Hello and welcome to the battleground podcast with me Saul David and Roger Morehouse.

Well today we conclude our mini-series on Roger's brilliant new book,

Wolfpack, inside Hitler's U-Boat War, by discussing defeat and legacy in an episode entitled

Broken Wolves, which covers the period from the middle of 1943 to the end of the war.

Roger, last time we looked at the propaganda, life below the waves, and the innovations,

or at least some of them, that allowed the Allies to turn the tide. So just set the scene for

us, could you, as we start the story from the spring of 1943, and in particular, that grim month

for the Germans known as Black May. Tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah, so Black May is absolutely, you know, one of those hinge moments in the war.

Ironically, you know, we've been talking about Tunis grad before, of course, May 43 is a big

turning point in that campaign as well. And that, actually, that summer, I think, is a massive

turning point in the war generally.

You've got so much going on, you know, the bombing of Hamburg, for example, Battle of Kursk, you know, the Italians drop out of the war late in the summer. So there's a hell of a lot going on. But, yeah, May 43 in the Uboat War is absolutely the turning point. And this, if you remember from our previous episode is where

you know, Dernitz has finally got the fleet that he always

wanted effectively, which is, you know,

the three, turning point. And this, if you remember from our previous episode, is where, you know, Dernitz has

finally got the fleet that he always wanted effectively, which is, you know, the 300 plus U-boat fleet.

He goes toe to toe with the Allies over that winter of 42, 43 and into the spring of 43.

And, you know, posts some really, you know, from the German perspective, some really good figures,

lots of tonnage sunk. The problem is he's losing a lot of his own vessels as well. So the

realization comes in that May that for him, you know, he can't replace those vessels as quickly as

the Allies can. The Allies, of course, have got liberty ships coming off the production

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