"Wolf Packs" by Karl Dönitz or submarines of the Third Reich. Submarine fleet of the Third Reich

Only by 1944 did the Allies manage to reduce the losses inflicted on their fleet by German submariners

The submarine U-47 returns to port on October 14, 1939 after a successful attack on the British battleship Royal Oak. Photo: U.S. Naval Historical Center

German submarines of World War II were a real nightmare for British and American sailors. They turned the Atlantic into a real hell, where, among the wreckage and burning fuel, they desperately cried out for the salvation of the victims of torpedo attacks...

Target - Britain

By the fall of 1939, Germany had a very modest in size, although technically advanced, navy. Against 22 English and French battleships and cruisers, she was able to field only two full-fledged battleships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and three so-called “pocket” battleships, Deutschland. "Graf Spee" and "Admiral Scheer". The latter carried only six 280 mm caliber guns - despite the fact that at that time new battleships were armed with 8–12 305–406 mm caliber guns. Two more German battleships, future legends of World War II, Bismarck and Tirpitz - total displacement of 50,300 tons, speed of 30 knots, eight 380-mm guns - were completed and entered service after defeat of the allied army at Dunkirk. For a direct battle at sea with the mighty British fleet, this was, of course, not enough. This was confirmed two years later during the famous hunt for the Bismarck, when a German battleship with powerful weapons and a well-trained crew was simply hunted down by a numerically superior enemy. Therefore, Germany initially relied on a naval blockade of the British Isles and assigned its battleships the role of raiders - hunters of transport caravans and individual enemy warships.

England was directly dependent on supplies of food and raw materials from the New World, especially the USA, which was its main “supplier” in both world wars. In addition, the blockade would cut off Britain from the reinforcements that were mobilized in the colonies, as well as prevent British landings on the continent. However, the successes of the German surface raiders were short-lived. Their enemy was not only the superior forces of the United Kingdom fleet, but also British aviation, against which the mighty ships were almost powerless. Regular air strikes on French bases forced Germany in 1941–42 to evacuate its battleships to northern ports, where they almost ingloriously died during the raids or stood in repair until the end of the war.

The main force that the Third Reich relied on in the battle at sea was submarines, less vulnerable to aviation and capable of sneaking up on even a very strong enemy. And most importantly, building a submarine was several times cheaper, the submarine required less fuel, it was serviced by a small crew - despite the fact that it could be no less effective than the most powerful raider.

"Wolf Packs" by Admiral Dönitz

Germany entered World War II with only 57 submarines, of which only 26 were suitable for operations in the Atlantic. However, already in September 1939, the German submarine fleet (U-Bootwaffe) sank 41 ships with a total tonnage of 153,879 tons. Among them are the British liner Athenia (which became the first victim of German submarines in this war) and the aircraft carrier Coreyes. Another British aircraft carrier, the Arc Royal, survived only because the torpedoes with magnetic fuses fired at it by the U-39 boat detonated ahead of time. And on the night of October 13-14, 1939, the U-47 boat under the command of Lieutenant Commander Gunther Prien penetrated the roadstead of the British military base at Scapa Flow (Orkney Islands) and sank the battleship Royal Oak. .

This forced Britain to urgently remove its aircraft carriers from the Atlantic and restrict the movement of battleships and other large warships, which were now carefully guarded by destroyers and other escort ships. The successes had an effect on Hitler: he changed his initially negative opinion about submarines, and on his orders their mass construction began. Over the next 5 years, the German fleet included 1,108 submarines.

True, taking into account the losses and the need to repair submarines damaged during the campaign, Germany could at one time put forward a limited number of submarines ready for the campaign - only by the middle of the war their number exceeded a hundred.

Karl Dönitz began his submarine career during World War I as chief mate on the U-39.

The main lobbyist for submarines as a type of weapon in the Third Reich was the commander of the submarine fleet (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote) Admiral Karl Dönitz (1891–1981), who served on submarines already in the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles prohibited Germany from having a submarine fleet, and Dönitz had to retrain as a torpedo boat commander, then as an expert in the development of new weapons, a navigator, a commander of a destroyer flotilla, and a light cruiser captain...

In 1935, when Germany decided to recreate the submarine fleet, Dönitz was simultaneously appointed commander of the 1st U-boat Flotilla and received the strange title of “U-boat Führer.” This was a very successful appointment: the submarine fleet was essentially his brainchild, he created it from scratch and turned it into the most powerful fist of the Third Reich. Dönitz personally met each boat returning to base, attended the graduations of the submariner school, and created special sanatoriums for them. For all this, he enjoyed great respect from his subordinates, who nicknamed him “Papa Karl” (Vater Karl).

In 1935-38, the “underwater Fuhrer” developed new tactics for hunting enemy ships. Until this moment, submarines from all countries of the world operated alone. Dönitz, having served as commander of a destroyer flotilla that attacks the enemy in a group, decided to use group tactics in submarine warfare. First he proposes the "veil" method. A group of boats was walking, turning around in the sea in a chain. The boat that discovered the enemy sent a report and attacked him, and the other boats rushed to her aid.

The next idea was the "circle" tactic, where the boats were positioned around a specific area of the ocean. As soon as an enemy convoy or warship entered it, the boat, having noticed the enemy entering the circle, began to lead the target, maintaining contact with the others, and they began to approach the doomed targets from all sides.

But the most famous was the “wolf pack” method, directly developed for attacks on large transport caravans. The name fully corresponded to its essence - this is how wolves hunt their prey. After the convoy was discovered, a group of submarines was concentrated parallel to its course. Having carried out the first attack, she then overtook the convoy and turned into position for a new strike.

