Disaster at Stalingrad: An Alternate History by Peter Tsouras Page B
Authors: Peter Tsouras
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put its bomb close enough to the target’s port side to rupture the hull and the engine-room steam fittings, shifting the engines from their mounts and bringing the ship to a halt. The crew abandoned ship as it settled. Just then U-334 surfaced and put a torpedo into it. The German captain watched as:
... a pillar of smoke about 200 feet high billowed up, preceded by a blinding blue flash. The heavy naval steam launch which had been trapped in a cradle on top of No. 2 hatch was picked up bodily by the explosion and hurled a quarter of a mile across the sea. The ship broke in two, and the bows sank almost at once. The air was filled with the terrible sound of the heavy cargo - Churchill tanks, antiaircraft guns, and trucks - rearing loose in the holds, and the groaning of the ship’s members under the unintended strain. 21
The messages were crowding in to the communications sections of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe staffs in Berlin and at the Wolfsschanze. From U-703 came: ‘Pinpoint AC.3568. 5,476-ton River Afton sunk. Cargo aircraft and tanks. Three torpedoes.’ Hitler was grinning as his aide read off every kill. Goring’s smile faded when it was a Navy kill. It reappeared whenever a Luftwaffe kill report came in. He jumped up and clapped his chubby hands when the report of the sinking of three more ships by Ju 88s came in.
‘SS Pankraft blazing.’ A flight of Ju 88s attacked from 4,000 feet and left the ship a mass of flames. The 5,600-ton freighter carried a cargo of TNT and 5,000 tons of crated aircraft parts, with bombers lashed to the deck The crew abandoned ship, the captain and the chief officer the first into a lifeboat. The second officer stayed with the ship to ensure the evacuation of the rest of the crew. He was killed as the last man off the ship as a Ju 88 flew by and strafed him. When the fire reached the TNT cargo, the Pankraft blew up.
An American merchantman, the Daniel Morgan, carrying a cargo of food and leather, was destroyed by a combination of air and submarine attacks. Its hull was split open by Ju 88 attacks and it was finally sent to the bottom with four of its crew by the torpedoes of U-88. U-703 had fired four torpedoes at the British Empire Byron and missed but finally hit with a fifth fish which sent the cargo of army trucks on deck flying through the air. Empire Byron sank stern first, taking eighteen of its crew down too. 22
The Germans did not quite have everything their own way. The American Peter Kerr fleeing eastward threw up such an effective wall of antiaircraft fire that repeated attacks by seven He 115s were beaten off and two of them shot down. A Royal Navy corvette depth-charged U-457 as it was lining up a shot on the burning Dutch Paulus Potter. Far more embarrassing for the Germans was the attack of an unidentified Ju 88 on a German U-boat riding on the surface. An investigation would later be launched, but for want of a culprit it had to be dropped. Apparently no crew admitted to the error.
Seven miles southwest of Bear Island, 3 July 1942
Hamilton was happily ignorant of the disaster that had fallen on the convoy as he attacked the German fleet. Perhaps if had known what little help he could have offered, he would have cancelled his attack and pulled back to screen for Tovey’s Home Fleet. The point was moot. The enemy was there, and he had to gain time for the battleships to arrive. He thought of Nelson’s instruction to his captains before Trafalgar. ‘Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone.’ 23
The cost of that decision came home when shells from the 11-inch guns of the Lützow straddled the London. He would not be within range for another ten minutes. The next German salvo struck a few yards to port sending huge geysers of red water from the sighting dye to drench the ship. Hamilton could see the water spouts from Scheer’s salvoes perilously close to the nearby Norfolk. The Americans, he
... a pillar of smoke about 200 feet high billowed up, preceded by a blinding blue flash. The heavy naval steam launch which had been trapped in a cradle on top of No. 2 hatch was picked up bodily by the explosion and hurled a quarter of a mile across the sea. The ship broke in two, and the bows sank almost at once. The air was filled with the terrible sound of the heavy cargo - Churchill tanks, antiaircraft guns, and trucks - rearing loose in the holds, and the groaning of the ship’s members under the unintended strain. 21
The messages were crowding in to the communications sections of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe staffs in Berlin and at the Wolfsschanze. From U-703 came: ‘Pinpoint AC.3568. 5,476-ton River Afton sunk. Cargo aircraft and tanks. Three torpedoes.’ Hitler was grinning as his aide read off every kill. Goring’s smile faded when it was a Navy kill. It reappeared whenever a Luftwaffe kill report came in. He jumped up and clapped his chubby hands when the report of the sinking of three more ships by Ju 88s came in.
‘SS Pankraft blazing.’ A flight of Ju 88s attacked from 4,000 feet and left the ship a mass of flames. The 5,600-ton freighter carried a cargo of TNT and 5,000 tons of crated aircraft parts, with bombers lashed to the deck The crew abandoned ship, the captain and the chief officer the first into a lifeboat. The second officer stayed with the ship to ensure the evacuation of the rest of the crew. He was killed as the last man off the ship as a Ju 88 flew by and strafed him. When the fire reached the TNT cargo, the Pankraft blew up.
An American merchantman, the Daniel Morgan, carrying a cargo of food and leather, was destroyed by a combination of air and submarine attacks. Its hull was split open by Ju 88 attacks and it was finally sent to the bottom with four of its crew by the torpedoes of U-88. U-703 had fired four torpedoes at the British Empire Byron and missed but finally hit with a fifth fish which sent the cargo of army trucks on deck flying through the air. Empire Byron sank stern first, taking eighteen of its crew down too. 22
The Germans did not quite have everything their own way. The American Peter Kerr fleeing eastward threw up such an effective wall of antiaircraft fire that repeated attacks by seven He 115s were beaten off and two of them shot down. A Royal Navy corvette depth-charged U-457 as it was lining up a shot on the burning Dutch Paulus Potter. Far more embarrassing for the Germans was the attack of an unidentified Ju 88 on a German U-boat riding on the surface. An investigation would later be launched, but for want of a culprit it had to be dropped. Apparently no crew admitted to the error.
Seven miles southwest of Bear Island, 3 July 1942
Hamilton was happily ignorant of the disaster that had fallen on the convoy as he attacked the German fleet. Perhaps if had known what little help he could have offered, he would have cancelled his attack and pulled back to screen for Tovey’s Home Fleet. The point was moot. The enemy was there, and he had to gain time for the battleships to arrive. He thought of Nelson’s instruction to his captains before Trafalgar. ‘Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone.’ 23
The cost of that decision came home when shells from the 11-inch guns of the Lützow straddled the London. He would not be within range for another ten minutes. The next German salvo struck a few yards to port sending huge geysers of red water from the sighting dye to drench the ship. Hamilton could see the water spouts from Scheer’s salvoes perilously close to the nearby Norfolk. The Americans, he
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