Learn how the Third Reich utilized U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic to destroy Allied supply convoys
In 1941 convoys bound for Britain from the United States face a perilous crossing, with many ships sunk by German submarines and surface raiders. From “The Second World War: Triumph of the Axis” (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: To help protect the precious cargoes, the ships sailed together in convoy. But Hitler was determined to sever the lifeline of supplies--and it was a perilous journey from the New World to the Old.
The U-boats struck quietly from beneath the sea, and in 1941, the convoys lost three ships for every one that was being built. At one point in the war, the deadly U-boats almost succeeded in crippling the Allied war effort.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: To help protect the precious cargoes, the ships sailed together in convoy. But Hitler was determined to sever the lifeline of supplies--and it was a perilous journey from the New World to the Old.
The U-boats struck quietly from beneath the sea, and in 1941, the convoys lost three ships for every one that was being built. At one point in the war, the deadly U-boats almost succeeded in crippling the Allied war effort.
[Music out]
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