Word: u-boat
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Since early in the war Nazi leaders have spared no effort to keep that morale high. U-boat crews have been treated like the supermen of the super race. When a sub comes in from a long cruise it is met at its base by a brass band, cheering dockworkers, flower-throwing civilians and a quayside loaded with the handsomest girls obtainable, primed to give their all for the returning heroes...
...pushed north, off the Balearic Islands. One afternoon, creeping toward "Gib," my officer of the watch sighted what he thought was a distant aircraft carrier. On a closer look it turned out to be a submarine. My orders were like everyone else's: if you see a German U-boat, fire everything you have got. We had six torpedoes; we fired all and held our breath. There was a very nice bang at the end of the right time. Through the periscope I saw he had been hit just behind the conning tower and sank very quickly...
...kind of underwater arm" (promised soon by naval chief Admiral Karl Doenitz, to make up for the admitted defeat of the Nazi U-boat campaign...
Another passenger is a German (Walter Slezak), captain of the destroyed U-boat which sank the lifeboat's ship. His life is saved when Shipbuilder Rittenhouse insists on democratic procedure and the observance of international law. When a dance-hall addict (William Bendix) develops gangrene, it is the German captain, an ex-surgeon, who amputates the gangrened leg. As the passengers grow weaker, the German takes charge and rows, hour after hour, comforting the derelicts by singing Lieder...
After three hours Lieut. Kenneth Wright, pilot of U.S. Navy Liberator E for Edward, sighted Roger circling the sub, came roaring down to plant his depth charges astraddle the U-boat in face of its heavy gunfire, circled and came back for strafing. Said Lieut. Wright: "We saw a big explosion. A moment later its bow submerged and it started trailing oil. We saw a dead man in the conning tower. When we left after 75 minutes the U-boat was down at the stern and still trailing...