CHAPTER 7 – HAPPY TIMES IN AMERICA
08:26 (Paris Time)
Tuesday, December 9, 1941
Pen Number Three, Keroman I submarine bunker complex
Port of Lorient, coast of Brittany, France
The few sailors present on the deck casing of the U-800 and busy loading various supplies aboard the submarine came to attention and saluted when Admiral Karl Dönitz came down via the gangway. Dönitz returned their salutes, then looked at the most senior submariner present.
‘’Where could I find Kapitän Kretschmer, Bootsmann?’’
‘’I believe that he is down in the stern torpedo tubes compartment, Herr Admiral.’’
‘’Good! Please show me the way.’’
‘’Right away, Herr Admiral!’’
Following the submariner through the forward hatch of the conning tower, Dönitz went down to the crew mess before heading aft. Crossing the deck gratings running around the three big diesels of the U-800, Dönitz next went through the engine control room, with its big divers airlock chamber to one side, before stepping inside the aft torpedo room proper. He then saw Kretschmer, his back to him while he watched a pair of technicians welding what looked like a torpedo storage rack to the curved starboard side of the compartment. The sailor who had guided him then shouted to warn his captain.
‘’ROOM!’’
Turning around at once, Kretschmer promptly saluted his commander, while the technicians stood at rigid attention.
‘’Admiral?!’’
‘’At ease! Continue your work, men. Could I speak with you in private, Herr Kapitän?’’
‘’Of course, Herr Admiral! Will my cabin do?’’
‘’It will be perfect. By the way, what are these men doing, if I may ask?’’
‘’They are welding in place retaining racks for additional torpedoes, Herr Admiral. There was some unused space left here, so I thought that I could install some extra racks in order to be able to carry more torpedoes or mines. With those new racks, my maximum torpedo carrying capacity will go up from 68 to 72 torpedoes.’’
Dönitz nodded his head, pleased.
‘’Impressive! You will be able to hurt even more the enemy with those extra torpedoes. As a matter of fact, I came to give you your next mission orders. Let’s go to your cabin to talk.’’
The two men were soon alone in Kretschmer’s work office, with its door firmly closed. Inviting Otto to sit near him at the small work desk of the cabin and sitting himself in the padded sofa facing it, Dönitz took out of a vest pocket a fairly thick envelope, giving it to Otto.
‘’Here are your new mission orders: your general objective area has both changed and expanded. I suppose that you heard about the Japanese attack against the American naval base in Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii?’’
‘’Who hasn’t, Herr Admiral?’’
‘’True! Know that Berlin has advised me via a directive that is for the moment still confidential that Germany will be declaring war to the United States in the next couple of days and that my command is to be ready to hit American shipping along their East Coast as soon as we have submarines in that area. You will be my vanguard off the United States and in the Caribbean, my dear Kretschmer.’’
‘’There are a lot of countries within the Caribbean and along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico that are still officially neutral, Herr Admiral. What will I be allowed to attack over there that does not fly an American or British flag?’’
‘’Quite a lot, actually. Our embassies are already picking up signs that many of the countries in the Caribbean and in Central and South America are about to side with the United States and against us in this war. Within a few days, I will have a precise list of who you can strike and in what circumstances. However, irrespective of in which waters or port you will find them, American, British and Canadian ships, both merchantmen and warships, will be fair game for you. In view of the percentage of war supplies and of fuel that the Allies are getting from the Caribbean Basin and Gulf of Mexico areas, you should find there plenty of juicy, legitimate targets for your torpedoes. Your only true worry, apart from enemy warships and patrol planes of course, will be your foodstuff, torpedo and fuel status. Unfortunately, the supply ships we had in the Atlantic have been either found and sunk by the Allies, or are now in the Indian Ocean, so I won’t have any ship available to resupply you on the spot there. You will thus have to husband your fuel and torpedoes and make them count.’’
Otto thought about that for a few seconds before asking a question in a cautious tone.
‘’What about if I play by the old rules of past privateers, Herr Admiral?’’
‘’What do you mean, Kretschmer?’’
