Original subtitles

Nazi U-boat maestro Karl Dönitz

is winning the battle of the Atlantic.

Happy hunting.

(ship explosion)

One torpedo straight into the magazine, bullseye.

(ship explosions)

One torpedo, one ship.

This is our happy time.

(ship explosion)

(Captain laughing)

20 seconds.

That must be a record.

Our main weapon has to be the torpedo carrying U-boat.

Britain is on its knees.

If we keep losing ships,

the country will be down to just a few weeks of supplies.

People will be starving to death.

May the enemy never know the secret of our success.

The British are oblivious

to the U-boat's tactics.

Need to get in the minds of those U-boat aces.

(mine explosion)

No way back to Germany this time.

There are glimmers of hope.

The capture of the enigma machine was a huge coup.

Well, let's find them and destroy them.

(ship crashing)

But they prove to be dead ends.

Find out what's happening,

and sink the U-boats.

The Royal Navy turns to the Wrens,

to uncover the U-boat secrets.

That is what we will do here by playing through scenarios,

and recreating battles in a war game.

So who thinks they can sink a U-boat?

(pensive music)

(morse code signaling)

Admiral Donitz says U-boats

are hunting British convoys, like wolf packs.

They work together to track down their prey,

and coordinate their deadly attacks.

Looks like a good day for us,

every convoy in sight.

A M 1, 4, 5, 2 northwesterly course.

Speed.

Eight knots.

About 30 ships.

We'll shadow convoy till support arrives.

(foreign language)

(tense music)

(thunder crashing)

The weather to hunt,

St. Elmo's fire.

It's an omen.

(tense music)

You tell it's an omen?

Herr Kretchmer is about.

Well I wouldn't want you to get ahead

in the tonnage wager.

You greedy bastard,

we can share the tonnage we send to the bottom.

Plenty to go around.

The orders are to wait till nightfall.

Happy hunting.

The U-boat captains are driven

by a fierce competition to sink the highest tonnage.

They got awarded the Knight's Cross,

if they sunk a hundred thousand tons of cargo.

This is a game of one upmanship.

Kretschmer, Prien they're focusing

on the prize.

(thunder rumbling)

This is the era of the great U-boat aces.

This is where audacity pays,

where poor defense of convoys is something

the Germans can exploit.

The competitive U-boat aces

are reeking havoc on transatlantic trade.

(ship explosion)

And the Royal Navy

doesn't understand their tactics.

By the early spring of 1941,

Donitz's U-boats had sunk a total of 650 ships.

You have an island nation

where 95% or so of the energy that Britain requires

is brought in from abroad.

70 plus percent of the food stocks.

It's a terribly dangerous situation.

(ship explosions)

The British are losing so much shipping

that Winston Churchill issues

the Battle of the Atlantic directive.

He orders that all U-boats are to be targeted,

and all U-boat shipping yards have to be bombed.

But it makes little difference.

Donitz protects his U-boats in concrete submarine pens.

Churchill's bombs fail to penetrate them.

Germany has conquered France,

because she's conquered France,

she now has a sequence of Atlantic ports

that enable her to get directly into the central Atlantic.

Donitz can attack convoys

leaving the southern ports of Britain with impunity.

So the Western approaches convoy routes

have transferred northwards to Liverpool, and other ports.

The Convoy Command Headquarters is also moved to Liverpool.

This was a place of constant activity, 24 7.

(office sounds)

The majority of the people working there were the Wrens.

(dramatic music)

The head of the Wrens, Vera Laughton Mathews,

wants the Navy to give her team

even greater responsibilities.

Sir Percy Noble was in charge

of western approaches in Liverpool.

Now he was a man with enormous experience in the Navy.

Thank you for coming to Liverpool.

He was an old hand.

He knew the ropes,

but he'd never really faced something like this before,

and he was desperately trying to find a way

to stop these terrible, terrible losses

that were being inflicted by the U-boats.

It's a relief to escape the bombs raining down

on London town.

We have our own blitz.

