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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:03,620 --> 00:00:07,454 Hidden in a fold of Kent countryside, just thirty miles from London, 2 00:00:07,858 --> 00:00:11,453 is the home of Britain's wartime leader - Winston Churchill. 3 00:00:13,363 --> 00:00:16,764 Casting his mind back over five bloody and uncertain years, 4 00:00:17,234 --> 00:00:21,466 he would write that during the war, only one thing ever frightened him. 5 00:00:22,038 --> 00:00:23,403 The U-boat peril. 6 00:00:26,910 --> 00:00:29,470 'Battles might be won or lost,' Churchill wrote, 7 00:00:29,946 --> 00:00:33,006 'but our power to fight, to keep ourselves alive, 8 00:00:33,250 --> 00:00:36,777 rested on the outcome of the struggle for control of the Atlantic.' 9 00:00:41,558 --> 00:00:44,425 lt was one of the longest campaigns in Naval history. 10 00:00:44,861 --> 00:00:48,490 Bitterly fought over three million square miles of hostile ocean. 11 00:00:49,633 --> 00:00:53,069 When it began, the U-boat didn't seem to be a peril at all. 12 00:00:53,703 --> 00:00:58,231 And yet within eighteen months it was able to take Britain to the brink of defeat. 13 00:00:59,542 --> 00:01:04,070 ln 1942, this battle for survival was at its height. 14 00:01:08,184 --> 00:01:12,712 Those lost fighting it have no grave. There are only names. 15 00:01:13,356 --> 00:01:16,382 This series remembers their war. 16 00:01:30,140 --> 00:01:33,769 At a little before midnight on October 13th, 1939, 17 00:01:34,144 --> 00:01:37,170 a lone U-boat slipped through the line of sunken ships 18 00:01:37,347 --> 00:01:41,477 that guarded the entrance to one of the Royal Navy's most important bases. 19 00:01:48,391 --> 00:01:52,851 U-47 was about to attempt what the British believed impossible. 20 00:01:53,296 --> 00:01:57,062 An attack on the Fleet in the safety of its anchorage at Scapa Flow. 21 00:02:00,303 --> 00:02:04,137 lts Commander - Gunther Prien - kept a log of his mission. 22 00:02:05,575 --> 00:02:07,839 'There are warships anchored inshore. 23 00:02:08,078 --> 00:02:10,569 We close to a distance of some three thousand metres. 24 00:02:11,081 --> 00:02:12,639 We will attack the big one.' 25 00:02:14,017 --> 00:02:16,611 She was the thirty thousand ton Royal Oak. 26 00:02:16,886 --> 00:02:19,320 The flagship of the Second Battle Squadron. 27 00:02:20,190 --> 00:02:23,887 That night, the Oak was at anchor at the eastern end of the Flow. 28 00:02:27,864 --> 00:02:32,392 Most of her crew, twelve hundred men and boys, were asleep below. 29 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:38,364 Suddenly, without any warning at all, 30 00:02:38,541 --> 00:02:41,942 there was an enormous explosion right up forwards somewhere. 31 00:02:42,846 --> 00:02:47,749 lt shook the ship from end to end and l hopped out of my hammock 32 00:02:48,885 --> 00:02:51,046 and l told them all to get out and get dressed 33 00:02:51,221 --> 00:02:53,121 and they just sort of leaned over their hammock and said, 34 00:02:53,289 --> 00:02:55,120 'ah, don't worry about it.' 35 00:02:57,427 --> 00:03:00,294 We were talking, saying, you know, 'What the Dickens was that?' 36 00:03:00,730 --> 00:03:03,665 Somebody thought it sounded like an anti-aircraft gun, 37 00:03:03,833 --> 00:03:05,494 but nobody really knew. 38 00:03:07,270 --> 00:03:11,070 One of Prien's torpedoes had hit the Oak, close to the anchor chain. 39 00:03:11,808 --> 00:03:14,572 Her Captain thought it was a small internal explosion 40 00:03:14,778 --> 00:03:16,939 and that there was no need to rouse the crew. 41 00:03:17,847 --> 00:03:22,011 Two out of every three men on that ship only had twelve minutes to live - 42 00:03:22,685 --> 00:03:23,947 - and they didn't know it. 43 00:03:35,632 --> 00:03:37,896 Prien fired three more torpedoes. 44 00:03:43,606 --> 00:03:48,976 The ship seemed to jump out of the water, you know. lt was an enormous explosion. 45 00:03:49,212 --> 00:03:54,149 The last one set off the cordite magazine and this blast, 46 00:03:54,451 --> 00:03:57,181 hot orange blast came up through the deck - 47 00:03:58,054 --> 00:04:01,319 and l wondered how long it took, you know, to die. 48 00:04:02,559 --> 00:04:06,825 And um, excuse me a moment. 49 00:04:10,867 --> 00:04:12,494 Brings back a lot of memories. 50 00:04:19,909 --> 00:04:21,877 'There was a terrible roaring and cracking. 51 00:04:22,145 --> 00:04:25,774 Columns of water and fire, fragments were flying through the air. 52 00:04:26,416 --> 00:04:30,944 One battleship sunk. Every tube empty. l decided to leave.' 53 00:04:37,127 --> 00:04:38,355 You have to admit, 54 00:04:38,528 --> 00:04:41,520 it was an incredible achievement for Prien and his boat, 55 00:04:41,831 --> 00:04:44,857 with all the great difficulties of navigation he faced. 56 00:04:45,735 --> 00:04:49,501 He managed to get into Scapa Flow and then get out again. 57 00:04:54,544 --> 00:04:55,476 On the Oak, 58 00:04:55,712 --> 00:05:00,240 most of the crew were trapped between the decks as the ship began to capsize. 59 00:05:12,529 --> 00:05:15,896 l must have slipped down many feet and hit the water. 60 00:05:16,366 --> 00:05:18,095 Something touched me on the back of the neck, 61 00:05:18,268 --> 00:05:20,429 l thought blimey, it's coming down on top of me, 62 00:05:20,703 --> 00:05:23,729 and l did the fastest hundred yards l've ever done in my life. 63 00:05:27,377 --> 00:05:30,813 The next thing l remember was um, funnily enough, 64 00:05:30,980 --> 00:05:34,814 my Divisional Officer coming over with a great lump of wood 65 00:05:34,984 --> 00:05:36,383 that he was hanging onto - 66 00:05:36,953 --> 00:05:38,921 and he said, 'Who's that?' 67 00:05:39,088 --> 00:05:42,251 and l said, 'Leading Seaman lnstance and l'm burnt to buggery.' 68 00:05:43,026 --> 00:05:44,687 So he said, 'Oh, bad luck, old man.' 69 00:05:45,995 --> 00:05:49,226 Eight hundred and thirty three men were lost on the Royal Oak. 70 00:05:50,099 --> 00:05:51,999 lt was a national humiliation. 