Kulisy klęski sił u-bootwaffe nieopodal atlantyckich Azorów latem 1943 roku.

If you like my content, you can buy me a virtual coffee: https://buycoffee.to/nieznaneoblicza Thank you. My book: "Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1945": https://www.legimi.pl/ebook-bitwa-o-a... Link to my book "U-Boots. Incredible Missions of World War II": https://www.legimi.pl/ebook-u-booty-n... Free excerpt from the book "U-Boots. Incredible Missions of World War II": https://drive.google.com/file/d/16efP... Get interesting additional bonuses!!! If you liked the episode, you can support the channel's development through Patronite.pl and receive extra bonuses: https://patronite.pl/Nieznane.oblicza You can also buy a symbolic coffee as a token of gratitude for the prepared material by clicking this link: https://buycoffee.to/nieznaneoblicza Thank you in advance for all your support. At the end of May 1943, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, had no reason for optimism. He was fully aware of the German defeat in the North Atlantic, and just a few days after the disaster in the Battle of Convoy SC-130, on May 24th, he issued an order to all U-boat commanders in the area of ​​the convoy clashes to withdraw to the area near the Azores. In his order, Dönitz pathetically stated the following: "At the moment, only you can take the offensive against the enemy and defeat him. U-boats must continue to sink ships bringing military equipment and food to this island (to Great Britain), and must weaken the enemy with constant bloodletting that would cause even the strongest organism to bleed to death […]. I know that at this moment your fight is among the fiercest and entails heavy losses, because the enemy has new, more advanced technological achievements at its disposal. Believe me, I have done and will do everything in my power to keep up with his progress […]. We will not allow ourselves to be pushed onto the defensive and we will not rest, but will strike and fight with even greater energy and determination wherever the opportunity presents itself […]. Then we will achieve victory […]. Hail dem Führer! Your Supreme Commander Dönitz." Dönitz was prompted to withdraw U-boats from the main North Atlantic route by the disastrous situation in the area, which had intensified in the two weeks preceding the order. Between May 10 and May 24, 1943, the Allies managed to guide nine convoys through the wolfpack-infested central section of the North Atlantic. Of the 370 ships in their ranks, only six were lost during this time, three of which were unprotected convoy stragglers. During this same period, the German side lost thirteen U-boats, most of which—seven—were sunk by Allied air forces, two fell victim to combined air and naval action, and four were sunk by Allied warship crews. May 1943 was the month that brought the Allies a long-awaited breakthrough in the fight against German submarines, and from then on, U-boat crews were no longer able to reverse this unfavorable turn of events in the North Atlantic. In the two months of April and May 1943, the Germans lost a total of 53 submarines in this area. It was a veritable U-boat massacre, and even more troubling than the loss of the ships themselves was the loss of the often highly experienced crews aboard them. The lack of significant successes in the fight against convoys operating in the North Atlantic forced Dönitz to deeply reflect on the sense of continuing operations in the Atlantic and to believe that, as he himself stated, "victory over two naval powers cannot be achieved" with U-boats. Dönitz, in his memoirs written after the war, noted that at that time he was also considering the complete withdrawal of submarines from operations in the Atlantic, which he expressed in the following sentence: "I had to decide whether to withdraw the ships from all areas and call off the U-boat war, or to allow them to continue the operation in some appropriately modified form."