
ln Winston Churchill's private office,

535
00:46:36,226 --> 00:46:38,160
a small team of economists was responsible

536
00:46:38,328 --> 00:46:41,229
for keeping him informed on matters
of shipping and imports.

537
00:46:42,099 --> 00:46:44,363
Churchill would pour over
their weekly bulletin.

538
00:46:44,802 --> 00:46:48,238
He later wrote of the 'measureless peril'
expressed in its charts,

539
00:46:48,705 --> 00:46:51,799
of figures showing
'potential strangulation.'

540
00:46:52,943 --> 00:46:56,811
An index l compiled of stocks
of imported food

541
00:46:56,980 --> 00:47:00,541
and raw materials measured in tons er -

542
00:47:01,118 --> 00:47:05,145
was falling rapidly towards a really,
a dangerous level.

543
00:47:07,224 --> 00:47:10,318
And l think a lot of people
didn't realise how worrying it was.

544
00:47:10,961 --> 00:47:13,293
lt was hardly an exaggeration
to say we could have -

545
00:47:13,463 --> 00:47:16,830
- lost the war on the home front
at that time.

546
00:47:18,569 --> 00:47:20,161
ln January, 1941 ,

547
00:47:20,470 --> 00:47:24,304
Hitler spoke to the Reich of his
confidence in his 'Grey Wolves.'

548
00:47:40,591 --> 00:47:44,891
Just a handful of U-boats had helped
bring Britain to the brink of defeat,

549
00:47:45,462 --> 00:47:47,862
and now more boats were being built.

550
00:47:48,732 --> 00:47:52,133
Donitz's packs would be able to range
further into the Atlantic,

551
00:47:52,836 --> 00:47:54,565
and in greater numbers.

552
00:47:55,873 --> 00:47:56,840
The tonnage war,

553
00:47:57,407 --> 00:48:02,071
the race to sink more ships than Britain
could buy or build had begun.