regnev

UNTERSEEBOOT 69 at 50.36N, 41.07W For days before we were tracking a convoy in the North Atlantic. We were part of the “Haudegen” herd, we are the U-69 and that February 17, 1943 was our last patrol trip, we were the lucky submarine, we never had casualties until that fateful day, that day our aura ran out invincibility, first it was a lonely plane that forced us to emergency immersion, but that did not stop us, we continued hunting and finally we saw the Convoy ON165 east of Newfoundland, the sea was icy and the weather was somewhat misty when the captain he ordered: To the combat posts ”. The order was transmitted throughout the interior of the ship and immediately the voice of the engineer corporal was heard: -The electrical engine room is in combat footing. -The Diesel engine-room is in combat footing. -The power station is on the battlefield -The torpedo corps is in combat footing Half a minute had elapsed since the Captain gave the order, when the Chief Engineer shouted towards the bridge: -To the Captain: the lower deck is in combat footing. Then it was the Captain's turn: -Timonel: both machines at full force, heading 120 degrees. Prepare tubes one through five for surface launch. Non-commissioned officer radiotelegraphist: radiogram to the Submarine Command: “Convoy in sight, direction 210 degrees, speed 8 miles. I will attack ”. Pilot: course of attack. And everything unfolded as it had happened so many times, everyone knew what to do, they did it with serenity, accuracy and security. The men were practicing their profession. We were a war machine and we were blind from years of hard work. We got closer, we had identified a destroyer and two corvettes in the distance, but they were staying at the head of the convoy, they would not be a problem. The captain was in the turret with the combat guard lookouts. The measurements were made, the torpedoes were ready. We worked like clockwork and as always we felt the adrenaline of the moment. Suddenly the convoy changed course and the attack was called off. There was some frustration but spirits rose again when we were able to determine the new direction of the dam we were following. The convoy after its turn under speed and that allowed us to get back into attack position. It was necessary to correct the direction of the torpedoes. The captain ordered a periscope depth dive, we descended rapidly and closed the hatch. We then descended to 30 meters and advanced until the captain ordered the helmsman to attack. When we were in position we ascended to a depth of 14 meters to use the periscope. The orders followed one another: “The attack begins”, minutes later the First Officer announced: “Target recognized”, the hearts beat strongly, the tension increased, the timers were in our hands, but we did not get to launch the torpedoes. The hydrophonist announced that he heard the sound of propellers approaching. "Go down to 30 meters, enter periscope," said the captain. We trusted his intelligence more than the need to perform this maneuver, which was the only thing he could do. We hear the irritating propellers pass overhead. And suddenly the first depth bomb caught us off guard with a terrifying roar. It didn't explode nearby but it was pretty nasty. The men were stunned. With the exception of the Captain, the chief engineer, the telegraph non-commissioned officer, and the helmsmen, no one had anything to do. It was the worst. The “broom” (that's what we called the destroyer escorting the stern of the convoy) had located us. Then came the blows on the steel walls, which although harmless we knew were a death sentence. Dream! The telegraph officer yelled from the hydrophone. Death had touched us with its emaciated phalanxes asking for permission to enter. With death came fear, every time the detector impulse touched the ship the men clenched their teeth but could not stifle the moans. Their duty as soldiers was over. "Descend to 80 meters" ordered the captain, "Descend to 80 meters" repeated the chief engineer and the helmsmen obeyed. The submarine was violently shaken. Everything that was glass was shattered. At the first explosion, everything went dark. There were six bombs. After each detonation a shove followed. Water began to enter through the outer covers. The destroyer found us again. The captain ordered the entire rudder to turn and for both machines to work at full force, we were already a hundred meters deep. The destroyer advanced at high speed. Her propellers spun wildly. And she passed over us. We listened as sheaves of depth bombs clicked in the water. Twenty bombs exploded. The explosions lasted half a minute, the men became parts of the internal facilities of the ship, into pieces of matter. In the diesel engine compartment some rivets popped, the water splashed the engines and there was a hissing noise as if it were falling on a red-hot stove. In the dark darkness the sounds were two or three times louder. Water vapor invaded the ship. Then the outer coating began to move. It seemed to expand and then contract spasmodically, moaning as it did so. The ship was sinking fast. A two-hundred-meter