From the Diary of KptLt Walter Rieflin
October 3rd We left Bergen in the early hours of October 1st. Our patrol area was the Brazilian Coast. Once again, I marvel at the decision-making of the BdU assigning us a patrol to the Lower Mid Atlantic that we had to travel to from our Sub-Arctic base in Bergen whereas it would have saved on diesel had we still been based in La Rochelle. However, to be spending the late Fall months south of the Equator was more appealing than the idea of the cold storms in the Atlantic.
Our course was to take us between the Faroe Islands and Iceland before changing course to head south. This was viewed as safer than the east coast of Great Britain and through the Channel. Also, I'm sure most of the crew would have wanted a detour to La Rochelle for "one last drink" as we sailed past.
October 9th We were finding now that the Allies seemed to know our every move. Was their Radar technology superior to our own? Had they cracked our codes? Had the British Admiralty hired a psychic to look into a crystal ball to find out where we were at? Knowing our luck, it was all three. They now seemed to have an edge.
We had been at sea for about a week when we had our first air attack and this four-engined ASW aircraft appeared to know where we were at and also found us in the dark. Our FlaK batteries opened fire but it had no effect, the enemy plane dropping its wabos, exploding near the bow of the ship and successfully damaging the dive planes before it disappeared into the night as quickly as it appeared. Flying debris also hit ObLt Henger in the head, but he declared he was well enough to carry on.
After the plane had left, the repair crews got to work and were at it all night. Despite their best efforts, however, ObLt Henger reported that they had been unable to repair the damage.
October 21st Despite this stroke of bad luck, we decided to continue. This was not my best decision considering the events of today.
At 1330hrs, the Watch Crew reported an incoming four-engine American aircraft, machineguns blazing, wounding one of the flak crew in the arm. I gave the order to dive, the FlaK crews firing furiously at our attacker, hitting it and smoke billowing out of one its engines. We saw a bomb drop and from the look of it, we thought it had dropped it short.
It was a homing torpedo, hitting us hard and seriously damaging a lot of our systems. The fuel tank was leaking, both electric engines were damaged and one of the diesel engines was damaged. There had been some structural damage to the boat, but we were not to find that out until later.
After the plane had gone, we surfaced and again our hardworking LI and his team got to work. There had been rumours of both sides developing homing torpedoes. It appeared that the Allies had already got theirs to a combat-ready state.
Georg was able to repair the leak in the fuel tank and the diesel engine. However, both electrical engines were inoperable. Also, structural damage that could not be repaired included one of the flak guns, the aft torpedo doors and the forward torpedo doors on the port side.
With both electrical engines inoperable, our underwater mobility was seriously impaired. Also, with only two torpedo tubes being operational, our offensive capabilities were reduced to one third.
All we could hope to make this patrol worthwhile was unescorted shipping as if we had to dive, our chances of survival were very bleak indeed.
November 11th It was almost another three weeks and there had been no encounter. Not even a solitary fishing boat.
At about 0900hrs, the Watch Crew sounded the alarm. There was yet another Allied aircraft heading towards us from the east, strafing us and dropping two wabos as it flew over, exploding near the front of our boat. Despite having lost a FlaK gun, the remaining crews opened fire on the enemy plane, concentrated fire taking out two engines, causing the plane to list badly and crash into the sea.
Had our morale been better, we may have looked for survivors and taken them onboard as our prisoners, which we had done before. Instead, we just continued on our course. We had accomplished something, but an anti-submarine airplane would be replaced more quickly than any freighter or tanker.
As it happened, the Liberator's wasserbomb had damaged the forward torpedo doors on the starboard side. We now had no offensive capability thanks to the Kriegsmarine stripping us of our 105mm deck gun. I had to make another decision and spoke to the crew over the intercom.
"Gentlemen of the Tummler
"This has not been a good patrol for us. As you may be aware, we have already taken heavy damage from those damned allied aircraft. From this last attack, which injured our own doctor, all of our torpedo doors are inoperable and as we no longer have a deck gun, we are effectively unarmed. Therefore, I am aborting this patrol. We start our journey back to Bergen immediately.
"That is all.November 25th We were north of Scotland on the last leg of our homeward journey. We had made good time and there had been no encounters with the enemy. Not until now. Once again, our enemy was an ASW airplane from the RAF and it came at us in the dark, floodlights from the plane blinding the watch crew and FlaK gunners, strafing us, injuring one of the watch in the process, and dropping its wabos, this time exploding near the stern as we tried to dive.
We were almost dead underwater. We expected that airplane was continuing to circle our location and call for assistance from Scapa Flow or the RAF bases on Iceland. We stayed down as long as we could and surfaced to find to our relief that the plane had gone.
Our fuel tank had been damaged again. We now did not have enough fuel to get us home. Risking giving our position away, we sent a coded radio message to our base to let them know we needed to be towed home.
December 2nd Under tow, we arrived back in Bergen. No pennants flew from our periscope. The medical crew from the base were on hand to check up on our wounded crew. I was only relieved their wounds had not been any worse. For the sixteen patrols we had all been on, both with the Tummler and the Parsifal, this was our first failed patrol and I carried the shame of it being under my command. Whereas previously we came home with barely any torpedoes left, not a single torpedo had been fired. We had lived to fight another day. Hopefully our technology may have caught up by then, but at the same time I wonder whether their technology may have leaped ahead also.
WR