Pinned post for Q&A :)

My Uncle, a Canadian soldier, did garrison duty in Jamaica during the war. There he met my Aunt. They married and moved to Canada. My Mother partly decided to study at a 🇨🇦University partly because her sister was in 🇨🇦. There she met my Father. They recently celebrated 70 years of marriage. So yes an important theatre of the war as far as I am concerned.

I love how Drach refers to a 30m overview of a lesser known theater as a "very brief high level overview" when many channels would call that a "deep dive"... the depth and consistency of content is astounding

I may never recover from the shock of learning that a B-18 squadron found a combat role and actually caused harm to the enemy

Hi Drach, long time viewer from Trinidad here, our secondary school history syllabus never covers Trinidad's minor roles in WW2 even though we had many US airbases and a submarine base aside from still being part of ths British Empire, so it makes me happy to have my island even mentioned in this video, cause you've already done more than my History teachers did in 5 years

I had _no_ idea how much the aluminium industry depended on the area... the bit on avoiding bread rations by making sandwiches was hilarious.

My uncle was a US merchant seaman. Torpedoed twice and in the water coming out of Aruba. If that wasn't enough, it happened again coming into Murmansk. I was very young when he passed away, and never heard anything first hand from him. Thank you for giving me an understanding of what his war might have looked like.

I work in the last WWII anti-submarine airship hangar on the east coast; just celebrated its 80th year of existence.

I remember my grandmother telling me, who was born shortly before the war and lived in a small village in Devon, talk about the amazement she felt seeing a banana for the first time. Then the utter disgust she felt when she tried to eat it with its skin on.

My father served in the US Coast Guard during WWII in the Caribbean and the North Atlantic. He served on Sub-Chasers which were just a little larger than PT boats but were designed to hunt subs in flotillas, but not being very successful in that role. He was based in Trinidad and Cuba...at least as far as I know. I do know that he lost his taste for ketchup and peanut butter through those years as they came in large cans which quickly spoiled once opened aboard ship in the hot, humid conditions of the Caribbean. I think the men who served on sub-chasers deserve at least an honorable mention, despite their lack of much success for their service.

A family friend spent most of the war during the "Shipping Season" on cargo ships hauling bauxite/ alumina from the Caribbean to the smelter at Arvida, Quebec. In the "off season" he was kept busy like his full time peers, dealing with emergency repairs to the various vital coal fired power stations across the country.

My father worked in Aruba for Standard Oil, I still have his Lago security pass. He left in 1940 to join the Royal Navy and survived the war some of his American friends were killed in the Uboat attacks on tankers.

I'll add to the marvelous comments I've just read: My late father commanded a sub chaser in the Caribbean in mid-1942, when he didn't see how the Allies could win the war. One reminiscence stood out: some merchant seamen picked up by his ship had swallowed fuel oil and begged my father to shoot them. He left it at that until 20 years ago I pressed him to tell me if he did. "Yes," he said. The convoys out of Curacao at that time had at most several escorts--not enough to ward off U-Boats. He went off to the Pacific, to be wounded of Saipan. It was something of a relief: "I missed the coming of the kamikazes."

“Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics” - *General Omar Bradley* During wartime the complex and delicate supply chains become evident, to the point of becoming painful. Sugar, henequen fibers, crude oil and refined products, come to the top of the list. Other equally vital things don't make headlines. -Cinchona/quine bark from Peru to make anti-malarial drugs was essential to the pacific island campaign -The caribeean is dotted with salt works that had served their european metropolis for centuries. Lack of salt complicated the canning of food for troops, and the regular civilian industry had a hard time preserving food. -The chocolate bar became an icon because the cocoa trade to europe was squashed, while it was now abundant and looking for markets in the americas. And if you suddenly want to increase the size of the Royal Navy... where are you going to *get the rum* for it? 😁

