THE LONE WOLF (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 9 – CARIBBEAN CRUISE

 

11:28 (New York Time)

Thursday, January 1, 1942

Control room of the U-800

Off the northern coast of Haiti

Otto smiled with satisfaction as he did a second tour of the horizon with his watch periscope, seeing nothing threatening and without a single ship within sight.

‘’That storm seems to have moved on and out of the way and I can see the Sun piercing out of the clouds. Time to get some fresh air and do a sextant reading. SURFACE! SURFACE! SURFACE!’’

With Rudolph Dollman blowing air in their ballast tanks and Werner Nielinger at the helm pulling on his aircraft-type control stick, the U-800 started emerging from under the waves in less than twenty seconds. As soon as his submarine was stabilized on the surface, Otto gave a few orders on the intercom.

‘’Secure from diving stations! Engine room, throttle up our diesels to the maximum: I want our batteries recharged completely as quickly as possible. Leutnant Streib, arrange a rotation of the men on deck so that they could take in some sunrays. I will allow a third of the crew at a time on deck, in rotations of one hour each. Have our sewage tanks purged, our garbage bags thrown overboard and our compressed air bottles refilled immediately: we don’t know how long we will be able to stay on the surface.’’

‘’Yes, Herr Kapitän!’’

Getting his binoculars, his sextant and his marine chronometer from a drawer under the navigation plot table, Otto then climbed up to the open bridge atop the conning tower of his submarine. There, a lukewarm wind and bright sunshine greeted him, making him take with delight a deep breath of fresh air: he may be a submarine ace, but he still liked to enjoy the Sun and fresh air as much as he could. His men were quick to use this too rare occasion to be able to freely walk around shirtless and smoke a cigarette in the open. The hard-working Dieter Hannig also came on deck, but to throw weighed bags of garbage into the sea. The sight of a few sharks diving for the garbage bags then

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attracted a few amused comments from the German sailors. As the Sun reached its zenith, Otto carefully noted the time shown on his marine chronometer, set on Berlin Time, and the height of the Sun, data that he was going to use to calculate his exact location. Briefly going back down to the control room to plot his new position and refine the course given to his helmsman, he then returned up on the bridge, wanting to profit from the Sun like his men. A thermos bottle of American-made hot chocolate was soon brought up by the assistant cook, Gustav Bouhler, and circulated between Otto and the four men on lookout duty on the bridge.

The second rotation of men to come out for sunrays and a smoke had been on deck for maybe twenty minutes when one of the lookouts shouted a warning.

‘’SOLITARY RAFT AT OUR TWO O’CLOCK, APPROXIMATE DISTANCE OF 900 METERS!’’

Pointing his own binoculars, Otto had to mentally congratulate his lookout: the raft in question was barely visible as a large dot and appeared only at intervals as it bobbed up and down on the waves.

‘’HELM, STEER TO STARBOARD TO HEADING 150 DEGREES! ACCELERATE TO TWELVE KNOTS! RESCUE TEAM ON THE DECK! DOCTOR LIST REQUESTED ON THE DECK AT ONCE WITH HIS MEDICAL BAG! THOSE ON RELAXATION WALK ARE TO RETURN INSIDE.’’

As his men on the open deck ran back inside, they were quickly replaced by six men equipped with life vests, ropes and boat hooks. The submarine’s doctor, Oberleutnant zur See Konrad List, a graying naval reservist who had served in World War One as a young ship’s doctor, showed up on the heels of the rescue team. With the distance to the raft quickly diminishing, Otto was able to see that there were people inside the raft. Soon, one of them started waving his arms frantically, having obviously spotted the approaching submarine. Two more occupants then started waving their arms as well, while two small shapes kept laying down. Otto’s heart sank when he finally was able to see better those two shapes: they were children, very young children. Grabbing his megaphone, Otto shouted a warning to his waiting rescue team and to Doctor List.

‘’THERE ARE THREE ADULTS AND TWO YOUNG CHILDREN ABOARD THE RAFT. THE CHILDREN ARE NOT MOVING AND ARE TO BE TREATED AS TOP PRIORITIES!’’

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Right now, Otto didn’t care what nationality those survivors were and he suspected that his men didn’t care either. While they were presently at war, the old laws of the sea still had precedence in his mind. Otto personally had never heard of any German submarine captain having its crew shoot at survivors floating in the water or sitting in rafts and lifeboats, even though he knew that British propaganda had accused more than once U-boote men of doing just that. The fact that young children were in distress only spurned him further to run to the rescue of those unfortunate souls.

Aboard the raft, a couple in their late twenties who had been desperately doing their best for their two dehydrated and sunburned young children saw at first what appeared in the distance to be the superstructures of an approaching ship and started waving their arms wildly in the air while shouting for help, imitated by the Puerto Rican sailor who was also in the raft. As the ship approached, the young father frowned while eyeing it.

‘’A submarine? I can’t recognize its type. It isn’t an American one, though.’’

‘’A British submarine, maybe?’’ suggested his wife. John Kaiser soon shook his head at that.

‘’I don’t believe so, Jennifer. It does look quite big by any standards, though.’’ A couple of minutes later, as the submarine was much closer, John was finally able to see the markings on the side of the submarine’s kiosk. What he saw made him swear loudly.

‘’SHIT! IT’S A GERMAN SUBMARINE!’’

‘’Oh no!’’ said Jennifer, instant fear in her voice. ‘’What are we going to do, John?’’

‘’Well, we have little choice but to let those Germans save us from the sea, Jennifer. I hope that they have a doctor aboard, so that Robert and Helen could be treated quickly.’’

‘’How do you think that those Germans will treat us, John?’’

‘’They will probably treat us decently, Jennifer: The German Navy has the reputation of respecting the laws of war.’’

‘’Respecting the laws of war? With the way their submarines sink hundreds of civilian ships?’’

‘’We do the same ourselves to the Japanese, Jennifer: that is called ‘war’.’’ They then fell silent as the big submarine got closer and closer from their raft.

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With the helmsman occupying the upper helm position in the forward underwater observation dome and thus able to more easily steer the U-800 towards the raft, the submarine soon bumped gently against the raft, with two sailors immediately catching with their boat hooks the rope handles fixed to the raft, thus allowing the other sailors to grab the survivors, who were clad in night clothes, and pull them on the deck. Doctor List immediately examined them, starting with the two children, who were mere toddlers. He briefly looked up and aft towards the conning tower’s open bridge to shout his diagnosis for Otto’s benefit.

‘’THEY ARE ALL ALIVE, HERR KAPITÄN, BUT THEY ARE DEHYDRATED AND WEAK.’’

‘’GET THEM TO THE INFIRMARY, QUICKLY!’’ shouted back Otto before activating his ship’s intercom. ‘’Leutnant Margraff, please contact me on the open bridge via telephone!’’

As he waited for Margraff to call back, Otto eyed the five survivors as they were gently led inside the submarine via the forward access hatch of the conning tower. Two of them were mere toddlers, one boy and one girl. There was also a young couple, probably American or British by their looks, plus one Hispanic-looking man in his thirties. The latter one was the only one in the group to wear a full set of clothes and he definitely looked like a civilian sailor, possibly a deck hand. The ringing of the telephone held inside a waterproof steel box welded to the bulwark of the open bridge then took Otto’s attention away from the survivors. Grabbing the telephone handset and bringing it up to his face, he spoke briefly in it.

‘’Kapitän speaking!’’

‘’This is Leutnant Margraff, Herr Kapitän. You wanted to speak with me?’’

