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WW 2 History Club

25-Mar-2015

Battle of the AtlanticBattle of the Atlantic

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Meeting Agenda

1. Pledge of Allegiance2. Administration3. Battle of the Atlantic Introduction4. Video5. Brian Evans (Graf Spee)6. Clint Westberry (USCG in WW2)7. Q&A8. Closing

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WW2 Vets

WW2 vets are meeting before each regular Wednesday

meeting( 1:30 to 3:00 )

See Lou Branch

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WW2 Vets

WW2 vets are meeting for breakfast at Lil’ Bits Cafe

(off Rte 466) the Tuesday following each regular Wednesday meeting

See Lou Branch

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Web Site

The place to find out what is going on

The place for interesting items on WW2 (daily)

www.ww2hc.org

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Future Meetings4th Wednesday of the month

Colony Cottage Mar 2015: Battle of the Atlantic Apr 2015: Plots to Kill Hitler May 2015: POWs Jun 2015: German Military Commanders Jul 2015: British Military Commanders Aug 2015: End of War Alternatives Sep 2015: Beginning of War Alternatives

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Movie Night3rd Wednesday of the month

Seabreeze Rec Center

Mar 2015: Pursuit of the Graf Spee Apr 2015: Valkyrie May 2015: Unbroken Jun 2015: TBD Jul 2015: TBD

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WWII Book ClubNEW!! 4th Friday of the month

Colony 1PM to 3PM

Apr 2015: Killing Hitler: The Plots, …

May 2015: Unbroken

details on web site

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WW2 Vets flown to Wash DC Over 400 vets so far Lots more in the queue Next regular Mission is today (that is

why Mark is not here) WW2HC donated $3,500 in Feb’15

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WW 2 History Club

25-Mar-2015

Battle of the AtlanticBattle of the Atlantic

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Battle of the Atlantic Longest campaign of WWII (ignoring Sino-

Japanese campaigns)

Sep 1939 to May 1945 (5 years, 8 months, 5 days)

One of the few things that really scared Churchill

Entire strategy for defeating Germans relied on the ability of the Allies to transport men and material across the Atlantic

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Battle of the Atlantic 3,500 merchant ships sunk, 36,000 merchant

seaman killed

175 warships sunk, 36,200 sailors lost

740 RAF aircraft lost

783 U-boats sunk, ~ 30,000 sailors lost

As a percentage of those who served, the most lethal service was the Merchant Marine

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Battle of the AtlanticA see-saw battle (with the advantage mostly to the

Germans) until mid 1943; suddenly it was all but over:

Naval Enigma was broken

Long range aircraft (B-24) closed the mid ocean gap

Leigh Light

Merchant aircraft carriers and later escort carriers

Sea scanning radar

Destroyer escorts (better adapted, built in larger numbers)

Hunter-killer groups and better tactics

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Battle of the AtlanticMany cutting edge technologies were honed during

this campign:

RADAR

SONAR

Operations Research

Sub hunting

Codes and ciphers

“Ahead Throwing” weapons

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Call Letters of Trans-Atlantic Convoys:

HX:fast convoys (9 knots or over) sailing from Halifax or New

York

SC:slow convoys (under 9 knots) sailing from Sydney, Nova

Scotia, Halifax or New York

ON:westbound convoys sailing from Great Britain to North

America

ONS:slow westbound convoys sailing from Great Britain to

North America

Call Letters of Canadian Coastal Convoys:

BX: Boston to Halifax

XB: Halifax to Boston

SQ: Sydney to Quebec City

QS: Quebec City to Sydney

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Who Knew? 3-Sep-1939, U-30 sinks the Athenia, a passenger liner with

1100 passengers outbound from the UK -- and The Battle of the Atlantic starts. By the then rules of war, it should not have been sunk; the u-boat captain was almost court martialed; instead the Germans covered it up and blamed the British

09-May-1941, U-110 is attacked by Royal Navy vessels and is scuttled. But before it sinks, the British recover a naval enigma machine and several relevant codes. This is consider to be the most significant u-boat “sinking” of the war

Captain Fritz-Julius Lemp was the U-boat commander in both incidents