Kleber's Convoy (16 page)

Seconds later three detonations in quick succession left little doubt that mortal damage had been inflicted. This was confirmed not long afterwards by sounds on
Vallance
's bridge-speaker of the U-boat breaking up.

At 1615 an urgent signal from
Fidelix
ordered all but two ships of the Fifty-Seventh Escort Group to rejoin at once as the convoy was under attack from surfaced U-boats which had come in down-wind on its lightly defended starboard flank.

Two ships of the Group were left to deal with any U-boats of the Skolpen concentration which might attempt to surface. On Ginger Mountsey's orders both streamed ‘
f
oxers
' as a protection against
gnats.

The remainder of the Group made off to the south-west, steaming into wind and sea at fourteen knots which was all they could manage without incurring weather damage.

Vengeful,
delayed by her attempts to rescue survivors from
Chaffinch,
brought up the rear. She had picked up fifteen men, but of these a number had died soon after being taken from the water.

The bow-wave sighted by U-0117 less than three hundred metres from the submarine turned out to be that of a Liberty ship, thus confirming Ausfeld's report that the nearest propeller noises were slow revving piston engines.

Kleber swung hard to port to avoid the oncoming ship. The suddenness of the confrontation, the scuffle to avoid it, ruled out a torpedo shot. Running on opposite courses, the freighter and the U-boat quickly passed each other at a range of less than two hundred metres. There was no indication that the U-boat, trimmed down in the darkness and travelling at high speed, had been sighted.

Kleber shouted to Rathfelder, ‘Too late. We'll run down between the columns. Fire one torpedo at each ship, port and starboard alternately. Then we'll dive and re-load.'

Slithering and plunging through watery hills and valleys, driving down-wind, the crests of seas washing the bridge, Kleber felt a strange exultation as flurries of sleet and snow masked the scene, clearing at times like a curtain drawn back across a darkened stage, replacing the anonymity of darkness with the shadowy outlines of ships.

With his night glasses Kleber saw to port the white flash of a sea breaking, behind it the dim outline of a ship. He shouted urgently, ‘Target red, zero-two-zero.' Rathfelder swung the TBT
1
on to the bearing. ‘I have it,' he answered as the dark shadow plunged steadily forward, its bows throwing up sheets of spray.

Events moved fast after that, Rathfelder passing the TBT bearings to Dieter Leuner in the conning-tower, getting back the target's course and speed and other vital information. Watching the angle on the bow open steadily, Kleber called, ‘Stand by to fire.' The seconds went by. ‘Shoot now,' he commanded.

Rathfelder pulled the TBT safety lever to ‘on'. ‘Tube one, fire!' he shouted down the voice-pipe.

Time seemed to stand still as they watched the amorphous shadow of the target pass up the port side. There was a blinding flash, terrifying in its scale and suddenness, and a column of flame and smoke mushroomed into the sky. The shock wave struck Kleber in the face as the roar of the explosion rolled across the water. Falling snowflakes, hanging like curtains of coarse muslin, made the scene strangely unreal.

‘Ammunition ship,' he said, ordering a correction of course to bring the submarine over to starboard.

Rathfelder swung the TBT to starboard, ready for a new target. They heard the rumble of what sounded like distant thunder and far away to port flames licked into the sky, the gale sweeping them down-wind. Another U-boat in
Gruppe
Kleber
had found a target.

Suddenly, from every quarter,
Snow
flake
rockets soared skywards, bursting at their zenith, scattering brilliant showers of light. Above the noise of wind and sea the men on U-0117's bridge heard the explosive thunder of gunfire. Flares filled the sky over the convoy and drifted down-wind, slowly losing height, conspiring with the rockets to turn night into day.

‘
Herrgott!
Lösden
sie
die
verfluchten
Lichter
aus
… Christ! Turn off the bloody lights,' mocked Kleber. But he felt naked and afraid, and the men on the submarine's bridge bent lower as if hiding from a celestial observer.

Busy conning the boat into position for its next target, Kleber had a fleeting impression of long, widespread convoy columns; of the silhouette of a frigate astern of U-0117 turning towards them, a sea breaking over her as she came beam on to the weather; of brightly coloured balls of tracer approaching from many directions; of the rumble of gunfire and fountains of water leaping unaccountably from the sea around the U-boat. But trimmed well down, fast moving, hidden by steep seas and flying spray, U-0117 was a difficult target, particularly for guns on the pitching stems of merchant ships.

