U-129 Leaves South Africa 14-10-44
 

I decided to head North through the Mozambique Channel and hopefully get rid of the rest of my torpedos, then head East for Panang.

The weather from 14-10-44 till 18-10-44 was total crap. High seas and heavy rain. No contacts.
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On the morning of the 19th the weather improves and soon the seas are calm and the rain stops. On 20-10-44 we get a radar contact and closer investigation shows a Coastal Freighter South bound. I was, more or less, directly in front of her, and she only has a stern chaser, the sea is calm, so...."Gun Crew on Deck". The engagement commences at 2,500m and closes rapidly:
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I kept us to her front and although her zig-zagging allowed her to get a few shots off with her stern gun (which turned out to me a 40mm AA Gun), we badly outweighed her in weight of shell. Then suddenly it was over and we closed to take a closer look at our handy work.
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We continue Northward with another victory and no expendature of torpedos.

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Morale is high.

U-129 on Patrol Mozambique Channel - 20-10-44 to 30-10-44
 

The U-129 continued North into the Mozambique Channel. The weather got worse as we moved North, from 22-10-44 to 26-10-44 it rained constantly. On the 26th we received a radio intercept of a large convoy headed directly for us, but again I decided that we would have nothing to do with that and turned away. Visibility was terrible anyway.

On the 27th the skies cleared and we bagan to run a search pattern North and South in the Channel.

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On 30-10-44 a Radar Contact, finially! A solid fix and we determine her course and set the ambush. An Empire Freighter going 9 knots, "Flood tubes two and three". "Torpedos Loos!" Since the seas were mild, I had set both torpedos .5m below her keel and we must have broke her back. She rapidly came to a halt, listed to starboard and went under.

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With only 1 stern tube loaded with an offensive torpedo (I still had one bow and one stern homing torpedos), it is deffinatedly time to head home.
We plot out a direct route for Panang and set off.

The lads are tired, but the news that we are heading for port raises morale even higher.

Headed Home and Transfered Again 30-10-44 to 24-11-44
 

We set a direct course for Panang and head home at a ripping 8 knots. Half way there, about 5,000 miles out, we get a message to report to Jakarta. Transfered Again?!

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We received that radio message twice, so we changed course to Jakarta. The crossing of the Indian Ocean was completely uneventful, no contacts of any kind and on 24-11-44 we arrived at our new berth in Jakarta.

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No cheering crowds, no band, but safe at home. I received diamonds to my Knight's Cross with Swords and Oak Leaves which made me one of the most decorated, living, German sailors in the War. My crew received 2 Iron Crosses 2nd Class and one first. Now for a long, long shower, a series of very stiff drinks and then a very long sleep in a bed that does not pitch and roll.

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Great story!
:salute:

Last Partols of U-129
 

Patrol #10 for the U-129 began on Dec. 14, 1944. Our patrol station was the Andaman Sea (just off Burma). We didn't find a single ship, of any kind there and began what turned out to be a tour of the Indian Ocean's shores. We followed followed the coast line and off Calcutta found some joy in the form a couple of Small Freighters. Aircraft were present but usually got good radar warning.

Around India we went and got another ship near Bombay. We then sailed to the Gulf of Oman hoping for tankers leaving the Persian Gulf, but again no joy. Southward we went past Oman and into the Gulf of Aden. In January we sank a few ships in the Gulf, including a perfect pair shot.
Two torpedos at two ships, striking almost simultaineously, each ship sank within a minute of each other. Lovely.

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At the mouth of the Red Sea, again hoping for tankers, we got a rude shock - Egyptian Aircraft with no radar got perillously close to hitting us. On one occasion we took strafing damage.

We ended our patrol in the Mozambique Channel with only defensive torpedos and little fuel left. Back to Jakarta, where we arrived 31/3/44.

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All together 39,000 tons. The convoy system is crushing us. The war news was all bad, but we are alive.

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War Patrol #11. In the second week of April we had finally gotten enough fuel and supplies for another patrol. Destination - our old hunting grounds off South Africa. By now we had expected to hear great things from all the new super weapons promised but Berlin is strangely silient about them, apart from more promises. The Russians were in Vienna and threatening Berlin. The Allies had crossed the Rhine. How can we succeed?

Well duty is duty, and we were determined to do our part. We started across the Indian Ocean with little hope but with great determination.

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On 30-4-45, with a Wagner dirge news came that Hitler had died in the defense of Berlin. The end cannot be far off. Then stunning news, Doenlitz had been appointed the new Head of State and he promised that the war would continue. The crew looked at each other, and then away, in order to keep their thoughts to themselves.

On May 7, 1945 we received the following dispatch:

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It was over. After an active war of almost four years, my war was over. My duty was not however. Not until I got the crew back to Jakarta (where else to go?) could I relax my obligations and duty.

We reached Jakarta on 16-5-45. I thanked the crew for their loyal service, got gloriously drunk and stayed that way for days. I remember wondering how I was going to save my Knight's Cross from ending up in some Tommy's pocket.

It was so long ago, but it seams as if it was only yesterday.....

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Congratulations on a job well done! A glorious career, and most importantly, surviving to bore your grandchildren with the story!:salute:

Well done Commander.:salute: A great sea story.
Sadly you have to put up with the Japs and their less than friendly attitude to their former allies till August\September.

great story, was always eager to read your new log-entries.
good that you survived, now get drunk and think about a way to reach Germany .....
:salute:

Thanks guys. It was fun to write it up and added an extra umph to an already great game.

This was the first time I ever had a captain survive through the war's end. I have voluntarily retired some captains but most ended up on the bottom of the sea. I have no doubt that the transfer to Panang saved both my captain and his crew.

Cheers,

DavidI

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!! http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...ies/pirate.gif

No, not really. These files only affect the traffic related to the corresponding areas. This means that you may apply for transfer to Penang, Jakarta or get transfered to Penang by the game at a certain date if your boat belongs to a certain flotilla (i think thats the 11th flotilla stationed at Bordeaux, France). On the other hand, you have the following cases:

- If you start a career stationed at Penang then you must apply the GWX Indian Campaign files should you wish to see some action. Otherwise you won't meet a single ship because the default GWX campaign files cover the areas of the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea as well as the Mediterranean Sea as far as air & naval traffic is concerned. This of course is the default behaviour of the game.;)

- In case you set sail from France then, well, it depends on the way you want to play the game. If you want to sail the Atlantic at nobody's presence then just enable the Indian Campaign files. But if you prefer the opposite situation you should enable the Merged Campaign files cause if you make the journey with the default campaign files enabled then you won't only meet any traffic while crossing the Indian Ocean but you won't be able to dock at Penang too.

If i were you, in case of departing France heading to Penang, i'd have the Merged Campaign mod enabled and prior to starting my first patrol from there i'd enable the Indian Campaign files. I think thats a fairly realistic and historically correct way of doing it... If you think the same way, that is. Just bear in mind that with the Merged Campaign on the game loads a lot of stuff.
Refer to the manual in case you want more details. Everything should be made clear after reading the corresponding articles.

:salute: