Critical German Submarine Operations Versus Allied Convoys During March 1943: An Operational Analysis

By LCDR Bruce E. Grooms

German submarine operations against allied convoys, during March 1943 is critically analyzed from an operational perspective. The theater commander’s operational scheme is dissected for the purpose of identifying lessons which can be applied to the planning and execution of today’s theater operations. A brief historical account of the early phases of the war and the events and decisions which preceded the critical convoy battles will be followed by an analysis of the operational scheme employed by Admiral Dönitz. German victory during the spring offensive clearly demonstrated numerous operational successes, a reasonably well conceived operational plan, and proof positive of the potential for a larger scale victory. Yet history recorded Germany’s ultimate defeat in the Battle of the Atlantic. This analysis identified three significant flaws which led to the German demise; first, strategic guidance and operational means were inadequately reconciled which prevented the proper execution of the operational plan; second, operational intelligence and reconnaissance were inadequately exploited; third, Germany failed to coordinate and execute joint operations between service arms, specifically the lack of air assets in support of vital U-boat operations. Clearly one must conclude a reasonable operational plan has marginal chance for success when strategic guidance and joint coordination are incompatible with theater objective accomplishment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lucknow Books
• Release date: Aug 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781782898009

LCDR Bruce E. Grooms

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Text originally published in 1993 under the same title.

© Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

Artwork courtesy of - U-boot by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau 2002

CRITICAL GERMAN SUBMARINE OPERATIONS VERSUS ALLIED CONVOYS DURING MARCH 1943: AN OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS

by

Bruce E. Grooms LCDR, USN

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 42

Abstract 43

Chapter I — PREFACE 44

CHAPTER II — INTRODUCTION 45

CHAPTER III — ADMIRAL DOENITZ’S PLAN 49

CHAPTER IV — OPERATIONAL DESIGN 52

CHAPTER V — POST OPERATION HISTORICAL SUMMARY 62

CHAPTER VI — CONCLUSIONS 63

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 64

BIBLIOGRAPHY 65

ABSTRACT

German submarine operations against allied convoys, during March 1943 is critically analyzed from an operational perspective. The theater commander’s operational scheme is dissected for the purpose of identifying lessons which can be applied to the planning and execution of today’s theater operations. A brief historical account of the early phases of the war and the events and decisions which preceded the critical convoy battles will be followed by an analysis of the operational scheme employed by Admiral Dönitz. German victory during the spring offensive clearly demonstrated numerous operational successes, a reasonably well conceived operational plan, and proof positive of the potential for a larger scale victory. Yet history recorded Germany’s ultimate defeat in the Battle of the Atlantic. This analysis identified three significant flaws