The Last Hour by Will Montgomery

Author:Will Montgomery [Montgomery, Will]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books

Chapter Forty-Four

HARRY

Newlyn, Cornwall

‘Read that, Harry. Looks like we’re on our way.’

The Old Man passed a sheaf of papers across.

‘Pages three and four are the most interesting bits,’ he said. ‘I’ve read the rest. It’s irrelevant.’

I skimmed the first two pages, read the next two rather more slowly and skimmed the remaining three before passing the papers back.

‘Well, looks like you’re right, sir. No dates in here though. Would be good to know when we’ll be leaving.’

The papers the Admiralty gave us in London were outline plans. Page after page of what ifs. What if the escort pattern was like this, what if it was like that. This was different. These gave us more details.

While he filled his pipe and went through the ritual of damping down the tobacco, lighting and relighting it, sucking hard to get it going, I thought about the intelligence in this report. A small number of enemy troops withdrawn from the Russian front line. Not many, and not enough to be sure that they would be sent south.

Some jumbled radio messages referring to Gruppen 158 and a board of enquiry investigating the disappearance of an officer overboard.

‘The last page of the report talks about Gruppen 158, sir. A large escort group, eight, maybe ten destroyers. How many escort groups do the Germans have, do you think?’

He shook his head.

‘No idea, why do you ask?’

I told him that when we attacked that convoy off the Channel Islands there were around twenty escorts defending just five merchant-men. That was a large number of escorts in one single group. He raised an eyebrow and I wondered if I was reading too much into an insignificant detail.

‘Is it important?’ he asked.

‘It could be. The CO of Der Condor has been recalled to Hamburg for a board of enquiry. You don’t recall an entire group just so that one commanding officer can be investigated. What would you do if one of your COs had to be investigated?’

‘If the group was in service I’d leave them where they were, tell the second in command to take over and bring the CO back.’

I had no idea if it was important, or whether I was simply seeing ghosts where none existed. But I did know that the CO of Gruppen 158’s convoy reacted too quickly to a feint attack a few weeks ago. That was how we managed to destroy most of the merchant ships. Plus some destroyers. It could give us an edge in the Mediterranean.

‘You’ve got one more job before you leave,’ he continued, pointing to his wall map. ‘We’ve got a German convoy heading north up the west coast of Ireland. Due in a few days. Be a good bit of practice for your boys.’

I frowned. That was almost four hundred miles away and our maximum range was barely five hundred miles.

‘I take it that the Admiralty has a plan to get us back? Or is this a one-way trip?’

‘You can hardly attack the enemy in the Mediterranean if you’re interned in Ireland, Harry.

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