[Bindolaf]

All interesting points (from everyone), but we're only looking at one side.

1. Concentrate on cutting off the British Supply lines by sending U-boats to only the Western Appraoches of Britain.

Sounds good, but you do realize, you send your subs close to the enemy's shores in a predictable manner. This would allow Britain to recall all her destroyers and just patrol the shores up and down in ASW sorties. Convoys wouldn't even need escorts for the crossing - the "escorts" would be busy near the arrival area depth charging away. Denser sub concentrations would also mean they'd be easier to spot. A u-boot blockade during WWI is one thing, totally different in WWII

2. Tankers were to be number 1 Priority targets. Britian produced no oil in 1939 - 45 and was totally reliant on Tankers bringing it in.

I am sure all merchants were hit when spotted. How would you actively go after tankers?

3. Demand Kriegsmarine sorties and feint attacks into the Atlantic. Thus pulling many British Destroyers and search aircraft away from ASW duty.

Ha! Good luck! The Kriegsmarine lurked in port for fear of being sunk. Fear not of the men obviously, but their illustrious leader. Even after the Deutschland was renamed, big ships hardly ever left the harbors. Not to mention the KM would not be a match to the British navy eventually - better ships, but outnumbered, hopelessly so.

4. Demand Luftwaffe concentrate on bombing British Ports and Docks rather than City bombing.

Yea, good one. Talk to Herrn Mueller about that :rotfl:

5. Demand Luftwaffe air sorties over convoy routes. Forgot the Condors attacking Convoys they were mostly useless at it.

Again, the former WWI ace would object. Still, the Luftwaffe could not even escort bombers over the channel, how far would their bombers get over the Atlantic? Not to mention that sending fully loaded bombers out to look for convoys is a waste of fuel. Now, if you mean send out spotters first, then alert the bombers... perhaps. Still, Battle of Britain! The Luftwaffe kept air superiority and ground support roles, forsaking any others. Ok, night bomb runs perhaps.

6. Send special raiding U-boats to attack coastal Oil refineries in Curacoa and then US Coast when the US entered the war. Shell those Oil tanks and blow see em burn.

I thought all the u-booten should stay around Britain. If you mean 2, 3, 5 boats then ok. Still, they would have not made a dent really. Best to use them all in their conventional roles.

7. Attack Destroyers and Escorts when possible. Dont just assume that they are the hound and the u-boats are the fox.

A bold move - and one that would have resulted in disaster. How many DDs would a u-boot sink? A convoy is moving in, with 3 escorts. Sink all of them? How many torpedoes would that leave for the convoy? Sink one? What good is that? The other two will depth charge you for hours anyway.

8. The most brutal of all would be to sink the Rescue ships in convoys when possible. I know it would be horrendous but to break morale of the merchant seaman it is a must. They would be terrified to come out of port. I would have been hung at Nurnberg for this.

Yes, you would have been :p Still, terrified or not, the convoys would continue. Not to mention - how easy would it have been to consistently target and sink the rescue vessels? When you have one or two torpedo runs before having to make your escape, why waste one on the rescue ship? Sure, there would be some morale hit, but the juicy transports would just get away.


In the end I think Doenitz did what he could with the resources he had. It was a war of industries in the end and while german technical superiority and labor (not to mention some slave labor) took them far, it was not enough - especially after the U.S. entered the war. Yes, the Russian front was all an ill advised move, yes Mussolini was more detrimental than helpful. Yes Hitler made mistakes and thank god he did

Good thread for some debate and thought!