The best of the best

During World War II (until May 1945), German submariners sank 2,603 Allied warships and transport vessels with a total displacement of 13.5 million tons. These include 2 battleships, 6 aircraft carriers, 5 cruisers, 52 destroyers and more than 70 warships of other classes. In this case, about 100 thousand sailors of the military and merchant fleet died.

The German submarine was attacked by Allied aircraft. Photo: U.S. Army Center of Military History

To counteract this, the Allies concentrated over 3,000 combat and auxiliary ships, about 1,400 aircraft, and by the time of the Normandy landings, they had dealt a crushing blow to the German submarine fleet, from which it could no longer recover. Despite the fact that the German industry was increasing the production of submarines, fewer and fewer crews returned from the campaign with success. And some did not return at all. If twenty-three submarines were lost in 1940, and thirty-six submarines in 1941, then in 1943 and 1944 the losses increased, respectively, to two hundred fifty and two hundred sixty-three submarines. In total, during the war, the losses of German submariners amounted to 789 submarines and 32,000 sailors. But this was still three times less than the number of enemy ships they sank, which proved the high efficiency of the submarine fleet.

Like any war, this one also had its aces. Gunther Prien became the first famous underwater corsair throughout Germany. He has thirty ships with a total displacement of 164,953 tons, including the aforementioned battleship). For this he became the first German officer to receive oak leaves to the Knight's Cross. The Reich Ministry of Propaganda promptly created a cult of him - and Prien began to receive whole bags of letters from enthusiastic fans. Perhaps he could have become the most successful German submariner, but on March 8, 1941, his boat was lost during an attack on a convoy.

After this, the list of German deep-sea aces was headed by Otto Kretschmer, who sank forty-four ships with a total displacement of 266,629 tons. He was followed by Wolfgang L?th - 43 ships with a total displacement of 225,712 tons, Erich Topp - 34 ships with a total displacement of 193,684 tons and the well-known Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock - 25 ships with a total of with a displacement of 183,253 tons, which, together with its U-96, became a character feature film"U-Boot" ("Submarine"). By the way, he did not die during the air raid. After the war, Lehmann-Willenbrock served as a merchant navy captain and distinguished himself in the rescue of the sinking Brazilian cargo ship Commandante Lira in 1959, and also became the commander of the first German ship with nuclear reactor. His boat, after the unfortunate sinking right at the base, was raised, went on trips (but with a different crew), and after the war was turned into a technical museum.

Thus, the German submarine fleet turned out to be the most successful, although it did not have such impressive support from surface forces and naval aviation as the British one. Her Majesty's submariners accounted for only 70 combat and 368 German merchant ships with a total tonnage of 826,300 tons. Their American allies sank 1,178 ships with a total tonnage of 4.9 million tons in the Pacific theater of war. Fortune was not kind to the two hundred and sixty-seven Soviet submarines, which during the war torpedoed only 157 enemy warships and transports with a total displacement of 462,300 tons.

"Flying Dutchmen"

In 1983, German director Wolfgang Petersen made the film “Das U-Boot” based on the novel of the same name by Lothar-Günter Buchheim. A significant portion of the budget covered the cost of recreating historically accurate details. Photo: Bavaria Film

The submarine U-96, made famous in the film "U-Boot", belonged to the famous VII series, which formed the basis of the U-Bootwaffe. A total of seven hundred and eight units of various modifications were built. The “seven” traced its pedigree to the UB-III boat from the First World War, inheriting its pros and cons. On the one hand, the submarines of this series saved as much useful volume as possible, which resulted in terrible cramping. On the other hand, they were distinguished by the extreme simplicity and reliability of their design, which more than once helped sailors to the rescue.

On January 16, 1935, Deutsche Werft received an order for the construction of the first six submarines of this series. Subsequently, its main parameters - 500 tons of displacement, cruising range of 6250 miles, diving depth of 100 meters - were improved several times. The basis of the boat was a durable hull divided into six compartments, welded from steel sheets, the thickness of which on the first model was 18-22 mm, and on the VII-C modification (the most massive submarine in history, 674 units were produced) it already reached 28 mm in the central part and up to 22 mm at the extremities. Thus, the VII-C hull was designed for depths of up to 125-150 meters, but could dive to 250, which was unattainable for Allied submarines, which dived only to 100-150 meters. In addition, such a durable body could withstand hits from 20 and 37 mm shells. The cruising range of this model has increased to 8250 miles.

For diving, five ballast tanks were filled with water: bow, stern and two side light (outer) hulls and one located inside the durable one. A well-trained crew could “dive” underwater in just 25 seconds! At the same time, the side tanks could take an additional supply of fuel, and then the cruising range increased to 9,700 miles, and on the latest modifications - up to 12,400. But in addition to this, the boats could be refueled on the voyage from special tanker submarines (IXD series).

The heart of the boats - two six-cylinder diesel engines - together produced 2800 hp. and accelerated the ship on the surface to 17–18 knots. Underwater, the submarine ran on Siemens electric motors (2x375 hp) with a maximum speed of 7.6 knots. Of course, this was not enough to get away from destroyers, but it was quite enough to hunt slow-moving and clumsy transports. The main weapons of the “sevens” were five 533-mm torpedo tubes (four bow and one stern), which “fired” from a depth of up to 22 meters. The most frequently used “projectiles” were the G7a (steam-gas) and G7e (electric) torpedoes. The latter was significantly inferior in range (5 kilometers versus 12.5), but did not leave a characteristic mark on the water, maximum speed they had approximately the same speed - up to 30 knots.

To attack targets inside convoys, the Germans invented a special FAT maneuvering device, with which the torpedo made a “snake” or attacked with a turn of up to 130 degrees. The same torpedoes were used to fight off the destroyers that were pressing on the tail - fired from the stern apparatus, it came towards them “head to head”, and then turned sharply and hit the side.