A bomb landed a stone's throw away from here,

quite a commotion.

Nowhere's safe.

How did the Atlantic cruise go?

A real eyeopener.

Bloody chaotic mess would be a polite way of putting it.

Did you learn anything?

I was on a destroyer, attached to the escort.

Orders from shore were flooding in,

sending the other escort ships on wild goose chases.

In the end, our destroyer was the only escort left

protecting the convoy.

Thought captain was going stark raving, mad.

Any enemy engagement?

Thank God, no.

Would've been curtains for us all.

You need to get in the minds of those U-boat aces,

so they're called.

Well, that's easier said than done, I'm afraid.

Let me know if the Wrens can do anything to help.

We are here to serve.

Thank you, I do appreciate having your Wrens here,

certainly brighten the place up.

They can do more than that,

much more.

How nice to see you.

Vera Laughton Mathews is going to individuals

in the Navy, and going the Wrens can do this.

The Wrens can give you what you need.

They can fill these positions.

This is powerful stuff.

Vera Laughton Mathews is determined

to transform the Wrens into a force

who can help fight back against the U-boats.

The U-boats had another advantage over the Royal Navy.

They could communicate in secret.

So the Navy could not predict their movements.

We are back in business.

Send beacon signal, enemy convoy site

square A M 1 4, 5, 2,

course 330 degrees.

Report convoy at 1249.

Speed, eight knots.

(tense music)

The Germans sent their messages through an enigma machine.

When the operator would hit a key to input a letter,

that would be transferred through three rotating wheels,

each had 26 positions.

So that by the time it was sent out into the ether,

that key had been changed.

Get ready for this number 100

and 60 quintillion times.

Send to U99, U70, UAU37,

report by short signal,

yes when attacking.

Donitz is asking for updates all the time,

but these are gibberish, until we can break the code.

(tense music)

One man who might be able to predict

the U-boat movements,

through war gaming, is Gilbert Roberts.

But his career in the Navy was cut short by tuberculosis.

Due to his illness.

Roberts at this point is in the home guard.

Those who can't serve in the front line,

volunteer for service in defense of the UK.

It's better than nothing,

but must have been a heartbreaking experience,

for a man with that level of understanding of Naval tactics.

(man sneezing)

Who goes there?

Oh, for crying out loud, game's up.

Let's gather around.

I'm sorry to say, but if this had been the real show,

we'd all be goners.

You lot are as inconspicuous

as a herd of bull elephants.

It's my lumbago, sir.

I think I've caught a cold.

Well better it happens here, than when the Germans arrive.

You all right, sir?

Yes, thank you.

I used to be a hundred percent fit.

Now my health is just fitful.

When he applies to all sorts of jobs with the Navy,

he's told, well, no, I'm sorry.

We can't accept you back because of this illness.

He wants to be doing something for the fleet.

He's waiting for an opportunity.

(tense music)

Meanwhile, the Wrens are using

what intelligence the Royal Navy have

in the Western approaches plotting room.

Wrens played a key role,

tracking the location of the known convoys,

and the suspected Wolf pack units.

I wanted to be a plotter,

cause I discovered they had a very interesting job.

The plot consisted of a large map,

and you would see all the number of enormous ships,

battleships, battle cruisers, destroyers.

But the U-boats rarely give away

their positions.

(tense music)

Driven by Donitz's tonnage competition,

Prien goes for the biggest kill of his career,

The Terje Viken,

a whaling ship now converted into an oil tanker.

But the main attraction for Prien,

is not the oil, vital for the British war effort,

but the fact that the ship weighs over 20,000 tons.

It's big,

a whaler.

Set torpedoes,

range

450 meters,

depth

nine meters,

course

330 degrees,

eight knots.

Torpedoes set.

Fire!

(ship explosion)

Direct hit,

30 meters from mid ship.

That's a few thousand more tons for our tally.

Wait.

The beast isn't sinking.

Sink the ships, that was the key.

Go to hell.

