Q: Was there any way for you to fight the airplanes? Or dive before they got to you?
Diving early was what we did when we could, but the worst thing we could do is be caught in the middle of trying to submerge, because then the sub is at its slowest, least maneuverable, and not to mention blind. So we had to be smart about it. If the planes were close, we would fire at them with the 45mm gun on the conning tower, and then dive. In rough seas the gun was useless because we couldn’t aim at anything in the rolling seas, but by morning on the 6th of July, the sea got much calmer and the sky started clearing up.
Our lookouts were generally very competent. Kislayev, the redhead guy I mentioned before, was head of our first watch and a very smart man - I trusted him to make that decision about diving or fighting back on the spot, and usually he was right. On the morning of that day, a plane dived on us from the sun, and we threw off his attack with two shots from the 45mm, and then pulled the plug. In the afternoon, a Junkers dive bomber showed up, ugly little thing. We got 8 rounds from the gun fired in his direction, possibly even damaged him - but his bombing was closer to the mark too, shook us up. Then they just kept coming and coming.
Eventually it convinced us to give up on this sector and turn back to patrol area No.3, where we were originally assigned. We moved away from the shore, but the planes were unrelenting. On the morning of July 7th, we were a full 100 nautical miles off the Norwegian coast, and this little German seaplane still managed to dive in on us and drop a bomb so close that the shrapnel hit our conning tower. Semyonov, head of the 2nd watch, was wounded by a couple of small pieces, and seaman Dyadko got a light contusion.
That was enough for us, and we stayed down for the next 12 hours. I ordered Semyonov and Dyadko off the watch bill and replaced them with the politruk and shturman, and got them treated by our voyenfeldsher
[medic]. But they were already knocking on the doors of the politruk’s and my quarters before we even surfaced, asking to be put back on duty. Good men.
Q: The crew were taking the conditions well then?
I would not complain of them at all. The politruk often did, but they were doing their best and the results showed. As I said, I always had full confidence in my boat and in my crew too. But I also never overestimated the abilities of either. After that bombing, I knew we needed a break in quieter waters, so after we surfaced in the evening, I took it far offshore and spent the next day recharging our batteries. Then we were back in patrol area No.3.
To be continued...