Until 1935, Germany, after its defeat in World War I, was prohibited from building submarines. With the advent of Adolf Hitler to power, the situation with weapons in Germany radically changed.
According to the naval agreement signed in 1935 with Great Britain, submarines were recognized as an obsolete type of weapon. And Germany receives permission to build them. As a result, by the end of the war the Third Reich owned 1,153 submarines.
Until 1943, the commander of the entire German submarine fleet was Karl Demitz, who then became the commander-in-chief of the German Navy.
It is he who owns most of the strategic developments and ideas used during submarine wars. Dönitz created a new supercaste, the “unsinkable Pinocchios,” from his subordinate submariners, and he himself received the nickname “Papa Carlo.” All submariners underwent intensive training and knew the capabilities of their submarine thoroughly.
Dönitz's submarine combat tactics were so talented that they received the nickname "wolf packs" from the enemy. And it looked like this: the submarines lined up in a certain way so that one of the submarines could detect the approach of an enemy convoy.
Then, having detected the enemy, the submarine transmitted an encrypted message to the center, and then it continued its journey in a surface position parallel to the enemy, but quite far behind him. The remaining submarines were centered on the enemy convoy, and they surrounded it like a pack of wolves and attacked, taking advantage of their numerical superiority. Such hunts were usually carried out in the dark.
As a rule, the main targets of Dönitz's submarines were enemy transport ships, which were responsible for providing the troops with everything they needed. During a meeting with an enemy ship, he acted main principle"wolf pack" - destroy more ships than the enemy can build. Such tactics bore fruit from the first days of the war across vast expanses of water from Antarctica to South Africa.
It is generally accepted that the submarine fleet of the Third Reich was the most successful combat unit of the Wehrmacht. In support of this, the words of Winston Churchill are usually cited: “The only thing that really worried me during the war was the danger posed by German submarines. The “Road of Life” that passed through the boundaries of the oceans was in danger.”
In addition, the statistics of transport and warships of the anti-Hitler coalition allies destroyed by German submarines speaks for itself: in total, about 2,000 warships and merchant fleet vessels were sunk to the bottom. True, according to Doenitz, 2,759 ships were sunk. In this case, more than one hundred thousand enemy sailors died.
However, the loss figures for the German submarine fleet are no less impressive. 791 submarines did not return from military campaigns, which is 70% of the entire submarine fleet fascist Germany! Of approximately 40 thousand submarine personnel, according to the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich, from 28 to 32 thousand people died, that is, 80%.
Karl Doenitz himself is the “Fuhrer of submarines,” and he lost two sons, who were submarine officers, and one nephew. That is why one of the Russian researchers of German submarines, Mikhail Kurushin, called his work “Steel Coffins of the Reich.” The whole point was that at some point the strong anti-submarine defense of the Allies did not allow German submarines to achieve their former successes.
Karl Doenitz himself wrote about this in his memoirs: “Events... unambiguously showed that the moment had come when the anti-submarine defense of both great naval powers surpassed the combat power of our submarines.”
There is one misconception according to which Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz personally gave the order on May 5, 1945 to scuttle all submarines of the Third Reich. However, he could not destroy what he loved most in the world.
Researcher Gennady Drozhzhin in his monograph “Myths of Underwater Warfare” cites a fragment of the Grand Admiral’s order. “My submariners!” it said. “We have six years of hostilities behind us. You fought like lions. But now the overwhelming enemy forces have left us almost no room for action. It is useless to continue resistance. Submariners whose military prowess has not weakened , are now laying down their arms - after heroic battles unparalleled in history."
From this order it was clear that Doenitz ordered all submarine commanders to cease fire and prepare to surrender in accordance with instructions to be received later.
It is interesting that in the service of Dönitz there was another division of submarines, called the “Fuhrer Convoy”. The secret group included thirty-five submarines. The British believed that these submarines intended to transport minerals from South America. However, it remains a mystery why at the end of the war, when the submarine fleet was almost completely destroyed, Dönitz did not withdraw more than one submarine from the “Führer Convoy”.
