[george@CASE]

i find myself eagerly awaiting every new post!

[HundertzehnGustav]

It's heidi

Thats the best part of it :sunny: :sunny: :sunny: :sunny:
ooooh these Girls, these Wonderful girls.

[Nopileo]

This is truly gripping, Swordfish. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Is anyone making a compilation of it?

[Sarge McSarge]

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Me three!

[Laughing Swordfish]

I climb into the back of the staff car, suddenly conscious of my appearance.

My God, she must think I look like a wild animal

I take a quick peek at myself in the rear view mirror. Bloody hell, I do look like a wild animal! I run a hand self-consciously over my stubble, whilst the other rakes through my salt-stiffened hair.

German military discipline dictates that she may not speak to me, unless I say something first.

Say something! Anything, you dumkopf! The lowest, most coarse seaman on the boat would know what to say now; but no words will come.

Long minutes pass. Longer than any depth charge run.

Finally, lamely:

"It's good to be back"

"It's good to have you back, Sir. " She turned briefly and flashed me a smile that melted my heart

"I thought...that is, we thought ,we had lost you a week ago"

Did she blush as she turned to concentrate on the road?

Before I can think of my next bit of dashing repartee, the wheels of the Mercedes are crunching to a halt on the gravel before a very imposing chateau. I show my papers to a stony-faced, steel-helmetted sentry who is noticeably wrinkling his nose at me.

"I'll take the Leutnant through" says Heidi, firmly

"I shouldn't say this, but aren't the SS so pompous, Sir?"

I can't answer. I have caught a whiff of her french perfume, and am lost

"This is the Admiral's office, Sir"

A sudden rush of impetuosity. The same madness that has brought U-46 so many kills, but also come close to getting us sunk

"You don't have to call me Sir all the time. I wonder... that is....maybe...."

"Yes, Sir?..."

"Um..."

The massive oak doors swing open

"Come in Lad. I'm sure we have lots to talk about!"

'Uncle Karl' Doenitz's eyes study me intently as I am ushered into his room. The doors close on Heidi still stood there in the hall. A picture I'll never forget.

"Well, I'll say one thing for U-46," Doenitz said as he leaned forward from his leather-backed chair

"You may be keeping our dock hands on overtime, everytime you come in, but you seem to be putting theirs.." he gestured vaguely at a map of Britain, "..right out of business"

Now tell me the whole story....."

[Mike 'Red Ocktober' Hense]

great narrative...

i'm luvin' it

--Mike

[SmokinTep]

Awesome writing...........riviting.

[Laughing Swordfish]

"It's in my report , Sir"

"Damn the tonnage reports, Boy; I can read! I like to see your ships go down, more than anyone else! I want to know what the Tommies are up to. The only other commanders who can tell me are at the bottom of the sea!

"You're the first to be in contact with a convoy since your flotilla moved to France, and pretty banged up too. How did they get to you? What escort strength do they have? What weapons are they using? Detection devices? Tactics? Tell me Leutnant!"

It occurred to me in that instant, that, while in command of U-46, I was defenceless and blind and unable to communicate when submerged. For all his power over the entire U-boat fleet, and for all his maps and authority, the Admiral was in a very similar position back here at Kerneval.

I began to give my personal report, and cast my mind back:

We were in Area BE. No aircraft interference out of the Bay of Biscay, but then we did submerge during daylight hours, particularly when the weather showed good flight conditions.

Our test dives proved ok, electric motors also working efficiently.

"No aircraft then?" Doenitz interrupted

"No, Sir"

We picked up a sonar contact and investigated, running hard south. Out of the patrol area.

It was a merchant, British, not even bothering to zig zag.

("Only a fool would venture out on his own, these days!" smiled my Number One, watching it intently"

- "Yes, just like us." came Otto's typical reply)

She went down without a fuss. Two shots under the bridge and first funnel

She was the 'Belaron' of 8,000 tons. Carrying sugar from the West Indies, by all accounts.

That put the lads in a good mood. Our account was opened, and with two torpedoes gone, there was more room for them to live in.

We gave the survivors steering directions, to either Portugal, or Ireland. One of the look-outs shouted down "Don't sail to France, Englischer!" He got a clip round the ear for that. When the job is done, it's no joking matter.

However, two days later it was Kellermann's birthday. All of 20 years of age, but a good engine room hand.

The cake was just being proudly produced when we were called to action stations by Willi, on the watch.

We soon caught up with her. Another lone merchant, chancing her arm, who was about to be caught out on the home run.

"Maybe this one's carrying tea." said my my irrepressible Number Two. "At this rate we'll soon have the British Empire on it's knees!"

We began our attack run, and acquired our firing solution.

I called Kellermann forward.

"Press that button there, and shout 'Torpedoe Eins, Los!'"

