All language subtitles for U-Boat.Wargamers.S01E04.The.Game.1080p.NOW.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: Britain is at the mercy
of Donitz's U-boats.

The Royal Navy pin their hopes
on a tactic to fight back.

- Buttercup astern.

- Good. At least one U-boat down.

- Proof they attack
from outside the convoy.

NARRATOR:
But wargamer Gilbert Roberts...

- Is something wrong?

NARRATOR: ..and the team of Wrens
discover it doesn't make sense.

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

- Mein Fuhrer. We are
strangling the life out of Britain.

I can strike a decisive blow,
but I need more U-boats.

NARRATOR: Donitz floods the Atlantic
with monster wolf packs.

- Fire!

- Imagine the carnage we will sow.

- People look out at the ocean
and see tranquillity.

It's not tranquil.
It will devour you.

NARRATOR: Roberts is in a race
against time

to decipher the U-boat tactics...

- You better strike.
- It works.

- Run the game again.
We need to be sure.

NARRATOR: ..and convinced the top
brass to change their ways.

- Why am I here, Commander?

- We can't keep losing men
and convoys to the sea and Donitz.

We have to make the Admiral listen.

Their survival and ours...
depends on it.

- Gilbert Roberts and the WATU team
have worked deep into the night.

All this time, the Royal Navy has
assumed that the U-boats are firing

the torpedoes from outside
the convoy into the centre of it.

- By analysing the use of Walker's
Buttercup tactic,

they've discovered that the U-boats
are already inside the convoy

when they're making
their initial attack.

- If everything that the Royal Navy
has assumed about the way

U-boats attack is wrong, this means
their defence strategy is wrong.

- The SS Annavore was hit
in the centre of the convoy.

The U-boats must be attacking
from the inside.

- But how is Donitz
getting them there?

We need to think like
a U-boat captain.

How would YOU get in?

- Commander Walker did sink a U-boat
at the rear.

Could they sneak in,
submerged from astern?

- The convoy travels at roughly
seven knots.

Submerged, the U-boat
has to rely on its electric motors

and they're slow. It can only do...
- Eight knots.

So, unlikely one could catch
and enter a convoy

and not be pinged by ASDIC.

How about from the front?

- It could enter from ahead, submerged.

But coming straight at the convoy...

There's a big risk of a collision.

- On the surface,
a U-boat can use its diesel motors.

A type 7C can run at 17 knots.

It's much faster than the convoy,
it's more like a motor torpedo boat.

- So they could be infiltrating
the convoy from behind.

And on the surface.
- They're fast enough.

- And the lookouts
rarely look behind them.

- If they came in at night,
they wouldn't be seen.

- It's daring. Ruthless.
I wouldn't put it past him.

- Walker did sink a U-boat astern,

travelling the same course
as the convoy.

- Could it have been caught trying
to go INTO the convoy?

- Sneaking in on the surface.
- That's it. Must be!

- What is it?

- If once inside,
they torpedo a ship, many ships,

now every destroyer
is looking for them.

So then how does the actual
attacker get out?

- (sighs)

We've been at this a while.

Let's break and come back
with fresh eyes.

(light music plays)

- How are the sandwiches?

- Could do with some more corned
beef. How's the coffee?

- Could do with some more coffee.

Rationing, I guess.

- I just wish I could see
how the U-boats escape.

- Even if you could, do you think
the admirals would listen?

- What do you think, sir?

Will the top brass even listen
to us?

Sir?

- Sorry, Laidlaw.
I was in a world of my own.

- You're very quiet, sir.
- Yes, quiet. Sorry.

I seem to have a lot on my...

Quiet. Could that be it?

- Quiet?

- Finish up.
We need to get back to the board.

The U-boat launches its attack,

but after it fires,
it needs to escape.

Where does it go?

- The escorts are firing flares,
the sea is lit up.

The U-boat is surrounded
by convoy ships.

Any one of those could spot it
and raise the alarm.

The logical thing to do...

...is dive.

Gone.
- How deep can they go?

A type 7C... 720 feet.

- On the edge of effective
ASDIC range.

- Then they stop,
they go quiet

and they wait
for the convoy to pass over them.

Once the convoy moves on...

...they surface again.

- All of the escorts
are away from the convoy.

