Execution for Duty: The Life, Trial and Murder of a U-boat Captain by Peter C. Hansen

Author:Peter C. Hansen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781844682294
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2006-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Muddling Through Somehow

Several busy naval doctors, including the head surgeon, surrounded by a flock of nurses in all sorts of uniforms, crowded into the departure lobby of the naval hospital to say goodbye to one of their patients who had just been checked and medically cleared again for U-boat service, after having been in their care for six weeks. Some of the girls had tears in their eyes when Frank W. Petersen handed each a small gift and one single rose. The men received practical things, like different bottles of booze, a box of cigars or several packs of cigarettes.

In summer 1944, it was a mystery how Petersen managed to ferret out such things. But he seemed to have valuable connections, and many of his numerous visitors brought along boxes of food and cases of presents, as they knew that rationing in Germany was tight and men trying to get back on their feet again were unlikely to manage this on the official hospital meals. Nevertheless, Petersen had lost a lot of weight. But at least he could now walk with a supporting cane, and had been able to drop his crutches a few days previously. For practical purposes, he had had to learn to walk again like a baby, but his tenacious determination to get well had helped him, supplemented by these presents of eatable things constantly delivered to him during his recovery period.

He shook hands with the men, kissed all the women, and just as he finished, a black naval car pulled into the entrance way and stopped. The driver jumped out, grabbed the baggage Petersen had stacked next to the exit door and then helped him into the rear seat and put his luggage in the front seat.

Petersen had been wounded during an aircraft attack, and had almost been given up by the doctors, after extensive emergency treatments and procedures. His loss of blood was heavy and quite a few pieces of shrapnel had been removed from his body. He was convinced that only the extraordinarily dedicated nurses had eventually pulled him back from the edge. Considering that this was his third injury, and the previous ones had been caused by clean and simple bullets that had not done too much damage and the wounds had healed comparatively fast, this last one had been an extremely close call.

The medical board had just decided that Petersen was able to do inside administrative and instructional work again, effective from the beginning of September, and would be fully rehabilitated within four to six weeks. But he needed to undergo torpedo-firing retraining with the various new torpedo types, so that he could serve again in the near future on one of the new Type XXI electro U-boats coming off the shipbuilding yards in growing numbers. That is, unless a final medical recheck early in October reached another determination.

Originally, Petersen had been supposed to be discharged from the naval hospital four days later on the Monday morning and proceed directly by train to his new interim command in Danzig.

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