The year 1942 was a good one for the German U-boats, and 1943 was a good one for the German U-boats, and 1943 was shaping up to be even better.

The Allies were losing merchant ships faster than they could build new ones.

But by mid-year, new, longer-range aircraft had turned the tide.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music I'm going to be. And so. And

the Episode 401. No option but to fight on.

Today I want to pick up the topic of the German U-boat campaign in the North Atlantic

and the fight against it, often referred to as the Battle of the German U-boat campaign in the North Atlantic and the fight against it,

often referred to as the Battle of the Atlantic.

We talked about developments in this campaign in 1942 back in episode 365.

Overall, that was a pretty good year for the U-boats.

The United States entered the war in December 1941, unprepared to deal with the U-boats. The United States entered the war in December 1941,

unprepared to deal with the U-boat threat. The first months of American involvement in the war

were known to the German submarine crews as the second happy time, because American merchant

shipping off the east coast of the United States made for such easy pickings.

The plethora of new targets was not the only reason 1942 was a good year for German submarines.

In February 1942, the Kriegs Marina changed over from the standard three-rotor enigma machine

to a new four-rotor enigma machine,

and the Wizards of Bletchley Park were unable to decrypt German naval messages for most of the year.

In a backhanded kind of way, it was fortunate for the Allies that there were so many new targets for

the U-boats to attack, since the Germans understood this to be the reason for the sudden increase in ship-sinkings,

and no one stopped to ask whether the changeover to a better enigma machine also played a role.

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