During World War-II, Nazis used to demonize opposition forces using their advanced military systems and warfare styles. British Prime Minister at the helm of affairs during WW-II Winston Churchill stated that the only thing that really frightened him during the war was the “U-boat” peril. The U-boats or Unterseeboot (undersea boat) were German submarines deployed in massive numbers by Hitler, although they were used during WW-I as well. Germany started the war with 56 of these and by the time the war was nearing an end, had a fleet of more than 1900 U-boats.
These U-boats had cannons on deck, torpedoes for stealthy underwater attacks and most designs had radar. Radars were often missing from individual boats on the Allies’ side. Due to this advantage, these U-boats would randomly surface out of the blues (literally also) and begin firing. When they used torpedoes, there wasn’t even the short warning of a submarine appearing on the surface, thereby leaving no way to defend. At its best, a single U-boat was sufficient to destroy an entire convoy of boats.
It had its limitations too though. These were not complete submarines and some were powered by batteries, due to which they had to come to the surface every now and then. While torpedoes existed, early rounds fired exploded prematurely. Allied forces, after facing destruction of more than 2,600 of their ships, decided to hunt for these from the air. They started bombing these U-boats when they appeared on the surface. Eventually, many of these were sunk by the Allies.
Interestingly, in April 2018, searchers from a Sea War Museum located a significant shipwreck of a Nazi U-boat in a strait between Denmark and Norway. This was the most advanced long-range submarine from WW-II. It was this specific design that was used by the US and UK for their submarines for many years post the war. There is a conspiracy theory surrounding Hitler’s death which goes by saying that Hitler never died in the bunker, and managed to escape to Argentina by a boat. It was this boat that was thought to have provided an escape to Hitler. But, alas, if any of you believed in that theory, Hitler never really escaped death or managed to reach Argentina.
The theory stands debunked!
Image credits: History Extra
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