Hitler's primary goal was to conquer the European continent and then force the British Empire to make peace. Therefore, in his expansion plan, the army and air force have always been the focus of development. Although he agreed with Lei Deer's ambitious plan, in fact, the navy was put in second place. Based on this, Hitler signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement with Britain in 1935, which did not endanger the advantage of the British navy at all, and stipulated that the tonnage of the German navy was 35% of that of Britain, so that Britain might no longer interfere in Germany's military adventures in Europe. In a word, in a strategic sense, the development and construction of the German navy plays an auxiliary role and is in a subordinate position. This has become one of the permanent topics repeatedly complained by German naval generals.
The strategic mistakes made by the German high command in armaments slowed down the development and construction of the German navy. By 1939, Lei Deer had only three pocket battleships and 57 submarines, and only two pocket battleships and 23 submarines could sail to the Atlantic Ocean at any time. Deng Nici is quite critical of this: "So few weapons can only sting the enemy, but it is impossible to make a summary of a world-class naval power." At the beginning of the war, because the strength of the German navy was far less than that of the British navy, especially there were very few large surface ships, Germany divided the 1-2 pocket battleships into small surface formations, converted merchant ships into attack ships to engage in frontal exchange of fire with the British navy, and launched submarine warfare, and carried out the "hit-and-run" tactics against British shipping with a single boat in the vast Atlantic Ocean. By 1 March 9401day, German submarines sank 199, with a total tonnage of more than 700,000. Two pocket battleships also sank 57,000 gross tonnage ships. Although Britain established the escort system in May 1939, many ships were slaughtered by German submarines every day. These submarines are called "sea wolves", which makes the British people pale. In addition, British warships have also become targets of German submarine attacks. On September 1939 and 19, the German U-29 submarine sank the British Courage aircraft carrier in one fell swoop outside the western channel leading to the British Islands, so the British had to withdraw the aircraft carrier from the area where German submarines were active. 10 On June 4th, Deng Nici appointed his favorite general, Major Prian, to lead a U-47 submarine to attack the British naval base, Spacca Bay, and sank the British battleship Royal Oak, killing nearly 800 officers and men on board. Since then, the British army was forced to give up the important naval base Spacca. In addition, German submarines also wounded battleships Nelson, barham and cruiser Belfast. Germany only lost 14 submarine with a total tonnage of about 9500.
The Royal Navy was helpless against the "sea wolf", but it was handy against the German pocket battleship. 1939 12 13 three British cruisers fought fiercely with the german pocket battleship graf spee in the south Atlantic. German ships retreated to Montevideo port in neutral Uruguay. Because the Uruguayan government did not allow it to repair in the port and leave the port within a time limit, the Graf Spey was cornered and forced to scuttle itself. 1in June, 940, France fell, Britain lost the support of the French fleet, and Germany gained the seaport and submarine base on the west coast of the continent closer to the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, the number of German submarines has also increased, which made Deng Nici decide to implement a new submarine warfare tactic-"Wolf Warriors Tactics", which was difficult to display before, that is, multiple ships cooperated with each other in potential. As soon as the Allied escort fleet was discovered, it was chased by a search ship. The rest of the submarines assembled at the scene through radio guidance to seize the upper hand of the escort team, and then attacked the water for several days until the prey was wiped out. Deng Nici clearly pointed out that the essence of this war mode is economic war, and its war capability was contained by strangling Britain's economic lifeline in the Atlantic Ocean.
