by Nick Mariano
U-532 continued it direct routing to the American shoreline and the Captain was about three quarters of the way, estimating his arrival in about 3 1/2 days time. He had picked up some strong currents along the way and would arrive a little ahead of schedule. He too would navigate as close to shore as permissible before discharging his landing party and then swing back out to deeper depths to await their return.
U-756 had now passed the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and was steering a course toward New Britain and Nova Scotia. Military encounters were still rare, however, Captain Falke knew that things would pick up once they hit the coastline of the U.S. The Americans were a lot more cautious than the Canadians and kept a close eye along the coast for enemy vessels that might try to penetrate their territory. Falke projected his arrival off New Bern right on time and soon he would be sending an encoded signal to the operatives that were to meet his men when they landed.
Sentries were posted aboard all three ships to guard the room where the virus canisters were stored during their journey. Occasionally the guard checked the room to ensure that nothing was amiss or that the containers had not been tampered with. The sentry aboard U-756 decided to check the room on Day 9, as it had been a few days since he last did so. Upon entering he sensed that something was not quite right. The containers had been removed from their outer coverings when they reached the ships and the inside boxes were constructed of stainless steel with four heavy-duty latches. On top of the metal box was the Nazi swastika embossed into the top of the container. A sort of liquid appeared to be seeping out along the bottom of the lip and the sentry thought he heard a slight hissing noise coming from inside the box itself. Even though the sentry had specific orders not to touch or tamper with the container or its contents, curiosity, and a bit of fear, overtook his better judgment. He knew that if something went wrong he might be blamed for it and he thought that perhaps he could correct the problem. Locking the entry door behind him, he approached the container and began to unlatch the four hasps securing the lip to the body of the box. As he let lose of the last hasp and gingerly lifted the lid he saw that one canister was spraying a fine mist from it top. The mist appeared to rise rapidly toward the ceiling and ventilation duct and the sentry inhaled a small amount of the vapor before he nervously slammed the lid back down and secured the box. He found some old rags and wiped the residue from the outside of the box and discarded the rags once he was back in the hall. He wasn’t sure what was happening but he felt it was better that the Captain or someone else discover what had happened rather than him reporting it and getting in real trouble. Meanwhile the escaped vapor wound it way through the ships ventilation ducks spreading the deadly virus throughout the stern of the ship.
ENIGMA
Unbeknownst to the German High Command, the Allies had managed to board the U-744 and capture both an Enigma code machine and several of the codes that the Germans were using. The Germans had used the codes since early in the war and were confident that the machine’s output could not be broken. The Enigma was used for almost all coded communications involving battlefield plans, ship and U-boat movements and orders to the Captains, air force deployments and missions and for transmitting messages to their operatives in Europe, Canada and the United States. The British, working with the Americans, had assembled a group of their top mathematicians and problem solvers to work on formatting the numerous permutations in Enigma settings. The Allies were cautious in their use of this gathered intelligence, as they did not want to tip off the Germans that the Allies could read a large number of the codes they were transmitting. As the war progressed the Allies were able to intercept increasingly more intelligence and detect more German ship movements and, in particular, the movement of U-boats heading to the shores of America.
Recently these intercepts had indicated that some sort of major mission might be underway involving U-boats heading towards the United States. The exact particulars were not known, but the Allied Command decided to alert all their naval patrols along the eastern seaboard that they should be on the look out for U-boat activity in their regions.
DAY 10
Now only a few days from their landing sites the ships continued to steer along the routes that the Captains had plotted and everyone appeared to be on schedule for their arrival on Day 14.
Captain Salman in the U-751 was fast approaching the coast of Cuba where he would make a sharp northerly turn and move along the coast to Sea Breeze, where the Waffen-SS men would paddle ashore and meet their contacts. Both merchant and military boat traffic had begun to increase requiring the Captain to run submerged during a good part of the day. The boat would surface late at night and recharge its batteries along with getting some fresh air circulating through the sub. Both the Captain and his men were getting anxious for this part of their mission to be concluded so that they could get back to the open seas and begin torpedoing Allied ships again.
Captain Walkerling in the U-532 was now only about 850 nautical miles from the coast of North Carolina. The boat had been averaging about 17 knots while running surfaced, however, now that they were spending more time submerged to avoid Allied convoys, their average speed was only about 11.5 knots. Walkerling estimated that he should sight land in about another 4 days. He had begun meeting with the Waffen-SS men to discuss how best to get their landing craft close to shore so that they could make their rendezvous. The main problem was how to get close to shore without being spotted by either Allied surface vessels or surveillance aircraft, which were continually patrolling the coast. He could run submerged only so far into the coast and then would have to run surfaced as the water depths along the North and South Carolina shores dropped rapidly from 150’ to depths as shallow as 40’-50’. Although the U-boat was equipped to travel through depths this low, there was always the hazard of grounding on a sand bar and being forced to fully surface to break free. The Captain had decided to land his men between dusk and the night hours so that their appearance on the surface would be less noticeable. Luckily the full moon had already passed so there shouldn’t be any surface light of any substance.
