Five Hundred Fifty-Nine Arctic Ocean

Where is the water colder than the North Atlantic Ocean? The answer is the Arctic Ocean. There are colder sea water and worse sea conditions. Any equipment here seems to be frozen into ice. This is an ocean of ice, and it is also a cold world.

Leaning on the mast and the stowed periscope, Prien smoked quietly while looking at the icy sea. Although it is already May, the sea near the North Pole still makes people feel no warmth. He didn't want to die in this environment, and he missed the North Atlantic that made him a myth even more.

From time to time, large pieces of ice floes floated by in the distance of the water, and even further away, huge icebergs could be seen moving little by little with the ocean current. Puli's assistants were using binoculars to monitor the surrounding situation. Two sailors in windbreakers stood beside the 88mm cannon installed in front of the submarine, talking softly.

When the Atlantic Ocean was no longer full of freighters heading to the UK, and when the invincible British Empire Navy was huddled in Canada and no longer easily came out to challenge the German Navy, many German submarines began to do nothing. They have no way to sink hundreds of tons of British transport ships, nor can they take the risk of challenging the British escort fleet.

As a result, the old days of drinking and eating meat became cramped, and the already gloomy life of the submarine officers and soldiers became even darker. Wandering in the Atlantic Ocean for ten days could not find a target, the route between Iceland and Canada was full of patrolling anti-submarine ships and aircraft-it was not a good hunting place, the German submarine force buried 5 submarines and Hundreds of submarine officers and soldiers could only use this conclusion to comfort the heroic spirits lying on the bottom of the sea.

The route between the United States and Canada and Iceland is too dangerous. Most areas are within the range of land-based aircraft. There are so many long-range patrol aircraft in the United States, and their frequent dispatches almost cover the sky. Germany's High Seas Fleet went south because it did not want to compete with the opponent's land-based fighter jets, and the German submarine force also reduced its combat missions to blockade Iceland.

After all, hundreds of ocean-going submarines are war resources and deadly weapons. After summing up his combat experience, Dönitz immediately sent out his own wolf pack troops, this time no longer to Iceland to hunt, but to the Soviet waters to hunt and kill the Soviet fleet that threatened the coast of Norway there.

Prien still remembers what Doenitz said to him ten days ago when he ordered him to go to the North Sea: "Prien, there is no way to continue the battle in the Atlantic Ocean. We are wasting personnel, equipment and precious diesel oil. You can’t just complete a small amount of harassment tasks, it’s not worth it.”

"So I now order you to go to the Arctic Circle theater, use Norway as a base, and attack Soviet ships. There is a paradise for submarine warfare. When you get there, you will continue the glory of the North Atlantic."

The Soviet main fleet led by 4 Soviet-class battleships, 17 cruisers and 53 destroyers is indeed a tempting piece of fat. Many German submarine captains want to take a bite of the fat.

And here is indeed a new hunting ground, full of backwardness and primitiveness that can be developed.

Groups of Soviet transport ships have no anti-submarine experience, and they continue to send supplies from the United States to the Western Front along their own routes. Lots of ammunition and medicines, ship after ship of soldiers and their weapons, even trucks and motorcycles for aid.

When there were only sheep on the grassland, it was really an intoxicating and peaceful picture, but one day a group of hungry wolves broke into this picture, and immediately the painting style changed from the pastoral landscape to the sea of ​​blood in hell.

After German submarines sank more than 300 Soviet transport ships of various types near the long northern coastline of the Soviet Union, these Soviet ships finally learned how to behave. They no longer dared approach the northwestern waters of the Soviet Union, and most ships unloaded their cargo on the way back to the safer Far East.

Prien has sunk a full 20 transport ships of various types here. The large ships are about 2,000 tons, and the small ones may only be 300 tons. He went on a rampage like a pirate, sinking the small boat with his 88mm cannon and saving the torpedoes for the larger ship.

In order to gain as many records as possible, submarines will rob some specific targets in most cases. It's a dangerous activity because you can't tell if it's an armed anti-submarine ship disguised as a transport ship. The only difference between the two is whether there are two large-caliber artillery temporarily installed on the ship.

The technology in the UK is more advanced. Some large transport ships with a weight of more than 8,000 tons have been equipped with catapults, and aircraft that can throw depth charges are installed on them. When encountering a sneak attack from a submarine, they ejected the plane and drove the submarine away. The plane made an emergency landing on the sea and the pilot inside was rescued by the transport ship-compared with the loss of a large transport ship, the loss of a crashed plane is simply negligible.

