Battlefield S2/E2 - The Battle of the Atlantic
I do not own, nor do I or intend to profit from this content whatsoever. "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."
All right reserved to:
NBC Universal
Directed by Dave Flitton, Andy Aitken, James Wignall
Produced by Dave Flitton (series prod.), David McWhinnie, Ken Maliphant, David Rozalla
Written by Dave Flitton, Andy Aitken, James Wignall
Narrated by Jonathan Booth
Music by David Galbraith
Distributed by Public Broadcasting Service
Release date(s) 1996
Running time 6 116-minute episodes
Country USA
Language English
Still watching these to fall asleep to for years now.
Me too.
Yes 🎉 me too!
you too? lol better than a podcast im telling ya
It worked on my daughter too when she was an infant lol
So I am not the only one it seems. There is a brotherhood out there.
Tim, you are greatly missed. The best narrator of all time to me 😊
Sir Tim Piggot-Smith Sir David Attenborough Sir Peter Ustinov They were great narrators.. Tim is my favorite.and Peter was great in " The Fox-Bat Deception",about the MIG25.
Totally agree - something missing in the later seasons of this show - they just don’t have the same weight.
In the description, it says that the narrator is Jonathan Booth
Isn't it Malcolm McDowell narrating??
@@jameswalker5223 It’s Jonathan Booth.
The Brits always seem to make the best accounts of World Wars and this one is no exception. This is the best doc on Battle of the Atlantic I have ever seen. Born in 1946. As soon as I learned my way around a library, I read everthing about WWs 1 & 2 I could find. USN MM"A" school in 1967 and served as San Diego-based Fletcher destroyer throttleman during WestPac tour 68. Our ship was older than most of her crew. Hope everybody enjoys this doc as much as I did. J.D. Schultz, MM2, USNR 1965-71
Honestly, this is still one of the most informative series as a whole - hope you found the whole playlist - fair weather and calm seas t'ye. Greetings from the UK and the Royal Navy o7 PS, ty for the boats lol
My father served in this battle with the US Navy. He was on the flight deck crew of the carrier USS CROATAN (CVE-25). She was part of a hunter killer task force.
My grandfather sailed out of halifax..subchaser..corvettes..rcn...different breed back then
I personally thank him and your family for his service
May GOD BLESS HIM AND HIS FAMILY
@@steveg7534 a better generation i think. GID BLESS HIM!
@josip libar why such disrespect out of curiosity? Or were you being scartstic?
Very proud of my Dad’s service in WW2, he flew in Dauntless Dive Bombers and PBY Catalina as a Radioman & Gunner. Mostly had duty of patrolling the American Coastline looking for subs. In the PBY he flew in “the blister”.
Wasn’t smart enough to be a pilot huh! I get it, we all get it 😮
@@World-Music-Man In September of 1943 he was 18. He went to college after his discharge in 1945. In June of 1944, the SBD was on a training mission. After making a practice bomb run, the plane lost its engine going back to rejoin the formation. The pilot located an emergency field and landed without any power. Upon hitting the ground, the plane broke into 2 pieces between the pilot and his location. They both were trapped in the plane and had to be cut out of the wreckage. He spent several months in the hospital and was reassigned to the PBY. He said he agreed to go back to flying if he would be put into a plane with more than one engine! (I don’t know if that was a joke or he was serious?) So no, he didn’t become a pilot, at age 19 he was lucky to have survived the plane crash! Put your mailing address in and I’ll send you a copy of the newspaper article about the airplane crash. I had it out a few months ago, I can probably find it again. It was coincidentally on D-Day or around that time in Florida, like I said in a training exercise.
@@World-Music-ManHe was probably SMARTER than YOU, DUMBASS. QUIT BEIN' A JERK THANK YOU for your Dad's SERVICE & SACRIFICE Kerry Glock 😊❤❤❤
My friend was a Merchant seaman all the way through WWII and into the 1950s. He was a grizzled veteran that didn't take any gruff from anyone. He said you'd go into a foreign port in Africa one day and it would be allied. The next month it would be axis. They didn't know if they were coming or going. He was braver than me. He never thought of himself that way though. Yeas later, when I was in the Coast Guard, a Russian submarine popped to the surface right beside our ship. I couldn't believe how big it was and how awesome it looked. Drink to those brave men who faced being lost in the cold, cold Atlantic day after day.
watch man in the high castle.
L
@James Henderson bullshit woke!!!@
@James Henderson What is the connection?
Would not have won the ww2 with out the merchant sea men.. awesome people!
