The Happy Times ( Glouckliche Zeit ) is one of the phases of the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II , when German submarines achieved significant success in battles with the British naval forces and their allies .
It is noteworthy that the German submariners themselves considered these times as “happy” only looking back, and did not use the term until 1942 . [1] By that time, the difficulties of submarine war had risen sharply. In post-war work, to distinguish this period from the successes of 1942 during the Paukenschlag operation, some researchers began to call it First Happy Time . This period began in July 1940 , immediately after Germany conquered France and through the Bay of Biscay received direct access to the Atlantic .
One of the reasons for the success of this period for the German naval forces was the insufficient number of radars on British ships, which meant that it was almost impossible to detect submarines in time during night attacks. From July to October 1940, only on the Western approaches 282 vessels were sunk, with a total tonnage of 1,489,795 tons. [2]
The End of Happy Times
There is no consensus on the end of "happy times." Some believe that they ended in October 1940 [3] , while others - in April 1941 [4] . Since the division appeared only in retrospect, and the successes of submariners were decreasing gradually, the end date, apparently, will remain controversial.
Notes
- ↑ Vause, Jordan. Wolf: U-boat Commander in World War II. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1997. ISBN 1-55750-874-7
- ↑ Geoffrey R. Sloan. Ireland in "Britain and the British Seas" in: Global Geostrategy: Mackinder and the Defense of the West, Blouet, Brian W., ed. Frank Cass, imprint of Taylor & Francis, Abingdon-New York, 2005. p. 131
- ↑ Hughes, Terry; Costello, John. The Battle of the Atlantic , p. 88
- ↑ Macintyre, Donald GFW The Naval War Against Hitler , p. 52
See also
- Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945)
- Unlimited submarine warfare
- Monsoon group