| Abstract |
"The terrible toll on the American fleet suffered from the German U-boats in the Caribbean area has not been as thoroughly analyzed and documented as have the other settings of the Second World War, yet this was the area where twenty percent of all allied shipping was sunk with extraordinarily few losses to the German submarine fleet. The German reasoning was that roughly 95 percent of the oil production required to sustain the east coast of the United States- 59 million gallons per day- came from the Caribbean. Bauxite, a critical metal used in the manufacture of airplanes and other war-related products, was mined in British Guyana and transported through the Caribbean to the southern port of the United States. Both items were of importance not only to the United States, but also supplied a significant portion of the oil required by Great Britain. The islands of Aruba and Cura cao each had among the largest refineries in the world, and the geographical proximity to Venezuela provided the ideal situation for reducing transportation costs and ensuring adequate supplies. German U-boats destroyed part of the refineries. On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. By January 1942, U-boats were aligned to sink ships on the east coast of the United States. The Germans' undaunted success led them to try their luck in the Caribbean. German U-boats sank between 371 and 397 American ships in the Caribbean between January 1942 and July 1943, with three additional sinkings in 1944. The German submarine fleet was supported by a network of spies throughout the Caribbean, and by secret agreements with local dictators to supply the submarines with fuel and food. The United States navy was completely unprepared for this attack, and invested billions of dollars building bases, landing strips, roads, and infrastructures required to support a military contingent in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico had to become the Gibraltar of the Caribbean. The German submarine blockade caused a shortage of food in all the Caribbean islands, which depended on food imports from the US. This book describes the military activities in the Caribbean during World War II and their effect on the civilian population in the US Caribbean as well as on Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the British and Dutch Caribbean. A special arrangement existed between the French Islands controlled by the Vichy regime. While at war with Germany the US kept diplomatic relationships with Vichy France, the German ally. Vichy kept most of its fleet and its complete gold reserves on Martinique, at a safe distance from Nazi Germany"-- Provided by publisher. |