I wanted to comment on how these old grainy WWII docs always really make my miss my grandpa. Then I realized after reading everyone's comments that these documentaries are becoming our last vestige to our grandfathers, & the bonds we shared with them. My grandfather was a little to young to serve, but god bless everyone's that did serve.
same, these sort of documentaries were always playing on the tv in my grandparents house when I was little and reminds me of those time. they were both children during the war and a Nazi bomb destroyed my grandmother's house in the UK.
I consider those who had SEGRVED in those years when world was in deep trpubie was VERY LUCKY such as YOU who even lied their ages to be Accepted in the branch of SERVICE 9f their CHOICE and FOUTH Depending their country. HOW I WISHED I COULD HAVE BEEN BORN EAR.LIER...bt
Thank you for this
if it wasnt for the generation of your grandpa you wouldnt be able to watch anything
My uncle Kazimierz Sklad was chemist and during WWII he was captured and sent to the labor camp in Germany to work in hteir military industry. While there, as a member of Polish underground he developed substance that when sprayed on the radio parts made those radios go dead in the middle of the ocean. In this way he saved lives of thousands of American soldiers travelling to Europe to fight Germans. He died shortly after the end of WWII from malnutrition and tuberculosis. This note is to recognize his contribution to the Allied win. RIP.
Anna Warner God bless!
We salute him!
your dad contributed to have made the f*cked up world we live in now.
@@mehdibouzid4392 ....says the descendant of nazis.
you say the fluid you say he developed while in the polish underground ??? was nothing more than his piss we have heard of this b4 its just like wat the jews did on the v2 guidance parts in the ''work camps'' it was just hiss piss no modern invention. lld3r
My great-grandfather, who I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, fought in this battle as part of The Royal Canadian Navy. Stationed out of Stadacona, Halifax, Nova Scotia, his father lived in England and his mother died when he was only 16. His siblings had already gone to war. With nowhere left to go, he enlisted in the navy, lying about his age and with no ability to swim in June 1941. He told me stories in my childhood of watching burning Canadian battle cruisers in the distance, and hearing the screams of his fellow compatriots. One ship not far from him was holed by a German torpedo, and began to sink rapidly. He suggested to his CO that they should go back for them. The CO told him it would be a bigger risk if they did. They left them there. Most of the men left on the ship died. He remembers sailing near the English Channel, and hearing a V2 rocket go overhead, knowing full well it was headed toward London, where his father lived. Though he may have never admitted it, his experience was hell. He ended up hard of hearing later in life because of his duty as a gunner. My great-grandfather, Thomas Dawson, died on April 7, 2011, at home surrounded by loving family at age 86. Thank you for sharing your story with me, Papa.
Thanks for sharing his fantastic story.
That's pretty cool you got to know him. My grandpa, born in '24 died in '08, similarly lied about his age to enroll in the army. Lucky for us he made it home. His company, 44th infantry combat engineers, were ambushed heavily and we're told highly casualties, so we easily could not be here. Thanks for sharing your story !! God bless your family and Great-Grandpa, thank you for his service ! ♥️🇺🇸⚒️
my grand pa was adolph😂😂😂😂
What a hero
@@brianbrady4496 whether or not he was a hero in the grand scheme of things is debatable, but he was certainly my hero.
My dad was there on the aircraft carrier: The Formidable...they fought against the super battleship..the Tirpitz.
Mine was on the USS CROATAN, on sub patrol.
@@leehuff2330 Congrats both of your fathers killed our civilizations for all time. Hoorah! They had no idea what they were doing or they would never have joined, the slightest look at our lives now and they would puke.
@@Finecabinets1 oh fuck off
@@Finecabinets1 the wrong side won the war
John Adams operation goodwill??
My Uncle John (Jack) McIlveen Gamble was KIA on the night of Feb 10/11 Feb., 1942, but we never here of the sinking of the HMCS SPIKENARD, she was the Commodores ship for the convoy SC36, but who cares, I remember those who paid the Ultimate Sacrifice, including ALL the Merchant Seamen (over 30,000) who also paid the Ultimate Sacrifice, Rest in Peace HEROES, Fair winds and Following seas, FAB./QS.
I'm sorry for your loss!
@@johndoe-od6ge Thank you Brother, I only wish I had got to know him, I knew his wife and 2 children, whom I got to meet and visit when I could, they lived in Galt Ontario, I visited the Government building in Ottawa on the Remembrance day of the sinking of the Spikenard, and lo and behold, there was my uncle's name on the Book of Remembrance, I was filled with pride, knowing that he was not forgotten, May he Rest in Peace, Fair winds and following seas Uncle Jack, FAB./QS./FGB.
I have nothing but the greatest admiration for the men of the Merchant Marine 80% of the time with no more than a minimum of 2 to 4 corvettes bravery does not compute for these Men God bless them all.
