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

CHAPTER 15 – A TALL ORDER

 

11:06 (Berlin Time)

Friday, April 3, 1942

Reich Chancellery, Berlin

Germany

Adolf Hitler, already in a meeting with his new armament minister, Albert Speer, made a happy smile and got up from his chair as his military aide let in Admiral Karl

Dönitz and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr16, inside his huge private office.

‘’Aah, my dear Dönitz! I must say that your U-800 has brought us some really nice news lately.’’

Dönitz, giving the Nazi salute to Hitler, bowed slightly to acknowledge the compliment.

‘’Admiral Canaris and me in fact came in to bring you a little gift from the U-800’s latest war patrol, Mein Führer.’’

‘’Oh? I can’t wait to see what you brought me. By the way, I don’t believe that you have yet met with the new Minister of Armaments, Herr Albert Speer. We were in fact in the process of discussing the attribution of priorities in armaments production.’’

‘’Then, my timing was indeed perfect, Mein Führer.’’ Said Dönitz before shaking hands with Speer, a tall and solidly built man in his forties wearing a Nazi Party uniform. Hitler was however rather lukewarm in receiving Canaris, whom he suspected of not being truly dedicated to the Nazi cause. The four men then sat down around a low round table set in a corner of the office, where Hitler ordered tea to be served. Sitting down in a padded easy chair, Hitler looked inquiringly at Dönitz.

‘’So, what do you have for me, my dear Dönitz?’’

‘’I have this for you, Mein Führer, while Admiral Canaris recently received something via Cuba that should brighten your day.’’

Now truly curious, Hitler took the leather-bound photo album given to him by Dönitz and the file handed out by Canaris, opening first the photo album. His eyes widened and a grin appeared on his face when he saw that the album was full of large pictures of

16 Abwehr: German military intelligence service during World War 2.

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sinking warships, alongside with pictures and short descriptions of the same ship when intact and sailing or in port.

‘’These are all the American warships the U-800 sank during its last patrol, Admiral?’’

‘’They are indeed, Mein Führer. Korvettenkapitän Kretschmer of the U-800 took pictures of the ships he attacked, while more photos were provided via the services of Admiral Canaris, who has a friendly contact in the United States who was able to take pictures on the spot. In total, the U-800 has sunk during this war patrol a total of over 116,000 tons of American warships, including one light fleet aircraft carrier and one battleship. It also sank a total of 57,000 tons of merchant ships. As for the accomplishments of the soldiers of the Brandenburg Regiment embarked on the U-800 and who conducted raids along the American East Coast, the Americans did their best to censor their medias and prevent the true extent of the damages caused by our soldiers to be known by the American public and by us. However, those damages were too great to be hidden. The Spanish Military Attachés in both Washington and in Havana were able to secure newspapers and pictures concerning those coastal raids and they sent copies to us via Spain. Admiral Canaris’ services compiled and analyzed their reports and pictures and produced this file that you now have, Mein Führer.’’ Already deeply impressed by what he had seen about the results obtained by the U-800, Hitler opened the file given by Canaris. The first thing he saw were two photos clipped side-by-side inside the file. One showed Boston from the air, probably before the war. The other was dated from March 18 and had been taken by an aircraft flying over the Boston area. In it, the whole area around the Hingham and Seaport Districts was flattened and blackened, with a huge, partially submerged crater visible on the South Boston waterfront. There was also a large number of fires around those districts, plus a huge fire in the East Boston District which covered nearly the whole city with a thick black cloud of smoke. An ecstatic grin came on Hitler’s face as he examined the picture of ravaged Boston.

‘’Mein Gott! A fleet of bombers would hardly be able to cause this much damage. This is fantastic! Do we know exactly what level of damage our soldiers did in Boston?’’

‘’Our analysts were able to estimate the extent and size of those damages by reviewing the pictures taken by the Spanish Attaché and by interviewing our soldiers on their return to Lorient, Mein Führer.’’ answered Wilhelm Canaris. ‘’The charges set up by our soldiers completely destroyed Fort Ruckman, north of Boston Harbor, the Boston

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Naval Ammunition Depot, which was the main ammunition supply point for the American Atlantic Fleet, plus the Boston Naval Fuel Depot Annex. The exploding ammunition stored in the naval depot in turn caused massive collateral damages to three nearby shipyards: the Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard, the Fore River Shipyard and the Victory Destroyer Plant, all of which produced both warships and merchant ships. An

ammunition ship that was tied at dockside in the Seaport District was apparently hit by some debris or falling ordnance from the ammunition depot and then exploded, devastating everything within nearly one kilometer and also destroying the nearby American Army base used to ship troops and supplies overseas. Overall, our soldiers basically took Boston out of the American war effort for months, on top of forcing the Americans to devote massive amounts of efforts and men in order to help the disaster-stricken city.’’

Hitler was left speechless for a moment, overwhelmed by joy.

‘’This…this is incredible! Such feats must be rewarded properly!’’

‘’I fully agree, Mein Führer. Those men have however already stated their wish to be able to sail again with the U-800 when it will leave for its fourth war patrol. It seems that they and Korvettenkapitän Kretschmer work quite well together.’’

‘’Granted!’’ Said Hitler at once. ‘’Anything else?’’

‘’Yes, Mein Führer! My services are presently interrogating at length but in a legal manner Lieutenant General Drum, who was the commander in charge of American Army forces stationed along the American East Coast. He has refused to give us any information to date, but one of the two politicians who were also captured in Boston, a Senator Walsh, was actually much more malleable and easier to trick and unwittingly gave us some precious information about military contracts and bases constructions around the state of Massachusetts. Concerning those two captured politicians, the Americans gave to our ambassador in Madrid a list of the German nationals presently held in the United States or Canada and who they would be ready to give back in exchange for the return of their politicians. I believe that the proper decisions concerning that kind of exchange are out of the competences of my Abwehr, so I brought you the list provided by the Americans. My analysts made notes when appropriate beside the names of the Germans listed in it. Here is that list.’’ Hitler took the list offered by Canaris and scanned it quickly. He did a double-take when his eyes fell on a particular name.

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‘’Herr Karl Schumann, the big industrialist and Party member who was doing business out of Mexico? How did he end up in an American jail?’’ Canaris made a bitter smile then, having been surprised himself on seeing that name.