(tense music)

Donitz's overall grand strategy for how the U-boat

could win this war was to sink as many ships as possible.

Add up the total tonnage.

Send to U 37, U 47, U 70, U 99.

Report position by squares by short signal.

Who's attacking the whaler?

He needed to instill competition among them,

in order to increase the tonnage.

He worked out that he needed to sink 700,000 tons of cargo

every month, to win the war.

This carefully designed competition kicks in.

Kretschmer tries to claim the ship for himself,

but the intense competition makes him,

and his fellow aces, reckless.

It's a flaw in Donitz's strategy,

that will come back to haunt him.

Our turn.

Let's put the wounded beast out of its misery.

Set torpedoes.

Torpedoes are set.

Fire!

(torpedo whooshing)

(torpedo exploding)

Hit on the port side.

The crew are abandoning ship.

Sink you bastard, sink!

We're picking up propeller noises on the hydrophone.

How close?

Too close.

(dramatic music)

Enemy escorts,

two of them.

Dive, dive, dive!

(mechanical sounds)

(dramatic music)

(depth charge firing)

(depth charge exploding)

(depth charge exploding)

(submarine creaking)

The Royal Navy misses the chance

to destroy Kretschmer's U 99.

But Donitz has lost all contact with Prien's U 47.

What's going on?

Are their wireless transmitters down?

Where's Prien and the U 47?

We don't know, sir.

Transmit to Wolf Pack,

U 47 report position,

and condition.

Come on, Prien,

where in God's name are you?

(tense music)

Donitz never gives up.

He keeps sending out messages,

going send me your location,

but he hears nothing.

(tense music)

Anything?

No, sir.

(foreign language)

(sound of pacing on metal floor)

It was all going so well,

and now silence.

(loud sighs)

What's Prien playing at?

I bet he's gonna claim the tonnage of that hefty whaler.

While the U-boat aces are obsessed

with tonnage,

Vera Laughton Mathews knows that if she can get enough

intelligent women into the Wrens,

the Royal Navy will eventually run out of male brain power,

and be forced to come to her.

And she has a strategy.

What do you think of the new uniform,

after all you'll be wearing it?

Well, ma'am, I like the hat.

I think it's jolly elegant.

Well it darn well should be.

I had Edward Molyneux design it.

I want my Wrens to be the talk of the town.

I shall wear it like a cat on a catwalk.

(Vera laughing)

The Wrens are given this very lovely uniform actually.

I mean, it's designed by a famous fashion designer.

And we had tricorne hats, with a badge at the front.

The trousers are rather fetching.

My father always said a woman should not be seen dead

in a pair of trews.

It's about time we started wearing the trousers.

It was a very smart uniform,

black stockings, and bras buttons.

It looks lovely, thank you.

It made the Wrens very popular to join.

People joined for the clothes really.

Everybody wanted to join the Wrens.

As the Wrens fight

to have their abilities recognized,

Kretschmer is relentlessly pursuing

the crown of tonnage king.

Sir, we have something.

It's faint,

but it's definitely propeller noises,

to the south.

Very good.

Surface, and head for that,

bearing, full speed.

(tense music)

Kretschmer, keen to add to his tonnage,

is alerted to a 41 ship convoy,

transporting vital oil supplies to Britain.

(tense music)

We're spoiled for choice.

Let's start with the oil tanker.

Set torpedoes

range 1500 meters.

Torpedoes set.

Fire.

(torpedoes whooshing)

(ship explosion)

That's as good as it gets.

Set torpedoes.

There's more than one oil tanker in this convoy.

(mechanical sound)

Fire.

(torpedoes whooshing)

(ship explosion)

(ship explosion)

That makes six,

one torpedo. one ship.

Let's head home.

Kretschmer has just taken his tally

to an astounding 47 allied ships,

weighing over 273,000 tons.

But flushed with success,

Kretschmer's U 99 becomes complacent.

(tense music)

(gunboats firing)

Get up, man.

Get up.

Sound the alarm.