‘’That, instead of sinking immediately every enemy merchantmen I will be encountering, that I stop and board isolated cargo ships and use their fuel and food supplies to replenish my boat. That will leave only my reserve of torpedoes as a limiting factor for the duration of my war patrol. I will of course exercise due caution in choosing my preys to be boarded and will jam their radios in advance of boarding, then will destroy their radios.’’
‘’Hum, that could be quite risky but it could effectively stretch the duration of your patrol by a significant factor. You will however need to carry with you some extra equipment, like portable pumps and fuel hoses and a few inflatable boats, plus extra small arms. I can get those things for you within a day.’’
‘’Thank you, Herr Admiral. Uh, do we have any kind of combat troops in the Kriegsmarine that are similar to the British Royal Marines? Having professional infantrymen with a good sailor footing would be a definite plus for such boarding operations. I presently have ten spare bunks available that were originally meant to accommodate shipwreck survivors, or spies being transported on overseas missions.’’
It was the turn of Dönitz to think over his answer.
‘’We don’t have any such troops in the Kriegsmarine, unfortunately. We would thus have to get the use of either Army soldiers or of Luftwaffe paratroopers. I however agree with you that such soldiers could come handy for your patrol, especially if you intend to sabotage Allied ships in neutral harbors. I will try to arrange something quickly within two days. After that, you will have to sail for America, with or without soldiers. In the meantime, I will pass the word that you are to be supplied with anything you will ask for, and this without delays or questions. I will want you to come visit my intelligence section tomorrow. There, you will get maps, charts and intelligence data on your new patrol area.’’
‘’I will be there, Herr Admiral. Thank you for your support.’’
‘’You can thank me by sinking many enemy ships, my good Kretschmer.’’ Replied Dönitz, a smile appearing on his face.
22:09 (Paris Time)
Wednesday, December 10, 1941
U-800, Keroman I submarine bunker complex
Lorient, coast of Brittany, France
Otto was in his office, reviewing for the second time the lists of supplies, equipment, spare parts and ammunition that had been loaded aboard his submarine in advance of his incoming war patrol, when someone knocked on the door, making Otto shout out.
‘’COME IN!’’
He looked up towards the door of his office in time to see his second-in-command, Ulrich Von Wittgenstein, open it. Wittgenstein then stepped inside the cabin, closely followed by a young Heer{3} lieutenant in camouflage pattern combat uniform. Both of them saluted Otto as the latter got up from his chair.
‘’Kapitän, seven men of the Heer have arrived to serve on our submarine. I brought their leader with me.’’
The Heer lieutenant clicked his heels and spoke up in a strong, firm voice.
‘’Leutnant Hugo Margraff, of the Brandenburg Regiment, reporting with six men for duty on the U-800, at the request of Admiral Dönitz.’’
Otto got up and walked to him at once to shake hand with Margraff.
‘’And I am Korvettenkapitän Otto Kretschmer, Captain of the U-800. I am happy to see you and your men, Leutnant Margraff: you will make ship boarding operations a lot easier for me down in the Caribbean. Did you bring with you special equipment or weapons that will need to be stored aboard?’’
‘’We did bring extra equipment and ammunition, including explosives, Herr Kapitän. We also had a pair of pneumatic boats with us but we were just told that you have already two such boats aboard.’’
‘’Hum, true, but I would still be more comfortable with four boats rather than two. Ulrich, go see if those two extra boats can be accommodated inside our two conning tower storage areas, then lead the six men of Leutnant Margraff to the bunks in the aft torpedo room and engine control room. As for the good Leutnant, I will install him in our spare junior officer’s cabin. Leutnant Margraff, if you will follow me.’’
With Margraff following closely behind him, Otto walked out of his office and crossed the narrow passageway, pulling open the curtain door of the last officer’s cabin along that passageway. Margraff opened his eyes wide on seeing the small but comfortable room.
‘’Mein Gott! This is much nicer than what I saw in the one submarine I visited once.’’
Otto couldn’t help grin at that remark and briefly stopped and turned to look at the Heer junior officer.
