Inside The Control Room During A DC Attack
 

Okay, this is sorta OT, but whatever...

When I bought Lothar-Gunther Buchheim's book U-Boat War, this was one of the photographs that immediately jumped out at me. It captures the moment a depth charge explodes near U-96, momentarily pushing the boat downwards.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/648/depthcharges.jpg

It really is, in my opinion, one of the most stunning pieces of 20th century combat photography, but it seems to have been lost to history, and only known to a few U-boat buffs. Of all the thousands of U-boat photographs out there, I've never seen one that so vividly captures a moment between life and possible death. It's almost like this could be the last known photograph of the crew of U-96, and the boat sunk immediately afterwords, and they found the wreck and retrieved some water-damaged film from Buchheim's camera. Not really plausible, but this photo still creeps me out!

I agree....one of the most interesting photos I've seen, the guy was probably lifted off his feet and a foot or so in the air as he pressed the button :yep:

Truly terrifiying moments for the crew.
Although they were at the time the "enemy", you cant but admire their courage, brave men all.

There's another photo in that same sequence when the captain is standing with his hands in his pockets. Looked like a pretty calming action. In fact, Bucheim says that it was the captain's non-verbal way of letting the crew know that the worst was over. That was one cool cucumber. :salute:

Those are some great pictures. I'd bet no still photos exist of an actual DC attack other than Bucheim's(or movie footage, for that matter).

:)

Woohoo!! 1000th post!

I bet the control room get real crowded during a DC attack :o

I've got that photo in one of my Time-Life books. There's a series of Bucheim's photos in there, all fantastic snapshots of U-boat life.

I don't think I would want to be in the Control room during an attack, to much to get slammed into and not enough space

As opposed to the rest of the u-boat, which is quite roomy and decorated for the most part in a "big cushy pillows and no sharp corners" motif. :yeah: :O:

Altho to be fair I suppose lying flat out in one's bunk and holding onto something would be preferable given an option.

And do a Leutnant Werner: Pull the curtains closed, look at a picture of Mommy and Daddy while you cry yourself to sleep. :wah:

Nope being in the DD dropping the DC's is the preferred position. Much less chance of getting crushed to death or being stabbed with a sharp piece of U-boat.:03:

I see you've been to my boat. You don't know how hard it is to convince a good interior decorator to work on a u-boat these days.

my favorite part is the pair of fuzzy dice in the tower

That's why you decorated it yourself? http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:5...med-pr.jpg&t=1

Actually I kinda like you're IX command room interior
:haha:

santas grotto is usually well situated in the conning tower.

The photo reminds me of the ones Robert Capa took of the troops running through the water towards Omaha Beach on D-Day.The images are blurred but there's a real sense of motion,action and danger,you feel your'e right there running up that hellish beach.

Exactly. Knowing that the photographer is almost as likely to cop a bullet as the soldiers he films adds to the drama of such pics. I still get a chill when I see that picture of the German soldier with his arms spread out to each side as the bullet strikes him; his gun is flying out of his right hand. Another one is the shot of two German soldiers laying down, with one of them about to release a hand grenade. I believe that pic made it onto the cover of a game like Squad Leader or something similar.

Edit: Found 2 Google links to the pics I mention above:

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h...20&tx=60&ty=77

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h...w=1916&bih=871

Until that U-boats Kaluen gets really irked off by you DCing him and after you think hes dead but hes really alive and kicking, he decides to make it his personal mission to sink you, in which case he pursues your from your stern fires 2 magnetics into your prop, making you a sitting duck in the water then goes broadside and fires all 4 tubes into you then surfaces to get on the bridge and laugh as he watches you and your boat plummet to 1000+ Km of crushing water pressure just waiting to happen that will snap your bones like skinny twigs. Then youd wish you were in the U-Boat :03: Too graphic anyone?:hmmm:

Ah, the idle dreams of youth.

A skilled captain would slip away.

A less-skilled captain would (if pressed) use one magnetic pistol on a steamer, under the hull, to disable the escort, then slip away.

Jerry Bruckheimer would waste two magnetics into the props (but he would add big explosions), and then fire four more (more explosions).

I do like the 1000+ kilometers idea... how far down is that?

Less Jerry. More Wolfgang.

It wasnt meant to be taken litterally. :shifty:

EDIT: The Km was a typo too.

The real shame is most of the pictures that he took were destroyed in a lab accident back in England. The technician let the emulsion run (some chemicals were too hot IIRC) and the majority of the shots he took were lost forever. Only a handful survived from that day and those were pretty powerful themselves.