The convoy HG-76 sailed from Gibraltar to Britain in December 1941. The Royal Navy commander in charge was 'Johnnie' Walker, an anti-submarine expert who had developed new, aggressive U-boat hunting tactics. Accompanying the escorts was HMS Audacity, the Royal Navy's first escort carrier - a new type of warship purpose-built to defend convoys from enemy aircraft and U-boats.
Aware of the departure of HG-76, a wolfpack of U-boats was sent against it, and the Luftwaffe was heavily committed to, in a rare example of German inter-service cooperation. German intelligence agents in Gibraltar and Spain also knew every detail of HG-76 before it sailed, seemingly stacking the odds in favour of the Kriegsmarine.
Joining me on this episode is Angus Konstam.
Angus is a naval historian and author of The Convoy: HG-76: Taking the Fight to Hitler's U-boats
For patrons of the podcast, Osprey Publishing has given us a discount code to be used on their website, ospreypublishing.com.
If you are not a patron of the show, you can sign up at patreon.com/ww2podcast. Patrons can get advert-free listening and extra WWII chat.
Patreon
patreon.com/ww2podcast
10 - Parcels From Home: Red Cross Parcels During WWII
09 - Angels of the Underground: Resistance in the Philippines
08 - Churchill and Britain's Decision To Fight in 1940
07 - Eagles over Husky: The Role of the Airforce during the invasion of Sicily
06 - The OSS - America's WW2 Intelligence Service
05 - The Dieppe Raid
04 - The Lancaster Bomber
03 - Omar Bradley
02 - The USS Neosho: The Ship That Wouldn't Die
01 - The German Halftrack - SdKfz 251
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Everything Everywhere Daily