At 88 I am someone still alive that ran the submarine gauntlet from Southampton to Cape Town . I was an evacuee from England aged four years.  The vessel that took me and my sister to South Africa was torpedoed on its return voyage to England.. its name was the union castle liner Warwick Castle .

My Grandad was in the Merchant Navy, he married my Nan in 1939 and was sunk and lost at see in the Atlantic in 1940 the same year my Dad was born.
The U Boats may have been defeated eventually but early on they were very effective despite their small numbers.

A gripping and sound documentary that does not need the word 'Lie' in it's title.

Very impressive presentation. This level of accuracy in documentaries is the most comprehensive I have ever seen. They mention a Lightning aircraft; they show a Lightning aircraft! Same with the Spitfire and the German U-Boats they are referring to! Such authentic looking film footage is "catnip" to a visual fanatic like me. I subscribed after watching. Hoping for more.

As things declined for the U-Boats many captains resorted to sinking empty ships returning to America knowing that they would not be escorted. They still got the kill and the tunnage sunk, along with all the free holidays for them and their families, but without the dangers expected of attacking an escorted convoy.

Two of my uncles were in the merchant navy with these delightful trips to the Artic. One of them was on the Norland when she sailed to the Falkalnds.

I gre up with the great UBoat myth, but when I joined the navy and required to learn about anti submarine warfare which included looking at the history. This started with reading Admiral Donitz book (no small task, it is being the product of a the mind of a control freak obsessed with details, it is long and dull), but what I learnt was that they were desperately short of everything boats, crew, torpedoes and lacking of any support from the Luftwaffe beyond a handful of fragile Condors. To make things worse, they were rarely allowed to focus on the Atlantic, instead being dragged away to do other things like Norway and the Mediterranean. The UBoats like the Luftwaffe was always going to lose once the Allies got their "shite" together.

And only a third of the Germans who were sailing in the U-boats survived the war. Kaptain Günther Prien, from the famous Scapa Flow attack, most likely had his boat sunk outside Ireland. His German mother searched for him years after the war, hoping he had survived!

Excellent documentary! thank you!

The quote from Eisenhower's journal about Naval Commander King... Priceless!

My father was at Scarpha, on akk akk guns, he arrived after the sinking of the Royal Oak, and he said, "they wouldn't came back again, as by that time the fleet had left, and nothing left to sink, so from an Artillery outfit he was moved to Africa to join the RWAFF. That was nice until he coped for malaria 7  times. He was a lucky bugger as the RWAFF was moved to Burma.

Excellent video.

Excellent video. Thank you.

‘War Beneath the Sea’ by Peter Padfield is an excellent and comprehensive narrative on this topic.

Submarine warfare was a highly dangerous occupation and the losses of submarines and crews was horrendous and akin to the air bomber raids losses during WW2.

My son-in-laws grandfather was a Canadian merchant marine who had two ships torpedoed out from under him during the war and lived to tell about it.  He just passed away a couple of years ago.

I don't understand what the lie is. This is basically the story that I have long heard.

Anyone who has looked into the history of German U-boats quickly discovers that they initially roamed certain parts of the Atlantic Ocean with relative freedom during the early stages of the war. However, as the conflict evolved, various factors began to limit their operations. The introduction of Q-ships, the capture of German naval code books, the implementation of the convoy system, and increased coastal air patrols on both sides of the Atlantic all contributed to this shift. Additionally, U.S. military operations from Iceland and advancements in radar and sonar technology further restricted their movement. By late 1943, the opportunities for U-boats to operate effectively had diminished significantly, marking a turning point in the U-boat campaign.

This is probably the most definitive video  history of the German U-boat arm during World War II.  Great job!

IF the subject of history was still taught in primary schools, this film would be for a 5th grade class.
  It is mostly fact but a bit slanted on the UK side.
 About 76% of the German U-Boat crews are lost in WW II.

Speaking of the German U-boat "blockades" British public health statistics demonstrate that children who were going through their critical development years during BOTH World Wars were significantly stunted compared to earlier and later age groups.  Rationing meant that there were fewer calories to go around. In many cases adults sacrificed so that children would have enough to eat; however the requirements of the military took priority.  The British economy was so badly damaged after WW2 that many food items were still rationed well into the 1950's.

My late mother's Danish Uncle was torpedoed but survived!