‘’Wait until you see the officers’ wardroom, Leutnant Margraff. The U-800 is the sole existing example of the Type XX submarine and is effectively much more spacious and comfortable to live and work in than the previous types of submarines in the Kriegsmarine. You and your men can count yourselves lucky to end on this boat rather than in a Type IX boat. However, know that the U-800 is as deadly for the enemy than it is comfortable for us.’’
‘’You definitely will need to tell me more about your boat later on, Herr Kapitän.’’
‘’And you will have to tell me more about you and your men, Leutnant Margraff.’’ Replied Otto, becoming serious again. ‘’We will count heavily on you for any future boarding of enemy merchant ships around the American East Coast and in the Caribbean Sea. Drop your kit and weapons in a corner of this cabin for the moment, then we will go back to my office to talk.’’
‘’It won’t be long, Herr Kapitäan.’’ Promised Margraff before entering the cabin and piling in one corner his military backpack, kit bag, steel helmet, web gear and weapons. He couldn’t help nod in approval while eyeing the double locker, small work desk with chair and captain’s bed filling the small cabin. He however kept his comments in and followed Otto back to his office, where he was told to sit on the comfortable sofa in the room, while Otto sat back at his desk.
‘’So, Leutnant Margraff, tell me about you, your men and your unit. I have to say that I never heard of the Brandenburg Regiment before.’’
‘’That is most understandable, Herr Kapitän: few people actually know about it. It is a light infantry unit subordinate to the Abwehr{4} and it specializes in covert military operations and raids behind enemy lines. We are rightly considered an elite unit and we were active right from the start of the war, first in Poland, then in Belgium and Holland. Men from the Brandenburg Regiment, then a battalion, went ahead of our Heer troops in 1940 and seized important bridges and other valuable installations behind enemy lines before the enemy could blow them up. We often work while disguised as enemy soldiers and all of our men know at least one foreign language. As for me and my men, we can all speak English fluently with little or no accent, while a few of us know also either French, Dutch or Spanish. Personally, I speak fluently English and Dutch, plus can understand French. My sub-unit, the coastal raider platoon of the Brandenburg Regiment, is specially trained in coastal infiltrations, amphibious operations and small boat handling.’’
Otto nodded his head, thoroughly impressed. He could also see the ribbon of the Iron Cross First Class on the uniform jacket of Margraff: the man was no blowhard.
‘’I see that Admiral Dönitz got us the very best, Leutnant. Now, about the U-800 and me. One of my nicknames in the Kriegsmarine is ‘The Tonnage King’, because I sank more enemy ship tonnage than any other U-boot captain in this war. My title was further reinforced by my last war patrol in October and November of last year, which was the first war patrol of the U-800. During that war patrol, we sank forty enemy merchant ships and twelve warships, including the battleship KING GEORGE V, the aircraft carrier VICTORIOUS and the American light carrier USS RANGER, sunk off Halifax. To be fair, our expertise and experience were only parts of the reasons for our tremendous successes on that patrol. The U-800 itself made a huge difference, with its much higher submerged speed and endurance and its huge torpedo capacity. Right now, we are about ready to leave for our next war patrol in American waters with a total of 72 torpedoes and 44 sea mines aboard, plus plenty of ammunition for our 10.5 centimeter deck gun and two quadruple 20mm flak mounts. While we will eventually run short of torpedoes during our patrol far from Europe, I intend to use them sparingly, thus expect to run short of fuel and fresh food first. That’s where you and your men will become important, Leutnant Margraff. While we will avoid bombarding coastal installations of nations that are still technically neutral in this war, I intend to attack enemy merchant ships anchored in or off neutral ports. One way to do that while avoiding angering those neutral governments will be to board them discreetly, take control of them and resupply ourselves in food and fuel directly from those seized enemy merchantmen. We will then scuttle them after letting their crews off safely. One thing we will keep an eye for while doing such boarding operations will be for any cargo of strategic metals or rare materials, like chromium, nickel, tungsten, rubber and the likes. While space is still tight on the U-800, we do have some spare space that we can make for cargo considered valuable enough. Your job will however be mostly limited to the initial boarding and seizure of the ships, plus guarding of the enemy crews while my men do the plundering and fuel transfer. One important note: I personally believe in fighting a clean war as much as possible, so I will expect you and your men to respect the laws of war, except for the bit about tricking the enemy by wearing their uniforms to infiltrate them and take them by surprise. You have my blessing to deal with anyone trying to resist by force, but no unnecessary violence against unarmed civilians, please. Do you understand me on that, Leutnant Margraff?’’
