All language subtitles for BBC The Battle of the Atlantic S01 E01_track3_[eng]-en

(NARRATOR) Hidden in a fold
of Kent countryside, 30 miles from London,

is the home of Britain's wartime leader,
Winston Churchill

casting his mind back
over five bloody and uncertain years,

he would write that during the war
only one thing ever frightened him:

the U-boat peril

“Battles might be won or lost," Churchill wrote,

“but our power to fight, to keep ourselves alive,

“rested on the outcome of the struggle
for control of the Atlantic.”

it was one of the longest
campaigns in naval history,

bitterly fought over
three million square miles of hostile ocean.

When it began, the U-boat
didn't seem to be a peril at all

And yet within 18 months it was able
to take Britain to the brink of defeat.

In 7942, this battle for survival was at its height.

Those lost fighting it have no grave.
There are only names.

This series remembers their war.

At a litle before midnight on October Bth 7939,

a lone U-boat
slipped through the line of sunken ships

that guarded the entrance to one
of the Royal Navy's most important bases.

(CLATTER OF MACHINERY)

U-47 was about to attempt
what the British believed impossible —

an attack on the fleet in the safety
of its anchorage at Scapa Flow.

/ts commander, Glinther Prien,
kept a log of his mission.

"There are warships anchored inshore.

“We close to a distance of some 3,000 metres.

“We will attack the big one.”

(NARRATOR)
She was the 30,000-tonne “Royal Oak",

the flagship of the Second Battle Squadron,

That night, the "Oak" was at anchor
at the eastern end of the Flow.

Most of her crew, 7200 men
and boys, were asleep below.

Suddenly, without any warning at all,

there was an enormous explosion
right up for'ards somewhere.

(INSTANCE) fé shook the ship from end to end

and | hopped out of my hammock
and { told them all to get out and get dressed.

They leaned over their hammocks
and said, "Ah, don't worry about it.”

(FORDHAM) We were saying,
"that the Dickens was that?"

Somebody thought it sounded like
an anti-aircraft gun, but nobody really knew.

(NARRATOR) One of Prien’s torpedoes
had hit the "Oak", close to the anchor chain.

Her captain thought it was
a small internal explosion

and there was no need to rouse the crew.

(INSTANCE) Two out of every three men
only had 12 minutes to live.

And they didn't know it.

(ORDER IN GERMAN)

(NARRATOR) Prien fired three more torpedoes.

The ship seemed to jump out of the water,
you know.

It was an enormous explosion.

(INSTANCE)
The last one set off the cordite magazine

and this hot orange blast
came up through the deck

and | wondered how long it took to die.

And... Excuse me a moment.

Brings back a lot of memories.

"There was a terrible roaring and cracking.

"Columns of water and fire,
fragments were flying through the air.

“One battleship sunk,
Every tube empty. | decided to leave.”

(SPEAKS GERMAN)

(TRANSLATION) You have to admit

it was an incredible achievement
for Prien and his boat,

with all the great difficulties
of navigation he faced.

He managed to get into Scapa Flow
and then get out again.

(NARRATOR) On the "Oak", most of the crew

were trapped between the decks
as the ship began to capsize.

(ECHOES OF MEN SHOUTING)

(FORDHAM) / must have slipped down
many feet and hit the water.

Something touched the back of my neck
and | thought, “It's coming down on me",

and | did the fastest hundred yards
I've ever done in my life.

(INSTANCE) The next thing | remember was...
funnily enough,

my Divisional Officer coming over with
a great lump of wood that he was hanging on to.

And he said, "Who's that?"

| said, “Leading Seaman Instance
and I'm burnt to buggery."

So he said, "Oh, bad Luck, old man."

(NARRATOR)
833 men were lost on the “Royal Oak".

it was a national humiliation,

@ British battleship sunk at anchor
in @ place symbolic of the country's sea power.

(ROUSING MILITARY BAND MUSIC)

By the time U-47 returned to its base
at Wilhelmshaven,

the name Prien was known throughout Germany.

He had become the “Bull of Scapa".

(GERMAN SPEECH)

(TRANSLATION)
Prien became a national hero,

and the public became very aware
of the U-boats and their potential in this war.

