National Geographic - Hitlers American Battleground (2021) Part 1 Terror From Below

– Also aired as “Hitler's American Battlefield” in Science Channel –

Hitler's American Battleground takes us to the forgotten World War II waters off America's coast as the truth is revealed about the Nazi submarine tactics. The two-hour special follows experts as they chart WWII underwater battlegrounds, revealing the truth about Nazi submarines mercilessly stalking the Atlantic before US forces gained the upper hand. German U-boats journey from the coast of Lorient, France, across the Atlantic Ocean, with the mission to sink American ships. The United States has just entered the war and are certainly not ready to take on such an enormous battle; The navy can only deploy two of their destroyers at once and must cover 400,000 acres of the ocean to catch the Nazis at sea. Meanwhile, the German submarines have the upper ground and have found the perfect hunting ground - Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. The water drops off the cape and falls steeply into the continental shelf, giving the Nazi U-boats the deep water they need to hide. But could the US Navy still make a lucky escape? The film recounts the secret war waged just off America's shores beginning in the early months of 1942, which claimed hundreds of ships and thousands of lives, yet was largely unknown to the American public — and remains so today. The NOAA researchers are piecing together the story of this lost chapter in America's maritime history, using cutting-edge technology and historical records to search for the remains of merchant ships and U-boats alike that met their end in the deadly Battle of the Atlantic. The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage Program has conducted annual explorations of shipwrecks from the Battle of the Atlantic, helping us better understand and share this important piece of our maritime heritage with the public.

Part 1 Terror From Below

Within weeks of Pearl Harbor, Nazi U-boats attacked American ships within sight of the North Carolina coast hunting allied cargo ships, leaving a trail of death and destruction. Hitler's torpedoes were a severe blow to the United States. Today, a team of NOAA researchers find themselves face to face with the remnants of a devastating U-boat attack on the U.S. East Coast, and turn this forgotten graveyard into a protected sanctuary in honor of the fallen.

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