‘’Perfectly, Herr Kapitän! We in the Brandenburg Regiment can be ruthless when needed, but we are no murderers or butchers. Admiral Canaris, who commands the Abwehr, would not condone the massacre of prisoners anyway.’’
‘’Excellent! Now, can you tell me what kind of equipment you brought with you, apart from your individual weapons and ammunition?’’
‘’Well, first, we have the two inflatable assault boats that I mentioned earlier. We came with complete frogmen’s suits and close-circuit breathing apparatus. We also brought plenty of explosives and detonators, in order to do demolition work or to scuttle a ship. Next, me and each of my men brought in our kit bags a variety of disguises, including British, American and even Dutch uniforms, in order to better take enemy merchant ships by surprise. Finally, we brought plenty of ammunition and grenades, plus two backpack VHF radios and two signal lamps.’’
‘’That should do just fine, Leutnant. Now that this is covered, we will go see how your men are fitting in their new accommodations in the aft torpedo room.’’
Again leading Margraff, Otto left his office, turning left and nearly immediately went down a hatch, stepping on an elevated gratings platform inside the diesel engine room before going aft to the engine control room. Margraff, once in the aft torpedo room, nodded in approval as he eyed the now deployed six folding bunks located next to the forward bulkhead of the compartment, near the big moveable rack supporting twelve torpedoes. His six men had already stored away their kit and weapons in the storage lockers located in the adjacent engine control room compartment and were now eyeing with interest the big torpedoes and their launch tubes. On seeing the two officers enter, Unteroffizier{5} Franz Stein, Margraff’s senior NCO, called the group to attention at once and saluted him and Otto.
‘’Sirs!’’
‘’At ease!’’ Replied Otto, returning the man’s salute. ‘’I am Korvettenkapitän Otto Kretschmer, Captain of the U-800. What do you think of your accommodations up to now, men?’’
‘’They actually came as an agreeable surprise, Herr Kapitän. Your submarine is also apparently very well equipped to accommodate embarked commandos or combat divers, if I judge from the combat divers’ airlock chamber connected to this compartment.’’
‘’A combat divers’ airlock chamber?’’ Said Margraff, taken by surprise by that information. Otto’s answer was to smile and signaled him to follow him in the adjacent engine control room compartment. Going to a sort of large cylinder with a heavy hatch, he opened it and showed to Margraff the inside of a chamber with an internal diameter of over 150 centimeters, big enough for three or four divers at a time to stand inside it.
‘’Your unteroffizier is correct, Leutnant. This compartment, apart from housing our engine control stations and an auxiliary generator, was also designed to function as our combat divers’ compartment. On top of this airlock chamber, which has a large access hatch on the upper deck casing, you have here a pressurized tank and pump system to refill your breathing tanks, plus large equipment lockers for divers’ suits and other gear. There are as well three extra bunks with storage lockers if more than six passengers are to be accommodate aboard. If you will now excuse me, I have to go finish supervising the loading up of my submarine. Mechaniker Obergefreiter Helmut Hain, here, will give you a complete tour of the boat once your men will have finished making themselves at home. I will see you again tomorrow morning at four, when we will depart on our war patrol. That may be the last time you will see the open sky for quite a few days. We will discuss our offensive strategy after that, while transiting at schnorchel depth. On this, have a good night, Leutnant Margraff.’’
‘’You too, Herr Kapitän.’’ Replied the Heer officer, saluting Otto, who saluted back before leaving the compartment.