1in the summer and autumn of 940, the situation at that time was very favorable to the submarine economic war and achieved considerable success. Because Britain wants to maintain a strong destroyer fleet to defend its homeland, the British escort force was once weak. In June alone, German submarines sank 58 British ships with a gross tonnage of * * * 284,000. Churchill urgently called Roosevelt to help the destroyer. In September, Britain and the United States reached an agreement that the United States leased 50 old destroyers from British air and sea bases in the West Indies, Bermuda and Newfoundland. But this does not immediately change the British escort situation in the Atlantic, and the "wolves" still do whatever they want. On the night of June+10/October 17- 18, 65438, six German submarines attacked the "SC-7" convoy from Canada to Britain and sank the cargo ship 17. On the night of June+10/October 19, 65438, the U-47 submarine commanded by "sea killer" Prian found the British "HX-79" convoy in the nearby waters. Prian immediately radioed four submarines and attacked for two days in a row, sending 14 British cargo ships to the seabed. From July 1940 to July 10, German submarines sank 205 British ships, reaching10.89 million gross tonnage, while Germany only lost six submarines. It was only in winter that the Atlantic Ocean was dangerous, making it difficult for the "wolves" to attack and once converged. 194 1 In March, with the warming of the climate, war broke out again in the Atlantic Ocean. Today, the British have improved their tactics and equipment to deal with submarines after suffering losses. The invention of sonar, radio direction finder and more effective depth charge greatly improved the escort conditions in Britain. "Wolves" began to taste the British "shotgun". On March 7th, the U-47 submarine under the command of ace captain Prian was sunk by a British destroyer with a depth charge when attacking the British "OB-293" convoy, and Puri, the "sea killer", was buried at the bottom of the sea. 10 days later, the U-90 submarine commanded by Major Klesch, the ace captain, and the U- 100 submarine commanded by Major Sheppard, the ace captain, were also sunk when attacking the British "HX- 12" convoy. Shepard was killed with the ship, and Klesch Mai, who sank the highest tonnage ship of the Allied Forces, was captured alive by a British destroyer under the command of Colonel Mai Gentile. Since then, the British have gradually recovered from the panic caused by the "wolf tactics."
194 1 In the spring of, the German Admiralty also sent a large number of large surface ships to participate in the Atlantic campaign, including the Earl Spee, Admiral Schell, Chanhoss and other large battleships, which sank hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo ships and frigates. In mid-May, the German newly-built giant battleship Bismarck (42,000 tons) sailed into the Atlantic Ocean with the new cruiser prinz eugen in an attempt to win a total victory. On May 24th, at dawn, they met the British and the battle cruiser Hood and the Prince of Wales in Greenland, so they fired at the same time at a distance of only 14 mile. Two German ships concentrated on dealing with the largest "Hood" in Britain, causing it to explode and catch fire. Within minutes, it sank to the bottom of the sea, and the Prince of Wales was also shot and evacuated from the battlefield. However, German ships were soon pursued by the British joint fleet, mainly the aircraft carrier Royal Ark. On the 27th, Bismarck became a flame under the bombardment of torpedoes, heavy artillery and bombs, and slowly sank into the waves, killing more than 2,000 people on board. The sinking of Bismarck marked the strategic failure of Lei Deer's plan to win the Atlantic War with large surface ships. Since then, Deng Nici's submarines have become the main fighting force of the German navy.
1941July, American troops landed in Iceland and replaced British troops to guard the island. Subsequently, the United States undertook the task of escorting the transport fleet west of Iceland. This move marks the gradual involvement of the United States in the war. On September 1 1, President Roosevelt announced the principle of American escort in the Atlantic Ocean: the United States will implement the policy of "hitting German ships at sight" in the Atlantic Ocean without waiting for the other side to preempt, which is actually an undeclared war against Germany. Hitler tried his best to avoid direct armed conflict with the United States. He believes that Germany's goal of conquering Europe, destroying the Soviet Union and finally conquering Britain can be achieved, but there must be one condition: the United States does not intervene. Therefore, in September 1939, he issued a strict order to the German navy generals: "No German submarines and warships are allowed to attack the American fleet in the Atlantic Ocean." However, after the United States participated in the escort, conflicts with German submarines inevitably occurred from time to time. Although Germany and the United States have not declared war, their hatred has reached irreconcilable levels.
194 1 In September, Deng Nici decided to clean up the western style thoroughly. He divided the submarines into 2-4 groups and swept across the vast Atlantic Ocean in the form of reconnaissance screens. These "wolves" intercepted four escort ships, but only 200,000-ton merchant ships were sunk due to the powerful escort forces and dense fog of the allied forces. In the last three months of 194 1, the German submarine war in the Atlantic entered the so-called "depression period". In order to cooperate with the battlefields in North Africa and the Eastern Front, a large number of submarines were sent to the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea, resulting in a sharp decline in submarines fighting in the Atlantic Ocean. By the end of 194 1, there were only 5- 10 German submarines fighting in the Atlantic Ocean. 194 1 In the whole year, German submarine * * * sank 432 allied ships, accounting for 2170,000 gross tonnage, which was lower than the record of 1940. In Germany, 24 submarines were destroyed. The unsatisfactory record made Deng Nici's chief of operations feel that "there is nothing we can do about the motorcade", as Deng Nici said: "The command organ of the submarine force spent 194 1 year in anxiety and distress. 194 1 After the Pearl Harbor incident, Germany declared war on the United States, and Deng Nici ordered the start of all-round unrestricted submarine warfare. 16 February 16, the first batch of "wolves" composed of five submarines led by Major Hald Gen, captain of U- 133, quietly left the base in Biscay and headed for the east coast of the United States.
