The U-boats were undoubtedly the German navy’s most successful and most feared ship-killers, however ultimately they also suffered terrible losses. Of the 40,000 men enlisted into the submarine service, 30,000 were killed. U354, which shadowed and unsuccessfully attacked convoy JW51B, is a case in point. A Type VIIC boat, she was commissioned on 22 April 1942 at the Flensburger Schiffsbau shipyard, carried out twelve patrols, sank three ships for a total of 19,899 gross tons, and damaged two more totalling 6134 gross tons. Two incidents aboard U354 underline the hazardous nature of submarine warfare, quite apart from enemy action. On 11 November 1942 Fahnrich zur See Horst Mayen was lost overboard, and on 12 March 1943, in an incident not uncommon in the U-boat service, Maschinenmaat Helmut Richter committed suicide.[171]
However, not all was doom and gloom. Late on 31 December 1942 as U354 reconnoitred the Barents Sea battle area, Admiral Kluber in Narvik took time to send good news to one crew member: ‘To: Herschelb. For Lt. E. Rainer. Its arrived. Going well Dora. Best Wishes.’[172]
On 24 August 1944 two British corvettes, a frigate, and a destroyer, tracked U354 and sank her with all hands in the Barents Sea. Kapitänleutnant Herschelb, whose message of 31 December 1942 unwittingly helped to cause the seismic upheaval in the German navy following the Battle of the Barents Sea, had previously transferred and was not with the boat at the time.
On the outbreak of war with Germany, Soviet industry was capable of manufacturing large quantities of basic but reliable and sturdy weapons of war – guns, tanks, aeroplanes, etc. The problem was the factories, which were almost all situated in western Russia in the immediate path of the invaders. Had these factories been overrun, defeat for the Soviets would have been inevitable, as resupply from Britain and the United States could not hope to keep pace with all the requirements of the Red Army. The solution was both breathtakingly simple and enormously complex. The Russians would move all the plant and machinery, entire factories, eastwards away from the rapidly advancing Germans.
In the four months from July to October 1941, 1½ million trucks and 915,000 railway wagons transported over 1000 factories east, together with the manpower to rebuild them, install plant and machinery, and operate them. Some 100,000 men accompanied the dispersion of Soviet industry eastwards, and the results of this enormous physical and logistical exercise were equally impressive. Aircraft factories moved to Saratov began production before the roofs were on – fourteen days after the last jigs were installed, MiG fighters were rolling off the production line. The tank works transported to Kharkov produced its first twenty-five T-34 tanks ten weeks after engineers rebuilt the factories. Winter in eastern Russia is a desperately hard affair; nevertheless despite atrocious working conditions the winter of 1941/2 saw Soviet arms production reach 4500 tanks, 3000 aircraft, 14,000 guns, and over 50,000 mortars.[173] This equipment would be vital in the coming months, but could not hope to keep pace with the rate of attrition on the Russian front. It was vital that the hundreds of thousands of tons of military hardware and equipment scheduled for transportation from Britain in the Arctic convoys were fought through to Russia.
APPENDIX II
OUTLINE DETAILS OF BRITISH WARSHIPS WITH NOTES ON DEVELOPMENT AND WARTIME CAREERS
| Built: | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow |
| Laid down 1934 | |
| Completed 25 August 1937 | |
| Dimensions: | 584 ft 0 in (178 m) × 61 ft 8 in (18.8 m) × 17 ft 0 in (5.2 m) |
| Displacement: | 9100 tons (9246 tonnes) |
| Main Armament: | 12 × 6 in (152 mm) in 4 triple turrets, at the time of the Barents Sea action. As the war progressed all the Southampton class had ‘X’ turret removed and replaced by two quadruple Bofors anti-aircraft mountings |
| Anti-aircraft Armament: | 10 × 20 mm fitted 1941, replacing original multiple machine-guns |
| 16 × 2 pdr pompoms | |
| Torpedo Tubes: | 6 × 21 in (533 mm) in two triple units |
| Aircraft: | 2 Walrus seaplanes, one housed either side of the fore funnel, in a hangar abaft the bridge |
| 1 catapult athwartships | |
| Machinery: | Parsons geared turbines, built by Vickers |
| Twin-screw. Admiralty 3-drum boilers | |
| 75,000 SHP, giving 32 knots | |
| Complement: | 833 |
| Built: | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow |
| Launched 16 November 1940 | |
| Completed 29 June 1942 | |
| Dimensions: | 555 ft 6 in (169 m) × 62 ft 0 in (18.9 m) × 16 ft 6 in (5 m) |
| Displacement: | 8000 tons (8128 tonnes) |
| War additions such as torpedoes and extra splinter protection caused the displacement to rise to 8631 tons (8769 tonnes), but without compromising speed | |
| Main Armament: | 12 × 6 in (152 mm), in 4 triple turrets |
| Anti-aircraft Armament: | 10 × 20 mm |
| Torpedo Tubes: | 6 × 21 in (533 mm) |
| Aircraft: | 2 box hangars abaft bridge, 1 either side of the fore funnel, equipped to carry Walrus and later Sea Otter seaplanes |
| 1 fixed catapult athwartships | |
| Machinery: | Parsons geared turbines. Quadruple-screw |
| 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers | |
| 72,500 SHP giving 31.5 knots | |
| Complement: | 980 |
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