[sublynx]

Leutnant z.s. Alfons Dietzmann
U-552, VIIC
11. Flotille, Bergen

5.12.1942
Back at port after my first mission as commander of U-552. During the month we patrolled AE69 not once did we even see an enemy ship. The morale of the crew is miserable. The PQ convoys must now be using another route.

In port I heard that U-39 had a bad patrol too. They did see lots of action, but the torpedoes had depth keeping and impact pistol trouble. At least they sunk a ship. But other boats have had successful patrols: the best one must be U-65's sinking of HMS Rodney.

Patrol observations.
1. AE69 on the 18th of November, 14:20 hours two Metox warnings. Dive to PD, no hydrophone contacts. My assumption is that the two radar beams must have come from a pair of radar equipped enemy planes. Nothing was seen though, no DC's or bombs heard. Another explanation could be that our Metox was just malfunctioning.
2. AE 69 on the 22nd of November, 23:55 hours a very strange sight. A convoy under Finnish flags. A patrol boat, a barge, a tanker and two merchants. The Finns are not at war with the United States, but Britain has declared war against them, so it was very surprising seeing them near the Faroe islands in British controlled area.

Either the ships were trying to sneak across the Northern Atlantic to a country that is not at war with them or the English have decided to leave the Finns be - it is rumored that Churchill only declared war on them to please the Russians and altough the Royal Navy bombed the Finnish harbours at Petsamo and Kirkenes last year, there has not been any shooting between them since that incident.

Dietzmann