Hell Below - Episode 1: The Wolfpack | Free Documentary History
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- čas přidán 16. 05. 2024
- Hell Below - Season 1, Episode 1: The Wolfpack | History Documentary
Watch 'Hell Below - Season 1, Episode 2' here: • Hell Below - Episode 2...
In this episode:
The wolfpack tactic was made famous by Admiral Karl Dönitz, Hitler's mastermind of submariners. His strategy: to send teams of U-boats to bear against the convoys of ships heading from Canada to Britain, cut maritime lifelines, and starve the enemy into defeat. Take a deep dive into the North Atlantic as we go above and below sea level to relive one of the first attacks of Dönitz's lethal subs in 1940, headed by leader of the pack Commander Otto Kretschmer. Then follow Britain's war strategists as they race to combat this new deadly attack.
Hell Below is an event-based series charting the stealth game of sub sea warfare, tracking the dramatic narrative from contact to attack of the greatest submarine patrols of World War II. From the rise of the Wolfpack to the drive for victory in the Pacific, we profile the strategic masterminds and the rapid evolution of technology and tactics, as the threat of undersea warfare brings every sailor's worst nightmare to life. Expert analysis and stock footage are woven with narrative driven re-enactments filmed on authentic Second World War era submarines to place the characters at the heart of the action.
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Hell Below is an event-based series charting the stealth game of sub sea warfare, tracking the dramatic narrative from contact to attack of the greatest submarine patrols of World War II.
The Rudeltaktik aka wolfpack tactic was made famous by Admiral Karl Dönitz, Hitler's mastermind of submariners. His strategy: to send teams of U-boats to bear against the convoys of ships heading from Canada to Britain, cut maritime lifelines, and starve the enemy into defeat. Take a deep dive into the North Atlantic as we go above and below sea level to relive one of the first attacks of Dönitz's lethal subs in 1940, headed by leader of the pack Commander Otto Kretschmer. Then follow Britain's war strategists as they race to combat this new deadly attack.
There is not a lot of use in putting a link to part two while making part two a "private" video.
@@MasterCedar Yes there is. hehehe.
Give the Credit for this series to Smithsonian Channel. Come on give credit where credit is due. Not once was that mentioned.
@@lawrenceleverton7426 credits roll
My grandfather, a WW II battleship sailor, was close friends with his neighbor, who was a German WW2 U-Boat sailor, and he was the friendliest, kindest, man I remember knowing as a kid. Albert was his name.
Most the individual soldiers be it japs or Germans or any are just doing their jobs and caught up in the moment. Many American soldiers have also perpetrated many evils under such pretense. I am absolutely positively anti war. Unfortunately that seems quite impossible as long as this world turns.
That's kinda cool I would have loved to hear the stories from Big bolth of them it's funny that two people who where out to kill each other where friends
@@raganusmc it's unfunny that war is between government's old farts who send soldiers to kill each other. They lean back and don't have to pull the trigger
Wolfpacks required extensive radio communication to coordinate the attacks. This left the U-boats vulnerable to a device called the High Frequency Direction Finder (HF/DF or Huff-Duff), which allowed Allied naval forces to determine the location of the enemy boats transmitting and attack them.
Yeah, thatshow the Germans found the convoys as well. That circle shaped thing on the conning tower was a directional finding antenna. But they monitored radio traffic in antennas all around the Atlantic coast as well. If two of those towers catched the transmission of a convoy ship they could find its position, and since they made their tranmission periodically, they could determine the convoy's speed and course as well. Then they sent out a U boat to investigate, which generally submerged and listened for the propeller noises, which could be catched sometimes 100 km afar, so he could calculate the exact position and course of the convoy. Then after chasing it down and identified tit the U boot called in the wolfpack. Then the sub generally shadowed the convoy for a few hours till the other subs got into position. During the attack phase one sub launched its torps which got the attention of the escorts who moved away hunting for it, then the other subs teared apart the remaining merchant ships. As of Kretchmer, he didnt sink his prey at first shot, but damaged it enough that since it was slower it had to move out of the convoy, then he simply finished it off with his deckgun.
I served 2 years on board the USS Toledo SSN-769, 96 - 98..i cant imagine what it was like to serve on those old disel boats undwr those conditions and stress
Those U Boat captains and crews were fearless warriors for sure and deadly opponents .