- Yes.
The U-boat can surface safely,

because thanks to Walker's Buttercup
tactic,

the escorts search
away from the convoy

and then continue moving with it.

- They're looking
in the wrong place.

- Walker must have hit a U-boat
trying to get into the convoy!

That's why Buttercup can't be
easily repeated.

- This is an incredible
breakthrough.

The Royal Navy assumes the U-boats
attack from outside the convoys

and they can't see past
this assumption.

- But the fact that these Wrens
weren't Navy-indoctrinated people

meant that they were able to take
the bare minimum facts,

strategise it, work out the tactics

and put themselves in the mind
of the enemy.

- We need to run the game.

NARRATOR: Admiral Karl Donitz'
tonnage war is working.

- Herr Admiral.

A report from U504 operating
in the Straits of Florida.

- Single large ships at night
within 200-metre line.

Moderate destroyer and air patrols
since first attack.

Good chances for attack,
but strong patrolling in DB9790.

They've sunk three ships already.

Two of them tankers.

Send a reply. To U128129504.

Occupy attack square, DB90,
the Straits of Florida.

- Yes, Herr Admiral.

- What is our monthly tonnage tally?

- Herr Admiral, 70 ships sunk,
for over 392,000 tonnes.

Excellent.

If the fleet keeps sinking
this many tonnes,

the Fuhrer will have no choice
but to give me my 300 U-boats.

- The US Navy weren't anticipating
or prepared for

the onslaught of U-boats
against their own coastline.

So in early 1942,

they really did not have
the escorts to protect the ships.

- The U-boat crews
certainly were surprised.

Perfect targets, with no sign of
defence or escorts around.

As soon as Donitz noticed that,
it was so easy to sink vessels.

He sent more and more U-boats.

- February of 1942,
the number of sinkings

and the total amount of tonnage
destroyed, skyrocketed.

If the ships could not get through,
Britain could not feed itself,

so literally
could be starved to death.

- Imagine the carnage we will sow.

- Ready? Let's begin.

- When you're wargaming, if you've
identified the enemy's intent

and the approach they will use,

that is absolutely decisive.

- But the question is, how are you
going to use it

and turn the tables so that the
hunters now become the hunted?

- Roberts and Laidlaw
are now setting up the game

and Roberts is gonna play
the U-boat commander.

- Merchant ship torpedoed,
fifth column, third ship.

Time in, 02:10 hours.
Next move in two minutes.

- And Laidlaw's gonna play
the escort commander,

responsible for finding
and sinking the U-boats.

Around the game room are screens
of canvas

with a slit cut through the middle
and a lens inserted.

The U-boat movements are marked in
brown chalk on the brown linoleum,

which makes it very difficult
for the escort commanders

to see their patterns of movement.

- You'd only see the chalk of the
movements of the convoy and escorts.

- U-boat undetected, U-boat escaped.

Game over.

Let's run the game again.

- Merchant ship torpedoed,
fifth column, third ship,

Time in, 02:32 hours.
Next move in two minutes.

- What's interesting about wargaming
is, you want to win,

so you start reaching for
different things

that you might not otherwise
have considered.

- Buttercup means that the escort
ships sweep outward

in a sort of fan-like position.

Laidlaw comes up with the idea

that if the U-boat is hanging back
to the rear and has submerged,

she needs to use her escorts in a
different way, looking backwards.

- Next move, two minutes.

- So as the convoy moves forward,

she has the escorts open up
with ASDIC sonar,

to look all over the back in this
sort of triangular fashion.

- ASDIC ping on 130,
likely U-boat contact.

- Eventually
they're going to pass over it.

When they do, they'll detect it,
then send depth charges down

and destroy it.

- U-boat depth charged,
U-boat destroyed.

- U-boat destroyed? How?

The escorts fall to the back,
conduct triangular sweeps.

The retreating U-boat is caught up
in them.

Laidlaw! Triangular sweeps!
- It works!

Run the game again,
we need to be sure.

- So they play the game
again and again.

The escorts at the rear
of the convoy are using ASDIC,

almost like dragging a fishing net
through the water.

The U-boat is going to be caught
up in this, they will discover it

and they will be able to destroy it.

- U-boat depth charged,
U-boat destroyed.

- As dawn comes, Roberts and Laidlaw
are completely convinced now

that their tactic can't be faulted.

