"And what about you, Leutnant. How is U-46? Back in one piece for a change, I see"
My turn.
I recounted our patrol, and a list of confirmed sinkings and estimated tonnage.
Even he nodded approvingly, leafing through my log as I gave my report.
"No opportunity to identify the names of the ships any more closely, Sir."
"Aircraft?"
"Much busier than before, Sir. Didn't dare to hang about too much on the surface"
I caught a wry grimace from Reuben.
"Nearly got jumped once ourselves, and the last 8,000 tonner took some chasing. She had constant aerial cover during daylight hours.
"The surface escorts seemed a little less organised, and didn't give us so much trouble this time. I think hitting them from different angles paid dividends. The credit for that should go to U-122 and U-213, they had the first contact and bore the brunt of it. We just mopped up."
Doenitz nodded.
"Any news from them, Sir"
"U-122 should be making her rendezvous with a couple of e-boats we've sent out for the purpose of escorting her in. Signals from U-213 have been patchy. We think he's hurt. But the girls are listening out for him even now. U-358 is still in good form, and in fact took a straggler just this morning. I'm bringing him back too. All in all, Wolfpack Grief gave the Brits quite a hiding!"
Doenitz sipped his Remy Martin and smiled.
"But of course, your duty doesn't finish here, my boy"
"Sir?"
"Let's just say that the air raids over England haven't gone quite according to plan."
He sipped again meditatively
"Not to put too fine a point on it, the Luftwaffe has sustained huge losses in trying to gain air superiority. The verdammt English won't quit just yet. We've suffered huge plane losses, while you've been having fun at sea. Between us, Operation Sealion, the last piece in the jigsaw, isn't likely to happen. You might have noticed that a lot of our landsers have been entrained and moved back East. I'll say no more, but there's something even bigger in the wind.
"You'll also know that we've lost Kretschmer, Prien and Shalke all in the space of one convoy attack"
I agreed sadly. The U-boat grapevine is second to none.
"For whatever we do next, our leader requires a propaganda coup, something to inspire the nation in the light of these losses.
"Yes, Sir" I replied bewildered.
"You and Francks, here, are that inspiration...."
"I don't understand, Sir, I..."
"In short, Leutnant you are both to return to St Nazaire, and clinb into your best dress uniforms. You will then be taken to Berlin by special train for a special presentation"
"You mean, Sir....?"
"Yes, Leutnant, and take it from me, when you get there, there is no smoking or drinking in the presence of the Fuhrer....."
Lt de Bunsen, U-46
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