[Kapitän]

Originally Posted by Kapitän

Started new career in August 2019 to commemorate the beginning of WWII, 80 years before ...

+++++++

Friday, 25 September 1942 - Paris, Avenue Maréchal Maunoury

I'm getting itchy feet. Being able to serve on the B.d.U. staff has been a great honor and a very rewarding experience. However, I feel like, that our war effort would be served much better, if I were in command of a combat boat at the front line. With more of the new long-range IXD2 boats becoming available, I want to seize the opportunity to take a new boat and crew into combat.
I approach B.d.U. with my request and he fully understands and agrees with my intentions, and merely asks me to report back to him after the weekend, as he will have to check on the availability of new boats and a suitable replacement for me on the B.d.U. staff.

With the Führer relieving Chief of the Army General Staff, Colonel-General Franz Halder, and appointing General Kurt Zeitzler to succeed him, the responsibility for the employment of General Staff Corps personnel, is also taken away from the Chief of the General Staff and given to the Army Personnel Office, which is directly subordinate to the Führer.

U 177 (IXD2; Kptlt. Robert Gysae), on 23 Sept., 0605h, 1 P.O. overboard (Bootsmannmaat Erwin Henning). The present distribution of the main ballast tanks causes the boat to have a decided tendency to dip into the swell.

U 512 (Kptlt. Wolfgang Schultze) reported that "Monte Gorbea" (Esp) was recognized as a neutral vessel before she was torpedoed. Reasons for suspecting that she was a camouflaged English vessel were insufficient to warrant sinking. The Commanding Officer will have to face a court martial. All boats at sea have been informed.

(It will not come to the court martial, as U 512 will be sunk on 2 October 1942, north of Cayenne, French Guiana, by depth charges from a US B-18A-Bolo aircraft, 99th BS USAAF/71; 51 dead and 1 survivor.
The sole survivor, Matrosengefreiter Franz Machon, will spend 10 days on a life raft which the aircraft will have dropped to his aid, before being rescued by the US destroyer USS Ellis (DD-154); He will survive partly by killing and eating seabirds that attack him while he lays exposed on the raft.)

RAF Mosquito aircraft conduct a daring low-level raid on the Gestapo Headquarters in Oslo, Norway.

After sundown, our Luftwaffe attack Penzance, southwestern England.

RST
KvtKpt.& A I op
(convoy staff officer)

Started new career in August 2019 to commemorate the beginning of WWII, 80 years before ...

+++++++

Saturday, 26 September 1942 - Paris, Avenue Maréchal Maunoury

Current Operations:
Convoy No.55 (most likely RB-1)
As further pursuit of the fast convoy when contact had been broken and the weather was deteriorating promised little chance of success, the order was given that all boats who were not in a favorable position should break off the pursuit.
This unscheduled convoy again shows how difficult it is to attack a fast formation. Our boats have a maximum continuous speed of about 14 knots., but this does not often give them sufficient superiority to get ahead of the enemy and take up an attack position.
Underwater attack is also very difficult as it is only rarely possible to get into a favorable position for firing at a target that keeps making wide zigs, especially as the destroyer escort and its location gear force the submarines to take avoiding action underwater.
Despite the lack of success during the first 2 days, the operation was continued without considering the large consumption of fuel, and finally a real success was achieved. No losses, no major damage. On 27 Sept., planes are busy seeking survivors and this suggests that the steamers sunk were troop transports.

U 107, 333, 406, 87, 590 have refueled from U 460. It is intended that these boats shall operate in the Freetown area.

US 417th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron are assigned to Bluie West Eight airfield in Greenland.

Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down one Hurricane fighter and three Spitfire fighters near El Daba, Egypt between 0910 and 0916 hours. In his second sortie of the day, escorting Stuka dive bombers to El Hammam, Egypt, he shot down four enemy fighters between 1656 and 1710 hours. His score stands at 158 kills by the end of the day. When he returned to base, he was observed to be extremely exhausted, and his hands trembled uncontrollably. His superior Eduard Neumann, is grounding him for some days to give him a chance to rest.

Our troops begin another "final" attack in Stalingrad.

Soviet troops launch the Tuapse Defensive Operation in the Caucasus region of southern Russia.

Bogue-class escort carrier USS Bogue is placed in commission as an Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier, at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, with Captain Giles E. Short in command.

The Manhattan Project is given permission to use the highest wartime priority rating by the United States War Production Board.

RST
KvtKpt.& A I op
(convoy staff officer)