- Sir? Our cars are here.

- Thank you for your work tonight.
Get some rest.

- Yes, sir. You too.

(phone continues to ring)

- Western Approaches
Command Duty Officer.

- This is Commander Roberts of the
Western Approaches Tactical Unit.

Can you take a message
for Admiral Noble?

- Yes, sir.

- WATU has discovered something of
vital importance to U-boat tactics

and countertactics. Request his
attendance here

as soon as possible to explain.

- Yes, sir, is that all?
Yes, that is all. Thank you.

- Will Admiral Noble listen, sir?

- Have you ever seen a man drown,
Laidlaw?

I have.

I was 23.

He was caught in a current
and I dived in after him.

By the time I got there,
it was too late, he...

He was dead
and I had to be fished out myself.

I'll never forget the look
on his face...

Frozen,
with all the life... gone from him.

Some people look out at the ocean
and see tranquillity.

It's not tranquil...
It will devour you.

We can't keep losing men and convoys
to the sea and Donitz.

We have to make the Admiral listen!

Their survival... and ours...

...depends on it.

NARRATOR: Donitz's U-boat fleet
is wreaking havoc,

particularly against poorly
protected American shipping.

- The Americans, at one point,
actually had 50 destroyers operating

on the transatlantic convoys.

The problem in early '42 is that
most of those 50 destroyers

the Americans have in the Northwest
Atlantic

have gone off to fight the Japanese.

- The great success of the German
U-boats off the US East Coast

was due to the lack of convoys,
the lack of escorts.

- Tube one, fire!

- Simply the failures of the US Navy

to effectively protect
their merchant shipping.

- The losses to Allied shipping in
the first six, maybe seven months

of 1942 are staggering.

Two million tonnes are lost.

We're talking about 111 ships
sunk in May

and about 115 ships sunk in June.

It's an unbelievable tragedy
for the Allies

and a big success for the Germans.

- Mein Fuhrer.
In the Mediterranean Sea

and the North Atlantic
shipping lanes to Britain,

and up and down the East Coast of
America,

our U-boats are sinking
ship after ship.

We are strangling the life
out of Britain.

Here, our monthly tonnage tallies.

They rise and rise.

- It really is the second happy
time, as you U-boat men say.

- Indeed, Mein Fuhrer,
but there is a risk.

Now that the Americans
are also enemies of the Third Reich,

they may try to land an army
in Europe.

To do that, they will need to move
men and equipment

across the Atlantic.

It takes 32,000 tonnes of shipping

to move one US division.

I can strike a decisive blow,
so that doesn't happen.

But I need more U-boats.

- Steel is scarce.
- It's a matter of winning the war.

- For Hitler,
success was the currency

for his value of
his leading officers.

His successes made Donitz a very
valuable asset in Hitler's mind.

- You can have your 300 U-boats,
Donitz,

but you must close down
the Atlantic.

- Once Roberts and Laidlaw
have worked out

what they think
the U-boat strategy is

and how they're going to combat it,

they've got to convince
the top brass.

We've already seen how sceptical
Noble is of Roberts.

- He's always been sceptical of
the wargaming.

It's imperative that they get
Sir Percy Noble to listen to them,

because ships are being sunk, human
beings' lives are being lost at sea.

- Commander Roberts.
- Good morning, sir.

Thank you for coming
at such short notice.

Why am I here, Commander?

- Sir, we've discovered something of
vital importance

to U-boat tactics
and countertactics.

- Yes, I read your message
to my office.

- Sir, we've simulated convoy HG76,
using the wargame.

- Ah, yes. The wargame.

- Yes, sir, the wargame.

- Okell, would you?

By simulating this report,

we've discovered that the U-boats
get INSIDE the convoy

and do so at night and on the
surface, where they're faster.

Here they launch their torpedoes,

and after the attack, dive.

Now they go quiet and wait.

As the convoy continues to steam on
ahead,

they surface, well astern
and out of danger.

In the standard anti-submarine
tactic, Buttercup,

the escorts search away from
the convoy, outwards,

but they're looking for the U-boats
in entirely the wrong position.

- Roberts, everyone knows U-boats
fire from outside the convoy in.

- Sir, with respect,
I reached this conclusion

after consulting Admiral Horton
at Flag Office Submarines.