71 00:05:52,468 --> 00:05:57,167 A British battleship sunk at anchor in a place symbolic of the country's sea power. 72 00:06:06,416 --> 00:06:09,544 By the time U-47 returned to its base at Wilhelmshaven, 73 00:06:09,852 --> 00:06:11,979 the name 'Prien' was known throughout Germany. 74 00:06:12,255 --> 00:06:14,746 He had become the 'Bull of Scapa.' 75 00:06:20,797 --> 00:06:22,526 Prien became a national hero, 76 00:06:22,932 --> 00:06:27,392 and the public became very aware of the U-boats and their potential in this war. 77 00:06:43,353 --> 00:06:44,684 Only a month before, 78 00:06:45,021 --> 00:06:48,286 Hitler had been openly skeptical about the value of the U-boat. 79 00:06:48,925 --> 00:06:52,019 Now it seemed to represent just the image of military ingenuity 80 00:06:52,195 --> 00:06:54,925 and courage he wanted to foster in the Reich. 81 00:06:56,132 --> 00:06:59,590 He told Prien he was responsible for a unique triumph. 82 00:07:00,169 --> 00:07:03,400 lf forty four men and a lone U-boat could sink a battleship, 83 00:07:03,706 --> 00:07:05,799 what could a fleet of submarines do? 84 00:07:12,415 --> 00:07:15,213 Prien's mission had been meticulously planned by the staff 85 00:07:15,385 --> 00:07:17,683 at U-boat Command in Wilhelmshaven. 86 00:07:26,663 --> 00:07:29,291 The leader of the U-boat arm, Karl Donitz, 87 00:07:29,565 --> 00:07:31,897 had forged his men into a fighting elite. 88 00:07:32,368 --> 00:07:34,666 Their training was dominated by the prospect of war 89 00:07:34,837 --> 00:07:38,329 with Germany's natural enemy at sea, Great Britain. 90 00:07:40,843 --> 00:07:45,678 The task was to find out how to cut the - 91 00:07:46,115 --> 00:07:50,245 supplies across the Atlantic within a reasonable time 92 00:07:50,586 --> 00:07:54,420 so that may be Britain would get in serious trouble. 93 00:07:58,895 --> 00:08:02,888 When war came, although he commanded just fifty-seven U-boat, 94 00:08:03,232 --> 00:08:06,167 Donitz planned to launch a ruthless sea blockade, 95 00:08:06,469 --> 00:08:09,996 which he believed in time would starve Britain into submission. 96 00:08:16,746 --> 00:08:17,940 Sixty years ago, 97 00:08:18,348 --> 00:08:22,182 this forgotten wasteland was full of ships and merchant seamen preparing 98 00:08:22,352 --> 00:08:25,219 to make the three thousand mile voyage across the Atlantic. 99 00:08:30,226 --> 00:08:33,127 Before the war, some sixty million tons of food 100 00:08:33,296 --> 00:08:36,697 and raw materials passed through ports like Liverpool. 101 00:08:38,034 --> 00:08:40,969 We realised that we were the lifeline. 102 00:08:43,906 --> 00:08:49,173 Without the Merchant Fleet there'd have been no food, 103 00:08:50,279 --> 00:08:51,268 there'd have been no fuel. 104 00:08:51,447 --> 00:08:54,678 Where were all the other forces going to get their stuff from 105 00:08:54,851 --> 00:08:56,580 if we didn't bring it from America? 106 00:08:56,819 --> 00:08:58,480 None of the glamour of the Royal Navy, 107 00:08:58,855 --> 00:09:01,722 but sailors of the finest type for all that. 108 00:09:04,861 --> 00:09:08,228 One hundred and thirty thousand men sailed under the Red Ensign. 109 00:09:08,631 --> 00:09:09,393 How old are you? 110 00:09:09,565 --> 00:09:10,224 Twenty-nine. 111 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:12,027 They were officially non-combatant, 112 00:09:12,301 --> 00:09:15,202 but these were the men who would bear the brunt of the U-boat attack. 113 00:09:16,139 --> 00:09:22,635 You were directed by what was called the Pool and you had no - choice. 114 00:09:22,812 --> 00:09:29,775 lf they says, take that, SS Maas, Endon Dock, you just went down - 115 00:09:29,952 --> 00:09:31,146 - and signed on. 116 00:09:38,661 --> 00:09:41,858 l joined the Beatus. She was a tramp, a tramp steamer. 117 00:09:42,965 --> 00:09:45,092 She had the smell of sugar and oil on her, 118 00:09:45,268 --> 00:09:47,259 you know, it was - dirty old tramp, they call them. 119 00:09:58,881 --> 00:10:00,746 They never came back to me and said, 120 00:10:00,917 --> 00:10:04,444 'well now, we've got these new ships but we can't can man them.' 121 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:12,152 There were always coming forward for this very risky and very ill paid and very - 122 00:10:12,328 --> 00:10:14,125 - uncomfortable job. 123 00:10:18,768 --> 00:10:24,604 This nation owes those people a great deal. 124 00:10:29,445 --> 00:10:30,639 Well, it was ourjob. 125 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,544 We knew we were going out, you mightn't come back, 126 00:10:34,183 --> 00:10:37,050 but you never - you never, you never dwelt on it. 127 00:10:41,190 --> 00:10:42,248 From the first, 128 00:10:42,425 --> 00:10:45,588 it was the U-boat rather than Germany's small fleet of warships 129 00:10:45,761 --> 00:10:47,490 that threatened this life-line. 130 00:10:48,197 --> 00:10:50,495 Faith in Britain's ability to protect it, 131 00:10:50,666 --> 00:10:54,864 rested on the most powerful surface fleet in the world - the Royal Navy. 132 00:10:59,542 --> 00:11:03,706 The Admiralty in London was quick to introduce a system of protected convoys. 133 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:08,176 Merchant ships would be escorted for part of theirjourney by warships. 134 00:11:10,353 --> 00:11:14,517 The busiest convoy routes were those across the North Atlantic to Canada and America. 135 00:11:15,024 --> 00:11:19,256 lt was along these that most of the country's vital imports would pass. 136 00:11:21,230 --> 00:11:23,721 Ships were given their station in a box. 137 00:11:25,401 --> 00:11:29,895 You have several in a row there and several behind them in rectangle. 138 00:11:30,373 --> 00:11:33,934 and you steamed out in a succession which you already agreed from Liverpool, 139 00:11:34,210 --> 00:11:37,441 slowly at first and then gradually getting under way. 140 00:11:38,714 --> 00:11:42,582 Well, you could be looking six mile across the front of the convoy 141 00:11:43,452 --> 00:11:47,388 and you could be looking six mile down the length of the convoy, 142 00:11:47,857 --> 00:11:51,884 so you're covering a fair area with a sixty ship convoy. 