1 00:00:02,168 --> 00:00:03,100 Hidden by London's 2 00:00:03,269 --> 00:00:06,932 elegant public buildings, just yards from Trafalgar Square, 3 00:00:07,207 --> 00:00:10,267 is a dark, forbidding block known as the 'Citadel'. 4 00:00:12,946 --> 00:00:13,810 Sixty years ago 5 00:00:13,980 --> 00:00:17,780 this bunker was at the heart of the secret war against Hitler's U-boats. 6 00:00:19,052 --> 00:00:22,021 ln an airless sub-basement, twenty feet below the ground, 7 00:00:22,622 --> 00:00:25,750 Naval intelligence sought to track the enemy in the Atlantic. 8 00:00:26,459 --> 00:00:28,518 At first, with little success. 9 00:00:30,497 --> 00:00:33,398 Britain depended on its lifeline to North America, 10 00:00:34,067 --> 00:00:36,365 but in the first eighteen months of war the Germans 11 00:00:36,536 --> 00:00:39,027 sank more than five million tons of shipping. 12 00:00:39,606 --> 00:00:43,167 lt was a battle for survival and Britain was losing it. 13 00:00:49,115 --> 00:00:51,242 But in the spring of 1941 , 14 00:00:51,484 --> 00:00:54,749 a new source of intelligence began to flow into the 'Citadel' 15 00:00:55,188 --> 00:00:57,918 which promised to transform the battle of the Atlantic, 16 00:00:58,224 --> 00:01:01,057 and to shape victory from defeat. 17 00:01:14,974 --> 00:01:17,101 On May 7th, 1941 , 18 00:01:17,477 --> 00:01:19,308 a British listening station intercepted 19 00:01:19,479 --> 00:01:22,471 a signal to a U-boat on war patrol in the Atlantic. 20 00:01:23,283 --> 00:01:24,910 lt was from U-boat Headquarters. 21 00:01:25,285 --> 00:01:26,616 That much was clear. 22 00:01:27,020 --> 00:01:29,147 But the message itself was in code. 23 00:01:31,858 --> 00:01:34,850 Dozens of signals like this were intercepted every day. 24 00:01:36,429 --> 00:01:37,987 lf sense could be made of them, 25 00:01:38,198 --> 00:01:40,894 Naval intelligence would be able to locate an enemy hidden 26 00:01:41,067 --> 00:01:43,433 in three million square miles of ocean. 27 00:01:47,607 --> 00:01:53,409 The signal was sent to a U-boat hunting in the waters south of Greenland - the U-1 10. 28 00:01:54,747 --> 00:01:57,375 The message was encoded on an Enigma machine. 29 00:01:57,951 --> 00:02:00,545 The settings for this machine would change daily, 30 00:02:01,254 --> 00:02:05,054 and the tables containing the settings, were changed every month. 31 00:02:13,566 --> 00:02:15,295 How safe was the code? 32 00:02:16,035 --> 00:02:18,970 We were told that the odds were at least one to a million. 33 00:02:19,873 --> 00:02:24,071 You could say that it was as safe as winning the jackpot on the lottery. 34 00:02:25,778 --> 00:02:27,040 The Enigma machine on its - 35 00:02:27,213 --> 00:02:29,511 - own wasn't enough to break the code. 36 00:02:29,949 --> 00:02:32,543 You also needed the code tables. 37 00:02:40,426 --> 00:02:43,520 The message from headquarters promised immediate action. 38 00:02:44,063 --> 00:02:47,123 The first for the U-1 10 in almost two weeks. 39 00:02:53,039 --> 00:02:55,940 A convoy has been spotted and we were ordered 40 00:02:56,109 --> 00:02:59,340 by U-boat Headquarters to try and intercept it. 41 00:03:01,915 --> 00:03:05,112 We were at last close enough to be able to do that. 42 00:03:09,122 --> 00:03:10,987 The U-1 10's Commander, 43 00:03:11,257 --> 00:03:14,385 Fritz-Julius Lemp, was an experienced hunter. 44 00:03:14,727 --> 00:03:18,891 A holder of the Knights Cross, Germany's most prestigious decoration. 45 00:03:20,733 --> 00:03:23,531 The convoy was sighted on the morning of May the 9th. 46 00:03:24,170 --> 00:03:26,570 Lemp chose to risk a daylight attack. 47 00:03:35,181 --> 00:03:38,480 Then we attacked. Fired at two steamers. 48 00:03:41,654 --> 00:03:45,055 l followed the torpedoes until they hit the targets. 49 00:03:51,931 --> 00:03:56,891 Suddenly there was a terrific explosion, l think on the starboard bow - 50 00:03:57,503 --> 00:04:01,701 - and we knew a ship had been torpedoed. Then another ship was hit. 51 00:04:02,575 --> 00:04:04,042 Turned the convoy the other way, 52 00:04:04,210 --> 00:04:07,611 raced over and started picking up the contacts. 53 00:04:22,929 --> 00:04:25,227 l said my mate, 'Fritz, listen. 54 00:04:25,698 --> 00:04:28,724 They've got us. We're being echo-located.' 55 00:04:43,716 --> 00:04:44,444 The last depth - 56 00:04:44,617 --> 00:04:48,451 - charges caused serious damage and we had water 57 00:04:48,621 --> 00:04:50,953 and diesel oil leaking into the U-boat. 58 00:05:01,868 --> 00:05:05,031 The control room looked like a wrecked kitchen. 59 00:05:06,873 --> 00:05:11,071 The lights went out and well, it really was the end. 60 00:05:17,450 --> 00:05:20,044 The U-boat, like the one filmed here, 61 00:05:20,420 --> 00:05:24,379 shot to the surface taking the Royal Navy escort ships by surprise. 62 00:05:25,792 --> 00:05:27,054 lt is the dream, of course, 63 00:05:27,226 --> 00:05:30,024 when you attack to have a U-boat coming to the surface. 64 00:05:30,196 --> 00:05:31,925 lt happened so seldom. 65 00:05:32,632 --> 00:05:38,502 As we opened fired the noise in that U-boat must have been absolutely terrific. 66 00:05:43,943 --> 00:05:46,810 l can still hear Commander Lemp as he opened the hatch. 67 00:05:47,113 --> 00:05:50,640 He shouted down, 'Uhlandstrasse, last stop, all change.' 68 00:05:51,050 --> 00:05:52,745 This was the last stop for us. 69 00:05:58,658 --> 00:06:00,285 l climbed from the control room through the - 70 00:06:00,460 --> 00:06:03,918 - tower up to the bridge. The Commander was standing there. 71 00:06:04,097 --> 00:06:07,032 l said, 'Sir, the secret things are still down there.' 