by John G Evans

Created on: February 07, 2011   Last Updated: February 09, 2011

During World War II, and with a synopsis of the great battle of the North Atlantic, this campaign became familiar in the annals of history of inheriting a title of being the longest military campaign in 1939-1945. This great battle proved to be very dangerous for the Allied naval forces which were comprised of Great Britain, France, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States.

The greatest threat came to allied merchant shipping from North America to the United Kingdom. During 1940-1943 when the war for the Atlantic was at its peak, Germany was a naval power of great significance due to its fleet of U Boats and Battleships. Even Japanese submarines were allocated as having proven to be a menace in the North Atlantic as well.

Simply put, the United Kingdom needed supplies to sustain her people during the raids of German aircraft and V-rockets pounding London and the British Isles. As the United States entered the war in 13th September 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated that this warfare brought to Britain’s doorstep was in fact, “The Battle of the Atlantic.”

Casualties within the naval arsenals and merchant shipping totaled approximately 3500 merchant ships and about 175 warships sunk by the German naval forces. Through the intense war effort, 738 German U-boats were sunk.

Germany knew if they could defeat the British navy, Germany would occupy most if not all of Europe. During this magnanimous period of naval firepower witnessed, the war brought over 100 convoy battles and 1000 single ship attacks.

Britain’s overseas commerce was threatened and the German Grand Admiral Eric Raeder had a strategy of developing a system of attacks utilizing the U-boat’s underwater stealth and firepower from the almost hidden and silent, though quite deadly torpedoes. He formed clusters of U-boats running in what became known as “Wolf-Packs.” Groups of German submarines were ordered to navigate through the Atlantic in the “wolf-packs attacking Allied Commerce shipping and warships.

To continue these attacks by U-boat commanders, re-fueling and re-fitting armament became necessary so submarine naval bases were constructed at the French Atlantic bases. This made Allied forces always on the look-out for the subs as well as the rest of the German navy.

These sub bases were fortified with tons of concrete and very oblivious to bombing from the air as the allied forces tried chipping away at these monster forts. A

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