143 00:11:52,461 --> 00:11:55,555 We, in the escort, went round at speed looking at all the ships, 144 00:11:55,731 --> 00:11:57,164 checking them by name, 145 00:11:57,366 --> 00:12:00,301 checking they'd got their right positions in the convoy and so on. 146 00:12:00,503 --> 00:12:02,494 Usual thing, eight knots a quarter of a mile apart. 147 00:12:02,672 --> 00:12:07,006 Now let's count them. Three, four, five... 148 00:12:07,810 --> 00:12:09,937 They'd come charging round and er, 149 00:12:10,112 --> 00:12:12,979 at high speed and pull up alongside like, you know. 150 00:12:13,149 --> 00:12:15,617 'You're too far behind' like, you know, 151 00:12:15,785 --> 00:12:17,650 'are you all right? Do you require assistance' 152 00:12:17,820 --> 00:12:19,219 or anything like that and they'd say, 153 00:12:19,388 --> 00:12:22,186 'No, it's just the best - this is our best speed.' 154 00:12:22,825 --> 00:12:24,656 Try to keep up, old man. 155 00:12:28,364 --> 00:12:29,763 Some are slower than others. 156 00:12:30,566 --> 00:12:32,033 The top speed of that Beatus l was in, 157 00:12:32,201 --> 00:12:34,635 all she could do was six knots; you could walk faster. 158 00:12:38,407 --> 00:12:43,538 The weather was dreadful and people were very sick and people went 159 00:12:44,180 --> 00:12:47,081 and just slept in a corner soaking wet from watch 160 00:12:47,350 --> 00:12:49,215 and they were soaking wet when they went on watch again. 161 00:12:51,420 --> 00:12:53,388 lt is a main factor in the Battle of the Atlantic 162 00:12:53,556 --> 00:12:56,150 after trying to kill each other, was the weather. 163 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,354 You'd be on look-out in the masts. 164 00:13:00,529 --> 00:13:04,932 You were looking out for periscopes, which was a hell of a thing. 165 00:13:05,101 --> 00:13:14,373 You know you're looking and - and er, you might see a few, a few porpoise come - 166 00:13:14,543 --> 00:13:17,205 zooming at you. lt would scare the wits out of you, 167 00:13:17,380 --> 00:13:19,814 cos it's just a torpedo coming through the water. 168 00:13:23,052 --> 00:13:24,576 ln the first months of the war, 169 00:13:24,854 --> 00:13:28,881 the U-boat fleet sailed out to the convoy routes from the north German ports. 170 00:13:29,358 --> 00:13:33,818 lt meant a long and dangerous haul across the North Sea and round the British coast. 171 00:13:34,630 --> 00:13:36,530 But the crews were full of confidence. 172 00:13:36,766 --> 00:13:38,290 They were the U-boat Waffe, 173 00:13:38,534 --> 00:13:41,025 the spearhead of the assault on the old enemy. 174 00:13:58,654 --> 00:14:02,146 War patrols would last for as long as there was fuel and torpedoes. 175 00:14:02,658 --> 00:14:03,955 For three weeks or more, 176 00:14:04,193 --> 00:14:08,061 fifty men would be confined to what some called their 'iron coffin.' 177 00:14:09,165 --> 00:14:11,190 The U-boat arm made its own rules. 178 00:14:11,634 --> 00:14:13,898 Donitz believed this would play its part in building 179 00:14:14,070 --> 00:14:16,595 the right sort of fighting spirit in the crews. 180 00:14:30,953 --> 00:14:35,151 There is no uniform onboard and no indication of rank, 181 00:14:35,491 --> 00:14:43,023 just overalls. lt was informal. lt wasn't really the usual military order. 182 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:55,508 The whole boat smells of diesel. Diesel is ingrained everywhere. 183 00:14:55,778 --> 00:14:59,077 Because there are full tanks there was always something dripping somewhere. 184 00:15:07,022 --> 00:15:09,991 There was no comfort aboard a submarine, no comfort. 185 00:15:10,359 --> 00:15:13,226 Because you share your bunk with another one, 186 00:15:13,529 --> 00:15:16,862 because he has the same - the same job aboard the ship as you have. 187 00:15:17,066 --> 00:15:18,693 For instance, the wireless operator. 188 00:15:18,868 --> 00:15:22,861 He is on watch four hours and you have time to rest- 189 00:15:23,038 --> 00:15:25,666 and then he goes into this bunk. 190 00:15:25,841 --> 00:15:29,242 And this is er - the bunk is still hot, still hot. 191 00:15:37,086 --> 00:15:39,953 Of course it would smell of sweat because no one washed properly. 192 00:15:40,356 --> 00:15:42,085 There was quite a stench sometimes. 193 00:15:54,503 --> 00:15:57,063 lt was mostly boring, you've got to admit that. 194 00:15:58,741 --> 00:16:00,834 Boredom, there was nothing. 195 00:16:01,510 --> 00:16:03,944 A boat would run its course, little by little, 196 00:16:04,146 --> 00:16:06,307 nothing happened from one hour to the next. 197 00:16:12,188 --> 00:16:15,180 The hunt depended on the vigilance of the boat's watch. 198 00:16:15,825 --> 00:16:19,226 Days were spent searching an empty, featureless horizon. 199 00:16:25,301 --> 00:16:27,792 We rode some pretty massive North Atlantic storms 200 00:16:27,970 --> 00:16:29,801 which were really very impressive. 201 00:16:32,975 --> 00:16:36,138 Nobody could see, move, aim at or do anything. 202 00:16:36,612 --> 00:16:37,977 And then there were those occasions 203 00:16:38,147 --> 00:16:41,446 when you suddenly saw a single ship which you would normally have attacked, 204 00:16:41,750 --> 00:16:44,480 but with which you just steer a parallel course. 205 00:16:44,820 --> 00:16:46,720 You couldn't harm each other. 206 00:16:47,122 --> 00:16:50,888 Everybody thought of their own survival during those heavy seas. 207 00:16:52,661 --> 00:16:53,855 Nothing else mattered. 208 00:16:58,434 --> 00:16:59,526 For the convoy, 209 00:16:59,802 --> 00:17:03,397 survival depended on its ability to lose itself in the Atlantic. 210 00:17:04,206 --> 00:17:07,573 Just a moment of carelessness could reveal its position to the hunter. 211 00:17:09,378 --> 00:17:14,281 You got ships that were indisciplined, especially in the early stages of the war. 212 00:17:15,417 --> 00:17:19,478 They were told not to throw over certain kinds of rubbish from the ship's side 213 00:17:19,655 --> 00:17:23,182 because a trailing submarine would pick that up. 214 00:17:23,993 --> 00:17:28,657 And the other thing was a real problem. Er, the coal fire chips. 