Not really.
Cunning plus far ruthless come terror, plus the stouth fullness is key. British slang terms the U-boats need to be recharged with above the surface of the ocean. The full force is the key provided the main battery keep the wolf pack submerged for hours the sub will sink or be discharged an destroyed....
@@desertdetroiter428 Back then, most of our relatives would strongly disagree with you. Winston Churchill and many Allied leaders feared that Germany would reach 300 U-boats during WW2 to finally choke the British Isles. The same fearless warriors from Battleship Bismark to the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper were also in the surface fleet. Germany's naval power went beyond Europe and did have some ships in Australia that did hurt Allied shipping
They absolutely were, extremely brave men. It was only due to the actions of America during the Laconia incident that they were ordered to cease assisting survivors.
@@martcon6757 Lol…”brave men.”
best Uboat war documentary
A great salute to all soldiers, no matter they are German, British, French, US, Japanese,or whatsoever .... They all are brave men, heroes and patriots. They risk their lives, give up their ideals and dreams, fight for their country and their beliefs. Many of them ultimately died in the battlefields. 😢😢😭😭
Peace and no more wars.🤝🤝🙏🙏
My grandfather, Earl Lee Bradner, was Chief Mate on the S.S. Margaret, a Merchant ship that was torpedoed off of Cape Hatteras by U571, Captained by Helmut Mohlmann, on April 14, 1942. None of the 29 crew members were ever found. They were carrying a cargo of sugar. This happened way before I was even a thought to my parents, so I never met him.
Well done, but one comment from a retired Navy Chief Submariner- Depth Charges do NOT have to hit the submarine's hull to sink it (although BONUS if you do!). The point of Depth Charges is to generate an explosion of pressure that will damage or overcome what the submarine's hull pressure can withstand. So if a Type VIIC U-boat's hull would be able to withstand about 3,300 Pounds per Square Inch (PSI). If you get an average WW II Depth Charge to go off within 10 feet of her hull, the Depth Charge's explosion would generate about 10,000 PSI, and therefore, damage and perhaps even breach her hull. Just sayin....
3/4s of all German submariners died in their submarines.
The British Merchant Navy lost a higher percentage of its men than did the Royal Navy, the Royal Airforce or the Army
Because Donitz refused to come to grips that the British broke the enigma code-!!!😉. It's called arrogant state of mind-!!!😳
@@asullivan4047 That's not quite right. When the 'happy time' as the Germans called it came to an end, Dônitz did in fact have a hunch that his codes had been cracked, and they did try to change them. He went back to the those who had set up the enigma system to check with them that their system was still absolutely foolproof. They assured him that it was. For a short period of time the Germans also managed to crack the British Naval secret codes, but the Royal Navy realised what had happened and rectified it. A Royal Navy ship managed to recuperate an enigma machine and the codebooks from a surrendered U-boat without the Germans knowing. It was sent to Bletchley Park, but they had to be very careful about how they used the new information as of course they didn't want to give the game away.
The crew are truly heroes. Submarines are monsters under the ocean
I have been searching for this series for sooooo long. Thank you so much and keep posting. 👍
Horrid way to die but its hard to feel sorry for Submariners. "1 torpedo- hundreds of merchant men dead and drowned"
U-Boats had a 75% loss rate. The highest of any German service. 30k submariners died, and 5k were captured out of 41k submariners. Do the math. One other thought, Donald McIntyre returned Otto Kretschmer's binoculars in 1955.
Yeah, that sucks.
how many total U boat had been build ?
@@Haziq19921100
A great gesture to an erstwhile deadly enemy!
Really enjoyed this documentary.
I really like this program.I have a huge interest in submarines, regardless of when or whom the boats originally come from,this program starts off with German Uboats and it's early aces.Thank you for this show!!!
Great documentary! Thank you so much! 🙏 I'm glad this channel found me.
Excellent.Thanks for upload.
Great documentary. Thank you LOVE it.
Very interesting documentary, thanks for sharing.
I had a work colleague in the 70s he told me he was sunk three times he was in the merchant Navy in WW11 as a cook once you took to the lifeboat. His pay was stopped his mother knew something was wrong when her allotment stopped ,
How miserable is that, stopping a blokes pay because his ship was sunk.