(NARRATOR) Only a month before,

Hitler had been openly sceptical
of the value of the U-boat.

Now it seemed to represent just the image
of military ingenuity and courage

he wanted to foster in the Reich.

He told Prien he was responsible
for a unique triumph.

/f 44 men and a lone U-boat
could sink a battleship,

whet could a fleet of submarines do?

(SINGING IN GERMAN)

Prien’s mission had been meticulously planned

by the staff at U-Boat Command
fin Wilhelmshaven.

(GERMAN SINGING CONTINUES)

The leader of the U-boat arm, Karl Donitz,

had forged his men into a fighting elite.

Their training was dominated by the prospect

of war with Germany's
natural enemy at sea, Great Britain.

(OESTEN) The task was
to find out Aow to cut the...

supplies across the Atlantic
within a reasonable time

so that maybe Britain would get in serious trouble.

(NARRATOR) When war came,
although he commanded just 57 U-boats,

Donitz planned to launch
a ruthless sea blockade

which he believed in time
would starve Britain into submission.

60 years ago, this forgotten wasteland
was full of ships and merchant seamen

preparing to make the 3,000—mile
voyage across the Atlantic.

Before the war, some 60 million tonnes
of food and raw materials

passed through ports like Liverpool

(STRATFORD)
We realised that we were the lifeline.

Without the Merchant Fleet...

there'd have been no food,
there'd have been no fuel.

Where were the other forces going to get
their stuff from if we didn't bring it from America?

(NEWSREEL) None of the glamour
of the Royal Navy,

but sailors of the finest type for all that.

(NARRATOR) 730,000 men
sailed under the Red Ensign.

— How old are you?
— 29.

(NARRATOR)
They were officially non—combatant,

but they would bear
the brunt of the U-boat attack

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

If he says,
"Take that, 'SS Maas‘, Endon Dock,"

you just went down and signed on.

(HOLDING) | joined the “Beatus".
She was a tramp steamer.

She had the smell of sugar and oil on her.
Dirty old tramps, they'd call ‘em.

(NICHOLSON) They never came to me and said,

“We've got these new ships
but we can't man them.”

There were always people coming forward

for this very risky and very ill-paid
and very uncomfortable job.

This nation owes those people a great deal.

(HOLDING) Weil, it was our job.

We knew we were going out, you mightn't
come back, but you never dwelt on it.

(NARRATOR) From the first, it was the U-boat

rather than Germany's small fleet
of warships that threatened this lifeline.

Faith in Britain's ability to protect it

rested on the most powerful surface fleet
in the world — the Royal Navy.

The Admiralty in London quickly introduced
a system of protected convoys.

Merchant ships would be escorted
for part of their journey by warships.

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

it was along these that most
of the country's vital imports would pass.

(ADAMS)
Ships were given their station in a Box.

You had several in a row there
and several behind them in a rectangle.

You steamed out in a succession,
which you already agreed, from Liverpool,

slowly at first and then graduaily
getting under way.

Well, you could be looking six mile
across the front of the convoy

and you could be looking six mile
down the length of the convoy,

so you're covering a fair area
with a 60-ship convoy.

(ADAMS) We in the escort
went at speed round the ships

checking them by name, that they'd
got their right positions in the convoy.

(NEWSREEL) Usual thing,
eight knots, a quarter mile apart.

Now, let's count them. Three...four...five...

(WRIGHT)
They'd come charging round at high speed

and pull up alongside like, you know,
“You're too far behind” like, you know.

"Are you all right? Do you require assistance?"

They'd say,
“No, it's just that this is our best speed.”

Try to keep up, old man.

(HOLDING) Some are slower than others.

The top speed of that “Beatus",

all she could do was six knots —
you could walk faster.

(ADAMS) The weather was dreadful
and people were very sick

and people went and just slept
in @ corner soaking wet from watch

and they were soaking wet
when they went on watch again.

The main factor in the Battle of the Atlantic,

after trying to kill each other, was the weather.

(WRIGHT) You'd be on lookout in the masts,

You were looking for periscopes,
which was a hell of a thing.

