U-Boats cost Germany WWII!

Gino · 01-16-08, 07:46 PM

Comparing the war in the Atlantic with the war in the Pacific is like comparing apples with pears. Both are fruits...

Don't forget that the U-boats started the war in a highly unfavorable position. Doenitz asked for 300 U boats, so he could have 100 of them on station all the time. With the Wolfpack strategy he designed, and with that number of U boats, the war with Britain would have ended in only a couple of months. Doenitz was well aware of the possiblity of the US coming into the war against Germany.
Had he had the 300 boats he would only have had to finish the UK off, before the US entered the war. Mind also that in the US just before the war there was a lot of sympathy for the Germans. So going to war was not easy for Roosevelt.

In the Pacific the US only started using Wolfpacks at the end of 43, beginning of 44 (not sure about the date) so, three to four years after the Germans had already shown that it worked. Bureaucracy was the main reason why the US submarines took a lot of time to do the great job that we now know they did.
Also the US had a great advantage with the Japs, they could read their code already before the war. Had they not been able to do so, then the outcome in the Pacific would have been more costly and much later.

In both theaters one thing stands out as the major mistake: Both nations, Germany and Japan, didn't have a chance to win the war. From the moment Germany invaded Poland it was only a matter of time. Anyone that believes that Germany as well as Japan could have won the war is utterly wrong. The Nazis were a bunch of crooks that manipulated the Germans into war, at a tremendous cost and grief.
For Japan the end was inevitable when the US started to boycot them because of Mantshuria. By using old fashioned ideas of the Big Battle at Sea, they hoped to lure the US in to peace negotiations...

Luckily the current governments don't think and act like that...:hmm:

groetjes

01-16-08, 07:46 PM	#19
Gino Pacific Sub Expert Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Posts: 148 Downloads: 56 Uploads: 0	Comparing the war in the Atlantic with the war in the Pacific is like comparing apples with pears. Both are fruits... Don't forget that the U-boats started the war in a highly unfavorable position. Doenitz asked for 300 U boats, so he could have 100 of them on station all the time. With the Wolfpack strategy he designed, and with that number of U boats, the war with Britain would have ended in only a couple of months. Doenitz was well aware of the possiblity of the US coming into the war against Germany. Had he had the 300 boats he would only have had to finish the UK off, before the US entered the war. Mind also that in the US just before the war there was a lot of sympathy for the Germans. So going to war was not easy for Roosevelt. In the Pacific the US only started using Wolfpacks at the end of 43, beginning of 44 (not sure about the date) so, three to four years after the Germans had already shown that it worked. Bureaucracy was the main reason why the US submarines took a lot of time to do the great job that we now know they did. Also the US had a great advantage with the Japs, they could read their code already before the war. Had they not been able to do so, then the outcome in the Pacific would have been more costly and much later. In both theaters one thing stands out as the major mistake: Both nations, Germany and Japan, didn't have a chance to win the war. From the moment Germany invaded Poland it was only a matter of time. Anyone that believes that Germany as well as Japan could have won the war is utterly wrong. The Nazis were a bunch of crooks that manipulated the Germans into war, at a tremendous cost and grief. For Japan the end was inevitable when the US started to boycot them because of Mantshuria. By using old fashioned ideas of the Big Battle at Sea, they hoped to lure the US in to peace negotiations... Luckily the current governments don't think and act like that...:hmm: groetjes __________________ Gino