04:04 (Paris Time)
Thursday, December 11, 1941
Conning tower of the U-800
Port of Lorient
Otto, standing in the open bridge atop the conning tower of his U-800, gave a last salute to Admiral Dönitz, who was present in the first rank of onlookers on the concrete quay, as the submarine slipped slowly out of its protective pen and started to emerge in the open. Then, he found himself staring at a dark, cloud-covered night sky as two gunboats escorted the U-800 out of Lorient Harbor. Leutnant Hugo Margraff, standing next to him, spoke softly after a minute of silence.
‘’I now understand at least partly the feeling you must have when leaving for a long sea patrol, Herr Kapitän: it is a bit akin to what me and my men felt when going deep behind enemy lines for days and even weeks. You can count only on yourself to survive, do the job and then come home intact.’’
‘’That is very true, my dear Margraff. You and your men better enjoy this last hour on the surface: once we dive, you will not breathe fresh open air again for at least two weeks, if not more. And please remind them that they can’t smoke inside the submarine or on the deck, within sight of possible distant observers. They will have to use the smoking lounges for that.’’
Margraff gave Otto an amused smirk at those words: the ‘smoking lounges’ were actually two small, free-flooding covered platform half-way up at the back and front of the conning tower. It had opaque windows that could be opened during daylight hours and served as a smoking corner during the rare occasions that the U-800 navigated on the surface. It was quite open to the wind and to strong waves, but it was better than standing on the open deck or conning tower, where the red dot from a lit cigarette could be spotted for kilometers away at night.
‘’I will pass the word, Herr Kapitän.’’
Margraff then went inside the submarine, using the armored hatch on the side of the forward underwater observation dome tower. Forty minutes later, the topside of the submarine was evacuated and all hatches firmly closed, then the U-800 slipped under the waves to hide from enemy patrol planes before the Sun could come up.
10:07 (Mid-Atlantic Time)
Control room of U-800, navigating at periscope depth
Atlantic Ocean, southwest of the Azores
Oberfunkmaat Eberhard Stamp, the chief radio operator of the U-800, came to Otto’s side as the latter was examining the chart on the plotting table of the control room and presented him with a two-page document.
‘’A general distribution message from Lorient headquarters, Herr Kapitän.’’
‘’Thanks, Pusher{6}!’’ Replied Otto while taking the message. He read it once before switching on his ship intercom box.
‘’Leutnant Margraff is requested in the control room. I say again: Leutnant Margraff is requested in the control room.’’
It took only two minutes before Hugo Margraff showed up, presenting himself at attention and saluting.
‘’You asked for me, Herr Kapitän?’’
‘’Yes, I did, Leutnant. We just got a message listing the countries around the Caribbean and South America that declared themselves neutral or declared war with Germany. I believe that it will greatly clarify what kind of liberty of action we will have towards those countries when we get there. Here is the message.’’
The young Heer officer took the message and read it quickly, nodding his head at the end of his lecture.
‘’So, apart from the British West Indies, Dutch West Indies, Puerto Rico and the United States, the countries that are now officially at war with us are Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. I suppose that this means that their ships, ports and territorial waters are now fair game for us, right?’’
‘’Correct! However, a number of the countries that declared themselves neutral did break all diplomatic relations with us or openly support the British and the Americans, thus making them less than friendly for us. For those countries, meaning Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, our orders are to avoid directly attacking their ports and coastal installations. We are however permitted to attack enemy ships that are within their territorial waters or at anchor in their ports and anchorages. You and your men will become especially useful around those four countries. As for friendly or sympathetic nations, we can count only on Chile and Paraguay.’’
‘’Humph! It is nice to see that we have so many friends around there.’’
‘’Isn’t it?’’ Replied Otto in a sarcastic tone. ‘’Well, we will reward those who deserve it the way they deserve, with either a handshake or a torpedo, my dear Margraff.’’