There are versions that these submarines were used to control the secret Nazi Base 211 in Antarctica. However, two of the convoy's submarines were discovered after the war near Argentina, whose captains claimed that they were transporting an unknown secret cargo and two secret passengers in South America. Some of the submarines of this “ghost convoy” were never discovered after the war, and there were almost no mentions of them in military documents, these are U-465, U-209. In total, historians talk about the fate of only 9 out of 35 submarines - U-534, U-530, U-977, U-234, U-209, U-465, U-590, U-662, U863.
On one of the submarines that surrendered to the Americans on May 18, 1945 off the US coast, it was rumored that the corpses of three German generals who had committed suicide were discovered. In addition, a cargo of mercury worth six million dollars at then prices was discovered on the submarine.
By the way, when Norwegian amateur divers lifted U-843 from the bottom of the Kattegat Strait in 1858, a cargo of tin, molybdenum and rubber was found on board. From this operation, treasure hunters earned 35 million crowns, and the sale of the submarine hull alone brought them a whole million. In other submarines raised from the bottom of the sea, currency, uranium, and even opium were found.
Only by 1944 did the Allies manage to reduce the losses inflicted on their fleet by German submariners
German submarines of World War II were a real nightmare for British and American sailors. They turned the Atlantic into a real hell, where, among the wreckage and burning fuel, they desperately cried out for the salvation of the victims of torpedo attacks...
Target - Britain
By the fall of 1939, Germany had a very modest in size, although technically advanced, navy. Against 22 English and French battleships and cruisers, she was able to field only two full-fledged battleships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and three so-called “pocket” battleships, Deutschland. "Graf Spee" and "Admiral Scheer". The latter carried only six 280 mm caliber guns - despite the fact that at that time new battleships were armed with 8–12 305–406 mm caliber guns. Two more German battleships, future legends of World War II, Bismarck and Tirpitz - total displacement of 50,300 tons, speed of 30 knots, eight 380-mm guns - were completed and entered service after defeat of the allied army at Dunkirk. For a direct battle at sea with the mighty British fleet, this was, of course, not enough. This was confirmed two years later during the famous hunt for the Bismarck, when German battleship with powerful weapons and a well-trained team, he was simply hunted down by a numerically superior enemy. Therefore, Germany initially relied on a naval blockade of the British Isles and assigned its battleships the role of raiders - hunters of transport caravans and individual enemy warships.
England was directly dependent on supplies of food and raw materials from the New World, especially the USA, which was its main “supplier” in both world wars. In addition, the blockade would cut off Britain from the reinforcements that were mobilized in the colonies, as well as prevent British landings on the continent. However, the successes of the German surface raiders were short-lived. Their enemy was not only the superior forces of the United Kingdom fleet, but also British aviation, against which the mighty ships were almost powerless. Regular air strikes on French bases forced Germany in 1941–42 to evacuate its battleships to northern ports, where they almost ingloriously died during the raids or stood in repair until the end of the war.
The main force that the Third Reich relied on in the battle at sea were submarines, less vulnerable to aircraft and capable of sneaking up on even a very strong enemy. And most importantly, building a submarine was several times cheaper, the submarine required less fuel, it was serviced by a small crew - despite the fact that it could be no less effective than the most powerful raider.
"Wolf Packs" by Admiral Dönitz
In the Second world Germany entered the war with only 57 submarines, of which only 26 were suitable for operations in the Atlantic. However, already in September 1939, the German submarine fleet (U-Bootwaffe) sank 41 ships with a total tonnage of 153,879 tons. Among them are the British liner Athenia (which became the first victim of German submarines in this war) and the aircraft carrier Coreyes. Another British aircraft carrier, the Arc Royal, survived only because the torpedoes with magnetic fuses fired at it by the U-39 boat detonated ahead of time. And on the night of October 13-14, 1939, the U-47 boat under the command of Lieutenant Commander Gunther Prien penetrated the roadstead of the British military base at Scapa Flow (Orkney Islands) and sank the battleship Royal Oak. .
