Convoy SC122 and HX229 : Climax of the battle of the Atlantic, March 1943

Winston Churchill wrote, “The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.” Had the convoy link between North America and Britain been broken, the course of World War II would have been different. As it was, there was a period during the winter of 1942-43 when the Germans came close to cutting the North Atlantic lifeline. In the first twenty days of March, 1943, the Germans sank ninety-seven Allied merchant ships – twice the rate of replacement. During the same period seven U-boats were lost and fourteen put in service. No wonder Churchill was worried. Convoys SC122 and HX229 sailed from New York harbor for England early in March 1943. Admiral Doenitz deployed forty-two U-boats to trap those two convoys. Twenty-one merchant ships were sunk in the ensuing battle. The Germans called it “the greatest convoy battle of all time.” It was a major turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic. In Convoy, every maneuver of the merchant ships, their escort vessels, the long range aircraft cover, and the attacking U-boats is documented in a powerful narrative that will recall for many readers Nicholas Monsarrat’s best-selling novel The Cruel Sea. In many ways, this book could be the story of any of the hundreds of convoys that sailed the ocean during the war. One important chapter throws new light on three controversial aspects of the Battle of the Atlantic: why there was an “Air Gap” long after full air cover could have been provided, why the convoys had to sail with dangerously weak naval escorts; and how the Allies outwitted the Germans in the radio decoding war The author of The First Day on the Somme details a naval skirmish that became a turning point for the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. Winston Churchill wrote, “The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.” Had the convoy link between North America and Britain been broken, the course of World War II would have been different. There was a period during the winter of 1942-43 when the Germans almost cut the North Atlantic lifeline. In the first twenty days of March, 1943, the Germans sank ninety-seven Allied merchant ships—twice the rate of replacement. During the same period, seven U-boats were lost and fourteen put in service. No wonder Churchill was worried. Early in March, 1943, Convoys SC122 and HX229 sailed from New York harbor for England, and Admiral Doenitz deployed forty-two U-boats to entrap them. Twenty-one merchant ships were sunk in the ensuing battle. The Germans called it “the greatest convoy battle of all time.” This book documents the convoys, every maneuver of the merchant ships, their escort vessels, the long-range aircraft cover, and the attacking U-boats in a powerful narrative reminiscent of Nicholas Monsarrat's bestselling novel The Cruel Sea. In many ways, this book could be the story of any of the hundreds of convoys that sailed the ocean during the war. Middlebrook also elucidates three controversial aspects of the Battle of the Atlantic: why there was an “Air Gap” long after full air cover could have been provided, why the convoys had to sail with dangerously weak naval escorts, and how the Allied outwitted the Germans in the radio decoding war.

Winston Churchill wrote, "The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril." Had the convoy link between North America and Britain been broken, the course of World War II would have been different. As it was, there was a period during the winter of 1942-43 when the Germans came close to cutting the North Atlantic lifeline. In the first twenty days of March, 1943, the Germans sank ninety-seven Allied merchant ships - twice the rate of replacement. During the same period seven U-boats were lost and fourteen put in service. No wonder Churchill was worried.

Convoys SC122 and HX229 sailed from New York harbor for England early in March 1943. Admiral Doenitz deployed forty-two U-boats to trap those two convoys. Twenty-one merchant ships were sunk in the ensuing battle. The Germans called it "the greatest convoy battle of all time." It was a major turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic.

In Convoy, every maneuver of the merchant ships, their escort vessels, the long range aircraft cover, and the attacking U-boats is documented in a powerful narrative that will recall for many readers Nicholas Monsarrat's best-selling novel The Cruel Sea.

In many ways, this book could be the story of any of the hundreds of convoys that sailed the ocean during the war. One important chapter throws new light on three controversial aspects of the Battle of the Atlantic: why there was an "Air Gap" long after full air cover could have been provided, why the convoys had to sail with dangerously weak naval escorts; and how the Allied outwitted the Germans in the radio decoding war.

Bogen følger minutiøst de to konvojer SC122 og HX229 skæbne i marts måned 1943. De to konvojer mistede samlet 22 handelsskibe, samlet mistede de Allierede 97 handelsskibe i de første 20 dage af marts måned 1943. Havde denne tabsrate fortsat havde England ikke kunnet fortsætte krigen. Årsagerne var flere til den tyske succes, men en primær årsag lå i dispositionen af antiubådsfly, som betød at der var et område i Midt Atlanten, der var uden Allieret flydækning. I perioden januar til marts 1943 sænkede Allierede fly 21 tyske ubåde ud af et samlet tab på 40 ubåde og i perioden april til december 1943 mistede tyskerne samlet 194 ubåde hvoraf de 68 blev offer for Allierede fly. Marts måned repræsenterede et højdepunkt for de tyske ubåde, men allerede i maj måned led de kritiske tab, hvorefter slaget om Atlanten reelt var afgjort til de Allieredes fordel