Submarine-ers , I made the mistake of calling ww2 sub guys submariners twice in my years and got chastised both times.
The first time the guy said something like , Aqua-man is a submariner , we are Sub Mariners. They weren’t kidding either.
Very good presentation of the facts.
I do agreee
Best to fall asleep to
At least when they wake up, they will know where all their friends are.
*Hope you get this reference because of the title of the video
P.S. great video this is
I know that Winston Churchill feared one thing the most and it was the U Boats. They are deadly to the enemy but also to the crew of the U Boats especially when most get destroyed and many sailors were killed. They are floating coffins!
Sorry but i'm a lil bit confused with the last sentence you wrote bc i don't know who do you mean with," They're deadly to the enemy but also to the crew of the U Boats especialy when most get destroyer & many sailors were killed" That's just not making sence to me. 👍🙏
It means it killed just as many germans as they did the enemy because the uboats by the end of the war were basically sitting ducks@@raymondtorres-gy8uj
The crew called them 'iron coffins' - I'm I'm sure you know that. My father-in-law was a stoker on a convoy ship. He went above to get some fresh air and they were torpedoed. He was one of six people from his ship picked up. He was 19 and lived into his 90s - the need for a break and luck meant he survived. Many people were left in the sea because ships were now allowed to stop for survivors due to the risk of being torpedoed.
@@davidc3839 I've always somehow knew smoke break is very healthy
"Wow! The machines in this video are absolutely gigantic!"
Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent reenactments along with guest speakers contributing to accurate historical information-!!!🤗. Had Admiral Doenitz had 50 more U-boats. Perhaps Britain would have been starved into submission-???🤔. Excellent motion photography pictures of a actual ship sinkings-!!!😉.
Heart of gold,clear horizon
The struggle was real, I could just imagine what was going on through their mind and gut....damn
Oh the old war days before bunker busters and drones
Superb! History comes alive in this episode!
Yes, it was like watching the action through the computer.
I sunk several boats in my lifetime, BF1 really made me a real man.
The both of you make my anatomy pop
Superb video. Really informative 😊
Depth charges arebine of the most ingenious inventions of necessity.
Here’s a few books that I can recommend.. the U-boat Flotilla book set by Lawrence Paterson, U-boat Ace, the story of Wolfgang Lüth by Jordan Vause and The Real Cruel Sea by Richard Woodman.
Thank you. Book recos are always welcome!
Kretchmer's book is called "The Golden Horseshoe", which was U99s emblem.
Running silent running deep
The U-boats weren't designed to go very deep, in fact their design was pretty outdated. A newer model was being built towards the end of the war, but by then it was too late. The shipyards got heavily bombed and even the U-boat pens made of reinforced concrete could be holed with a 'tallboy'.
Cool
Bought this series off of i-tunes. Great series.
Kretshmer sealed the fate of his fellow sub commander
75% sunk by 20% of the German captains can be attributed to fighting during “Happy Time” when defenses were lacking..not just the captains “taking it to the edge” like the historian says
Always love to think about what the sub crews go through when sunk and smile.
German U boats crew and captain serves their dutys like Japanese Kamakazi fighters, fearless and ambush enemy line.
Imagine it's the dead of night in the middle of the Atlantic in a convoy and your sitting there smoking a cigarette, eating, sleeping or whatever having 0 idea about the wolfpack of U-Boats lurking beneath you. Absolutely not.
man i need to play Silent Hunter 3 again!
Such an old video, but only posted 4 days ago!
I understand that the budget for these documentaries is always extremely low, but how much would it cost to give the actors a period haircut? Some students would probably do it for free.
Maybe I'm asking too much. Even the movie Dunkirk had the actors with 21st century haircuts, which immediately didn't feel right. The characters have period uniforms, period weapons, period accessories, but just happen to visit modern barbers.
Cool video, but could they have found a bigger cap for the guy ?
❤
were u-boat commanders hats always too huge for their heads or did the wardrobe department only have one hat?
It is common for submariners hats not to fit. If they spend to long at to deep without resurfacing they get head shrinkage.