72 00:06:07,667 --> 00:06:11,433 He just said, 'Leave it, Wilde, the boat's sinking anyway.' 73 00:06:14,774 --> 00:06:16,674 The British rescued those they could, 74 00:06:17,076 --> 00:06:21,206 but seventeen of the crew, including Commander Lamp, were lost. 75 00:06:21,948 --> 00:06:25,349 The U-1 10 remained stubbornly afloat. 76 00:06:26,085 --> 00:06:27,279 My captain turned to me and said, 77 00:06:27,453 --> 00:06:32,186 'Look, you Sub, you take the boarding party and get what you can out of her.' 78 00:06:57,917 --> 00:07:00,579 One couldn't believe that they'd just left this U-boat. 79 00:07:01,387 --> 00:07:04,254 l felt sure there must be somebody down below - 80 00:07:04,457 --> 00:07:08,086 - and so going down that last ladder with my revolver holstered, 81 00:07:08,261 --> 00:07:10,821 l felt terribly vulnerable and very frightened. 82 00:07:14,700 --> 00:07:21,299 Very eerie. No noise at all, deathly silence. Nobody there. 83 00:07:22,074 --> 00:07:27,239 So l then shouted up to my boarding party who l'd left up on deck to come down. 84 00:07:34,587 --> 00:07:38,216 And then we started collecting everything we could. 85 00:07:43,262 --> 00:07:45,287 And the telegraphist came along to me and said, 86 00:07:45,465 --> 00:07:47,956 'Look, there's something very interesting here, you'd better come and see.' 87 00:07:48,234 --> 00:07:51,101 So l went along and there was this typewriter thing. 88 00:07:52,338 --> 00:07:56,798 We both pressed a few buttons and it lit up in rather a strange way 89 00:07:57,243 --> 00:08:01,043 and of course a mass of cipher books which didn't mean anything to us. 90 00:08:08,354 --> 00:08:11,482 Four days later the intelligence haul was delivered 91 00:08:11,657 --> 00:08:14,626 to a Victorian mansion in the Buckinghamshire countryside. 92 00:08:15,027 --> 00:08:18,656 This was Bletchley Park, the government code and cipher school, 93 00:08:19,131 --> 00:08:23,397 a place so secret it was known in official documents as 'Station X.' 94 00:08:24,303 --> 00:08:25,270 Staff Sergeant King. 95 00:08:25,505 --> 00:08:26,563 Right sir, coming. 96 00:08:32,812 --> 00:08:36,009 By 1941 , the Bletchley code breakers were able 97 00:08:36,182 --> 00:08:39,015 to read both German Army and Air Force signals. 98 00:08:39,418 --> 00:08:42,182 Only the Navy's Enigma codes were unbroken. 99 00:08:47,159 --> 00:08:50,822 The material from the U-1 10 helped to change all that. 100 00:08:54,433 --> 00:08:58,062 We got out almost everything in spring/summer of 1941 . 101 00:08:58,237 --> 00:09:02,037 There may have been an occasional day that didn't come out or something, 102 00:09:02,275 --> 00:09:04,266 but no, thorough steady success. 103 00:09:07,747 --> 00:09:10,807 The intelligence material captured in the spring offered 104 00:09:10,983 --> 00:09:14,646 the cryptographers enough of an insight into the mechanics of the codes 105 00:09:14,887 --> 00:09:20,587 for them to crack the daily wheel settings, even when in the summer the tables changed. 106 00:09:22,662 --> 00:09:27,031 After June and July were over, when we had the messages on a plate, 107 00:09:27,433 --> 00:09:32,996 then we had to solve each day separately and it was an extremely satisfying job. 108 00:09:35,274 --> 00:09:38,072 And each time you had to do some work and you knew what you 109 00:09:38,244 --> 00:09:41,577 - what you were doing was useful. Wonderful. 110 00:09:42,782 --> 00:09:44,579 By the summer of 1941 , 111 00:09:44,850 --> 00:09:49,219 a flood of decrypted signals was clattering down the secure teleprinter lines 112 00:09:49,422 --> 00:09:51,322 from Bletchley to the Admiralty. 113 00:10:00,132 --> 00:10:03,533 lt was known as 'Ultra' or 'special intelligence.' 114 00:10:05,871 --> 00:10:09,272 with which the decrypts came into us, 115 00:10:09,775 --> 00:10:12,744 there were just piles and piles of them and we - 116 00:10:12,912 --> 00:10:17,110 - were reading enemy traffic and knowing what they were doing, 117 00:10:17,350 --> 00:10:20,615 probably at the same time as the recipient of the signal. 118 00:10:21,420 --> 00:10:23,547 At the other end of the teleprinter line, 119 00:10:23,856 --> 00:10:27,121 was the Admiralty's intelligence centre, the 'Citadel.' 120 00:10:29,261 --> 00:10:33,129 At the heart of the secret bunker a small team of intelligence officers 121 00:10:33,299 --> 00:10:35,790 sought to track U-boats in the Atlantic. 122 00:10:39,472 --> 00:10:44,171 The submarine Tracking Room was to mirror operations at U-boat Headquarters, 123 00:10:44,644 --> 00:10:48,478 and lest anyone forget, a grim portrait of Karl D-nitz, 124 00:10:48,648 --> 00:10:51,412 the leader of the U-boat arm, hung on the wall. 125 00:10:56,122 --> 00:10:57,919 ln the summer of 1941 , 126 00:10:58,224 --> 00:11:01,057 Ultra was to transform the work of the Tracking Room 127 00:11:01,427 --> 00:11:03,622 - and the battle in the Atlantic. 128 00:11:08,668 --> 00:11:13,628 On June 21st, a British cruiser sank the German supply ship Babitonga, 129 00:11:14,073 --> 00:11:18,203 one of the network put in place to refuel surface raiders and U-boats at sea. 130 00:11:19,745 --> 00:11:20,677 Within a month, 131 00:11:20,846 --> 00:11:25,510 Naval intelligence was able to lead British warships to nine German tankers. 132 00:11:31,724 --> 00:11:36,684 lt was a severe blow to D-nitz's plans for long distance operations in the Atlantic. 133 00:11:37,596 --> 00:11:38,858 To make matters worse, 134 00:11:39,098 --> 00:11:42,625 his U-boats were also struggling to find convoys closer to home. 135 00:11:45,404 --> 00:11:48,896 ln May, 1941 , they'd sunk fifty-eight ships. 136 00:11:49,475 --> 00:11:52,376 ln July, just seventeen. 