Well, I returned, and finished two patrols since.
So:
Excerpts of: "Letters from the Conn." Autobiography by D. Wolf
Part XVI.: Jesting around
Not mutch to tell about the 2nd patrol of U-50. The Commander realised
that how rusty is he's manual engagement skills, after those months ashore,
and that merchant ships are unnaturally tolerate to torpedoes these days.
Especially that U-50 managed to torpedo a
second Granville, hit it two
times (magnetically) under the keel by 1 meter, and the bastard still
managed to flee, with two big holes on it's hull... Rough waters, no gun.
It even managed to get out of sight. Never sank.
Also hit a Small Merchant with one torpedo, then Rammed its sinking bow
diagonally on 14-15 knots about five times, still remained afloat, so U-50
left about half a day waiting. Never sank.
Remainder of the events consisted some luck, with an especially miraculous
series of 3 Swordfish attack planes shot down by my flak gunner.
(
Interesting, in GWX- He must be a lucky guy)
20.3.40.1156 Patrol 2
U-50, 7th/13th Flotilla
Left at: March 20, 1940, 11:56
From: Kiel
Mission Orders: Patrol grid AF59
23.3.40.
0504 Grid AN 24Ship sunk! SS Maja (Large Merchant), 11741 tons.
Cargo: Mail/Packages. Crew: 75. Crew lost: 40
31.3.40.
0947 Grid AN 11 Ship sunk! SS Alwaki (Granville-type Freighter),
4707 tons. Cargo: Machinery. Crew: 108. Crew lost: 22
1015 Grid AN 11Aircraft destroyed! Swordfish
1017 Grid AN 11Aircraft destroyed! Swordfish
1017 Grid AN 11Aircraft destroyed! Swordfish
3.4.40.
0608 Grid AM 52Ship sunk! SS Empire Commerce (Small Merchant),
2249 tons. Cargo: Coffee. Crew: 55. Crew lost: 51
4.4.40.
1034 Grid AM 53Ship sunk! SS Gauntlet (Medium Cargo),
4339 tons. Cargo: Military Vehicles. Crew: 35. Crew lost: 11
1212 Grid AM 53Ship sunk! SS Vital de Oliveira (
(Passenger/Cargo), 2092 tons. Cargo: General Cargo. Crew: 185.
Crew lost: 29
10.4.40.
0840
Patrol results
Crew losses: 1 dead
Ships sunk: 5
Aircraft destroyed: 3
Patrol tonnage: 25128 tons
__________________________________________________ ___
Unfortunately the Commander realised at the end, that Norway was only
declared as Enemy on our way back home...
We sank two, or three ships, which were neutral until 2 more days...
Some bad looks given by the BdU, I had....
Part XVII.: Morals of a butcher...
At may, 1940, Kiel's repair team managed to patch up the U-50 again, and
we were out on open waters for the third time.
Arrived at given coordinates, near Trondheim. Found no enemy activity
there, this time of the war. Patrolled with heavy Hydrophone coverage,
found nothing. For days, many days.
When we received radio notification about the Allies started to evacuate
from Dunkirk. ...
After a discussion with our navigator, I decided to risk the voyage, and the
U-50 left the Norvegian coasts.
We reached Dunkirk harbor uneventfully, right on time to see the first
Luftwaffe attacks.
Managed to slip into the crowded harbor, despite the daytime, just to get
noticed seconds later.
I don't want to discuss it further, all felt like a mad rampage in a
kindergarden. To simplify it down, after our first four hit, (2-2 torpedoes on
two troop transports) and the Luftwaffe attack, the harbor was too
crowded with flaming wrecks, for the many patrolling destroyers to enter...
One of them sunk trying, and colliding with a wreck.
U-50 fired at many targets, list below what went down...
In a secluded dock we surfaced to finish off the burning
SS Highland
Brigade, a large troop ship with cannon fire, as only outer torpedo reserves
left..
