Battle of the Atlantic (X)

[unterseemann]

Great story! I really enjoy the read, keep it up

[gord96]

Thanks. Glad you are enjoying it!

10 km from U-111, somewhere in the Atlantic

Phillip took a long drag from the cigarette as he watched the sun finally come out from behind the clouds. The seas had calmed down a bit. Since they left Africa, the Atlantic had been angry. The wind cut through his coat and he turned and walked back inside and up a flight of stairs to the bridge of the freighter Poppy.

"Hello Mr. Shank, I trust your having a comfortable journey." said the old grey haired captain as he saw Phillip approach.

"Yes captain. Besides the rough seas, I am doing fine. I will admit I was never much of a sailor." replied Phillip. "As long as my cargo gets to Brest as soon as possible and in one piece I will be happy."

The captain nodded and went back to looking at the map on the table in front of him. Phillip Shank was a dealer of rare artifacts. He had several operations on the African continent that were digging up all sorts of old treasures. Phillip would then sell them to museums or private collectors for a hefty price. Business had been good lately, until September that is. The outbreak of war had hampered Phillip's abilities to get his goods back to Europe. The heartbreaking loss of several valuable artifacts that went down on a small freighter that was sunk by a German U-Boat in November had been a big hit for him.

"Come to 085. Signal the Stephanie of the change of course." the captain said. The Stephanie was the small freighter that was following the Poppy. The captain looked back at Phillip. "We got an SOS when you were below checking your cargo. A convoy that left a few days ahead of us for Brest was attacked by a U-Boat. A medium cargo vessel like the Poppy was sunk, along with a smaller freighter. I have changed course to put us further away from the attacks."

A chill went down Phillip's spine. He remembered when he was a young man and U-Boats terrorized the seas in the Great War. He wished he was in his flat in Paris, but the possible reward for the cargo this vessel carried was to great to not oversee himself. He had sailed to Morroco a month ago to oversee the final excavation and secure transport back to France. The artifiact would make him a very rich man. A chilling thought then came to Phillip's mind. Was he more worried about losing the cargo? Or his life? He pondered this as the sun began to set on the horizon.

[gord96]

A few hours later...

Phillip poured a cup of coffee and took a seat at a table in the galley of the Poppy. A few crewmen were also in the room, but kept to themselves. It was getting late and the deck was not a pleasant place to be right now. The cold January wind was at its worst tonight. Phillip's mind wandered about, thinking about his cargo, and the wealth he would soon have. He hoped this war would be over soon. Last thing he needed was to be worried about France being attacked as he was trying to enjoy his earnings.....

Phillip looked around. What just happened? He couldnt hear anything. Was he bleeding. Why was the table he was sitting at a second ago, now on top of him.

"AHHOOOOGA! AHHOOOOGA!"

Phillips hearing came rushing back to the point of bursting his ear drums. He stood up. The galley was in shambles. Tables everywhere were overturned. The crewmen were unconscious on the floor as well. He touched his head. It was bleeding. What the.....

Phillip's thoughts were interuppted as the boat shook violently again and sent him flying into the wall. He was able to brace himself and regained his balance and fled towards the door. When he opened it a wave of heat hit him. Fire. All he could see was fire down the corridor. He heard explosions at the far end of the ship. He turned and went towards the other exit. Up a flight of stairs and he was outside on the deck. He didnt even notice the cold. All he saw was the whole rear of the vessel was in flames. Men were scrambling to fight the fire or to run from it.

"Mr. Shank!" came a voice from behind. It was the young first officer of the Poppy. He was walking down the gangway from the bridge. "Please make your way towards the life boats. We may have to abandon ship."

"No! What about my cargo!? We can't abandon it!!" screamed Phillip.

The man walked towards Phillip and looked him in the eye.

"Mr. Shank. We have been torpedoed by a U-Boat. The cargo hold is an inferno. We are trying to keep the boat from sinking but we need to be prepared."

Phillip stared out at the sea. It was very dark. He was all of a sudden scared. The ocean looked cold and very rough.

Boom!

The two men spun to see the Stephanie, the small merchant to the Poppy's port explode into a massive fireball. The boat's deck was completely aflame. Phillip stared in disbelief. Numb. Cold. Scared.

[gord96]

Meanwhile on board U-111....

Beck watched the medium cargo vessel list to starboard in the rough seas. Its stern was burning. There was surely something that was flammable on board. The smaller merchant ship most definitely had something explosive. One torpedo had set off a massive explosion that tore the vessel apart.

"Orders sir?" asked Georg from below.

"Set tube 2 to ten meters. Make ready in all respects." Beck mumbled a prayer. "LOS!"

Just over a minute later the eel detonated under the cargo ship, breaking its keel. Immediately it began to sink, explosions coming from the bowels of the boat as she went down.

"Let's surface. Ahead standard. Ready the watch."


Five minutes later U-111 was cutting through the rough seas, observing the final moments of the two ships. Beck and the first watch officer, a joker of a character named Otto, scanned the wreckages.

"Nothing captain. No lifeboats anywhere. Just wreckage. Some bodies I am afraid are floating in the oil slick." Otto was not in the joking mood now as he reported what he saw.

"True enough. The last torpedo opened this one wide. She broke up pretty quick." Beck reached down and picked up the intercom. "Resume original course. Ahead standard."

Beck took one last look and nodded at Otto before going below to send a report off to BdU.