137 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,614 D-nitz began to suspect an intelligence failure. 138 00:12:04,490 --> 00:12:06,185 He'd send his signals and intelligence - 139 00:12:06,358 --> 00:12:09,691 - officer to Berlin and this man was told, 140 00:12:10,062 --> 00:12:13,862 'Find out if everything is okay. Can we trust this?' 141 00:12:14,900 --> 00:12:18,336 And again and again he would return with reassuring words, 142 00:12:18,904 --> 00:12:25,673 'Nothing can have happened, it's got to be okay.' But one always felt - 143 00:12:25,845 --> 00:12:29,212 - that D-nitz had, l'd say, a premonition, 144 00:12:30,116 --> 00:12:32,414 that something wasn't quite right you know? 145 00:12:39,191 --> 00:12:42,922 On the day the British captured the Enigma materials from the U-1 10, 146 00:12:43,562 --> 00:12:47,794 Admiral D-nitz was appearing in a film being given its gala premiere in Berlin. 147 00:12:57,076 --> 00:13:01,206 The leading parts, with the exception of D-nitz, were played by actors. 148 00:13:01,647 --> 00:13:07,517 But the U-boat was real enough. The U-123 had already sunk eighteen ships. 149 00:13:40,486 --> 00:13:45,753 That summer the U-123 was to set out on war patrol under a new commander. 150 00:13:48,561 --> 00:13:49,425 lt wasn't that simple - 151 00:13:49,595 --> 00:13:51,495 - taking over a successful boat. 152 00:13:54,166 --> 00:13:55,997 l had to impose myself, of course. 153 00:13:58,204 --> 00:14:00,172 The older crew members in particular were a bit - 154 00:14:00,339 --> 00:14:05,106 - reluctant to accept me because our first voyage was a journey south to the Equator. 155 00:14:06,312 --> 00:14:09,873 They'd never done a long voyage, so it wasn't easy getting them behind me. 156 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:16,784 Hardegan was determined to make his mark. 157 00:14:19,291 --> 00:14:23,352 His maiden voyage in 123 was to take him south along the African coast, 158 00:14:23,596 --> 00:14:27,532 where hunting was supposed to be good. At first it was. 159 00:14:31,303 --> 00:14:33,237 By the end of June, 1941 , 160 00:14:33,572 --> 00:14:36,473 he was able to report his first successes to D-nitz. 161 00:14:38,244 --> 00:14:41,577 At Battle Stations. Turned onto a parallel course. 162 00:14:42,481 --> 00:14:45,279 A hit at the bridge and a bright fiery glow. 163 00:14:47,786 --> 00:14:49,913 There's an oil patch at the sight of the sinkings 164 00:14:50,122 --> 00:14:53,148 and a few people are floating in the water holding spars. 165 00:14:56,829 --> 00:15:01,129 But U-123's war patrol was being tracked by the British. 166 00:15:04,470 --> 00:15:09,066 Hardegen's signals were read in the Citadel, just hours after he's sent them. 167 00:15:10,542 --> 00:15:14,205 Time enough for convoys to be directed away from U-123. 168 00:15:15,714 --> 00:15:17,875 The Tracking Room was carrying out the same operation 169 00:15:18,050 --> 00:15:21,349 with a dozen more U-boats right across the North Atlantic. 170 00:15:28,394 --> 00:15:31,989 On June 24th, D-nitz sent a message to his commanders, 171 00:15:32,231 --> 00:15:35,257 urging them to press home the attack more vigorously. 172 00:15:36,802 --> 00:15:38,201 For Naval intelligence, 173 00:15:38,404 --> 00:15:41,999 this was confirmation that the U-boats were experiencing a lean time. 174 00:15:42,641 --> 00:15:45,075 D-nitz was tetchy. 175 00:15:51,817 --> 00:15:56,845 Finding targets, how should l put it? This was getting harder and harder. 176 00:16:00,826 --> 00:16:05,957 The U-boats locations were known and the convoys were being directed around them. 177 00:16:10,836 --> 00:16:14,101 U-123's war patrol began to fizzle out. 178 00:16:14,807 --> 00:16:16,866 At least for the U-boats in these waters 179 00:16:17,109 --> 00:16:19,942 there was time to relax in the African sunshine. 180 00:16:26,552 --> 00:16:28,816 l organised a deck party with sausage snatching, 181 00:16:28,988 --> 00:16:31,650 shark fishing and the crew was able to swim. 182 00:16:47,239 --> 00:16:50,299 The water was around 30 degrees, it was lovely. 183 00:16:52,378 --> 00:16:55,176 We could have a nice shower. We took our clothes off. 184 00:16:55,347 --> 00:16:57,076 Everyone was naked, you know. 185 00:17:18,737 --> 00:17:24,698 By July the 14th, U-123 had reached Freetown, on the coast of Sierra Leone. 186 00:17:25,544 --> 00:17:29,776 This was an assembly point for convoys preparing to make the journey home to Britain. 187 00:17:32,151 --> 00:17:36,884 There were hopes, at last, of an easy success. They were short lived. 188 00:17:37,756 --> 00:17:41,556 The Royal Navy had been tipped off by U-123's own signals. 189 00:17:42,127 --> 00:17:43,458 And now the only ships passing in 190 00:17:43,629 --> 00:17:47,156 and out of Freetown were the ones they couldn't sink. 191 00:17:50,402 --> 00:17:53,371 We had them in our sights and we wanted to sink them, 192 00:17:53,972 --> 00:17:57,373 but when it got dark they were brightly lit and they all had the American - 193 00:17:57,543 --> 00:18:01,843 - flag on their sides. They were neutral and we couldn't do anything. 194 00:18:03,916 --> 00:18:07,215 Hitler had personally ordered that a signal be sent to U-boats 195 00:18:07,419 --> 00:18:10,388 expressly forbidding contact with American ships. 196 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:19,228 The frustration of Hardegen and his crew was mirrored across the U-boat arm that summer. 197 00:18:19,932 --> 00:18:24,835 The failure of its codes compounded by the presence of an enemy it couldn't touch. 198 00:18:31,210 --> 00:18:36,705 We had very strict orders to avoid anything that could cloud the relationship. 