Yeah ASDIC was pretty shtty equipment. Although Germans didnt know about the existence of thermal layers which simply reflects the soundwaves back to the surface, but they knew if the go deep enough they have a chance they wont be spotted on ASDIC, and it generally worked. Later in the cold war the thermoclines were utilized extensively by skippers to hide. And German submarines were fully aware if they were radared, their radio operators actually monitored the frequencies on which allied radars operated. The problem was that they couldnt shadow the convoy anymore on the surface to collect a wolfpack, because a radar would simply pick them up. On the other hand, if they would complete the snorkel ships in numbers and remain submerged, radar would have remained useless against them. Today the most effective weapon against a sub is another sub, surface shipping is almost powereless, they dont even know they are in the crosshairs until its too late.
Any one notice that the actor play the captain has a hat that is 2 sizes to big.
Exactly, poor guy!
That is due to head shrinkage from being down in the sub to long without resurfacing.
@@mattmatt6572haha niagah
Typical of a pin head officer. The days of bad "Occifers" started with tail hook.
That's not Silent Otto. Later he became the Flotilla Admiral.
Son of Carl Donest is a caption on U 99
Brave
What are those triangular "teeth" on front of the U 99 for, was that standard equipment for a (German) submarine ? And what happened to Kretchmer's special binoculars, are they on display in a museum ?
They were "net cutters" designed to allow the submarine to pass through underwater anti submarine netting.
They were mostly removed early war as the chance of using them was negligible. Apart from U-47s attack on Scapa Flow in Oct 1939 that is.
Das Boot 1981 very good movie
A good documentary really enjoyed it, but the music spoilt it for me
Good grief people are picky for a free film. If you don't like it don't watch. I like the music.
Yeah, great accuracy -- not!! At only 0:16, Kretachmer sends a torpedo on its way with the command, "Feuer!" Shooting a torpedo was a pneumatic / electrical event -- no fire involved -- and the command used was "Los!" (Go!)
Make your own documentaries if you like. Oh what you don't want to put in all the hard work? Then shut your mouth about those who do.
@@mattmatt6572 A bit thin, the skin? No?
😮😮😮
These heroes, poor souls fighting for nothing , what can they do,
How about stop trying to conquer the world
Scholarly commentators
Cause a huge distraction
Donitz asked for 300 U-Boats to begin the war with. Good thing the Kriegsmarine had gun complexes.
Δείτε την ταινία The Boat
Das Boot - a very good movie which had authenttic action but spoit a little at he end by a fictious attack by single engined aircraft on the Uboat pens in La Rochelle.
Shame can’t watch the rest
Why so many equipments i still dont understand ..so confusing and crew get easily stressed.. 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
What's with the Bane mask?
"Crashing this U-boat. With no survivors!"
We are not sub mariners , sir . Fair winds and following seas all my brothers of the deep on eternal patrol
Can you make video about australia please ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Got to find a manned submarine first.
Fact that he says underwater bombs over and over again tells me that this is for an American audience
Why didn't some one suss out that hey when we appear they there are waiting for us they have cracked our codes ???
The Germans were convinced that the enigma could not be cracked. They searched for spies within the Uboat headquarters - they did not look at the obvious and that cost them...luckily.
How much tonnage did the uboats miss, so they lost the war.
Inspite of what is commonly believed over 90% of transatlantic convoys made it through unscathed. Though don't let the detract from the tens of thousands of merchant sailors who died horrible deaths to see that nazism was eventually defeated.
Hell Below is a pirated video from either the History or Discovery channel.
Actually its "Smithsonian Channel" Video. Because I have 2 of the 3 Seasons of these.
I questioned this the other day. I suspect a "Trademark Violation". He certainly cracked the infringement code. They put their Logo where the Smithsonian Channel Logo once was (ie Lower Right). And where the Smithsonian Channel credits were in the final roll, was over-layed with their hype on the next Episode. Either way, very good series. Thanks Smithsonian Channel. God Bless Submariners.
Looks like I'll watch Greyhound again to put the U-Boat back in its place. The bottom.
We fought on the wrong side
Who's we?
@@amazer747Try critical thinking before posting.
Who is we you could be from any country idk? Or maybe you just talking bout "the royal we man"
@@mattmatt6572 Use critical thinking before posting.
Ok... so wich we are you talking about? Your family your country?? Wich side were you on?
What a lousy re-enactment😢😮: White scarf at night... Sneaking in from behind into a convoy with torps still to be loaded into Tubes... but torps fired from behind hit bows of freighters.... Christ.😔🙈🙄
6:00 not ‘literally’ a chess match
Otto is a real legend….!!!
