UNDER WATER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 17, 20 July 1931, Page 3

UNDER WATER

WITH THE U-BOATS

WAR-TIME ADVENTURES

RAIDING. COMMERCE

One of the most notable victories of | the war was the defeat by the Allies of the German U-boat campaign against commerce and'troopships.. Many writers havo celebrated the valour of the men who combated what.Lord Jellicoe has described as "the greatest peril which ever threatened the population of Great Britain." Their courage and their daring are emphasised by stories of the U-boat campaign told from the point of view of the Germans. In "U-Boafc Stories," edited by two German officers, there are first-hand narratives by officers and men, illustrated by an official artist, says the Melbourne "Argus." Even when every allowance is made for the plight in which Germany found herself, the propaganda which was disseminated ■ among the crews, and the undoubted courage which they exhibited in the face of appalling danger, it* is impossible to read the stories without a feeling of horror. The wholesale destruction of commerce necessitated a complete disregard of the accepted canons of warfare. A submarine could neither spare men for prize crews nor send prizes into port, for to make a lawful capture she must come to the surface and remain there long enough to incur grave risks. The calm matter-of-factiiess of the descriptions of the sinking of some of the 5408 Bhips of 11,189,000 tons.which fell victims to the torpedoes and guns of the U-boats chill.the blood of the reader. Despite the great destruction which they wrought, however, the campaign of the U-boats was doomed to failure. Before the end of the war they became hunted, furtive things, which presented no serious problem to the Allies. Much has been written of the decoys whichwere employed to lure U-boats.to their terrible doom. Herr Haidt, who was a : wireless operator on U834, describes an encounter with a decoy in April, 1918. "On the 30th at 3 o'clock in the morning we passed Pair Isle between ' the Orkneys and the Shetlands (to the north of Scotland). 'At ■ 7 o'clock a steamer of 2500 or 3000 tons, painted black and grey, came into sight. ■ ■ ALMOST TRAPPED. '' We attacked under water,' fired a torpedo, and a few seconds later there was a loud explosion. The steamer heeled over; the crew got into the lifeboats, and rowed away. Slowly we approached at periscope depth. Why didn't she sink? It looked suspicious. The ship gradually righted as we came nearer and stopped about 80 metres (some 87 yards) away; there was not a sign of life aboard. She carried a single gun astern. We rose to the surface. "Suddenly the ship came to life. Hidden portholes sprang open, her deck swarmed with men, the stern gun was manned, other guns were unmasked, and poured a devastating fire on us, and between the detonations of the shells we could hear the rattle of machineguns.' A U-boat decoy! The steamer had started her. engines again, but she was too near to.us for her shells to do us' any harm, and the volleys of machine-gun bullets made no impression. under our armour-plating. Suddenly the commander noticed a masked torpedo-tube-: aimed at us, from which at that very instant _a torpedo splashed into the water. " 'Ware torpedo!" he shouted. 'Both engines full speed ahead; hard a-port; compressed air into air the tanks!' "To late! The toirpedo crashed against our hull. This was the end; the detonation would blow us and our boat to pieces. In a flash our thoughts turned to our loved ones at home, and we bade them a silent farewell. . . But the expected explosion did not come. . . a dud! We breathed'again. We dived to 40 metres (some 44 yards), and made off as fast as wo could; for some time we heard the-detonations.of the depth charges which the enemy dropped all round the place where we disappeared. When we came to the surface about. noon the sea, was calm and- deserted; not a suspicious sign. We at once wirelessed a description of our enemy to all the U-boats cruising in the neighbourhood." A FAILURE. Another story of a decoy tells—at second hand —how a U-boat had fired at an apparently harmless steamer. While the English crew was escaping in lifeboats the U-boat emerged to deliver the vessel its coup de grace. Suddenly a woman appeared on deck with a baby in her arms. She began to run up and down like one distracted., The U-boat came alongside and two men were sent on board. Suddenly the woman appeared to take leave of her senses. She flung the child on to the deck of the submarine. Some of the Germans ran forward to catch the baby before it fell-into the water. But the bundle was not a baby; it was a bomb, which failed to explode. The sailor disguised as a woman was soon dead. He -had deliberately sacrificed his life in order to attempt-the ruse. There is an account of a U-boat being imprisoned between the bed of the ocean and the ship which it had sunk: It is possible from the narrative of the petty officer who describes • the incident to appreciate the emotions of the few on the ship who were aware of its des-perate-plight. Although no one survived to describe'another accident to a U-boat, there is no difficulty in imagining, the sufferings of the crew. When it is remembered that those who manned the submarines knew that they invited a similar fate, it in impossible not to regard' them with admiration. One vessel of the U-boat training school which had gone to Apenrade Fjord, off the coast of Prussia, did not return. Aeroplanes . sighted the missing boat lying on the floor of the sea. _ Two salvage boats began to work frantically. The divers laboured manfully in the sticky ooze to get the hawsers around the hull of the U-boat, but the mud was so thick that it was hours before they could get the cables into position. "We succeeded in commuuicating by knocks with seven of the imprisoned men, and learned that all the others were dead. The supply of air was almost exhaustel, and unfortunately the potash cartridges were in another compartment; the bulkhead door was'holding, and there was no fear at present that the water *ould get in. Slowly, in a series of jerks, the crane raised the shattered boat; the periscope was already above the surface, when, with a rending crack, the two forward hawsers split like tinderwood. All ou* labours had been in vain. AGAIN. "Undismayed, the divers began their work once more. The impetus of the falling boat had driven it so firmly into the slime that it was now threequarters submerged. A whole day passed before the hawsers could again be got under the hull. Our hopes revived as the cables were slowly drawn up, but once more we were to fail. This time all the ropes broke, though they were tho strongest avaUable. The knocking signals grew perceptibly weaker. The prisoners had been so full of hope, only to havo it snatched away from them like this; it-was too ghastly to 'think of. "The salvage work had now lusted 70 hours. The weather had boon good]

hitherto, but the sea now grew rough. The Meteor (a salvage ship) had to weigh anchor, and the Vulkan (another salvage ship) was so battered by the waves that it was feared she might spring a leak. But she and her brave divers laboured on alone. She pitched anl rolled heavily, and began to drag her anchor. The storm was too great. It was only with the greatest efforts and care that the divers, who were quite worn out, were hoisted to the deck. The' "Vulkan proceeded Elowly homeward. ... "For weeks it was impossible to attempt any salvage operations. The survivors in the boat were undoubtedly all dead. Not until, four months later was it possible to raise the boat. She was almost entirely covered with ooze, only the conning tower being visible. The labour of getting the cables around the wreck was the heaviest that those indefatigable divers had ever undertaken. Slowly the windlasses began to turn, and in a succession of jerks the boat, now enveloped, in a garment of green seaweed, emerged to the surface. The cause of the accident was soon discovered. The boat had fouled one of the mines from the mine-barrier off the Apenrade Fjord, which had exploded and sent her to the bottom. "When we returned we were faced with the dreadful task of opening the boat. The conning tower hatch was forced. . . .What must the poor fellows have endured before death brought them merciful relief f What scenes of horror and madness had been enacted in that narrow cabin'? The scratches on the steel walls, the torn finger-nails ■of the corpses, the bloodstains on their clothes and on the walls, bore all too dreadful witness. ..."