199 00:18:40,319 --> 00:18:44,813 But one already felt in those days that the Americans were doing quite a lot 200 00:18:44,990 --> 00:18:48,426 that couldn't truly be reconciled with neutrality. 201 00:18:56,935 --> 00:19:00,063 We shall give every possible assistance to Britain 202 00:19:00,506 --> 00:19:05,739 and to all who with Britain are resisting Hitlerism or its equivalent. 203 00:19:06,411 --> 00:19:10,871 All additional measures necessary to deliver the goods will be taken. 204 00:19:13,485 --> 00:19:15,214 By the summer of 1941 , 205 00:19:15,521 --> 00:19:20,185 half the food Britain imported and many of the weapons she needed to fight the war, 206 00:19:20,425 --> 00:19:22,950 were passing across the Atlantic from North America. 207 00:19:23,529 --> 00:19:25,656 And Britain was pressing for more. 208 00:19:27,666 --> 00:19:31,158 We one thing we hoped was that the Americans would come into the war. 209 00:19:31,436 --> 00:19:34,564 lf they did, that would be it, the war would be won. 210 00:19:35,107 --> 00:19:39,544 Of course it has to be said there were many people who were very, 211 00:19:39,711 --> 00:19:41,736 very much in favour of Britain 212 00:19:41,914 --> 00:19:45,782 and who would be glad to get into the war of whom President Roosevelt was one. 213 00:19:51,757 --> 00:19:55,158 The growing warmth of this friendship was demonstrated in August 214 00:19:55,394 --> 00:19:59,387 when Churchill steamed across the Atlantic for a shipboard summit with Roosevelt. 215 00:20:03,335 --> 00:20:05,269 The President came bearing gifts. 216 00:20:05,637 --> 00:20:08,197 British sailors were given cigarettes and fruit. 217 00:20:08,507 --> 00:20:10,873 A taste of life as it was once lived at home. 218 00:20:16,682 --> 00:20:19,617 American sailors were able to meet the British Prime Minister. 219 00:20:26,358 --> 00:20:29,191 The two leaders gave voice to their unity of purpose 220 00:20:29,361 --> 00:20:32,387 in a joint service aboard the battleship, Prince of Wales. 221 00:20:36,602 --> 00:20:38,331 Churchill got what he wanted. 222 00:20:38,670 --> 00:20:42,197 Roosevelt agreed to bend the bounds of neutrality even further. 223 00:20:42,507 --> 00:20:46,910 American warships would begin protecting British convoys in the Western Atlantic. 224 00:20:51,350 --> 00:20:54,979 The USA declared a security zone. 225 00:20:55,254 --> 00:21:00,385 An exclusion zone, and that was for us, of course, nonsense. 226 00:21:01,026 --> 00:21:02,755 We regarded the whole of the Atlantic - 227 00:21:02,928 --> 00:21:07,456 - as our operational area. But the Americans attacked a number of - 228 00:21:07,633 --> 00:21:12,093 - submarines in the Western Atlantic. lt regarded them as pirates. 229 00:21:20,912 --> 00:21:24,746 The Admiralty was now confident that the tide of battle was turning its way. 230 00:21:25,884 --> 00:21:28,910 lts figures showed that the in the last six months of 1941 , 231 00:21:29,121 --> 00:21:35,151 shipping losses had more than halved. The U-boat was struggling to find targets. 232 00:21:35,994 --> 00:21:40,931 When it did, it risked confronting the muscular neutrality of the United States. 233 00:21:46,872 --> 00:21:50,308 But it was clear this stand-off couldn't last forever. 234 00:21:58,717 --> 00:22:00,480 On October the 31st, 235 00:22:00,952 --> 00:22:05,912 Eric Topp's U-552 was hunting in the waters south east of Greenland. 236 00:22:09,361 --> 00:22:11,886 l came upon the convoy in the early hours of the morning 237 00:22:12,064 --> 00:22:14,555 and attacked immediately with two torpedoes. 238 00:22:34,319 --> 00:22:35,980 The Reuben James was hit - 239 00:22:36,154 --> 00:22:39,385 - and burst into flames and a hundred and ten men 240 00:22:39,558 --> 00:22:42,083 lost their lives in the icy cold water. 241 00:22:42,794 --> 00:22:49,131 Oil spouted out of the ship into the sea and in places this was on fire. 242 00:22:50,669 --> 00:22:54,901 Then, unfortunately, after the boat started to sink, 243 00:22:55,073 --> 00:23:02,036 her depth charges began to explode and that tossed the survivors high up into - 244 00:23:02,214 --> 00:23:07,550 - the air. They were thrown up to a height of fifteen metres 245 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:13,615 and of course hit the water again in a very badly wounded state. 246 00:23:22,267 --> 00:23:26,067 Topp's U-552, sank the first American warship, 247 00:23:26,538 --> 00:23:29,166 before there was officially a war to fight. 248 00:23:33,779 --> 00:23:35,144 ln the Atlantic at least, 249 00:23:35,313 --> 00:23:39,272 the United States was now at war with Germany in all but name. 250 00:23:43,922 --> 00:23:48,325 l reported every detail of the attack to Donitz and he said nothing more than, 251 00:23:48,593 --> 00:23:50,857 'lt's all right, you acted correctly.' 252 00:23:54,833 --> 00:23:57,768 Donitz approved, Hitler did not. 253 00:23:58,437 --> 00:24:02,669 Topp wasn't disciplined, but Hitler still refused to rescind his orders. 254 00:24:03,041 --> 00:24:05,373 No more attacks on American ships. 255 00:24:05,944 --> 00:24:09,778 By December the U-boat war had almost grown to a halt. 256 00:24:12,284 --> 00:24:16,345 But the issue was settled five weeks later. Not in the Atlantic - 257 00:24:17,222 --> 00:24:18,120 - but in the Pacific. 258 00:24:24,996 --> 00:24:28,124 This is the Arizona writhing in death agony. 259 00:24:28,567 --> 00:24:33,470 Awakening America to battle and rallying America to a new battle cry. 260 00:24:33,939 --> 00:24:35,930 'Remember Pearl Harbour.' 261 00:24:36,842 --> 00:24:40,175 Hitler was surprised by the Japanese air strike at Pearl Harbour. 