U-112
08°50N 15°30W
North Atlantic
‘Alaaaarm!’
It pierced the anxious silence like the cry of a man falling from a precipice. At once the dive bell began to tremble.
‘Clear the bridge.’
Bodies dropping from the tower, heavy boots clattering over the deck plates, the lights swinging above the mess tables as every man sought his station in the boat.
‘Herr Kap’tan. Destroyer.’
The first officer’s face was white with shock, words tripping and tumbling from him: ‘From nowhere… upon us… under a thousand metres…’
‘Calm yourself. Down to a hundred.’
‘Flood four and five.’
The control-room mechanics were already working the valve wheels, the sea rumbling into the tanks as the U-112 began to dip sharply under. Seventy-six tight metres of steel from stern to bow. At least thirty seconds to clear the surface. Kapitan zur See Jurgen Mohr glanced at his watch and then towards the radio room:
‘Well?’
The operator’s face was half turned towards him, one hand pressed firmly to his headpiece, the other at the dial of the hydrophones: ‘Contact closing fast. 050 degrees. Port bow.’
‘Silent running, Chief.’
Young faces stiff and pale in the harsh light of the control room, bearded after a month at sea, their wide eyes turned to the depth-gauge needle dropping so slowly.
‘Herr Kap’tan. Coming straight for us.’ The voice of the radio operator was high-pitched and urgent. Seconds later and Mohr could hear her too, drawing ever closer, louder, closer, her screws swishing like wind in the Arctic. The young engineer at his side was gripping the skirt of the tower, his mouth a little open, his breath short and shaky.
‘Engines full. Right full rudder. Deeper.’
The radio operator leant further forward to make himself heard: ‘Herr Kap’tan. Depth charges.’
But he could hear the soft splash, splash, splash of the barrels as they broke the surface, rolling and sinking. And he followed the second hand round the face of his watch, 25, 30, 35…
‘Brace. Brace.’
A crewman was whimpering close by. As Mohr turned to look, a charge boomed beneath the boat, tossing the stern up and round in a corkscrew motion and he was thrown hard against the periscope housing. Deck plates lifted as a second detonated on the starboard side, then a third and the lights flickered and died… Someone was lying across Mohr’s feet and he could feel a trickle of blood on his cheek. Some lights had shattered. The depth gauge had blown too. Another detonation, above them this time. A tin of some sort smacked against the skirt of the tower behind him. One of the men in the torpedo room for’ard was shouting something unintelligible, his voice shaking with fear.
‘Steady. Steady there. Watch your depth, Chief.’
A swooshing of compressed air to the tanks and the 112 ’s bow began to lift.
‘Emergency lighting.’
‘Herr Kap’tan.’ The first officer, Gretschel, was holding his white commander’s cap.
The faces of the control-room mechanics were turned towards him, anxious, expectant, trusting. They had been there together a dozen times.
‘Depth?’
The second officer had taken his place for’ard by the gauge in the torpedo room: ‘180 metres…’
‘Damage report, Chief?’
Everything was wet to the touch, oil and water working their way through valves, trickling down the pipes into the bilges, the deck plates treacherous underfoot, cracked battery cells, splintered wood, broken glass.
‘Deeper. Take her deeper.’
Leutnant Koch’s voice rang the length of the boat: ‘170 metres.. 180…’
‘Where is she?’
The operator leant out of the radio room and shook his head: ‘Nothing.’
But a moment later they could hear her reaching out for them with her Asdic detector, high-pitched, insistent, ping, ping, ping bouncing against the hull of the boat.
‘Deeper still.’
‘190… 200…’
‘Contact closing, Herr Kap’tan…’
The thrashing of her screws again, attack speed, closer, closer, closer.
‘Both engines full.’
‘Depth charges dropped…’
A deep shudder ran through the boat as a charge detonated with an ear-splitting boom on the port bow. And then another, and another, and another, rolling the boat like a bath toy under a tap, throwing men against wheels and pipes and instruments and to the deck, and plunging them into darkness.
‘Torches.’
Another barrage, charge after charge, the boat dipped down and round, a deep echo grumbling through the depths. Mohr could hear water cascading in a heavy stream from the periscope packing. His uniform was wet and the control room was filling with the sharp smell and taste of chlorine gas. Someone flashed a torch in his face: ‘Herr Kap’tan, the starboard motor’s gone completely.’ It was the young engineer, Heine, his face contorted with stress and fear, ‘And the port motor’s damaged and the port diesel too.’
