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The Battle Of The St. Lawrence Seaway

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The Battle of the St. Lawrence Seaway refers to the attacks on Allied shipping in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence from 1942 through to the end of the shipping season in 1944 . German submarines, commonly called U-boats, entered into these Canadian waters to hinder and delay Allied supplies from reaching Britain across the Atlantic . However, Allied convoys still made voyages to Britain and back, constantly supplying them with goods. Sailing across the middle of the Atlantic itself was considered far more dangerous than just leaving the Canadian ports. Therefore, through examining Germany’s intent for entering the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, effect on Allied shipping, and subsequent response by the Allies with respect to the attacks, it can be shown that U-boats entering into Canadian waters had very little impact on impeding Allied shipping. Allied shipping from North America to Britain needed to supply at least a million tonnes of goods to allow Britain to survive and fight against the Axis . Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Britain for the duration of the Second World War, called the Battle of the Atlantic “the [most] dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air depended ultimately on its outcome” . Therefore, whoever held the upper hand in the Battle of the Atlantic held the advantage in supplies for the war. Germany decided to employ their U-boats to try to delay and strike

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