You know, you're looking and...
and you might see a few,

a few porpoise come zooming at you.

it would scare the wits out of you, it's just
lke a torpedo coming through the water.

(NARRATOR) In the first months of the war,

the U-boat fleet sailed out to the convoy routes
from the north German ports.

it meant a long and dangerous haul across
the North Sea and round the British coast.

But the crews were full of confidence.

They were the U-Boat Waffe,
the spearhead of the assault on the old enemy.

(TRANSLATION OF GERMAN SONG)

(NARRATOR) War patrols would last
for as long as there was fuel and torpedoes.

For three weeks or more,
450 men would be confined

to what some calied their iron coffin.

The U-boat arm made its own rules.

Donitz believed this would play
its part in building

the right sort of fighting spirit in the crews.

(GERMAN SINGING CONTINUES)

(TRANSLATION) There is no uniform on board
and no indication of rank, just overalls,

It was informal.
It wasn't really the usual military order.

(TRANSLATION) The whole boat smells
of diesel, Diesel is ingrained everywhere.

Because there are full tanks there was
always something dripping somewhere.

There was no comfort aboard a submarine.
No comfort.

Because you share your bunk with another one,

because he has the same job
aboard the ship as you have.

For instance, the wireless operator.

He is on watch four hours
and you have the time to rest

and then he goes into this bunk and this is...
the bunk is still hot, still hot.

(AMSTEIN) It would smell
of sweat because no one washed property.

There was quite a stench sometimes.

(SOPRANO SINGS {N GERMAN)

(AMSTEIN) It was mostly boring,
you've got to admit that.

Boredom, there was nothing.

The boat would run its course, little by little,
nothing happened from one hour to the next.

(NARRATOR) The hunt depended
on the vigilance of the boat's watch,

Days were spent searching
an empty, featureless horizon,

(ELFE) We rode some
pretty massive North Atlantic storms

which were really very impressive.

Nobody could see, move, aim at, or do anything.

There were occasions
when you suddenly saw a single ship

which you would normally have attacked,
but with which you just steered a parallel course.

You couldn't harm each other.

Everyone thought of their own survival
during those heavy seas.

Nothing else mattered.

(NARRATOR) For the convoy, survival depended
on its ability to lose itself in the Atlantic.

Just a moment of carelessness
could reveal its position to the hunter.

You got ships that were indisciplined,
especially in the early stages of the war.

They were told not to throw over
certain kinds of rubbish from the ship's side

because a trailing submarine would pick that up.

The other thing that was a real problem...
the coal fire chips.

Stoking up, you could see them
from 50 miles away.

And of course the U-—boats loved that.

(NARRATOR) In the first months of the war,
@ cameraman accompanied U-99,

the most successful Aunter in the North Atlantic

tts Commander was Otto Kretschmer.

(KONIG) My captain, Otto Kretschmer,
was a very intelligent man.

Very cold-blooded...

and...knew exactly
what kind of risk he could take.

(NARRATOR) At first there were easy Kills —

fone ships travelling beyond
the Navy's protection,

But as more ships sailed
under the Admiralty's umbrella,

commanders like Kretschmer were forced
to run the greater risk

of attacking the convoys.

This was done at first as it was done
during the First World War.

(TRANSLATION) By day we'd expect
to enter a convoy underwater,

approach it and fire at it from underwater.

(ORDERS IN GERMAN)

It was a calm, smooth day in summer,
and suddenly the “Jersey City" went back.

A lovely clear day and so calm one should
have seen the periscope, but one didn't.

(SONAR PINGS)

(ADAMS)
You went out in an ever-widening circle,

trying to find the submarine by ASDIC.

(NARRATOR) ASDIC, or sonar,
was the new weapon in the Admiralty's armoury,

its underwater searchught.

(SONAR PINGS)

(CREWMAN) Contact.

(NARRATOR)
A pulse of sound was sent out from the ship.

/f the sound waves struck the U-boat
they were reflected back.

This echo gave the range
and bearing of the target.

/f convoy was the first pillar
of the Navy's defence, ASDIC was the second.