This forced Britain to urgently remove its aircraft carriers from the Atlantic and restrict the movement of battleships and other large warships, which were now carefully guarded by destroyers and other escort ships. The successes had an effect on Hitler: he changed his initially negative opinion about submarines, and on his orders their mass construction began. Over the next 5 years, the German fleet included 1,108 submarines.
True, taking into account the losses and the need to repair submarines damaged during the campaign, Germany could at one time put forward a limited number of submarines ready for the campaign - only by the middle of the war their number exceeded a hundred.
The main lobbyist for submarines as a type of weapon in the Third Reich was the commander of the submarine fleet (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote) Admiral Karl Dönitz (1891–1981), who served on submarines already in the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles prohibited Germany from having a submarine fleet, and Dönitz had to retrain as a torpedo boat commander, then as an expert in the development of new weapons, a navigator, a commander of a destroyer flotilla, and a light cruiser captain...
In 1935, when Germany decided to recreate the submarine fleet, Dönitz was simultaneously appointed commander of the 1st U-boat Flotilla and received the strange title of “U-boat Führer.” This was a very successful appointment: the submarine fleet was essentially his brainchild, he created it from scratch and turned it into the most powerful fist of the Third Reich. Dönitz personally met each boat returning to base, attended the graduations of the submariner school, and created special sanatoriums for them. For all this, he enjoyed great respect from his subordinates, who nicknamed him “Papa Karl” (Vater Karl).
In 1935-38, the “underwater Fuhrer” developed new tactics for hunting enemy ships. Until this moment, submarines from all countries of the world operated alone. Dönitz, having served as commander of a destroyer flotilla that attacks the enemy in a group, decided to use group tactics in submarine warfare. First he proposes the "veil" method. A group of boats was walking, turning around in the sea in a chain. The boat that discovered the enemy sent a report and attacked him, and the other boats rushed to her aid.
The next idea was the "circle" tactic, where the boats were positioned around a specific area of the ocean. As soon as an enemy convoy or warship entered it, the boat, which noticed the enemy entering the circle, began to lead the target, maintaining contact with the others, and they began to approach the doomed targets from all sides.
But the most famous was the “wolf pack” method, directly developed for attacks on large transport caravans. The name fully corresponded to its essence - this is how wolves hunt their prey. After the convoy was discovered, a group of submarines was concentrated parallel to its course. Having carried out the first attack, she then overtook the convoy and turned into position for a new strike.
The best of the best
During World War II (until May 1945), German submariners sank 2,603 Allied warships and transport vessels with a total displacement of 13.5 million tons. These include 2 battleships, 6 aircraft carriers, 5 cruisers, 52 destroyers and more than 70 warships of other classes. In this case, about 100 thousand sailors of the military and merchant fleet died.
To counteract this, the Allies concentrated over 3,000 combat and auxiliary ships, about 1,400 aircraft, and by the time of the Normandy landings they had dealt a crushing blow to the German submarine fleet, from which it could no longer recover. Despite the fact that the German industry increased the production of submarines, fewer and fewer crews returned from the campaign with success. And some did not return at all. If twenty-three submarines were lost in 1940, and thirty-six submarines in 1941, then in 1943 and 1944 the losses increased, respectively, to two hundred fifty and two hundred sixty-three submarines. In total, during the war, the losses of German submariners amounted to 789 submarines and 32,000 sailors. But it was still three times less than the number of enemy ships they sank, which proved high efficiency submarine fleet.
Like any war, this one also had its aces. Gunther Prien became the first famous underwater corsair throughout Germany. He has thirty ships with a total displacement of 164,953 tons, including the aforementioned battleship). For this he became the first German officer to receive oak leaves to the Knight's Cross. The Reich Ministry of Propaganda promptly created a cult of him - and Prien began to receive whole bags of letters from enthusiastic fans. Perhaps he could have become the most successful German submariner, but on March 8, 1941, his boat was lost during an attack on a convoy.