‘’Yes! We just rescued five persons found in a raft: three adults and two small children. They are presently being led to our infirmary. I want you and two armed men to go to the infirmary and to interview them gently once Doctor List will have finished treating them. Get their names, their particulars, on what ship they were and how they ended up in a raft. You will then report back to me with that information. Again, be gentle about it, unless of course one of the men starts acting stupid.’’

‘’Understood, Herr Kapitän! I’m on it!’’

Hooking back the handset and closing the intercom box, Otto then shouted at the two sailors who had finished pulling the now empty raft aboard.

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‘’IS THERE ANY SHIP MARKING ON THAT RAFT, MEN?’’

‘’YES, HERR KAPITÄN!’’ Answered one of the sailors. ‘’IT BELONGED TO A M.V. ESPERANZA.’’

‘’GOOD! BRING IT INSIDE: WE COULD ALWAYS HAVE A USE FOR IT IN THE FUTURE.’’

Watching first his two men drag the small raft inside the conning tower’s forward airlock, Otto was then about to make an intercom announcement in order to let his crewmen return to the open deck for their Sun exposure when one of his lookouts shouted, alarm in his voice.

‘’AIRCRAFT APPROACHING FROM TEN O’CLOCK! DISTANCE: SIX

KILOMETERS!’’

Otto’s reaction was immediate: this was no time to delay his reaction by wondering if that aircraft could be a threat or not.

‘’DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! EVACUATE THE BRIDGE!’’

His four lookouts took only seconds to disappear down the access hatch of the bridge, with Otto closely following and firmly closing the hatch behind him before sliding down the ladder, landing with a thump three paces from the control room’s attack periscope. The watch officer, Franz Streib, passed to him a number of bits of information as soon as he ran inside the control room.

‘’All hatches are closed and the diesels and schnorchel are shut down, Herr Kapitän. We are ready to go down.’’

‘’Then, push down hard on the diving planes and push electric engines full ahead! Flood the ballast tanks and make our depth 300 meters in a hurry! Turn ninety degrees to port as soon as we are fully submerged.’’

‘’Aye, Herr Kapitän!’’

Two decks below, the young couple in the group of survivors looked at each other when they heard the repeated ‘honk’ of some kind of alarm. Jennifer Kaiser-Coolidge was still under the shock of realizing that they had been retrieved by a German submarine, on top of being worried sick for her children, and gave a fearful look at her husband John.

‘’What is happening now, John?’’

‘’I’m not sure, but I think that this submarine is about to dive, judging from the reaction of the crewmen around us.’’

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John then lowered his voice to a near whisper and made as if he was kissing his wife’s temple.

‘’If they ask about me, tell them that I am simply a junior shipping company administrator in Miami and that we were coming back from vacation in Puerto Rico.’’ Jennifer, who was no empty-headed blonde, nodded briefly her head at those words. To be frank, her biggest worries right now were about little Helen and Robert, who were being carried in the arms of two sailors. John, who was looking around with intense curiosity at the interior of the submarine, couldn’t help wonder about how spacious the compartment they just stepped down into was. It looked like some sort of cafeteria, with rows of long tables and a service counter. The submarine suddenly went nose down at a steep angle while the noise from its propellers increased dramatically. John and Jennifer, like the Puerto Rican sailor saved along with them, had to cling to a nearby table in order not to lose their balance. A few seconds more and the submarine, still diving steeply, turned sharply to the left, rolling like a plane in a stunning display of agility for such a big boat. John even had to help Jennifer, who was about to lose her grip on the table because of the centrifugal force of the turn. Yet, the submarine kept diving deeper and deeper, something that started to worry John. One of the Germans saw his expression and smiled to him in an effort to reassure him and Jennifer, speaking in a broken English.

‘’No worry! This is emergency dive. We will be okay.’’

‘’How deep can this submarine go?’’ asked John spontaneously. The German was about to answer him but thought better of it and grinned.

‘’Sorry: classified information.’’

The submarine then shook slightly as the survivors could hear distant underwater explosions, which made the same German sailor smile again.

‘’Depth charges, too shallow: no worry! Please follow!’’

Going aft, the group of five survivors and four Germans soon entered a compartment that appeared to John as being the boat’s infirmary. Just the fact that there was such a thing on a submarine was most unusual but it was also surprisingly large and seemed well equipped, with two beds for patients plus a treatment table surrounded by counters and storage cabinets for medical equipment and supplies. The graying German doctor who had examined them quickly on the upper deck had the sailor carrying little Robert lay him on the examination table and hold him in place. He then removed the wet, salt-incrusted night gown of the toddler boy, leaving him naked on the table, so that he could

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examine and treat him better. Sponging him down to remove the salt on his skin, he then applied an ointment on his face and arms, which had been burned by the Sun, and finished by making him drink slowly some water. Giving the boy to his mother, List then treated the small girl in a similar way, to give her to her father at the end of it. For Jennifer, List smiled to John while pulling closed a privacy curtain separating the treatment section from the waiting area, speaking in good English.

‘’So that your wife can be treated with appropriate privacy, mister.’’

‘’I understand, Doctor. Thank you for helping us.’’

‘’I am simply fulfilling my oath as a doctor, mister.’’

John then had to wait on one of the two chairs of the cramped waiting area, along with the Puerto Rican sailor and two German sailors. John used that time to nod and smile at the Puerto Rican, shaking his hand as he spoke.

‘’I have to thank you again for helping save my wife and children, Ricardo.’’

‘’It was a pleasure, Mister Kaiser. My only regret is for not having been able to help the other people on the ship. I am afraid that we are probably the only survivors from the ESPERANZA.’’

‘’I am afraid of that as well, Ricardo. That storm came in so suddenly and without warning.’’

‘’What will happen now to us, Mister Kaiser? Will these Germans keep us as prisoners of war?’’

‘’I hope not! I have no wish to see my family being brought as prisoners to Germany.’’

As if their words had conjured some bad blood, the door of the infirmary was then opened and a German soldier in full combat field uniform stepped inside, with two more soldiers visible on the other side of the hatch. All three were armed and wore steel helmets, making them quite intimidating. The one who had entered then surprised John by his polite tone and excellent, nearly accent-free English as he addressed John and Ricardo.

‘’Welcome aboard the U-800, gentlemen. I am Lieutenant Hugo Margraff and me and my men will be in charge of your surveillance while you are aboard this submarine. Do not worry about your well-being: you will be well treated, as long as you behave sensibly. While we cannot drop you right away in some friendly port, you will be released at the first occasion we will meet with an unarmed civilian ship or get to a

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neutral port. That could however take a week or two. I understand that there were five of you, by the way.’’

‘’My wife is being examined by your doctor on the other side of that curtain and she has our small daughter with her.’’

‘’I see! If you don’t mind, I would have a few questions for you. First, may I have your names?’’

‘’Of course, Lieutenant! I am John Kaiser and my wife’s name is Jennifer. My son, who is two and a half years old, is named Robert, while my four-year-old daughter is named Helen. We are American citizens.’’

‘’And you, mister?’’ asked Margraff, looking at the Puerto Rican sailor.

‘’My name is Ricardo Montes and I was a deck hand on the ESPERANZA. I am Puerto Rican.’’

Margraff, who was noting down that information in a small notepad, looked again at John.

‘’Next, on what ship were you and where were you heading? How did you end up in a life raft?’’

‘’We had booked passage on the M.V. ESPERANZA, a mixed cargo and passenger transport, in San Juan and were heading for Miami when a sudden storm swamped our ship in the middle of last night. I am afraid that we are the only survivors from the ESPERANZA.’’

‘’I am sorry to hear that, Mister Kaiser. May I ask what was the reason of your trip to Miami?’’

John then did his best to keep a straight face and even voice as he lied to Margraff.

