Chapter 639: War Song

“Number one torpedo room! Ready!” With a shout, the sailors waited intently for the commander’s order. When they heard their captain shout the word “fire,” they forcefully pressed down the flooding and firing valve in their hands.

As the torpedo was ejected from the launch tube, the powerful force caused the entire submarine to tremble slightly. For the soldiers on board, this was a familiar signal, a hint that another enemy ship was about to have a bad day. Their mood was undoubtedly cheerful, as this was the last torpedo on their submarine.

The torpedo sped through the seawater, the spray from its propellers leaving a beautiful trail on the surface. At the other end of this line that represented death and slaughter was a cargo ship underway. It looked to be at least 7,000 tons, definitely a big fish.

BOOM! The torpedo, without any issues, accurately and cruelly struck the defenseless target. The massive explosion sent a column of water dozens of meters high into the air. The twisting force of the sea broke the transport ship in two. The poor vessel sank quickly to the bottom of the Pacific, without even having time to lower its lifeboats or life rings.

“Well done, gentlemen. We can now return to base,” Prien said, his eyes leaving the periscope. He handed the grips to his first officer. “Maintain watch on the surface. Be wary of retaliation.”

“Captain, who exactly are we fighting? One minute we’re hitting the Japanese, the next we’re hitting the Americans?” the first officer asked, taking the periscope handles and frowning at Prien. They had sunk the Imperial Japanese Navy’s battleship Yamashiro in the waters northwest of Australia, but they had then received orders to cease attacks on the Japanese Navy and instead begin attacking American transport routes. Furthermore, Dönitz had ordered them not to display any national insignia and to leave the engagement area immediately after an attack.

The order also specified the intensity of the attacks on the American naval transport fleet, prohibiting overly aggressive ambushes. Prien was even required not to attack American warships, only merchant transports. And so, upon receiving the order, Prien had led his men to begin attacks on the American transport fleet.

Poor Prien could not receive a reward for sinking the Japanese battleship Yamashiro, nor could he even make this achievement public. Dönitz could only promise him that after the war ended, if it did not violate the Empire’s foreign policy, then with the Führer’s approval, the fact that Prien had sunk the Yamashiro could be made public.

However, a reward specially approved by the Führer was delivered to Prien’s hands at the first opportunity. The telegram was only a few short sentences, but it had kept everyone on the submarine excited for more than ten days. It simply read: “I sincerely thank you for your outstanding contribution to the Empire. On my own behalf, I express my highest gratitude to you. Upon your return home, you will enjoy a one-month-long vacation and will also receive a personal bonus from me! — Akado Rudolph, Führer of the Empire.”

But Prien had nothing to complain about. He was born in Germany, trained in a German submarine school, received the world’s most advanced submarine tactics, and was able to fully utilize his abilities in the ranks of the German Navy. This in itself was far luckier than many others.

For example, the pitiful Japanese Navy submarine force was currently lining up to transport rice and flour to the island of Kauai. If Prien were asked to do such a chore now, he would definitely consider it a personal discrimination and insult. By comparison, if the German Navy’s submarine flotilla was a group of vicious sharks cruising the deep ocean, then the Japanese Navy’s submarine force was just a pond of cute koi fish.

“Are we just going back like this?” For most German Navy submarine crews, being forced to return to base after running out of ammunition was an extremely frustrating affair. After all, to be able to add to one’s combat record in the Pacific, where the hunting environment was incredibly good, was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But the news Prien had received was that a supply ship was already sailing in the South Atlantic. He had to rendezvous with this supply ship and then head back to the Gibraltar naval base, which had been leased to Germany by Spain.

If one hasn’t forgotten the naval base lease treaty that Franco’s faction had promised Akado during the Spanish Civil War, then it is not difficult to understand why, after the German Navy defeated the British Navy, Spain changed its fence-sitting ways and fulfilled the treaty. And after the German army landed on the British mainland and forced the British royal family to flee overseas, Franco’s faction stood firmly on Germany’s side.

Therefore, with the help of a German army regiment, after capturing the British naval base at Gibraltar, Franco’s faction handed over the port to Germany without hesitation. It thus became Germany’s closest naval base to Australia. What was even more pleasing was that the British had lost so quickly that they didn’t even have time to destroy the facilities here before handing them over to the German Navy.

