Chapter 46 Joy and Sorrow

  A clear night, a bright moon in the sky, sparse starlight.

  It was late spring and early summer, the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean was sparkling with waves, and the cool breeze was blowing. The sailors on duty opened their eyes wide and watched the sea surface vigilantly. Although this night was calm, there were hidden dangers everywhere.

  Suddenly, a deafening explosion shook the hearts of people like an invisible ghost hand, followed by the loud alarm sound, and sailors rushed back to their respective battle stations without hesitation. On the sea surface, thick smoke and flames were surging up from the right side of a massive cargo ship, while the escort warships in front of the fleet opened their searchlights, with dazzling light beams sweeping back and forth on the sea surface.

  In a short while, several warships accelerated and left the fleet with the leading destroyer. Ten minutes later, explosions from shells and depth charges came one after another. Unfortunately, before the sailors had time to cheer, another large cargo ship in the fleet suddenly shook violently like a convulsion, and a huge fireball illuminated a vast area of the sea surface...

  The taste of sitting in a large can and being shaken constantly was all too familiar to Zhang Haino and his crew, who were all stationed at their posts waiting calmly. They knew that it wouldn't be long before the British destroyers would be exhausted on the surface of the sea, but even if they were finally tired to death, they couldn't protect those precious and fragile cargo ships.

  The battle was over by dawn, with no losses among the four German U-boats that had taken part in the attack. The British convoy of 36 ships lost a quarter of its vessels, while survivors were left to drift helplessly on the surface until they could be rescued by other ships or await the arrival of rescue vessels from Britain.

  Five days later, the "Experimental Small Wolfpack" of four U-boats again ambushed another large British convoy over 100 miles away, sinking three British freighters and damaging one, and sinking a British destroyer.

  After these two successful raids, even The Times of London exclaimed "Convoy is no longer safe!"

  In the two battles, only U-171 under the command of Zhang Hainuo was slightly damaged in the attack by British convoy warships. With the proud record of sinking and damaging 13 British ships, they set foot on their return journey.

  But just like the script of some movies, bad things always happen when the story is about to come to a perfect ending. Zhang Hainuo was still thinking about how to write an excellent summary report when something unexpected happened!

  While crossing the North Sea north of the British patrol line, U-167, commanded by Rolando von Sekendorff, unfortunately triggered a British mine. A loud explosion and 26 young lives went down with the boat...

  Zhang Hainuo's originally pleasant mood suddenly became extremely heavy, but he never thought that even worse things were yet to come.

  After U-167 was sunk, he reported the situation to the naval submarine command via wireless telegraphy at the first time.

  The next day, Wilhelmshaven, Germany. U171 had not yet docked at the submarine pier when Zhang Haino saw a group of armed naval military police standing on the pier with an ominous atmosphere, and he suddenly had a very bad premonition.

  The crew had just finished setting up the gangway when a small military policeman with a naval lieutenant's insignia jumped onto the submarine's deck and shouted loudly: "Which one is Lieutenant Heino von Fehrenthein?"

  His tone quickly attracted the dissatisfaction of the boatmen, usually in William's port, basically no one dared to provoke this group of constitutional soldiers, so the little guy still had a proud look.

  "Ah, Lieutenant Junior Grade, sir," said Zhang Hainuo calmly as he climbed down from the conning tower and walked up to him, "I am Kapit?nleutnant Heinrich von Finkenstein, commander of this submarine. What can I do for you?"

  That kid glanced at the row of medals on Zhang Haino's chest, including a First Class Iron Cross, a Fourth Class Red Eagle Medal and a Jutland Battle Medal. Although he still looked unwilling, his tone softened somewhat:

  "Ensign, I'm here only to carry out the orders of the Naval Provost Marshal's office. Don't ask me why, now please come with me!"

  Zhang Hainuo didn't ask, and was too lazy to ask this guy why. He gave a "don't worry about me" glance to Edwin behind him, then followed the military police lieutenant off the boat.

  Before long, "Pig Father" Gainer and Super Ace Fon Ogawi were also invited onto the Military Police's truck, and the three skippers who had been making waves in the Atlantic just a few days ago found themselves sitting together in such an unexpected setting.

  "Pig Dad" looked dejected, but it was clear that this dejection wasn't because of being asked to "drink tea" by the military police. The misfortune of U167 gave everyone in this temporarily formed combat team the same feeling.

  The total tonnage of ships sunk by Otto Kretschmer exceeded 100,000 tons, and his face showed no emotion, or rather, his coolness remained unchanged.

  The three people on the road did not have any communication with each other, and of course, there was no complaint.

  Looking out at the scenery flying by outside the car, Zhang Haino thought a lot and felt that his starting point was not wrong, but he still had a hint of guilt in his heart: if he hadn't proposed this wolf pack experiment plan, that tragedy might not have happened.

  When they arrived at the Gendarmerie Command, Zhang Hainuo was surprised to find that Colonel Georg was also here. He was still dressed neatly, but his eyes were dull and his face was pale. Seeing the three of them, the colonel just sighed helplessly.

  Soon, Zhang Hainuo, Gani and Ogway were led into separate rooms by the gendarmerie.

  The one in charge of interrogating Zhang Hainuo was a gendarmerie captain who appeared to be around forty-five or forty-six years old. Although it was called an interrogation, Zhang Hainuo felt that this was no different from questioning a criminal suspect, and this was also the first time he had experienced such a scene in his life.

  But in his heart, he was extremely calm, and could even be said to be as still as stagnant water.

  "Tell me everything about how you designed that plan, from start to finish, as detailed as possible!" The voice was somewhat chilly, but not enough to freeze the other person.

  "The U-171 I commanded took part in the attack on British convoy NY22 on May 19, and based on that battle experience, I wrote a report on multi-submarine joint operations. That report should still be in some staff officer's drawer at the Navy Department!"

  "Don't drag the Navy Department into this, tell me who's behind this plan and who else is involved!" The voice sounded very impolite.

  "I was the one who drafted that plan, because the Navy Department's approval has not been issued yet, so..." Zhang Hainuo was saying, but was abruptly interrupted by the other party.

  "Who is in charge?"

  In the past, when Zhang Hainuo saw the description of the military police in movies and TV shows, he didn't think they were that despicable, but now, he deeply felt it, these people seemed to have to be cruel and evil in order to get information out of someone's mouth.

  "Captain, you can fully understand that I was the one who dominated this plan!"

  Zhang Hainuo's goal was very clear. Colonel Georg had already helped himself by doing so, and now he absolutely could not let him bear this unjust accusation again.

  "Did you mastermind this plan? Hmph!" Captain Kanai gazed at Zhang Hainuo with an unusual look, sizing him up from head to toe before reluctantly recording everything in his notebook.