Discovery Channel - U-Boat War Series 1 (1997) Part 3 Iron Coffins

In World War II, lethal German U-boats sailed all over the world wreaking havoc and destruction. This unique series charts the true story of the tense, close-run fight that took place. It depicts how this potent force became one of the most dominant German fighting units during World War Two, and became such a worry to Allied shipping that even Winston Churchill himself claimed that the 'U-boat peril' was the only thing that ever really frightened him during the war. The weapon was invisible and fast German submarines spread fear and terror in the longest sea battle in history, the Battle of the Atlantic, during World War II. The “Grey Wolves” led by Admiral Doenitz sank thousands of Allied ships in the first three years of the war. It was only after the radio codes were deciphered that the hunters became hunted and had to pay a high toll in blood until the end of the war. The Allies eventually inflicted such a catastrophic destruction on the U-boats that its losses were too great to continue. Of the 38,000 men that went to sea onboard these deadly vessels, only 8,000 were to survive to tell the tale. With rare, original footage of actual battle scenes and interviews from U-boat commanders and crew members from both the Allied and Axis naval forces, these three programs give the viewer an inside look at the destructive nature of these deadly “Iron Coffins.”

Part 3 Iron Coffins

At the beginning of 1943, the German submarine fleet continued to achieve success after another. It looked like the Germans would manage to cut off the supply routes between Britain and the United States. The tide turned when the British secret service cracked the code of the German Navy. The most profilic U-Boat housed 44 crew members whom lived alongside their weapons of war for days on end in cramped and often squalid conditions. Out of the 38,000 men who went to war in these machines in WWII, 30,000 were to die in their iron coffins. Making the defeat of the U-boats the Allies top priority in 1943, you will witness the Allied strategies and tactics that made the men in the U-Boats suffer the highest mortality rate of any fighting unit in the history of war.

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