Churchill illegally armed merchant ships.
@@MarkHarrison733 Hello Mark I'll be honest l know quite a lot of Merchant Ships were fitted with first World one 6inch guns on the stern but didn't know it was illegal thanks for the heads up 👆 Peter.
@@peteroates2908 Churchill caused the deaths of 128 Americans on RMS Lusitania. The Royal Navy's blockade was illegal under international law, like the Area Bombing Directive.
@@MarkHarrison733would KMS penguin and KMS Atlantis be classed as illigal in your eyes to then?..
i've being watching these documentaries for years thanks to you Vasile luga. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Those were some exceptionally brave sailors who battled the menacing U-boats.
My father was a chief mate merchant seaman mostly carrying 102 octane fuel. He always smiled at the younger mates on board who slept fully clothed in case they were torpedoed. He said hell if we got hit we’d be a huge explosion so it seldom bothered him. The sea made my father. It taught him everything about life, living and luck.
Always enjoyed the conversational rapport and the respect for variety that featured among the merchant sea farers that I’ve come across during the last twenty seven years or more in the ministry. Also as a town curate in Bangor.That said,some have a tougher exterior than others.Thinking of one ex parishoner, in particular, however once he began to talk about his oil paintings over a a sherry he was a very different person!
My Grandfather was a Merchant Marine sailor assigned to the North atlantic & Murmansk runs. Torpedoed once & bombed once. Survived both attacks, and almost drowned swimming in Murmansk bay (hypothermia). Just goes to show, you NEVER know When! 😮😢😅😅 GOD BLESS you POP POPS 😊❤❤❤❤
@@marstuv5068 wow survived being torpedoed. Thankfully.
@@jaysnowden2 Yes. Fished out of the water by a destroyer apparently, and woke up to the sight of a Beautiful Angel (his words), a Scottish nurse! 😁😄😍😍🤩🤩🥰👍👍👍
@@christopherjcarson so TRUE 🤔👍👍
The Cruel Sea...the best movie to encapsulate the longest battle of the war
It was boring.
@@MarkHarrison733. You really are hard at work with the negative hate Mark. I admire your persistence. But I do wonder why. Perhaps you're not happy? 😊
@@paulreilly3904 Are trolls happy entities? I think not.
So cool to see all the comments of grandsons honoring their grandfathers who served 70+ years ago. #🇺🇸🇰🇷🇺🇸
Videos like these definitely inject a sense of pride! My grandfather was 1st Radio officer of the British merchant navy vessel S.S Kioto, torpedoed off the coast of Tobago by U514 in September of 1942, my grandad luckily survived the war and loved until 94, my great grandfather served aboard the first British built iron clad ship HMS Warrior as a boy, and then onto another ship to serve in the battle of Jutland. ⚔️
Pride for what ? Did your ancestors saved any jews ? NO. OK √
The amount of facts and background and tactics is amazing in this series! 🧐😑
They're actually pretty light, but a decent starter on the subject. The story telling and the voice of the narrator are fine though. I like watching them.
The scale of this war is hard to imagine!
..thank God that technology won't allow such global conflict such as this; the consequences of modern weapons assures that they'll never be used.
It changed everything.
I think the term world war gives it plenty of scale.
Imagine being attacked a thousand miles from land. Bad day at the office.
Hmmm I agree that is a bad day
You bet!! My Grandfather went through that, Twice! 😮😢😢
best tv series to ever be made.....the Vietnam one as well is a classic. Wish they still did this kind of work
History of Destroyers during WWII very much appreciated. I served on the USS Charles P. Cecil DDR 835 a Gearing Class from 1959 to 1961 as a sonar man. Great duty!
thanks Vasile Luga for sharing this i love these great history programs.
Yeah cheers Luges man 💚
Luga is boss.
@@titpisser no, that's me...
@@ludaheracles7201 What? You're Vasile Luga?
All of these wwll documentaries heavily remind me of my Grandad and my GreatGrandad , they were both full-time professional Army officers in the Greek Royal Army. Miss you guys❗
Videos like these definitely inject a sense of pride! My grandfather was 1st Radio officer of the British merchant navy vessel S.S Kioto, torpedoed off the coast of Tobago by U514 in September of 1942, my grandad luckily survived the war and loved until 94, my great grandfather served aboard the first British built iron clad ship HMS Warrior as a boy, and then onto another ship to serve in the battle of Jutland. ⚔️Respect to you and your ancestors from mine⚔️
@@jt0094 Thank you.
I fell into a deep slumber , an Autoplay brought me here . Very good documentary indeed tbh
I remember watching Das Boot. It was amazing how many supplies had to be loaded onto these vessels. Not only man power and equipment, but food and drink to last for many months out at sea.
