1939 - 1945 The Battle of the Atlantic
As an island country Britain needed to bring in a vast amount of food and military equipment by sea in order to survive the war. The German plan was to use their U-boats (submarines) to sink as many of the British and American naval forces and cargo ships as possible.
Beginning with President Roosevelt’s implementation of the Lend-Lease Act which provided Great Britain with both ships and supplies the United States began to ship a great deal of our raw materials across the Atlantic.
The battle for control of the Atlantic was one of the most important struggles of the war. Without the arms and supplies that came across the ocean from the United States, Great Britain was sure to lose.
The Atlantic later became crucial to the United States as well, because its forces had to cross the ocean to bring the war to Germany and halt Hitler's aggression. As a result, the Battle of the Atlantic was one of the longest and most complicated of the war, costing thousands of lives on both sides and a tremendous amount of equipment and materials.
At the onset of hostilities, Germany made the Atlantic a top priority, with the navy and the Luftwaffe working together to make passage across the ocean as hazardous as possible. The German strategy was known as “tonnage warfare” and was based on the assumption that if they could sink so many tons of ships each month depriving Great Britain of the supplies they needed to survive then Great Britain would be forced to surrender. The reality is that this became a war of attrition which the Allies eventually won because it could produce and deliver more goods then the German and their U-boats could sink.
Below is a short film that explains more about the War of the Atlantic.
Beginning with President Roosevelt’s implementation of the Lend-Lease Act which provided Great Britain with both ships and supplies the United States began to ship a great deal of our raw materials across the Atlantic.
The battle for control of the Atlantic was one of the most important struggles of the war. Without the arms and supplies that came across the ocean from the United States, Great Britain was sure to lose.
The Atlantic later became crucial to the United States as well, because its forces had to cross the ocean to bring the war to Germany and halt Hitler's aggression. As a result, the Battle of the Atlantic was one of the longest and most complicated of the war, costing thousands of lives on both sides and a tremendous amount of equipment and materials.
At the onset of hostilities, Germany made the Atlantic a top priority, with the navy and the Luftwaffe working together to make passage across the ocean as hazardous as possible. The German strategy was known as “tonnage warfare” and was based on the assumption that if they could sink so many tons of ships each month depriving Great Britain of the supplies they needed to survive then Great Britain would be forced to surrender. The reality is that this became a war of attrition which the Allies eventually won because it could produce and deliver more goods then the German and their U-boats could sink.
Below is a short film that explains more about the War of the Atlantic.