‘’It seems that Mexico, like many supposedly neutral countries in the Caribbean Basin, Central and South America, have allowed the United States to grab our citizens living or working in their countries and deport them to the United States, where they are now held in jails, Mein Führer.’’

A flash of anger appeared in Hitler’s eyes at those words and he became agitated, waving the list in front of him.

‘’If these countries want to play the hypocrites with us, then they will pay for it! As for the good Herr Schumann, he will certainly figure prominently on the list of persons we want back from the Americans. Thank you for bringing me that list, Admiral Canaris. Admiral Dönitz, when are you planning to send the U-800 back to sea?’’

‘’In about a month, Mein Führer. As it is our most advanced and sophisticated submarine, I am using it as a test bed for our newest equipment and had plans to add a few things to it before sending it back on patrol. In particular, it will get a bigger, more powerful deck gun that will allow the good Kretschmer to do a lot more damage when bombarding enemy coastal installations, plus a few improved sensors and counter-measures systems.’’

‘’This sounds good with me. How are you doing about the design of a new class of attack submarines based on the U-800? Herr Speer and me were in fact discussing U-Boote production when you arrived.’’

‘’That is proving a bit more of a challenge than I was hoping for, Mein Führer. Our shipyards are already close to maximum production capacity and they have to compete for steel with the requirements of the Heer and of the surface fleet of the Kriegsmarine. Also, the blueprints for many of the U-800 sub-systems were irremediably lost when the Kiel shipyard was bombed and Doctor Premingen was killed early last year. However, I had a team of engineers visit and inspect in detail the U-800 during its last stay in port while its crew was on a well-deserved leave period. They photographed and documented every system and structure aboard the U-800, then used that data to start reconstituting its blueprints. If things go as they do right now, we should be able to start building our first Type XXI submarines in two months. However, I would need to get absolute priority in resources and materiel for this to happen as quickly as possible, Mein Führer.’’

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Hitler was silent for a moment before looking at Albert Speer.

‘’Herr Speer, see what you can do to accelerate that project. We certainly could use a good dozen boats like the U-800 right now.’’

‘’I will get on it, Mein Führer.’’

Returning his gaze on Dönitz, Hitler bent forward while smiling to him.

‘’So, what kind of mission orders do you intend to give to the U-800 when it will put to sea again?’’

‘’Frankly, I wish that I could send it to quite a few places at the same time, Mein Führer, as it is proving so useful to our war effort. One idea I had was to send it back to the Caribbean Basin, so that my other submarines could concentrate their efforts against the American East Coast.’’

‘’That certainly sounds like a good plan to me, my good Dönitz. However, the Japanese Military Attaché in Berlin, on hearing about the exploits of our U-800 and of its Brandenburg commandos, proposed to us a target of mutual importance to us, a target whose destruction could greatly help their own war effort and also hurt a lot the Americans.’’

‘’The Japanese, Mein Führer?’’ said Dönitz, completely taken off balance by that. ‘’And what are they suggesting precisely as a target for our U-800, if I may ask?’’ The answer Hitler gave him both stunned and shook Dönitz: stunned because of the audacity of the idea, with the target in question being undoubtedly of huge strategic importance; shaken because of the implied risks to the U-800 on such a mission. After thinking hard about it, Dönitz reluctantly nodded his head.

‘’I will see what can be done about this, Mein Führer.’’

15:24 (Paris Time)

Wednesday, April 29, 1942

Submarine Pen Number One, Keroman I bunker complex Port of Lorient, coast of Brittany

France

When Hugo Margraff and his men, fresh back from shore leave and some refresher training, entered the concrete pen sheltering the U-800, they found Otto Kretschmer on the forward deck of his submarine, watching a large crew of technicians and welders working on the deck main gun mount. It however took them little time to

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see that the gun they now saw was not the same with which the U-800 had made its last war patrol. For one thing, it was of a bigger caliber than the previous 10.5-centimeter caliber guns. Using the gangway linking the concrete quay and the forward deck of the U-800, Hugo and his men went to Otto to present themselves, coming to attention and saluting.

‘’Brandenburg Regiment’s contingent back aboard for raiding duties, Herr Kapitän!’’

‘’Welcome back aboard, men!’’ replied Otto, returning their salute before shaking hands with them, noting the new ranks worn by many of them, including Hugo, who wore

the insignias of a hauptman17. ‘’It is truly nice to see you back. So, how was your leave time?’’

‘’Very nice, Herr Kapitän! We also went back to our regiment for full debriefs and tactical discussions about our raids, plus got back into proper shape again and received some new kit.’’

On saying those last words, Hugo took out of his duffel bag a most unusual type of rifle and showed it to Otto.

‘’This is the MKb 42(H)18, the latest in infantry weapons. It uses a short version of the 7.92mm rifle round and can fire in fully automatic mode. It is fed by a thirty round box magazine and has an effective range of 300 meters. It is presently being field-trialed with a number of light infantry units, including our regiment, and should be a real game-changer in a firefight. We fired it on the range to adjust our sights and it is a truly great weapon.’’

Otto took the weapon presented by Hugo and examined it for a few seconds before returning it.

‘’It certainly looks to be a quite modern and deadly weapon, Hauptman Margraff. Let me in turn show to you and your men my latest toys. Just drop your kits on the deck for the moment and follow me.’’

The group then walked towards the gun mount being worked on, stopping a few paces short of it and with Otto then speaking again.

‘’Since our main deck gun proved itself unusually useful to us compared to the limited use made by other U-Boote captains of their own deck guns, Admiral Dönitz

17 Hauptman: German Army rank equivalent to that of a captain. 18 MKb 42 (H): Maschinenkarabiner 42 (Haenel). The first name given to what would become the first modern assault rifle in history, the StG 44.

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decided to upgrade the main gun of my submarine. Now, instead of my pair of old 10.5-centimeter caliber guns, the U-800 will now have a twin FLAK-40 12.7-centimeter caliber gun mount, with each gun shooting shells nearly twice as heavy as my old 10.5-centimeter gun and to a much longer range. That twin mount will also have a good anti-aircraft capability against low and medium-flying aircraft. This twin mount had been built originally for a Type XI long range cruiser submarine which has been cancelled. As such, it was then modified by the deletion of the original armored turret which originally contained it and by the waterproofing of its parts. With this mount, the U-800 will be able to hit hard from the surface against both land, air and sea targets. It was also further improved by adapting to it the same model of infrared night vision scope and projector which we used for night and bad weather navigation, contained in pressure-proof special casings. With those, we will be able to aim at surface targets at night and in fog conditions, albeit at short ranges only.’’

