"This book is the story of the month in the spring of 1943, 'Black May' as the Germans called it, when the Allies finally and decisively gained the upper hand in the Battle of the Atlantic and it became clear that the submarine threat would be defeated. In the course of that month the Allies, confronted with the largest submarine force yet sent out into the Atlantic, sunk 41 U-boats and damaged another 37 and Admiral Doenitz was forced to withdraw the surviving boats from the fray. Most significant of all, one major convoy, ONS.5, which was targeted by several wolfpacks in rapid succession and should, in the light of past experience, have suffered severe losses, survived largely unscathed while the attacking wolfpacks were relentlessly hunted down by the escorting ships and aircraft. Michael Gannon describes the hundreds of separate engagements that took place in the course of the month in vivid detail, drawing upon archive records on both sides of the Atlantic as well as the personal recollections of those involved on both sides. [...] He also reproduces the transcripts of secretly recorded conversations between captured U-boat crewmen, which provide a fascinating insight into their attitudes and morale.[...]The courage and determination of the men who fought was crucial but the Allied victory was also the result of improvements in stategy, tactics and technology, including the introduction of centimetric radar and radio-direction finding gear, and all of these factors are examined and analysed here."--Provided by the publisher.