215 00:17:29,398 --> 00:17:32,060 Stoking up, you could see them from fifty miles away. 216 00:17:33,802 --> 00:17:36,066 And of course the U-boats loved that. 217 00:17:39,241 --> 00:17:43,268 ln the first months of the war, a cameraman accompanied U-99. 218 00:17:43,679 --> 00:17:46,113 The most successful hunter in the North Atlantic. 219 00:17:46,615 --> 00:17:49,015 lts Commander was Otto Kretschmer. 220 00:17:51,153 --> 00:17:57,752 My Captain, Otto Kretschmer, was a - a very intelligent man. 221 00:17:58,861 --> 00:18:07,428 Very cold blooded and er, knew exactly what kind of risk he could take. 222 00:18:08,971 --> 00:18:10,905 At first there were easy kills. 223 00:18:13,242 --> 00:18:16,109 Lone ships traveling beyond the Navy's protection. 224 00:18:16,812 --> 00:18:19,440 But as more ships sailed under the Admiralty's umbrella, 225 00:18:19,949 --> 00:18:21,644 commanders like Kretschmer were forced to run 226 00:18:21,817 --> 00:18:24,752 the much greater risk of attacking the convoys. 227 00:18:28,023 --> 00:18:31,288 This was done at first as it was done during the First World War. 228 00:18:33,162 --> 00:18:36,154 By day we'd expect to enter a convoy underwater, 229 00:18:36,432 --> 00:18:39,663 approach it and fire at it from underwater. 230 00:18:50,679 --> 00:18:55,981 lt was a calm, smooth day, in summer and suddenly the Jersey City went back. 231 00:18:58,053 --> 00:19:01,887 A lovely clear day and so calm one - one should have seen the periscope, 232 00:19:02,057 --> 00:19:03,115 but one didn't. 233 00:19:04,927 --> 00:19:10,126 You went out in an ever widening circle trying to find the submarine by ASDlC. 234 00:19:10,933 --> 00:19:14,926 ASDlC, or sonar, was the new weapon in the Admiralty's armoury. 235 00:19:15,404 --> 00:19:17,099 lts underwater searchlight. 236 00:19:23,979 --> 00:19:24,877 Contact. 237 00:19:25,214 --> 00:19:27,546 A pulse of sound was sent out from the ship. 238 00:19:28,083 --> 00:19:31,416 lf the sound wave struck the U-boat they were reflected back. 239 00:19:31,954 --> 00:19:34,752 This echo gave the range and bearing of the target. 240 00:19:38,227 --> 00:19:43,164 lf convoy was the first pillar of the Navy's defence, ASDlC was the second. 241 00:19:45,367 --> 00:19:51,328 At once there was contact from the ASDlC of this destroyer and er - 242 00:19:51,507 --> 00:19:53,600 he was running right overhead, 243 00:19:54,443 --> 00:19:56,411 you could hear the swish of the propellers 244 00:19:56,578 --> 00:19:58,944 and then he turned and came back and he threw - 245 00:19:59,214 --> 00:20:00,442 - his depth charges. 246 00:20:06,488 --> 00:20:10,356 Depth charges were three hundred pound drums packed with high explosive. 247 00:20:10,692 --> 00:20:14,093 With a fuse that could be set to detonate at different depths. 248 00:20:16,598 --> 00:20:20,557 Within fifty feet of the U-boat's hull, the shock wave would cause damage. 249 00:20:21,170 --> 00:20:23,434 Within twenty, it would kill. 250 00:20:25,908 --> 00:20:31,608 Once ASDlC contact was made - the hunter became the hunted. 251 00:20:35,818 --> 00:20:41,051 The escort destroyers started pursuing us in a very clear and determined manner. 252 00:20:43,926 --> 00:20:46,724 And because we were so very slow underwater, 253 00:20:47,396 --> 00:20:50,160 they had no difficulty in tracking our course. 254 00:20:54,269 --> 00:20:56,066 All instruments were destroyed, you see. 255 00:20:56,238 --> 00:21:01,039 Glasses broken, there is no light anymore only small flashlights. 256 00:21:01,543 --> 00:21:05,877 We went down to this unbelievable depth. 257 00:21:14,790 --> 00:21:19,159 The cook put on a life-jacket and turned up wide-eyed at my command post. 258 00:21:19,962 --> 00:21:22,157 l kept telling him to go back but he didn't. 259 00:21:22,331 --> 00:21:25,698 l said to him, 'Come on, Franz', that was his first name, 260 00:21:25,901 --> 00:21:29,632 'Sit down, give daddy your hand, nothing will happen to you. Come on,' 261 00:21:29,805 --> 00:21:33,400 l said. Then he sat down, gave daddy his hand, 262 00:21:33,642 --> 00:21:36,338 held my hand tightly and calmed down. 263 00:21:37,079 --> 00:21:39,274 Daddy was twenty-four years old. 264 00:21:50,592 --> 00:21:52,253 The boat went deeper and deeper. 265 00:21:52,461 --> 00:21:54,361 Of course, everyone had the feeling this is it. 266 00:21:54,596 --> 00:21:57,690 One second more and there's one big crack and - 267 00:21:57,933 --> 00:22:02,700 you are er, pressed together like an empty tin can. 268 00:22:15,717 --> 00:22:18,049 The air supply became very scarce. 269 00:22:18,554 --> 00:22:23,992 Everyone had to lie down and be still and breath through the oxygen cartridges. 270 00:22:25,127 --> 00:22:28,688 They kept us underwater for seventeen hours. 271 00:22:30,999 --> 00:22:35,698 On this occasion, depth charges were not well aimed enough to be fatal. 272 00:22:37,372 --> 00:22:43,936 We went to depths of 150 metres or more. The depth charges were all above us. 273 00:22:48,650 --> 00:22:51,585 The depth charge fuses were on too shallow a setting. 274 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:53,747 The U-boat was able to take refuge 275 00:22:53,922 --> 00:22:56,914 at a much greater depth than the Royal Navy thought possible. 276 00:23:00,329 --> 00:23:03,628 Yet at the Admiralty, figures compiled by Naval staff suggested 277 00:23:03,799 --> 00:23:06,359 that merchant shipping losses would be manageable. 278 00:23:06,768 --> 00:23:10,465 ln the first nine months of the war, 215 ships were sunk, 279 00:23:10,806 --> 00:23:13,798 but only twenty-two within the umbrella of a convoy. 280 00:23:15,978 --> 00:23:18,378 The First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, 281 00:23:18,747 --> 00:23:21,181 was more than satisfied with the navy's record. 