(foreign language)

Dive!

Dive!

(alarm sounding)

Why the devil did we dive?

Are you sure we couldn't have gotten away on the surface?

Yes, sir.

The destroyers were 800 meters aport,

they couldn't have missed us.

Full speed submerge.

Let's get out of here.

(depth charges exploding)

(dramatic music)

Those depth charges are too close for comfort.

(submarine creaking)

(dramatic music)

(depth charges exploding)

Sir, we've lost all thrust in the propellers.

He goes far beyond the depth that he should.

And so his instruments are broken

and so he's forced to rise to the surface.

The British are waiting for him.

Let's get out of here.

I'm afraid not, sir.

The electric motors and steering are kaput.

Radio L'Oreal.

Now!

Give me that!

Two destroyers depth charges,

53,000 tons,

capture Kretschmer.

Prepare scuttling charges,

and destroy all documents in ciphers.

No way back to Germany, this time.

In just over a week in March, 1941,

things are looking much brighter for the British.

Donitz has lost contact with not one,

but three, of his U-boat aces.

I need you to find me U 99 and U 100, now.

(phone bangs into cradle)

Kretschmer.

Shit, where the bloody hell are you?

Don't go quiet on me, like Prien.

(tense music)

Any news?

The U 37 has passed a message on from Kretschmer.

Bomb,

boat sunk,

Heil Hitler,

Kretschmer,

two destroyers,

53,000 tons.

(tense music)

Add the 53,000 tons to Kretschmer's tonnage.

(tense music)

(Donitz yells)

(objects clatter)

Donitz knows that Prien is never coming home.

And now Kretschmer and Shepke are missing, too.

They were like sons to him, his jewel commanders.

For Donitz it was a great shock,

because Prien was the Paragon of U-boat ace.

He was a people's hero,

and now he was lost.

When Otto Kretschmer was still alive.

I asked him what he thought was Prien's fate,

and Kretschmer thought it most likely

that Prien was hit by one of his own torpedoes.

That he was hit by a circle runner.

Prien may have run out of luck,

but the truth will likely never be known.

Very shortly after Prien's mysterious death,

Shepke, who was another of the great aces, is also killed.

I'd like to propose a wager.

It's almost as though fate was listening to Shepke,

when he was betting his friends,

first to 250,000 tons of shipping,

buys the champagne.

And within a few days, all of them are taken out.

Killing two and capturing a third

is a very major coup for the British.

This could be the turning point

the British need in the Battle of the Atlantic.

They think they're gonna be able to interrogate this guy.

They're gonna be able to get something out of him.

I must apologize for the welcome.

May I have those back, please?

They were a gift from my leader.

All in good time,

all in good time.

You've made a bit of a name for yourself.

Simply work in the service of the German Navy.

(paper rustling)

Going through the pockets of all of Kretschmer's crew,

the British find this little plan,

of how a U-boat would attack a British convoy.

(tense music)

The British don't realize the significance

of this sketch, of this diagram,

that this might have been the key to avoiding

so many more losses from the convoys.

Nobody of importance saw it.

And so the British were still as clueless as ever.

It's a massive missed opportunity,

but the British do glean one positive piece of intelligence

from the German prisoners.

Very good.

Thank you.

(phone hanging up)

U 47, that's Prien's boat, correct?

Gunther Prien's boat.

We know what happened to Kretschmer,

and Shepke,

but it looks as though they lost Prien as well.

I'd say our destroyers got Prien,

revenge for Scapa Flow at last.

Very good, sir.

U-boat down.

(tense music)

The British use it as a propaganda coup.

They announce the fact that he's died,

and they even drop leaflets over Germany saying

"Wo Ist Prien?"

(tense music)

A fine morning to you, Miss Lathol.

Ma'am.

I see the Germans have finally admitted

that rogue Prien is no more.

I was heartened to see that Kretschmer

received a brisk reception from the good folk of Liverpool.

Quite.

Let's hope our homegrown inquisition

can eke out the U-boat's dirty secrets from him.