- Max Horton is the leading
submariner in Great Britain.

If anyone understands the thinking
of the enemy, it's Max Horton.

- Proceed.

- Laidlaw.
- Sir.

- Perhaps if we demonstrate it, sir.

- Laidlaw plays the U-boat captain

and Okell is playing
the escort commander.

Laidlaw comes in from the rear
on the surface,

fires off her torpedo, dives deep

and waits for the convoy
to pass over.

- Ship torpedoed.
Fifth column, third ship.

Time in, 10:04.
Next move in two minutes.

- Okell does the standard
Buttercup tactic.

She instructs her escorts to
scatter outside of the convoy.

- But the U-boats aren't escaping
in that direction.

They are sitting quietly
within the convoy.

- U-boat undetected.
U-boat escaped.

Sir, the reason I asked you here
so urgently...

Okell, would you now enact
the WATU countertactic?

Play again.

Ship torpedoed.

- What Okell does is,
unlike Buttercup,

sends her escorts to the rear,

where she expects the U-boats
to be trying to escape.

And it's there that she conducts
her ASDIC sonar sweeps.

- ASDIC ping on 90,
likely U-boat contact.

Next move in two minutes.

- Depth charges are fired

and Laidlaw has no time to get
her U-boat out of the way.

Depth charges dropped.
U-boat destroyed.

Game over.

- Who devised this tactic?

- Wren Jean Laidlaw...
did all the boring analysis.

It was a question of maths,
measurements,

which an accountant
could easily make.

And Laidlaw is...
a qualified accountant.

- Well done, Laidlaw!
- Thank you, sir.

- And do you have a name for it?
- Raspberry, sir.

- Raspberry?
- (blows raspberry)

As in blowing a raspberry at Hitler, sir.

- It dawns immediately on Noble
that Buttercup doesn't work.

- He sees that their countermeasure,
Raspberry, is far superior.

- Sir Percy Noble all of a sudden
realises

that these wargames might
actually become a crucial element

in the fight against Donitz.

- Take down this message.

The first indications have shown
a cardinal error

in anti-U-boat tactics.

There will be a new immediate and
concerted counterattack

signalled to the fleet
within the next 24 hours.

Send that to the Prime Minister.

And so on your fourth stripe,
Roberts, you're promoted to Captain.

- Sir.

- Raspberry...

- Once a tactic has been developed,

the task now is to train as many
officers in that tactic as possible.

- To be used
when a U-boat attacks by night.

Star shells are fired, so the U-boat
dives to avoid detection.

Convoy to continue moving.

Flanking escorts to conduct
triangular ASDIC sweeps, like so.

Stern escorts to conduct
zigzag sweeps.

Like a fishing net,
the U-boat will be caught up.

Codeword, Operation Raspberry.

- (scoffs)
Operation Raspberry?

- Yes, sir. Operation Raspberry.

Do you think you've got the hang
of it? Yes?

Good. You're first up.

- The course is about a week.

There will be lectures
during the morning.

They'll be briefed on the tactic
and then in the afternoon,

they will then have
a training wargame.

- Merchant ship torpedoed,
fourth column, second ship.

ASDIC sweep conducted, no ping.

U-boat escaped. Play again.

- The naval commanders
found themselves

not doing as well as they would
have hoped.

- ASDIC ping on 102,
likely U-boat contact.

- Often, they were getting beaten
once, twice, three times,

despite extensive experience in
exactly these sort of scenarios.

- Depth charges fired.
No contact. U-boat escaped.

Play again.

- Eventually, as they started to see
how the new tactics could work,

they were finally getting
the hang of Raspberry.

- Depth charges fired.
U-boat depth charged.

- U-boat destroyed.

- This is a really promising sign
for the Royal Navy.

- Well done, sir. Play again.

- But the real test of Raspberry
is gonna be

when it's employed in actual combat.

- NARRATOR: Convoy SC104
runs the Atlantic gauntlet.

48 merchant vessels
and six escort ships,

sailing from New York to Liverpool.

- The man in charge of the escort is
Commander Ralph Heathcote

on the destroyer HMS Fame.

It's abysmal weather, massive waves,
and above that, Northern Lights.

The merchant vessels are clearly
visible, due to the Northern Lights.