282 00:23:22,351 --> 00:23:25,445 We feel ourselves more confident, day by day, 283 00:23:26,221 --> 00:23:31,386 of our ability to keep open and active the salt water highways 284 00:23:31,927 --> 00:23:37,661 by which we live and along which we shall draw the means of victory. 285 00:23:38,533 --> 00:23:44,438 Our faithful ASDlC detector smells them out in the depths of the sea 286 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:51,242 and l do not doubt that we shall break their strength and break their purpose. 287 00:23:56,251 --> 00:23:57,912 But in June 1940, 288 00:23:58,220 --> 00:24:02,748 the victories won by Hitler's armies on land were to transform the war at sea. 289 00:24:04,426 --> 00:24:07,156 As Hitler celebrated the Fall of France in Berlin, 290 00:24:07,396 --> 00:24:11,594 the commander of his U-boats was on his way to the Atlantic coast of France. 291 00:24:14,169 --> 00:24:16,137 The ports were all in German hands. 292 00:24:16,471 --> 00:24:20,567 Donitz and his men wasted on time in establishing bases along the west coast. 293 00:24:22,110 --> 00:24:23,202 Here in Lorient, 294 00:24:23,445 --> 00:24:27,814 work began on the huge bomb-proof sea bunkers which would house the U-boat fleet. 295 00:24:30,919 --> 00:24:34,980 For the first time, the U-boats had an open door to the Atlantic. 296 00:24:40,295 --> 00:24:44,493 The situation was now, l would say, the one we'd always wished for. 297 00:24:50,906 --> 00:24:53,033 From his new headquarters in Lorient, 298 00:24:53,308 --> 00:24:56,641 Donitz would direct an all out assault on Britain's lifeline. 299 00:24:58,580 --> 00:25:00,775 The new French bases on the Atlantic coast 300 00:25:00,982 --> 00:25:03,678 would shave almost a fortnight off a U-boat's journey. 301 00:25:04,286 --> 00:25:06,948 Time that could now be spent hunting for convoys. 302 00:25:14,796 --> 00:25:19,028 Above all, they offered the chance for Donitz to introduce his new tactic, 303 00:25:19,368 --> 00:25:23,270 so carefully developed before the war. The pack attack. 304 00:25:26,274 --> 00:25:29,937 This was the beginning of a new phase in the Battle of the Atlantic. 305 00:25:31,413 --> 00:25:36,407 l was anxious that not a day should pass without the sinking of a ship somewhere. 306 00:25:39,521 --> 00:25:44,549 Donitz began to arrange his U-boats into search lines across the convoy routes. 307 00:25:45,394 --> 00:25:47,294 When one of the boats sighted a convoy 308 00:25:47,462 --> 00:25:50,295 it was to report its position to U-boat Command. 309 00:25:50,766 --> 00:25:54,702 lt was not the contact boat, with orders to shadow the target. 310 00:26:08,150 --> 00:26:13,053 U-boat Command was able to direct the rest of the pack to home in on the contact boat. 311 00:26:14,423 --> 00:26:16,914 Donitz was confident that the Royal Navy's defences 312 00:26:17,092 --> 00:26:19,424 would crumble under the weight of a pack attack. 313 00:26:20,295 --> 00:26:24,732 The attack would be carried out at night and in an entirely unexpected way. 314 00:26:29,704 --> 00:26:33,765 One of the first U-boats to be involved in a pack attack in the autumn of 1940, 315 00:26:34,075 --> 00:26:36,703 was Otto Kretschmer's U-99. 316 00:26:39,014 --> 00:26:44,179 A warship comes into view, followed by smoke plumes and the convoy, at last. 317 00:26:44,853 --> 00:26:50,052 We pass a surfacing U-boat, U-101 . l am positioned in front of the convoy. 318 00:26:53,562 --> 00:26:56,827 The pack tactics pioneered by commanders like Kretschmer, 319 00:26:57,065 --> 00:26:59,295 would change the course of the war at sea. 320 00:27:03,605 --> 00:27:06,165 We stayed ahead of the convoy all day long. 321 00:27:06,675 --> 00:27:11,044 And then, in the evening, when it was dark, we dived in front of it. 322 00:27:12,948 --> 00:27:14,779 Then we surfaced inside it. 323 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:22,112 Through my binoculars l cold see there was a - a shadow of a ship. 324 00:27:22,591 --> 00:27:28,496 But from time to time l could see that someone was er, lighting a cigarette. 325 00:27:30,131 --> 00:27:32,565 Everyone was alert wherever you went and everything 326 00:27:32,801 --> 00:27:34,598 and that night the moon was that wide. 327 00:27:37,405 --> 00:27:39,396 You're thinking, someone's out there. 328 00:27:44,479 --> 00:27:50,748 l went out on the wing of the bridge and there was the um, U-boat, 329 00:27:51,353 --> 00:27:56,256 Well, a hundred yards away with all the officers in the conning tower. 330 00:27:57,626 --> 00:28:03,963 l gave the order to go hard aport, that would put the put the U-boat stern on. 331 00:28:09,905 --> 00:28:14,399 lt's like big game hunting, you have to attack from a forward position. 332 00:28:15,644 --> 00:28:20,479 So the normal distance for torpedo attacks at night - 333 00:28:20,649 --> 00:28:22,310 - is about six hundred metres. 334 00:28:30,292 --> 00:28:35,889 Before l could answer the helm, we were hit. 335 00:28:43,605 --> 00:28:46,165 Everything sort of disintegrated around us. 336 00:28:46,808 --> 00:28:49,834 The concussion shot up your legs, up your backbone, 337 00:28:50,111 --> 00:28:53,740 into your skull and everything, and lifted you at the same time. 338 00:28:58,353 --> 00:29:00,787 l went round to the engine room and - 339 00:29:00,956 --> 00:29:05,393 - looked down the engine room and then there was nothing left. 340 00:29:05,794 --> 00:29:10,595 So everything had collapsed. The engine room was three parts full of water. 341 00:29:11,333 --> 00:29:15,429 Those poor men down below what - let's hope it was very quick, 342 00:29:15,837 --> 00:29:20,672 their death, cos if must be dreadful, must have been dreadful. Dreadful. 343 00:29:27,916 --> 00:29:33,616 l saw the water coming into the wheelhouse, you know, that high, 344 00:29:34,489 --> 00:29:40,257 you know, waist high to me and l'm eventually in it and then under it. 345 00:29:44,532 --> 00:29:49,834 And l was reaching out to rails and pulling myself and trying to get myself clear. 346 00:29:50,071 --> 00:29:54,508 l was panicking. And then suddenly l was making my way to the surface. 