Beck sat at his desk and read the reply from BdU. With only three eels left and limited fuel, he was ordered to return to Wilhelmshaven. They had netted nearly 29000 tons of enemy shipping. Beck was thrilled at the success of their first combat patrol. Now they just had to get back to Germany in one piece.

"Chief!" Beck yelled towards the control room. "Make our depth 50m. Maintain speed. Its time for a drink."

He reached into his bunks drawer and pulled out a bottle of 15 year old scotch. Beck smiled then head towards the control room.

[gord96]

February 15th, Wilhelmshaven

Leutnant Gordon Beck stood in front of Admiral Donitz. The commander of the Kriegsmarine was reading his patrol report. Finally after a few minutes he leaned back in his chair and looked up at Beck.

"Excellent work Mr. Beck. U-111 did very well. A good showing of what the Type X is capable of. Your a new commander, and there was some doubts about giving you command of a Type X. There was several other commanders in line with more seniority. But I was assured by your mentor, Hinkle, that your aggressive command style would be a good fit for our new boats."

"Thank you Admiral. The Type X and my crew deserves most of the credit."

Donitz waved his hand, "Nonsense. We need commanders that know when to take risks and when perhaps it is truely time to pause. The only way we can show these Brits and Frenchies that we mean business is by being aggressive. Taking it to them."

"Yes sir!"

Donitz stood up and walked right up to Beck. "Leuntant Beck. I like to talk to my commanders face to face. Each one. Just to show them that I am serious about the task at hand. Although you are a younger commander, your age of 31 puts you as an old man in the eyes of new commanders coming up. As we continue to put more and more boats out to see, the commanders will be younger and younger. Set and example they can all follow!"

"Yes sir!"

Donitz walked back to his desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out a box and handed it to Beck.

"Here is an Iron Cross 2nd class. Give it to one of your men that deserves it. Now go and relax. We will need you and U-111 back in action soon."

[gord96]

Later that night

Beck, Georg and Otto sat at a table in Wilma's Beerhouse in downtown Wilhelmshaven. They were well into their fourth round of drinks. The first few days back in port were busy with reports and naval business. This was the first chance the officers had to relax. Young Georg kept staring down at his chest, proud of the Iron Cross pinned to his breast. Beck had given the award, plus many U-Boat Combat Badges, at a crew dinner earlier in the evening. After that the boys went out on the town. The Chief and navigator, both named Helmut, decided to go home to their wives. With an official week of leave, they were boarding trains to wherever they lived. Beck's family and his wife were in Hanover. He was hoping to sneak away in the next few days to see them.

"You earned it Georg. You did a good job out there." Beck said.

"Thank you sir." Georg beamed. Half pride and half beer most likely. "Can't wait to get out there again."

"Bah! Not until I get ten times more women, beer and food in me!" yelled Otto.

Beck's thoughts drifted off to his wife back home. He really hoped he would get to see her soon. It had been over a month since he last saw her.

"Shame about Wilhelm eh Gordon?" asked Otto, interuppting Beck's thoughts.

"Yes. A real shame. A good man."

Wilhelm and the entire crew of U-45 was lost. Sunk by a destroyer in the North Sea. U-45 was a Type VII boat, not as advanced as the Type X. Beck had served with him a few years back on U-18.

"To our fallen..."

The door opened, interrupting a toast Otto was about to make. In walked a young naval attache. He scanned the room, saw Beck and rushed towards him.

"Leuntant Beck. We need you to return to the base now. The commandant needs to speak with you immediatly. I was also told to instruct you to cancel the leave of all your crewmen and officers."

Beck sighed. "Ok. This is really bad timing..."

Otto burst into laughter. "No sh*t!"

"Look alive Georg!" Beck noticed the young officer staring off into space. The beer firmly taking hold. "You need to find all the men. Send for the Helmuts. They are probably both at the train station. Tell them they are to report back to base now. Otto, you help. Ha ha! They won't be happy."

Beck stood up and made his way towards the door, following the young naval officer.

[gord96]

Gibraltar, 2 days later

Brody looked through the cracks of the shutters into the darkness. The feint glow of lamp from the base down the road was the only light. He walked back to the small table in the tiny room. A candle was the only light he would dare have. On the table was some papers and the radio he used to send messages to his superiors in Berlin. His last transmission was yesterday and there was no reply yet. He looked over at the documents and the small crate on the floor. He was almost scared to look at them anymore. What they contained was of such sensitive information, that the British would kill anyone on sight who they think might have stolen them. And that man was Brody.

Voices! Coming down the road. Dogs too. Brody blew the candle out and reached down into his belt and gripped the Luger pistol. They came closer. If they came in he would have to shoot. His radio, his equipment. It would be a dead giveaway. He tucked the documents into his coat and stood in the shadows. The voices walked past. The dogs barking grew quieter. Brody let out a long sigh.

"Damn them. What are they waiting for!?" Brody swore quietly. When he alerted his commanders of his findings they had told him to stay put. Gibraltar was a tight place to sneak in and out of. High security. He could escape on a small boat or make a run for Spain. Each was risky, but as time dragged on he was finding the waiting to be even more risky.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The radio came to life. Brody rushed over. A transmission was inbound. Within a few minutes Brody was busy decoding it. When finished he read it to himself.

"U-Boat on route to extract you. Should arrive within a week. Will make one more transmission when they are within 1 day. Pick-up will be at Windhill Beach. Do what is needed to avoid capture until this time. Escape by land or boat to risky. Over."

Brody sighed and went and layed down on his cot.