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
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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
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One hundred and thirty thousand men sailed
under the Red Ensign.

109
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How old are you?

110
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Twenty-nine.

111
00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:12,027
They were officially non-combatant,

112
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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
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- and signed on.

116
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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
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you know, it was - dirty old tramp,
they call them.

119
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They never came back to me and said,

120
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'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
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- uncomfortable job.

123
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This nation owes those people a great deal.

124
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Well, it was ourjob.

125
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We knew we were going out,
you mightn't come back,

126
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but you never - you never,
you never dwelt on it.

127
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From the first,

128
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it was the U-boat rather than
Germany's small fleet of warships

129
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that threatened this life-line.

130
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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
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The Admiralty in London was quick to
introduce a system of protected convoys.

133
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Merchant ships would be escorted for part
of theirjourney by warships.

134
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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.