‘’Wow!’’ exclaimed Hugo, truly impressed. ‘’I must say that your new gun is definitely bigger than my new gun, Herr Kapitän.”

The whole group then laughed at that thinly veiled crude joke. Otto next led the Brandenburg soldiers to the aft deck, using one of the narrow walking catwalks which surrounded the wide base of the conning tower. The Heer men were then able to see a sort of large, teardrop-shaped pod fixed to the top of the upper vertical rudder.

‘’This is the last project that the designer of the U-800, Doctor Gustav Premingen, worked on before being killed in a British air bombardment: a towed hydrophone array. When cruising submerged at low speeds, this array is winched out of this pod and made to trail up to 300 meters behind our ducted propeller. It can also be made to swim at selected depths above the level of the U-800, in order to operate above thermal water layers which would otherwise reflect sound waves. Since it will be towed far from the noise of our machinery and propeller when operating, that hydrophone array will detect ship noises which would otherwise be masked, especially in our aft sector, and is very effective against distant targets. With this towed array, the U-800 is now a true hunter-killer submarine. Lastly, our new modifications include a small counter-sonar jammer system called ‘Bold’, which releases under the water small chemical canisters that then generate hydrogen bubbles. Those bubbles reflect ASDIC pings and make the enemy think that it has detected us, instead of a temporary cloud of bubbles.’’ Hugo couldn’t help nod his head then, truly impressed.

‘’Your U-800 is definitely in a class of its own with all this, Herr Kapitän.’’

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‘’Correct, Hauptman Margraff, and we will need it to be so for our next mission.’’ The changed tone of Otto’s voice made Hugo raise an eyebrow at the last words.

‘’What do you mean, Herr Kapitän?’’

‘’Not here, Hauptman: this is too sensitive to speak about it on this open deck. Go down to your assigned bunks first and store your kit and weapons. Then, come alone to my cabin, so that we can talk in complete confidentiality.’’ As a disciplined soldier, Hugo understood the need for operational security and didn’t ask further questions then, instead saluting again Otto Kretschmer before leading his men, heavily loaded with their kit and weapons, inside the submarine.

Twelve minutes later, Hugo was knocking on the door of Kretschmer’s suite. Entering on hearing a welcoming shout, he found the captain sitting behind his desk, a file and charts laid in front of him on the desk.

‘’Please sit down, Hauptman Margraff. What we are to discuss is of the utmost strategic importance for Germany in this war.’’

Even more curious now, Hugo sat in the sofa set near Kretschmer’s desk, who then spoke again, his expression most serious.

‘’Hauptman Margraff, know that Admiral Dönitz gave me a very risky but also most important mission, a mission that he received from the Führer himself.’’ Hugo stiffened at those words: this meant that the mission, whatever it was, would have to be completed, even if that implied some suicidal tactics. His attention now sharpened to the fullest, he listened on as Otto spoke.

‘’My new mission is actually twofold: first, to attack the Panama Canal locks and to disable or destroy them by any means possible and, second, to bring to Japan some very important items. On our return trip, we will be transporting a few tons of highly-sought metals which are in very short supply in Germany and which are vital to our war efforts. The riskiest part of our mission will obviously be the disabling of the Panama Canal locks, which are both well defended and also inaccessible to the U-800 when it is fully submerged. This means that we will have either to attack while only semi-submerged, or find a way to indirectly attack and destroy the locks. You and your men could well give us that indirect way of attacking, thus saving my U-800 from having to conduct a near-suicidal direct attack. Here is an intelligence file containing what the Kriegsmarine knows about the Panama Canal. Take the time to study it and to think

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about our possible options, then come and see me tomorrow when you will have ideas about this.’’

His mind now boiling, Hugo took the file and slowly rose from his chair. Before he could go, Otto stopped him with a few words.

‘’Oh, by the way, Hauptman: a Japanese naval officer who was employed as the Assistant Naval Attaché at the Japanese embassy in Berlin will accompany us during our trip. He apparently went through the Panama Canal a number of times before this war started and will also serve as our liaison officer with the Japanese authorities. He is due to arrive aboard tomorrow. Please make sure that your men show him the proper respect due to a senior allied officer.’’

‘’I will pass the word, Herr Kapitän.’’

‘’Thank you! You are now dismissed.’’

Hugo came to attention and saluted Kretschmer, then pivoted on his heels and walked out of the cabin, the file on the Panama Canal under one arm.

08:06 (Paris Time)

Thursday, April 30, 1942

Submarine Pen Number One, Keroman 1 bunker complex

The two armed sailors posted at the foot of the gangway linking the concrete quay with the deck of the U-800 came to rigid attention and saluted when Admiral Dönitz in person arrived in the submarine pen and went to the gangway, followed closely by an oriental man wearing a foreign black uniform, complete with a curved ceremonial saber in a beautifully decorated scabbard, and by a German sailor carrying a suitcase and a duffel bag. The sentries then let the three visitors cross the gangway and step on the deck of the U-800, where Dönitz stopped briefly to let the oriental officer examine visually the big submarine, with its smoothly contoured shapes and tall conning tower.

‘’Here you are, Lieutenant-commander Nagaoka: the U-800, the jewel of my submarine fleet.’’

‘’A most impressive boat indeed, Admiral.’’ replied the Japanese naval officer, truly awed by what he was seeing. ‘’It looks like a racing purebred.’’

‘’And it would easily win any underwater race against any other submarine, with its top submerged speed of 28 knots. More importantly, its huge battery capacity allows

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it to stay underwater for days if need be, albeit at much slower speed. Add its sophisticated sensors to this and it makes the U-800 a most deadly hunter at sea.’’

‘’As it proved to be by its list of victories, Admiral. I have no doubts that Captain Kretschmer will prove as exceptional as his boat is.’’

‘’He is, but you will also find him to be quite unassuming and quiet as an officer, even though he is an incredibly daring submarine commander. Quite a rare combination, actually.’’