My Dad was at Dunkirk, he survived to go back at the invasion, luckily he survived the war. Two of my Uncles were in the Merchant Navy, they both survived
God Bless!! Thank you for your families Service & Sacrifice ❤❤❤
It was great to hear of the British Navy Reserves - those men had big Brass Ball's - Respectfully, CM3, USNR, ret.
I just like listening to the narration in this series.
absolutely. comparable to world at war with laurence olivier as far as gravity. love it.
There are two other narrators that stand out for me: Samuel West ("When Hitler fought Stalin") and the late great Richard Baseheart ("Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War").
Robert Scott and the guy that does PBS Frontline
***** Will Lyman, yes, very good as Frontline's narrator.
***** bullshit
Battlefield is a excellent WW lll series. Welll worth your time
Although it contains a few mistakes, they are mostly minor; plus, it's straightforward, well organized and nonsense free.
My Dad was a radioman on Destroyer Escort from 1942 until end of the war, Home port in Puerto Rico, he was on convoy protection from the oil fields in South America along east coast picking up more ships then routed across the North Atlantic to Falmouth England many times, defending from and later hunting U-Boats that attacked the merchant ships.
Hi everyone! I recommend Greyhound movie with Tom Hanks that is exactly about this piece of history. Great movie about great brave men. I am being a Russian want to say a big THANK YOU to our American and British allies. Your help was invaluable and is very appreciated. In my family, all men older than 14 never returned from that war.
If you want to watch a film that exactly fits this documentary search out the 1981 classic "Das Boot" and if possible search out the 5 hour TV miniseries of the film. The closest that you're EVER going to get to serving on a WW2 u-boat in the Atlantic.
As a old war sailor I say,”Please go f*ck yourself. BT3 BRYANT, ADVANCE BOILER TECHNICIAN U.S.S. Gridley CG-21, flagship 7th fleet, Pacific.
@@bryantcurtis2665 You're not very bright, are you?
My dad was one who returned. Got stranded for 11 hours hanging on to a plank of wood after his ship was sunk. When I asked him what it was like, he said ; " Bloody cold! But at least I didn't have to worry about sharks." Then he went back to his crossword puzzle. They don't make them like that anymore. Rip. The greatest generation ever.
@@winstonsmith8240 totally agree. They were the greatest generation ever.
Fun fact about Liberty Ships-- asbestos played a crucial role in constructing them. That's one of the ways in which asbestos, as my law professor put it, "saved lives even as it took lives!"
I'm assuming asbestos was used in nearly all ships then, in the engine room, cladding on pipes, etc. Anywhere else I wouldn't expect, may I ask?
@@MarktheMole sadly I don't know the specifics
I served on the USS Roosevelt, and the USS Enterprise…. (We still have asbestos)
It was pipe-lagging; still being used in the late 1980s. At Devonport RD the laggers had yard buses restricted to their use only. @@MarktheMole
Amazing documentary for 2023! Thank you!
Best WW2 documentary series.
No I'd say this is second. The World At War is #1
Just for the record, Adm. Doenitz as a submarine commander surfaced his damaged sub after being depth charged to save what he could of his crew and was a POW at the end of WW I.
so was otto kretschmer, the most successful naval officer in history.
happytosing1 actually the most successful was Lothar von Arnauld de la Periere of ww1.
navyreviewer arguably, it was lord Nelson.
***** Nope. He didn't sink as many ship or tons as Periere,
navyreviewer That maybe so, but his victories had a far greater strategic importance And the criterion was "the most successful navel officer in History"
Oslo -- shore batteries were torpedoes, designed before WW I and never fired in anger before. Is awesome story!
This series is one of the best very well done, great detail, great narrative. Thanx for uploading this one.
Hitler's generals on the 1941 eastern front secretly but purposely sabotaged the efforts to reach the oil Germany required to win the war. They knew the only thing worse than a loss would be a nazi win.
so nice to see without commercials. so many on youtube are adding coms for money and ruining it
Agreed, you are correct, and most of the Commercials are Puerile and Pathetic!
Those poor merchant marine sailors - they had the shittiest deal of all in WW2, apart from Stalin's punishment battalions.
Quite right, and love the 'rent a ghost' sobriquet, by the way :-)
THEY DID POOR DEVILS AND MOST THEY WOULD NOT BE BACK I REMEMBER AN AUNT OF MINE WHO WORKED AT BRISTOL STATION AND SHE SAID THE SEAMEN WOULD LEAVE ALL THEIR MONEY WITH THEM BEFORE BOARDING AS THEY DIDNT EXPECT TO SURVIVE WE HAD ONE COUSIN WHO DID SURVIVE THE RUSSIAN CONVOYS HE WAS IN A DESTROYER AND DID HAVE A FEW NEAR MISSES. STILL ALIVE IN CANADA 95YRS OLD AND HAS A RUSSIAN MEDAL AWARDED A FEW YEARS AGO NEVER TALKED ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
Well said.
