Search
Login Signup

U-571

STORY PREFACE

http://awesomestories.com/images/user/90f87127c9.jpg

What was it like to "go down the ladder" in a U-Boat?  This image depicts the conning-tower ladder in U-47 (a U-Boat Type VIIB).  David Balme descended the ladder of U-110 (a U-Boat Type IXB).  Image online, courtesy U-Boat.net.

 

I still wake up at night
fifty-six years later
to find myself
going down that ladder.

David Balme

The North Atlantic seas south of Iceland were relatively calm on May 9, 1941 as a British convoy made its way from England to Nova Scotia. Escort ships, like the corvette HMS Aubretia, were desperately needed to protect supply ships from the ever-present threat of German U-boats.

On board the Bulldog, senior ship of the 3rd Escort Group, Sub-Lieutenant David Balme had no clue his impending heroism would give British intelligence what they needed to decipher the secret code of the Third Reich - Hitler's "Enigma" encryption machine.

Commanding the Bulldog, A.J. (Joe) Baker-Creswell had no idea his instinctual decisions over the next several hours would turn the tide of the war against Germany.

In charge of a lurking nearby U-Boat, Fritz-Julius Lemp (commanding officer of U-110) could not have known he had only a few hours to live.

 

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.

 

Key to Color-Coded Links

Original Release Date:  April, 2000
Updated Quarterly, or as Needed

To cite this story, using MLA Guidelines:

Bos, Carole D. "U-571" AwesomeStories.com. Date of access
       <http://www.awesomestories.com/flicks/u571>.

IN OTHER WORDS: Author. Title of story. Name of web site. Date of access <URL>.