Convoys HX 229/SC 122

Convoys HX 229/SC 122

The battle around convoys HX 229 and SC 122 occurred during March 1943 in the Battle of the Atlantic, and was the largest convoy battle of World War II. British merchant shipping was formed into convoys for protection against German submarine attack. German Navy tactics against convoys employed multiple-submarine wolfpack tactics in nearly simultaneous surface attacks at night. Patrolling aircraft restricted the ability of submarines to converge on convoys during daylight. North Atlantic winters offered the longest periods of darkness to conceal surfaced submarine operations. The winter of 1942-43 saw the largest number of submarines deployed to the mid-Atlantic before comprehensive anti-submarine aircraft patrols could be extended into that area. March saw a series of fierce convoy battles and was, for the Allies, the crisis point of the whole campaign. One hundred merchant ships in trade convoys HX 229 and SC 122 encountered three wolfpacks of 38 submarines in a single sprawling action, which German radio reported as "the greatest convoy battle of all time" (Die grösste Geleitzugschlacht aller Zeiten). A Royal Navy report later concluded “The Germans never came so near to disrupting communications between the New World and the Old as in the first twenty days of March 1943”.