In addition to traditional contact torpedoes, torpedoes could also be equipped with magnetic fuses - to detonate them as they passed under the bottom of the ship. And from the end of 1943, the T4 acoustic homing torpedo, which could be fired without aiming, came into service. True, in this case, the submarine itself had to stop the screws or quickly go to depth so that the torpedo did not return.

The boats were armed with both bow 88-mm and stern 45-mm guns, and later a very useful 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, which protected them from the most terrible enemy - British Air Force patrol aircraft. Several "sevens" received FuMO30 radars, which detected air targets at a distance of up to 15 km and surface targets up to 8 km.

They drowned in the depths of the sea...

Wolfgang Petersen's film “Das U-Boot” shows how the life of submariners who sailed on Series VII submarines was organized. Photo: Bavaria Film

The romantic aura of the heroes on the one hand - and the gloomy reputation of drunkards and inhuman killers on the other. This is how German submariners were represented on the shore. However, they got completely drunk only once every two or three months, when they returned from a campaign. It was then that they were in front of the “public”, drawing hasty conclusions, after which they went to sleep in the barracks or sanatoriums, and then, in a completely sober state, prepared for a new campaign. But these rare libations were not so much a celebration of victories, but a way to relieve the terrible stress that submariners received on every trip. And even despite the fact that candidates for crew members also underwent psychological selection, there were cases on submarines nervous breakdowns from individual sailors, who had to be calmed down by the whole crew, or even simply tied to a bed.

The first thing that submariners who just went to sea encountered was terrible cramped conditions. This especially affected the crews of series VII submarines, which, being already cramped in design, were also packed to capacity with everything necessary for long-distance voyages. The crew's sleeping places and all free corners were used to store boxes of provisions, so the crew had to rest and eat wherever they could. To take additional tons of fuel, it was pumped into tanks designed for fresh water(drinking and hygienic), thus sharply reducing her diet.

For the same reason, German submariners never rescued their victims desperately floundering in the middle of the ocean. After all, there was simply nowhere to place them - except perhaps to shove them into the vacant torpedo tube. Hence the reputation of inhuman monsters that stuck with submariners.

The feeling of mercy was dulled by constant fear for one’s own life. During the campaign we had to constantly be wary of minefields or enemy aircraft. But the most terrible thing was the enemy destroyers and anti-submarine ships, or rather, their depth charges, the close explosion of which could destroy the hull of the boat. In this case, one could only hope for a quick death. It was much more terrible to receive heavy injuries and fall irrevocably into the abyss, listening in horror to how the compressed hull of the boat was cracking, ready to break through with streams of water under pressure of several tens of atmospheres. Or worse than that- to lie aground forever and slowly suffocate, realizing at the same time that there will be no help...

submarine can be compared to a wolf - constantly on the move and in search of prey. Before World War II, submarines operated mostly alone, but a lone wolf is always weaker than a wolf pack. The first to start a total collective hunt submarines of the Third Reich. The results exceeded all expectations.

German submarines The 30s and 40s were no worse than the American or British ones. The main reason unprecedented efficiency of submariners' actions "" was a new tactic of underwater warfare - " wolf packs" These words caused the sailors of England and America to break out in a cold sweat as they set off on a deadly voyage from the new world to the old. The Atlantic sea lanes became roads of death, strewn with the remains of thousands of Allied ships and vessels.

The author of the idea " wolf packs“Admiral Karl Dönitz was the son of an ordinary Prussian engineer. An officer of the Kaiser's navy, Karl Dönitz, became commander at the beginning of 1918. After the war, Denis returned to the fleet, or rather to what was left of it.

The time of radical change began in 1935. Hitler refused to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The Third Reich began to rebuild submarine fleet. Karl Dönitz was appointed head of the submarine force. By 1938, he had completed the development of action tactics submarines using group tactics by submarines and thoroughly described the new strategy of submarine forces as a whole. Its formula is extremely laconic - undermining trade and economic transportation equivalent to the enemy’s military position, with maximum scale and lightning speed. Among Admiral Dönitz’s opponents, this tactic was called the “wolf pack.” The main executors of these plans were to be submarines.

Each "wolf pack" consisted on average of 69 submarines. After the discovery of a sea convoy, several submarines, which should have carried out attacks at night from a surface position, thanks to their low silhouette in the dark, the submarines were almost invisible among the waves, and during the day they would overtake slow-moving ships, taking advantage of their surface speed advantage, and take up a position for a new attack. It was necessary to dive only to break through the anti-submarine defense order and evade pursuit. At the same time submarine Having discovered the convoy, it did not attack itself, but maintained contact and reported data to headquarters, which, based on the data received, coordinated actions submarines. These factors made it possible to hit transports without interruption until they were completely destroyed.

German submarines - "wolf packs"

construction

Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz

U-boats in Kiel

air attack

the battle of the atlantic is lost

German submarine series 23

Tasks submarines in the new war were determined. Now it was necessary to create a fleet capable of solving them. Admiral Dönitz considered the most effective medium boats of type VII, with a displacement of about 700 tons. They are relatively inexpensive to produce and are more invisible than large submarines and, finally, less vulnerable to depth charges. Submarines of the seventh series have actually shown their effectiveness.

At the end of the 30s, Admiral Dönitz proved that three hundred submarines would win the war with Britain, but the release submarines did not increase. By the beginning of World War II, he had only 56 submarines, twenty-two of which could operate effectively in the ocean. Two dozen instead of three hundred, so Admiral Dönitz greeted the news of the start of the Polish campaign with obscene language. Nevertheless, German submariners in the first year of the war it was possible to inflict unprecedented damage on the British. By the beginning of October 1941, the Allies had lost almost 1,300 ships and vessels, and they were losing them twice as fast as they were building them. The Germans were helped by new revolutionary tactics and new ports in France. Now there was no need to risk crossing the North Sea, where the British fleet still dominated.

