The U-Boats in the Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to 1945. It has been called the "longest, largest, and most complex" naval battle in history. This battle was part of a Hitler´s war plan called Operation Sea Lion. Operation Sea Lion was the name given by Hitler for the planned invasion of Great Britain in 1940. During the battle the situation changed constantly, with one side or the other gaining advantage, as new weapons, tactics, counter measures, and equipment were developed by both sides. The Battle of the Atlantic play off U-boats and other warships of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and aircraft of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) against Allied merchant shipping. The Germans were joined by submarines of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) after their Axis ally Italy entered the war on June 10, 1940. These U-boats were needed on the side of Germany because they knew that Great Britain was a big threat, as it was known for  having one of most  a strongest navy.

What was the strategy of Germany about? As an island Britain needed to bring in a vast amount of food and military equipment to survive the war. The German submarine force (U-boats) severely damaged The British ability to survive the war by making the people in Great Britain starve. A great deal of their raw materials came from America and therefore had to cross the Atlantic. In normal times this journey could be dangerous because of the weather but in the war the German submarines lead by Admiral Raeder proved a very real threat. Nazi Germany estimated that they needed to sink 150 merchant ships each month to make the people in Great Britain deprive. The outcome of the battle was a strategic victory for the Allies because the German blockade failed.

 Germany had a chance to win? Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, commander of the German U-Boat force, understood the potential of the submarine’s unconventional ability and believed Germany could fight a naval power like Great Britain and win. He was the only officer in the German High Command who viewed that victory in the Battle of the Atlantic could only be achieved by German U-Boats and such a victory would lead to an early conclusion of the Second World War. But later the Allies sank almost 800 U-Boats and over 30,000 of the 39,000 German sailors who put to sea, never returned the highest casualty rate of any armed service in the history of modern war.

The U-boats in the beginning provide many advantages for Germany and frightened Great Britain. These were built for a strategically triumph which included destroying the British merchant marine. The U-boats were a dominating factor in the Battle of Britain. But at the end they didn´t were strong enough to win against the British navy, as the British sank more German boats. Some experts agree that defeat of the German U-Boats and control of the shipping lanes linking the Allied nations of Great Britain, United States and Canada was a key factor if the Allied nations were to occupied Europe and invade the heartland of Germany itself.