347 00:29:56,611 --> 00:30:01,105 And l was coughing and spluttering and l looked around and - 348 00:30:01,282 --> 00:30:10,156 could hear shouts and er, l turned and tried to locate them, 349 00:30:10,792 --> 00:30:13,420 but l wasn't sure what direction they were coming from. 350 00:30:13,595 --> 00:30:17,622 But apparently they were only shouts of lads that were drowning. 351 00:30:29,978 --> 00:30:33,914 What follows now resembles the raging of a wolf in a flock of sheep. 352 00:30:34,916 --> 00:30:37,248 l fire a torpedo at a large freighter. 353 00:30:40,388 --> 00:30:44,722 lt explodes and there is a high column of flame which rips 354 00:30:44,893 --> 00:30:47,123 open the ship from the bow to the bridge. 355 00:30:52,701 --> 00:30:56,330 The propaganda newsreels caught only the ships torpedoed by day. 356 00:30:57,072 --> 00:31:00,508 But by the autumn of 1940, most were being sunk at night. 357 00:31:01,109 --> 00:31:05,045 The wolf packs were using the cover of darkness to attack on the surface. 358 00:31:09,084 --> 00:31:11,279 This was the tactic Donitz would turn to time 359 00:31:11,453 --> 00:31:14,650 and again in his pursuit of victory in the Atlantic. 360 00:31:20,528 --> 00:31:23,122 We can hear torpedoes fired by the other boats. 361 00:31:24,432 --> 00:31:29,460 The convoy breaks up completely. The ships run alone and in small groups. 362 00:31:30,772 --> 00:31:34,731 The largest group includes a tanker. This we shall now attack. 363 00:31:39,114 --> 00:31:43,642 We was carrying er, aviation spirit which is the worst of the lot. 364 00:31:44,786 --> 00:31:47,721 l must have said my prayers more times than the local vicar, 365 00:31:47,922 --> 00:31:49,412 because l was really frightened. 366 00:31:52,193 --> 00:31:55,685 l was on the after poop deck of the ship when we heard - 367 00:31:55,864 --> 00:31:59,561 - that there was a torpedo coming and you could see it when they - when they yelled. 368 00:31:59,801 --> 00:32:00,927 You could see the wake. 369 00:32:15,517 --> 00:32:21,615 There was a two hundred metre high tongue of orange flame and in these flames - 370 00:32:21,790 --> 00:32:25,624 there were human bodies and parts of the ship whirling round 371 00:32:25,860 --> 00:32:28,351 and then falling back into the Atlantic. 372 00:32:34,235 --> 00:32:35,293 l didn't hesitate. 373 00:32:35,470 --> 00:32:38,735 l'd seen the big flames and l jumped straight over the stern 374 00:32:38,907 --> 00:32:40,272 and when l surfaced - 375 00:32:40,441 --> 00:32:42,739 - well, the ship had disappeared in - into flames. 376 00:32:44,746 --> 00:32:47,408 You could hear these - your buddies in the water hollering. 377 00:32:50,852 --> 00:32:54,686 'Save me, save me.' But, you know, you were going by them, 378 00:32:54,856 --> 00:32:56,915 the ship was still in a forward motion. 379 00:33:05,900 --> 00:33:09,131 l asked to come up to the conning tower to have a look - 380 00:33:09,838 --> 00:33:15,606 - at the burning tankers and er, because this was er - 381 00:33:17,712 --> 00:33:21,170 for a navy man who was asked to sink ships, was a wonderful sight. 382 00:33:22,717 --> 00:33:26,312 There was a lot of fuel on the water and gasoline burning. 383 00:33:27,522 --> 00:33:30,821 lt sticks to you because it's - it's petroleum. 384 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,687 l heard a cry for help and l swam to him. 385 00:33:36,064 --> 00:33:40,364 His face was all black, burnt. Oh, he was in a terrible state. 386 00:33:45,874 --> 00:33:49,833 We heard shouts of 'Hitler, help. Hitler, help.' 387 00:33:50,578 --> 00:33:53,513 And then something happened that l thought was terrible. 388 00:33:54,082 --> 00:33:56,277 Standing next to me was the U-boat's second - 389 00:33:56,451 --> 00:34:01,787 officer. He yelled into the night, 'Why do you pigs sail for England.' 390 00:34:02,357 --> 00:34:04,825 l was horrified and l gave him a jab and said, 391 00:34:05,260 --> 00:34:06,818 'What do you expect them to do? 392 00:34:07,662 --> 00:34:10,927 These people are doing their duty, just as you are.' 393 00:34:14,969 --> 00:34:18,700 Those left in the sea watched as the convoy passed on. 394 00:34:19,507 --> 00:34:23,466 The other merchant ships were under strict orders not to stop for survivors. 395 00:34:25,346 --> 00:34:28,247 As we ploughed through them you could hear them shouting, 396 00:34:28,416 --> 00:34:34,616 'help.' 'Help.' We couldn't stop - 397 00:34:35,323 --> 00:34:39,851 and l knew this and l could see over the - just down there, 398 00:34:40,995 --> 00:34:46,194 the little lights on their lifejacket drifting past. Very sad. 399 00:34:52,774 --> 00:34:55,572 The first pack attacks in the autumn of 1940, 400 00:34:55,944 --> 00:34:58,504 caught the Navy's escorts completely off guard. 401 00:34:59,781 --> 00:35:02,147 We realised they were on the surface. 402 00:35:02,617 --> 00:35:06,348 We tried to light up the area so that we could see a submarine, 403 00:35:06,521 --> 00:35:08,716 but we wouldn't know what area to light up. 404 00:35:09,257 --> 00:35:13,353 l remember feeling so helpless when you see these ships being sunk. 405 00:35:14,395 --> 00:35:18,229 We would scurry around and try to find out the submarine, 406 00:35:18,399 --> 00:35:20,333 but the ASDlC was useless. 407 00:35:21,369 --> 00:35:24,827 The underwater detector in which the Admiralty placed so much faith, 408 00:35:25,206 --> 00:35:27,674 was unable to find the U-boat on the surface, 409 00:35:28,376 --> 00:35:31,675 and the U-boat was almost invisible in the Atlantic night. 410 00:35:34,549 --> 00:35:38,212 On the surface the U-boat could wring 1 7 knots from its diesel engines, 411 00:35:38,486 --> 00:35:41,011 and that made it faster than some of the Navy's escorts. 412 00:35:42,457 --> 00:35:45,517 The Royal Navy was prepared to fight a war against a submarine, 413 00:35:45,994 --> 00:35:48,724 but the U-boat was really nothing of the sort. 414 00:35:50,465 --> 00:35:54,731 All the boats we had during the war were actually surface craft 415 00:35:55,003 --> 00:35:57,403 who had just the possibility to dive. 416 00:36:03,911 --> 00:36:07,540 As these boats were depending on batteries, 417 00:36:07,849 --> 00:36:12,650 they were very slow as soon as they were submerged. 