Did Uboat sinkings ever affect a campaign?

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Felix C
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Did Uboat sinkings ever affect a campaign?

#1

Post by Felix C » 20 Nov 2018, 21:08

I read once of a convoy of tankers which was severely mauled. The ships were bound for Operation Torch and the resulting fuel loss stymied the Allies for a few months or so the author claimed. Anyone else heard of this?


Also read that the 6 million or so tons sunk in 1942 delayed any possible landing in Europe by a year. Anyone else read of this and confirm by solid sources?

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Sheldrake
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Re: Did Uboat sinkings ever affect a campaign?

#2

Post by Sheldrake » 21 Nov 2018, 12:47

Felix C wrote:
20 Nov 2018, 21:08
I read once of a convoy of tankers which was severely mauled. The ships were bound for Operation Torch and the resulting fuel loss stymied the Allies for a few months or so the author claimed. Anyone else heard of this?


Also read that the 6 million or so tons sunk in 1942 delayed any possible landing in Europe by a year. Anyone else read of this and confirm by solid sources?
I do not know of any convoy of tankers being severely mauled enough to hamper allied operations in North Africa. There were other explanations it took longer to subdue the Germans in Tunisia. The main one was that war is a democracy: The enemy gets a vote.

It is true that shipping was the main reason for the delay of D Day until 1944. Its a roundabout cause and effect.
- The build up of resources for Op Overlord in the UK could not be completed until the battle of the Atlantic had been won. The U boat threat was not overcome until mid 1943, when shipping losses fell sharply and the numbers of U boat sunk rose.
- The decision to capture Sicily in 1943 was to free up shipping for Op Overlord. This in turn forced the delay of Overlord to 1944.
- The defeat os the U boats in 1943 meant that the shipyards used for anti-submarine c raft were available to build landing craft and ships in the year before D Day. This enabled the allies to expand the initial landing from three to five divisions.

You can find the sources here;
https://history.state.gov/historicaldoc ... 41-43/d346


Felix C
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Joined: 04 Jul 2007, 17:25
Location: Miami, Fl

Re: Did Uboat sinkings ever affect a campaign?

#3

Post by Felix C » 21 Nov 2018, 16:20

The tanker convoy was TM1 bound for Gibraltar lost 7 out of 9 tankers. https://www.warsailors.com/convoys/tm1.html
"Approximately seventy thousand tons of badly needed fuel oil and aviation spirit had been destroyed by the U Boats and General von Arnim, Commander of the German Afrika Corps sent a personal message of congratulation to Admiral Dönitz thanking him for the substantial contribution the U Boats had made to the battle on the Africa front. The Allied fuel supplies had reached crisis level as there were only seven thousand tons of fuel along the whole of the north west African coast between Gibraltar and Malta, this being on board the tanker Cardium based at Oran."

I thought Tunisian campaign delayed due to weather.

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