Discovery Channel - U-Boat War Series 1 (1997) Part 1 Sea Wolves

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 1 Sea Wolves

With their prime objective, sinking merchant shipping in the Atlantic, U-Boats were active from the first day of the war to the last. At the beginning of World War II the German Navy, under the leadership of Grand Admiral Doenitz, dispatched its submarine fleet to hit the Allies at a sensitive point the supply routes between the USA and Great Britain. They posed such a threat that Winston Churchill wrote “The threat the U-Boats posed in the Atlantic was the only thing that really frightened me during the war. On their defeat, hung the outcome of World War II.” For many months it was not possible for the Allies to stop the German submarines and they often had to just watch as one merchant ship after another was sunk. In this riveting episode, the German submarine strategies, campaigns and leaders in the early days of WWII are recounted, particularly the actions of the famed Wolf Packs.

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