O. Lt. z. S. Otto Schmarff -- Patrol Notes.

[Brag]

U-49 Patrol 03 (Type VIIB--Das Schwein)

31 December 1939
Departed Kiel at 0956. Though everyone got Christmas leave, many in the crew grumbled why couldn't we have waited one or two days and celebrated New Year's in port. Personally I prefer to start the year clear-headed and smelling the invigorating sea air. Since the patrol destination was off Aberdeen, I decided to take the Skagerrat route.

The heavy cruisers Blucher and Hipper were in port and sent us good luck signals as we left port. They are incredible ships that outclass their British peers.

The passage to the Skagerrak was in smooth seas. I sent one bottle of schnapps to each crew cabin and authorized a small festivity at midnight. Of course, the crew sang by now our traditional victory song, All Over the Place. As long as we sing English songs the British destroyers will remain confused. Our newcomer, Lt. Udo Unterhorst, said at the dinner table, " This boat is a bloody Piccadilly Circus. Of course, someone overheard us. Funker put a sign up in the radio cubicle, Transmitting live from The Piccadilly to our friends in Germany.

Under benign skies and well-behaved waters, we crossed the North Sea and reached AN47 at 0220 on 04 January. The crew is beginning to shape up. 33 seconds to crash-dive is not too bad.

Nothing, nothing, nothing. Just the sounds of destroyers. 0943 06 January. A CD class destroyer appears in sight. His course will come into range of the electric torpedoes. It took some soul-searching whether I wanted to provoke this bastard or let him go quietly.

He was set up for beautiful 90 degree angle shot. I succumbed to temptation.

"Rohr Einz, los!" Set for a depth of 2.5 meters, the torpedo was on its way. I order a quiet dive to 65 meters to drag our belly along the bottom and hope the destroyer won't find us.

At 0951, we heard the sound of primary and secondary explosions!

The next 4 days was a parade of small craft on glassy seas. We sank 2 100-ton motor ships and a trawler.

10 January, 0631 Moving away from the coast, we ran into a destroyer 3,000 meters away. Crash dived to 60 meters. The bugger dumped about six ash cans right on top of us. Ahead flank got us away. The destroyer stayed circling where we had dived, dropping more DCs, while we quietly slithered away toward the sound of a freighter.

An hour after the destroyer left the area, a large cargo ship came into sight. With minimum maneuvering, we let it have two torpedoes. Needless to say, we soon heard the destroyer heading our way.

The destroyer didn't find us. The wind rose and soon we had tumultuous seas. By the time we surfaced in the evening, rain poured, waves crashed into the conning tower and visibility was not more than 300 meters. We went after several sound contacts. Unable to get much more than 10 knots, it was a useless exercise unless one sat ahead of the target.

Nevertheless, on the 11th, we managed to sight a small freighter at 350 meters. The first torpedo exploded prematurely. The second hit its mark. That was the last of the ships. For the next five days we heard several vessels but were unable to intercept. The gale raged with incredibly steep seas.

On the 16th, we intercepted a small freighter while listening to the noises of a destroyer.
The weather been good cover for us.

The 19th was a stellar day: One mixed cargo passenger coaster at 0349 from 300 meters. At 13:00 we began stalking a heavy huffing ship. When it appeared on the scope, I saw it was a huge ship and fired two torpedoes. The first eel was enough to get the pyro ship's munitions going.

Frustration. Another heavy huffer, a second pyro--Fire! Hit! The bloody thing kept going with a bit of fire coming out of one of its holds. With only one torpedo left in external storage, we were out of action until the weather acquired some manners. I decided to head home. The weather eased only when we entered the Kategat-- 32,000 tons to report.
The crew is in town, singing, what else but All Over The Place. In English, of course.

Olt z. S. Otto Schmarff