‘’Me and my family were returning from a Christmas period vacation in Puerto Rico. I work as a junior administrator in a Miami shipping company.’’ If Margraff doubted the veracity of his words then, he didn’t let it show up and closed and pocketed his notepad and pen before looking down and smiling at little Robert, who was sitting naked on John’s lap.

‘’I will go see what I can find as new clothes for you, your family and Mister Montes. If it may reassure you, we do have spare beds available for all of you.’’

‘’Your submarine certainly seems to be unusually comfortable and spacious, Lieutenant. Are all German submarines this comfortable?’’ John’s question made Margraff burst into genuine laughter and it took him a couple of seconds before he could answer him.

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‘’Hardly! The U-800 is in a class of its own in about everything, as the British have learned the hard way lately.’’

To John’s disappointment, Margraff didn’t elaborate about that and left, to be soon replaced by a sailor wearing a cook’s apron and carrying five steaming tin cups in his hands. He handed two of the cups, which turned out to contain hot coffee, to John and Ricardo, plus a cup of hot chocolate for little Robert. He then made signs about his two remaining cups, obviously not knowing English. John understood him easily enough and spoke to his wife through the privacy curtain.

‘’Jennifer, the cook brought a cup of coffee for you and a cup of hot chocolate for Helen.’’

‘’What a fine man!’’ Jennifer said before slipping two hands through the curtain separation, taking the cups offered by the cook, who then departed. Helping first his toddler son to drink a bit of his hot chocolate, John then took a sip of his coffee and felt like coming alive again.

‘’God, I really needed that coffee! I wouldn’t mind a good meal as well.’’

‘’We will take care of that as soon as you have all been examined and then given clothes and a bed, mister.’’ replied the German doctor through the curtain.

‘’Thank you, Doctor, for everything. The crew of this submarine is certainly proving to be most decent up to now.’’

‘’Well, you shouldn’t believe all that Allied propaganda about Germans being blood-thirsty automatons, Mister Kaiser.’’

‘’What about the Japanese, then?’’

‘’Can’t say that I know much about them, mister, so I won’t venture an opinion on that. You should however be more worried in the long term with Stalin.’’ On that, John couldn’t argue with List.

John and Ricardo had time to be inspected and treated by Doctor List before Lieutenant Margraff returned with some clothes for the survivors. The adults ended with baggy mechanics’ coveralls and rubber boots, while the two toddlers got simple T-shirts with their bottoms cut to the appropriate length, just above their ankles. They were then led out of the infirmary and shown two double bunk beds situated in the compartment forward of the cafeteria. One of the double bunk beds had two sides hidden by blankets hooked from the ceiling and forming a sort of privacy curtain. Margraff pointed at the curtained-off bunk bed while facing John and Jennifer.

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‘’That double bunk bed is for the use of Madam Kaiser and of her two children. Mister Kaiser, Mister Montes, you will use that bunk bed nearby. If you will now follow me, we will be able to provide you with a decent meal.’’

The group then stepped aft into the crew cafeteria, where Margraff showed them one of the tables.

‘’If you will please sit down at that table, the cook will have something for you soon. Uh, does any of you have any sort of food allergy?’’

‘’Just to British food.’’ quipped John, making Margraff laugh again.

‘’I have to say that I must agree with you on that. I had to eat captured British field rations a few times and they were nothing to shout about.’’ Margraff then disappeared behind a partition separating the cafeteria from what had to be the kitchen. He came back after a minute.

‘’Your food will be ready in ten minutes. In the meantime, you will find fresh bread, butter and jam at the service counter behind that partition to your left. If you will now excuse me, I will have to take care of other things for a while. Two of my men will however stay with you. Both speak good English, by the way.’’

‘’Uh, wait, Lieutenant!’’ said Jennifer, making Margraff stop. ‘’Can you explain to me why you and your men, who are Army soldiers, are on a submarine?’’ Her question made Margraff grin with malice.

‘’Why? So that American soil could bear the marks of German boots, Madam Kaiser.’’

On that, Margraff walked out of the compartment, leaving the Americans to ponder his words. They however forgot about them when the cook brought a big serving pot which he suspended just above the table, using hooks apparently devised to that effect. Jennifer was about to ask why the pot was suspended but understood by herself when she saw the pot gently sway as the submarine rolled and pitched slightly.

‘’Hey, this is a good idea! It sure prevents spillage of food in heavy seas.’’ The cook then distributed large bowls and utensils around the table before ladling out a thick stew of meat and vegetables, serving the two children first, followed by Jennifer and then the two men. He next brought fresh bread, still warm from the oven, and tin mugs filled with water. The smell of the stew was enough to convince the adults to forget that they were prisoners aboard a German submarine, with everybody soon eating the stew with gusto. To the children’s delight, freshly baked chocolate biscuits followed for dessert.

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Forty minutes later, with everybody well stuffed, John looked at one of the two soldiers that had been watching them from another table.

‘’What happens now?’’

His question seemed to amuse the German, who shrugged.

‘’Now, we wait!’’

‘’Wait for what?’’

‘’Wait for the Captain to make his next move. That could however take a few days, or even a week or two. It will depend on what we encounter on our path.’’

‘’Days? And what are we going to do to spend the time in this submarine, especially with two small children?’’

‘’You can sleep, read, play cards or chess, listen to music, watch the sea…’’

‘’Woah! How are you supposed to watch the sea while inside a submerged submarine?’’

The two German soldiers exchanged a look, then the older one got up from his bench seat.

‘’I will go see if I can get permission for you to go observe the sea. I won’t be long.’’

John, Jennifer and Ricardo looked at each other, utterly confused, as the soldier went upstairs to the next deck, but didn’t dare comment out loud about it in the presence of the other soldier. The soldier finally returned twelve minutes later, a smile on his face.

‘’The captain has authorized the use of our underwater viewing domes by you, but no more than two at a time, and that includes the children. Madam Kaiser, if you will follow me with one of your children. Your husband will be able to follow with your other child in fifteen minutes.’’

Seeing that Jennifer was unsure about following the German, John encouraged her with a nod.

‘’Go ahead, Jennifer: go with Helen. I don’t believe that anything bad will happen.’’

‘’Okay! Come, Helen: we are going to watch something.’’

‘’What are we going to watch, Mommy?’’ asked the small girl in her tiny voice.

‘’I don’t know yet, sweetie.’’

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Still a bit apprehensive, Jennifer Kaiser took Helen’s right hand and led her while following the German soldier, who led her up two levels inside a small lift cabin, then made her and Helen climb two sets of ladders. When she emerged from the last steel deck hatch, she found herself in some kind of steel cylinder topped by a thick transparent dome. Outside of the dome was a sort of plexiglass and steel canopy and beyond that…the sea. The submarine was actually fairly close to the surface, with the sunlight above the sea illuminating the waters to an appreciable depth. Jennifer then found herself able to clearly see all the fish and objects between the surface and her position, and this for nearly 200 meters all around.

‘’My God, this is incredible! Look at all those fish to our right, Helen!’’

‘’I see them, Mommy.’’ replied her daughter, getting excited. As her daughter marveled at the fish swimming around, Jennifer gave a warm smile to the German soldier who had guided her up to the dome.

‘’Thank you so much for letting us profit from such a fantastic experience, mister.’’

The German nodded his head soberly, acknowledging her thank you.

‘’We are human beings like everyone else, madam, and seeing your kids being happy and healthy makes us happy. We may be conducting war operations right now, but the captain will never let any act of abuse or violence be committed against you or your children.’’

That left Jennifer to ponder those words for a long moment afterward.

19:50 (New York Time)

Otto Kretschmer’s cabin

Otto was reading a book in bed while still fully clothed when someone knocked on the door of his cabin.

‘’YES, COME IN!’’