Aruban here. Grandparents from my mothers' side have told me stories of the war, they were kids at the time. They had drills at school, when the siren would go off and they had to get under the desks for cover. The anti-sub warfare planes would fly almost directly overhead from the Dakota airfield heading in the direction of Lago. My grandma told me she had seen the aftermath of the tankers that were torpedoed near the Lago Refinery. She said that the sea was on fire, as if the water itself had turned into flames. My grandparents from my fathers side were already married with children and my grandfather worked at the Lago Refinery at the time. My father told me that his mother said that back then they were ordered to move from where they lived to another village further away from the refinery, in case it got bombarded. My grandmother stated that if her husband were to die in the resulting explosion, who would then earn an income to feed the family and that it would be better to die in the same explosion. Thus they stayed where they were. The foundations of the artillery batteries on the hill that overlooked the Lago refinery still exist. A local tv station has also made a documentary of the attack doing interviews with people who witnessed the attacks and getting footage from that time. All of those people are in their late 80s or older now.

A very sincere thank you for this video. This effected my Dad (as a kid) and Grandfather in Guatemala. Metal toys vanished so my Grandfather made wooden toys for my Dad. Car batteries became scarce so people learned to park their cars on hills and "bump start" their manual transmissions to start their cars. My Grandfather setup a banana drying factory so that he could export dried banana chips during the war.

I have always considered myself well versed in most of the theaters conflict during WWII. I knew nothing of the Caribbean. Thank you Drach!

My dad talks sometimes of the rations during the war, but one thing always bothered me about the rations was sugar. Never could understand why it was in short supply. Thank you for the reasoning behind it.

Citizen of Trinidad here. My grandfather, who used to take watch at the port here, often used to tell me, one night, a U-boat snuck into harbor and sank a ship. Only inclination they had was when the ship exploded at its moorings and sank. It's nice to have a video about the war in my region. :)

My dad was a boy in Jamaica in 1941. He told me decades ago that sacks of flour would wash up from torpedoed cargo ships and while the sea ruined the outer shell, the inner part was then protected and was perfectly edible. Never in my life seen a documentary on this theater. U da man!!!

I heard somewhere the steel drum (the musical instrument) was invented because of the multitude 0f 50 gallon oil drums sitting around Trinidad/ Tobaggo after the war

This one reminds me of when I was a kid, we had a game called "Bermuda Triangle" where the object was to ship goods such as oil & sugar around the Caribbean without getting your ship swallowed by the big ominous cloud.

I remember reading stories that here in Puerto Rico of the rationing of flour and other foodstuffs during WW2. There was much rejoicing in August 1945 when restrictions were lifted and the traditional bread 🥖 became freely available once again.

My father flew blimps in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the Second Great Debate, thank you for this. He never talked about it much..

Drach, the 'coupon books' were an extension of the US wartime rationing system used on the mainland. Essentially any goods that was to be rationed had both a cost in dollars, and coupons. Rationed goods required enough of the right kind of stamp, and if you ran out that was it for the month. Macaroni and Cheese for example shot up in popularity, because a single stamp could get you two boxes.

One of our neighbours when we first moved to Miami Beach was a woman who recounted watching from the roof deck/bar of a hotel as a U-boat sunk a freighter by deck gun just offshore of the Beach. She particularly remembered the "salty language" of the freighter's crew when they rowed ashore at the sandy beach next to the hotel. I had friends who dove on a u-boat wreck situated in the reefs offshore of the Beach. My favourite story is of the U-boat that supposedly sailed up the Mississippi river as far as Natchez Mississippi. The Mississippi is quite deep from the shoals at it's mouth on up to I believe Memphis Tennessee. The river is about two hundred feet deep from New Orleans on down to the mouth.

Excellent bit of history. Very well done. I have learned something today.

I keep seeing a repeating theme of Germany shooting themselves in the foot by just sinking everything they can find.

Use to have people living near me, who remember helping survivors of U-Boat attacks when they washed ashore. My grand dad use to tell the story where he was working near the port (Trinidad) one night when an Oil Tanker was torpedoed in harbour. Also .. a couple of the hangers the Americans built in Trinidad are not only still standing, but one is currently being used by the Local Defense Force as a training base.

