268: War at Sea '41 Pt. 6 - Aces Down

Podcast: History of the Second World War · Wesley Livesay

Opublikowano: 2026-07-29

This episode follows the Battle of the Atlantic through the costly weeks of March 1941, when Germany lost three of its most celebrated U-boat commanders: Günther Prien, Joachim Schepke, and Otto Kretschmer. It examines the expanding British convoy-escort system, the battle surrounding convoy HX-112, and the decisions that pushed Dönitz to disperse his boats farther west and toward West Africa. Those losses marked the end of one phase of the U-boat war, even as rising German production and the approaching entry of the United States pointed toward an even larger struggle ahead. "One sc...