Takeshi Nagaoka nodded his head at that, favorably impressed: a strong but quiet personality was something that was truly admired in Japan. He then saw from the corner of one eye a German officer wearing a white service cap nearly run out of the forward access hatch of the conning tower. That German, like so many others, was distinctly taller than Takeshi and appeared to be solidly built. His face had an intelligent, open expression and he appeared to be still in his late twenties, a bit younger than Takeshi. The newcomer nearly ran to them and stopped at attention in front of Admiral Dönitz, saluting him.

‘’Welcome aboard, Herr Admiral! May I deduce that you brought a passenger for me?’’

‘’You deduced right, Korvettenkapitän! May I present you Lieutenant

Commander Takeshi Nagaoka, of the Imperial Japanese Navy?’’ Turning slightly on his heels to face Takeshi, Otto exchanged a salute, then shook hands with him.

‘’Korvettenkapitän Otto Kretschmer. Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Commander Nagaoka. I will lead you now to your cabin, then we will go speak with the Admiral in the officers’ wardroom. This way, please!’’

Takeshi bowed to Kretschmer before following him, with Dönitz close behind and with the German sailor carrying his luggage last. Passing first through what was evidently an airlock, the group then went down a hatch and inclined ladder, with Kretschmer going to one of the cabins lining a short passageway, pushing open the curtain closing the door of the cabin to let Takeshi look inside.

‘’You will be using our spare officer’s cabin. I hope that you will be satisfied with it.’’

Takeshi had one quick look before bowing, truly satisfied.

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‘’This is actually much better that what I had been expecting, Captain. This is a palace compared to what you would find on a Japanese submarine.’’

‘’Or on other German submarines.’’ added Dönitz with a smile before looking at the sailor following him. ‘’Put the lieutenant commander’s luggage inside and then leave.’’

‘’Yes, Herr Admiral!’’

‘’Well, I believe that we have things to discuss, gentlemen.’’ said Dönitz after facing back Kretschmer and Nagaoka. The latter opened his eyes wide and held his breath when he stepped inside the officers’ wardroom, situated only two compartments aft.

‘’By the Kamis19! This is…huge!’’ That made Kretschmer smile with pride.

‘’I must say that my U-800 is exceptional in many ways. I believe that we will be most comfortable sitting around the dining table, Lieutenant Commander Nagaoka.’’ The trio took place around the said table, with Dönitz taking the padded captain’s chair at one end which was normally reserved for Kretschmer and with the latter and Nagaoka sitting on each side of him.

‘’Well, since the good lieutenant commander is here because of your next mission, let’s talk about it a bit. First, have you decided yet on a plan of action about how you intend to strike the Panama Canal, Kretschmer?’’

‘’Not definitely, Herr Admiral, but I have three options in mind. The first one would be to discreetly board a merchant ship waiting to pass through the canal and then ram it through the lock gates. The second option is for my commando team to land and sabotage the pumps and valves used to fill and empty the locks. No pumps, no water and no lock transits. The third option, a last resort one, would be to take my U-800 right to the first locks and blow the gates with torpedoes. That last option would however probably be a suicidal one, as the approach channel to the locks is not deep enough to allow my submarine to fully submerge. Since Lieutenant Commander Nagaoka is said to have sailed through the Panama Canal a few times in the past, maybe he will have another option to present to us.’’

‘’Not another option, but rather opinions on your three options, Captain Kretschmer. I passed through the Panama Canal a total of four times, while travelling

19 Kamis: Name given by the Japanese to their various gods.

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with my family between Japan and Europe as a child and as a teenager. The approaches to the locks are well defended against sea and air attacks, with guns of various calibers in Fort Sherman, adjacent to the northern entrance of the canal, and in Fort Amador, on the Pacific side. However, due to the large volume of maritime traffic going through each day, individual ship inspections were short and limited mostly to collecting the passage fee. Even if the Americans decided to boost security there, there are simply too many ships passing through to contemplate seriously complete searches of every ship by American boarding parties. Thus, your commandos would have a good chance of taking control of some cargo ship and to ram it against the gates. The one drawback of that option is that only one side of the canal would be blocked, allowing traffic to continue both ways through one set of locks, albeit at a much-reduced rate. I do like your second option, as taking out the pumps would probably be much easier and less risky to do, if your men manage to infiltrate on foot the locks area. As for your third option, it would certainly take out the locks for a long time…if you could get close enough to launch your torpedoes with enough precision to blow the gates up. I do agree however that this last option would give you very little chances to withdraw intact, but the results would be a severe strategic blow to the American war effort.’’

‘’And how tight is security on land around the locks, Lieutenant Commander?’’

‘’At the time I went through the canal, quite lax I would say. However, the Americans, unless they are complete fools, are bound to have significantly increased security in that aspect since the start of the war.’’

‘’I would tend to think so as well. So, Option Two seems the most promising and less risky way to take out the locks for any significant length of time. I will act accordingly, but will still keep the two other options as backup solutions in case of unexpected problems. Either way, this whole thing will depend greatly on surprise being on our side. How many people know about this operation right now, Admiral?’’

‘’Only the Fuhrer, his top aides and the Japanese ambassador.’’ The mention of the ambassador made Otto raise an eyebrow in concern.

‘’Was any radio message talking about the operation sent, or is going to be sent?’’

Dönitz couldn’t help feel a bit of irritation at that question.

‘’Look, Kretschmer, I understand that you are leery about radio traffic being triangulated by the enemy, but our ENIGMA codes are quite secure.’’

‘’And what about Japanese codes, Herr Admiral?’’

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Those words made Dönitz turn his head to look at Nagaoka, who gave him a wry smile.

‘’Ambassador Oshima does send regularly detailed reports by radio to Tokyo, but he uses our diplomatic code to do so, Admiral. This operation would have definitely been mentioned in one of his reports.’’

‘’In how much detail?’’ asked Kretschmer, none too pleased.

‘’Ambassador Oshima is quite meticulous in his reporting, being an old-fashioned officer.’’

‘’Great!’’ exclaimed Kretschmer. ‘’Let’s hope that your diplomatic code is indeed secure. Admiral, could we at least stop sending any further radio traffic which could inform the enemy about our planned operation against the Panama Canal, at least until it is completed safely?’’