(KONIG) At once there was contact
from the ASDIC of this destroyer

and he was running right overhead,
you could hear the swish of the propellers,

and then he turned and came back
and he threw his depth charges.

(NARRATOR) Depth charges were
300-pound drums packed with high explosive,

with a fuse that could be set
to detonate at different depths.

Within 50 feet of the U-boat's hull,
the shock wave would cause damage.

Within 20, it would kilt

Once ASDIC contact was made...
the Aunter became the Aunted.

(ELFE)
The escort destroyers started pursuing us

ia very clear and determined manner,

And because we were so very slow underwater,
they had no difficulty in tracking our course.

All instruments were destroyed, you see,
glasses broken.

There is no light any more, only small flashlights.

We went down to this unbelievable depth.

The cook put on a life-jacket

and turned up wide-eyed at my command post.

| kept telling him to go back but he didn't.
| said,

"Come on, Franz." — that was his first name —

"Sit down, give Daddy your hand,
nothing will happen to you. Come on." | said.

Then he sat down, gave Daddy his hand,
held my hand tightly and calmed down.

"Daddy" was 24 years old.

(KONIG) The boat went deeper and deeper.
Everyone had the feeling “This is it".

One second more and there's one big crack

and you are pressed together
like an empty tin can.

(CREW SPEAK GERMAN)

(ELFE)
The air supply became very scarce.

Everyone had to le down and be still
and breathe through the oxygen cartridges.

They kept us underwater for 77 hours.

On this occasion, depth charges
were not well aimed enough to be fatal.

We went to depths of 150 metres or more.
The depth charges were all above us.

(NARRATOR) The depth charge fuses
were on too shallow a setting.

The U-boat could take refuge
at a much greater depth

than the Royal Navy thought possibile.

Yet at the Admiralty,
figures compiled by naval staff

suggested that merchant shipping
losses would be manageable,

in the first nine months of the war,
215 ships were sunk,

but only 22 within the umbrella of a convoy.

The First Lord of the Admiralty,
Winston Churchill,

was more than satisfied with the Navy's record.

(CHURCHILL)
We feel ourselves more confident, day by day,

of our ability to keep open and active
the saltwater highways by which we live

and along which we shail
draw the means of victory.

Our faithful ASDIC detector
smells them out in the depths of the sea,

and | do not doubt that we shall break
their strength and break their purpose.

(CHEERING — BAND PLAYS)

(NARRATOR) But in June 71940,

the victories won by Hitler's armies on land
were to transform the war at sea.

As Hitler celebrated the fall of France in Bertin,

the commander of his U-boats
was on his way to the Atlantic coast of France.

The ports were all in German hands,

Donitz and his men wasted no time
in establishing bases along the west coast.

Here in Lorient, work began
on the huge bomb-—proof sea bunkers

which would house the U-boat fleet.

For the first time, the U-boats
had an open door to the Atlantic.

(TRANSLATION)
The situation was now, | would say,

the one we'd always wished for.

(NARRATOR)
From his new headquarters in Lorient,

Donitz would direct
an all-out assault on Britain's tfeline.

The new French bases on the Atlantic coast

would shave almost a fortnight
off a U-boat's journey,

time that could now be spent
hunting for convoys.

Above alt, they offered the chance for Donitz

to introduce his new tactic, so carefully
developed before the war — the pack attack.

“This was the beginning of a new phase
in the Battle of the Atlantic.

“twas anxious that not a day should pass
without the sinking of a ship somewhere.“

(NARRATOR) Donitz arranged his U-boats
into search lines across the convoy routes.

When one of the boats sighted a convoy,
it was to report its position to U-Boat Command.

/t was now the contact boat,
with orders to shadow the target.

(MORSE BEEPING)

U-Boat Command was able to direct the rest
of the pack to home in on the contact boat.

Donitz was confident that
the Royal Navy's defences would crumble

under the weight of a pack attack,

The attack would be carried out at night
and in an entirely unexpected way.

One of the first U-boats involved
in @ pack attack in the autumn of 1940

was Otto Kretschmer'’s U-99.

"A warship comes into view, followed by
smoke plumes and the convoy, at last.

