Sea Wolves: Savage Submarine Commanders of WW2 by Tony Matthews

Author:Tony Matthews [Matthews, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781399064651
Google: 5VCjEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pen & Sword
Published: 2023-01-23T21:00:00+00:00

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After fleeing the scene of the carnage he had created, Heinz Eck took U-852 rapidly south, moving through what remained of the night at top speed. While the men below decks might have suspected what had been occurring above their heads at the scene of the attack, the confirmation of the massacre was to affect the morale the crew. Even Eck later stated that he became aware of the men’s sour mood and, in fact, had been afflicted by the same malaise. ‘I was under the impression that the mood on board was rather a depressing one,’ he later stated. ‘I myself was in the same mood.’

The crews of submarines formed a tightly-knit unit. Life on board those vessels was harsh and primitive by today’s standards. Quarters were cramped, food was usually just basic rations, the boat was always stinking of oil, cooking and body odour. Anything that might affect morale was considered to be a serious impediment to the effective and efficient functioning of the vessel. Realising that his men were completely demoralised by events (some might have been worried about possible war crimes trials), Eck decided to explain his actions to them. Using the boat’s loudspeaker system he told them that he had never intended killing anyone but that it was only necessary to destroy the wreckage. He added that he regretted that some of the survivors might have been killed. He said, very pointedly, that the men should steel themselves to such events and think of their families at home who were then being brutally subjected to massive Allied bombing where tens of thousands of innocent civilians were being killed.

Eck, however, failed to alter the men’s mood of disaffection. He was unable to convince them that the destruction of the rafts had been an ‘operational necessity’, as he termed it. The crew might not have gone through an officer’s training course but even to them it seemed obvious that to spend five hours machine-gunning wreckage that refused to sink, while also killing an unknown number of civilian merchant seamen, was unbelievably idiotic and dangerous. Any fool should have realised that the site was stained with a quantity of oil and that oil would remain in place until disbursed by the sea. Worse, it demonstrated that Eck was not an experienced submarine commander. He was untried, an unknown quantity. If he continued to make such poor decisions might he not eventually get them all killed? Submariners were a suspicious lot. They normally placed great trust in their captains. For experienced submarine captains, men like Eck’s friend Korvettenkapitän Adalbert Schnee, most submariners would have moved heaven and earth to serve under them. They were considered not only lucky but also highly experienced – men who knew how to carry out an attack and get their crews away safely to fight again another day. Eck’s attack on the Peleus had been easy, a novice could have done it. The ship had been unescorted and was a sitting duck, but what had happened after the ship had gone down had placed the entire crew in extreme peril.

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