crew on the Sch-403 clearing ice off their boat at Polyarnyi
Q: When did you sail?
We set off on November 27th, a few hours behind the Sch-403 which was heading to Patrol Area No.5 with captain Smirnov, a fleet staff officer who was on board to coordinate operations at sea. On our way out, we passed the British cruiser HMS Kenya, who arrived with a destroyer a couple of days earlier, to refuel after successfully escorting the convoy PQ-3. It was cold, dark, and icy, but we had no trouble getting out of port.
Q: Was it really always dark and cold during winters?
Well, it was certainly not pitch black, but even at the end of November we no longer saw the sun. There were a few hours of relatively bright twilight each day, and whether from the horizon, moon, stars or aurora, there was almost always some ambient light. The visibility varied though, and the drifting mist was always a problem.
But as I said, it was a bigger problem for the enemy, who was robbed of effective air reconnaissance - so despite the bitter cold of that winter of ‘41-42, it was the time of highest activity for us. So much so that the British had planned to send all of the promised lend-lease supplies to us by spring, so that their convoys wouldn’t have to contend with German air power. They had the ships to protect against any surface attack.
Q: But wasn’t it difficult for you to find contacts as well?
To a point - but as we saw right away, with a bit of work and cooperation, we’d always have something to sink!
The very next evening, we were a bit northwest of Varde, and we got a contact report of a convoy not far from Petsamo, which we’d already passed. Kovalenko’s Sch-403, with staff officer Smirnov on board, had sighted them but then lost them in the mist.
We promptly turned around and went south to check. On the way over, we passed Varde and saw one of the patrol ships there that attacked us at the end of our last patrol. In the morning of the 29th of November we got into Varanger-fjord, and when it got brighter we submerged.
To be continued...