The U-756 under Captain Falke was just passing the coast of Nova Scotia and would soon be approaching American waters where the Allied naval presence would be more noticeable. He had already met with the landing party to discuss how he planned to approach the coast and discharge them for the link up with the German operatives on shore. He estimated that he could get his men in close proximity of the shore although they would still have a bit of rowing to do to reach shore. He had already studied the tide schedules and charts for the projected landing date and thought that if he could get his men underway when the tide was beginning to rise and move toward shore they would be rowing with the current and should have an easier time reaching their destination.
It had been almost 30 hours since the virus was accidentally released aboard the U-756 and already of few of the men had begin to experience sore throats and a certain stiffness in their bodies. Many had already reported to sick bay and the ship’s doctor felt that the symptoms were probably due to the confined quarters and the fact that the ship had been running submerged most of the time with the men were breathing recycled air. He thought the men would feel better after they completed this part of their mission and they began to run surfaced again, giving the men more fresh air and allowing them to get on deck and get some needed sun. He prescribed some aspirin to a few of the men who appeared to be suffering more than the others. The doctor himself wasn’t feeling his best today either but he just shook this off and figured it was the lack of sleep he had been experiencing.
DAY 11
Himmler contacted the Fuhrer’s office early that day to arrange a short meeting with the Fuhrer. He had nothing special to report, other than the last radio message sent to the ships to ascertain their bearings and locations, Berlin had heard nothing more from the Captains since the ships were still maintaining radio silence. Later today his office would have CODE send a transmission to
the three operatives giving them final instructions concerning their meeting the landing parties once they were ashore. They would also give them instructions on how to abort the mission if they thought they were detected. Himmler hoped that once the teams got ashore the hardest part of the mission would be over and that the operatives would have little trouble getting their cargoes to the designated towns, where the virus would be released. Then it would just be a matter of time before people started falling over and dying, sending the American population into a state of panic.
Berlin had decided to discharge one canister in New York City and then take the remaining canisters from the U-756 to Washington, D.C. and strike a blow at the very heart of America, to the city where their government was based. With luck some of the American politicians and decision makers might get infected and die. The Pentagon was also in the area and hopefully they would get a general or two.
In the remote chance that it appeared the operative and landing party was detected, the operatives were given instructions to kill the two landing party members and attempt to get the cargo to safety. If this failed, they were to blow up the cargo with explosives they would be carrying and then use one of the cyanide pills they had on themselves. The entire mission could not be jeopardized and there were still two other groups who might be successful. The Americans mustn’t be tipped off about this weapon before they had a chance to get it dispersed.
The second team landing at Wrightsville Beach had the cities of Wilmington and Norfolk, Virginia, as it’s targets. Norfolk was picked as this was a large naval facility and disruption there would have an impact on America’s naval force.
The third team’s objective was Charleston, South Carolina, as that also was a large naval facility providing resources for the East Coast defense. Charleston was also a large commercial seaport and an outbreak there would disrupt the flow of supplies to the war effort.
Himmler hoped that this project was successful as it could change the course of the war and put him in high regard with the Fuhrer. Should it prove a success, he would have Mengele put together some more shipments, which he would have transported to the West Coast of the U.S. and get the epidemic moving across the whole of America. If the doctor’s estimates were correct, the virus would spread like wild fire once the infection got underway. The Americans would be totally helpless in a matter of weeks or months. It would be total chaos across the American states.
Meanwhile at the Navy Regional Mid-Atlantic Command Headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, radio operators had begun to intercept radio messages from Berlin using the newly deciphered codes from the captured Enigma machines. It appeared the some operations were being laid out to German operatives involving U-boats currently approaching the U.S. coast from Virginia to South Carolina. The messages were quickly dispatched to the Commander of Mid-Atlantic Operations. Commander Ronald Kaplan quickly assembled his staff and began to lie out a plan to intercept the incoming subs as they approached the North Carolina coast. The Captains of the USS Roper and the United States Coast Guard patrol boat Icarus were notified by Commander Kaplan to break off their current operations and to steam toward the North Carolina coast immediately. The USS Roper was a Wickes-class destroyer that was built in response to torpedo boats that were being used successfully by the Germans to attack Allied supply ships. The ship carried 100 officers and enlisted men and carried a wide array of armaments, including a 102 mm canon and 76 mm deck gun along with 12 torpedo tubes. The ship could operate effectively at high speeds and in heavy seas that made it ideal for operating off the North Carolina coastline. Captain Harold Sims commanded the ship. The Roper already had three confirmed U-boat kills and just last month had come across a surfaced U-boat off the North Carolina coast and following an exchange of fire between the two ships, had sunk the U-boat using its 102 mm canons. The waters off North Carolina had gained the nickname of Torpedo Alley because of the high number of U-boat attacks on Allied shipping and naval vessels. Almost 400 ships were sunk during Germany’s “Second Happy Time” in 1942.” The U-boat sailors often joked about their continued success in this region and called their ventures onto the East Coast, “The Great American Turkey Shoot.”