To Kleber it was a wild scene, a sort of maritime ride of the Valkyries. Though his faculties were concentrated on the attack, he was aware of a strange euphoria, of man controlling
the elements, of fighting in a hopeless cause yet fulfilling some strange Wagnerian destiny. He was too intelligent not to realise that Germany had already lost the war, but there was in him a curious mixture of resolution and romanticism, a liking for the knife-edge of danger, and he would not have chosen to be elsewhere. These emotive thoughts were soon swept aside by the urgencies of battle as a Liberty ship, ghost-like in the flares, showed up on the starboard bow and Rathfelder refocused the TBT. A rapid exchange of information between bridge and attack-computer was followed by Kleber's. ‘Shoot as soon as you're ready.'

The Liberty ship and U-0117 were approaching each other on parallel courses at a combined speed of twenty knots, the bearing changing rapidly.

‘Tube two – fire!' shouted Rathf elder. The submarine shuddered as the torpedo left its tube. The men on the bridge counted away the seconds, watching the plunging ship, waiting for the explosion. But none came. The magnetic pistol had failed or the wallowing of the submarine through rolling seas had upset Rathfelder's aim.

Kleber swore under his breath as more
Snowflake
rockets and starshell relit the waning sky. A lookout shouted, ‘Warship bearing red, one-five-zero. Approaching.'

Kleber swung round to see a corvette outside the port wing column heading towards them. Bright flashes leapt from her forward gun. The shell splashes came suddenly closer. He said, ‘She can't overtake us in this weather, Rathfelder.
Wahlen
sie
das
nächste
Ziel
… Select next target.'

There was no trace in his voice of the excitement he felt and this apparent nonchalance reassured the executive officer who'd decided that things were getting a bit too hot. He swung the TBT to port as the submarine's bow went that way and soon found a ship, darkly silhouetted against a low flare, smoke billowing from her funnel as she worked up the pressure in her boilers. The submarine rose on the crest of a following sea and Kleber took a precautionary look astern. The corvette was belting down-wind in pursuit, firing as she came. He was aware that a trim-downed submarine was a difficult target in heavy weather, but nevertheless disliked being the target. ‘Hold everything, Rathfelder,' he called. ‘We'll cut through the starboard column. Plenty of targets on the other side. And we'll be shielded from that damned
corvette for a while.' The whine of a shell broke into his sentence. There was a sharp explosion close astern followed by the smell of cordite. Water cascaded on to the bridge. ‘The escorts are beginning to wake up.' The note of gaiety in Kleber's voice masked his concern. ‘We haven't much time.'

U-0117 swung across to starboard, passing close ahead of a merchant ship in the second column. Kleber altered course again to drive down between the second and third columns.

Ausfeld reported, ‘Heavy depth-charging, starboard sector. Distant.' So one of the
Gruppe
at least had been forced to submerge, reflected Kleber. There wasn't time to speculate which it might be. He just hoped that whoever it was had gone deep enough in time, and found a good thermal. From far away came the sound of another explosion followed by a bright flash of light. Rolling billows of smoke and flame came from somewhere near the centre of the convoy. One of the
Gruppe
must have torpedoed a tanker.

A shell from a merchant ship's stern gun burst uncomfortably close to U-0117.

‘
Verdammt!
'
shouted Kleber above the hubbub of wind, sea and gunfire. He turned to see Rathfelder focusing the TBT on a ship in the starboard column. ‘Shoot, Rathfelder,' he commanded. ‘For Christ's sake, man, shoot. We can't hold this course much longer …' The end of his sentence was drowned by the executive officer's. ‘Tube three, fire!'

Kleber looked astern and against the backdrop of starshell and
Snowftake
saw the bows of the pursuing corvette emerge from the port column. He knew that under those weather conditions the corvette would be hard put to it to gain on U-0117 which was travelling at fourteen knots, but he didn't like to be the target for her gunfire. The night was too brilliantly lit.

He altered course to starboard to pass astern of the ship at which they had just fired. Soon afterwards there was a rumbling explosion and a flash of light leapt from the freighter which had now drawn abeam. Kleber had no time to speculate on its cargo but he patted the executive officer's shoulder. ‘Fine work, Rathfelder. Stand by for a target to port as soon as we've got through this column.' Another shell whined overhead and burst fifty metres or so from the submarine, while lines of oerlikon tracer converged on the
conning-tower splattering the sea around it. But U-0117 was a fast-moving target, sheltered by the crests and valleys of seas through which she lurched and slithered, hidden from time to time by sheets of spray. To Kleber, keyed to the exigencies of the moment, revelling in the fast-moving action, it seemed as if his boat bore a charmed life.