I always kick myself that I didn't talk more to my Grandad who served in the merchant Navy. I do remember him telling me you prayed for a battlestation on deck rather than deep in the bowels of the ship as all the internal doors were shut to prevent the ship sinking too quickly if hit, meaning all those below decks were more or less doomed, sounds utterly terrifying. Unfortunately, like many people of his age, he never really talked about it, it was only through asking that I found out anything, a quietly heroic generation.
YEP I REMEMBER MY AUNT WHO WAS WORKING AT BRISTOL STN DURING THE WAR SAYING HOW THE MERCHANT SEAMEN WOULD LEAVING ALL THEIR MONEY WITH THE GIRLS BECAUSE THEY DIDNT EXPECT TO SURVIVE AND WE HAVE A COUSIN STILL LIVING IN CANADA WHO SERVED ON THE RUSSIAN CONVOYS , HE RECEIVED A RUSSIAN MEDAL A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO.
My Dad was in the merchant navy when the war started and went on to join the Royal Navy who trained him as a gunner and put him on oil tankers that went across the Atlantic in the convoys
Michael Conti suck.....we..USA saved you!
Michael Conti The US helped in saving the World as we know it, and they did it with respect to their allies. Without Mr. Philp, you would probably be chanting Fascist phases or be rotting in a camp. Hell, you don't even deserve to call yourself "American" with you arrogance and total lack of respect. As for The insult "English F*ck", if you hate the British (the English in particular) don't write/type in English then. Hell, don't even speak or think in English.
I hope your dad found peace now that the war is long over.
Jason Liu The Germans abandoned all plans of invading England many months before either the U.S. or Russia entered the war. At the time of D-Day, the Germans were already facing defeat in the East. D-Day had less to do with defeating Germany than it did with ending the war before the Russians could occupy too much of continental Europe. The same applied to the dropping of the bombs on Japan just as Russian tanks were rolling East. The U.S. did not "save the world" where the defeat of Nazi Germany was concerned. It is a difficult pill for Americans to swallow, but they were NOT the major allied power of 1941-1945.
Merely Correct I'm trying to tell Mr. Michael Conti above to show respect, I know that the US didn't do everything, and I am not an American, I am a Canadian.
The film that sums this section of the war is 'The Cruel Sea' starring Jack Hawkins. A must watch movie featuring a fictional Flower Class Corvette called 'Compass Rose' and it's crew.
A superb movie. To be seen alongside "Das Boot", the movie version (which is still long enough), for a view of the same thing from both angles.
Royal Navy people rate The Cruel Sea very highly.
The Cruel Sea and Das Boot are both good films. Way better than the crap that is thrown out these days.
Yep, spot on. When i was in the Navy, film might used to be The Cruel Sea. Everyone who served love this film.
Read the Book. Nicholas Montsarrat wrote this book from two years in corvettes on the North Atlantic convoy run , from 1939 to 1941 or a bit later. Then was in corvettes in the North Sea and later had his own command of a sloop or frigate. Parts of "The Cruel Sea" are clearly autobiographical or from observation of reality.
They made it real. The fact that the Allies survived this onslaught is amazing.
Losses were horrendous, but with U.S. help, we could always build more than were being sunk. Expensive, but effective.
The longest battle fought in WW2 plus it was the most important one of all. He who controls the seas controls who sails on it, and lives!!.
Thank you for uploading. Circa. 2019, i doubt the next generation of my family has the same facts of world history than I do.
It's up to you to make sure they understand.
Thanks for sharing these fantastic documentaries.
I still have battle field episodes I used to tape because of work. Very well done. Have to say thanks pbs...
Excellent documentation the music is also excellent
Used to rush home on my lunch to watch battlefield back in the day
A historically informative documentary showing how the survival of Britain, the capacity of the USA then to launch an invasion into Europe, depended in important part not only upon (a) evolving technology (for which the then secretly held development of a powerful radar useful on ships at sea and military aircraft, too often underestimated) -- yet (b) no less upon the decisions of men which could well have swung the other way in the battle for the Atlantic, and hence the battles in Europe in WWII, and so the world as we know it today. Great film. Worth thinking about for the indefinite future...How well are we thinking afresh in meeting unfolding events and how often in terms of preconceived categories that instead guide what we do? An open challenge always with us....