One of the electronic warfare section’s operators, Josef Knocke, then entered and came to attention.

‘’Herr Kapitän, we just intercepted and decoded a Royal Navy secret message that may be of high interest for us. Here is the decoded text.’’ Getting up from his bed and grabbing the message offered by his sailor, Otto read it quickly, then grinned from ear to ear.

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‘’Indeed, my good Knocke! With this, we will be able to serve a nice surprise to those Englanders. Good work, Knocke!’’

‘’Danke, Herr Kapitän!’’ proudly replied the sailor before leaving the cabin. Otto, the message still in his hands, hurried to the control room, where he checked quickly his navigational chart. He grinned again when he saw that he would be effectively in time to surprise the British and possibly inflict them a painful blow.

07:43 (New York Time)

Sunday, January 4, 1942

U-800, off the entrance to Willemstad Harbor

Southern coast of Curacao, Dutch West Indies, Caribbean Sea

Otto, standing at the search periscope and watching his intended prey approaching on time over the eastern horizon, was not a little surprised, not to say frustrated, when his sonar operator shouted a warning from his station a few paces away.

‘’Three ships approaching from the West-Northwest, Herr Kapitän! From their speed and group formation, I would say that they are warships.’’

‘’Gott und Himmel! Can’t a man greet properly a British gentleman without being disturbed?’’ quipped Otto while doing a half turn to look towards his stern. Focusing his periscope lens, he effectively saw three smoke trails and three far-off silhouettes in the distance, apparently traveling in a single column. With both the approaching British heavy cruiser HMS DEVONSHIRE and the three newcomers still a good seven kilometers away at a minimum, too far yet for their radars to have a realistic chance of detecting his periscope, Otto retracted the head of his periscope under the surface. He then went to the sonar section, standing behind one of the two operators and looking at their cathode displays.

‘’Can you give me at least a possible identification, Herr Grote?’’

‘’The most I could say right now is that one of the three units sounds distinctly bigger and more powerful than the two other newcomers, Herr Kapitän.’’

‘’Hmm, sounds like a cruiser or battleship escorted by two destroyers. Hell, that could complicate our job a bit this morning.’’

‘’Bah! You will eat them raw for breakfast without even breaking a sweat, Herr Kapitän.’’ replied the chief sonar operator, making Otto smile and administer a playful slap on the back of the head to Gröte.

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‘’Flattery will get you nowhere, Gröte. Keep good track of both these ships and the British cruiser. I will be at the tactical plot table.’’

Walking to the nearby tactical plot, where Ulrich Von Wittgenstein was plotting their original target, Otto examined the picture forming on the plot while thinking about how to proceed. The U-800 was at periscope depth at a distance of maybe two kilometers south of the entrance channel of Willemstad Harbor, the capital of the Dutch possession of Curacao, itself close to the coast of Venezuela. His original plan had been to first ambush and sink the incoming British heavy cruiser, then to dive and move around the island before surfacing again and bombard with his deck guns the huge refinery and oil tank farm complex bordering the Willemstad Harbor. Now, he was going to be forced to juggle more balls at the same time. His first watch officer gave him a questioning look as Otto was thinking.

‘’Should we still engage today or wait for a better occasion, Herr Kapitän?’’

‘’Those who wait for better occasions never get to achieve much, Ulrich. We will attack this morning…and in grand style. Have all our tubes loaded with G7e eels set on contact detonation and running depth of three meters and be ready to compute fire control solutions for multiple targets, using time-on-target shooting. We will use surprise to the maximum. Our torpedo men are to reload their tubes immediately after firing, without waiting for my orders to do so.’’

‘’Which target will we engage with our bow tubes?’’

Ulrich’s question, a very pertinent one actually, made Otto pause for a moment.

‘’As much as I want to get that British cruiser first, we will point our bow at that group of three incoming warships and reserve our four stern tubes for the HMS DEVONSHIRE. That way, we will be able to engage all four targets with our first salvo.’’

‘’Got it! We will be ready, Herr Kapitän.’’

‘’I know that you will, Ulrich.’’

On those words of encouragement, Otto grabbed the nearest intercom microphone and activated it.

‘’Attention all hands, this the captain. Take your battle stations but do it quietly. The enemy is getting near.’’

He then switched temporarily to English for his other announcement.

‘’To our temporary guests, this is the captain. We are about to go into combat. You are to move at once to the crew cafeteria and stay there quietly until further notice.

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Any attempt to interfere with the combat operations of this submarine will be dealt with severely. Thank you for your attention.’’

As he hooked back the microphone, Otto couldn’t help wince at the thought that he was about to go into combat with two young children aboard his submarine. He however had had no opportunity to offload the Americans and the Puerto Rican before arriving off Curacao.

The two German soldiers in charge of watching the Americans at the time quickly but fairly politely made them move from their bunk beds, where they had been passing the time as best they could, to the adjacent crew cafeteria, where they were told to sit at a table in a corner and stay there. John Kaiser was actually more nervous than his wife was now, for the reason that he knew better than her how risky for the occupants of a submarine a sea battle could be. Normally, if a submarine was hit while under the surface, the chances of having any survivors was slim at best, contrary to the survivors from a surface ship. As much as the thought riled him, John had to hope that the Germans would win that fight if he wanted to see his family survive this day.

Maybe fifteen minutes after the captain’s announcement, the noise of a blast of compressed air and a slight shaking of the submarine made Jennifer Kaiser straighten nervously on her bench.

‘’What was that?’’

‘’This submarine has just launched a torpedo, dear.’’ explained quickly John while discreetly looking at his watch. Seven more bursts of compressed air, all heard from the direction of the bow, followed in quick succession, making John’s face harden: so, this U-800 had eight bow torpedo tubes. That made for a very heavy armament indeed. He had just thought about that when four more bursts were heard, this time from the rear. Lowering his voice to a near whisper, John reached for Jennifer’s hand and pressed it while talking, acting as if he was trying to comfort and reassure his wife.

‘’This submarine has a total of twelve torpedo tubes: eight in the bow and four in the stern. That is an amount of firepower unheard of in other submarines.’’ Jennifer didn’t say a thing then, not understanding why he was even bothering to count such torpedo launches. As for John, he noted the hour then, intent on seeing how fast those torpedo tubes could be reloaded. His heart sank when they all heard a series of distant but powerful detonations: all but one of the twelve torpedoes had hit their targets.

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He then felt the U-800 do a half-turn in the water and accelerate for a moment, to then slow down and apparently nearly stop dead in the water. John bowed his head, thinking about the hundreds of men who may just be dying at this exact time.

08:11 (New York Time)

Bridge of the heavy cruiser H.M.S. DEVONSHIRE One kilometer southeast of the entrance channel of Willemstad Harbor

‘’ENGINE ROOM, WHAT IS YOUR STATUS?’’

The chief engineer of the heavy cruiser, speaking via intercom, was nearly drowned out by a variety of background noises as he tried to answer his captain.

‘’OUR PORT SIDE BOILER ROOMS HAVE BEEN HIT AND ARE FLOODING RAPIDLY, SIR! OUR TWO PORT SIDE PROPELLER SHAFTS WERE EITHER BROKEN OR DEFORMED BY ONE TORPEDO HIT AND ARE OUT OF COMMISSION. I CAN STILL GIVE YOU MAYBE FIVE KNOTS BUT OUR PUMPS ARE UNABLE TO COMPENSATE FOR THE FLOODING AND WE ARE RAPIDLY TAKING AN ALARMING LIST TO PORT.’’

‘’THEN, USE COUNTERFLOODING TO DECREASE OUR LIST. WHAT

ABOUT SHIP’S POWER?’’