418 00:36:12,820 --> 00:36:15,584 Out of about twenty ships l sank, 419 00:36:15,757 --> 00:36:20,023 l mean l sank - sank nineteen at night on the surface. 420 00:36:28,236 --> 00:36:30,204 The Navy rescued those it could, 421 00:36:30,605 --> 00:36:34,939 but survivors in the water made the job of protecting the convoy even tougher. 422 00:36:37,545 --> 00:36:39,775 The main problem of survivors in the water is that 423 00:36:39,947 --> 00:36:42,973 they are usually where the U-boat is and you want to - 424 00:36:43,151 --> 00:36:47,679 depth charge the U-boat and you can't, cos you're gonna kill your survivors. 425 00:36:47,989 --> 00:36:52,358 And that on one or two occasions happened during the war. Very unpleasant. 426 00:36:57,632 --> 00:37:00,066 Er, we heard someone shouting on a loud hailer. 427 00:37:00,234 --> 00:37:03,863 He said, 'l can't stop, l've got scrambling nets over the side - 428 00:37:04,105 --> 00:37:05,834 l can't stop, U-boat in the area, 429 00:37:06,107 --> 00:37:09,508 you'll have to jump for it and scramble aboard.' And we did. 430 00:37:12,246 --> 00:37:14,806 They carried us down to different parts of the ship 431 00:37:14,982 --> 00:37:20,784 and l remember going to this particular mess, l don't know, 432 00:37:21,222 --> 00:37:26,421 and er, we laid on a - laid on a bunk and they brought hot coffee round. 433 00:37:26,594 --> 00:37:28,926 Oh God, it was so beautiful. 434 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:38,396 ln just two nights in October 1940, a pack of five boats sank twenty ships. 435 00:37:39,707 --> 00:37:42,301 Even well protected convoys appeared powerless 436 00:37:42,477 --> 00:37:44,843 to prevent the wolf packs sinking at will. 437 00:37:50,251 --> 00:37:53,846 By the end of the year, more than a thousand ships had been sunk. 438 00:37:54,388 --> 00:37:57,050 Six thousand merchant seamen lost. 439 00:38:03,030 --> 00:38:07,262 On the Atlantic coast of lreland, the human cost was all too obvious. 440 00:38:09,437 --> 00:38:13,134 The first body that came in was over in them rocks over there. 441 00:38:14,609 --> 00:38:18,136 The boat must have been sunk off away out in the Atlantic some place 442 00:38:18,312 --> 00:38:19,973 and the body was washed in here. 443 00:38:22,150 --> 00:38:23,481 There was a disc on him. 444 00:38:23,818 --> 00:38:27,584 And his number was on it, l don't - couldn't tell you the number, 445 00:38:27,755 --> 00:38:32,089 but l know the name, he was a Sergeant Derby of the Marines. 446 00:38:33,928 --> 00:38:35,555 Then there was other bodies. 447 00:38:35,997 --> 00:38:41,264 One body came in and it was badly decomposed. 448 00:38:42,270 --> 00:38:48,402 We had a bit of a cliff to climb and he had to be tied on to a stretcher - 449 00:38:50,645 --> 00:38:54,137 And soon as we put the legs over on the body, 450 00:38:54,315 --> 00:39:00,345 the stomach collapsed, bursted and there was a terrible smell. 451 00:39:00,821 --> 00:39:02,755 Oh, you would nearly throw up. 452 00:39:03,124 --> 00:39:10,121 And then we took him to this hotel that - where the bodies was all usually was taken. 453 00:39:11,532 --> 00:39:15,992 lt was very sorrowful. l mean we were - a lot of us there was, 454 00:39:16,370 --> 00:39:18,235 well we were sad but we couldn't do, 455 00:39:18,406 --> 00:39:21,773 we had a job to do and we done it and that was it. 456 00:39:24,912 --> 00:39:27,972 This was what the U-boat men called their 'happy time.' 457 00:39:36,991 --> 00:39:41,189 On the journey home to their French bases, the crews prepared their victory bunting. 458 00:39:41,495 --> 00:39:44,362 Each flag marked with the tonnage of a ship sunk. 459 00:40:14,161 --> 00:40:18,222 No more than six boats were operating against Britain's lifeline at any one time. 460 00:40:18,933 --> 00:40:20,491 Just three hundred men. 461 00:40:31,646 --> 00:40:34,581 Much was being asked of a handful of U-boat crews. 462 00:40:34,949 --> 00:40:38,908 ln return, Donitz ensured that they were very well rewarded. 463 00:40:44,358 --> 00:40:46,724 This was notjust a 'happy time' at sea. 464 00:40:47,028 --> 00:40:49,656 The crews were to enjoy the best of life ashore. 465 00:40:52,433 --> 00:40:56,130 A hundred thousand bottles of wine were requisitioned by Donitz for his men. 466 00:40:56,504 --> 00:40:58,233 'Onkel Karl' cared. 467 00:40:59,807 --> 00:41:04,540 There were special food parcels. U-boat hotels, and extended leave. 468 00:41:12,353 --> 00:41:15,186 Usually we would seek out some dive and then of course 469 00:41:15,356 --> 00:41:18,348 if there were girls present we would try to dance with them. 470 00:41:18,826 --> 00:41:20,623 Sometimes we even succeeded. 471 00:41:26,801 --> 00:41:30,703 l can still remember, what was the price of a bottle of champagne? 472 00:41:33,374 --> 00:41:37,310 l think it was twenty Francs, which was no money at all to us. 473 00:41:43,417 --> 00:41:47,877 Of course we did have a good life, yes and we would make the most of it, too. 474 00:41:56,397 --> 00:41:59,230 lt was a very different sort of homecoming for the British seamen 475 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:01,231 who'd survived the wolf packs. 476 00:42:02,503 --> 00:42:04,095 We got a roll call - 477 00:42:04,271 --> 00:42:06,637 any survivors off one ship, this ship and that ship, 478 00:42:07,108 --> 00:42:10,305 and it come down to Creekirk, and l don't why, 479 00:42:10,478 --> 00:42:13,311 when l went up later on l said, 'did anyone come forward?' 480 00:42:13,514 --> 00:42:16,312 He said, 'No, apparently they've all gone with the ship.' 481 00:42:17,985 --> 00:42:20,510 So l knew, that was two of me friends and neighbours, 482 00:42:20,688 --> 00:42:22,315 they were dead, l knew that. 483 00:42:33,067 --> 00:42:36,503 l put me arms - put me arms around me mother 484 00:42:38,139 --> 00:42:42,303 and l couldn't tell her about Eddie and Billy till the next day and l said to her, 485 00:42:42,476 --> 00:42:44,671 'whatever - whatever you do, mum, don't tell their people, 486 00:42:44,845 --> 00:42:46,608 leave it till they get a telegram.' 