After this, the list of German deep-sea aces was headed by Otto Kretschmer, who sank forty-four ships with a total displacement of 266,629 tons. He was followed by Wolfgang L?th - 43 ships with a total displacement of 225,712 tons, Erich Topp - 34 ships with a total displacement of 193,684 tons and the well-known Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock - 25 ships with a total of with a displacement of 183,253 tons, which, together with its U-96, became a character in the feature film "U-Boot" ("Submarine"). By the way, he did not die during the air raid. After the war, Lehmann-Willenbrock served as a captain in the merchant marine and distinguished himself in the rescue of the sinking Brazilian cargo ship Commandante Lira in 1959, and also became the commander of the first German ship with a nuclear reactor. His boat, after the unfortunate sinking right at the base, was raised, went on trips (but with a different crew), and after the war was turned into a technical museum.
Thus, the German submarine fleet turned out to be the most successful, although it did not have such impressive support from surface forces and naval aviation as the British one. Her Majesty's submariners accounted for only 70 combat and 368 German merchant ships with a total tonnage of 826,300 tons. Their American allies sank 1,178 ships with a total tonnage of 4.9 million tons in the Pacific theater of war. Fortune was not kind to the two hundred and sixty-seven Soviet submarines, which during the war torpedoed only 157 enemy warships and transports with a total displacement of 462,300 tons.
"Flying Dutchmen"
The romantic aura of the heroes on the one hand - and the gloomy reputation of drunkards and inhuman killers on the other. This is how German submariners were represented on the shore. However, they got completely drunk only once every two or three months, when they returned from a hike. It was then that they were in front of the “public”, drawing hasty conclusions, after which they went to sleep in the barracks or sanatoriums, and then, in a completely sober state, prepared for a new campaign. But these rare libations were not so much a celebration of victories, but a way to relieve the terrible stress that submariners received on every trip. And even despite the fact that candidates for crew members also underwent psychological selection, on submarines there were cases of nervous breakdowns among individual sailors, who had to be calmed down by the whole crew, or even simply tied to a bed.
The first thing that submariners who had just gone to sea encountered was terrible cramped conditions. This especially affected the crews of series VII submarines, which, being already cramped in design, were also packed to capacity with everything necessary for long-distance voyages. The crew's sleeping places and all free corners were used to store boxes of provisions, so the crew had to rest and eat wherever they could. To take additional tons of fuel, it was pumped into tanks designed for fresh water(drinking and hygienic), thus sharply reducing her diet.
For the same reason, German submariners never rescued their victims desperately floundering in the middle of the ocean. After all, there was simply nowhere to place them - except perhaps to shove them into the vacant torpedo tube. Hence the reputation of inhuman monsters that stuck with submariners.
The feeling of mercy was dulled and constant fear for your own life. During the campaign we had to constantly be wary of minefields or enemy aircraft. But the most terrible thing was the enemy destroyers and anti-submarine ships, or rather, their depth charges, the close explosion of which could destroy the hull of the boat. In this case, one could only hope for a quick death. It was much more terrible to receive heavy injuries and fall irrevocably into the abyss, listening in horror to how the compressed hull of the boat was cracking, ready to break inside with streams of water under pressure of several tens of atmospheres. Or worse, to lie aground forever and slowly suffocate, realizing at the same time that there will be no help...
Submarines. The enemy is above us
The film tells about the merciless and brutal war of submarines in the Atlantic and on Pacific Ocean. The use by opponents of the latest achievements of science and technology, rapid progress in radio electronics (the use of sonars and anti-submarine radars) made the struggle for superiority under water uncompromising and exciting.
Hitler's War Machine - Submarines
The documentary film from the series "Hitler's War Machine" will tell about submarines - the silent weapons of the Third Reich in the Battle of the Atlantic. Designed and built in secrecy, they came closer to victory than any other in Germany. During World War II (until May 1945), German submariners sank 2,603 Allied warships and transport vessels. In this case, about 100 thousand sailors of the military and merchant fleet died. German submarines were a real nightmare for British and American sailors. They turned the Atlantic into a real hell, where among the wreckage and burning fuel they desperately cried out for the salvation of the victims of torpedo attacks. It would be fair to call this time the heyday of the "wolf pack" tactics, which were specifically developed for attacks on large transport convoys. The name fully corresponded to its essence - this is how wolves hunt their prey. After the convoy was discovered, a group of submarines was concentrated parallel to its course. Having carried out the first attack, she then overtook the convoy and turned around in position for a new strike.
