'It was rapid advances in technology which allowed Britain to turn the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic against Germany by mid-1943'. How far do you agree with this judgment?

         As well as the positive advances in technology, there were also limitations to it. ASDIC in theory should have been highly effective but the allies didn’t realize that although the submerged u-boats could be detected, they could still attack, undetected at night on the surface, where ASDIC couldn’t spot them. However, the Leigh Light of course put a stop to this in 1942 when surfaced u-boats could be detected.

          In addition to the technology there were also other contributors to the turning of the tide, arguably without these the turning of the tide may not have happened. The appointment of Max Horton as commander in 1942 was a big help to the campaign in the Atlantic, not only did Horton integrate the Navy and RAF he also introduced more long range aircraft and trained pilots more effectively. He also changed the strategy in the sea, before he was appointed the allies were largely avoiding the u-boats where they could; Horton’s strategy was to lure the enemy into action and attacked from there. So as a result, in the initial years the allies were making no impact whatsoever on axis numbers, Horton’s strategy meant that Germany began to lose u-boats which Hitler in the latter years refused to acknowledge and replace. German complacency also aided the allies increased success; despite the advances in allied technology the allies were still using the Wolf pack strategy, which the allies could easily predict and meant that they could destroy numerous U-boats at a time. The losses in the Atlantic were recognized by Donitz but when Hitler was told of this he refused to replace them and ignored Donitz’ requests for 300 u-boats in order to ‘win the war’ in the Atlantic; Germany ultimately failed to capitalize on allied initial weakness. Germany did eventually recognize its failure in the Atlantic but didn’t act upon it quickly enough as their thoughts were elsewhere; their attempts at new technology like schnorkel were futile against the strong Navy which Britain had created with the help of the USA. The USA’s involvement in the war from 1941 also helped in the Atlantic, they were an economic superpower, capable of producing large numbers of liberty ships in a few days; over 2000 were built in 1945 alone. These liberty ships also aided the convoys of merchant ships which made Germany’s objective of stopping all supply to Britain increasingly difficult to complete.

          Although there are many other contributing factors to the turning of the tide in the Atlantic, it is clear that new technology was the most effective. Without the technology, allied losses would still have been high from night attacks; Horton’s strategy would have been futile against such offensives. The new weapons brought a refreshing change to the allied attacks which the enemy wasn’t expecting and could do nothing about. The complacency of the axis may have gone undiscovered if HF/DF hadn’t been invented as the allies would have probably taken longer to identify the repetitive formation of the u-boats. Without technology, the other contributing factors wouldn’t have been as effective, therefore making it a vital catalyst in the turning of the tide against Germany.