262 00:24:40,846 --> 00:24:44,839 But in support of his ally he now declared war on the United States. 263 00:24:46,117 --> 00:24:48,551 Donitz and his crews were delighted. 264 00:24:53,358 --> 00:24:58,762 The entry of the United States into the war was, l would almost say, a relief. 265 00:25:03,602 --> 00:25:06,002 We could now respond to what the Americans 266 00:25:06,171 --> 00:25:10,471 had already been doing to us in terms of hostile attacks. 267 00:25:18,116 --> 00:25:22,678 Preparations began for 'Paukenschlag.' 'Operation Drumbeat'. 268 00:25:32,030 --> 00:25:37,058 Now, at last, was an opportunity to breath new life into the faltering U-boat campaign. 269 00:25:43,575 --> 00:25:47,511 Just five large U-boats were to spearhead the attack on the United States. 270 00:25:48,146 --> 00:25:49,943 One was the U-123. 271 00:25:51,816 --> 00:25:57,186 Hardegen and his crew set out for the new combat areas on Christmas Eve 1941 . 272 00:26:00,592 --> 00:26:04,722 A few of us were already wondering whether we would get back from there in one piece. 273 00:26:05,397 --> 00:26:06,557 lt was a fair way. 274 00:26:17,676 --> 00:26:19,541 l had no charts for America. 275 00:26:20,011 --> 00:26:23,447 l had a Knaur pocket atlas and in it there was a small city map - 276 00:26:23,615 --> 00:26:26,448 - of New York. That was all l had. 277 00:26:32,457 --> 00:26:37,622 U-123's arrival would not go unannounced. There was Ultra. 278 00:26:38,697 --> 00:26:40,858 On January the 10th, 1942, 279 00:26:41,166 --> 00:26:43,896 a message was intercepted and delivered to Bletchley. 280 00:26:44,369 --> 00:26:47,202 lt was an order from Donitz to the Drumbeat boats. 281 00:26:47,739 --> 00:26:51,175 lt was clear an attack was building off the American coast. 282 00:26:54,012 --> 00:26:57,675 But the eyes of the American Navy were still turned to the Pacific. 283 00:27:00,585 --> 00:27:03,418 The warning reached the desk of its naval intelligence service, 284 00:27:04,389 --> 00:27:06,050 but no action was taken. 285 00:27:07,125 --> 00:27:11,391 ln those first days after Pearl Harbour it really was a pantomime. 286 00:27:11,596 --> 00:27:13,393 But then you've got to remember the United States 287 00:27:13,565 --> 00:27:15,829 was a hell of a long way from anywhere else. 288 00:27:16,201 --> 00:27:18,829 And Americans were not accustomed to think of people 289 00:27:19,004 --> 00:27:20,972 attacking them on their own shores. 290 00:27:26,378 --> 00:27:31,839 On January the 13th, U-123 inched its way into New York Bay. 291 00:27:32,651 --> 00:27:35,051 Operation Drumbeat had begun. 292 00:27:38,323 --> 00:27:41,190 l had flooded the front tanks so that only the tower showed. 293 00:27:41,593 --> 00:27:44,756 What America fisherman would recognise a German U-boat tower? 294 00:27:45,897 --> 00:27:48,559 l'd assumed that l would find a coast that was blacked out. 295 00:27:49,134 --> 00:27:50,624 There was a war on, after all. 296 00:27:51,102 --> 00:27:54,196 But ships were sailing with their navigation lights shining brightly. 297 00:28:01,012 --> 00:28:04,038 We could see the cars driving along the coast road - 298 00:28:04,482 --> 00:28:07,246 - and l remember we could even smell the woods. 299 00:28:26,705 --> 00:28:28,798 l waited until the ships left New York, 300 00:28:29,174 --> 00:28:31,506 then l would sail behind them until they were in about forty, 301 00:28:31,676 --> 00:28:34,440 fifty metres of water and then sink them. 302 00:28:55,166 --> 00:28:56,997 The night of the long knives. 303 00:28:57,368 --> 00:29:00,895 A drumbeat with eight ships sunk, including three tankers. 304 00:29:09,047 --> 00:29:12,039 lf only there'd been ten or twenty U-boats here with me. 305 00:29:12,283 --> 00:29:14,444 They would all have had successes aplenty. 306 00:29:24,129 --> 00:29:26,962 Hardegen was able to report to U-boat Headquarters 307 00:29:27,265 --> 00:29:30,962 that American waters were teaming with ships unprotected by convoy. 308 00:29:31,669 --> 00:29:33,899 The U-boat could sink at will. 309 00:29:39,077 --> 00:29:42,342 We had expected there would be some successes at the beginning. 310 00:29:44,282 --> 00:29:47,649 But we hadn't expected they would be as great. 311 00:29:49,053 --> 00:29:52,716 That was, let's say, a nice surprise. 312 00:29:58,897 --> 00:30:00,956 This was not what the Admiralty had anticipated 313 00:30:01,132 --> 00:30:05,501 when the United States entered the war. Losses began to climb. 314 00:30:06,204 --> 00:30:10,072 Forty-eight ships in January, ninety-five by March. 315 00:30:12,811 --> 00:30:14,210 There was worse news. 316 00:30:14,712 --> 00:30:16,839 On the 1st of February, 1942, 317 00:30:17,148 --> 00:30:22,279 naval intelligence was obliged to report that the flow of 'Ultra' was an end. 318 00:30:26,457 --> 00:30:29,654 Bletchley had lost access to the key Enigma code. 319 00:30:33,398 --> 00:30:37,960 The work dried up and everything stopped. Nothing was happening at all. 320 00:30:38,636 --> 00:30:41,104 And we were really rather desperate. 321 00:30:41,906 --> 00:30:43,237 lt had a very bad effect. 322 00:30:43,408 --> 00:30:45,933 People walked around with long faces, 323 00:30:46,177 --> 00:30:50,511 particularly the cryptographers who were almost in despair. 324 00:30:52,417 --> 00:30:54,544 Donitz had insisted on the change. 325 00:30:55,119 --> 00:30:56,984 There were just too many coincidences. 326 00:30:57,422 --> 00:31:01,051 Too many convoys missed. Too many supply ships sunk. 327 00:31:02,594 --> 00:31:06,360 A new fourth wheel Enigma machine had been issued to the Atlantic boats, 328 00:31:06,831 --> 00:31:09,026 and a new code, called Shark. 