‘’WE ARE DOWN TO AUXILIARY DIESEL GENERATORS, SIR, SINCE OUR MAIN POWER AND STEAM LINES HAVE BEEN CUT. WE HOWEVER HAVE TO RESERVE MOST OF THE JUICE FOR THE BILGE PUMPS, THUS HAVE INSUFFICIENT POWER LEFT TO WORK UP THE TURRETS.’’ Captain (Navy) R. D. Oliver tightened his jaws on hearing that bad news: his ship was now close to defenseless, just as a German submarine was lurking in proximity. That same submarine had also hit hard the American light cruiser U.S.S. SAVANNAH and its two escort destroyers at nearly the same time as the DEVONSHIRE had been hit. There could in fact very well be more than one German submarine involved. Looking through the broken windows of his bridge, Oliver eyed with bitterness the smoke and flames hiding from his sight the rear half of his ship. If that list increased much further, he would then be forced to order his crew to abandon ship before it capsized. He then looked at the bridge officer.

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‘’Lieutenant, have a message urgently sent to the Admiralty, stating that we have been torpedoed by a German submarine at the entrance of Willemstad Harbor. Add that the USS SAVANNAH and its two escort destroyers were also torpedoed.’’

‘’Aye, sir!’’

Oliver next went to his operations officer, Commander Keating, who was busy making a number of frantic calls via ship telephone, and tapped his left shoulder.

‘’Do we have any sighting of the bastards who hit us?’’

‘’None, Captain! Those torpedoes came out of the blue, literally. With the number of near simultaneous torpedo hits against us and the American ships, my assessment is that a submarine pack ambushed us. Right now, those submarines could be reloading their torpedo tubes for a second salvo and there would be nothing that we could do to stop them.’’

‘’What about the Americans? Are their destroyers still able to hunt those subs down?’’

In response, Keating pointed at the American group of ships, about six kilometers away. All three ships had obviously been hit hard but one of the two destroyers, broken in two, was already sinking.

‘’The U.S.S. LANSDALE is sinking, while the U.S.S. CHARLES F. HUGUES is down to ten knots of speed and is listing severely. Those damn Germans have us by the balls, sir.’’

‘’Alright! Contact Willemstad and ask for immediate help to retrieve survivors. We may have to abandon ship soon if this list gets much worst.’’ Just as he had said that, Oliver saw the lights inside the bridge flicker, then die entirely. Swearing to himself, he contacted again his chief engineer, only to learn that the auxiliary generators had failed, leaving the cruiser powerless. With the bilge pumps out of action, the list to port then increased rapidly, ultimately forcing Oliver in shouting out the most bitter order he had ever given.

‘’TO ALL THE CREW, THIS IS THE CAPTAIN! ABANDON SHIP! I SAY AGAIN, ABANDON SHIP!’’

The crewmen of the British heavy cruiser, or rather the ones still alive out of a complement of 784 men, ran up ladders as quickly as they could, trying to get to the open decks in order to avoid being trapped inside if the ship capsized. The ship’s boats on the starboard side however proved to be unusable, the list to port being too

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pronounced, while most of the boats on the port side had been destroyed by the blasts of the four torpedoes which had sealed the fate of the cruiser. That left only a collection of lifejackets and Carley floats available to the frantic British sailors. Many of the men had no choice left but to jump into the water without even a lifejacket. Thankfully, the temperature of the Caribbean Ocean at this date was quite mild, something that prevented many deaths by hypothermia. In the North Atlantic, very few of the sailors now swimming away from the listing cruiser would have survived more than a few minutes.

Observing that drama from a distance of three kilometers via his attack periscope, Otto couldn’t help feel bad for the American and British sailors now fighting for survival. The need for a second torpedo salvo was evaporating quickly now, with only one of the American destroyers out of his four targets likely to survive the day. One destroyer had broken in two, while the American light cruiser was close to capsizing. Using a sailor to change films in the camera hooked to the back prism of his periscope, Otto took pictures of his latest victims as each ship sank or capsized, then retracted his periscope and gave orders to his control room crew.

‘’Helm, steer to Heading 110, make depth eighty meters and speed twenty knots: we are taking some distance from this place before enemy planes could react. Secure from battle stations but keep silent routine.’’

Only then did Otto allow himself to relax a bit. However, he was not finished yet with the island of Curacao, far from it.

20:10 (New York Time)

Beach near Santa Barbara Plantation

Curacao, Dutch West Indies

Helped by one of his men, Hugo Margraff pulled the inflatable rubber boat nearly out of the water, then offered his hand to help Jennifer Kaiser, carrying little Robert in her arms, to step out of the boat and on the sandy beach. She accepted his help with gratitude and stood on the wet sand as her husband John, carrying Helen, also stepped off the boat, soon followed by Ricardo Montes. All five still wore the coveralls or T-shirts given by the Germans, plus rubber boots in the case of the three adults. The decision by Captain Kretschmer to let them go so early after sinking a number of Allied ships had

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surprised them, but they were still quite happy to be finally back on firm land and John shook the hand of Margraff with genuine gratitude.

‘’Thank you for having treated us humanely and with respect, Lieutenant Margraff. We will not forget your kindness and that of Captain Kretschmer.’’

‘’We could not have done less in all decency, Mister Kaiser. Oh, by the way, I have a last thing for you, from Captain Kretschmer.’’

Hugo then took out of a uniform pocket an envelope which he then gave to the intrigued John, who opened it. Inside, he found a folded sheet of paper, plus a number of American dollar bills.

‘’Uh, what’s this, Lieutenant?’’

‘’A declaration from Captain Kretschmer on official Kriegsmarine paper certifying how you were found on a raft off Haiti and rescued by him. You may need it to make the local Dutch authorities believe your story. The money comes from the reserves of foreign cash currency kept on the U-800 for contingency purposes. There is a total of a hundred American dollars in this envelope, to help you, your family and Mister Montes to pay for food, lodging and eventual passage to the United States. You may need cash for the next couple of days, until your government can take charge of you.’’

‘’I…I don’t know what to say, Lieutenant. This is mighty generous and

considerate of your Captain.’’

‘’Pah! It’s nothing, really. How could we not spoil a bit your cute kids?’’ John smiled and shook hands again with Hugo.

‘’You are a good man, Lieutenant, even if you are fighting against the United States. I sincerely hope that your men and those of the U-800 will survive this war.’’

‘’Thank you, Mister Kaiser. Good luck to you and your family.’’ Hugo then looked at Ricardo Montes and shook his hand as well.

‘’Good luck, Mister Montes. Return safely to your family.’’

‘’Thank you, Lieutenant Margraff.’’ could only say the Puerto Rican sailor, still having a hard time to believe that he was now free and on firm ground. The five survivors then watched as Margraff and his two men pushed back their rubber boat in the water and climbed aboard, paddling at first for some distance before starting their outboard engine and disappearing in the night, in the direction of the black mass standing 600 meters offshore. John finally spoke up softly to the rest of his group.

‘’Okay, let’s start walking towards those houses visible to our left. Hopefully, the people there will not shoot on sight at us.’’

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They ended up walking for about a kilometer before arriving at what looked like a farmhouse with annexes. Hoping fervently that they would get a friendly reception, John knocked on the main door of the farmhouse, his family and Montes behind him and with little Helen still in his arms. He heard footsteps approach the door after a few seconds, with a bearded man opening the door and looking at him with curiosity, sniffing at the stench of diesel fumes impregnating their clothes. The man then said something in a foreign language that John didn’t understand, making John shake his head and speak in English.

‘’I am sorry, but I don’t understand you. Do you speak English?’’ The man’s reaction was to turn around and speak to someone inside the house. A teenage boy of about sixteen then came to the door and spoke to John after detailing him and his group for a couple of seconds.