In January 1942, the Germans began operations in US coastal and territorial waters. American cities were not darkened at night. The resorts shone with the lights of restaurants, bars and dance floors, and they walked without any security. The number of sunk ships was limited only by the supply of torpedoes for U-boat submarines. For example, submarine U-552 destroyed 7 ships in one trip.

The effectiveness of the German submarine force included not only advanced tactics, but also high level professional training. Admiral Dönitz created a special privileged caste of submarine officers - “ unsinkable Pinnochio» those who stuck theirs long nose to all corners of the world's oceans, and its godfather called " Papa Carl" Not only the commanders, but also all crew members underwent extremely intensive training. Study was replaced by practical service on submarines. After the hikes, the cadets returned to classrooms, then another internship. As a result, sailors and non-commissioned officers were fully proficient in their profession. As for combat commanders submarines, they knew their ship and its capabilities thoroughly.

By the summer of 1942, “Papa Charles’s” dreams of a large submarine fleet had become a reality. By August there were 350 U-boats. " Wolf packs"increased, now each of them could have up to 12 submarines. In addition, supply submarines “milk kitchens” or “cash cows” in the jargon of German sailors appeared in their composition - submariners. These submarines “fed the wolves” with fuel, replenishing ammunition and provisions. Thanks to them, the activity of “wolf packs” in the ocean increased. By 1942, the Germans' combat "achievements" in the Atlantic amounted to more than 8,000 ships, while losing only 85 submarines.

The beginning of 1943 was the time of the last triumphant underwater victories of Dönitz’s “aces”. A catastrophic defeat followed. One of the reasons for their defeat was the improvement of radar. In 1943, the Allies switched to centimeter radiation. The German sailors were shocked. Germany considered radar in the centimeter ranges impossible in principle. It took a year until " underwater wolves“We learned to sense the radiation from new devices. These months became fatal for the flocks " Pope Charles" The radar soon became a mandatory element of anti-submarine aircraft and ships of the Allies. The depths are no longer a safe place for submarines.

The second reason for the defeat submariners « Kriegsmarine"became the industrial power of the United States. The number of ships built was many times greater than the number lost. In May 1943, in his report to Hitler, Admiral Dönitz admitted that the Battle of the Atlantic was lost. A feverish search began for a way out of the impasse. What did German engineers try? German submarines covered with a special shell to absorb radar rays. This invention became the forerunner of stealth technology.

By the end of 1943, Dönitz’s submariners were already struggling to hold back the enemy’s onslaught, and the designers were building submarines XXI and XXIII series. These submarines should have had everything to turn the tide of the submarine war in favor of the Third Reich. Submarines The XXIII series was prepared only by February 1945. Eight units took part in the fighting without suffering any losses. The more powerful and dangerous Project XXI submarines entered service too slowly - only two before the end of the war. New tactics were also invented for the new generation of “wolves,” but their most important equipment made it possible to distinguish individual targets in a convoy from a depth of 50 meters and attack the enemy without surfacing to periscope depth. Newest torpedo weapon- acoustic and magnetic torpedoes were a match for submarines, but it was too late. Latest transactions

More than 70 thousand dead sailors, 3.5 thousand lost civilian ships and 175 warships from the Allies, 783 sunken submarines with a total crew of 30 thousand people from Nazi Germany - the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted six years, became the largest naval battle in the history of mankind . “Wolf packs” of German U-boats went hunting for Allied convoys from the grandiose structures erected in the 1940s on Atlantic coast Europe. Aviation in Great Britain and the United States tried unsuccessfully to destroy them for years, but even now these concrete colossi loom fearsomely in Norway, France and Germany. Onliner.by talks about the creation of bunkers where the submarines of the Third Reich once hid from bombers.

In the Second world war Germany entered with only 57 submarines. A significant part of this fleet consisted of outdated Type II small boats, designed to patrol only coastal waters. It is obvious that at this moment the command of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and senior management countries did not plan to launch large-scale submarine warfare against their opponents. However, the policy was soon revised, and the personality of the commander of the submarine fleet of the Third Reich played no small role in this radical turn.

In October 1918, at the end of the First World War, during an attack on a guarded British convoy, the German submarine UB-68 was counterattacked and damaged by depth charges. Seven sailors were killed, the rest of the crew was captured. It included Chief Lieutenant Karl Doenitz. After his release from captivity, he made a brilliant career, rising to the rank of rear admiral and commander of the Kriegsmarine submarine forces by 1939. In the 1930s, he concentrated on developing tactics that would successfully combat the convoy system, of which he fell victim early in his service.

In 1939, Doenitz sent a memorandum to the commander of the Third Reich Navy, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, in which he proposed using the so-called Rudeltaktik, “wolf pack tactics,” to attack convoys. In accordance with it, it was planned to attack an enemy sea convoy with the maximum possible number of submarines concentrated in advance in the area where it passed. At the same time, the anti-submarine escort was dispersed, and this, in turn, increased the effectiveness of the attack and reduced possible casualties from the Kriegsmarine.

“Wolf packs,” according to Doenitz, were to play a significant role in the war with Great Britain, Germany’s main rival in Europe. To implement the tactics, the rear admiral assumed, it would be enough to form a fleet of 300 new type VII boats, capable, unlike their predecessors, of long ocean voyages. The Reich immediately launched a grand program for the construction of a submarine fleet.