16:14 (New York Time)
Wednesday, December 24, 1941
Stern torpedo room, U-800
Near the entrance of Chesapeake Bay
Coast of Virginia, United States
Gefreiter{7} Heinrich Bayerlein, of the Brandenburg Regiment, couldn’t help snap his fingers as he followed the beat of the American Jazz music piped across the submarine. They had been able to receive American radio shows and music for a good two days now, something that had helped spice up the monotonous routine aboard the submarine. Right now, Bayerlein was watching a mean game of Skat, a very popular card game in Germany, between two of his comrades and two sailors, with a flat board put on top of the reserve torpedoes supporting the cards thrown into play. To his disappointment and that of his companions, the music abruptly ended, to be replaced by an announcement by Kapitän Kretschmer.
‘’Attention all hands, this is the Captain. We are about to approach our first objective of this patrol. Everybody is to go to battle stations and to switch to silent running.’’
The sailors in the torpedo compartment immediately got up and retrieved the deck of cards and the board, putting them away in a locker before going to their posts near the torpedo tubes loading hatches. As for the six men of the Brandenburg Regiment, they did as they had been told a number of times to do if a call to battle stations was heard: they sat in corners away from the torpedoes and kept out of the way of the sailors while staying quiet. The whole crew had been told a few hours ago that they were now approaching the American East Coast, so no one was surprised now to be called to battle stations. In fact, it restored a sense of purpose in the men after those two weeks spent underwater at sea. One of the sailors then started gesticulating while looking at the Heer soldiers, who understood after a couple of seconds that he was enjoining them to put over their boots the special felt slippers used by submariners to move more quietly. Crawling on their fours to their kit bags, the Brandenburg men took out of them the said slippers and put them on, then returned to their corner. The ventilation system had by now stopped and the only noise they could hear was the weak humming from the electric propulsion motors of the submarine and a sort of barely audible noise of flowing water that came from the propeller, which the sailors kept calling a ‘pump jet’. The men in the compartment then settled into a tense, nervous wait.
About 35 minutes later, the noise of approaching ship propellers started to be heard, apparently coming towards them. The men tensed up more as the swishing noise got progressively louder, to finally be heard right overhead.
‘’Himmel!’’ Said in a near whisper Gefreiter Karl Haussmann. ‘’Are they going to drop depth charges on us?’’
‘’We’ll know soon enough, Karl.’’ Replied Franz Stein. ‘’Now, keep quiet!’’
To their relief, there were no resounding underwater explosions around them, while the propeller noise gradually weakened. They thought themselves safe then, until a second set of propeller noise grew, reviving their nervousness. That second set passed overhead, then faded as well, only to be replaced by a third set of screw noise. Seeing the nervousness of the Heer men, one of the senior sailors took on him to go see them, walking quietly to them and crouching near their group with a reassuring smile on his face.
‘’Don’t worry, guys: those ships passing overhead did not hear or detect us. If they would have, we would have gotten a few depth charges on our heads already.’’
‘’Where are we exactly?’’ Askped Obergefreiter{8} Michel Drücker. ‘’There seems to be a lot of ship traffic around here.’’
Somehow, his nervous question seemed to amuse the sailor.
‘’Of course there will be lots of ship traffic around here! We are near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, on the coast of Virginia.’’
‘’So?’’
‘’So, on the other side of that entrance is the biggest American naval base on the Atlantic coast.’’
‘’What?!’’ Nearly exploded Drücker, barely keeping his voice low. ‘’And what are we doing here, near such a big naval base?’’
‘’Hey, did you forget that we are on Christmas Eve? We have gifts to give to the United States Navy.’’
The sailor then returned to his post, giggling to himself and leaving the soldiers mystified and uncomprehending.
Maybe ten minutes later, the submarine performed a noticeable ninety degree turn to the left, or port in marine jargon. Not long after that, the Heer soldiers nearly jumped when a strong sudden noise of compressed air being released for a second was heard, coming from their submarine. More similar noises followed at intervals of about 45 seconds. Drücker counted ten such blasts of compressed air before the submarine performed a wide half turn to go back on a parallel course. Again, ten blasts of compressed air followed at regular intervals, then the submarine did yet another half turn, followed by ten more blasts of air, before doing a final turn and picking up a bit of speed while staying mostly silent. Unable to resist his curiosity, the soldier walked quietly to the sailor who had come to speak with his group earlier on.