And the escorts had spotted
a U-boat before, but lost contact.

- Have we regained contact
with that U-boat astern?

- No, sir.
No smells on ASDIC or radar.

Maybe they've pulled back.
The sea is bloody rotten.

But the Aurora Borealis is
lighting us up for all to see.

- We'll be easy to spot.
- So will they.

- Hm. Stay vigilant.

Continue scanning with ASDIC.
(explosion)

Raspberry!
- Sir?

- Raspberry, Raspberry, Raspberry!

- Raspberry, Raspberry!

- Dive.
- Go.

- Any smells on ASDIC?

- No, sir. No pings.

- We must have missed them.
BLEEP

- Return to the convoy screen.
- Aye, sir.

- Heavy weather makes
the task of detecting

and hunting a U-boat even harder.

It's very, very difficult
under these conditions

to keep a constant contact,

even if you're lucky enough
to detect a U-boat.

NARRATOR: The convoy ploughs ahead.

- It must have been nerve-racking
for the crews of surface vessels,

because the U-boats had already
torpedoed three merchant ships.

Maybe even more U-boats
were gathering.

That next night,
their worst nightmare came true.

- Fire!
- Fire!

- Ten seconds.

20 seconds.

- Hit!

(explosion)

Raspberry!

Raspberry, Raspberry, Raspberry!

- The escorts turned to the rear

and they start to use the ASDIC
sonar to sweep for the U-boat.

- If the U-boat was picked up
by the ASDIC,

the crew could actually hear it.

But it was not a ping like
they showed in the movies.

It sounded more like
a handful of gravel

thrown against the hull
of the U-boat, like, whoosh.

(crunch)

- ASDIC. Shh!

- There's nothing you can do.

You're waiting,
you're counting the pings.

When the pings go quiet,

you don't know whether that means
that the escort has given up

or that the depth charges
are going to follow.

- Sir! ASDIC ping! U-boat detected.

- Excellent work, gentlemen.
Full speed ahead.

Fire five depth charge pattern
on my order.

Fire!
- Fire!

- Damage report.

- The U-boat is heavily damaged

and this forces the captain
to retreat back to the home base

for repairs.

So, in this case, the U-boat is not
sunk, but forced out of action.

- Sir, debris detected. U-boat hit.

(laughs) We got him!

- Every U-boat that's driven away
from a convoy is a victory.

You don't need to destroy a U-boat,
you need to get the trade through.

That's the objective of
the whole operation.

NARRATOR: In the battle of SC 104,
the escorts damage another U-boat

and sink two more.

It marks an incredible turning
point. Raspberry works.

At U-boat headquarters,
Donitz tallies the losses.

- Herr Admiral,
eight merchant ships sunk.

- But two U-boats destroyed.
Two damaged.

The escorts are doing something
differently, they're more effective.

Perhaps a change in sonar.

- Perhaps, Herr Admiral.

- Donitz realises
something is going on.

But he doesn't know about WATU
and the new tactics.

He can't imagine that he is being
outplayed at his own game.

NARRATOR: Soon, more U-boats are
sunk using the Raspberry tactic.

The Royal Navy throw their weight
behind the tactical unit.

More and more Wrens are assigned
to Roberts' staff.

- Is this seat taken?
- No, please sit.

- Thanks.

I'm June Duncan.
- Janet Okell.

Pleased to meet you.
- You're from Liverpool too?

- Lived here all my life. You?
- Me too.

Except for a couple of years
on the Isle of Man.

How long have you been a Wren?
- Not long. This is my first job.

- Mine too! I was rejected by
the Wrens twice,

both times for being underweight!
- How did you pass the physical?

- On the third try, my mother had
the bright idea to sew silver ingots

into the hem of my coat. (sniggers)

Tipped the scales in my favour!
- (laughs)

- June Duncan is one of the new
recruits

that Roberts gets into
his department.

- This is Nancy. Judy.

- He ends up with 66 Wrens
under his command.

NARRATOR: And Roberts will need
all the staff he can get.

Now the Royal Navy encourages all
officers to take the WATU course.

- 5,000 officers go through the
Western Approaches Tactical Unit,

or WATU for short.

- WATU want the captains in charge
of the escort ships

to have these tactics
at the tip of their fingers,

so that if a convoy ship is hit,
they know exactly what to do

and they get rid of that U-boat
threat.

