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
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105 - Case White: The Invasion of Poland, 1939
104 - Alarmstart: The Luftwaffe in the Mediterranean
103 'Chink' Eric Dorman-Smith
102 - D-Day Through German Eyes
101 - Operation CHASTISE: The Dambusters
100 - Left For Dead At Nijmegen
99 - George Mergenthaler - MERG
98 - Operation Market Garden
97 - Japanese POW: Ray Fitchett
96 - Bridge Busters: The Dortmund-Ems Canal Raid
95 - Jimmy Stewart
94 - 1941
93 - D-Day: The British Beach Landings
92 - D-Day: Omaha
91 - USS Arizona: Brothers Down
90 - Storm On Our Shores
89 - Cork Wars
88 - Division Leclerc
87 - Hitler's Death
86 - The SAS in Italy, 1943-45
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