As they passed ahead of the Liberty ship next in line, Rathfelder trained the TBT on to its bows now barely two hundred metres away. At that moment a lookout shouted, ‘Warship on the starboard bow. Approaching fast.' Kleber, who'd been watching the Liberty ship as the submarine crossed its bows and turned to port, swung round to see a frigate coming up from astern of the convoy, heading for them and firing as it came. Its unpleasantly accurate gunfire caused fountains of water to erupt close astern of U-0117, the wind sweeping their spray across the bridge.

He steadied the submarine on a course to take it down close to the remaining merchant ships in the port column. Not only would this inhibit the frigate's gunnery but it would give Rathfelder a point blank shot for his next torpedo. But time was the critical factor. With the U-boat and merchant ship steaming on opposing courses, the bearing was changing so fast that only seconds were left.

‘Shoot, Rathfelder, shoot,' yelled Kleber. ‘We must dive now.'

The executive officer had never moved his head from the eye-pieces of the TBT which, notwithstanding the violent motion, he'd kept on the target ship throughout the submarine's ninety-degree turn to port. During this time he was passing rapidly changing ranges and bearings to Dieter Leuner in the conning-tower.

‘
Jahwol,
Herr
Kapitän,
' he gasped, through a mouthful of spray as he pulled the TBT's safety lever to ‘on'. To Kleber's relief there followed immediately the sharp order, ‘Tube four, fire!'

Kleber felt the submarine jar and tremble as the torpedo left its tube. He decided the frigate was too far for a
gnat
which would have homed on to the propeller of the nearest merchant ship – the one they'd just attacked – so resisted the temptation.

Pressing the diving klaxon he shouted into the voice-pipe,
‘Emergency dive.
Auf
tiefe
gehen
… take her down fast, chief.'

The alarm was still sounding when Kleber followed Rath-felder and the lookouts through the upper hatch. He slammed it shut behind him and secured the clips, then raced down the ladder into the control-room, shutting and securing the lower hatch. As he did so U-0117 was shaken by an explosion, its reverberations audible in the control-room. Ausfeld, imperturbable as ever, reported, ‘Heavy explosion to port. Our last target. Probably an ammunition ship.'

‘
Ausgezeichnet
… splendid!' Kleber had removed his mask and the blue eyes in the heavily greased face shone with exultation. He turned to the executive officer, slapping him on the back of his dripping diving suit, ‘Well done, Rath-felder.' The young man began to say something but Kleber interrupted. ‘Port twenty. We'll get under the convoy column. Disturbed water there will hide us until we find a thermal.'

U-0117 was held in a steep dive until Ausfeld reported that
pings
could no longer be heard. Kleber knew then that the submarine was under a temperature layer and he told Heuser to level off. Thereafter U-0117 turned back on to the convoy's course, following at four knots while fresh torpedoes were loaded into the tubes.

Later, when that task was completed, they would surface and attempt once more to regain the up-wind position. Kleber realised that everything would be more difficult next time. The element of surprise had gone, the escorts knew now where the attack had come from. They would be redeploying, the area would be combed, and it would not be easy for a U-boat to surface anywhere near the convoy.

U-0117's attack, from the moment of surfacing to that of diving, had occupied less than seven minutes. Kleber was well satisfied with what his boat had achieved in that time. He wondered what success the other boats of
Gruppe
Kleber
had had, and how those of
Gruppe
Osten
had fared on the Skolpen Bank.

Receipt of Kleber's 1527 shadowing report with its
KLEBER
CLOSING
DOWN
repeated twice, followed by 12,000, was for Willi Schluss traumatic It meant that Kleber had dived, the attack had begun.

Schluss and his officers knew that
Plan
X
required them to
dive at approximately the distance from the convoy's outer screen ordered by Kleber and the 1527 signal had set that at 12,000 metres. To dive earlier would delay the attack, to do so later invited the risk of discovery by radar.

Schluss and his officers were also aware that U-0153 was two miles astern of Kleber, making good fourteen knots with a following wind and sea. Allowing the escorts six to seven knots, the combined speed of approach was twenty to twenty-one knots. U-0153 would be within 12,000 metres of the outer screen in about six minutes. With this knowledge Willi Schluss's bowels contracted into a cold and painful knot. He pressed the diving alarm, his lips trembled and he shivered. ‘Take her down, Kolb. One-fifty metres. Make it a fast dive.' The alarm bell's urgent clamour sounded throughout the boat.