“We pass a surfacing U-boat, U-707.
/ am positioned in front of the convoy.”

(NARRATOR) The pack tactics pioneered
by commanders like Kretschmer

would change the course of the war at sea.

(TRANSLATION) We stayed ahead
of the convoy all day long.

And then in the evening,
when it was dark, we dived in front of it.

Then we surfaced inside it.

(KONIG) Through my binoculars,
/ could see there was a shadow of a ship.

But from time to time | could see
that someone was...lighting a cigarette.

(HOLDING) Everyone was alert,
and that night the moon was that wide.

You're thinking, “Someone's out there.”

(STRATFORD) / went out on the wing
of the bridge and there was the U-boat, well..

700 yards away, with all the officers
in the conning tower.

| gave the order to go hard aport —
that would put the U-boat stern on.

(OESTEN) It's like big game hunting,
you have to attack from a forward position.

The normal distance for torpedo attacks
at night is about 600 metres.

(INDISTINCT ORDER)

Before | could answer the helm, we were hit.

(CRASH — ALARM RINGS)

Everything sort of disintegrated around us,

The concussion shot up your legs,
up your backbone,

into your skull and everything
and lifted you at the same time.

| went round to the engine room
and looked down the engine room

and there was nothing left.

Everything had collapsed,
The engine room was three parts full of water.

Those poor men down below, let's hope
it was very quick, their death,

‘cause it must be dreadful,
must have been dreadful Dreadful.

| saw the water coming into the wheelhouse,
you know, that high, you know,

waist high to me,
and I'm eventually in it and then under it.

And { was reaching out to rails and pulling
myself and trying to get myself clear.

/ was panicking and then suddenly
/ was making my way to the surface.

/ was coughing and spluttering
and f locked around

and | could hear shouts
and | turned and tried to locate them,

but | wasn't sure what direction
they were coming from.

Apparently they were only shouts
of lads that were drowning.

“What follows now resembles the raging
of a wolf in a flock of sheep.

"t fire a torpedo at a large freighter.

"ft explodes and there is a high column of fame

“which rips open the ship
from the bow to the bridge.”

(NARRATOR) The propaganda newsreels
caught only the ships torpedoed by day.

By the autumn of 1940,
most were being sunk at night.

The wolf packs were using the cover
of darkness to attack on the surface.

This was the tactic Donitz
would turn to time and again

in fis pursuit of victory in the Atlantic.

(U-99 WAR DIARY)
“We can hear torpedoes fired by the other boats.

“The convoy breaks up completely.
The ships run alone and in small groups.

“The largest group includes a tanker.
This we shall now attack.”

(HAWKINS) We was carrying aviation spirit,
which is the worst of the lot.

| must have said my prayers more times
than the local vicar. | was really frightened.

(BECKER)
/ was on the ship's after poop deck,

when we heard that there was a torpedo coming,
and you could see it when they yelled.

— You could see the wake.
— (BELL)

(TRANSLATION) There was a 200-metre high
tongue of orange flame,

and in these flames there were
human bodies and parts of the ship,

whirling round and then
falling back into the Atlantic.

(HAWKINS) f didn't hesitate.

Vd seen the big Hames and | jumped
straight over the stern, and when { surfaced

the ship had disappeared into the flames.

(BECKER) You could hear these...
your buddies in the water hollering.

"Save me! Save mei"

But you were going by them,
the ship was still in a forward motion.

/ asked to come up to the conning tower

to have a look at the burning tankers

and...because this was...

for a navy man who is asked to sink ships,
was a wonderful sight.

(BECKER) There was a lot of fuel
on the water and gasoline burning.

it sticks to you because it’s...it's petroleum.

(HAWKINS) | heard a cry for help
and { swam to Aim.

His face was all black burnt.
Oh, he was in a terrible state.

(ECKE)
We heard shouts of “Hitler, help! Hitler, help!”

And then something happened
that { thought was terrible.

Standing next to me
was the U—boat's second officer.

He yelled into the night,
"why do you pigs sail for England?"

| was horrified and gave him a jab and said,

“What do you expect them to do? These people
are doing their duty, just as you are."