New anti-submarine weapons and radar developments were in play in the Atalantic fought by Britain and Canada , until Hitler declared war on the USA
Other than German U-boat crews, no other service during WW2 was as deadly as being in the Merchant Marines.
It should be noted that Roosewelt was weary of sending destroyers to Britain before Churchill showed he will stop at nothing in winning the war. Sinking of French fleet in Mers-El-Kebier, seizing all french ships in British ports (especially squadron in Alexandria) demonstrated that anything Roosewelt sends will be at the bottom of the sea before Germany could get it.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill later wrote "The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril. I was even more anxious about this battle than I had been about the glorious air fight called the 'Battle of Britain'."
Yeah I feel him. At least during the Battle of Britain you knew from where your enemy comes from and you can decide to fight using the forces selected an amassed to engage the coming threat. Those at see, never knew when, nor where the threat came from, and was only by luck to have the right size and type of forces to respond. I think it would be like getting in a fist fight knowing you can fight verses being strangled from behind not knowing who is doing it. That I crappy analogy I have made... Some else must have a better one b/c that one sucks...take it light --KB
R.I.P. Tim Piggot-Smith...🇬🇧🎙
Who's that, a British General?
@@ludaheracles7201 the narrator.
@@ludaheracles7201he's the best one in ww2..
Fascinating history of what was arguably the most critical battle of the war. More important than the Eastern Front maybe. Without victory in the Atlantic, allied forces would never have been able to assemble for the Normandy invasion.
They would have invaded Europe via Africa.
Bullshit Germany lost ww2 cause Hitler broke the Nazi-soviet non aggression pact Germany would have nuked Newyork with their Amerika bombers and V rockets
Arctic Grayling Depends on how you look at it. The Red Army tore the heart out of the Wehrmacht in the East. The Battle of the Atlantic helped supply the Red Army and like the Air War take pressure off the Soviets. More importantly. it meant that the Red Army was unable to over run Western Euroope.
Dennis Weidner According to Liddell Hart, Britain was a few weeks from surrender in March 1943, far closer than they were in 1940. If Britain were knocked out of the war, who knows what would have happened in Russia? Would the absence of Allied supplies have turned the tide in Germany's favour?
@@arcticgrayling105 Did he really say that? I know that the Battle of the Atlantic did not turn until March 1943, but I see no evidence that the British were on the verge of surrender. What are his precise words? I will point out that nearly a million Leningraders perished, many starving to death, and they still did not surrender. Now perhaps Leningraders had more grit, but in March 1943 not one Brit had starved from hunger or was malnourished. And the heavy German bombing ended in March 1941. Saying that they were close to surrender sounds to me iike the same flawed assessments he provided Chamberlain during the appeasement process.
It's amazing how the world is turning at the whim and mistakes of great greedy men . So much of who we are are due to these events
This is such a great series. The fact based approach and the lack of bias makes it so valuable.
My friend's grandfather served in the engine room of the HMCS Spikenard, a Canadian Flower-class corvette. They were tiny ships to pit against the wrath of the Atlantic. She was torpedoed. He had no chance.
WAR ARE NEVER GOOD!!!!! LIVE TRUTH AND PREVENT WARS
this documentary as with all others in this well done series have fantastic film footage.
I was crossing the North Atlantic during the 1980s and I often thought about all the boats and people down below. I now live in Brittany, equidistant between lorient and Brest. Not far from Trevarez.
I can't imagine the anxiety of the merchant marine crews having to sail those convoys. Many also died horrible deaths on those rough frigid waters. They never stopped to rescue any surviving crews of torpedoed ships. It's altogether unimaginable,
Carpe Diem I have thought about that many times in the years I studied that theater of the war. To be honest, I can't think about it for too long. The realization of the horrors and suffering the merchant marine crewman suffered seems worse than the Titanic sometimes. At least with the Titanic many of the people still had hope right up to the very end. The merchant marine crews knew there wasn't any. It's to terrible to comprehend so I stop thinking about it.
Carpe Diem Remember hearing this in a documentary... "To see survivors clinging to life boats knowing that, as your ship passes, those men will never be seen alive again. These are the aspects of war unsung, the unpleasant, the anti-glorious, those that will never appear in Hollywood because, as they so brutally remind us, war is NOT entertainment."
+Carpe Diem It's fine, americans did the same shit in the pacific.
My father told me of joining a convoy in Liverpool, then steaming North until they reached the ice, hoping to find weather so bad a torpedo wouldn't run straight. I asked him where he was going, and he said, 'Buenos Aries'.
Carpe Diem of a
An excellent documentary. Thank you.
Thank You for all the great post you have on your channel- you do great work👍
True how true an educational experience is right now right on!
