- US industrial prod. → irrelevant → without control of Shipping routes → across Atlantic -. to Britain and to USSR
- Achieved thru bitter struggle + high cost
| 1. Sept 1939 → Canada entered war → on Br. Side → Canadian Troops → crossed Atlantic → defend Br. + fight in North Africa, Italy → during op. overlord → Canada → sent vast quantities → food + raw materials → across Atlantic → to Br. → from very start of war | 2. US entered war in Dec 1931 → but played imp. role before that. → 1941 → Roosevelt set up lend lease scheme → supplied vast amounts of food + raw materials → support Br. War efforts against Hitler. → Similar scheme sending supplies to USSR → after 1941. → supplies to Br. and USSR → transported by Merchant ships → were grouped in convoys → with naval escorts → could be protected against German submarines.(U-boats) | 3.US military power → worthless → if it could not cross Atlantic → to bolster allies. U-boats → very effective → early in battle of Atlantic. 1940 → Germans sank over 1000 ships → quarter of Br. Merchant fleet. next 2 years even worse: → 1941: 1,300 allied ships lost. → 1942: 1,661 ships. Jan 1943 → Br. Navy had only 2 months of oil supply left. |
| 4. Tide → began to turn → 1943. → Br. Intelligence → able to break secret codes used by U-boats. → allowed allied convoys → steer clear of U-boats → hence ensuring Br. + USSR → had resources → fend of axis powers. New weapons + tactics → also developed to counter the U-boats. | 5. Another key factor → sheer scale + spread of US industrial prod. US shipyards → began building cargo ships → called liberty ships. 1943 → 3 ships → completed daily. Soon → US → building more ships than U-boats could sink | 6. Second half of 1943 → Allies → sank 141 U-boats. Germans → now losing more U-boats → than they were sinking Allied ships. March 1944 → Germans → called off U-boat campaign → though losses due to U-boat attacks → continued until war’s end in 1945. |