大象传媒

The following story by Terence Robertson is out of copyright and appears courtesy of and with thanks to Mike Kemble, and Captain Frederic John Walker.

Since their autumn offensive began, the U-boats had singled out our Gibraltar convoy routes for a special kind of blitz. For the first time since the war opened, Doenitz had received sufficient co from the Luftwaffe to enable Focke Wulf bombers to be sent over the Atlantic in search of convoys, their limited range making the Gibraltar routes the most suitable targets. Their mission was to seek out a convoy and then send out a series of wireless reports giving its position, speed and course on which any U-boats in the vicinity could converge and attack as a 鈥減ack鈥�. There was little we could do about these 鈥渉oming鈥� tactics outside the range of shore-based Coastal Command planes unless each convoy was provided with its own aircraft-carrier. In July, 1941, Korvettenkapitan Arend Baumann, aged thirty-seven and an old hand in the Battle of the Atlantic, took command of the new 740-ton, ocean-going U-131. She carried fourteen torpedoes, a crew of forty-eight and could stay at sea for about six weeks. Now the two countries were at war, he was certain of Germany鈥檚 victory and determined to ensure it by making U-131 the most efficient submarine in the Atlantic. Whilst they were exercising in the Baltic, the R.A.F. raided Kielthe night his wife started labour pains heralding the arrival of their second child. She could not find a taxi to take her to hospital, but a fire-engine racing to the bombed docks picked her up and rushed her there in time. U-131's short career was made even more eventful in the Baltic when a Russian sub marine just missed her with a torpedo and the excitement had barely died down when a brother U-boat, also on exercises, fired a torpedo which passed under U-131 and exploded a hundred yards away. U-131 sailed at noon on November 17th and a week later was cruising off Spain. By December 12th she had sunk one merchant ship鈥攅xpending six of her torpedoes, and had chased a large liner without success. There was high hope that they would be ordered into Lorient in time to be home for Christmas. Doenitz had other ideas, and sent U-131 to patrol off Gibraltar. It was a deeply depressed U-boat which sighted a convoy late in the afternoon of the 16th and sent out a general alarm to all submarines in the vicinity.Baumann knew that at least two other U-boats were around somewhere and decided to shadow the convoy by diving from his position ahead, allowing the convoy to pass over him before surfacing astern to make his hourly homing reports for the gathering 鈥減ack鈥�. In the middle of the manoeuvre his hydro phones broke down and, when he came up to see where he was, the periscope poked up right in the centre of the convoy. Recovering from his surprise, he selected a target and prepared to fire, but for some reason the merchant ship chose that moment to indulge in some accidental, but really impressive, zig-zagging to adjust her position in the column. Baumann was forced to call off the attack; instead, he decided to dive deep and get away before being rammed. That night he surfaced astern, and his call went out for help. Among those who were close enough to answer the summons were U-434 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Wolfgang Heyda, and U-574 under Oberleutnant zur see Gegnalbach. Both these boats, like U-131, were on their first cruise having left Kiel about the same time in October. They had joined a 鈥減ack鈥� attacking a convoy in the North Atlantic near Halifax, but after being beaten off bad headed southwards on a vain search for prey off Spain. They received U-131's wireless reports on the 16th and steamed at full speed to contact the convoy.
At headquarters in Lorient, Doenitz and his staff moved three tiny flags on their operations map, plotted the probable position, course and speed of the convoy and sent signals to four more U-boats well to the north to make all possible speed to intercept. All day during the 16th a Focke-Wulf had been re-enforcing U-131鈥檚 reports with its own, and Doenitz had every reason to believe it possible to deliver a mutilating blow. The 鈥減ack鈥� was gathering for the kill. Convoy H.G. 76 was fully aware it had been sighted. At dusk on the 16th, Stanley reported sighting two aircraft at visibility distance. No one else was able to spot them, and Walker wrote in his War Diary: 鈥淭his report was pooh poohed by Audacity, but Stanley stuck stoutly to his convictions. I have assumed the enemy has now passed our full particulars to every U-boat not wearing a deaf-aid.鈥� This was confirmed at midnight by the Admiralty.
