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Originally Posted by GoldenRivet
GWX 1943-45 tactic:
beach your u-boat on a neutral shore and have all of your crewmen go their separate ways.
:rotfl:
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I think the leather trenchcoated fellows will want a word with you over on PrinzAlbrechtstrasse on your next visit to Berlin GR.
One of the best sources you can get your hands on is Clay Blair's two volumes,
Hitler's U-Boat War The Hunters and
The Hunted.
As Pablo has pointed out doctine was adjusted throughout the war by Doenitz, but usually too late to make a significant difference to the losses the u-waffe suffered after 1943.
From late 1942 onwards most attacks had to be made submerged due to the ability of allied escorts to pick up approaching u-boats on radar.
The approach to a convoy was also hampered by HF/DF picking up radio bearings as initial sightings were made and wolfpacks were being gathered. Usually if the initial spotter was picked up using HF/DF, then an escort was dispatched to track down the boat and either destroy it or drive it under so the transmissions stopped and approach became difficult.
Add in the increased effectiveness of allied air cover and their ability to decode German signals made life hell for the u-waffe whose boats were by this time far obsolete for the task they were undertaking.
I'm currently reading
U-Boat Killer by Capt. Donald Macintyre who was a destoyer commander during the most of WWII. This book gives an interesting perspective on the Battle of the Atlantic from the Allied perspective. In it he described both Allied and German tactics during different phases of the war and gives some great examples of how these were employed in real life.
One notable example was a dummy acknowledgement signal used by another escort commander to trick a u-boat commander into thinking help was on its way when infact an escort was racing to take up the hunt.