Diary of Manfred Bollmann, 28th December 1940, U-104, 200km south-east of Ireland.
It’s the second day of our patrol and already we have 2 marks on our sheet. The watchboys spot a large merchant when we were nearing Ireland, and after getting a bit closer, they spot a smaller one ahead of it. Eventually, after getting close enough to recognize the British flags, the captain chose to make a use of our deck gun. From what I heard from down here, I can say that we were the only ones firing – the enemy had no guns. I hope the watch saw it, because if not… then the captain just risked that they were not armed. Anyway, that’s about 7500 tons on our nameless boat.
On the other hand, we didn’t spend that much ammunition, the captain slowed down when we were close enough (I really can’t tell how close), so the gunner could take precise shots. He even instructed the three freshmen, who had joined us in Lorient, to observe and teach them a bit of real shooting. Both ships were probably down before we closed in, at least I think… There seemed to be some kind of ammunition on one of the ships, the fireworks were very loud even down here.
The captain was satisfied, so he ordered to make for the open sea and head directly to our patrol area. Some of the crew expressed the fear of incoming planes to investigate the missing ships, but the captain didn’t even take notice. Guess he had some sixth sense, because we weren’t attacked. Anyway, this is going to take a few more weeks. I hope this soothed his bloodlust – I want to survive. I often think about the dead of the Cloverleaf and of Karl. Even the Cloverleaf wasn’t lucky enough for this captain…
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