‘Work on it and quickly.’
Then from the for’ard torpedo room: ‘210 metres… 220…’
The boat was slipping away, the hull creaking and groaning under the pressure. And from somewhere near the stern, a wild knocking as if a giant sea creature was prising the 112 open like a shell. A sharp pop close by as another valve seal was blown open and then another and another and a fountain of water arching across the control room, twinkling in the torchlight. Mohr could hear water and diesel sloshing above the deck plates, and his ankles were wet.
‘Get those valves tightened at once. Air to the tanks. Give her air.’
‘Herr Kap’tan, there’s too much water in the for’ard bilges.’
‘230 metres…’ The crew could hear the panic in Leutnant Koch’s voice. Was this the end? If the 112 slipped much further it would be crushed under the pressure like an empty tin can. The stern and bow planes were in the surface position but the boat was still drifting to the ocean floor.
‘Come on, give it air.’
‘240 metres…’
They were deeper than the maximum dive depth now and still sinking. All heads for’ard of the control room were turned in Mohr’s direction; the petty officers, the torpedo men and machinists, the radio operators and Braun the cook, so young, so frightened, breathless, silently pleading with him: ‘What now, Kap’tan, what now?’ And he knew there was only one thing he could do:
‘Prepare to surface.’
The boat seemed to heave a sigh as compressed air rushed into the ballast tanks. Three, four, five seconds… a desperate stillness. It had barely moved.
‘250 metres…’
Someone was muttering a prayer.
‘Give it more, Chief. More.’
The boat’s last gasp, a long steady hiss. And slowly, slowly its bow began to rise.
‘240 Herr Kap’tan… 230… 220…’
A small cheer from the torpedo room.
‘Silence.’
The 112 gathered speed, a giant steel bubble forcing its way to the surface.
That it should come to this after so long and on this most sensitive of missions. The British would be on them in minutes.
‘Breathing apparatus. Prepare to abandon ship.’
Gretschel was standing beside him holding a Tauchretter: ‘For you, Herr Kap’tan.’
‘What will Admiral Donitz say, Gretschel?’
‘He’ll be sure we did our best, Herr Kap’tan.’ The first officer’s voice shook a little with emotion.
The 112 broke the surface bow first and settled down by the stern, water surging from its deck. Cold fresh salt air he could taste swept through the boat like a wind as Gretschel flung open the tower hatch. It was almost midnight and clear, the sea quite still but for the dark silhouette of the destroyer closing fast on the port side, cutting a clean white wave at her bow.
‘Enemy closing 055, a thousand metres, Herr Kap’tan.’
‘Prepare the weighted bag.’
The secret papers and the cipher machine must go over the side at once. The 112 was sinking rapidly by the stern but he had to be sure.
‘Out, out, out.’
In the worn, familiar faces at the foot of the tower the fear that even now that small ring of night sky above them might be snatched away, the boat sinking back, sealing them in their iron coffin. Mohr pushed his way through them to the radio room:
‘Ready.’
‘Yes, Herr Kap’tan.’ The chief radio operator pointed to two bags on the small table in front of him: ‘The Enigma ciphering machine in this one and the code books and mission orders in the other.’
‘Come with me,’ and he snatched up the bag with the mission orders. Climbing slowly through the darkness, the bag heavy at his chest, the sound of feet scuffling on the bridge above, and as his hand reached for the topmost rung a zing, zing, zing of bullets striking the tower. The destroyer was firing at them.
‘Over the side.’
And the crew began dropping from the deck into the ocean.
‘Scuttling charges set?’
‘Yes, yes,’ Heine shouted from below, panic ringing in his voice again.
‘Open the strainer and get out.’
Another bullet pinged against the tower. The destroyer was close enough for Mohr to hear the slow rattle of her heavy machine gun. Her captain could have no idea of the prize he was going to drag from the Atlantic. The engineer was at his side:
‘All right, you can join them.’
The little lights on the life vests of his men were rising and falling in the dark ocean, small groups clustered together, arms raised in supplication to the enemy. And the destroyer was edging closer, a beam of brilliant white light from a large lamp trained on the deck of the 112. Mohr picked up the bag at his feet, checked the seal and its weight — good enough — and with a great sideways sweep of his arm flung it over the lip of the tower into the darkness. A small phosphorescent splash and the bag and its secrets sank out of sight, dropping thousands of metres to the ocean floor. Mohr smiled ruefully. If only it were that simple, if only it could end there with the secret of their mission lost fathoms down where no one would find it. If only…