The alarm snapped everyone out of their daze. "What is it?" Uwe asked. "The watch officer heard aircraft flying but could not get a visuall sighting through the overcast." Jurgen responded. "They are very tricky and we have our pants down!"
"Man the deckgun." Fritz whisper's to his number one as he scans the sky and listen's for the mystery craft droning faintly in the distance. "Signal the other boat that our AA is active." With both boats 20mm's they stand a chance against a lone attacker. "Sir we cannot take another hit....She wont hold." stated in a hushed tone. "If they so much as drop a Christmas card on us were done for."
"If we know churchill he will have alot of gifts for us this year." Fritz always found a way of Joking his way thru the stress.
The signal officer was blinking his response from the towing boat when out of the clouds low and fast another flying boat straddles the u-boat in front of them with charges! With in seconds Fritz and the whole crew on deck watched as Heinrich's boat had first buckled then snapped mid ship. "Good lord, Heinrich!" Fritz reached out his hand towards the spot where just moments ago there was a boat. Nobody had a chance to respond to the swift attack. Heinrich and his boat were gone in the blink of an eye but now U-96 had a far more and imediate danger to deal with.
"Herr Kaleun!!!!" The watch officer struggled to find the words as U-96 was being pulled under by the very tow line that had once been their savor!
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