The situation changed fundamentally in 1940. First, by the end of the year it became clear that the “Battle of Britain,” whose goal was to persuade the United Kingdom to surrender only through aerial bombing, was lost by the Nazis. Secondly, in the same 1940, Germany carried out a rapid occupation of Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and, most importantly, France, receiving at its disposal almost the entire Atlantic coast of continental Europe, and with it convenient military bases for raids across the ocean. Thirdly, the U-boat type VII required by Doenitz began to be introduced en masse into the fleet. Against this background, they acquired not just significant, but decisive importance in the effort to bring Britain to its knees. In 1940, the Third Reich entered into unrestricted submarine warfare and initially achieved phenomenal success in it.

The goal of the campaign, which was later called the “Battle of the Atlantic” at the instigation of Churchill, was to destroy the ocean communications that connected Great Britain with its allies overseas. Hitler and military leadership The Reich was well aware of the extent of the United Kingdom's dependence on imported goods. The disruption of their supplies was rightly seen as the most important factor for Britain’s withdrawal from the war, and main role Admiral Doenitz’s “wolf packs” were supposed to play a role in this.

For their concentration, the former Kriegsmarine naval bases on the territory of Germany proper with access to the Baltic and North Seas turned out to be not very convenient. But the territories of France and Norway allowed free access to the operational space of the Atlantic. The main problem was ensuring the safety of the submarines at their new bases, because they were within the reach of British (and later American) aviation. Of course, Doenitz was well aware that his fleet would immediately be subjected to intense aerial bombardment, survival of which became for the Germans a necessary guarantee of success in the Battle of the Atlantic.

The salvation for the U-boat was the experience of German bunker building, in which the Reich engineers knew a lot. It was clear to them that conventional bombs, which only the Allies possessed at the beginning of World War II, could not cause significant damage to a building reinforced with a sufficient layer of concrete. The problem with protecting submarines was solved in a costly, but quite simple way: ground bunkers began to be built for them.

Unlike similar structures designed for people, the U-Boot-Bunker was built on a Teutonic scale. A typical lair of “wolf packs” was a huge reinforced concrete parallelepiped 200-300 meters long, internally divided into several (up to 15) parallel compartments. In the latter, routine maintenance and repair of submarines was carried out.

Particular importance was attached to the design of the bunker roof. Its thickness, depending on the specific implementation, reached 8 meters, while the roof was not monolithic: concrete layers reinforced with metal reinforcement alternated with air layers. Such a multi-layer “pie” made it possible to better absorb energy shock wave in the event of a direct bomb hit on the building. Air defense systems were located on the roof.

In turn, thick concrete lintels between the internal compartments of the bunker limited possible damage even if a bomb did break through the roof. Each of these isolated “pencil cases” could contain up to four U-boats, and in the event of an explosion inside it, only they would become victims. Neighbors would suffer minimal or no harm at all.

First, relatively small bunkers for submarines began to be built in Germany at the old Kriegsmarine naval bases in Hamburg and Kiel, as well as on the Heligoland islands in the North Sea. But their construction gained real scope in France, which became the main location of Doenitz’s fleet. From the beginning of 1941 and over the next year and a half, giant colossi appeared on the Atlantic coast of the country in five ports at once, from which “wolf packs” began to hunt for Allied convoys.

The Breton city of Lorient in northwestern France became the Kriegsmarine's largest forward base. It was here that Karl Doenitz’s headquarters was located, here he personally met each submarine returning from a cruise, and here six U-Boot-Bunkers were erected for two flotillas - the 2nd and 10th.

Construction lasted a year, it was controlled by the Todt Organization, and a total of 15 thousand people, mostly French, participated in the process. The concrete complex in Lorient quickly showed its effectiveness: Allied aircraft were unable to inflict any significant damage on it. After this, the British and Americans decided to cut off the communications through which the naval base was supplied. Over the course of a month, from January to February 1943, the Allies dropped tens of thousands of bombs on the city of Lorient itself, as a result of which it was 90% destroyed.

However, this did not help either. The last U-boat left Lorient only in September 1944, after the Allied landings in Normandy and the opening of a second front in Europe. After the end of World War II, the former Nazi base began to be successfully used by the French Navy.

Similar structures on a smaller scale also appeared in Saint-Nazaire, Brest and La Rochelle. The 1st and 9th Kriegsmarine submarine flotillas were located in Brest. Overall size This base was more modest than the “headquarters” in Lorient, but the largest single bunker in France was built here. It was designed for 15 compartments and had dimensions of 300x175x18 meters.

The 6th and 7th flotillas were based in Saint-Nazaire. A 14-penal bunker, 300 meters long, 130 meters wide and 18 meters high, was built for them, using almost half a million cubic meters of concrete. 8 out of 14 compartments were also dry docks, which made it possible to carry out major renovation submarine

Only one, the 3rd, Kriegsmarine submarine flotilla was stationed in La Rochelle. A bunker of 10 “pencil cases” with dimensions of 192x165x19 meters was enough for her. The roof is made of two 3.5-meter concrete layers with an air gap, the walls are at least 2 meters thick - in total, 425 thousand cubic meters of concrete were spent on the building. It was here that the film Das Boot was filmed - probably the most famous movie about German submariners times of World War II.

In this series, the naval base in Bordeaux stands out somewhat apart. In 1940, a group of submarines, not German, but Italian, the main allies of the Nazis in Europe, was concentrated here. Nevertheless, here too, by order of Doenitz, the program for the construction of protective structures was carried out by the same “Todt Organization”. The Italian submariners could not boast of any particular success, and already in October 1942 they were supplemented by the specially formed 12th Kriegsmarine flotilla. And in September 1943, after Italy left the war on the side of the Axis, the base called BETASOM was completely occupied by the Germans, who remained here for almost another year.