‘’Can we help you, mister?’’

‘’You certainly can, young man! We are Americans and were shipwrecked a few days ago. A boat fortunately retrieved us then and just dropped us off on a nearby beach.’’

The teenager did a double take at his explanation, then translated John’s words to the bearded man before looking back at John, now clearly suspicious.

‘’If that boat saved you, why didn’t it drop you off at a port, instead of landing you on a beach, mister?’’

Knowing that he was liable to reveal that eventually, John sighed and hoped for the best.

‘’Because that boat was a German submarine, mister. Thankfully, me and my family, along with Mister Montes, were well treated after we were fished out of the water. We would need to contact the American consul in Curacao, if there is one, so that we could be repatriated.’’

Now obviously agitated, the teenager again translated John’s words, making the bearded man fix the newcomers suspiciously as he replied to the teenager. The man then walked away from the door, going towards a telephone hooked to the wall of a lounge as the young man opened the door wide.

‘’My father will call the authorities in Willemstad. In the meantime, come in. Do you need water or food?’’

‘’No! As I said, we were well treated aboard that German submarine. I also have some information about that submarine that could be of interest to your government.’’

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‘’Then, our officials will certainly want to speak with you, mister. One or more German submarines attacked and sank three Allied warships just off Willemstad this morning. They are still fishing out bodies from the water.’’

‘’I know: we were aboard that submarine and heard its torpedo tubes as they were discharged a number of times.’’

The teenager nodded his head at that and pointed at the sofas around the lounge.

‘’Please sit in the lounge, mister. I will get my mother to prepare some coffee for you and milk for your children.’’

‘’Thank you! You are too kind. Oh, I nearly forgot: my name is John Kaiser and this is my wife Jennifer, my son Robert and my daughter Helen. Our companion of misfortune is Ricardo Montes.’’

‘’And my name is Jan Demaersk. This plantation belongs to my father. Don’t worry anymore: someone will undoubtedly come quickly for you.’’

 

23:09 (New York Time)

Fort William, Willemstad

Curacao

Captain (N) Robert Oliver felt like a broken man as he was returning to the room given to him at Fort William by the Dutch governor of Curacao: he had just finished a long tour of the local hospitals, where hundreds of his men were being treated. He had also lost 369 men of his crew when his heavy cruiser had capsized and sank just outside of the entrance channel to Willemstad Harbor. The Americans had lost even more men in the morning attack, including the commanders of their light cruiser and of one of their destroyers, which had broken in two. Oliver had already sent a message to the Admiralty in London following that tragedy and was intent on writing a full report before going to bed.

The British commander was about to open his room’s door when a Dutch officer came to him at a run down the hallway while shouting at him.

‘’CAPTAIN OLIVER! CAPTAIN OLIVER! WE NEED YOU TO GO LISTEN TO SOME PEOPLE.’’

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‘’What kind of people, Lieutenant?’’ replied Oliver, a bit ticked off, as the Dutch officer came to a stop in front of him and saluted. ‘’Is it something really important? I have a report to write.’’

‘’They are an American family of four, plus one Puerto Rican sailor, sir. They say that a storm shipwrecked them off Haiti and that a German submarine then saved them. That submarine dropped them off on a nearby beach three hours ago. The American man says that he has information about the German submarine in question.’’ His idea of writing a report suddenly put on a back burner, Oliver nodded to the Dutchman.

‘’Alright, lead me to these shipwreck survivors.’’

‘’They are being questioned in our military police offices, sir. This way, please!’’ Hoping desperately that those survivors would tell him something that could help sink the bastards who had sunk his cruiser, Oliver followed the Dutch lieutenant to the basement level of the building, where the Dutch military police had its offices and cells. One thought suddenly came to his mind, making him ask a question as he kept walking.

‘’Uh, I hope that your MPs have not used brutality against those survivors, Lieutenant?’’

‘’No, sir! Their questioning, at least of the two adult men of the group, have been intense but no violence was used.’’

‘’Who else is part of that group of survivors?’’

‘’A young woman and two toddlers, sir.’’

That answer made Oliver look crossly at the Dutchman.

‘’And you really think that German spies could have been dropped off on your coast in the company of small children? Aren’t your MPs a bit paranoid?’’ The Dutch lieutenant shrugged his shoulders at that.

‘’Probably, but they prefer to play it safe, sir.’’

Oliver frowned but let it at that. They soon arrived at the MP section, where a Dutch MP led them to a guarded hallway with steel doors on each side. As they approached one of the doors, Oliver was able to hear the muffled voice of a man who sounded quite angry.

‘’WILL YOU STOP WITH YOUR FUCKING ACCUSATIONS? I AM A UNITED STATES NAVY RESERVE OFFICER AND I AM TRYING TO HELP YOU, DAMMIT!’’ Not waiting for the Dutch lieutenant to open the door for him, Oliver pushed his way ahead and pulled the door open himself, stepping quickly inside and looking around

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briefly to gauge the situation. One fairly tall man wearing a gray coverall and a pair of rubber boots was facing a Dutch MP officer from across a small table, with both men being nearly nose to nose. They would have probably come to blows if not for the fact that the man in the coverall had his hands manacled in his back. Still, the two other Dutch MPs present were about to forcibly sit the man back on his chair when Oliver raised his voice.

‘’LEAVE THE MAN ALONE!’’

The Dutch MP, a captain, looked with confusion at first at Oliver, who wore his uniform of Royal Navy captain, then became angry at him.

‘’Captain, this is an internal affair under the jurisdiction of my government.’’

‘’And this man could have precious information which could help the Royal Navy find and sink the German submarines who sank my cruiser and two other Allied warships at the entrance of your port, so buzz off and let me speak with him…one on one. If you don’t, I will have to report your unhelpful attitude to the Governor. And remove his handcuffs before you go.’’

The Dutch captain stiffened at that threat but didn’t reply to it, instead signaling to his two MPs to obey Oliver and leave before stomping out himself. Soon alone with the man in the coverall, except for the Dutch military intelligence lieutenant who stayed discreetly by the door, Oliver approached the ex-prisoner and presented his right hand.

‘’Captain Robert Oliver, Royal Navy. I was the commander of the heavy cruiser HMS DEVONSHIRE.’’

The man in the coverall shook his hand firmly.

‘’United States Navy Reserves Lieutenant Junior Grade John Kaiser. Thank you for intervening and putting a stop to this nonsense. Could I first ask to see if my family and Mister Montes were not mistreated by those goons while I was separated from them, Captain?’’

‘’That’s a reasonable enough demand, in my opinion. In fact, I think that it would be better for all of you to be together while we speak: that way, your wife or this Mister Montes could remember some extra detail of importance to me.’’ Oliver then looked at the Dutch lieutenant, who nodded in understanding and left the room. While waiting for his return, Oliver showed the two chairs opposite the small table.

‘’Why don’t we sit in the meantime, Lieutenant Kaiser?’’

‘’Thank you, but I will reserve those chairs for my wife and kids, Captain Oliver.’’

‘’Well, I think that we could do better than that, Lieutenant.’’

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Oliver then went to the door and passed his head and torso outside before shouting.

‘’BRING FOUR EXTRA CHAIRS IN HERE AND HURRY ABOUT IT!’’ Satisfied with himself, Oliver returned to face John Kaiser, with both men taking a moment to take the measure of the other. The Dutch lieutenant was soon back with a Latino man and a young blond woman with two young toddlers. A soldier was following, carrying four folding chairs. Oliver had five of the chairs in the room lined up in a semi-circle in front of the small table. When Jennifer Kaiser kept the smallest toddler in her arms, Oliver had the Dutch lieutenant take the unused chair and place it beside his own chair. With everybody now seated and with the Dutch lieutenant providing him with a pen and a notepad, Oliver had a round of presentations made, then went down to serious business, looking at John Kaiser.

