[MantiBrutalis]

Diary of Manfred Bollmann, 31st December 1940, U-104, somewhere in the Atlantic.

Finally we are closing to our patrol area, which hopefully marks the half of our trip. The weather is still very calm, although cold. The days are very short, but it doesn’t make much of a difference down here. Despite great visibility during the short light time we are given, we haven’t met a single ship. Occasionally the captain has a “sense” that something is near, so he takes us under for half an hour, stops the engine… and spends the time asking Max (the hydrophones guys) if he’s sure that nothing’s near.

I spend my free time with our medic, playing cards or listening to his stories from the 1st Flotilla. He is not one of the Cloverleaf’s crew, but he served on two other IIAs. He doesn’t want to talk about his time on the U-14, apparently that boat claimed quite a few lives. Anyway, he got transferred to the 2nd Flotilla, because his proven skills were needed on one of the new “better” U-boats.

The crew is in better shape now, the calm sea and very uneventful patrol took out most of their worries. Just the captain isn’t very happy. He even gave me a “personal” message to BdU, about how they must have left out some contacts in our vicinity and so on. I didn’t send it though – it was quite rude and offensive, and it wouldn’t help anybody either way. Despite his anxiety, he makes a good captain – he reminds us to check the equipment often (mostly the torpedoes), so we should be in a good shape if we meet something.



Note – By this time I probably should state the setting I use on realism. I am too lazy to learn the targeting system entirely, although from time to time I set things myself – for the fun of it. So I am using Automatic Targeting and Weapon Office Assistance (whatever that does). I am using Map Updates (never tried without it) and External Camera, because I love explosions. I use it sparingly though, not to reveal anything I shouldn’t see, so I don’t spoil the fun for myself. Everything else is ticked – 81% Realism.