Elizabeth

“The Germany Navy immediately launched a tremendous U-boat building program which by the end of the war produced a total of 1102 new boats. Production rose from two boats per month in 1939, to over thirty a month in the middle of the war.”
― Daniel V. Gallery, Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea: The Daring Capture of the U-505

“The balance sheet for U-boats during the whole war can be summarized as follows:. On hand at start: 57 Built: 1102 Sunk: 781 Captured: 1 (U-505) Scuttled: 215 Surrendered: 162 (Incl. U-570) Total: 1159 The personnel losses in the U-boat flotillas were staggering. Out of 40,000 U-boat sailors only 12,000 survived the war. The rest went to the bottom with their boats. On the other side of the ledger, 5,700 Allied ships totaling 23,000,000 tons were sunk and 48,000 merchant seamen went down with them.”
― Daniel V. Gallery, Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea: The Daring Capture of the U-505

“But after it became apparent that the only damage being done was to the town, the townspeople were pretty bitter about it, some directing their bitterness toward the British, some toward the Germans. Many reasoned that their own country had been defeated and surrendered, and they had a right to be left in peace now. Community life was chaotic and families were often split into factions with lethal designs on each other. Many of the old folks, knowing the best part of their lives was behind them were content to live what was left to them in whatever way was the easiest. They had no further interest in the war, one way or the other, after France collapsed. They knew France was dying and hoped to live out their own lives in peace before she did. The younger generation took sides violently. Some through hatred of the British or for”
― Daniel V. Gallery, Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea: The Daring Capture of the U-505