column of water gravitated over it and caused that unspeakable and eerie noise. The destroyer's sonar detector beam scanned the sea, swept across the water in different directions, then charged forward, the men under water crouching on the ground, groaning and shouting to cover the roar of the destroyer's propellers. The hand of death had touched us. We were only meat on the cut that the butcher's ax missed a couple of times. The men wept in fear and anger at their helplessness. Around it there was water harder than steel and bombs were thrown into it and something had to give when they exploded: the water or the ship. When the destroyer was on them, some vomited, could not contain their urine and began to murmur as if they wanted to conjure the destroyer away. Meanwhile the Captain calculated. He should try to escape at a 90 degree angle to the opponent's course, if he could roughly know that course. Three destroyers or corvettes or other ships were moving at times above and dropping bombs. The Chief Engineer was struggling to prevent the ship into which more and more water was entering from sinking and managed to ascend to a depth of 160 meters when 18 bombs exploded at intervals of three seconds between each one and pushed the ship to the bottom. The water penetrated through the exterior closures. The hull creaked, some rivets popped out. The steel tube twisted and bent like a crushed worm. Everything that was mobile was shaken. Night invaded the ship. The sonar detector beam slid along the submarine, brushing against it with its characteristic sound, and a heap of stones were thrown against the rail. The ship was sinking. The helmet held, but it moved, squeaked, and pounded. Rumors from the sub's hull hurt the ears. Water poured into the ship and the fine, steel-hard jets hissed stridently as if they were sawing the hull walls. We were 210 meters away and the bombs kept falling. We hear the grim reaper feel the ship with its bony hand and experience that strange and mysterious chill that precedes death. The Captain ordered: "All to starboard!" but the helmsman could not carry out the order. The bomb exploded next to the compartment of the electrical engines, destroyed the hull of the ship and killed the people who were in there, the diesel engines, the cook and part of the men who were in the chamber of the non-commissioned officers and in less than three seconds those premises were flooded. The first officer slammed the rear watertight port and those who remained in the NCO's chamber drowned. The submarine was completely dark and upright. The men in the front and in the center lost their balance and rolled aft. Then we heard a dull echo: the keel had hit the bottom of the sea. A flashlight was lit and illuminated the central bathymeter. It was the captain's lantern, the beam of light from him was blinding, the needle indicated 248 meters. The light faded and darkness reigned again. The silence was unbearable, a deathly silence. At that moment I realized that we were isolated from everything that was life, there was no longer fear. I understood more than I had ever known in all those years of struggle. The war was over. We had reached the place where we sent the enemy's ships and where sooner or later all the ships will end up. Not much happened when we heard a rumor, then a shrill sound, like that of a siren, and it became a hoot that hurt the ears, the roar of the water that entered amplified by the darkness, I felt the ice water that enveloped me in a whirlwind, screaming, pressure on eardrums, pain, then lights, then everything was extinguished. How long did it take? I feel like I wake up after a hangover, I feel sand under my eyelids, I try to see through the haze, everything is confused wrapped in a red luminescence. The helmsmen are at their posts, I see the First Officer next to the chart table with other officers, everything is blurred but as something clears my sight I can see the Captain standing manipulating the periscope tube. Everything seems to move in slow motion. The Captain shouts orders but nothing is heard and then I can see that his face is just a fleshless skull, I look at my hands and Oh God! I only see bones and shreds of the uniform. We are dead and condemned to continue on patrol in this grave of steel. Damn the war! Time no longer makes sense to us Will there ever be redemption for us? I feel like I wake up after a strong hangover, I feel sand under my eyelids, I try to see through the haze, everything is confused wrapped in a red luminescence. The helmsmen are at their posts, I see the First Officer next to the chart table with other officers, everything is blurred but as something clears my sight I can see the Captain standing manipulating the periscope tube. Everything seems to move in slow motion. The Captain shouts orders but nothing is heard and then I can see that his face is just a fleshless skull, I look at my hands and Oh God! I only see bones and shreds of the uniform. We are dead and condemned to continue on patrol in this steel coffin. Damn the war! Time no longer makes sense to us Will there ever be redemption for us?