Of course, the transport ships on the Soviet side simply didn't have time to install artillery to fight back, so the commanders of the German submarines became even more unscrupulous. After all, good days are counted by counting fingers. After the best days, they will be greeted by opponents who have learned countless times.

As a result, scenes that were commonplace in the Atlantic Ocean six months ago, but now disappeared, appeared in the coastal waters of the Soviet Union. The submarine suddenly rushed out of the sea from the side of the Soviet ship, pointed its black muzzle at the opponent, and used the horn to order the opponent to put down their weapons. s things.

Submarine u-171 robbed a food ship and called three other wolf pack submarines nearby to share its spoils. Because of this robbery, they stayed at sea for another 14 days and gained more sinking records.

The u-92 submarine was the biggest beneficiary of this robbery operation. The captain of this submarine was named Graal. He didn't even know that he could become a real rich man overnight. He captured a Soviet transport ship, which was originally going to Canada, which was one of the important links in the Soviet Union's introduction of British technical cooperation.

Well, to be honest, there are a full 200 tons of gold in this Soviet transport ship, as well as precious metals with a market value of 50 million. The Germans even found the training plan and personnel list of the two parties during the Soviet-German cooperation period.

The submarine made its way home with the spoils and caused a stir when it arrived in Norway. Then they went to Wilhelmshaven and were received by the head of the empire, Akado and Admiral Raeder. They generously promised to distribute 20 tons of gold to the officers and soldiers on the u-92 submarine, and gave the remaining 20 tons of gold as a reward. Distributed to the entire Navy submarine force.

Of course, all of this is now a thing of the past, and today's Arctic Ocean has become dangerous. The Soviets dispatched all the navies they could find to deal with the German submarine crisis. They escorted their transport ships and laid mines in some sea areas to interfere with the actions of German submarines.

Now even Prien, the ace commander of submarine warfare, dare not take the risk of looting Soviet merchant ships and transport ships, because just a week ago, the German submarine force, which was full of joy and sorrow, lost a submarine in vain. This German submarine surfaced and robbed a tattered-looking "transport ship", which turned out to be an "armed cruiser" refitted before World War I-although there were only four old-fashioned 152mm cannons, it could deal with one The 88mm gun on the submarine is definitely more than enough. So the German submarine was sunk, and 40 sailors who survived were sent to Siberia labor camps.

Prien thought of this, held the cigarette between his fingers, and exhaled a thick puff of smoke. He didn't know whether it was the water vapor from the breath or the smoke from the cigarette. In fact, the conditions here are worse than those days when the British mainland was blocked. There is no aircraft to detect the approximate location of the target, and the actions of the wolves can only rely on their own non-stop wandering.

Moreover, more transport ships in the Soviet Union are small ships of more than 1,000 tons to 2,000 tons. Naturally, it is not as enjoyable as two torpedoes sinking a giant ship of 5,000 tons or even 6,000 tons. Sometimes the U-boats had to abandon some of their targets because they were too small to be worth wasting torpedoes on.

"Captain! On the port side, there seems to be a target!" The first officer put down the high-magnification naval binoculars and softly reminded Prien to find the target.

Prien immediately put the cigarette back into his mouth, grabbed the binoculars hanging on his chest with both hands, and looked into the distance on the port side of the submarine. Sure enough, there was a big ship there, and it looked really big.

"Ready for battle! Check the valve and the torsion bar of the hatch, and start diving!" Prien put down the binoculars in his hand, and immediately issued a battle order. the interior of the submarine. After they closed their hatches and tightened the closing torsion bar, the waves had already come up, and the entire hull of the submarine had sunk into the sea.

"Big guy! It looks like a warship." The first officer opened the hatch under his feet. About a minute later, the bridge where they were located was about to dive into the sea, and they had to get back in the boat as soon as possible. .

"Indeed, it should be a cruiser." Prien nodded. In fact, he thought the opponent should be bigger, maybe it was a battleship. The waves rolled, and in just a short time, most of the German submarine's body had disappeared on the sea.

Soon the submarine sank into the water, and Prien confirmed the direction of the target again with the periscope. The warship did not change its course, and was indeed heading towards their location. It seemed that the opponent hadn't found a German submarine here. As for why they didn't find it, only God knows.