However, the Americans were obviously unprepared for the sudden attack of German submarines. 1942 65438+1October 13, what Hald and others saw on the east coast of the United States was a peaceful scene: "The coast is brightly lit, the towns are shining with dazzling lights, the navigation lights, lighthouses and beacons are still on, and merchant ships are sailing casually on their usual channels." Hald root later wrote, "God, it's not like a war. I wonder if they have declared war on Germany, maybe they are setting up a new anniversary! " This is really like dew for a German submarine who has been discouraged for a year. They immediately sank their prey greedily and effortlessly. In June+10, 5438, German submarines sank 62 merchant ships in American waters alone, with a total tonnage of over 327,000 tons. The attacks in the next few months were also quite successful. By the end of April, 6,543,800 tons of merchant ships had been sunk, more than half of which were oil tankers. No wonder Deng Nici said, "It was the most economical period of submarine warfare."
1942 in may, the United States also began to strengthen the escort on the east coast. However, German submarines still achieved fruitful results in the southern Caribbean. In May and June, 750,000 tons of merchant ships were sunk in this sea area alone. Admiral Hoover, then commander of the US military in the Caribbean, said to Deng Nici in a friendly tone in his letter 1957: "1945- 1956 (referring to Deng Nici's prison term) made you nervous, but when your submarine carried out an amazing attack in the Caribbean in 1942,
1942 in the second half of the year, as the United States adopted escort formations on the east coast and the Caribbean, the submarine warfare in American waters was not so exciting. So Deng Nici moved the focus of submarine warfare to the nearby North Atlantic to attack the British escort fleet. At this time, the number of German submarines has greatly increased, with as many as 30 new ships sailing to the front every month, enabling Deng Nici to form a large-scale "wolf pack". From July to September, German submarines sank 1.3 million tons of merchant ships in the North Atlantic, but they also lost 32 submarines. Since June+10, 65438, two huge wolves have often intercepted the allied escort fleet, but the record is not good. 165438+ 10 In June, when the allied forces landed in North Africa, Deng Nici's submarines made a limited stop and sank several merchant ships. 1942 in the last three months, German submarines sank the allied merchant ship1680,000 tons. Looking at 1942, the allied ships were sunk 1 160, with a total tonnage of 6.266 million tons, exceeding the tonnage of new ships built by Britain and the United States, and Germany also lost 87 submarines.
The first five months of 1943 were the stage of the gradual failure of the German Atlantic submarine war. At the beginning of this year, Deng Nici succeeded Lei Deer as commander-in-chief of the German navy. The number and technical performance of German submarines have been greatly improved. There are more than 100 submarines fighting in the Atlantic Ocean, and radar receivers are installed, so the maneuverability and speed are also improved. In terms of allies, the anti-submarine force at sea has also grown rapidly and has an advantage in technology. The invention of airborne radar, high-power searchlights and high-efficiency long-time flares gradually made German submarines lose the cover of night. In addition, Churchill appointed Sir Horton, the commander of the excellent British submarine force, as the commander of the western sea area. Under Horton's leadership, Britain's anti-submarine warfare has greatly improved in materials and technology, especially in tactical command and strengthening morale. The powerful economic and military potential of the United States has also begun to play a decisive role. A large number of escort ships have been put into use, especially nearly 100 special escort carriers modified from merchant ships, which have become the bane of German submarines.
In this way, although the wolves in Germany were hungry, they were unable to return to heaven under the powerful escort force of the Allies, and the results were reduced, but the loss of submarines was greatly improved. Deng Nici made another major tactical mistake. He even ordered all submarines to surface when passing through the Bay of Biscay, whether sailing or returning, to compete with allied planes with anti-aircraft guns. As a result, German submarines suffered heavy losses, with a loss of 1943 in February alone.