Join historian, Bob Begin as he  discusses a tale of the longest campaign in all of World War II, from its outbreak in September, 1939, until May 4, 1945 when Admiral Donitz broadcast an order for all U-boats to cease hostile operations and return to bases. On the first day of the war, the British liner Athenia, an unarmed passenger ship, was sunk by a German U-boat, the U-30. This was a violation of the London Naval Treaty of 1930 which both Germany and Great Britain had signed. This sinking of a merchant vessel would be a stark indication of how the war would be waged. The first two years of the war pitted the navies of Great Britain and Canada against wolfpacks of the German U-Boats in waters ranging from the British Isles, Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, Newfoundland, the East coast of America, and the Azores. Germany’s stated goal was to isolate England from its allies, with the goal of England surrendering. She came perilously close. 

This campaign was composed of many components: Lend Lease, the Neutrality Patrols, the Merchant Marines, the Naval Armed Guard, American shipbuilding, Rosie the Riveter, Liberty Boats, the Enigma machine, warships named after flowers, the Four Chaplains, the Coast Guard, the US Navy, and Tonnagekreig. It was a bloody, costly struggle on all sides. Chances of survival were nil in frigid conditions. Over 36,000 merchant ship sailors would eventually be lost. U-boat officers and men lost by Germany were over 33,000 (out of 40,000). Almost 3,000 merchant ships, 200 warships, and more than 700 U-boats were lost in this campaign. It was a struggle for survival, with no quarter expected or given.