Battle of the Atlantic

The best series on the subject. My grandfather served in the merchant navy in WW2 and sadly died the year before this was released.He served as an engineering officer on the s.s Erato,the M.V oregon,the empire livingstone and ocean vagrant.He came out of the service in 1946.He loved the Das Boot series and when i asked him how he could watch it as they were out to sink him and his comrades,he simply replied "they were sent to do a job like us son" Respect for all those who fought in the longest battle.

The submarine pens are empty. The brave men who sailed on the merchant ships and those who sank them have passed into history. May we always remember the sacrifice of so many who have gone before us. Amen.

Gotta love those 90s era documentaries. Before the History channel became a mouthpiece for the narrative

Best documentary on the Battle of the Atlantic I've seen yet and Ive watched many

These were some of the best put together videos.

I’ve seen many, many docs on WW2 and the Battle of the Atlantic. In my opinion this is the best one. Glad I was able to find it on YouTube. Thanks for uploading!

Thank you for this video. I watched and read about the battle of the north Atlantic. My uncle sailed with the American Merchant marine during that battle. He was sunk twice. Spent time in the "water" until rescued. The Merchant Mariners of all the allied countries were the toughest hombres, and still are! Bless those brave souls to this day. The true hero's of salvation during that time in history.

40:04 > This is U124 (Georg-Wilhelm Schulz) on her return to Lorient, 1 May 1941, following a very successful 68-day patrol in February, March and April 1941. She is sporting three life-belts, one each from the merchantmen SS Tweed, SS Portadoc and SS Umona, all sunk off the African coast near to Freetown. Also she flies pennants showing the tonnage of her 11 victims, 53000 tons in total. Following the 8th April 1941 sinking of SS Tweed, Schulz noticed that one of her two lifeboats had capsized with several injured men clinging to it. Coming alongside in U-124, Schulz took the injured aboard the submarine where Dr. Hubert Goder treated the wounded. Meanwhile U-124's crew righted the lifeboat. Schulz stocked the lifeboat with food, water, cognac and cigarettes, gave the survivors a compass and a course to Freetown, and continued with his patrol. An official account of Schulz's decision to render assistance to the shipwrecked enemy mariners was entered into evidence at the Nuremburg Tribunals in Donitz defence.

Brilliant documentary, thank you.

My great grandfather joined the battle of the Atlantic as a warsailor. He never spoke of it. Though after I read "The cruel sea" I began to understand his silence. By God it must've been the most brutal thing to be a part of.

Probably the best documentary on the Battle of the Atlantic I've ever seen - leave it to the BBC.

Greatest uboat documentary ever, and ive seen them all, this is Fantastic

Fits well as bonus content for the “Atlantic Fleet” game.

Thank you for posting this epic documentary. We all live in peace because of those brave men.

Helmut Witte interviewed at 1:40:27... I had never seen/heard him in video before. This is so cool, I really enjoyed the account of how the Enigma machine was obtained and also all the accounts from both sides and survivors. Some of the stories are really moving, like that of the man who threw himself out the liferaft during the storm, deciding to die, or the young german submariner who was immorally and unlawfully denied quarter because he refused to give information :( . This series is gold. I wish there were more documentaries like this, objective and unbiased.

Very fine documentary, especially having do many participants

Proportionately, more members of the British Merchant Navy were killed in action than in the regular Army, Navy or RAF. Although they were civilians, the Merchant Navy was under military discipline. This meant that civilians could be, and were, conscripted into the service, could not leave if they wanted and regular seamen were posted to serve in any merchant ship that needed crew. The men themselves had no choice as to which ship they got or where it went. However, one major difference between the Merchant Navy and the armed services was that when their ships were sunk, the merchant sailors pay was stopped immediately. If they survived, they weren't paid until they were assigned to another ship.... and if they died, their widows didn't receive a war widows pension. And yet they went out... time, after time, after time.

One of the best documentaries on this theater of battle with a heavy stress on the U-Boats. Of course it can't discuss even a fraction of what happened, but it does a good job of showing what it can and providing personal experiences from both sides of battle. It gets taken down often on Youtube over copyright and pops back up again. Glad to see. I don't know why they don't discuss the abandoning of the convoy around Iceland, that was considered the worst maritime disaster at the time. Twenty four out of thirty five merchant ships in a single convoy were sunk by U-Boats and torpedo planes, all because the British Navy were afraid of the Tirpitz showing up and losing their own ships to it. So the British destroyers abandoned the merchant ship convoy to fend for themselves in arctic waters far from any shoreline. I guess the BBC didn't want to mention that. But many Americans and British merchant sailors died because of that deceitful act by the British Navy. Worse part was, the Tirpitz never showed up. So the over dozen destroyers that had tucked tail and run off, if they had stayed and protected the convoy like they promised, like duty and honor demanded, they could've chased the U-Boats off and saved all those men. But they didn't. This doc seems to have forgotten to mention it, but didn't mind mentioning the US attacking a U-Boat with survivors of a British merchant ship aboard. Even fine documentaries like this are never completely objective or open minded. There's always a side, always an angle to protect.

Absolutely Love this Epic Background Music

Brilliant upload thanks. My grandad (Harry Webb UXB expert) best friend and best man was torpedoed off of the US Coast and, two of the three lifeboats machine gunned (or cannoned) killing all on board. He always said the U boat service was one of the few armed forces to celebrate the killing of combatants, happy time one and two.