The True Story of Hitler's U-Boat War - Roger Moorhouse

Hitler's Strategic View

Contrary to the common notion of the U-Boat as Hitler's "wonder weapon," Moorhouse explains that Hitler was initially indifferent to the submarine fleet. It wasn't until late 1941—well after the war had started—that Hitler recognized the U-Boats' strategic importance. Prior to this, Adolf Hitler's attention was firmly fixed on continental warfare and conventional surface forces such as tanks and battleships, which ultimately drained resources away from the U-Boat arm. Admiral Karl Dönitz, who championed the submarine fleet long before the war, consistently pushed for a large U-Boat force capable of sustaining prolonged Atlantic operations. Yet, when war began in 1939, Germany only possessed a fraction of the submarines Dönitz had argued were essential. By the time Germany ramped up production to the necessary scale around late 1942, Allied countermeasures had significantly reduced the effectiveness of the submarines.

The Early "Happy Time"

The early war period—often dubbed the "Happy Time" by the Germans—saw U-Boats score high successes against unprotected Allied shipping, especially before the United States entered the war. Moorhouse points out that while this phase involved genuine peril for the Allies and considerable losses, its threat has been somewhat exaggerated in popular historiography. The Germans lacked sufficient numbers to fully capitalize on their early successes. By late 1941 and 1942, as the United States mobilized, providing convoys with greater escort protection and innovative technologies, the tide began to turn decisively against the German submariners.

Conditions Aboard the U-Boats

One of the most gripping aspects Moorhouse illuminates is the horrific conditions faced by the U-Boat crews. Submarines like the Type VII, about 66 meters long, were packed with around 50 men living in cramped, damp environments stacked atop torpedoes and machinery. Supplies of fresh food were limited to a couple of weeks, with the rest being tinned provisions that brought their own health risks, including scurvy. Hygiene was minimal; crews often did not wash for weeks, producing a notorious "U-Boat stink" – a mixture of halitosis, diesel fumes, mold, vomit, and unwashed humanity. Stubborn infections and venereal diseases were common and strictly punished to maintain morale and operational readiness.

The psychological toll, Moorhouse reveals, is an often-overlooked dimension. Although the Nazi regime openly promoted a heroic image of the submariners, documents from German Navy doctors show a large portion—perhaps half—suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Depth charge attacks lasting 24 hours or more, with the constant threat of destruction suffocating the steel tube beneath the waves, produced states of terror and anxiety difficult to comprehend. Accounts detail panicked officers and crew, suicidal thoughts, and mental breakdowns, underscoring the relentlessness of their ordeal.

The Reality of the Submarine Fleet

During the early war years, U-Boat crews and their commanders were often elevated to celebrity status within Nazi Germany. They were front and center in propaganda efforts aimed at recruiting the next generation of submariners, portrayed as heroes braving the ocean in the service of the Reich. Yet as the war progressed and losses mounted, these narratives became harder to sustain. Morale diminished sharply, crews became younger and less experienced, and the stark contrast between heroic image and grim reality grew ever more pronounced.

Technological Struggles

The discovery of the Enigma machine aboard U-110 in 1941 is heralded as one of the greatest British naval victories. In a rare failure during the scuttling of the U-Boat, British forces seized an intact Enigma machine and codebooks, drastically bolstering Allied codebreaking efforts at Bletchley Park. Moorhouse elaborates on how this breakthrough gave the Allies crucial intelligence that effectively neutralized the U-Boat threat by allowing convoys to reroute and escort vessels to hunt submarines with unprecedented precision.

Enigma, despite being believed nearly unbreakable by the Germans, was ultimately cracked due to early Polish work and relentless Allied efforts. The Germans never realized their ciphers had been compromised, in part because the British ensured that any tactical advantage gained by intelligence intercepts appeared to be the result of traditional reconnaissance, thus concealing the secret.

German technological limitations played a major role in the submarine fleet's effectiveness. Many Type VII submarines were mostly submersible rather than true submarines, operating primarily on the surface and diving only to attack or evade. Their torpedoes suffered a notorious failure rate, with some 30% failing to detonate upon contact. Later in the war, desperate attempts to develop advanced "wonder weapons" such as the air-independent propulsion Type XXI U-Boats consumed vast resources but never saw significant combat impact before the war's end.

Allied Countermeasures

By 1943, Allied advances in convoy escort tactics, radar, sonar, and air patrols effectively closed the "Atlantic gap," depriving U-Boats of safe operating areas. Allied breaking of Enigma let them know Wolfpack positions in real-time. Airborne radar was a game-changer, revealing U-Boats before they could react and forcing commanders to make impossible decisions riddled with paranoia and stress. German crews distrusted their own radar detectors when suddenly they stopped working against new frequencies, leading to fatal misunderstandings and disastrous outcomes.

The relentless pressure claimed many experienced commanders, eroding the skill-level of the submarine force. From 1943 onwards, only about 16% of the U-Boats managed to sink any enemy tonnage. The crews grew younger, less trained, and demoralized, faced with near-suicidal odds.

Humanity Amidst Conflict

One surprising theme Moorhouse raises is the continuity of seamen's solidarity across enemy lines, particularly during the early phases of the war. There are anecdotes of submariners providing aid to survivors of ships they had sunk, reflecting a naval tradition that separates combatants from crewmen's basic humanity. The 1942 Laconia incident stands out: after torpedoing the ship, German submariners staged a rescue operation for its survivors, including allied nationals. Despite broadcasting their rescue efforts openly, the U-Boat was attacked by Allied aircraft, forcing them to abandon the survivors. This event led Hitler to issue the "Laconia order," forbidding such rescues and pushing submarine warfare toward greater ruthlessness.

Karl Dönitz

Moorhouse portrays Admiral Karl Dönitz as a fascinating and contradictory figure—a dedicated naval officer and committed Nazi who sought to balance ideological loyalty with naval tradition and some measure of humanity. Unlike other branches of the Nazi military, the German Navy resisted full politicization and indoctrination efforts, in part due to Dönitz's opposition to embedding political officers aboard vessels. He preserved a comparatively less dogmatic, pragmatic culture within the U-Boat service.

At the Nuremberg Trials, Dönitz was tried but defended with the argument that unrestricted submarine warfare had been common to all major navies, including the Allies. Though convicted and sentenced to ten years, his legacy is marked by tension between complicity and professional integrity.

The War's End

As Germany's defeat loomed in 1945, U-Boat crews faced disintegration and despair. Hitler's sudden suicide shocked many, some of whom saw it as a possible relief signaling war's end, while others were disillusioned. After Hitler's death, Dönitz briefly assumed nominal leadership and ordered U-Boat surrender, an order met with mixed response—many captains preferred scuttling their vessels rather than surrendering to the Allies. Some even sought refuge in neutral countries like Sweden or Portugal, while a few, in desperate treks, sailed to distant Argentina, unaware it was no longer neutral.

German crews feared Soviet captivity far more than British or American detention, which was relatively humane. The end of the U-Boat war was thus chaotic and emblematic of the larger collapse of Germany's Nazi war machine.