Lieutenant M.D.Jester had served over twenty years in the US Military before being given command of the Icarus. The USCGC Icarus, WPC-110, was a steel hulled, diesel powered Thetis-class patrol boat, which spent most of World War II patrolling the East coast and in particular, the North Carolina coastline where U-boat activity was the most concentrated. Before the wars she had been used to patrol the US waters, on the lookout for rumrunners during the days of Prohibition. She could cruise at 16 knots and carried an assortment of deck guns, depth charge racks and Mousetrap antisubmarine rockets. The rockets carried over 33 pounds of explosives and could be fired from launchers on the deck when chasing down enemy U-boats. Although an older ship, the Icarus continued its duty during the war and was credited with two sub kills in the last six months.
Both Captains were provided information from the intercepted Enigma transmissions and told to locate, intercept and sink the approaching U-boats. The Captains were familiar with the area and knew the favorite hiding places used by U-boat commanders.
The Captains of the three U-boats assembled their crews to brief them about what would be happening over the next three days. Each Captain revealed their destination along the US coastline and how they would be landing a commando party in order to deliver a special package that could change the course of the war. The Captains said that all the bridge and deck crews must be 100% so that there were no slip-ups and in order for the subs to evade possible enemy convoys that would be patrolling the coastlines. The subs were to avoid contact with any ships in their area of travel, however, should the subs be detected, the Captains would first try evasive maneuvers and then if this failed, they would engage the enemy using either torpedoes or by surfacing and using their deck guns as the last option. The Captains concluded by saying that the Fuhrer himself was closely watching this operation and so it was very important that it be a success.
The U-boat Captains then met with the two Waffen-SS men on board and briefed them on how their landings would take place. The Captains would try to get as close to the coastline as they could before surfacing and discharging their passengers. Their cargo would be secured in the landing boats and the commandos would then have to navigate to shore and try to locate their operatives using radios they both were carrying. If they were successful, they would then row back out to sea and send a signal to the U-boats, which would then surface and bring their men back on board. The Captain added, that should his sub be detected by Allied convoys he might be forced to flee the area and the two commandos would be on their own. Hopefully the operatives could bring them back to their base of operatives and a plan could be worked out for getting them picked up later by a passing U-boat. Under no circumstances should they allow their cargo to be captured by the Americans. They should use every means possible to protect the boxes they would be carrying. If they were captured they should destroy their packages and not disclose either their mission or what the operation involved.
The commandos returned to their area on the boats and began their final rehearsals for the upcoming operation. All their equipment was checked and double-checked.
The landing team aboard the U-756 stopped by the secured room where their cargo was being held to check the box and ensure everything was in order. The sentry on guard duty appeared to be a bit under the weather and it appeared that he had some sort of rash on his arms and neck. Opening the secured room the box appeared to be in order, however, some moisture appeared to be on its sides. The men thought this was just due to the high humidity of the boat and the salt-water environment. The room was re-secured.
Captain Falke of the U-756 noticed during his briefing that several of his men appeared to be suffering from some sort of cold or virus and many were coughing and sneezing during his briefing. A number also appeared to have rashes on their
arms and necks and the Captain contacted the doctor after the meeting to see if any had recently reported to sickbay. The doctor said that he thought a mild flu had come aboard with someone and that over half the crew was now infected. He added that he had prescribed an antibiotic to the men and that they should be seeing a marked improvement in them in a day or so. He wasn’t sure, however, what the rash was that some had exhibited during their sickbay visit. He had prescribed a mild fungal cream to a few of the men to see if that might clear up the rash.
A few of the men in the aft section of the sub had begun to notice a slight oozing of fluids from some of the rashes they had. Others also noticed that they were sweating more and beginning to feel a bit more irritable but dismissed this to the fact that the sub was now running submerged most of the time. Most thought that a good night’s sleep and the medications the ship’s doctor had prescribed would have them feeling better in the morning.