The Second Happy Time (codenamed Operation Paukenschlag or Operation Drumbeat), also known among German submarine commanders as the American shooting season was the informal name for a phase in the Second Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines attacked merchant shipping along the east coast of North America. The first "Happy time" was in 1940–41.
It lasted from January 1942 to about August of that year. German submariners named it the happy time or the golden time as defence measures were weak and disorganised, and the U-boats were able to inflict massive damage with little risk. During the second happy time, Axis submarines sank 609 ships totaling 3.1 million tons for the loss of only 22 U-boats. This was roughly one quarter of all shipping sunk by U-boats during the entire Second World War.
Read more about Second Happy Time: Background, Opening Moves, American Response, Chronology of Attacks Off The U.S. East Coast, Counter-measures Get Under Way
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“The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“Harvey: About this Voltaire.
Helene: What about him?
Harvey: How’d he ever get time to do all he did?
Helene: He lived to be old.
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Helene: Oh, I don’t know exactly. Thousands.
Harvey: I can’t remember when I even wrote one.
Helene: You should try.
Harvey: It’s too late. I wouldn’t know where to send it.”
—Tom Waldman (d. 1985)