‘’Mmm… I suppose that it could be done, Kretschmer. I will take care of that. Now, for the second part of your mission, trucks parked outside the bunker complex are presently unloading barrels containing ten tons of uranium oxide, which the Japanese government have requested on an urgent basis. They will be transported to Tokyo aboard your submarine, in exchange of which you will be able to return to Germany with a load of tungsten, chromium, molybdenum and gold.’’

‘’What about refueling and resupplying while on my way, Admiral? My submarine has long legs, but the trip to Panama and then Japan adds up to about 20,000 nautical miles…one way.’’

‘’Do not worry, my dear Kretschmer: my offices and the Abwehr are busy arranging with friendly contacts a pit stop for you in Chile, one of the two nations in the Americas which we still can consider true friends.’’

‘’Chile it will be then, Admiral.’’ said Kretschmer, satisfied.

Two days later, the U-800 slipped out of its pen under the cover of the night, its departure kept much more discrete than previous ones. Dönitz was however present for the occasion and watched with a heavy heart the submarine disappear into the night: this could well be the last time that he set his eyes on the U-800 and its crew.

15:15 (Paris Time)

Tuesday, May 5, 1942

BdU (U-Boote Command) Headquarters

Lorient, France

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‘’Come in!’’

Dönitz, raising his nose from the report he was reading, was alarmed by the shocked expression evident on his signals officer.

‘’What is it, Mackel?’’

The senior officer walked to his admiral’s work desk and put a message form on it.

‘’Herr Admiral, this is the decrypted version of a British Admiralty message sent yesterday to all its ships in the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic areas. Thankfully, the British codebooks which the U-800 captured in Miami late last year are apparently still valid and we were able to decrypt this, along with the rest of the British naval radio traffic. It deals with the U-800.’’

Already feeling dread, Dönitz grabbed the message form and read it quickly.

‘’Warning to all ships in the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic. The German submarine U-800 departed Lorient late on May 2, headed for the Panama Canal, with the mission of destroying the locks. It is then to proceed to Japan, with a Japanese liaison officer aboard, for an exchange of strategic materials. All ships are to exercise extra anti-submarine precautions and are to report any sighting of the U-800 at once. The U.S. Navy is already aware about the U-800.’’

Rendered furious by the lecture of the message, Dönitz slammed his fist on his work desk and shouted at his senior signals officer.

‘’How the hell could the British and the Americans know so much about the U-800’s mission? Did we send any message talking about its departure or its mission, Mackel?’’

‘’Absolutely none, Herr Admiral! We strictly enforced your order to avoid discussing the U-800 or its mission in radio messages. Maybe there was a leak on the Japanese side.’’

Dönitz nodded his head, then remembering what Lieutenant commander Nagaoka had said about Ambassador Oshima being meticulous in his reporting to Tokyo via radio.

‘’That could very well be. Please inquire quickly but discreetly with the Japanese embassy and ask if they sent any message announcing the departure on mission of the U-800.’’

‘’Yes, Admiral! Right away!’’ replied Mackel before saluting and leaving the office. Dönitz then reread the message that was still in his hands, feeling an urge to kill rise in him.

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Mackel was back in Dönitz two hours later, a grim expression on his face.

‘’Admiral, the communications officer of the Japanese embassy confirmed to me that Ambassador Oshima sent a long, coded message to Tokyo early yesterday morning. While he refused to give me the content of the message, he did say that it concerned the U-800.’’

‘’GOTT UND HIMMEL!’’ shouted Dönitz, truly enraged. ‘’That Oshima idiot just compromised completely the mission of the U-800. This also means that both the Americans and the British can probably read the Japanese diplomatic code. Any information that we passed to the Japanese embassy should thus be considered compromised as well.’’

Mackel reeled for a moment on understanding the full implications of this affair.

‘’Should we warn the U-800 that its mission is compromised and that it should avoid Panama and go directly to Japan, Admiral?’’

Dönitz was about to answer him when a nasty thought crossed his mind.

‘’Mackel, you have been involved from the start with our ENIGMA encoding system. Didn’t the Japanese base their present encoding systems on our own ENIGMA?’’

The signals officer paled and nearly stammered his answer.

‘’Yes, they did, Herr Admiral! But our ENIGMA machine is considered by all experts to be unbreakable.’’

‘’What if it isn’t? What if the British are able to decode our messages?’’

‘’Then, it would be a true catastrophe for us, Herr Admiral! All our radio traffic to our submarines at sea is sent via ENIGMA encryption.’’

Dönitz sat back in his chair, looking grim.

‘’We need to make sure that our traffic is not read by the British, and quickly! But how could we do that?’’

Mackel was silent for a moment, his mind working furiously. An idea then sprang inside his head.

‘’A Canary Trap! We could set up a Canary Trap to see if the British can decipher either our codes or the Japanese codes, or both.’’

‘’A Canary Trap? What’s that?’’

‘’A Canary Trap is an old trick meant to find out leaks in an organization. Basically, you send out multiple copies of a letter or message, but with slight variations

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in wording in each copy. If one of the copies is then leaked, one can see where the leak is by seeing which version of the letter or message was leaked. In this case, we could send some false, altered information to the Japanese embassy about the U-800 and then see if the British pick it up and react to it. We could do the same for our own traffic in a separate false message.’’

Dönitz smiled at those words and slapped a hand on his desk.

‘’Do it! Just run the false messages by me before sending them out or transmitting them to the Japanese embassy. About the U-800, we will inform the Japanese embassy of an updated position report received from our submarine. If the British then reroute warships towards that position, then we will have our confirmation that the Japanese code is compromised.’’

‘’An excellent idea, Herr Admiral! I will get to it at once.’’

As Mackel walked out of his office, Dönitz couldn’t help hope fervently that he wouldn’t find that their own ENIGMA codes had been compromised as well, as the consequences of such a discovery would be truly staggering.

21:32 (Greenwich Time)

Thursday, May 7, 1942

U-800, south of Ireland

North Atlantic

Josef Knocke had a weird expression on his face when he entered Otto’s cabin after getting permission to do so.

‘’Herr Kapitän, we just received a coded message from Lorient, but it is a bit of a weird one.’’

Otto, who was about to go to bed, raised an eyebrow at that and put his left hand forward.

‘’Very well: let me see it!’’