Almost 70 years have passed since the Second World War, but even today we do not know everything about some episodes of its final stage. That is why, again and again, old stories about the mysterious submarines of the Third Reich that surfaced off the coast come to life in the press and literature. Latin America. Argentina turned out to be especially attractive to them.
There was a basis for such stories, real or fictional. Everyone knows the role of German submarines in the war at sea: 1,162 submarines left the stocks of Germany during the Second World War. But it was not only this record number of boats that the German Navy could rightfully be proud of.
German submarines of that time were distinguished by the highest technical characteristics - speed, diving depth, unsurpassed cruising range. It is no coincidence that the most massive Soviet submarines of the pre-war period (Series C) were built under a German license.
And when in July 1944 the German boat U-250 was sunk at a shallow depth in the Vyborg Bay, the Soviet command demanded that the fleet raise it at any cost and deliver it to Kronstadt, which was done despite the stubborn opposition of the enemy. And although the boats of the VII series, to which the U-250 belonged, were no longer considered the last word German technology, but for Soviet designers there were many new products in its design.
Suffice it to say that after its capture, a special order was issued by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Kuznetsov to suspend the work begun on the project of a new submarine until a detailed study of the U-250. Subsequently, many elements of the “German” were transferred to Soviet boats of Project 608, and later Project 613, of which more than a hundred were built in the post-war years. The XXI series boats, one after another going into the ocean since 1943, had especially high performance.
Argentina, having chosen neutrality in the world war, nevertheless took a clearly pro-German position. The large German diaspora was very influential in this southern country and provided all possible assistance to their warring compatriots. The Germans owned many industrial enterprises, huge lands, and fishing boats in Argentina.
German submarines operating in the Atlantic regularly approached the shores of Argentina, where they were supplied with food, medicine and spare parts. Nazi submariners were received as heroes by the owners of German estates, in large quantities scattered along the Argentine coast. Eyewitnesses said that real feasts were held for bearded men in naval uniforms - lambs and pigs were roasted, the best wines and kegs of beer were displayed.
But the local press did not report this. It is no wonder that it was in this country that after the defeat of the Third Reich, many prominent Nazis and their minions, such as Eichmann, Priebke, the sadistic doctor Mengele, the fascist dictator of Croatia Pavelic and others, found refuge and escaped from retribution.
There were rumors that they all ended up in South America on board submarines, a special squadron of which, consisting of 35 submarines (the so-called “Fuhrer Convoy”), had a base in the Canaries. To this day, dubious versions have not been refuted that Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun and Bormann found salvation in the same way, as well as about the secret German colony of New Swabia allegedly created with the help of a submarine fleet in Antarctica.
In August 1942, Brazil joined the warring countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, taking part in battles on land, air and sea. She suffered her greatest loss when the war in Europe had already ended and was burning out in the Pacific. On July 4, 1945, 900 miles from its native shores, the Brazilian cruiser Bahia exploded and sank almost instantly. Most experts believe that his death (along with 330 crew members) was the work of German submariners.
After waiting Time of Troubles, having made good money on supplies to both warring coalitions, at the very end of the war, when its end was clear to everyone, on March 27, 1945, Argentina declared war on Germany. But after that the flow German boats seems to have only grown. Dozens of residents of coastal villages, as well as fishermen at sea, according to them, have more than once observed submarines on the surface, almost in wake formation, moving in a southerly direction.
The most keen-eyed eyewitnesses even saw a swastika on their deckhouses, which, by the way, the Germans never put on the deckhouses of their boats. The coastal waters and coast of Argentina were now patrolled by the army and navy. There is a known episode when in June 1945, in the vicinity of the city of Mardel Plata, a patrol came across a cave in which various products were contained in sealed packaging. To whom they were intended remains unclear. It is also difficult to understand where this endless stream of submarines allegedly observed by the population after May 1945 came from.
