Click2Flicks - U571 - Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>HITLER'S ENIGMA</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 3 - THE U-BOATS</b></font></p> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">One of Hitler's best weapons to hinder successful Allied convoy trips was the <a href="http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/Gallery/Travel/Finland/Suomenlinna/u-boat-2.jpg" target="_blank"><b>U-Boat</b></a>. The <a href="http://www.uboat.net/types/index.html" target="_blank"><b>Unterseebooten</b></a> (under sea boats) were German submarines that attacked, almost at will, because the commanders knew (through the Enigma codes) the specific coordinates of Allied ships as they passed through convoy routes.</p> <p>U-boats, like Allied <a href="http://ddi.digital.net/~zohar/submarine/SubFacts.html" target="_blank"><b>submarines</b></a>, were different from today's <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/subsecrets/inside.html" target="_blank"><b>nuclear subs</b></a> which can remain underwater for months. WWII subs were more like regular boats with diving capability. They had to return to the surface periodically.</p> <p>When submerged, WWII subs would creak and groan. Men had to <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/perisc/88-159-iu.jpg" target="_blank"><b>live</b></a> in <a href="http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/tour/tour.htm" target="_blank"><b>cramped spaces</b></a>. Showers were usually permitted only once a week. Sometimes the stale air in the sub was freezing cold. Sometimes it was blazing hot with nearly 100% humidity. The possibility of losing one's life on a submarine was an <a href="http://lookinside-images.amazon.com/Qffs+v35lerwXycAqiaYLQYnOVPY+8TW6rmcrIiw6Jfb EIarG+YVQGoNP/X+KKwclka3uuiRSIc=" target="_blank"><b>ever-present reality</b></a>. </p> <p><a href="http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-569DBs.jpg" target="_blank"><b>German U-boats</b></a> were usually identified by numbers. <i>U-110</i>, on patrol in the North Atlantic on May 9, 1941, was having a good trip. Having sunk two Allied ships in the convoy passing <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/europe/iceland.gif" target="_blank"><b>to the south</b></a> of Iceland's Cape Farewell, <a href="http://www.dataphone.se/~ms/ubootw/men_officers_lemp.htm" target="_blank"><b>Lemp</b></a> left his <a href="http://mathforum.org/geopow/solutions/solution.ehtml?puzzle=86" target="_blank"><b>periscope</b></a> up longer than usual. He probably was gloating a bit over his successful <a href="http://www.dataphone.se/~ms/ubootw/REKL7AN3_2001-11.gif" target="_blank"><b>kills</b></a>. It would be the last time he looked through the periscope of U-110.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="u571_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="u571_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="u571_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>