Quote:
Originally Posted by wlee15
The u-boat overall made little significant effect on Allied shipping, there were simply too much ships avaliable to the allies (the merchant fleets of the occupied nations provided a massive amount of shipping for Britian)and too few u-boats available for a theatre as large as the Atlantic. In addition the British were able to evacuate 200,000 men in Britany including much of their equipment.
Plus the Germans weren't the only ones to have an significant submarine force, the British kept a significant submarine force in the channel and the north sea.
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Thats not true! The U-Boats had a HUGE affect on allied shipping early in the war. From 1939-1943 German U-Boats sunk almost 5800 ships at 22,000 Gross tons. For every 1 U-boat sunk the Germans sunk 14 allied ships. The amount of supplies needed by England via the Atlantic shipping routes was massive. Almost 2/3 of the British economy was dependent on the allied shipping lanes. Hitler knew to destroy England he had to control the Atlantic.
The British, being able to evacuate Dunkirk was'nt due to a weakened U-Boat force. The evacuation was due to a catastrophic error by the German High Command. The U-Boats, if ordered would of cut the BEF evacuation to pieces. Also, The British Submarine force was secondary in relation to there Surface Fleet. Which was a complete opposite to the German Navy. The German Navy was more geared to the U-Boats and "wolfpack" tactics.
The British and Americans had to drastically rethink there shipping tactics. It was only from 1943 on, that America was able to triple her ship building afforts. When America started building the Liberty' ships. They built 2800 of these ships in 4 years. The reign of the U-boat as a significant threat was'nt really over until mid 42'. It was only then by lots of luck, ie breaking the Enigma codes, hunter killer groups, Radar and solid convoy tactics that we were able to stop them.
If the Allies were unable to stop the U-Boats when they did, England would of been in serious trouble.