After all, on April 30, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, gave the order to conduct Operation Rainbow, during which all the remaining Reich submarines (several hundred) were subject to flooding. It is quite possible that some of these ships that were in the ocean or in ports different countries, the commander-in-chief’s directive did not reach, and some crews simply refused to carry it out.
Historians agree that in most cases, various boats, including fishing boats, dangling on the waves, were mistaken for submarines observed in the ocean, or the reports of eyewitnesses were simply a figment of their imagination against the background of general hysteria in anticipation of a German retaliatory strike.
But still, at least two German submarines turned out to be not phantoms, but very real ships with living crews on board. These were U-530 and U-977, which entered the port of Mardel Plata in the summer of 1945 and surrendered to the Argentine authorities. When an Argentine officer boarded U-530 in the early morning of July 10, he saw the crew lined up on the deck and its commander - a very young chief lieutenant who introduced himself as Otto Wermuth (later Argentine sailors called him Captain Cinzano) and declared that U- 530 and her crew of 54 surrender to the mercy of the Argentine authorities.
After this, the submarine's flag was lowered and handed over to the Argentine authorities, along with a list of the crew.
A group of officers from the Mardel Plata naval base, which inspected U-530, noted that the submarine did not have a deck gun and two anti-aircraft machine guns (they were dropped into the sea before being captured), and not a single torpedo. All ship documentation was destroyed, as was the encryption machine. Particularly noted was the absence of an inflatable rescue boat on the submarine, which suggested that it might have been used to land some Nazi figures (perhaps Hitler himself) ashore.
During interrogations, Otto Wermuth said that U-530 left Kiel in February, hid in the Norwegian fjords for 10 days, after which it cruised along the US coast, and on April 24 moved south. Otto Wermuth could not give any clear explanations regarding the absence of the bot. A search was organized for the missing bot, involving ships, planes and marines, but they did not yield any results. On July 21, the ships participating in this operation were ordered to return to their bases. From that moment on, no one looked for German submarines in Argentine waters.
Concluding the story about the adventures of German submarines in southern seas, one cannot fail to mention a certain Corvette captain Paul von Rettel, who, thanks to journalists, became widely known as the commander of U-2670. He, allegedly being in the Atlantic in May 1945, refused to sink his submarine or surrender and simply began piracy off the coast of Africa and Southeast Asia. The newly minted filibuster allegedly amassed a huge fortune for himself. He replenished fuel for his diesel engines, water and food from his victims.
He practically did not use weapons, because few people dared to resist his formidable submarine. Journalists do not know how this story ended. But it is known for certain that the submarine number U-2670 was not listed in the German fleet, and von Rettel himself was not on the list of commanders. So, to the disappointment of lovers of sea romance, his story turned out to be a newspaper duck.
Konstantin RISHES
The importance of sea communications in World War II is difficult to overestimate. Since 1939, issues of supplying troops, delivering military aid, food, fuel, medicine and other strategic supplies directly affected Britain's ability to withstand the onslaught of Nazi Germany.
Since 1941, Lend-Lease deliveries to the warring Soviet Union had annoyed Hitler, and he did everything to impede northern convoys on their way to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. The most important roles in this battle were played by Luftwaffe aircraft and submarines of the Third Reich.
The role of submarines in the naval theater of operations was appreciated during the First World War. Despite the imperfection of the technical base, the main technical solutions, which became the basis for modern designs, were developed precisely then. After Germany's defeat, it was not possible to have a full-fledged navy, and in the years of economic stagnation that followed there was no time for it.
However, there were people who dreamed of revenge. Erich Raeder, a hero of naval battles and an admiral who became minister after the scandalous resignation of his predecessor Adolf Zenker, developed a program for the revival of the Kriegsmarine in secrecy.