That German Admiral's name always makes me want some Dunkin` Dernitz
...it makes me want to throw up. the man was an affirmed Nazi until the end of his life.
@@robertdore9592 Even if Donitz was, the U-Boat fleet was the most non-poilitical branch of the German military in WW2. And an American admiral probably saved Donitz' life during the Nuremburg War Trials.
@@mcfrisko834 so should the the head of the army air core been executed for war crimes for fire bombing Dresden? Because they guy even admitted that if the Allies lost then he knew he would of been hanged. Your 5 grad grasp of history is lacking.
If thats the case Then war crimes should be drawn up of the use of flying bombs and inter continental ballistic missiles used to indiscriminately kill civilians of london, also the blitz firebombing, incendiary's coincidentally used when the tide was the lowest of the year making it much harder, in fact near on impossible to draw water from the thames, also to (koventrieren)a word added to the German lexicon by hitler meaning to literally wipe a city of the face of the earth=coventry also many other towns and cities to??, so then when shall we get proceedings started then!?!,.. Maybe thats why Germany has never tried to claim war crimes dontcha think 🤔..pride and nationlism is a good thing when ministered properly, maybe you should look inwards in your own nation to be spiteful and angry to use hateful energy and not towards your own kind if you catch my drift, sounds like your priorities are all over the place, maybe its why it turned into a proper cluster fuk last time around with the litte man from Austria...
War, if waged properly, is cruel and merciless. Anything less is "play war", and we all know what that leads to (Vietnam, Middle East)
Those are called "proxy wars" my friend
@@hewasdeadwhenigotthere7109 proxy war is when you get someone else to fight for you
@@endrsgm yes... The Vietnam war was a proxy war.. Same with Afghanistan and the korean war.... I know what a proxy war is.
@@endrsgm its more about backing, supplying and indebting other regimes. Whether to spread their political ideology to gain further allies or to use them for strategic reason, or just resources in general.
@@hewasdeadwhenigotthere7109 the usa used proxies in afghanistan and pakistan when the soviet union invaded afghanistan, the iranians used proxies in iraq during the most recent iraq war/occupation. proxy war - a war instigated by a major power which does not itself become involved.
Thanks 👍
1:28:30 Bismarck also sunk the HMS Hood, which was at the time the flagship of the Royal Navy.
HMS King George V was flagship at that time.
More precisely - blew up the Hood (and the pieces sunk.)
Yeah thanks for putting this up, man. It's by far my favorite too.
That's what we used to say a phrase unto itself, it's now I think a bit distant don't you think man?
My father was in the RN during the war, his trade being a gunlayer he server as a dems gunner (defence equiped merchant ship) .these being merchant ships fitted with a small gun 4'' or simular he had to train the civilian crew to help him load etc . .all at the tender age of 20
Battlefield is awesome.
Yeah our industrial might back then was something else. We couldn't do that today. Our industry has sold out to cheap overseas labor.
Lol who makes most of the worlds cars, airplanes and boats? Do you fight wars with trinkets and decorations? Nothing has changed.
@@virgiljones4808not so sure you are correct. Most everything seems to be from China.
@@virgiljones4808the economy of the west is about to collapse due to debt.
@@tonyromano6220yeah i noticed that to, i never see anything that says made in the good ole? , never.... Certainly not here in Europe...im sure that goes for the anglo sphere countrys to like aussies and canucks..self flatulation, and jingoistic ego's to embellish things even if slightly true always destroys the souls of nations even more now in this day and age...
Number one supporter of communism is the American consumer. 759 billion.
Thanks for posting this excellent documentary.
Vasile, you sexy beast. Why are you so talented and knowledgeable? You are a gift to us from the gods, the time you put into making these documentaries must be recognised. So well researched too. Blessings!
Yes Luga is a gift but he's started to sneak those ads in again...
@@ludaheracles7201 no the ads have gone baby
He didn’t make these, he uploaded them years ago.
Interesting to note that German code-breakers were reading Allied messages.
Louis Shalako I have been trying to find info on German code breaking with no luck..
@@tomhernonjr lol bdienst reading messages of royal navy
The Germans had cracked the code used by the British merchant fleet very early in WW2. Intelligence is a force multiplier.
Corvettes: Somebody had to dream up using the 4" gun to fire either small depth charges (or the projectile later used by the hedgehog) to improve its threat value. Although bagged propellant (in small sizes) would have been almost impossible to keep dry on those hasty little ships. A housing for the gun and boxed charges may have answered some of that. Another opportunity lost by the Admiralty?
what a great series
I like the way Dernitz/Donitz backs up during Inspection. Shows he knows what he's looking for. Submarine Commander.