(NARRATOR) Those left in the sea
watched as the convoy passed on.

The other merchant ships were under
strict orders not to stop for survivors.

(STRATFORD) As we ploughed through them,
you could hear them shouting, “Help...!

“Helo!” We couldn't stop.

| knew this and | could see over the...
just down there,

the Little lights on their life—jacket drifting past.

Very sad.

(NARRATOR) The first pack attacks
in the autumn of 7940

caught the Navy's escorts completely off quard.

(KEACHIE) We realised
they were on the surface.

We tried to ght up the area
in order to see a submarine,

but we wouldn't know what area to light.

| remember feeling so helpless
when you see these ships being sunk.

We would scurry around
and try to find out the submarine

but the ASDIC was useless.

(NARRATOR) The underwater detector
in which the Admiralty placed so much faith

was unable to find the U-boat on the surface,

and the U-boat was almost invisible
in the Atlantic night.

On the surface, the U-boat could wring
V7 knots from its diesel engines,

and that made it faster than
some of the Navy's escorts,

The Royal Navy was prepared
to fight a war against a submarine,

but the U-boat was really nothing of the sort.

All the boats we had during the war
were actually surface craft

who had just the possibility to dive.

(BELL RINGS — SHOUTING)

(OESTEN)
As these boats were depending on batteries,

they were very slow
as soon as they were submerged.

Out of about 20 ships | sank, | mean
| sank — sank 19 at night on the surface.

(NARRATOR) The Navy rescued those it could,

but survivors in the water made the job
of protecting the convoy even tougher.

(ADAMS) The problem of survivors in the water
is that they are usually where the U-boat is

and you want to depth charge the U-boat
but can't, ‘cause you're gonna kill your survivors.

That, on one or two occasions,
happened during the war — very unpleasant.

We heard someone shouting on a loud-hailer.

He said, "I can't stop,
I've scrambling nets over the side.

“Yt can't stop, U-boat in the area —
you'll have to jump for it and scramble aboard."

And we did it

They carried us down
to different parts of the ship

and | remember going to this particular mess.

| don't know...we laid on a bunk
and they brought hot coffee round.

Oh, God, it was so beautiful.

(NARRATOR) In just two nights in October 1940,
@ pack of five boats sank 20 ships.

Even well—protected convoys seemed powerless
to prevent the wolf packs sinking at will,

By the end of the year,
more than 1000 ships had been sunk.

6,000 merchant seamen lost.

On the Atlantic coast of /reland,
the Auman cost was all too obvious.

The first body that came in
was over in them rocks there.

The boat must have been sunk off
away out in the Atlantic some place

and the body was washed in here.

There was a disc on him
and his number was on it.

| couldn't tell you the number
but | know the name,

he was a Sergeant Derby of the Marines.

Then there was other bodies.

One body came in
and it was badly decomposed.

We had a bit of a cliff to climb
and he had to be tied on to a stretcher...

«and soon as we put the legs over the body,
the stomach collapsed, bursted,

and there was a terrible smell...
you would nearly throw up.

Then we took him to this hotel,
where the bodies was all usually taken.

it was very sorrowful

/ mean we were...a lot of us there was...
we were sad but we couldn't do...

We had a job to do, we done it, that was Jt.

(NARRATOR) This was what the U-boat men
called their “happy time",

(ROUSING GERMAN S/NGING)

(NARRATOR)
On the journey home to their French bases,

the crews prepared their victory bunting,

each flag marked
with the tonnage of a ship sunk.

(GERMAN SINGING CONTINUES)

No more than six boats were operating
against Britain's lifeline at any one time,

just 300 men.

(SINGING CONTINUES)

Much was being asked
of a handful of U-boat crews.

in return, Donitz ensured
that they were very well rewarded.

This was not just a “happy time" at sea,

The crews were to enjoy the best of life ashore.

100,000 bottles of wine
were requisitioned by Donitz for his men.

"Onkel Kari" cared.

There were special food parcels,
U-boat hotels and extended leave.

(TRANSLATION)
Usually we would seek out some dive

and of course if there were girls present
we would try to dance with them.