Another event of 1935 that military experts did not appreciate in time: the submarines of the Third Reich entered the control of Admiral Doenitz. This talented naval commander, respected and loved by German sailors, will still create many problems.
By the beginning of World War II, all Reich submarines were divided into three classes: large (displacement 600-1000 tons), medium (740 tons) and shuttle (250 tons). They were few in number; the Kriegsmarine consisted of only 46 units. This did not bother Doenitz; he knew about the capabilities of the German shipyards and understood that it was preferable to act with skill rather than with numbers.
Even then, 22 submarines were converted to conduct long-distance raids. The German leadership understood the inevitability of a conflict with the United States, and was preparing to cut off sea routes across the Atlantic. Subsequently, the submarines of the 3rd Reich carried out bold operations near the East Coast.
The effectiveness of submarines in initial period war is explained by the use of new tactics, previously unknown and invented by Karl Doenitz. He himself called his underwater formations “wolf packs,” and their actions fit well into this image.
The naval blockade of the British Isles posed a direct threat to the very existence of the metropolis, not to mention its connection with the colonies. In the summer of 1940, 2-3 ships sank to the bottom every day; in seven months, Doenitz submarines sank 343 units of the merchant fleet. in the post-war years, he assessed this situation as even more critical than the outcome of the aerial “Battle of Britain.”
New American-made acoustic and sonar equipment, supplied to the USSR, helped combat the threat emanating from the depths of the ocean. The submarines of the Third Reich began to suffer serious losses, and the bearded “Wolves of Doenitz” became something like Japanese kamikazes.
From 1939 to 1945, German shipyards produced 1,162 submarines with an approximate total number of crew members of 40 thousand people. More than 30 thousand German submariners took terrible death in their “iron coffins”. Only 790 submarines of Admiral Doenitz remained, who lost in this terrible war two sons and a nephew.
submarine can be compared to a wolf - constantly on the move and in search of prey. Before World War II, submarines operated mostly alone, but a lone wolf is always weaker than a wolf pack. The first to start a total collective hunt submarines of the Third Reich. The results exceeded all expectations.
German submarines The 30s and 40s were no worse than the American or British ones. The main reason unprecedented efficiency of submariners' actions "" was a new tactic of underwater warfare - " wolf packs" These words caused the sailors of England and America to break out in a cold sweat as they set off on a deadly voyage from the new world to the old. The Atlantic sea lanes became roads of death, strewn with the remains of thousands of Allied ships and vessels.
The author of the idea " wolf packs“Admiral Karl Dönitz was the son of an ordinary Prussian engineer. An officer of the Kaiser's navy, Karl Dönitz, became commander at the beginning of 1918. After the war, Denis returned to the fleet, or rather to what was left of it.
The time of radical change began in 1935. Hitler refused to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The Third Reich began to rebuild submarine fleet. Karl Dönitz was appointed head of the submarine force. By 1938, he had completed the development of action tactics submarines using group tactics by submarines and thoroughly described new strategy submarine forces in general. Its formula is extremely laconic - undermining trade and economic transportation equivalent to the enemy’s military position, with maximum scale and lightning speed. Among Admiral Dönitz’s opponents, this tactic was called the “wolf pack.” The main executors of these plans were to be submarines.
Each "wolf pack" consisted on average of 69 submarines. After the discovery of a sea convoy, several submarines, which should have carried out attacks at night from a surface position, thanks to their low silhouette in the dark, the submarines were almost invisible among the waves, and during the day they would overtake slow-moving ships, taking advantage of their surface speed advantage, and take up a position for a new attack. It was necessary to dive only to break through the anti-submarine defense order and evade pursuit. Wherein submarine Having discovered the convoy, it did not attack itself, but maintained contact and reported data to headquarters, which, based on the data received, coordinated actions submarines. These factors made it possible to hit transports without interruption until they were completely destroyed.
construction
Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz
U-boats in Kiel
air attack
the battle of the atlantic is lost
German submarine series 23
Tasks submarines in the new war were determined. Now it was necessary to create a fleet capable of solving them. Admiral Dönitz considered the most effective medium boats of type VII, with a displacement of about 700 tons. They are relatively inexpensive to produce and are more invisible than large submarines and, finally, less vulnerable to depth charges. Submarines of the seventh series have actually shown their effectiveness.