- Gentlemen, welcome to the
Western Approaches Tactical School.

Make your mistakes here
and you won't make them at sea.

- During WATU's existence,
it develops a number of tactics

to cover a host of situations.

- Operation Artichoke.

To be used when a U-boat attacks
by day, or by strong moonlight.

The escort astern the convoy

immediately proceeds to the
torpedoed ship, scanning with ASDIC.

All other escorts turn
and speed astern the convoy

until 6,000 yards
past the stricken ship.

Here they turn back
and ASDIC-sweep behind the convoy,

scanning for U-boats.

So, who thinks they can sink
a U-boat?

- Merchant ship torpedoed,
seventh column, second ship.

Next move in two minutes.

Operation Observant,
also known as the Square Search,

to be conducted when a U-boat has
been detected by ASDIC, but lost.

The escort ships conduct a two-mile
sweep in a square shape

around the last known
U-boat location.

If the U-boat tries to escape
the square, ASDIC will detect it

and the U-boat can be depth charged.

- Operation Half-Raspberry.

Similar to Raspberry.

However, some escorts are held back
at the group commander's discretion

to protect the convoy, whilst
the other escorts hunt for U-boats.

- Peter Gretton will go down
in history

as one of the great hunters of
the sea,

in terms of his capacity
to down U-boats.

He is one of those 5,000
officer commanders

who is encouraged to re-think
his game in WATU.

- Gretton does say that learning
these tactics make officers,

who aren't necessarily altogether
very clever,

think for the first time
in their careers.

No, sir,
I don't think you should do that.

- Operation Pineapple.

Used when a U-boat is detected
ahead of a convoy.

Escorts at the front and the flanks
speed towards the U-boat,

firing star shells for 15 minutes.

The aim is to force the U-boat
to dive, trick it into encirclement,

so it can be detected and sunk.

Depth charges dropped,
U-boat destroyed.

- At the end of each game,

Roberts and the WATU team would
get all of the men together

and assess exactly how
the game went.

- What they're teaching is vital

if Britain wants to win
the Battle of the Atlantic.

- It is the war of the little ships
and the lonely aircraft,

long, patient and unpublicised,

against our two great enemies,

the U-boat and the cruel sea.

Your survival
and the survival of Britain

depends on what you've learnt here.

NARRATOR: For the USA,
their merchant shipping losses

have finally become too great.

- The German Navy has total licence
off the US East Coast in '42.

The Americans have determined
not to run system of convoys

and that creates a safe environment
for the U-boats to operate.

The Germans have this enormous
second happy time,

where Allied losses are high

and U-boat losses are virtually
negligible.

NARRATOR: But early plans are made
to send American troops

to North Africa to help the British
drive the Germans and Italians out...

US President Franklin Roosevelt

now sets his sights on the Nazis
in Europe.

- The problem with that,

it meant transporting
a million and a half men

across the Atlantic and all their
supplies and all their equipment.

None of this can happen, no
invasion of Europe can take place

unless the Allies win
the Battle of the Atlantic.

They have to suppress
the U-boat threat.

NARRATOR: The USA begins a massive
construction programme

to build more escort destroyers.

With these, they finally adopt
the British convoy system,

sailing merchant vessels together,
so they can be better protected.

The result for Donitz is costly.

The U-boat tonnage tally
off the US coast plummets.

- The improved American defensive
measures

spells the end of the second
happy time.

NARRATOR:
But Donitz has a new plan -

to make his wolf packs
even deadlier.

U-boats operating off the coast

are at risk of being spotted
from the air.

When they are, their position is
promptly relayed to the convoy,

taking away our greatest weapon -
the element of surprise.

The U-boat is also forced to dive,
or risk being bombed,

slowing down its progress, making it
harder for wolf packs to assemble.

Some are missing convoys altogether.

But...

I have identified a weakness.

Allied aircraft are land-based...

...meaning they can only fly so far
out to sea

before they have to return,

or risk running out of fuel.

Which means there is a black
hole in the middle of the Atlantic,

where their aircraft
can't protect them.

- Donitz realizes that the Allies'
weak point

is now the mid-ocean, the air gap.

- In 1942,
the middle of the Atlantic

became the main battlefield
for the U-boats.