Your conclusion wrong : The Type 21 U-boat was a masterpiece that inspired submarine designing well into the late 1960's. One even went undetected by an entire British before surrendering in the last days of the war. One specimen is well preserved in the German city port of Bremerhaven..
MAybe a masterpiece on the drawing board... in reality a poorly executed waste of vital resources. Speer's attempted emulation of allied mass production methods, scuppered by allied bombing meant that nearly all the Type 21s that went into the water were VERY quickly taken out again for remedial work caused by the poor quality control of the dispersed production facilities. They leaked like hell, the "advanced systems" failed to work. Out of the 1000 that were scheduled to be build ALL that effort produced 3 barely working specimens.
It’s 1:27 am, I was considering going to bed and then I find this,..... I better get some popcorn
this was really well explained
My Father was an Oerlikeon gunner on a tiny merchant aircraft carrier with only 4 Swordfish. I beleive it was the Empire McKendrick.
The U-boats owned the North Atlantic. Sharks on a feeding frenzy. The allied ships could not stop to assist the sailors whose ships were sunk for fear a U-boat would torpedo them too. I spoke to several veteran navy officers who said they could only sail past as screams to help had to go unaided.
Terrifying scenario for both cases... seeing any hope of help slowly rushing away in the middle of a cold vast ocean, with ships and fuel burning all around you and the loud screeching sound of metal bending beneath the water. At the same time, the lads on the convoy having to go away with that thought of not aiding someone in such desperation, and continue the voyage knowing that in a few hours they could be next victim of the very same situation. I don't know how they slept at night... that's nightmare stuff. And they sure had courage to do it again and again.
In time, smaller ships sailed at the back of the convoy as rescue ships. They were always a target . . .
@@MAXLD Exactly. I’ve talked to sailers who’ve seen and lived it first hand. Nightmares that never leave until one’s last breath. I’ve even met a US NAVY sailor in San Francisco port who was on the USS Lexington. He was in the water for an hour describing the events above like a movie.
@@EllieMaes-Grandad Anything that floats is a target.
This is god stuff
The main base for the British and Canadian escort vessels was Londonderry in Northern Ireland. 60 Uboats surrendered there when the war ended.
"Remember the Ruben James". (DD-245)
Unfortunately due to my age, my interest in WW2 & it's research has been compromised by myths due to insufficient military documentation having been cleared from restricted public access (USSR). I'm quite willing to listen to interpretation of more contemporary released declassified official military documentation. I enjoyed this video as it's not so outdated in opinions due to allied Govt/Military information.👍
I havent heard that in this documentary Enigma machine is mention?That had a decisive role in the war on Atlantic!!!
No it didn't.
After the end of the war in Europe Patton wrote, "We may have been fighting the wrong enemy all along." He later wrote, "I think we've been fighting the wrong people all this time."
The. Production. And. Narrator. Plus. The. Music. Calms. My. Nerves. Lol
Great series.
Those were some brave men (on both sides), that fought in the Battle of the Atlantic.
It's so underhanded yet intriguing to understand how Multinational insurance companies were often paid insiders who reported 'high value' cargo.
my father served on the HMS Striker an aircraft carrier during ww2 and an uncle as well they had some very interesting photos and stories, one was when they used a burnt out aircraft carrier to move people from Hiroshima the carrier was towed all the way to England.
CORRECTION. The narrator is not Jonathan Booth but the inestimable TIM PIGOTT SMITH - I hope your only mistake, but it's a big one. But much thanks for the upload. Cheers!
All other documentaries that I have watched and even the detailed ones like this DONT mention the role played by the submarines of the Royal British Navy and French Navy. The most interesting would be to study the technology and operations of the British submarines and their weapons. Their bases must have been in the Caribbean islands, unnoticed by the German Navy.
Great video but they really underestimated the 10cm radar invention which allowed us to pick up the subs on radar for the first time.
Extremely good documentary.
At 42:05, witnessing the wide swath of destruction that a destroyer can lay out with depth charges, is astonishing. I'd never seen video before that showed such an example of their thoroughness of attack.
Not one mention of a 🐳 lost to deapth charges?
@@markhonerbaum3920 I would think that sea life, could potentially suffer greatly, as a result of Naval battles.
Churchill said that the only thing that scared him in World War 2 was the U-Boat threat
He should have added the US governments commercial opportunism; a debt we'll NEVER pay in full.
Alan Moore he also said the scariest words he ever heard were a Frenchman (forget who) telling him there were no reserves to protect Paris
he had a long list of things he feared in ww2; bismarck, tirpitz, rommel, even stalin. he had a lot to fear
Robert Dore Did your mother have any children that lived?
jamesroad316 well said.