Tough we were protected from the many destroyer's fire inside the dock,
one of them managed to achieve two angled hits on the bow, while we
finished off the
SS Highland Brigade. Nothing serious, as it seemed. Then,
while going to submerge, I found my second watch officer and weapons
expert, and one of the members of the watch lying motionlessly on the
tower wall. Air pressure injury from the shell hit.
They were immediately taken below, but died on our way leaving Dunkirk.
The whole expreience was a nightmare, water is 15 meters deep inside the
harbor, so all our target's only sank a little, but with the higher hit line, and
with the Luftwaffe attack waves, they burned out faster... Very few
survivors. And my two dead man...
Once we left Dunkirk, (managed to slip past the remaining destroyers) We
surfaced, began repairs, and I decided to load the two remaining outer
reserve torpedoes, and at least sink a destroyer, to score a -military-
target after this mindless slaughter. Accompanied by two british destroyers,
a lusty frenchie cached my eye, with three chimneys. All of them was
floating near the harbor, motionless, in a row, possible reinforcements, and
acted as mobile AA platforms against the LuftWaffe, when I left.
On our way back, -heavy- fog descended on us, visibility very low..
I doesnt managed to locate the french one, those tree destroyers left, they
werent present at the coordinates I marked when I saw them.
Solely by ear, my hydrophone man managed to get me two more targets,
two moving destroyers. One of them spotted us, but too late. Sank both
with the two last torpedoes.
17.5.40.0435
Patrol 3
U-50, 7th/13th Flotilla
Left at: May 17, 1940, 04:35
From: Kiel
Mission Orders: Patrol grid AF59
3.6.40.
1044 Grid AN 87 Ship sunk! Troop Ship, 7223 tons. Cargo: Troops.
Crew: 254. Crew lost: 10
1052 Grid AN 87 Ship sunk! Troop Ship, 7224 tons. Cargo:
Mail/Packages. Crew: 279. Crew lost: 131
1124 Grid AN 87 Ship sunk! SS Durban Castle (Large Troop
Ship), 24160 tons. Cargo: Mail/Packages. Crew: 941.
Crew lost: 592
1233 Grid AN 87 Ship sunk! SS Highland Brigade (Large Troop
Ship), 24899 tons. Cargo: Troops. Crew: 418. Crew lost: 359
4.6.40.
0917 Grid AN 87 Ship sunk! HMS Witherington (V&W classes),
1188 tons. Crew: 115. Crew lost: 23
1005 Grid AN 87 Ship sunk! HMS Kipling (J&K classes), 1690 tons.
Crew: 240. Crew lost: 158
6.6.40.
0029
Patrol results
Crew losses: 2 dead
Ships sunk: 6
Aircraft destroyed: 0
Patrol tonnage: 66384 tons
/Way back home, the name of Dunkirk vanished from the map O_o no
marking left for it at all. On closer view, the harbor outline was there, but
no marker for the town anymore... On the next patrol, on the place of red
Dunkirk appeared the blue, german Dunkirche
I'm still amazed by
GWX3.0, all the time/
Received the Iron Cross First Class, and the crew many Second class, and
submarine badges, but we all stood there with a grim face. We was all
thinking about the death of our officer, and man, and with the feeling, that
a routed, fleeing army, and civilians shouldn't be exterminated like this.
The unspeaken question remained: Do we made some significant step at
least, or we just taken some part of the mindless butcher from the
LuftWaffe...?
After these events, and alot of hours in depressed drinking, we eventually trashed the whole Kiel Naval Hotel, bit of
a siege situation emerged when the collared dogs of military police arrived,
we had a fierce discussion, two policeman were stabbed on the arms, and
once on the ribs, luckily wasn't went through. Perpetrator unknown.
One of our men was shot on the left shoulder, that ended the parley.
With miraculous psychological foresee, the BdU decided not to give the
volk, and the press any letdown about the fresh "heroes" of Dunkirk, and all
of us released after hours in custody. High ranking men threatened all the
crew, that if any of this information slips out, we were transferred to
Labour Service. No matter, enough years passed since...
Still, the may, and the start of june of 1940 means a very bad memory.
The U-50 had some miraculously fast change of damaged parts, and we
were off again...