In parallel with the construction in France, the command of the German Navy turned its attention to Norway. This Scandinavian country was of strategic importance for the Third Reich. Firstly, through the Norwegian port of Narvik, supplies vital for its economy were carried out to Germany. iron ore from the remaining neutral Sweden. Secondly, the organization of naval bases in Norway made it possible to control the North Atlantic, which became especially important in 1942 when the Allies began sending Arctic convoys with Lend-Lease goods to the Soviet Union. In addition, they planned to service the battleship Tirpitz, the flagship and pride of Germany, at these bases.

So much attention was paid to Norway that Hitler personally ordered the local city of Trondheim to be turned into one of the Reich's Festungen - "Citadels", special German quasi-colonies through which Germany could further control the occupied territories. For 300 thousand expatriates resettled from the Reich, they planned to build a new city near Trondheim, which was to be called Nordstern (“North Star”). Responsibility for its design was assigned personally to the Fuhrer's favorite architect, Albert Speer.

It was in Trondheim that the main North Atlantic base for the deployment of the Kriegsmarine, including submarines and the Tirpitz, was created. Having begun the construction of another bunker here in the fall of 1941, the Germans unexpectedly encountered difficulties unprecedented in France. Steel had to be brought in; there was also nothing to produce concrete from on site. The extended supply chain was constantly disrupted by the efforts of the capricious Norwegian weather. In winter, construction was forced to stop due to snow drifts on the roads. In addition, it turned out that the local population was much less willing to work on the great construction site of the Reich than, for example, the French did. It was necessary to attract forced labor from specially organized nearby concentration camps.

The Dora bunker, measuring 153x105 meters into just five compartments, was completed with great difficulty only by the middle of 1943, when the successes of the “wolf packs” in the Atlantic began to quickly fade away. The 13th Kriegsmarine Flotilla with 16 Type VII U-boats was stationed here. Dora 2 remained unfinished, and Dora 3 was abandoned altogether.

In 1942, the Allies found another recipe for fighting the Dönitz armada. Bombing bunkers with finished boats did not produce results, but shipyards, unlike naval bases, were much less protected. By the end of the year, thanks to this new goal, the pace of submarine construction slowed down significantly, and the artificial decline of the U-boat, which was increasingly accelerated by the efforts of the Allies, was no longer replenished. In response, German engineers seemingly offered a way out.

In unprotected factories scattered throughout the country, it was now planned to produce only individual sections of boats. Their final assembly, testing and launching were carried out at a special plant, which was nothing more than the same familiar bunker for submarines. They decided to build the first such assembly plant on the Weser River near Bremen.

By the spring of 1945, with the help of 10 thousand construction workers - prisoners of concentration camps (6 thousand of whom died in the process), the largest of all U-Boot-Bunkers of the Third Reich appeared on the Weser. The huge building (426×97×27 meters) with a roof thickness of up to 7 meters inside was divided into 13 rooms. In 12 of them, a sequential conveyor assembly of the submarine from ready-made elements was carried out, and in the 13th, the already completed submarine was launched into the water.

It was assumed that the plant, called Valentin, would produce not just a U-boat, but a new generation U-boat - Type XXI, another miracle weapon that was supposed to save Nazi Germany from imminent defeat. More powerful, faster, covered with rubber to impede the operation of enemy radars, with the latest sonar system, which made it possible to attack convoys without visual contact with them - it was the first truly underwater a boat that could spend the entire military campaign without a single rise to the surface.

However, it did not help the Reich. Until the end of the war, only 6 out of 330 were under construction and in varying degrees Ready submarines were launched, and only two of them managed to go on a combat mission. The Valentin plant was never completed, suffering a series of bomb attacks in March 1945. The Allies had their own answer to the German miracle weapon, also unprecedented - seismic bombs.

Seismic bombs were a pre-war invention of the British engineer Barnes Wallace, which found its application only in 1944. Conventional bombs, exploding next to the bunker or on its roof, could not cause serious damage to it. Wallace's bombs were based on a different principle. The most powerful 8-10-ton shells were dropped from the highest possible height. Thanks to this and the special shape of the hull, they developed supersonic speed in flight, which allowed them to go deeper into the ground or pierce even the thick concrete roofs of submarine shelters. Once deep within the structure, the bombs exploded, in the process producing small local earthquakes sufficient to cause significant damage to even the most fortified bunker.

Due to the high altitude of their release from the bomber, accuracy was reduced, but in March 1945, two of these Grand Slam bombs hit the Valentin plant. Having penetrated four meters into the concrete of the roof, they detonated and led to the collapse of significant fragments of the building's structure. The “cure” for the Doenitz bunkers was found, but Germany was already doomed.

At the beginning of 1943, the “happy times” of successful hunting by “wolf packs” on allied convoys came to an end. The development of new radars by the Americans and the British, the decryption of Enigma - the main German encryption machine installed on each of their submarines, and the strengthening of convoy escorts led to a strategic turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic. U-boats began to die in dozens. In May 1943 alone, the Kriegsmarine lost 43 of them.

The Battle of the Atlantic was the largest and longest naval battle in human history. In six years, from 1939 to 1945, Germany sank 3.5 thousand civilian and 175 warships of the Allies. In turn, the Germans lost 783 submarines and three-quarters of all the crews of their submarine fleet.

Only with the Doenitz bunkers the Allies were unable to do anything. Weapons that could destroy these structures appeared only at the end of the war, when almost all of them had already been abandoned. But even after the end of World War II, it was not possible to get rid of them: too much effort and expense would have been required to demolish these grandiose structures. They still stand in Lorient and La Rochelle, in Trondheim and on the banks of the Weser, in Brest and Saint-Nazaire. In some places they are abandoned, in others they have been turned into museums, in others they have been occupied by industrial enterprises. But for us, the descendants of the soldiers of that war, these bunkers have, above all, a symbolic meaning.

