The U-boat war

     The U-boat had first been introduced during the great war over 20 years earlier where it was the British' merchants biggest fear. And over 20 years later it was still causing German adversaries headaches. The British had to call the Americans for help mainly because of 2 reasons. The blitzkrieg and the U-boat. The U-boats impact was massive. The Blitzkrieg could never have been as effective if it hadn't been for the German Navy's favorite toy, the U-boat.

Cutting Off Supplies

    The U-Boat was seen as most effective to take out enemy merchant ships that would be bringing supplies to their respective nations. There were 2 major campaigns that show their importance to drawing out the war.

Mediterranian campaign: 

One of the big U-boat efforts was in the Mediterranean where they were used to cut off British supply lines. In such a long war the winner would be the one with the most resources backing them up so it was essential to cut off Britains supply lines from their North African colonies. In total 140 ships were sunk by U-boats alone causing the loss of 480,870 tons, as well as 25 ships, damages accounting for the loss of 163,248 tons. This became significant once France had fallen and Britain now had their backs against the walls due to losses to their supply lines. 

Mid-Atlantic Gap:

     Once Britain was alone in Europe, cut off from its resources and deeply damaged from a couple of awful losses it turned to The US. Again it was of utmost importance of stopping the Americans from supplying the British and eventually aiding them in combat. The Germans realized that the U-boats were perfect for attacking the undefended merchant ships that the Americans had. In fact, the U-boats even went all the way to South America and attacked American supply lines. But the most important region was the Mid Atlantic gap. An area where American Airforce was out of range and the merchant ships were left as sitting ducks. It was a 300 mile gap before they would be escorted by the British navy. By the end of 1939, 114 merchant ships had been sunk and causing (421,00 tons of damage). And in 1940 after the U-boat fleet had grown, 2,606,000 tons were lost. Eventually, the allies began to find ways to counteract the devastating U-boats.

     Not only were the U-boats an essential piece to German successes in the war, both on land and at sea, but they spurred technological innovation on both sides of the war. The Americans increased the range on their planes, created radar that was effective at scouting out U-boats, which ultimately became the demise of the U-boat attack and one of the first turning points of the war that gave the allies a boost. And the Germans, who began to experiment with long-range artillery that could shoot across the canal, risking fewer lives and continue the effort to contain the British within their island. Overall the German U-boat was an early war technology that helped cause devastating amounts of damage to the allies.

https://uboat.net/ops/med-ove.htm

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