U Boat: Wargamers

I’m on TV! This time doing a series for Sky History about the Battle for the Atlantic and how Britain very nearly was forced to surrender due to the incredible strategy of the German u-boats in the second world war.

Sky History Tuesdays 9pm

〰️ Also available on Now TV 〰️

Sky History Tuesdays 9pm 〰️ Also available on Now TV 〰️

When more than three quarters of British supplies were coming in from abroad, the convoys of fuel, food and vital supplies traveling over the Atlantic became sitting ducks for german u:boat attacks. The sinking of these merchant ships was brutal and terrifying and because the majority happened at night, it how they were sinking so many ships while evading detection by the British Navy was a mystery.

Only a retired sea captain who had lost his commision due to illness plus a group of young WRENS working in an attic in Liverpool came between victory and defeat. They used a war game similar to modern ones like Warhammer, to try and work out the how the u-boats were getting past British defences. Once they thought they had the tactics down, they had the harder job of persuading the admiralty to take their proposed countermeasures seriously.