Thank God we have got rid of some of the worst of them.

I fear there may be many more where they came from.

These three U-boat aces are not unreplaceable.

The new generation of experienced U-boat commanders

had grown, and had learned from the experience

of the U-boat aces.

(tense music)

(door opens)

Karl Donitz, undeterred by the loss

of his three aces, is more determined than ever

to win the Battle of the Atlantic.

(foreign language)

I'm pleased to report that our U-boats

have sunk 90 enemy vessels,

and half a million tons of enemy shipping,

but we must do more.

We are on the cusp of great things.

With more U-boats, we can ram home our superiority.

So I must ask again for the fleet of 300 U-boats.

I will then guarantee you a victory

that will bring Britain to her knees,

and will go down in future histories of the Third Reich.

I will consider it.

Thank you.

(tense music)

Donitz would like Hitler to make U-boats

the highest priority,

but he's fighting against Hitler's commitment

to the land war,

and Hitler's just not ready to make that move yet.

After failing to win Hitler over,

Donitz faces a major setback when the British seize

an intact U-boat off Iceland, in the north Atlantic.

But that's not all they capture.

The crew of the HMS Bulldog the nearby destroyer

quickly got to the U-boat,

and were able to conduct a quick inspection.

(tense music)

They find this extraordinary looking typewriter.

(keys clicking)

The capture of the Enigma machine,

and code books was a huge coup.

(tense music)

If we can crack these codes,

then we can know at least where the Wolf Packs

are going to attack.

This was enormous moment of optimism,

of great hope that finally we can get inside Donitz's mind.

(tense music)

At Bletchley Park,

a group of eccentric mathematicians, puzzle solvers

worked hard to try to crack into this code,

and famously built what amounts to the world's first

analog computer.

Cracking the Enigma code

soon brings a breakthrough,

and the Wrens play a key role.

You've seen the news.

Yes, the Bismark.

Marvelous.

Indeed.

I'm proud our Wrens in Y service in Scarborough

helped hunt the Bismark down.

On the QT, of course.

Mum's the word.

You wouldn't talk to your family or friends

about what you did.

I was in the Y stations.

Letter Y stood for Naval Intelligence.

We needed to know whether German U-boats were lurking

to attack our convoys.

So what we were listening to was the radio signals

between German Naval bases and ships.

You would sit down,

and you'd start twiddling up,

and down the wavelengths that the German fleet used.

And if you picked up a signal,

you would just write down exactly what you heard.

The officer would inform Bletchley Park, if it was code.

Wrens, like Pat, helped track down the Bismark,

Germany's most prized battleship.

In the Bismarck chase, they're gathering intelligence.

They're analyzing the positions.

They're predicting potential German courses of action.

They discovered that the Bismark was in fact

pointing in an entirely different direction,

and they were able to pursue her, and sank her.

(sea battle sounds)

It becomes apparent that the Wrens are really good

at this sort of stuff.

Thanks to the cracking of the Enigma code,

the Wrens can monitor the German U-boat Wolf Packs

much more closely.

If you look at what happens to convoys

over the summer of 1941,

Germans can't find them,

because they're reading the signal traffic

as the U-boats are sending it,

or as Donitz is replying.

The principle means of defending merchant shipping

is avoidance of the enemy.

But it's a temporary reprieve.

The Germans regularly change their codes,

and it proves impossible to track every Wolf Pack

so the convoys can avoid them.

This has tragic consequences for the Wrens.

(tense music)

(door opening)

(footsteps on hard floor)

The Aguila.

Yes, I am aware.

The SS Aguila,

the commercial steamer was torpedoed and sunk off Spain.

21 of my Wrens were on board.

They all perished.

Had they been aboard a Royal Naval destroyer,

they probably would've escaped the attack.

A destroyer was also sunk.

Don't evade the point.

The point is that my Wrens are not allowed aboard

Royal Naval vessels, because it's considered to be bad luck.

This is pure superstition.