Great work! I did not previously know the Italians joined the Germans in commerce raiding with submarines in the Western Atlantic.

My great uncle served aboard an RCN flower class corvette in the Caribbean

It's usualy around the half way point on these videos that I find myself cursing the Vichy government in my best Al Murray pub landlord voice.

My kids asked me why I watch these video all the time and I really couldn't explain it to them, they just make me happy.

I had a co-worker who was from the gulf coast of Texas. He insisted somewhere along the Texas coast was a U-Boat scuttled in coastal shallow water. He never mentioned any particular location

As a Brit who relocated to Panama, I found little information (or interest) here about the events of WW2 but, after some research, found some interesting stories - from the pre-war concerns, the panic in 1941, to it becoming something of a backwater by the end of the war. The stories included the amusing and the tragic, the last armed mutiny on a Royal Navy vessel (while in the Canal Zone), and the awful treatment of both local and deported Peruvians of Japanese origin. Even though brought up as a kid on war stories, I knew little about what the war meant in Panama and the Caribbean - and I guess the same would be true of most of my generation

This had to be tough to get down to 33 minutes. It filled in many gaps in my "knowledge". Thank you for your hard work!

the Caribbean submarine warfare was intense. As mentioned 400 'local' ships sunk with family, friends, and colleagues all concerned. And the 'happy times' as the USA (King) ignored the lessons learned from WW1 or early WW2 to save lives and ships.

The German U-Boat campaign in the Caribean affected the cherry Harvest in Door County Wisconsin. Migrant workers from Jamacia could no longer make it to the US and with local laborers in the military overseas the labor void was filled by German POWs. Great book, Stalag Wisconsin.

US Army Airforce/Navy: Having an inter-service rivalry IJA/Navy: You too huh? US Army Airforce/Navy: Not as bad as you two though

Two thoughts: 1. Thank you for addressing the economic and morale aspects of the campaigns in the Caribbean beyond simply the direct war materiel efforts. 2. I think it could be argued that the sabotage of Bearn was meant to look ineffective, but by leaving the vessel where it could be "salvaged" and sent to the US it tied up far more resources away from actual useful use of resources (time, money and material) than any other potential outcome! :P

Years ago I met several people who lived in Trinidad and they told about the first time they saw a ship blow up in the Port-of-Spain harbour. They didn't know what it was for a good long time since the government wasn't talking about the german uboats to the people.

The information about rationing and control of frming on the islands was especially interesting.

My father was a boy living near Vernam Field US air base in Jamaica, he remembers air raid wardens enforcing lights out and US aircraft flying in and out. An old co worker back in the 90's was serving with British Forces at the time and was posted at Port Royal tracking U Boats. Another old co worker remembers oil slicks flotsam and jetsam floating onto the island's north coast from torpedoed transports. The war hardly troubled rural Jamaicans, they were not dependent on modern conveniences and easily adapted back to old ways as certain imported items became rationed or no longer available.

My dad's ship (Empire Bede) was sunk off Cuba in 1942. The full story of the War in the Atlantic (Caribbean chapter) has never been known to me, until now. Many thanks for your efforts

After damaging the end of the deck gun barrel U156 went out to sea and used all the hacksaw blades on the sub to cut off the damaged end of the deck gun barrel and returned to try again the next night. But shore batteries were awake this time and encouraged the sub to rethink it's efforts.

I'm still confounded that I had never heard of the Oakville before this channel and I'm from Canada.

"A bunch of people forgot how to eat bananas". Oh, Drach, you are the best.

6:36 The Submarine Leonardo Da Vinci became the highest scoring non-german submarine of the entire war, higher than USS Tang the US most successful submarine

Special Interest as this is the theater my Grandfather fought in on the British side out of Trinidad (on a corvette). My family (well grandparents) had lost lots of family-owned land to the allies when they took over a Navy base and never quite gave it back.