Thus, the German wolf packs and the pocket squadron in the South Atlantic both had their own new port. They no longer needed to return to France for supplies, saving more time to carry out denser strikes against the Allied supply lines.

Akado’s original plan for a demonstration voyage to Japan had turned into a successful long-range assassination, taking out the Japanese battleship Yamashiro in one fell swoop. This had caused the scales of war to tip rapidly in America’s favor, which was not in line with the protracted U.S.-Japan war that Akado had hoped for, nor was it in Germany’s fundamental interest in the Pacific.

So, Dönitz took matters into his own hands, displaying the German “ingenuity” and solving the problem in the simplest way possible. Since the two sides of the scale could not be balanced, one only needed to add or remove weights to keep it balanced. And since it was impossible to add any chips to the Japanese side, wouldn’t reducing the American’s strength achieve the same goal?

Prien faithfully carried out this plan to compensate for the loss his sinking of the Japanese warship had caused the Empire. Thus, six German submarines were ordered to head north and attack American ships in the waters east of Hawaii. Their luck was clearly very good. The Americans, like the Japanese, had no effective means of conducting anti-submarine warfare in a sea area of millions of square kilometers. The Germans once again achieved the results they wanted.

“The next batch of torpedoes won’t arrive in Australia for another month. There’s not much we can do by waiting here. And according to the Führer’s orders, we were actually sent on a long-range navigation mission. Obtaining a partial map of Australian waters already counts as a very successful completion of the mission,” Prien said, shrugging helplessly, indicating that he also found it a pity. “I would also love to hunt in a place like this, but logistical supply is indeed very troublesome, isn’t it?”

Everyone grinned. After all, in less than a month, they had sunk approximately 100,000 tons of shipping, including a main battleship of the Japanese Navy. This combat record was unique in the German Navy. They had no reason to be dejected, because they were the undisputed kings of the submarines.

“For us, there is no day or night, we search to sink the enemy in the distant sea! In our boats, with the waves crashing overhead, the dampness seeps into our bones, we hold our binoculars, on watch for the enemy!” Suddenly, a sailor by the valves in a corner began to hum their own war song. This was a song written especially for the German Navy’s submarine force, a song that all submarine soldiers would sing when returning victorious.

“The diesel engine turns at full speed, but the ocean waves are even more powerful. Our boat is so small, and the sea is so vast! The success of the battle depends on every member in a leather jacket, from the captain to the ordinary sailor!” The helmsman and the sonar operator at the side also started to laugh, nodding their heads and singing along with the melody.

“Homeland, so far from here! Homeland, we salute you! For you, I will travel far and wide, only to defend you!” This was Prien’s favorite verse, so he also began to hum along. After all, this was a moment of victory. To expend all the ammunition on the submarine and return home with a dazzling combat record was something everyone looked forward to.

“In the torpedo tube, death is hidden, charging towards the enemy, the U-boat moves on. Unknowingly, it has been two weeks since we set sail, the destination is still not in sight! The boring days pass one by one, the prey has still not appeared,” the first officer sang along, but he was laughingly interrupted by everyone after he finished, because they had been out for much longer than two weeks, and they had already reached their destination.

“A huge convoy presses towards us on the waves. The success of the battle depends on every member in a leather jacket, from the captain to the ordinary sailor!” After everyone finished singing the last verse, the American transport ship in the distance was no longer visible. It was as if no battle had ever taken place here. The Pacific was still as calm as ever, as if all the fighting had nothing to do with it.

This unknown battle was the final engagement for two elite German submarines in the Pacific. The two submarines, with a combined record of 100,000 tons, left the waters where they had fought, one after the other. The remaining six submarines would gradually reduce their numbers until they were all eventually scrapped in Australia.

Of course, the Pacific was still a sea of blood. The Japanese Navy was gathering its strength, and the U.S. Navy was also waiting for an opportunity. They were all preparing for a larger-scale war, striving to force the other side to submit as quickly as possible.

Published: 2025-09-13T02:49:19.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-02-04T19:00:41.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c639-war-138783252

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