Cesty za šesti Německými patronátními ponorkami – Pajer Miloslav (2025)

During the year 1941, the German high command realized that the Luftwaffe was unable to deliver a devastating blow to Great Britain in battle. They therefore considered the possibility of complete isolation of the British Isles and turned their attention to the submarine navy of the Kriegsmarine; to the war submarine fleet that, after the fall of France, moved its bases from Germany to ports in Brest, Bordeaux, La Pallice, La Rochelle, Lorient, and Saint Nazaire on the west coast of France. From there, German submarines could more easily attack both Allied and neutral merchant ships and tankers in the Atlantic. From the new bases, they were also much closer to the routes of naval Allied supply convoys and could simultaneously conduct combat patrols as far as Canadian waters, the shores of North America, and the coasts of West Africa. The years 1940 to 1942 represented Germany's greatest chance for victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. These were the years of 'happy times,' when it seemed highly likely that Dönitz's crews would win the battle he called the war for tonnage.