It's medieval.

What is bad luck is that they were aboard

a defenseless freighter.

From now on my Wrens will only travel aboard

Royal Naval vessels on foreign assignments.

Is that clear?

I'm all too aware.

I sympathize with you.

And of course,

with the families of all those poor young women.

Your sympathy is all very well,

but I demand action.

(tense music)

The SS Aguila tragedy meant that the Navy

had to rethink its policy about women,

and Wrens not being able to go on ships.

(door closing)

The law was changed,

and finally women were also able to go on board Naval ships.

(door opening and closing)

I just heard about the Aguila.

Did you know any of the Wrens?

Each and everyone.

I personally selected those who went to Gibraltar,

bright, lovely women.

12 of them were from Y Station, Scarborough.

When I was told,

I was in the countryside,

enjoying the sweet aroma of honeysuckle.

And now I shall forever associate that smell with my girls,

my poor girls.

How sad.

And to think, they were all lost on a slow old freighter.

It's a tragedy that will just be repeated.

No,

it won't.

I've made sure of that.

(melancholy music)

In September, 1941,

the British hit a new low,

when Wolf Packs sink 23 ships from two convoys alone.

Despite their apparent breakthroughs,

the Royal Navy seems to be back at square one.

We have the results of the inquiry into convoy S L 87,

that I ordered.

It does not make for an edifying read.

The fact that seven out of 11 ships were sunk,

with no retaliation against the enemy,

is to be deplored.

Shocking, I think you'd agree.

Yes, indeed.

And it's not for want of protection.

The escort was a strong one for a convoy of this size.

It is clear that the efforts of the escorts

were poorly coordinated.

Understood sir, loud and clear.

What has become of our invincible Royal Navy?

Never before in my long career,

have I seen such lack of gumption.

If the prime minister gives us more ships,

at least have a chance.

I'm trying.

I'm trying,

but we must deal with these U-boats once and for all.

Leave it to me, sir.

(tense music)

Sir Percy Noble realizes that if they do not find a way

to stop this terrible U-boat menace

from sinking all of these ships,

that the British are going to have to capitulate to Hitler.

The problem is we don't understand

how the Germans are operating.

(tense music)

Our agent in Spain has sited a convoy in Gibraltar.

How many ships?

32 Merchant vessels protected by escort ships.

Send a message to U 67.

Tell him to monitor the convoy,

put the other seven U-boats on standby to attack.

(tense music)

H G 76 is the 32 ship convoy,

but with 16 escort,

plus an auxiliary aircraft carrier, The Audacity,

and the escort group is commanded by

Frederick John "Johnny" Walker.

(tense music)

HMS Stanley reports that she's under attack

by a submarine.

(tense music)

Sit down, German hearses.

Where are they?

Fire a flare.

(flare fires)

(tense music)

(ship explosion)

Bastards!

Buttercup, astern!

Contact, 1200 yards.

They've got modern radar.

And the great advantage of radar

is it provides the kind of intelligence that Walker needs

to tumble the battle in his direction.

Fire depth charges.

(depth charges firing)

(tense music)

Prepare to ram.

(tense music)

(ship collision)

(metal creaking)

What's going on?

It's radio silence from our U-boats.

Order another three U- boats to join the Wolf Pack,

tell them to regroup for another attack.

We need to sink this convoy.

(tense music)

We're being (indistinct) by more U-boats.

Well, let's find them and destroy them.

Buttercup starboard.

Walker comes up with this idea of buttercup,

which is to turn his ships outward,

and to try and go over where the U-boats are.

Come into our little trap.

His assumption is that if he illuminates the entire area,

and moves out into the periphery,

he will be able to pick one or two of these U-boats off.

Problem is that lights up the aircraft carrier Audacity.

(ship explosion)

God's sake, must be the Audacity.

This is the ship that of course the U-boats

can then identify, and they sink it.

Let's even things up.

Fire depth charges.

(depth charges fired)

(tense music)

(submarine explosion)

Buttercup has prevailed.

