I'll follow orders... but I ain't gonna like it!

[Kpt. Lehmann]

I'll follow orders... but I ain't gonna like it!

I've been ordered to refuel at Vigo and to make my way through the Straits of Gibralter to LaSpezia for transfer to 29 flotilla.

...But first! Let me set the scene:

I've been splashing around in grids DH33, AL99 and AL96 for SEVEN WEEKS in U-205 with only two small passenger cargoes and an ore carrier to show for it. Each were individual encounters not in convoy.

We still have eight fish left. (Mostly, the old G7a steamers.)

My crew is just about ready to start killing each other.

The diesel tanks are down to about 10%... and the crew cheers wildly as I finally order the course heading for 7th Flotille HQ in St. Nazaire.

Within two hours of sending our patrol report, and notifying BdU of our intentions... the radioman hands me an encrypted message:

1750 hours

From: BdU
To: U-205

Willenbrock
1941/11/06
Officer only:
Refuel in Vigo and proceed to LaSpezia for transfer to 29 flotilla.

Okay... that doesn't sound so wierd, but wait! There's more! In previous messages the line where "Willenbrock" appears is usually filled by various names that the message is intended for... ie: "Guggenheimer" and "Schonder" etc.

That being said... My career name is "Heinrich Lehmann."

"Willenbrock" is not a name I use.

(Some people here have thought at one time or another that I took my Subsim nickname via Das Boot and/or KptLt. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock who commanded U-96. I did not. It is just coincidental and a bit entertaining to me at times relating to the "Kpt. Lehmann" moniker. I flew with an online Red Baron3 squadron... Jagdstaffel 5... for a couple of years as "Klaus Lehmann" before stumbling into SH3. I only add "Heinrich" when actually playing the game, because going without a first name just looks wierd to me.)

http://jasta5.org/Jagdstaffeln_5/pilots/lehmann.htm

In the movie "Das Boot" U-96 never made it through the Straits of Gibralter.

The actual U-96 did not sail in the Mediterranean, but was very badly damaged attempting to make it past Gibralter in LATE November... with Gunter Bucheim aboard.

As for the fate of her sister boats... U-95 was torpedoed and sunk just east of Gibralter. U-97 did indeed sail there, but was eventurally sunk by an Australian aircraft west of Haifa.

It couldn't be Willenbrock sending the message. He wasn't commanding a flotilla until late in the war... and on November 7, 1941... best I can tell he was patrolling southeast of Greenland.

It can't be Willenbrock receiving the message... because it was addressed to U-205!

So some of it seems a little creepy to me when considering that radio message... and the "Lehmann" coincidences.

The actual U-205 was ordered to sail into the Mediterranean on 7 November 1941, under the command of Franz-Georg Reschke. This order came to Reschke after sailing out of Lorient while a part of 3rd Flotille.

At any rate... I'll follow the orders and risk my neck running the Straits... but I ain't gonna like it... AND I'm gonna blow up the phones in St. Nazaire finagling my way back to the Atlantic!

Whatever happens... running the Straits of Gibralter should make for an interesting time.

Will head for Vigo tomorrow afternoon. For now... I'm giving the crew an extra beer.