We got Kellermann up on the bridge,and handed him some binoculars, as the stop watch ticked round.

Right on cue, Willi points him in the right direction, and says:

"Happy Birthday, Rudi!"

That ship wasn't carrying any tea, that's for sure. We didn't plan it that way but she went up in a massive ball of flame, with tracer and explosions soaring out in every direction.

An ammunition ship, reckon about 7 or 8,000 tons

"Now look what you've done, Kellermann. What a mess! How are you going to blow out the candles on that little lot!"

The time for joking was pretty much over, soon after.

Still south east of our patrol area, we came across a destroyer. Couldn't tell what type at that range but we were still a good distance off, and in that sea he'd be more likely to pick us up submerged than surfaced.

I turned the boat about and ran for it at full revs.

"Did he come for you?" asked Doenitz.

"Yes Sir, in a bee line! And gaining"

"How?"

"I don't know, Sir, I think he might have been a picket ship for the convoy we later found, and we'd got in the way of the dog and his sheep. He may have just been returning to station. Anyway he had us"

I remember the bridge watch looking at me now, casting anxious glances at the destroyer coming closer. But there were rain squalls about, and I wanted to hide in one whilst still having the option of surface speed.

"Battle stations. Prepare for emergency dive " I gave the Control Room.

"Apart from the Second Leutnant, bridge hands below"

SPLASH! a salvo of shells landed incredibly close to the boat for a first shot.

Splinters raked our stern.

I'd overplayed my hand

ALARM!!

The 2nd Officer, who hadn't flinched up to that point, needed no further bidding. He was rattling down the ladder as I took one last visual fix of the destroyer. Just in time to see another flash from a forward turret. Otto already had the boat dipping down, and I didn't want to be left behind.

"30 starboard, keep going down!"

"Level at 50m, slow speed. Everybody else, shut up!"

It's not long before we hear those screws churning ever louder

"Stand by for flank speed, right full rudder, on my command!"

"Depth charges in the water!" Hans whispers from the sonar cabin.

"Now Otto!"

True to form, the destroyer lays it's charges over our last known position. There are a couple of booms. Also true to form, Willi the Quartermaster winks at anyone who will catch his eye.

"Two wasted!" he says, but they seem to be watching me.

"Amidships"

Now, having gone hard-a-starboard, and if I've guessed him right,
my friend is sailing one way and we're creeping off in the opposite direction.

Of course, if the skipper up there has gone to starboard for his next run as well, and they must be pretty keen the way they came at us, then we'll end up back under his keel , with all that entails.

Actually the person everyone listens to is Hans. His sonar phones are the only sensory input they have, and it's nature, I suppose, to concentrate on who's trying to kill you, rather than who's trying to keep you alive.

And it's Hans who is the hero, as it turns out.

"Fast screws moving away. Fading"

Well , at least they know better than to clap and cheer just yet.

I get Otto to drop us another 20 metres and look at the charts. The Old Hares can smell a convoy

We weren't completely unscathed, when we surfaced as it turned out. The radio antenna is missing. We can't talk to BdU or any other boats. Operationally, we can't call in, either to direct any boats to a convoy, or to yell for help.

More importantly for the married men on the boat, U-46 will be presumed lost at sea if we don't meet our reporting schedules.

The mood is glum, until the First Officer reports excitedly from the bridge

"Smoke on the horizon , Sir!"

We scramble up. Sure enough, it's a convoy. But it's broad daylight and we are well astern.

..."So would did you do next, Leutnant?" asked Doenitz....

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[george@CASE]

loving every bit of it. Love the "birthday cake".

[Laughing Swordfish]

... "You might have shrugged him off, but how did he know your position so well?"

Doenitz was pacing up and down the office now

'What have they got, that we can do something about?'

'Continue your report Leutnant'......

"...Fast running to the south east and then a hook back north on the convoy's expected route, Sir. Hoping to appear back in it's path.."

'Very good, Leutnant.."

"Can you now explain why the perfectly good boat you have been entrusted with is now in pieces, and not seaworthy!?"

I swallowed hard.

"We were bumped again, Herr GrossAdmiral."

My mind cast back:

We'd set an interception course. I didn't want to lose contact, so ordered Willi to keep tight to the convoy. It wouldn't be the first time a boat had lost the enemy in heavy seas.

It was a risk I thought worth taking, to hit them before they get into better patrolled waters.

Soon, Christian has slammed the button and kicked his bridge watch down the hatch

Alarm!

and we're back in the game.

"Another picket ship, was it?" probes Doenitz......

"No Sir, unless they can detect us on the surface, I must have just not given them a wide enough berth"

"Go on" he prompts..........

- It was a corvette. Flower class, so Christian breathlessy told me.

Dumped it's first two barrels over our wake

"Hold on tight lads, this is going to be close!"

CRASH! BANG!!

