“Why now?”
That was the thought that the German “Grey Wolf” U-Boat commander been having since he was ordered to abruptly stop his current mission and sail from his post in the Atlantic Ocean to their U-Boat base in Saint-Nazaire in France.
Captain Franz’s U Boat U-133 was part of the larger 7th Grey Wolf U-Boat Pack that was on a campaign to hunt and destroy Allied merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean. The pack already scored major success in the first 2 days of the campaign – 5 large merchant ships, 8 medium size merchant ships and 3 Allied naval boats.
After sinking a large merchant ship and having another large merchant ship escaped with minor damages just because the order came, the Captain wanted to hunt for the escaped merchant ship and complete his kill tallies.
But the orders were clear and strict – U-133 was to return to the base immediately and without any further delays. Disappointed, the U-133 Captain Franz relayed the information on the escaped merchant ship to his Wolf Pack leader and gave instructions to sail back to base to his second in command.
“Captain, we can still go for the kill before sailing back to back” retorted his second in command, Ernst.
But the Captain was unmoved – the order came directly from the Chief of Naval Operation and it only means one thing. Obey the order without fail or delay!
No tags for this post.No tags for this post.