329 00:31:10,568 --> 00:31:13,401 lt was enough to ensure the Ultra tap was turned off 330 00:31:13,705 --> 00:31:16,173 just when the United States needed its help. 331 00:31:18,877 --> 00:31:23,280 We were very, very miserable about not being able to get into the Shark, 332 00:31:23,448 --> 00:31:26,576 we knew that was much more important than anything else that we could do. 333 00:31:27,452 --> 00:31:29,317 We knew what the sinkings were like. 334 00:31:33,224 --> 00:31:35,454 On April the 8th, 1942, 335 00:31:35,793 --> 00:31:39,991 the tanker Esso Baton Rouge was passing along the coast of Georgia. 336 00:31:43,034 --> 00:31:44,626 These were dangerous waters. 337 00:31:45,003 --> 00:31:47,437 They'd become a favourite hunting ground for the U-boat. 338 00:31:52,343 --> 00:31:56,279 After four months of war there was still no convoy protection. 339 00:31:58,016 --> 00:32:03,044 Nor had most Americans woken to the new Pearl Harbour unfolding on their doorstep. 340 00:32:04,689 --> 00:32:08,716 All the businesses, they wouldn't dim their lights - 341 00:32:09,193 --> 00:32:14,096 - and a ship going up the coast or coming down, you're silhouetted against this light. 342 00:32:14,332 --> 00:32:15,959 This was like a shooting gallery. 343 00:32:16,868 --> 00:32:19,860 You know, you picture yourself sitting out there at about a hundred and twenty, 344 00:32:20,038 --> 00:32:23,633 a hundred forty thousand barrels of high octane gas, 345 00:32:24,575 --> 00:32:26,008 there's something to think about. 346 00:32:29,981 --> 00:32:32,347 There were many who refused to sail on tankers. 347 00:32:32,817 --> 00:32:34,944 They were an especially prized target. 348 00:32:35,753 --> 00:32:37,744 ln the first four months of America's war, 349 00:32:38,056 --> 00:32:41,082 more than fifty were sunk on the East Coast and in the Caribbean. 350 00:32:44,162 --> 00:32:47,654 The Esso Baton Rouge was a little more than two miles offshore 351 00:32:47,832 --> 00:32:51,495 when her shadow was spotted by Hardegen's U-123. 352 00:33:01,045 --> 00:33:05,482 Ba-woom, she says. l don't know how high up in the air l went 353 00:33:05,650 --> 00:33:07,845 because she was right under me, just about. 354 00:33:09,454 --> 00:33:14,824 l don't know cos it knocked me out or what but when l come too l says, 'Holy mackerel.' 355 00:33:15,393 --> 00:33:17,054 You know the first thing out of my mouth? 356 00:33:17,395 --> 00:33:19,761 First thing out of my mouth, 'Please God, help me now.' 357 00:33:20,565 --> 00:33:22,294 The first thing out of my mouth. 358 00:33:24,135 --> 00:33:28,037 Nine days after the sinking of the Baton Rouge all tanker traffic 359 00:33:28,206 --> 00:33:30,265 on the East Coast was suspended. 360 00:33:35,747 --> 00:33:39,183 The U.S. Navy was unable to protect shipping in its own waters. 361 00:33:39,851 --> 00:33:44,686 lt was fighting a war in two oceans. And in the Atlantic it was losing. 362 00:33:52,697 --> 00:33:54,528 l was a pretty sick cookie. 363 00:33:54,766 --> 00:33:58,532 l'd come home, my mother would put the rubber mat in the bed, 364 00:33:59,670 --> 00:34:03,970 'cos l was having such nightmares l'd wake up in a pool of water, sweating so bad. 365 00:34:06,244 --> 00:34:07,836 Boy l'd get some doozies. 366 00:34:11,049 --> 00:34:14,314 One time l was running down the hall hollering 'general quarters.' 367 00:34:15,553 --> 00:34:16,781 Do you believe it? 368 00:34:24,429 --> 00:34:27,887 The tin fish has surfaced and like all fish out of water is doomed 369 00:34:28,066 --> 00:34:29,624 if it remains there too long. 370 00:34:30,001 --> 00:34:33,027 Much was made in the newsreels of an American counter attack. 371 00:34:33,571 --> 00:34:36,597 The public was told of hundreds of hunt and destroy missions. 372 00:34:40,445 --> 00:34:43,778 Of fifteen U-boats sunk in the first three months of the war. 373 00:34:46,017 --> 00:34:48,417 Planes would come and drop a few bombs. We would only - 374 00:34:48,586 --> 00:34:51,885 - laugh about that because they were so far away they had no effect, 375 00:34:52,223 --> 00:34:55,158 but they always reported, 'l've sunk a U-boat.' 376 00:34:59,831 --> 00:35:00,695 Return to base. 377 00:35:02,100 --> 00:35:03,158 Okay. 378 00:35:06,137 --> 00:35:08,469 We were supposed to have been sunk three times. 379 00:35:08,706 --> 00:35:12,039 Every time we sunk a ship we were sunk again. The Americans needed - 380 00:35:12,210 --> 00:35:16,544 - this as a consolation, the idea that they had done something. But it wasn't true. 381 00:35:21,152 --> 00:35:22,949 Despite the American planes, 382 00:35:23,187 --> 00:35:27,385 no U-boats were sunk in United States waters in the first three months of the war, 383 00:35:27,992 --> 00:35:30,222 and with tankers burning off the beaches, 384 00:35:30,428 --> 00:35:33,955 it was impossible to hide the failure of the Navy's response. 385 00:35:41,305 --> 00:35:44,638 Operation Drumbeat breathed new life into the U-boat war. 386 00:35:44,942 --> 00:35:49,436 Donitz's boats were sinking more than four hundred thousand tons of shipping a month. 387 00:35:51,849 --> 00:35:57,549 Hardegen's U-123 alone, sank nineteen ships on its two patrols to the United States. 388 00:36:02,493 --> 00:36:04,893 We were the ones who'd had the greatest success 389 00:36:05,263 --> 00:36:09,529 and the reception and the propaganda circus around us was correspondingly noisy. 390 00:36:11,002 --> 00:36:13,266 l was a little embarrassed at times, 391 00:36:13,671 --> 00:36:17,198 because in fact we hadn't encountered much resistance. 392 00:36:28,119 --> 00:36:31,054 The Donitz pinned the Knight's Cross on me on the deck of my boat. 393 00:36:31,455 --> 00:36:33,855 That was, of course, a special moment. 