Very interesting. This begs the natural question, "The Caribbean in WW1 - ???".

Drachinifel, grand professeur of all seas and weapons. Caribic? Convoys? Politics? Strategy? Data? You put it into great comprehensive overview how is impossible to find in history book. Many thanks for your jaw dropping effort!

Further reading (for beneath the waves): The U-Boat War in the Caribbean. By Gaylord Kelshall

a bit late but few correction and more info on Aruba. Aruba had 2 oil refineries the Lago company one and a Dutch Shell company one under the name of Arend Petroleum Maatschappij. Aruba had one of the largest Oil refinery at the time during the war 6 tankers were sunked, 2 damaged. one of the torpedo missed the targetted ship and beached itself and when the dutch marines tried to dismantle it a day later it exploded killing 4 of them.

Oil, sugar and… French? Did not expect to be slapped with the F-word by Drach this morning, but certainly not unwelcome!

Now I want a Rum and Coca Cola...

Dad's favorite port of Call was New Orleans, he did say early in the war it was dangerous getting there.

Great episode. Way to shine the light on a lesser know naval theater of WW2. The North Atlantic and the entirety of the Pacific campaigns, plus the Med, get the bulk of the coverage. Is it possible to do a similar 1/2 hour or so outline of the key points in the South Atlantic and another in the Indian Ocean campaigns? Each had their own exciting events (Graf Spee, IJN raid in 42, etc) that overshadowed the remainder of the action. Also - was there anything exciting, at all, off the west coast of South America during WW2?

Magnificent job, Drach. The amount of information you managed to pack into half an hour was amazing. Your good self and Mark Felton are far and away the best WW2 documentarists, providing reliable information in an entertaining way without the gabbling that seems to be a feature of many other contributors. As you say, the Caribbean and it's neighbouring countries is a little covered field of WW2 study. Considering that this area was as vital to the Allies as the East Indies were to Japan, we need to see more work such as yours to redress the balance. Thankfully, the Allies, if belatedly in the case if the USA, unlike the Japanese, realised the importance of anti-submarine warfare and managed to gain full control of the situation in time. Thank you, once again, for a fascinating and absorbing introduction to the Battle of the Caribbean.

Your videos are always excellent. Topical woth nice bits of insights and oddments added in for color. Good work.

The caribean the most underated battle front and importand region for the alied war effort. people tend to forget how much oil was refined at the dutch anitlles and how much bauxite /aluminium and other materials came from dutch colonies. .

The work that you do, Sir, is golden! Please keep it up and thank you!

Hi, Many great pics and your very nice map provided an excellent refresher course in geography.

Genuinely educational. Thanks, Drach. A lovely job of providing a strategic perspective.

Another very interesting video, Drach. Looking forward to more.

Great vid as always on a topic that is rarely covered. Thank you.

Love your diverse discussions. I’m particularly interested in all WW II but you put a fresh spin on everything.

Wow. I'm curious as to how long it took Drach to compile all this information about the economical/logistical impacts of the war on the islands and then how each island responded to it.

Excellent RR. I knew some about this theater of WWII, but now I'm up to speed on it. Thanks Drach.

Note that loofahs are not actually sponges. They're the fruit of a vine from the same family as cucumbers.

Thank your for making this Drach.

An informative and entertaining review of this topic. Thank you!👍

It must be close to lunchtime as I watch this, because “oil, sugar, and the French” is making me hungry. Maybe for some beignets?

On a trip to the Bahamas many years ago I was told that a British man had built a facility, on what is now Paradise Island for German U-boats. You can actually see it in the James Bond movie "Thunderball". Or so I was told at the time.

Interesting video, thanks Drach.

good work Drach. Thanx ! i always learn something...!

