Donitz and the Wolf Packs by Bernard Edwards

Author:Bernard Edwards [Edwards, Bernard]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Bic Code 1: HBWQ, Bisac Code 1: HIS027100, HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781473841284
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2014-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

Two days after setting off on their run south from the Azores, the Streitaxt boats were to the west of the Canary Islands when they sighted a deep-laden tanker escorted by two destroyers, heading in for the African coast. The U-boats gave chase, but the destroyers were vigilant and no boat was able to get close enough to torpedo either the tanker or her escort. The chase did, however, generate a great deal of radio activity between the U-boats, all of which was duly listened-in to by Allied ears. At that time SL 125 was some 240 miles south-west of the Canaries, but although it must now have been apparent that the convoy was steering into the midst of a U-boat pack, no warning was issued by the Admiralty.

The Atlantic Ocean is wide, and SL 125 might still have slipped unseen past the Streitaxt boats had it not been for an unfortunate turn of the cards. For some time the Danish tanker Anglo Maersk, commanded by Captain Valsberg and managed for the Ministry of War Transport by Houlder Brothers of London, had been experiencing engine problems, much to the chagrin of Rear-Admiral Reyne and the escorts. At noon on the 25th the Anglo Maersk’s engines failed completely and she dropped out of the convoy to lie stopped for 27 hours while her engineers worked frantically to rectify the fault. She was under way again on the afternoon of the 26th, and making full speed to rejoin the convoy, when she had the great misfortune to cross paths with U509. Werner Witte, who had become separated from the other Streitaxt boats, put a torpedo into the tanker, but although it was damaged the Anglo Maersk did not catch fire. Captain Valsberg and his crew stayed with her, and she limped along at 7 knots, only to be torpedoed again by U604 on the evening of the 27th. This time the tanker went down, but her crew of 37 abandoned in good order and eventually reached the Canaries.

Witte needed no crystal ball to tell him that the Anglo Maersk was a straggler from a convoy likely to be nearby and, having left her lying crippled, he pressed on, using the Danish tanker’s initial heading as a pointer to greater things. Four hours later U509 was in sight of the rear ships of SL 125. Witte called in the other boats.

In the late afternoon of 27 October, when U509 began shadowing SL 125, the convoy was 170 miles west of the island of Palma and steaming on a northerly course at 7 knots. The last of the North-East Trades were blowing; warm, gentle winds. The sea was quiet, and the sky azure blue and dotted with clumps of fine-weather cumulus. It was a day that, in times past, would have warranted steamer chairs and gin and tonics on deck to watch the sun go down. Now, with the horrors of war never far removed, the atmosphere in the ships was relaxed but cautious.

The very brief transmission by U509 was missed by the radio officer on DF guard in the Pacific Star.

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