394 00:36:37,028 --> 00:36:39,155 Donitz had good cause for satisfaction. 395 00:36:39,664 --> 00:36:44,294 Everyone wanted to be part of what the crews called 'the Great American Turkey shoot.' 396 00:36:49,674 --> 00:36:53,701 U-boat Headquarters didn't care where in the Atlantic the successes were won, 397 00:36:54,078 --> 00:36:57,536 just as long as more ships were sunk than the allies could build. 398 00:37:01,752 --> 00:37:04,983 Donitz sent all the U-boats he could muster to American waters. 399 00:37:06,324 --> 00:37:08,918 This was made possible by a new type of submarine, 400 00:37:09,260 --> 00:37:13,629 which thanks to the change in the Enigma code, was a well guarded secret. 401 00:37:19,437 --> 00:37:22,463 U-boats were now able to rendezvous off the American coast 402 00:37:22,707 --> 00:37:24,641 with giant underwater tankers, 403 00:37:24,809 --> 00:37:29,405 loaded with up to seven hundred tons of fuel, food and torpedoes. 404 00:37:39,924 --> 00:37:44,020 A U-boat could now double the length of its war patrol on the American coast. 405 00:37:49,734 --> 00:37:53,465 Staff at the Admiralty were unable to contain their frustration. 406 00:37:54,105 --> 00:37:58,599 There was sharp criticism of their American ally's failure to introduce convoys sooner. 407 00:38:00,244 --> 00:38:03,543 The monthly total for June was to be the worst of the war. 408 00:38:04,181 --> 00:38:06,513 One hundred and seventy three ships sunk. 409 00:38:07,151 --> 00:38:10,177 These losses were threatening the whole allied war effort. 410 00:38:13,324 --> 00:38:15,383 But for all the Admiralty's anger, 411 00:38:15,693 --> 00:38:18,958 its grim statistics had a new and disturbing trend. 412 00:38:20,531 --> 00:38:24,592 A growing number of ships were being sunk many miles from the American coast. 413 00:38:28,539 --> 00:38:31,372 U-boats had struggled to find ships the summer before. 414 00:38:32,243 --> 00:38:35,610 Now they seemed able to find them even in the middle of the Atlantic. 415 00:38:40,051 --> 00:38:43,919 When a ship was sunk here the chances of survival were slim 416 00:38:44,388 --> 00:38:46,185 and the U-boat crews knew it. 417 00:38:47,358 --> 00:38:51,385 l suddenly realised that about a hundred feet away was this thumping great U-boat. 418 00:38:52,730 --> 00:39:01,035 And um, the machine guns were manned, the - she had a couple of a canon, 419 00:39:01,205 --> 00:39:04,470 they were manned and we all thought that was - that was it. 420 00:39:08,579 --> 00:39:11,548 lnstead he asked someone to come alongside and er, 421 00:39:11,816 --> 00:39:19,222 he handed out er, bread, tins of butter and some first aid dressings and he said, 422 00:39:19,857 --> 00:39:26,194 - 'We will report your position after dark and good luck' and took off then. 423 00:39:32,703 --> 00:39:35,536 l think it was the worst time, that first night, in many ways. 424 00:39:36,407 --> 00:39:42,277 You began to think about er, how a few hours ago you were having breakfast - 425 00:39:42,446 --> 00:39:45,381 - and you ought to be having a jolly good dinner now. 426 00:39:50,654 --> 00:39:53,020 You're wet and icy cold. 427 00:39:55,059 --> 00:40:02,158 Your backside would sit on the hard surface, wet surface, wet clothes, rocking, 428 00:40:02,700 --> 00:40:05,533 thrown about like that, you're never still. 429 00:40:15,713 --> 00:40:19,774 Each mean got a quarter of this can of pemmican. 430 00:40:19,950 --> 00:40:26,378 lt's - it's like fruit and chopped up meat, a lot of coconut, coconut oil - 431 00:40:26,557 --> 00:40:30,425 - pressed into like a little sardine can. 432 00:40:35,065 --> 00:40:37,260 And they'd get two malted milk tablets 433 00:40:37,735 --> 00:40:42,229 and they'd get this little container of water about the size of a shot gun shell, 434 00:40:42,406 --> 00:40:43,998 they got that twice a day. 435 00:40:48,813 --> 00:40:50,337 And that was our ration. 436 00:40:59,924 --> 00:41:03,121 You see a wave the size of a house coming towards you in a - 437 00:41:03,394 --> 00:41:07,057 - open boat with seventeen chaps in it and you - you think, 438 00:41:07,231 --> 00:41:09,392 this one's going to come over the top 439 00:41:09,867 --> 00:41:12,062 and you thought, this is it this time. 440 00:41:13,871 --> 00:41:15,930 We - we had two helmets in the boat, 441 00:41:16,273 --> 00:41:19,140 so there was always two men with those helmets bailing water. 442 00:41:19,610 --> 00:41:24,240 You just kept at it because if you gave up you were done and you knew this. 443 00:41:33,524 --> 00:41:37,585 As the days wore on, your tongue started to swell 444 00:41:37,795 --> 00:41:40,286 and all you thought about was when was the water coming round, when - 445 00:41:40,464 --> 00:41:43,490 - when was the water - you longed to drink something. 446 00:41:49,473 --> 00:41:53,102 When l was a child l'd read Charles Dickens Christmas Carol 447 00:41:53,511 --> 00:41:56,309 and there's a lovely illustration in that book, the Ghost of Plenty. 448 00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:58,038 He sat up in front of a - 449 00:41:58,215 --> 00:42:03,482 - giant fire, log fire, with fruit and food 450 00:42:03,721 --> 00:42:10,183 and mulled wines and all sorts of things around him and every time l closed my eyes, 451 00:42:10,628 --> 00:42:11,822 l could see that. 452 00:42:14,899 --> 00:42:16,730 From the summer of 1942, 453 00:42:17,268 --> 00:42:20,362 many of the merchant seamen forced to undergo this ordeal, 454 00:42:20,771 --> 00:42:24,571 were paying the price for a catastrophic British intelligence failure. 