When shadowing a convoy, U-boats usually stayed on the surface at visibility distance from the convoy, submerging only when there was a danger of being seen either by aircraft or an inquisitive escort. As they were low in the water, they could keep watch on the convoy鈥檚 mastheads while relying on their own tiny silhouette to keep them well hidden from the escort look-outs. To counter this, Walker closed Audacity and requested that an aircraft be flown off at dawn to search for about twenty miles around the convoy. He vaguely hoped that in the grey, half-light of a winter morning a surfaced U-boat might be caught unawares before it could submerge. He was lucky. Shortly after 9 a.m., when her fuel was running low, Audacity鈥檚 aircraft reported: 鈥淯-BOAT ON SURFACE TWENTY-TWO MILES ON CONVOY鈥橲 PORT BEAM.鈥� Ordering the destroyers Exmoor, Blankney and Stanley, and the corvette Penstemon, which was nearest to the aircraft鈥檚 position, to join him, Walker turned Stork and set off at full speed. As the five ships raced away, the remainder of the escort closed the gaps by drawing nearer to the convoy. A lamp blinked 鈥淕ood Hunting鈥� from the Commodore鈥檚 ship leading the centre column of the convoy, and, after a cheerful 鈥淭hank you鈥�. Walker concentrated on meeting the enemy for the first time.Blankney reached the position first and found a number of asdic echoes. two of which she classified as coming from a submarine, and proceeded to attack with depth charges. When the rest arrived, Walker was unable to find anything remotely resembling a U-boat echo and, calming the exuberant Blankney, he formed the ships into line abreast for a sweep westwards, assuming that the submarine would continue on the convoy鈥檚 course. The slower Penstemon, plugging along in the rear, then picked up an echo. She reported the contact and Walker sent Stanley to assist her. He gave both ships instructions to rejoin him as soon as they lost contact鈥攁n order that was to prolong the battle for several hours. Penslemon attacked with a pattern of ten depth charges and, after the boiling sea had simmered down, neither she nor Stanley were able to regain contact. In accordance with Walker鈥檚 orders they left the area to rejoin with Stork.
By the time they caught up with the search party, Walker had asked Audacity to assist by flying off an aircraft to replace the one that had landed after making the original sighting report. The hunt was developing into a full-scale offensive lunge, rarely employed by escort groups in these days. It was more usual to stay close to the convoy and wait for the U-boats to attack in the hope of keeping them at bay rather than set off in full chase, thereby leaving dangerous gaps in the screen. In fact, it was almost unheard of for an escort commander to take five of his ships on a hunt more than twenty miles from the convoy. Walker was by no means ignorant of his personal risk if a concerted attack were made on the convoy while lie was away. To justify this hunt, he would have to make a kill. The searching ships in line abreast and one mile apart were now well out on the port bow of the convoy with no sign of a contact. Walker decided to turn back and sweep eastwards across the front of the convoy. He had just sent the order when the ships on the extreme port side of the line signalled: 鈥淥bject on horizon to starboard.鈥� Having spent the night jogging along behind the convoy, Baumann decided to take his boat up ahead for the next day. By his reckoning, there should be enough of his fellow- submariners in the vicinity for the attack to start after dusk. Keeping the convoy at visibility distance, he increased to full speed and had reached the port beam when, in the dawning overcast sky, he heard the sound of aircraft. As U-131's alarm blared, a plane appeared from the cloud and swept low over her. Baumann and the conning tower crew leapt for the hatchway and tumbled down into the control room. A few seconds later they were diving rapidly. Despite faulty hydrophones, he altered course towards the convoy in the hope of avoiding any surface attack that might follow his discovery by the aircraft. Half an hour later, unable to hear the approach of Penstemon and Stanley, he was thrown to the deck by the blast of exploding depth charges. When the tumult had subsided, the crew of U-131 stunned by the closeness of the attack, investigated the damage. In a few minutes, with lights gone, batteries spreading deadly chloride gas, and an ominous leak near the stern, Baumann knew he would have to surface. To do so there would mean disaster. He needed to put at least fifteen miles between himself and his attackers before he could surface and escape at high speed. He took the U-boat down to six hundred feet, ordered full submerged speed of five knots and sat down to wonder which would be the first to force them up鈥攖he gas, the running-down batteries or the leak astern.He was, perhaps, fortunate to be granted two hours before he had to surface. When the hatch was opened and he rushed out to the conning tower, there was nothing immediately in sight. A few minutes later a look-out shouted: 鈥淪hips astern, Kapitan.鈥� Baumann turned and saw five ships heading to wards him no more than seven miles away. He called clown to the engineer. 鈥淚 want every bit of speed you can get. We are being chased by warships.鈥� A few minutes after Stanley鈥檚 report, the 鈥渙bject鈥� was identified as a U-boat and Walker flashed along the line 鈥淥pen fire independently when in range.鈥� Directors swung the gun turrets round on to the target, range-takers called out ranges and the leading ships, Stork, Exmoor and Blankney, prepared for the first barrage. 鈥榃alker ordered the Martlet fighter from Audacity to attack in the hope that her machine guns might help to slow down the fast-moving enemy.