Taking the message form offered by his radio operator, Otto read it quickly once, but found it necessary to read it again more slowly.

‘’From Dönitz to Kretschmer. Your mission looking good, with no enemy interference detected on your path. Your wife advised and sends you her love, asks that you bring gifts back.’’

Otto was left confused for a moment and looked up at Knocke.

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‘’But I don’t have a wife! Admiral Dönitz knows that very well. And how would he know that there are no enemy ships along my route?’’

Knocke, who long knew that his captain was celibate and who had wondered about that part of the message, then offered the only explanation he could think of.

‘’Maybe this message was sent to warn us about something concerning our mission, Herr Kapitän. The admiral would certainly never divulge the details of a mission to an officer’s wife: she could talk to others about it afterwards.’’

‘’Talk to others…That’s it! Somebody leaked information about our mission to Panama and the admiral is warning us about it. That mention about bringing back gifts may mean that our subsequent trip to Japan has also been blown in the open.’’

‘’But, why use such cryptic wording to warn us, Herr Kapitän? This was sent fully encoded by ENIGMA machine.’’

The explanation came to Otto like a hammer’s blow to his head.

‘’Because our ENIGMA codes have probably been compromised as well.’’

‘’Our ENIGMA machines, compromised? But they are theoretically impossible to decode, as the settings in them change constantly. The enemy would need both an intact ENIGMA machine and the settings that go with it in order to be able to decipher our radio traffic.’’

‘’The British may just have captured a machine intact somewhere. This is the only plausible explanation for the sending of such a weird message. Knocke, I want you to go through all the coded radio traffic we received since our departure from Lorient. Look for any other message that looked weird or out of place.’’ The embarrassed look that then appeared on Knocke’s face made Otto frown and look hard at his radio operator.

‘’What? Did you fail to pass to me a relevant message, Knocke?’’

‘’Uh, no, Herr Kapitän! It is just that we intercepted two days ago a message from Lorient addressed to our submarine pack operating along the American East Coast, advising it that the U-68 had departed Lorient and was going to take a watch station off Iceland.’’

‘’The U-68? But it was severely damaged by enemy depth charges and only recently left for a lengthy refit in Kiel. It couldn’t possibly have been repaired fast enough to go back on war patrol now and everybody in Lorient knew that.’’

‘’Everybody but the enemy, sir. I now remember that the message ended with a firm warning not to reply to it.’’

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Otto couldn’t help slam his fist against the nearest steel bulkhead on hearing that.

‘’TEUFFEL! THE BRITISH CAN READ OUR ENIGMA TRAFFIC!’’ He then looked up at Knocke and spoke in a firm tone to him.

‘’I want all the British messages sent in the last two days and intercepted by us to be decoded as quickly as possible, to see if the British reacted in any way to that message from Lorient about the U-68. Admiral Dönitz may just have sent it to confirm if the enemy could decode our messages or not. I know that we don’t have enough manpower to normally decrypt all the British messages we intercept and that we relied on our headquarters in Lorient to do that, but I want all the messages covered by the period I gave you to be decrypted at once. I don’t care if nobody in the radio section gets no sleep during the next 48 hours. Now, go!’’

Knocke saluted crisply, then hurried out of the cabin, leaving Otto alone and thinking furiously. After a minute or so, he punched the ‘talk’ button of his intercom to pass an order that reverberated throughout the submarine.

‘’This is the captain speaking! All the officers are to assemble at once in the wardroom for an urgent meeting.’’

With that done, Otto started putting his uniform back on to go to the wardroom adjacent to his cabin.

Within five minutes, all of his eight Kriegsmarine officers, plus Hugo Margraff and Lieutenant Commander Nagaoka, were assembled with him around the dining table of the wardroom, with a World map spread over the table. Otto looked in turn at his understandably curious officers before starting to speak in a grim tone.

‘’Gentlemen, I have some bad news for all of us, news from Lorient. Apparently, somebody leaked information about our mission to the British and possibly the Americans as well, probably thanks to coded messages being intercepted and decrypted, and the enemy is now apparently waiting for us at the Panama Canal. Even worse, our ENIGMA encoding system may have been broken into by the British or the Americans and cannot be relied upon anymore. Our headquarter in Lorient is now incapable of communicating securely with us and we are thus mostly on our own. While it would be pointless for us to start speculating on what really happened to cause that security breach, we now have to decide what we are going to do next. While our initial plan to attack the Panama Canal Gatun locks was already very risky, with the enemy now alerted to us being on the way makes that plan downright suicidal. We can fully expect

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the Americans to flood the area around the lock gates with troops, ships and aircraft and our chances of getting even close to the locks are now about zero. As a result of this, I intend to change our route and to stay away from the Caribbean Sea. While the enemy will be waiting for us in Colon, on the Atlantic coast of Panama, we will go south and

transit the Drake Passage20, sail around the southern tip of South America and go directly to Valparaiso, on the Chilean coast, where a Chilean ship will be waiting to resupply and refuel us.’’

Takeshi Nagaoka reacted at once to his words but did his best to keep a respectful tone.

‘’But Captain, our planned attack on the Panama Canal was a very important strategic move. Can we really abandon our mission there without at least trying?’’ Otto made a malicious smile before answering the Japanese officer.

‘’I said that we won’t strike the canal locks on the Atlantic side, Lieutenant Commander, not that I had completely abandoned our mission concerning the canal. While the enemy will waste his time and energy patrolling the approaches to Colon, we will be going around the Cape Horn and go refuel in Chile, then will approach the Pacific side locks of the canal after a trip that will take us about five weeks. By then, the Americans will have either exhausted themselves in fruitless air and sea searches, or will have decided that we are not coming after all. Thus, the Panama Canal defenses may just be back at their normal level of alert by the time we show up on the Pacific side. Then, we will try to apply our original attack plan, but against the Milaflores Locks instead of the Gatun Locks.’’

It was Nagaoka’s turn to smile then.

‘’A fine idea that actually would have a good chance of succeeding, Captain. Please forgive me if I appeared to question your dedication to our mission.’’

‘’No offense taken, Lieutenant Commander Nagaoka. Now, if our mission against the Milaflores Locks is successful and we don’t incur damages there, I intend to make the rest of our trip towards Japan as useful to our cause as possible, meaning that we will take any reasonable opportunity to attack American ships and bombard American shore installations along our way. While one of our mission’s goals is to

 

20 Drake Passage: The body of open ocean situated between the southern tip of South America (Cape Horn) and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The Drake Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and is the stormiest and most feared body of water on the planet.

