[MantiBrutalis]

Diary of Manfred Bollmann, 9th January 1941, U-104, somewhere in the Atlantic.

Yesterday, as we were reloading the torpedoes, we got interrupted by the Canadian escort – quite a trap they pulled on us. They waited pretty far away, so we didn’t spot them. When they thought we might surface, they came charging right back. The boys up there had to put the torp back in the external chasing. We couldn’t move very fast, because of a free torpedo on our deck, but the captain at least turned us, so the escort didn’t have much of a target. It fired a few shot our way, but at the time of our diving, it was still some 7 kilometers away.

The Canadians left us be a few hours ago, still the captain decided to wait a bit longer. “No more Canadian jokes,” he said. I wonder if we can catch the convoy now, after they had such a lead. And maybe, just maybe the captain will let them go, finally. The collision left long shallow brown marks on the front of our tower and behind our deck gun. The deck gun seems alright, and we might yet use it, the sea is still very calm.