It was the chance young Sub-Lieutenant George Fletcher, R.N.V.R., had been hoping would come his way ever since he had qualified as a Fleet Air Arm pilot and been sent to a convoy training base for duties in the Atlantic. He banked his plane, screamed over the convoy and spotted the U-boat, tiny target on the heaving sea, right ahead. He put the Martlet into a dive. The conning tower came into his sights and he could dimly see figures clustered round a gun. Then the tracers floated up at him and it was time to press a thumb down hard on the firing button. The fighter jerked as its guns flamed. Suddenly, the perspex windscreen shattered and smoke filled the cockpit. Below, the watchers in the five racing ships, with the corvette, Penstemon, plodding gamely in the rear, saw the fighter begin its dive, heard the urgent clatter of gunfire and were shocked to see smoke gushing from the cockpit. Silently, and dazed by the speed of events, they followed the plane down until it crashed in a cloud of spray almost alongside the U-boat. With the range only slightly less than seven miles, Stork, Blankney and Exmoor commenced firing. Soon, Stanley鈥� joined in the barrage, Penstemon still being too far astern for her single gun mounting forward to have any effect. The barrage lasted for nearly twenty minutes, with shells plastering the area around U-131 until Stork鈥檚 masthead look-out reported: 鈥淓nemy abandoning ship, Sir. Looks as though she鈥檚 been hit badly.鈥�
The 鈥渃ease fire鈥� was hoisted and, as the smoke cleared and the range closed rapidly, they could see figures leaping from the conning tower into the sea. Before they could reach the scene, however, U-131 pointed her nose to the sky and slid stern first below the waves. Damaged first by depth charges and then holed eight times by the striking force guns, she was of no further use to Doenitz. Exmoor and Blankney picked up her crew, all screaming and wailing in the water and looking not in the least like supermen. Walker was pleased, even though he looked grim when his whaler recovered Fletcher鈥檚 bullet-ridden body kept afloat by the sodden life-jacket. He sent a signal to the Admiralty and the Commander-in- Chief, Western Approaches, then formed up his ships and returned to the convoy by 5.30 p.m., eight hours after the hunt had started. There would be few who could now criticise his lunge from the screen. There might, perhaps, be more opportunities to use the same offensive tactics, for a quick interrogation of prisoners had disclosed the presence of other U-boats at the convoy. That same night the congratulations arrived. One came from Sir Percy Noble which said with customary brevity 鈥淲ell Done.鈥� The first round in the battle to get H.G. 76 through the U-boat cordon had gone to Walker. His novel tactics introduced into the Atlantic for the first time had not only succeeded, but had wiped away any doubts that any of his Group鈥檚 captains might have had of a leader who, in the words of one officer left behind with the convoy during the hunt, was 鈥渉aring about the ocean at the expense of the convoy鈥�. At daylight on the 18th, Walker read a short service over the flag-covered body of Sub-Lieutenant Fletcher and, as it was consigned to the sea, all escorts and ships of the convoy dipped their ensigns in salute. Audacity flew off her dawn patrol and the Commodore signalled to Walker. "Never mind the gathering storm. With the score at one for nil, the convoy is confident it is in good hands.鈥�

Continued.....
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