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transport some rare metals to Japan, our U-800 is still first and foremost a ship of war and the Americans will get to feel our bites in the Pacific.’’ The wide grin that appeared on Nagaoka’s face then was enough to tell him what the Japanese officer thought about that.

 

07:24 (Paris Time)

Friday, May 8, 1942

BdU (U-Boote Command) Headquarters, Lorient

Coast of Brittany, France

Karl Dönitz arrived at his office earlier than usual, thanks to a near sleepless night. The last three days, spent dealing with the disaster that the compromising of the ENIGMA encryption system constituted, had been Hell on him. Apart from having to find quickly a new way to resume secure communications with his submarines at sea, his efforts to alert the other heads of armed services and convince them that ENIGMA could be read by the British had been mostly met with incredulity. As a last resort, Dönitz was attempting to secure a meeting with the Führer, to convince him to force the removal from service of ENIGMA machines. However, he had low expectations about that meeting.

Taking place behind his work desk, he sifted quickly through his ‘in’ basket, to sort them by order of importance and urgency. His eyes immediately caught on a particular message received only two hours ago: it was from the U-800! His heart suddenly beating faster, he read the message quickly.

‘’From U-800, Korvettenkapitän Kretschmer, to the personal attention of Admiral Dönitz. Tell my wife that I will be careful and will bring her a nice oriental gift.’’ Dönitz felt some relief after reading the message: at least Kretschmer had understood the message sent to him to be a hidden warning. The mention about bringing a nice oriental gift also told him that Kretschmer had not abandoned his project to attack the Panama Canal locks but would probably do so from the Pacific side instead, to take the Americans by surprise. This meant in turn that he was going to have to accelerate the pace of Operation WEST WIND.

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12:31 (Santiago Time)

Wednesday, June 10, 1942

Terrace restaurant, downtown Valparaiso

Chile

Carlos Stein made a genuine smile when he saw Juanita Cruz, sitting at a table of the small restaurant and waiting for him while sipping on a cup of coffee: he may have come here for business but it was always nice to be able to meet the pulpous young woman with long black hair and generous chest. Going to her table and sitting opposite her, he gently pressed her left hand.

‘’Hello, Juanita! It is nice to be able to see you again.’’

Juanita smiled in return while admiring the tall, athletic man in his early thirties, who sported a short, carefully trimmed beard. Carlos Stein was definitely a handsome man in any woman’s eyes and would easily fit the image of the stereotypical Latin lover. That Carlos could also be a very dangerous man didn’t bother her: after all, they both worked for the same cause.

‘’And it is nice to see you too, Carlos. You have time to have lunch with me, I hope?’’

‘’I will always have time to be with you, Juanita.’’ replied Carlos in a suave voice, making Juanita’s smile widen and her eyes sparkle.

‘’Then, you would have a couple of hours to consecrate to me after lunch, hopefully?’’

‘’Do you really need to ask?’’

‘’No, but I like to confirm things first. Let’s look at the menu, will you?’’

Both of them grabbed a menu and looked at it, taking a minute to decide on their choice of meal and to place their orders. With cups of fine Chilean red wine to accompany their food, the couple ate slowly while exchanging pleasantries and flirting verbally. Paying for their meal after forty minutes and leaving the restaurant hand-in-hand, the couple then loaded up in Carlos’ car, a well-used but impeccably maintained Ford sedan, and drove off. Going out of the downtown district of Valparaiso, Carlos drove to his small home, which sat on the coast, in direct view of the city’s busy commercial port. Closing the entrance door behind him and locking it, Carlos then turned around to face Juanita, who now looked most serious.

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‘’So, what do you have for me, Juanita?’’

‘’The embassy in Santiago received a coded radio message saying that the U-800 will arrive off Valparaiso late tonight and will send a contact team ashore on receipt of the proper visual signal.’’

‘’I will be ready for them. Have you found if ships of interest are presently in port or about to arrive?’’

‘’I have a couple of interesting prospects in fact, one of which is already in port and loading up cargo, while the other is due in tomorrow, according to the Port Master’s manifest. Here is the information I was able to find about those two ships.’’

Taking the two sheets of papers presented to him by Juanita, the Abwehr21 agent read them quickly. A big grin appeared on his face as he was reading the second sheet.

‘’An American bulk carrier due to load 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate? This is nearly too good to be true.’’

‘’Why so? Chile is one of the biggest World producers of nitrates and ammonium nitrate is actually a very common cargo, at least here. The American industries need huge amounts of nitrates, both as fertilizers for agriculture and to make explosives for their war effort. The German embassy’s commercial attaché is already aware about that ship and is busy arranging a quick buy via a third party of a few crates of dynamite and detonators which could serve to detonate all that ammonium nitrate at the right moment. That dynamite will be delivered to your house late this afternoon, using intermediaries in order to hide the trail of those explosives. As for the diesel fuel, a fuel barge manned by a crew in which we have full confidence will be on standby to meet with the U-800 at sea. Here is the contact information for the captain of the barge.’’ Carlos took the third sheet presented by Juanita and smiled warmly to her.

‘’Decidedly, you are irreplaceable, Juanita. What would I do without you?’’

‘’You would muddle through, the way you did so successfully in the past.’’ replied the young woman before walking to him and gluing her front to his chest, her eyes sparkling.

‘’Now that we have taken care of business, do you mind if we take some time together for ourselves, Carlos?’’

‘’How could I say no to that, my beautiful Juanita?’’ said the German agent before taking her in his arm to kiss her.

21 Abwehr: German military intelligence service in World War Two.

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02:43 (Santiago Time)

Saturday, June 13, 1942

Bulk carrier JOHN F. DICKSON, port of Valparaiso

The sailor placed on duty to guard the access ladder connecting the quay with his ship could only think of his warm bunk as he stood shivering in the cold night wind. It may have been June, but Chile was in the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons were reversed from those in the Northern Hemisphere. His job consisted mainly of preventing stowaways and thieves from setting foot on the bulk carrier, but it was proving up to now to be a boring, miserable job. Rubbing his hands together to warm them up a bit, he stumped his feet a few times as well. That prevented him from hearing the very soft noise of feet cautiously approaching in his back. A strong arm suddenly covered brutally the mouth of the unfortunate American merchant sailor and pulled his head back, with another arm then coming down in a flash, a knife in its fist. The long blade struck between the two top left ribs, penetrating deeply and piercing the heart. The American crumbled to the deck without so much as a whimper and was immediately dragged out of sight behind a nearby ventilation trunk. A second black shape then came out from a nearby dark corner, whispering in German.