His legacy will continue as long as life exists on earth.What a Commander..!!!
Depth charges, not death charges. Cmon man, this is elementary stuff
بعد این همه سال این کشتیهای زیر دریایی الکانی استوره هستن و نمونه ندارند
Otto Krenchner not what you saying
🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲
Give the Credit for this series to Smithsonian Channel. Come on give credit where credit is due. Not once was that mentioned
Never any good modern documentaries on ww1 uboats
Germans were far ahead in science and technology than any country in the world. Unfortunately they lost the war 😔... Probably by the US-Britishers decisive art !
The British caught up with them. The Poles already had mathematicians working on how to crack the enigma machine before the War started, their work was passed onto the British who carried on by creating new technologies for breaking codes. The Royal Navy and the RAF developed lot of new technology to deal with the threat of the U-boat that officers such as Captain Walker put to good use. It got to the point when U-boat crews based in France began sabotaging their equipment to avoid going out on patrol. People like R V Jones did a lot of work to counter the navigation systems of German airmen and the logistical solutions for making D-Day possible and Hobart's Follies for the battles immediately after that were incredible.
@@franc9111 , Good to hear in such depth. After the WW2 US General George S. Patton said, "We defeated the wrong enemy."
To the wrong shore. In the world war.
Can't find hats that fit those guys?
OMG, I thought the same thing! And shouldn’t the captain’s hat have a white cover?
Yep good idea have a white cover that can be seen for miles when on top of the Conning tower
Under 11 minutes and all went wrong when claiming that without battery everything is lost. Nice quality with this one. Giving a thumb down.
Ah yes, the reason why the US entered the war. You govt was warned about wolf packs yet you sent civilians across the atlantic in hoping they will get hurt. This in turn gives you a reason to soend money on arms an enter the war.
You were also goven ample warnings about thr japanese airforce attacking pearl harbour. You allowed that atoricty as an excuse to use the atomic bomb.
Didnt you also allow some people to fly some planes into a couple of towers. You also went "sightseeing" after that little incident didnt you?
They also drowned women and children and many others.
War is hell. You always kill the women and children easier to do befor the children grow up to be soldiers and the women have more children. It ain't right. But like I said war is hell don't do war. To bad bungling Biden is dragging us into war with russia
These weasels are not heroes.
To the Germans they were heroes. It all depends on from where you are viewing.
@@dlb3512Oh yeah. On their side they thought of being heroes for trying to wipe out as much of mankind as possible by a madman. My father served on the carrier Block Island, sunk in the Atlantic by a Uboat. Schlecht!
@cowdaddy4595: They were all ‘brave men,’ as indeed were the men who served in the Royal Naval or United States Naval Submarine Services! The German Navy’s (Kriegsmarine) Submariners (U-Boat Crews) had their orders to follow & successfully discharge, as also had the Allies then too, they were all merely consummate, dedicated patriots & naval warriors & professionals, all serving their respective countries, generally to the best of their abilities! That is just what happens in war & total war at that, as in fact it had always been done similarly throughout history! Both sides were attempting to blockade & starve out their opponents, as part of their respective overall naval war strategies to win & overcome their enemies!!
The fact is when you all add it up at the end of world war II the U-boat sunk less than 2% of all allied shipping. The u boat threat was all that it was just a threat I wish these channels would be a bit more economical with the truth
3000 Allied ships were sunk by German subs during WWII. That may not be a huge number in the greater scheme of a world war, but each life lost wasn’t lost because of a mere threat. Submarines attacks were real.
@@FreeDocumentaryHistory yeah so what
@@FreeDocumentaryHistory don't fall into the trap of giving out statistics if you don't know what you're talking about there were over 5000 allied and British ships sunk in world war II with the lost of 65,000 sailors
@@exsubmariner The number 3000 refers to the number sunk by the Germans.
@@exsubmariner learn to read 🤡
Dønitz, the munster of minster.
Best of the Best, kriegsmarine U-boot crew.
El actor que hace de capitán no pega ni con cola. Tiene pinta de marinero y la gorra le queda enorme. Deberían haber elegido a otro tipo.
Most soldiers today wouldn't be close to equal to a German in ww1 or ww2 that's why it took so many to outnumber the germans
EROICI Equipaggi nella ww2.