Four ships are sunk, but so are five U-boats.

You call that a victory for the convoy, in that case.

(tense music)

We've lost five U-boats.

Five U-boats.

We can't let this happen again.

Have they changed tactics?

We've seen no evidence of that.

They managed to blunder into our pack.

They must be using some new technology

to help find our Wolf Packs.

(tense music)

The British believe they have found a repost

to the U-boat menace,

thanks to Johnny Walker.

Congratulations Walker.

You've delivered a long overdue message to the Nazis,

and their damned U-boats,

in the best Naval tradition.

Thank you, sir.

Although, you should thank Buttercup.

Buttercup?

It's my pet name for my wife, Eileen.

And it's the code name for the tactic we came up with

to give Jerry a taste of their own medicine.

I'm sorry.

The idea of Operation Buttercup is to force the U-boats,

the hearses, to dive.

The easiest way to finish off a submarine

is underwater with depth charges.

We illuminate the sky, so that we can see them,

if they surface, and try to slip away

under cover of darkness.

I see.

I'd like you to write up this Buttercup Maneuver in full,

so that I can issue it,

as part of our escort group operational instructions.

Well done, Walker.

Thank you, sir.

Walker, superb commander,

arguably the best ace of the war,

but at the same time,

he hadn't discovered the way the Germans were operating.

That took other minds in another place.

(knocking on glass)

Hang on!

Hang on!

Commander Roberts?

Yes.

I was told to expect you.

Serious doubts have been raised on high

about Buttercup.

Senior British admirals suspect it is another false dawn.

(car door closes)

The Royal Navy has to find a fresh approach to Donitz's

tactics in the Battle of the Atlantic.

And they find Gilbert Roberts in an unusual place,

training the home guard, retired,

a survivor of tuberculosis.

May I ask where you're taking me?

London, sir, the Admiralty.

Can I ask why?

No.

Orders.

Mystery tour?

What fun.

(adventurous music)

Roberts is whisked up to London,

for a meeting with Cecil Osborne.

Now Cecil Osborne is an aid,

to the prime minister, Winston Churchill.

(door opening and closing)

Commander Roberts.

Thank you for coming at such short notice.

It was an invitation I couldn't refuse, sir.

Yes. Good.

Straight to the point,

it's clear that something needs to be done

in the Battle of the Atlantic,

or we will lose the war, simple as that.

The prime minister is most worried.

Merchant ships are being sunk at a far faster rate

than we are able to replace them.

That's where you come in.

I hear you've developed some interesting ideas

about war gaming.

I have, sir.

Become something of a preoccupation.

(Roberts coughing)

Good.

We need to do something about the U-boats.

A fortnight ago, we had a breakthrough.

Captain Johnny Walker was escorting a fleet,

out of Gibraltar, faced with a full on U-boat attack.

He managed to sink two.

In all, we sank five.

Walker, somewhat flush with his success,

called the whole thing, Buttercup.

Buttercup?

It's what he calls his wife, I believe.

That's all well and good,

but with my tactical hat on,

I rather wonder whether Walker's success

was not down to Lady Luck.

Lucky Buttercup.

One more small thing before you go to Liverpool.

Liverpool?

(phone rings)

Ah, yes, sir.

We are ready.

(door opening)

Find out what's happening.

And sink the U-boats.

Well, yes, of course.

(dramatic music)

Time is not on your side, Roberts.

You must uncover the U-boat's dirty tricks by recruiting,

and training a war gaming team.

Got it.

Yes, sir.

(dramatic music)

School to play games?

And I'll need men to staff the unit, too.

All my best men are at sea.

I hear you are in need of staff.

Sir.

The Wrens?

Ladies, if we lose the Battle of the Atlantic,

we lose the war.

Sir, the board is set.

(dramatic music)

Buttercup works.

(dramatic music)

The Royal Navy are relying on luck to protect the convoys.

We need to analyze U-boat attacks,

and find a tactic to destroy them.

(dramatic music)

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