‘’First off, Lieutenant Kaiser, could you resume quickly how you came to end up aboard a German submarine?’’

‘’It was actually quite straightforward, Captain Oliver. Me and my family booked passage on the MV ESPERANZA, a mixed cargo and passenger ship, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on December 30, to go to Miami. I just had been recalled as a reservist Navy officer and was going to join my assigned post in the United States. Then, our ship hit a sudden, nasty storm at night and foundered. We were all sleeping when our ship started capsizing and we had to evacuate in our night clothes. Mister Ricardo Montes, who was a deck hand on the ESPERANZA, managed to loosen a Carley Float and helped pull my family in it before our poor ship went down. The next few hours were hell and we were nearly washed away by waves a number of times, but thankfully were able to all stay in the raft. The storm eventually blew away but we then found ourselves alone, with no other survivors in sight. We spent a whole day and a whole night in that raft, exposed to the Sun and without water or food, before a German submarine appeared and picked us up, early on the morning of New Year’s Day.’’ Oliver nodded and got ready to take some serious notes from then on.

‘’Go on, Lieutenant Kaiser.’’

‘’Before we do, Captain Oliver, could I get back an envelope that the Germans gave us before leaving us on a nearby beach? It contains a letter signed by the German submarine captain, along with some American cash money he gave us to help us pay for passage back to the United States.’’

‘’I will take care of that, Captain.’’ announced at once the Dutch military intelligence lieutenant, getting up from his chair and then leaving the room. Oliver

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patiently waited until he had returned with the said envelope and handed it to John Kaiser.

‘’Could you please check if anything is missing from the envelope, Lieutenant?’’ John did so and opened the envelope, only to become angry at once.

‘’The bastards! They took the money that was meant for our use.’’ Now getting really pissed, Oliver stared at the Dutch lieutenant and wiggled an index at him.

‘’Lieutenant, could you please get that money back and tell at the same time that MP captain that I will be lodging a strong complaint against him with the Governor? We are wasting a lot of valuable time here because of him.’’

The Dutch lieutenant, himself getting irritated by this, left the room again. While waiting for his return, John took out Kretschmer’s declaration and showed it to Oliver, who examined it with great interest.

‘’The captain of the U-800 gave us this, to help convince the Dutch authorities about our story. I have to say that this Captain Otto Kretschmer proved himself to be a perfect gentleman during the four days we were aboard his submarine. We were always well treated and were never roughed up. He even invited us once for supper at his officers’ wardroom. He speaks an excellent English, with nearly no accent.’’

‘’Korvettenkapitän Otto Kretschmer, Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, Commander of U-800…’’ said softly Oliver while reading the signature block on the sheet of paper. ‘’You were dealing with one of the best, if not the best German submarine commander presently in service, Lieutenant Kaiser. No wonder we got clobbered here this morning.’’

‘’Oh, there is a lot more to say about him and his submarine, Captain.’’

‘’I’m sure there is, but let’s wait for the return of the good Lieutenant Voorman. I am sure that the Dutch military intelligence could be interested as well in all this.’’

‘’Of course!’’

The said Voormann was back after six minutes, looking quite pissed. He put ten American bills of ten dollars each on the table as he explained himself.

‘’Please excuse the delay, but I had to call the Governor and notify him: that MP asshole had pocketed that American money for himself and it took the denunciation of one of his own men for him to give back the money to me. I then had him put under arrest for theft, using the Governor’s authority.’’

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‘’Incredible!’’ muttered Oliver, shaking his head. ‘’Well, you more than made up for that man’s conduct with your own actions, Lieutenant. Be assured that I will place a good word on your behalf with the Governor. Now, to return to the affair at hand, Lieutenant Kaiser showed me this letter, made by one of the top German submarine commanders presently in service.’’

Oliver then passed the letter to Voormann, who quickly read it. With that done, Oliver concentrated his attention back on John Kaiser.

‘’So, Lieutenant Kaiser, what else could you tell me about this Captain Kretschmer and his U-800?’’

‘’A lot that is both incredible and disturbing, Captain Oliver. First, when we were picked up by the U-800, we were brought inside and below to a small but well-equipped infirmary with one treatment table and two patients’ recovery beds. There was a qualified doctor aboard, an Oberleutnant Konrad List. He was a graying man and told us he’s a reserve officer who served on a ship in the Great War. That Doctor List proved to be both competent and kind.’’

Both Oliver and Voormann looked at John with disbelief.

‘’A German submarine with enough space for a dedicated infirmary?’’ asked Oliver, making John nod.

‘’Oh, there was plenty of space inside for lots more, Captain Oliver. While not that much larger on the outside compared to other German submarines, the U-800 is surprisingly spacious inside. When I commented on that to a German sailor, he told me that it was because the U-800 is what he called ‘a single hull submarine with a top saddle hull. In essence, the main part of the U-800 is a large pressure hull, with its top part surrounded by a thinner outer hull which contains the volume reserved for ballast tanks and other things. I was able to look at a basic schematic plan of the U-800 that was displayed near one of its access airlocks and that plan showed me a lot of important details. One of them was the fact that, while we didn’t see a deck gun on the U-800 when we were pulled aboard, the plan I saw showed that three deck guns were stowed under the upper casing, covered by streamlined plating. One of the guns appeared to be a medium caliber twin gun, hidden under the forward deck, while the other two guns were anti-aircraft mounts. There were also forty large but short tubes placed

perpendicular to the centerline, under the upper casing, but I couldn’t figure then what they were for.’’

Oliver paled on hearing those words, making John worry.

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‘’What? What is that telling you, Captain Oliver?’’

‘’Launch tubes for sea mines! That bloody U-800 can carry sea mines! That explains a lot of things.’’

‘’What does it explain?’’

‘’Well, you probably don’t know about this, since the censorship was severe about those incidents, but we suffered a series of devastating submarine attacks near the port of Halifax during the months of October and November of last year. During one of those attacks, sea mines planted at the entrance of Halifax Harbor sank or damaged a number of ships as we responded to torpedo attacks. That convinced us then that we were dealing with a whole pack of German submarines, with one of them specialized in the carrying and sowing of sea mines. Your U-800 could very well have been that specific submarine. What about its torpedo armament? Were you able to visit its torpedo room?’’

‘’No! We were not allowed inside either of the torpedo rooms, nor inside the engine room. However, I was able to count the number of torpedo discharges during this morning’s attack of your ship and your escort ships by the U-800. It has eight bow torpedo tubes, plus four stern torpedo tubes.’’

Both Oliver and Voormann again gave him incredulous stares.

‘’Twelve torpedo tubes? But no known German submarine has this many tubes. This is unprecedented, especially if you add to that the sea mines launch tubes.’’

‘’Believe me when I say this, Captain Oliver: the U-800 is not your run of the mill German submarine. I personally believe that it is in fact the prototype of a highly advanced new class of German attack submarine. A lot of care seems to have gone into designing a submarine with extensive crew accommodations and facilities, probably because it is meant to be a very long-range boat. Every sailor aboard had his own dedicated bunk and there were even some extra bunks available. A few of those were in fact used by a group of seven German Army soldiers, who were fully equipped and armed. The cash money we were given in fact came from a reserve of foreign cash money kept aboard for the use of saboteurs or commandos. The leader of the army soldiers, a Lieutenant Hugo Margraff, told me that when he dropped us off on a nearby beach.’’

‘’Were you able to learn to what unit those soldiers belonged, Lieutenant Kaiser?’’ asked Lieutenant Voormann, jumping in the exchange. To his satisfaction, John nodded his head.

