46: Churchill’s Peril: U-boat Wolfpacks

Guest Roger Moorhouse and host Iain Ballantyne discuss the German submarine threat in WW2 in a lively and engrossing chat. Roger is the author of several acclaimed books, including ‘Killing Hitler’ and ‘First to Fight’ and now ‘Wolfpack’, an excellent single volume deep dive into the submarine arm of the Kriegsmarine - Hitler’s navy - and which was reviewed in the November 2025 edition of Warships IFR.

Topics touched on in this episode include pondering why the Germans placed their bets on the U-boat again, for the second time in a quarter of a century, despite having seen a similar strategy fail in WW1.

Also discussed is the quality and character of the U-boat captains – cool, leather jacket, lumber jack shirt-wearing heroes or villains? Nazis to a man and fanatical supporters of the regime, of just Good Germans doing their best for their country?

Iain asks Roger if ‘the U-boat peril’ truly was the only thing that ever really frightened Winston Churchill in WW2 - or was the wartime British Prime Minister deploying his usual emotive characterisation to frame his own later record more valiantly?

The term Wolfpack reeks of lethality, provoking a shiver of fear, but how effective were the U-boats really once the Allies improved tactics, weaponry and training? Roger provides his perspective on that topic in addition to considering the strategies of Karl Dönitz, the U-boat force boss.

Looking at the moral dimension of the conflict, Roger and Iain ponder whether of not it is possible to set aside the horror of the Nazis and what they did and feel empathy for the tens of thousands of young men in German submarines who died under a hail of Allied depth charges, bombs and gunfire.

Both host and guest offer a dose of common sense about the fantasy in some quarters of Hitler escaping in a U-boat to live out the rest of his days in South America. Finally, Iain asks Roger what he feels might be lessons for today in dealing with the Russian threat, which includes submarines.

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• Roger Moorhouse is a historian and author specialising in modern German and Central European history, with particular interest in Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and World War Two in Europe. Follow Roger on X @Roger_Moorhouse Visit his web site https://www.rogermoorhouse.com For more information on his ‘Wolfpack: Inside Hitler’s U-Boat War’ (William Collins ) https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/wolfpack

• Iain Ballantyne is the founding and current Editor of ‘Warships IFR’ magazine (first published in 1998) along with its ‘Guide to the Royal Navy’ (since 2003) and ‘Guide to the US Navy’ (since 2018). Iain is also author of the books ‘Hunter Killers’ (Orion) and ‘The Deadly Trade’ (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), both about submarine warfare, plus ‘Arnhem: Ten Days in The Cauldron’ and ‘Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom’ (both published by Canelo). In 2017 Iain was awarded a Fellowship by the British Maritime Foundation, which promotes awareness of the United Kingdom’s dependence on the sea and seafarers. Visit his web site Bismarckbattle.com and follow him on X @IBallantyn