"Independent military review"No. 24 for 2007 published an article by V. T. Kulinchenko “Take away gold with submarines” (Secret transport operations of submariners of the Third Reich). I quote summary this article.

Dozens of books and hundreds of articles have been written about the combat operations of the submarine fleet of the Third Reich. But the list of printed works devoted to transport operations, which were carried out with the help of German submarines, looks much more modest. Meanwhile, they, for example, delivered Zeiss optics, instruments, weapons and German specialists to Japan. However, the matter was not limited to the transportation of such goods...

Uranium supplies

In Japan, even before the start of the war, Pacific Ocean in December 1941, work was carried out with uranium-235, but there were not enough reserves for full-fledged experiments. In 1943, a request was sent from Tokyo to Berlin for two tons of uranium ore. At the end of the same year, one ton of this raw material was taken on board by a certain German submarine. However, she did not reach her destination.

The number and fate of this submarine are still unknown. In all likelihood, it lies somewhere on the ocean floor. Until recently, it was believed that Nazi Germany did not send any more uranium to the Land of the Rising Sun. But it turned out that this is not so...

When Hitler realized that the war against the USSR and Stalin's Western allies was lost, he began to hope for any kind of " secret weapon"The Germans clearly did not have time to create atomic bomb. Perhaps, they believed in Berlin, the Japanese would be able to do this if they were helped.

And so on March 25, 1945, under the cover of darkness, the submarine U-234, loaded with half a ton of enriched uranium-235, quietly left Kiel. In addition to uranium, the submarine carried a disassembled Me-262 jet aircraft and parts of V-2 missiles. Only two people on the ship knew the objectives of the campaign - the commander-Lieutenant Johann-Heinrich Fechler and the second officer Karl-Ernst Pfaff.

U-234 was still en route when Nazi Germany suffered its final collapse. Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz orders all German submarines at sea to surrender. Nevertheless, U-234 continued to follow its route across the Atlantic. The commander successfully evaded American and British anti-submarine forces, but soon realized that the submarine could no longer reach Japan. Fehler gathered his officers and asked the only question: what to do? The decision is unanimously made to stop the campaign and capitulate.

On May 14, 1945, U-234 appeared on the radar screen American destroyers. At a speed of 14 knots, the submarine approached the US Navy ships...

Operation " Tierra del Fuego"

Even before 1944, Operation Tierra del Fuego began. Under cover of darkness, on the piers of North German bases, cordoned off by the SS, special representatives of the Main Directorate of the Reich Security Service (RSHA) supervised the loading of sealed boxes onto submarines. They were placed in torpedo compartments and mined. If there was a danger of submarines being captured in the ocean, this secret cargo would be blown up along with the torpedoes. For this emergency, there was the strictest order, and the crews of the submarine included Nazi fanatics from the SS special forces, who could be relied on: they would prefer to go to the bottom than to be captured.

The boxes on the submarines were filled with currency, gold, and jewelry. IN South America During Operation Tierra del Fuego, the Nazis managed to transport truly gigantic wealth that the Spanish conquistadors had never dreamed of. In addition to money, 2511 kg of gold, 87 kg of platinum, and 4638 carats of diamonds were delivered to Argentina alone. What did all this lead to? There is no answer to this question yet.

The mystery of the submarine U-534

Only relatively recently did it become known that during the Second World War there was a top-secret formation of German submarines, called the “Fuhrer Convoy”. It included 35 submarines.

At the end of 1944, in Kiel, torpedoes and other weapons were removed from the submarines included in the “Führer Convoy”, since they were strictly forbidden to engage in combat while sailing. Only unmarried sailors were selected for submarine crews, who, in addition, did not have a single survivor close relative. According to the instructions of Hitler and Dönitz, submarine commanders must require each subordinate to take a “vow of eternal silence.”

Containers with valuables and documents and huge supplies of provisions were loaded onto the submarines from the Fuhrer Convoy. In addition, the submarines took on board mysterious passengers.

The commander of one of these submarines, U-977, Heinz Schaeffer, was captured. During numerous interrogations conducted by representatives of the American and British intelligence services, he never revealed any significant information about the submarines of the Fuhrer Convoy. The book of memoirs he wrote in 1952 also did not contain anything sensational. But the fact that Schaeffer knew a certain secret is confirmed by his letter addressed to his “old comrade” Captain zur See (Captain 1st Rank) Wilhelm Bernhart, dated June 1, 1983: “...What will you achieve when you tell the truth about what what was our mission? And who will suffer because of your revelations? Think about it!

Of course, you don't intend to do this just for the money. I repeat again: let the truth sleep with our submarines at the bottom of the ocean. This is my opinion..."

Was the letter talking about “treasures of the Reich” or something else? It seemed that the answer to this question would be received after the discovery of the submarine U-534 at the bottom of the Danish Straits. Back in 1986-1987, all newspapers in the world published materials about this sensational discovery by Aage Jensen, a Dane who professionally searches for sunken ships. It was he who found the German submarine.

U-534, which left Kiel on May 5, 1945, carried, as the media claimed, a significant part of the gold reserves of the Third Reich, secret German archives and about forty prominent Nazis. The commander of U-534, Herbert Nollau, was ordered to set course for Latin America. However, thousands of sea mines laid by the Allies along the coasts of Germany and northern European countries made it impossible for the submarine to sail at night or underwater. The submarine was attacked by British planes near the island of Anholt, where it sank at a depth of 60 meters. But 47 crew members managed to escape. It was they who subsequently spoke about the cargo of U-534.