‘’Good job, Bayerlein. Stay here for the moment, while we go take care of the rest of the crew.’’

‘’Understood, Herr Hauptmann!’’

The Brandenburg men quickly found that only one more American sailor, a radio operator, had been awake at this hour. Well, awake was actually an exaggeration, as Franz Stein found that operator fast asleep at his post, his head down on his forearms on top of his desk and snoring while wearing a headset. Since a German would have to sit in that chair and since he didn’t want to have to clean up a pool of blood, Stein elected to use his garrote instead of a knife or pistol and strangled the sleeping man, who only woke up to die in the next twenty seconds. The rest of the crew of the bulk carrier, including the captain, was found sleeping in their bunks and was quietly killed with silenced pistols in a few minutes. Making first his soldiers do a complete reconnaissance of the ship to ensure that no American had escaped their attention,

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Hugo Margraff then used one of the handheld U.S. Army radios captured in Boston, going up to the bridge before making his call in order to get maximum range.

‘’Ghost Leader to Host, come in please!’’

The answer came in quickly and clearly.

‘’Host listening!’’

‘’From Ghost Leader: nutshell now empty. Proceed as planned.’’

‘’Understood, Ghost Leader. Am now moving.’’

Less than two minutes later, a non-descript civilian truck appeared on the quay to which the JOHN F. DICKSON was tied to, coming out of a street sandwiched between two rows of warehouses. The truck soon stopped at the foot of the access ladder of the bulk carrier, with eight men jumping out of the back of the vehicle. Those eight men, wearing civilian clothes, then proceeded in unloading from the back of the truck numerous boxes and crates and started to carry them up the ladder and onto the ship. Margraff had his soldiers help the crewmen of the U-800 who would man the bulk carrier on its trip to Panama, so that the fresh foodstuff and dynamite could be stored away quickly. At the end of it, he shook hands firmly with Carlos Stein, who had driven the truck and would now take it out of the port area.

‘’I can’t thank you enough for your help in Valparaiso, Herr Stein. Be assured that your diligence and competence will be reported to Admiral Canaris.’’

‘’It was a pleasure to help you and the U-800, Hauptmann Margraff. Good luck on your mission.’’

‘’Thanks! Oh, I nearly forgot: I have a gift for you from Admiral Canaris. He said that you could need it if you ever have to disappear to avoid British and American agents later on.’’

Watched by the now curious Stein, Hugo searched into a vest pocket of his combat uniform and took out something rolled inside a handkerchief. That something turned out to be five small gold bars totaling more than a kilo in weight, which he then gave to Stein.

‘’Gold is still the most universal currency around, Herr Stein. Make good use of them if you are ever forced into hiding.’’

Carlos, genuinely happy, smiled to Hugo while taking the gold bars.

‘’They certainly will be useful in the future, Hauptmann. Please thank Admiral Canaris on your return to Germany.’’

‘’I will! Goodbye, Herr Stein.’’

‘’And good luck again to you and your men, Hauptmann.’’

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Carlos then pocketed the precious gold bars and went back down the ladder, climbing behind the wheel of his truck and driving away into the night. Hugo Margraff watched him leave, envious: the last five weeks at sea had been long ones, despite the good living conditions aboard the U-800, and he missed firm land, like his soldiers did. However, their mission would call for more time at sea, a lot more time in fact. Shaking off those thoughts, he went to a deck hatch giving access to one of the cargo holds of the bulk carrier. Going down only one level while using the steep ladder that led all the way to the bottom of the hold, Hugo looked for a moment at the huge pile of large, 50-pound bags of ammonium nitrate filling the hold. If detonated, that much nitrate would produce a titanic explosion of the same power range as that from the ammunition ship that blew up in Boston and had devastated much of the city. In fact, this would probably result into an even more powerful explosion: less than half of the tonnage that had exploded in the ammunition ship in Boston Harbor had been explosives, the rest being the mass of steel of the various bomb bodies. Here, the cargo was pure explosives. Hugo shivered at the thought of the carnage such an explosion could cause. Thankfully, the intelligence about the Panama Canal indicated that residential areas around the canal were situated on average a few kilometers from the canal locks. Any large explosion at the locks would thus kill only a minimum of people, something that suited Hugo just fine: he may have been ruthless when on a mission, but he was no blood-thirsty psychopath.

Climbing out of the hold, Hugo went back to the bridge of the ship, finding Oberleutnant zur See Ulrich von Wittgenstein there, busy reading through the cargo manifest list and various documents concerning this commercial trip. Wittgenstein, along with nine sailors from the U-800, was going to crew the bulk carrier during what could very well be its last voyage. All of those sailors had been chosen for that job because they spoke English and thus could pass off as Americans, if one didn’t pay too much attention to their accents. On seeing Hugo enter the bridge, Wittgenstein raised his nose from the pad of commercial and customs forms.

‘’Aah, Hauptmann Margraff. First off, your men did a good job of getting rid of the crew. Second, I believe that you and your soldiers should go down to the crew quarters now to find civilian clothes that would fit you, so that you could pass muster in case of a visit by customs or port officers prior to departure.’’

‘’Have you been able to open the captain’s safe yet?’’

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The question seemed to amuse Wittgenstein, who smiled.

‘’That wasn’t too hard actually: he kept the combination of his safe in his wallet. Apparently, he did not have too much confidence in his memory. I have now access to the American cash money that was meant to pay the passage fees of the Panama Canal. We are thus all set to go and will leave port at the scheduled hour, at Sunrise.’’

‘’And the U-800?’’

‘’It is now fully fueled and resupplied in fresh food, thanks to the good Herr Stein, and will follow us discreetly at schnorchel depth. The wake of this ship will help hide the wake caused by the schnorchel mast sticking out of the water. So, Panama, here we come!’’