487 00:42:50,618 --> 00:42:52,552 So my mother knew, she knew that they weren't coming back, 488 00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:55,154 they didn't know where they were, their mothers. 489 00:43:01,996 --> 00:43:04,931 ln Germany, the propaganda ministry made heroes of those 490 00:43:05,099 --> 00:43:07,260 it called 'The Grey Wolves.' 491 00:43:08,269 --> 00:43:10,396 That winter the Commander of U-100. 492 00:43:10,638 --> 00:43:14,768 Joachim Schepke, took his men on a skiing holiday in the Bavarian Alps. 493 00:43:30,558 --> 00:43:34,255 The U-boatmen were the guests of the grateful village of Ruppolding. 494 00:43:34,795 --> 00:43:38,663 They lived with the villagers; the Commander with the Plenk family. 495 00:43:40,734 --> 00:43:43,828 ln those days it was Prien, Kretschmer, Schepke. 496 00:43:44,305 --> 00:43:46,739 They were for us boys so to speak the heroes. 497 00:43:47,041 --> 00:43:48,406 The U-boat heroes. 498 00:43:48,709 --> 00:43:51,234 And we were proud of having one of them staying in our house. 499 00:43:51,545 --> 00:43:52,842 That goes without saying. 500 00:43:59,587 --> 00:44:02,078 The reception was naturally magnificent. 501 00:44:04,058 --> 00:44:06,583 l can remember that there were folk evenings at the Kurhaus, 502 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:08,625 as is the tradition here. 503 00:44:12,132 --> 00:44:15,260 They were certainly unforgettable days for the crew. 504 00:44:17,037 --> 00:44:20,006 l can remember we were all very proud. 505 00:44:25,112 --> 00:44:29,572 As 1940 drew to a close, the British public felt under siege. 506 00:44:30,618 --> 00:44:37,285 l get along without sugar. l never drink any tea. Eggs and bacon... 507 00:44:37,458 --> 00:44:41,224 Before the war, the country imported twenty-two million tons of food. 508 00:44:41,795 --> 00:44:45,253 By November, that figure was running at less than twelve million. 509 00:44:45,599 --> 00:44:49,729 One thing l always crave, and that's why hear me sing, 510 00:44:49,970 --> 00:44:57,502 oh when can l have a banana again? Oh tell me, tell me mother... 511 00:44:57,678 --> 00:45:01,876 The ration book became the key to survival for nearly every household in the country. 512 00:45:02,783 --> 00:45:05,650 You got two ounces of tea each and me mother loved tea 513 00:45:05,819 --> 00:45:11,689 and you only got one egg a week and you got very little cheese. 514 00:45:12,259 --> 00:45:15,422 Very little meat. You'd have to look for the meat. 515 00:45:18,365 --> 00:45:20,856 lt was hard to - to manage, you know. 516 00:45:22,036 --> 00:45:25,403 Sometimes the word would go around, oh there's er, 517 00:45:25,573 --> 00:45:30,476 there's something in Postlethwaites and that was a fruit shop... 518 00:45:30,945 --> 00:45:32,742 All the women would be scurrying up 519 00:45:33,180 --> 00:45:35,842 and l say we'd stand in a queue and you wouldn't actually know 520 00:45:36,016 --> 00:45:37,643 what you were standing in the queue for. 521 00:45:38,519 --> 00:45:40,646 And l'd say - we'd say, 'What is it, what is it?' 522 00:45:41,088 --> 00:45:43,318 And the man would come out all stern, you know. 523 00:45:43,490 --> 00:45:46,755 'lt's one orange and don't anyone ask for two.' 524 00:45:46,927 --> 00:45:49,395 And you'd be so thrilled to get an orange. 525 00:45:55,502 --> 00:46:00,405 Vegetables weren't rationed so you eat more vegetables. 526 00:46:01,108 --> 00:46:04,839 So if you eat potatoes you didn't need as much bread. 527 00:46:05,613 --> 00:46:07,706 They'd tell you that merchant seamen had to risk 528 00:46:07,881 --> 00:46:13,217 their lives to go to Canada to bring the wheat to make the bread. 529 00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:16,011 So if you eat potatoes you were helping your country. 530 00:46:16,223 --> 00:46:18,248 ...all well known to the enemy. 531 00:46:19,126 --> 00:46:23,756 And we must expect that Herr Hitler will do his utmost to prey upon our shipping, 532 00:46:24,264 --> 00:46:29,566 his clutching fingers reach out on both sides of us into the Ocean. 533 00:46:30,638 --> 00:46:32,902 l have never underrated this danger. 534 00:46:33,841 --> 00:46:35,809 ln Winston Churchill's private office, 535 00:46:36,076 --> 00:46:38,010 a small team of economists was responsible 536 00:46:38,178 --> 00:46:41,079 for keeping him informed on matters of shipping and imports. 537 00:46:41,949 --> 00:46:44,213 Churchill would pour over their weekly bulletin. 538 00:46:44,652 --> 00:46:48,088 He later wrote of the 'measureless peril' expressed in its charts, 539 00:46:48,555 --> 00:46:51,649 of figures showing 'potential strangulation.' 540 00:46:52,793 --> 00:46:56,661 An index l compiled of stocks of imported food 541 00:46:56,830 --> 00:47:00,391 and raw materials measured in tons er - 542 00:47:00,968 --> 00:47:04,995 was falling rapidly towards a really, a dangerous level. 543 00:47:07,074 --> 00:47:10,168 And l think a lot of people didn't realise how worrying it was. 544 00:47:10,811 --> 00:47:13,143 lt was hardly an exaggeration to say we could have - 545 00:47:13,313 --> 00:47:16,680 - lost the war on the home front at that time. 546 00:47:18,419 --> 00:47:20,011 ln January, 1941 , 547 00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:24,154 Hitler spoke to the Reich of his confidence in his 'Grey Wolves.' 548 00:47:40,441 --> 00:47:44,741 Just a handful of U-boats had helped bring Britain to the brink of defeat, 549 00:47:45,312 --> 00:47:47,712 and now more boats were being built. 550 00:47:48,582 --> 00:47:51,983 Donitz's packs would be able to range further into the Atlantic, 551 00:47:52,686 --> 00:47:54,415 and in greater numbers. 552 00:47:55,723 --> 00:47:56,690 The tonnage war, 553 00:47:57,257 --> 00:48:01,921 the race to sink more ships than Britain could buy or build had begun. 51268

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