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‘’My wife Jennifer actually noticed that detail, Lieutenant: their uniform sleeves wore embroidered bands wearing the words ‘Regiment Brandenburg’. What? You’re paling on me!’’

Voormann, both shaken and excited, looked somberly at Oliver while speaking in a grave tone.

‘’The Brandenburg Regiment is an elite unit of the German Heer under the direct command of the German Army Intelligence, the Abwehr. It specializes in special operations, commando raids, deep penetration raids and the like. It was the first German unit to enter Belgium and the Netherlands at the start of the war, infiltrating our lines and either blowing up or capturing intact vital installations like bridges in advance of the main German attacking units. These men are to be considered very dangerous and could well launch night raids on our installations here in Curacao. This is a very important piece of information indeed for us, Lieutenant Kaiser.’’ Those words then made Oliver connect with a recent, most infamous event.

‘’Bloody hell! Miami! The M.S. CALYPSO incident!’’

‘’Uh? Don’t tell me that the U-800 was in Miami recently, Captain.’’ said John, surprised. Oliver gave him a near haggard look.

‘’It may very well have been, Lieutenant Kaiser. Know that the port of Miami was attacked in the early morning of December 30th. For some incomprehensible reason, one of our armed merchant ships anchored off Miami Harbor started firing its deck guns at the port installations, destroying both the local Coast Guard station and the marine fuel tank farm, on top of sinking or damaging severely a number of ships at quay in Miami. The American reaction was slow at first but the CALYPSO was finally sunk by airplane bombs once the Sun rose. The glitch here is that no one saw any submarine then.’’

To Oliver’s surprise, Jennifer Kaiser’s face then reflected a sudden flash of understanding.

‘’That stew we were served! I knew that I recognized it!’’

‘’Stew? What stew? What are you talking about, Misses Kaiser?’’ asked Oliver, thoroughly confused now. Jennifer, with little Robert still in her arms, gave him an embarrassed smile.

‘’Sorry for having jumped in like this, Captain Oliver. The day we were picked up by that German submarine, we were served a really good meat and vegetable stew in the crew’s dining room and…’’

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‘’Excuse me, but did you just say the crew’s dining room?’’ asked Oliver, not believing his ears. ‘’Even on our large warships, the sailors eat in the same messes in which they sleep, while things are even more basic on submarines.’’

‘’Well, there was nothing basic about the eating facilities aboard that submarine, Captain Oliver.’’ replied Jennifer, a bit miffed at having been interrupted. ‘’The German sailors had a dedicated cafeteria for eating their meals that was separate from their sleeping compartments. Sixty men, forming the whole crew according to a sailor, could eat at the same time in there and there were self-serve counters for preparing toasts, sandwiches and cups of coffee or tea. As for the officers’ mess of the U-800, it had enough room for a large dining table for ten persons, plus a couple of sofas and a hot buffet counter. I was able to see the inside of the kitchen when I offered to help prepare a cake: it measured a good twelve by fifteen feet, if not more. Returning to the business of that stew, I thought at the time that it tasted and looked exactly like a brand of canned stew produced in Florida and that I had eaten before. Now, I am sure that it originated from Florida.’’

The truth then descended on Oliver like a bolt of lightning.

‘’The buggers! They boarded the CALYPSO and stole some of the foodstuff aboard, probably killing the crew first, then turned the CALYPSO’s deck guns on the port of Miami. Decidedly, this Captain Kretschmer and his army commando soldiers have kept busy lately.’’

As John and Jennifer looked at him with incomprehension, Oliver smiled to them and explained himself.

‘’Know that our armed merchant ship in Miami, the CALYPSO, was a refrigerated stores ship, loaded with a mix of canned, fresh, refrigerated and frozen foodstuff. Those German Army soldiers you saw aboard the U-800 probably boarded the CALYPSO at night, killed the crew and then transferred part of the foodstuff in it aboard the U-800 before turning its deck guns against the port of Miami. Know as well that, on the night of December the 27th, German soldiers briefly took control of the Cape Lookout lighthouse, on the coast of North Carolina, and detained the keepers and their families while they sabotaged the lighthouse. Those soldiers then left by rubber boat, probably to be picked up by your U-800.’’

Oliver then exchanged a knowing look with Lieutenant Voorman.

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‘’Decidedly, this U-800 looks and sounds like a very serious threat to both our shipping and our port installations around the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, with both submarine attacks and coastal commando raids to be expected.’’

‘’I agree with you on this, Captain. I will send an advisory message around after this.’’

‘’And I will advise London as well.’’

The little voice of four-year-old Helen, speaking to her mother, then made them all look at her.

‘’Can we tell them about the fish we saw swimming, Mommy?’’ Both Jennifer and John were apparently struck by those words, as if they reminded them of something important. Jennifer was the first to explain the words of her daughter to the British and the Dutch.

‘’What Helen said was about something completely unexpected we saw on the U-800, gentlemen: that German submarine has transparent observation domes which allows its crew to actually see around and above their submarine while they are under the surface of the sea. We could see fish swim around us and also spot ships on the surface as they got close to us.’’

‘’And where were those domes located, Misses Kaiser?’’

‘’On top of the tower, covered themselves by a protective transparent canopy.’’

‘’I can add to that the fact that, in clear waters and in shallow depths, those domes helped a lot to navigate safely by avoiding reefs and underwater obstacles.’’ added John Kaiser, making Oliver nod his head slowly.

‘’Well, this is something completely new altogether, I must say. We will have to examine that concept in more depth to find how much it could affect specific tactical situations. Anything else about the U-800, Mister and Misses Kaiser?’’

‘’Uh, I believe that it is all, Captain Oliver. What about my family and Mister Montes? When will they be able to go home?’’

‘’Do not worry, Lieutenant Kaiser.’’ answered Voormann, giving him a reassuring smile. ‘’We will fly you out tomorrow, along with Mister Montes.’’

At a bit past midnight, with an urgent report sent to London via encoded radio message, Robert Oliver went out for some fresh air and climbed to the sentry walkway atop the old walls of Fort William which faced the sea. The fresh, saline air did help him dissipate some of the tension in him created by learning what kind of dangerous

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opponent was out there, at sea. He was still inhaling some fresh air when a brief flash of light far out at sea attracted his attention. Long seconds later, another flash of light, this one inland, made his head twist around. His eyes bulged and he swore to himself when he saw that something had exploded within the huge complex of storage tanks and gas separation towers of the Royal Dutch Shell refinery, situated on the shores of the Schottegat, the vast inland lagoon which sheltered the port of Willemstad. That explosion apparently touched something sensitive, as a long, intense flame started burning up inside the refinery complex. More gun shells, as they could only be that, followed in quick succession after that initial ranging strike.

‘’THOSE GERMAN BASTARDS!’’

He knew very well that the typical 88mm and 105mm deck guns carried by German submarines easily had the range for such a bombardment. The giant Shell refinery also happened to be a huge, hard to miss target with lots of sensitive spots. That was quickly demonstrated in a matter of mere minutes, with shells transforming large parts of the refinery and oil tank farms into a raging inferno. The few old coastal guns the Dutch had protecting Willemstad then proved either too inaccurate or too short-ranged to reply effectively to the German gunfire. The U-800, as it probably was, thus kept firing calmly at a steady rate, sweeping its fire left to right and in depth to spray the whole area of the refinery. After ten minutes of firing and over seventy shells fired, the whole of the largest oil refinery complex in the Caribbean region, a refinery vital to the Allied war effort, was turned into a sea of raging flames, with Oliver being able to feel the heat from the fires even from two kilometers away. The U-800, having just added another feat to its already long list of successes, then quietly slipped under the sea.