DONITZ'S LAST GAMBLE

After the June 1944 D-Day landings Dönitz withdrew his U-boat wolf-packs from the Atlantic convoy war and sent them into coastal waters where they could harass the massive shipping movements necessary to supply the Allied amries advancing across Europe. Caught unawares by this change of strategy, the Allied anti-submarine forces were ill-prepared for the novel challenges of inshore warfare. It proved surprisingly difficult to locate U-boats that could lie silently on the seabed. Because the battle was nearer home, the U-boats wasted less time on transist, so at any one time there were more of them in combat. In the final months of the war there was also the threat far more advanced and potent submarine types entering German service but thanks largely to overwhelming numbers of escorts this last gamble by Dönitz was defeated. It is a story of the utmost importance told by an accomplished U-boat author.