At the end of the 30s, Admiral Dönitz proved that three hundred submarines would win the war with Britain, but the release submarines did not increase. By the beginning of World War II, he had only 56 submarines, twenty-two of which could operate effectively in the ocean. Two dozen instead of three hundred, so Admiral Dönitz greeted the news of the start of the Polish campaign with obscene language. Nevertheless, German submariners in the first year of the war it was possible to inflict unprecedented damage on the British. By the beginning of October 1941, the Allies had lost almost 1,300 ships and vessels, and they were losing them twice as fast as they were building them. The Germans were helped by new revolutionary tactics and new ports in France. Now there was no need to risk crossing the North Sea, where the British fleet still dominated.
In January 1942, the Germans began operations in US coastal and territorial waters. American cities were not darkened at night. The resorts shone with the lights of restaurants, bars and dance floors, and they walked without any security. The number of sunk ships was limited only by the supply of torpedoes for U-boat submarines. For example, Submarine U-552 destroyed 7 ships in one trip.
The effectiveness of the German submarine force included not only advanced tactics, but also high level professional training. Admiral Dönitz created a special privileged caste of submarine officers - “ unsinkable Pinnochio"poking their long nose into all corners of the world's oceans, and their godfather called " Papa Carl" Not only the commanders, but also all crew members underwent extremely intensive training. Study was replaced by practical service on submarines. After the hikes, the cadets returned to classrooms, then another internship. As a result, sailors and non-commissioned officers were fully proficient in their profession. As for combat commanders submarines, they knew their ship and its capabilities thoroughly.
By the summer of 1942, “Papa Charles’s” dreams of a large submarine fleet had become a reality. By August there were 350 U-boats. " Wolf packs"increased, now each of them could have up to 12 submarines. In addition, supply submarines “milk kitchens” or “cash cows” in the jargon of German sailors appeared in their composition - submariners. These submarines “fed the wolves” with fuel, replenishing ammunition and provisions. Thanks to them, the activity of “wolf packs” in the ocean increased. By 1942, the Germans' combat "achievements" in the Atlantic amounted to more than 8,000 ships, while losing only 85 submarines.
The beginning of 1943 was the time of the last triumphant underwater victories of Dönitz’s “aces”. A catastrophic defeat followed. One of the reasons for their defeat was the improvement of radar. In 1943, the Allies switched to centimeter radiation. The German sailors were shocked. Germany considered radar in the centimeter ranges impossible in principle. It took a year until " underwater wolves“We learned to sense the radiation from new devices. These months became fatal for the flocks " Pope Charles" Radar soon became mandatory element equipment for anti-submarine aircraft and allied ships. The depths are no longer a safe place for submarines.
The second reason for the defeat submariners « Kriegsmarine"became the industrial power of the United States. The number of ships built was many times greater than the number lost. In May 1943, in his report to Hitler, Admiral Dönitz admitted that the Battle of the Atlantic was lost. A feverish search began for a way out of the impasse. What did German engineers try? German submarines covered with a special shell to absorb radar rays. This invention became the forerunner of stealth technology.
By the end of 1943, Dönitz’s submariners were already struggling to hold back the enemy’s onslaught, and the designers were building submarines XXI and XXIII series. These submarines should have had everything to turn the tide of the submarine war in favor of the Third Reich. Submarines The XXIII series was prepared only by February 1945. Eight units took part in the fighting without suffering any losses. The more powerful and dangerous Project XXI submarines entered service too slowly - only two before the end of the war. New tactics were also invented for the new generation of “wolves,” but their most important equipment made it possible to distinguish individual targets in a convoy from a depth of 50 meters and attack the enemy without surfacing to periscope depth. The newest torpedo weapons - acoustic and magnetic torpedoes - were a match for submarines, but it was too late. Latest transactions submariners