455 00:42:26,911 --> 00:42:31,371 The breaking of the German Enigma codes was of immense value to the Admiralty 456 00:42:31,782 --> 00:42:34,945 and yet it was cavalier about the security of its own codes. 457 00:42:36,020 --> 00:42:41,424 lt relied on book ciphers. Easy to use, but often easier to penetrate. 458 00:42:42,126 --> 00:42:45,152 Little effort was made to disguise the code's 'indicator' 459 00:42:45,429 --> 00:42:47,795 - the key for anyone decrypting a signal. 460 00:42:49,333 --> 00:42:54,703 By the summer for 1942 the Germans had cracked the British convoy codes. 461 00:42:57,741 --> 00:43:03,077 Their most successful U-boat pack attacks on our convoys were based 462 00:43:03,247 --> 00:43:06,978 on information obtained by breaking our ciphers. 463 00:43:07,384 --> 00:43:10,785 The Germans were doing just about as well with our ciphers breaking them 464 00:43:10,955 --> 00:43:12,513 as we were doing with Ultra. 465 00:43:13,223 --> 00:43:15,555 ln fact at times they may be doing better. 466 00:43:19,430 --> 00:43:22,695 Thousands of signals were sent to allied ships every week. 467 00:43:23,167 --> 00:43:27,763 As much as eighty percent of those sent in one code were read by the Germans. 468 00:43:29,373 --> 00:43:32,501 secret report written for the Admiralty after the war, 469 00:43:32,843 --> 00:43:36,040 admitted it had cost the country dearly in men and ships, 470 00:43:36,547 --> 00:43:38,879 and nearly lost us the war at sea. 471 00:43:43,020 --> 00:43:46,854 By the time the U-boat returned to the convoy war later that summer, 472 00:43:47,157 --> 00:43:49,819 the intelligence advantage rested with Donitz. 473 00:43:50,461 --> 00:43:54,864 He would use it to direct his packs against convoys deep into the North Atlantic. 474 00:43:55,366 --> 00:43:57,800 A thousand miles or so away from land. 475 00:44:03,474 --> 00:44:08,241 Before the end of three weeks, you know, we realised we were really in trouble, 476 00:44:08,412 --> 00:44:10,471 because the food was going down - 477 00:44:10,648 --> 00:44:14,106 - and we saw all these fish with the - swimming around were sharks 478 00:44:14,852 --> 00:44:18,310 and these Pilot fish, they would swim closer, 479 00:44:18,656 --> 00:44:21,352 real close to the boat and you just pitch them in the belly 480 00:44:21,525 --> 00:44:22,890 and throw them in the boat. 481 00:44:23,060 --> 00:44:25,893 And you probably missed fifty of them before you got one. 482 00:44:29,566 --> 00:44:33,935 Your tongue which was black and your lips were black and these - 483 00:44:34,104 --> 00:44:39,440 - boils, which are all over your legs, painful, er, 484 00:44:39,610 --> 00:44:42,511 'cos your legs were in salt water most of the time. 485 00:44:44,548 --> 00:44:46,106 We would read the Testament, 486 00:44:46,283 --> 00:44:48,478 New Testament, we had the book with us. 487 00:44:49,353 --> 00:44:53,653 We'd read that two or three times a day. Well l think it kind of - 488 00:44:53,824 --> 00:44:55,485 - settles your mind. 489 00:44:57,695 --> 00:45:04,032 l - l can remember being at home and playing tennis in fact and er, and l wasn't - 490 00:45:04,201 --> 00:45:09,434 - in that boat for quite a long time. lt was uncanny, really. 491 00:45:14,812 --> 00:45:19,044 This guy, we found out he'd been torpedoed before and he, 492 00:45:19,216 --> 00:45:23,778 mentally he was not with it and he'd lay his money out in the boat and he'd 493 00:45:23,954 --> 00:45:27,287 - he'd give somebody a five dollar bill and tell them to call the water taxi, 494 00:45:27,458 --> 00:45:28,925 he wanted to go ashore. 495 00:45:29,326 --> 00:45:31,556 And then we got in this terrible storm one night 496 00:45:32,262 --> 00:45:33,786 and as we were all doing our thing - 497 00:45:33,964 --> 00:45:36,660 - he just stood up in the middle of the boat and he jumped. 498 00:45:36,834 --> 00:45:41,567 He just literally jumped right out of the boat and we never saw that man again. 499 00:45:44,041 --> 00:45:47,841 You know it was kind of heartbreaking, he'd been through so much - 500 00:45:48,479 --> 00:45:51,539 - and then he - he just decided he'd had it. 501 00:45:56,286 --> 00:46:02,282 lt was a grey, cold, North Atlantic day and somebody saw this um, 502 00:46:03,494 --> 00:46:06,588 shape on the horizon and it was an lcelandic trawler. 503 00:46:07,264 --> 00:46:09,664 And its name was Surprise. 504 00:46:19,843 --> 00:46:21,105 Some surprise. 505 00:46:40,030 --> 00:46:43,796 We were put on to the mess deck in hammocks and the crew of the Snowflake l 506 00:46:43,967 --> 00:46:45,764 - l can't speak enough. 507 00:46:59,483 --> 00:47:00,575 To us it was emotional. 508 00:47:00,751 --> 00:47:02,810 To them, they'd picked up survivors before 509 00:47:03,787 --> 00:47:08,622 and it meant really not that much to them until such time as they were - 510 00:47:08,826 --> 00:47:12,159 - finally understanding what we were telling them, how long we were out there. 511 00:47:13,564 --> 00:47:15,054 Then they couldn't believe it. 512 00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:40,422 U-boats sank a staggering eleven hundred ships in 1942. 513 00:47:41,024 --> 00:47:44,585 More than thirty thousand British seamen were forced to take to lifeboats. 514 00:47:45,195 --> 00:47:47,129 Ten thousand lost their lives. 515 00:47:47,831 --> 00:47:50,698 lt was the costliest year of the war at sea, so far. 516 00:47:52,603 --> 00:47:53,968 At the beginning of the war, 517 00:47:54,171 --> 00:47:58,471 Donitz had announced that with enough U-boats he would secure victory in the Atlantic. 518 00:47:59,209 --> 00:48:01,439 Then he'd commanded just fifty-seven. 519 00:48:02,312 --> 00:48:07,375 Now, at the start of 1943, he had three hundred and ninety-three.