Sometimes we even succeeded.

I can still remember...
what was the price of a bottle of champagne?

| think it was 20 francs,
which was no money at all to us.

Of course, we did have a good life, yes,
and we would make the most of it too.

(NARRATOR) it was a very different
homecoming for the British seamen

who'd survived the wolf packs.

We got a roll call

Any survivors off one ship,
this ship and that ship,

and it come down to "Creekirk". | don't
know why, when | went up later on | said,

"Anyone come forward?" He said, "No,
apparently they've all gone with the ship."

So | knew that was two of me friends
and neighbours, they were dead, | knew that.

| put me arms, me arms around me mother...

| couldn't tell her about Eddie and Billy
till the next day, and | said,

“Whatever you do, Mum, don't tell their people,
leave it till they get a telegram."

So my mother knew they weren't coming back.

They didn't know where they were,
their mothers.

(NARRATOR)
in Germany, the propaganda ministry

made heroes of those it called
“The Grey Wolves".

That winter, the commander of U-700,
Joachim Schepke,

took his men on a skiing holiday
in the Bavarian Alps.

(GERMAN NEWSREEL COMMENTARY)

The U-boat men were the guests
of the grateful village of Ruppolding.

They lived with the villagers,
the commander with the Plenk family.

(PLENK)
In those days it was Prien, Kretschmer, Schepke.

They were for us boys, so to speak, the heroes.
The U-boat heroes.

We were proud of having one staying
in our house, that goes without saying.

(PLENK)
The reception was naturally magnificent.

/ can remember that there were folk evenings
at the Kurhaus, as is the tradition here.

They were certainly
unforgettable days for the crew.

| can remember we were all very proud.

(NARRATOR) As 1940 drew to a close,
the British public felt under siege.

# { get along without sugar
/ never drink any tea

# Eggs and bacon... #

(NARRATOR) Before the war,
the country imported 22 million tonnes of food.

By November, that figure was running
at less than 22 million.

# One thing | always crave
And that's why you hear me sing

# Of, when can / have a banana again?

# Oh, tell me, tell me, Mother... #

The ration book became the key to survival
for nearly every household in the country.

(WOMAN) You've got two ounces of tea each,
and me mother loved tea,

and you only got one egg a week
and you got very little cheese.

Very little meat —
you'd have to look for the meat.

it was hard to manage, you Know.

The word would go round, “There's something
in Postlewaites" — that was a fruit shop.

All the women would be scurrying up,
we'd stand in a queue,

and you wouldn't know
what you were queuing for.

We'd say, “What is it? What Is it?"
The man would come out all stern, you know.

“Tt's one orange

“and don't ask for two."
And you'd be so thrilled to get an orange.

(BASSETT) Vegetables weren't rationed,
so you ate more vegetables,

So if you ate potatoes,
you didn't need as much bread.

They'd tell you that the merchant seamen
had to risk their lives to go to Canada

to bring the wheat to make the bread, so if you
ate potatoes you were helping your country.

(CHURCHILL'S VOICE)
.,all well known to the enemy.

And we must expect that Herr Hitler
will do his utmost to prey upon our shipping.

His clutching fingers reach out
on both sides of us into the ocean.

/ have never underrated this danger.

(NARRATOR)
{pn Winston Churchill's private office,

a smail team of economists kept him
informed on matters of shipping and imports.

Churchill would pore over their weekly bulletin,

He later wrote of the “measureless peril”
expressed in its charts,

of figures showing “potential strangulation".

An index | compiled of stocks of imported food
and raw materials measured in tonnes

was failing rapidly towards a reaily,
a dangerous level,

And { think a lot of people
didn't realise how worrying it was.

Without exaggeration,

we could have lost
the war on the home front at that time.

(NARRATOR) In January 1944,
Hitler spoke to the Reich

of his confidence in his "Grey Wolves".

(CHEERING)

(NARRATOR) Just a handful of U-boats
had helped bring Britain to the brink of defeat,

and now more boats were being built.

Donitz's packs would be able
to range further into the Atlantic

and in greater numbers.

The tonnage war,

the race to sink more ships than Britain
could buy or build, had begun