[Von Manteuffel]

I think we’re in danger of confusing a computer game with RL.

Steed has it almost right, but, unfortunately, the wrong way round – this is a game-show, not a war.

The role of the U Boat was very straightforward:

To interdict commercial shipping to and from the UK, thereby depriving Britain of essential materiel and, as a consequence, forcing them to sue for terms.

As Jimbuna says, in reality U Boat commanders didn’t go a-roving for tonnage, or raid harbours. They patrolled their assigned sectors and did such damage as they could before a shortage of fuel / supplies forced their return to base.

U Boat commanders were hugely reliant upon Intel supplied to them by BDU. At best this was patchy and unreliable. M.I.5 rolled up every German spy network in the UK in 1939. Even before America entered the war the FBI was active in suppressing German agents. The Canadian Security Service liaised closely with M.I.5 to restrict intelligence on East-bound shipping and convoys reaching Germany.

At sea a U Boat commander was essentially isolated. He knew only what he was told by his crew, his equipment and his radio.

Many of the patrol orders were based on the old pre-war shipping routes – e.g. the Great Circle route from America to Europe. We need to remember that shipping had limited fuel and the supplies they carried were of great urgency. They couldn’t take a long, meandering route to their destinations, so tended to follow established, pre-war routes.

Essentially, shipping routes were very predictable – given restrictions on fuel and the need to get to where you’re going a.s.a.p. There is, for example, only one route from the UK to Archangel. OK, you can go North-West towards Iceland, but, eventually, you have to head for North Cape.

BDU and the Luftwaffe used this knowledge to concentrate their forces on “choke-points” – places on the map through which shipping bound from A to B had to pass. The allies also used this knowledge. Hence, the basing of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow is a given. From there, it can command the North Sea, the Denmark Strait and the North Atlantic.

Whoever decided to send the Tirpitz to Norway was a strategic genius. At a stroke, it tied the Home Fleet to Scapa and prevented its wider operations. I believe that the Bismark would have survived if a threat such as the Tirpitz had been present in Norway at the time.

I digress – In effect, for a U Boat commander the only alternative to following orders was to rely on pure luck. Let’s remember that, by following orders a commander had a “get out” for when things didn’t go quite so well, but mainly, modern warfare is based on Intel, not luck.

As far as why, in RL, U Boat commanders followed their orders, I think we’re in danger of investing the characters in SHIII with current morality, ethics and beliefs.

1.The majority of U Boat commanders came from a militaristic and militarised society. Anyone who’s been through Basic Training – in any arm of the military – will understand that its purpose is to supply you with basic skills, but primarily, to teach you to obey orders. You might go in an individual, but the system guarantees you come out as a well-machined cog in the “lean, mean fighting machine.”

2.As young men, the majority of U Boat commanders grew up during the Weimar Republic, when Germany went through a massive politico-economic crisis. Apart from a sense of “Duty” they actually believed in the causes which eventually led to war. In their eyes, their nation had been humiliated and territorially diminished by the Treaty of Versailles. In their view, the Sudetenland was essentially German, as was Danzig. East Prussia had simply disappeared in 1918. Essentially, it was time to re-establish Germany.

God knows I am no apologist for Hitler and the Nazis. Civilisation must never be allowed to forget the utter obscenity that was the Nazi regime. However, the cleverness of the Nazis was in their ability to play on the frustrations, fears and sense of being wronged of the German people. The Nazis would not have been able to carry an entire nation with them without this. They came to power not on a platform of genocide, but on the promise of a “nation reborn.” Essentially, they offered what FDR offered – a “New Deal” - for a country in the depths of economic despair and possessing a sense of being persecuted by the rest of Europe.

None of the above can be modelled into a computer game. Let’s just enjoy SHIII for what it is – a brilliant game, made even better by the efforts of the modders, especially the GWX Team. In many ways, SHIII and certainly GWX are very realistic. In others it’s a very long way from fact.

I think it’s a tribute to the game that people become so immersed and involved that they forget it is a game. However, as a game, it has severe historical limitations which not even the best modders in the world can overcome.