U-46 is rocked one way and then the other.. The lights go out temporarily, and then restored. It reminds me to order all non-essential lighting turned off.

The coxswain has read my mind and is passing down the boat, telling the boys to keep the noise down. Whispered, to be fair, but not in naval academy language.

"Hard to 276, deeper to 100 metres, cut to slow speed". I'm trying to skip off to the West and see if they lose interest

I catch young Kurt heading aft. A huge wrench poised in his hands like a stone age weapon.

"Small problems, we're going to have to live with quietly. They can hear us. If anyone so much as sneezes on this boat now, someone upstairs in the Royal Navy will say 'God bless you'. And then give us the Mother and Father of all remedies

KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!

The boat pitches violently again. The men are thrown all over the place.

My little display of sang froid is slightly ruined by the jet of water that is streaming down the back of my head

"Ok, Kurt you can start with that valve just behind me."

Crump, Bang, Crump, BASH!

That last one was right on the button. Damage reports are coming in from all stations. He must still be sitting right on top of us

More depth charges rain down

"It's going to be today, isn't it?"

"No, Otto," I reply. "Always tomorrow"

Hans pokes his head round again.

"Fast screws, new bearing 341.

A second escort is joining the hunt.

Otto shakes his head, and put's us deeper....

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[Laughing Swordfish]

"How did they play it?" asks Doenitz

"They took it in turns , Sir. One would make his attack, and then stand off and search for us on asdic..

(I remembered the bone-chilling sound of the asdic, as it pinged out and made that rattling noise against our hull. The startled, alert and plain just scared faces of the Control Room Crew)

"Then the other one would go in on the bearing given to him by the other, I guess. It was pretty relentless"

(In U-46, I ordered deeper and a fast change of course as the screws above thrashed louder)

Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang.

We were tossed around like dolls. One of the dive plane controllers had a deep gash on his forehead. He thought the blood was seawater and wiped away impatiently, all eyes on his wheel and guages.

Engine room taking water! After Quarters taking water!

Kurt and the boys from damage control hurried aft.

I twisted and squirmed, spurted ahead, slowed down, with each attack going slightly deeper. Always tring to get far enough away from our tormentors, or at least. find a blind spot between them. All to the crash of depth charges that were sometimes off the mark, but other times blew fuses and sprung leaks. Damage Control was running fore and aft for each new emergency. We were taking a battering. All the time looking for a way out

Willi reports that we have only 10 metres left under keel. "Well the last thing we want is to scratch the keel!" I tell him.
"Bring her up 10, please, Chief and pump out when the next salvo comes."

It's been over 4 hours now. Willi is serene as ever, at his chalkboard. He has almost run out of room to log the depth charges.

"They're nearly out of fireworks, boys! This is a lucky boat. They can't sink us!"

Finally Hans gives me the report I am waiting for. The destoyer has slowed, probably to reload or take another fix. The Corvette hasn't come round in time.

There's a gap! "Let's risk it, Otto! Steer 162, open her up to quarter speed! We're going to slip out to the south east instead!"

We wait with baited breath before Hans tells us there is no pursuit.

There was a heated debate in the wardroom afterwards.

"We can't go in again, Sir, we've taken about 40% damage to the hull."

"Our job is to sink ships, Otto. While we're afloat and still have 11 torpedoes and the engines are working, that's what we'll do! Willi, set me a course to outrun the convoy by tonight."

The Chief stared at me for a long time..

"Yes, Sir, of course. I'll re-check the diesels and batteries. He disappearred aft, and I didn't see him for hours.

In a sense, I was right. We found a large cargo ship straggling behind the convoy, the next night, probably engine failure, which is fatal. And we sank her

But we were put down several times more, and depth charged twice again when trying to regain the convoy. Took more damage too,

I've been pushing the boat and the crew too hard.

Ruckmarsch!

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[GrimKnight]

Great reading, keep it up!

[wetgoat]

This is much better than a lot of books I've read !

[Laughing Swordfish]

'So you headed back to base?' mused Doenitz....

"Yes Sir"

'With nine torpedoes still in your belly?'

"Yes Sir"

'Enough fuel for two more weeks at sea?'

"Yes Sir"

'I should have you and all of your crew shot for cowardice!'

"Yes, Sir"

'Why don't I, then!"

"Because not a man on the U-46 is a coward, Sir. U-46 took a pasting, Sir. It's a miracle we kept her up. We were out of radio communications for all of the battle, and she was slowly leaking.
She couldn't respond below, and we daren't risk her below 60 metres. We tried two more times with a badly damaged boat that can't manoevre, and with a flick of an English finger will send us straight to the bottom!

Are we already throwing tubs like that at the enemy!"

Jesus, I've really done it now........I'm shot for sure.

Doenitz just stares at me.

After an eternity..........


"You'll do, young man"


Lt de Bunsen, U-46