Hi and good day, i live in Barbados and have heard my Dad speak quite a few times on the war days, he was born in 1933, he spoke of the rationing with rice being very hard to get and saying that the only really readily food was English and Sweet Potato, he said that they had learned to eat them in just about every possible way to cook them, said that there was a pretty heavy presence of German spying on shipping as some convoys used to form up in Carlisle Bay before crossing the Atlantic, he did say that for a few nights after the convoys leaving you could see the fires from the ships being sunk at night with lifeboats and sailors being returned to Barbados after their ship being sunk. As for the other rationing that you mentioned, he did say that people got very adept at packing grass into car and truck tyres to keep them usable. There were i understand 3 or so 'Sub chasers' stationed in Barbados and Trinidad and that at one time with them laid up for repairs on dry dock the U514 i think it was attacked and sunk the CNS Cornwallis in Carlisle bay but with her in shallow water she rested on the bottom and was patched up and sent for repairs , this was on the 11 th of September 1942, yes, our own 9/11, Dad spoke of feeling the concussion from the explosion from where he was in Worthing, some 8 or so miles distant . www.bajanthings.com/cornwallis-torpedoing-carlisle-bay-1942-75th-anniversary/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cornwallis uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/3382.html

It is a fascinating piece of history that doesn't get talked about much. Thanks Drach

My Dad remembers his first encounter with a Banana. When we were little we always thought he was winding us up.

I’d hate to be the German NCO in command of the sub deck gun crew that didn’t remove the tampion before opening fire. Would love to be a fly on the wall when he explained that to his skipper.

Thank you for covering this topic . I think it's nearly always over looked why I don't know . In my opinion it is an integral part of WWII just as much as any other area of operation was . Heroism and loss of life was important as it was in any theatre of operation.

Excellent coverage of the battle of the Caribbean

The yachts you mentioned the US used - was this one of the group that included Hemmingway's drinking party submarine hunts ?

one of the only theaters where airships played a key role in ww2 patrolling for u-boats

This is the best channel on KZfaq.

super nice vid sir, thx. I'd wondered why Germany hadn't hit supply lines down there - turns out they did and handed us our hats for two years. Love the info on the interaction with French colonies too.

Hurricane most definately wood and fabric and actually shot down more German planes than the Spitfire. Add to that the Mosquito the fastets piston aircraft of the war and maybe a touch of wood glue doesn't seem so bad.

Did the Italian subs manage to do any damage? Spot on about the lack of news, my grandfather served as chief engineer on the Inge Maersk, a fast tanker and my grandmother knew he was coming home when the German propaganda station would announce by name that U-Boats were waiting for the ship.

Nicely covered, thanks!

Very good video.

That was very interesting. Very little general information on the Caribbean Theater out there.

Great video! I really enjoyed it. I recently watched Howard Hawks film TO HAVE AND TO HAVE NOT and became curious about the actual background of that period

Dutch Colonial also extended to St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, it wasnt coloured in.

Extremely well done treatise on that area of WW II. Thank you.

My father (RCNVR) missed the St Nazaire raid (I'm not unhappy at that as it may explain my existence today). He was, instead, the XO on an ML ('Fairmile') with a RNZVR CO as part of an RN ML flotilla that crossed the North Atlantic with a Polish tender in company. He had to spend the heart of the war in Trinidad where, a newspaper clipping claimed, he 'was becoming a power in Trinidad rugby circles'. He had a hard war. Is it possible you've already done a piece on the 'small boats'?

Thank you for illuminating this aspect of the war.

The bit about bannans 20:54 I did that

Had never even considered this topic. Thank you, eXcellent as usual!

Thank you Drach for highlighting the Caribbean theatre. Only thing I knew prior to this was U-Boats did operate and sink merchant vessels in the area. But that was it. Didn't know about the valuable resources and issues with French politics and fleet at the time

Outstanding! As most informative and interesting bit of historical morsel.

Admiral King was well known as an Anglo-Phobe and refused all the assistance the British Admiralty offered. Consequently hundreds of American Merchantmen lost their lives because of Kings refusal to adopt the Royal Navy's Convoy System to name but one specific issue