We will show Britain and America

that the Atlantic trade route
is shut.

NARRATOR:
Despite the early success of WATU,

Churchill is still furious

that the Allies haven't turned the
tide in the Battle of the Atlantic.

In November, 1942,

there is a shakeup at the top
of Western Approaches Command,

the centre of operations
for North Atlantic convoys.

- Percy Noble is pushed sideways.

He goes to the British Admiralty
delegation in Washington.

What they need by November
of 1942 is Max Horton.

- Sir Max Horton is a submariner
from the First World War.

Of course, the enemy's beneath
the waves a lot of the time.

He's being tapped on the shoulder
by Churchill.

This still ain't good enough.
We still haven't won

the Battle of the Atlantic.

- Admiral Max Horton wants to know
what all of his staff are doing,

he wants to make sure that everyone
is making a contribution to victory.

So one thing he wants to understand
is how WATU is operating.

If it isn't contributing,
then he will end it.

NARRATOR: Once more, they have
a fight on their hands

to prove themselves.

- The Western Approaches
Tactical Unit.

- Sir. Captain Roberts.

We spoke on the phone.
- Did we? I don't recall.

And what duty do you think
you perform on my staff?

- Director, sir,
of the tactical school.

- Oh, I see.

Ah, yes, the infamous board
where you... play your games.

- Yes, sir.

- Not interrupting one, am I?

- Not at all, sir.

I'm glad you could find
the time to come and see us.

- What exactly are you doing?
- We're wargaming a new tactic, sir.

Beater search.

Designed to destroy a U-boat
detected on the flank of the convoy.

- Is it effective, in your game?

- Would you like to play, sir?
As a U-boat captain?

- I must warn you, Roberts, I have
some experience fighting in subs

from the first war.
- Then you should be fine, sir.

After all, you don't need to sink a
ship. All you need to do is survive.

Should be straightforward, sir.
Someone of your experience.

- Very well.
Let the... game commence.

- Sir. Behind here, sir.

- Max Horton plays
from behind a screen,

opposite where the person playing
the British convoy is.

They can't see each other.

- The U-boat player in tactical
development wargame

has to have the same limited
information

that an escort commander gets.

You want the U-boat to react
as if it's for real.

He has to be behind the screen,

because if he picks up any
additional movements or detail,

he will know too much.

It's vital the U-boat commander to
act like a real U-boat commander.

- ASDIC ping, U-boat detected.
Time in, 09:34.

Next move in two minutes.

Depth charges dropped.
U-boat destroyed.

- Game over.
- What? Play again.

- OK. Pot luck. Ccould happen.
And he set it up again.

- Very well.

Depth charges dropped.
U-boat destroyed. Game over.

- His U-boat is spotted and sunk.
- Play again.

- The third game, he also loses.

- Play again.
- The fourth game, he also loses.

- Depth charges dropped.
U-boat destroyed.

- He's dead... and he's dead.

- U-boat depth charged.
U-boat destroyed. Game over.

- Enough is enough!

All right, Roberts,
you made your point. I admit defeat.

Now show me the officer
who bested me.

- Okell.

- Sir, meet Wren rating,
Janet Okell.

The woman who beat you 5-0.

- What?

You rigged it!
- No, sir.

Okell was merely following
a new tactic,

devised after months of analysis
by our own Jean Laidlaw.

- You?
- Sir,

by wargaming every scenario,
we anticipated your moves,

deduced your course, so knew exactly
where to find you and destroy you.

- Well, let's hope it works at sea,

because now Donitz has
his 300 U-boats...

...and he'll be hell-bent
on using them

to turn the Atlantic...
into a convoy graveyard.

- ONS5.

It's one of the largest single
convoys ever undertaken.

- I want this convoy destroyed.

- Message to U-boat headquarters.

Convoy spotted. Speed, eight to ten
knots, bearing two seven zero.

- We have designed these tactics
which will save you time

when you are at sea.

- U-boat sighted
at a range of about two miles.

- Seconds that can save lives.

- Observant! Observant!

- Do you ever lose faith in what
we're doing here?

- We all have to live with
our decisions, Roberts.

- What if we don't prevail
out there?

- If there's going to be
an unconditional surrender,

it will be theirs, not ours.

Subtitles by Sky Access Services