But the rise of the submarine was delayed. In 1993, they started talking about it again in connection with the U-534 project, developed by specialists from the Dutch company Smith So. One of its leaders, Vardlo, giving an interview to journalists in July 1993, said that work on raising the submarine would begin in the near future. “We talked with each of the nineteen living crew members,” said Vardlo. “Unfortunately, everyone who was privy to the “secret of the cargo” and knew about the exact route of the submarine died long ago. And it is generally possible that on board there was nothing special."

Another 14 years passed, and U-534 was still not raised. Why? It is likely that there are still people, influential ones at that, for whom the appearance of U-534 on the surface is not very desirable.

The outcome of any war depends on many factors, among which, of course, weapons are of considerable importance. Despite the fact that absolutely all German weapons were very powerful, since Adolf Hitler personally considered them the most important weapon and paid considerable attention to the development of this industry, they failed to inflict damage on their opponents that would significantly influence the course of the war. Why did this happen? Who is at the origins of the creation of a submarine army? Were the German submarines of World War II really that invincible? Why were such prudent Nazis unable to defeat the Red Army? You will find the answer to these and other questions in the review.

General information

Collectively, all equipment in service with the Third Reich during World War II was called the Kriegsmarine, and submarines made up a significant part of the arsenal. Underwater equipment became a separate industry on November 1, 1934, and the fleet was disbanded after the war ended, i.e., having existed for less than a dozen years. In such a short period of time, German submarines of World War II brought a lot of fear into the souls of their opponents, leaving their huge mark on the bloody pages of the history of the Third Reich. Thousands of dead, hundreds of sunk ships, all this remained on the conscience of the surviving Nazis and their subordinates.

Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine

During World War II, one of the most famous Nazis, Karl Doenitz, was at the helm of the Kriegsmarine. The Germans certainly played an important role in World War II, but without this man this would not have happened. He was personally involved in creating plans to attack opponents, participated in attacks on many ships and achieved success in this path, for which he was awarded one of the most significant awards of Nazi Germany. Doenitz was an admirer of Hitler and was his successor, which did a lot of harm to him during the Nuremberg trials, because after the death of the Fuhrer he was considered the commander-in-chief of the Third Reich.

Specifications

It is easy to guess that Karl Doenitz was responsible for the condition of the submarine army. German submarines in World War II, photos of which prove their power, had impressive parameters.

In general, the Kriegsmarine was armed with 21 types of submarines. They had the following characteristics:

displacement: from 275 to 2710 tons;
surface speed: from 9.7 to 19.2 knots;
underwater speed: from 6.9 to 17.2;
diving depth: from 150 to 280 meters.

This proves that the German submarines of World War II were not just powerful, they were the most powerful among the weapons of the countries that fought with Germany.

Composition of the Kriegsmarine

The warships of the German fleet included 1,154 submarines. It is noteworthy that until September 1939 there were only 57 submarines, the rest were built specifically to participate in the war. Some of them were trophies. Thus, there were 5 Dutch, 4 Italian, 2 Norwegian and one English and French submarines. All of them were also in service with the Third Reich.

Achievements of the Navy

The Kriegsmarine inflicted considerable damage on its opponents throughout the war. For example, the most effective captain Otto Kretschmer sank almost fifty enemy ships. There are also record holders among ships. For example, the German submarine U-48 sank 52 ships.

Throughout World War II, 63 destroyers, 9 cruisers, 7 aircraft carriers and even 2 battleships were destroyed. The largest and most notable victory for the German army among them can be considered the sinking of the battleship Royal Oak, whose crew consisted of a thousand people and its displacement was 31,200 tons.

Plan Z

Since Hitler considered his fleet extremely important for the triumph of Germany over other countries and had extremely positive feelings towards it, he paid considerable attention to it and did not limit funding. In 1939, a plan was developed for the development of the Kriegsmarine for the next 10 years, which, fortunately, never came to fruition. According to this plan, several hundred more of the most powerful battleships, cruisers and submarines were to be built.

Powerful German submarines of World War II

Photos of some surviving German submarine technology give an idea of the power of the Third Reich, but only weakly reflect how strong this army was. The majority of the German fleet consisted of Type VII submarines; they had optimal seaworthiness, were of medium size, and most importantly, their construction was relatively inexpensive, which is important in

They could dive to a depth of 320 meters with a displacement of up to 769 tons, the crew ranged from 42 to 52 employees. Despite the fact that the “sevens” were quite high-quality boats, over time, Germany’s enemy countries improved their weapons, so the Germans also had to work on modernizing their brainchild. As a result of this, the boat received several more modifications. The most popular of them was the VIIC model, which became not only the personification military power Germany during the attack on the Atlantic, but was also much more convenient than previous versions. The impressive dimensions made it possible to install more powerful diesel engines, and subsequent modifications also featured durable hulls, which made it possible to dive deeper.

German submarines of the Second World War were subject to constant, as they would say now, upgrades. One of the most innovative models is considered to be type XXI. This submarine had an air conditioning system and additional equipment, which was intended for a longer stay of the team under water. A total of 118 boats of this type were built.

Kriegsmarine performance results

German submarines of the Second World War, photos of which can often be found in books about military equipment, played a very important role in the offensive of the Third Reich. Their power cannot be underestimated, but it is worth considering that even with such patronage from the bloodiest Fuhrer in world history, the German fleet did not manage to bring its power closer to victory. Probably, good equipment and a strong army were not enough; for Germany’s victory, the ingenuity and courage that the brave warriors possessed was not enough Soviet Union. Everyone knows that the Nazis were incredibly bloodthirsty and did not disdain much on their way, but neither an incredibly equipped army nor a lack of principles helped them. Armored vehicles, a huge amount of ammunition and latest developments did not bring the expected results to the Third Reich.