LOGISTICS FOR COMMERCE WAR IN THE ATLANTIC DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR: THE GERMANETAPPESYSTEM IN ACTION

What is it about?

Before the widespread use of the submarine as a weapon of guerre de course in the First World War, the Staff of the German navy considered that Great Britain could be hit effectively by using surface cruiser warfare in the Atlantic Ocean, thus cutting it off from vital foodstuffs, fuel and raw materials. The trade routes would be threatened by light cruisers and swift merchant steamers transformed into auxiliary cruisers, which would avoid counter-attacks by the enemy. In conducting cruiser warfare, the Germans suffered from a lack of overseas naval bases and they attempted to solve this before the war through the establishment of a system of supply areas, Etappen, organized in neutral countries. The main Etappen for coal, raw materials and food supplies for German cruisers in the Atlantic were New York, Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Las Palmas, extended via auxiliary Etappen in Saint Thomas, Para, Bahia, Santos, Pernambuco, Montevideo, Punta Arenas, Tenerife, Funchal, and Horta in the Azores. Rendezvous were established, outside the normal shipping routes, where supply vessels could meet German cruisers. From the Etappen to the rendezvous, a large number of fast steamships were to be provided to supply the cruisers with everything necessary for the war on trade in the Atlantic, including coal. The Germans also established an intelligence service operating in support of their surface raiders to complement the Etappe system. One of the places the Germans considered to be most productive, from the point of view of the cruiser war, was the area around the Canary Islands, where the routes from South America to Europe converged with the West Africa and the Cape routes. The Etappen at Las Palmas and Tenerife were therefore of particular importance.

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