U-271 built by the Bremer Vulcan-Vegersacker Werft.

.....After having been asked several times over the years by several people to describe action in WWII that resulted in my receiving 11 Air Medals and two Distinguished Flying Crosses, I've relented a couple of times already on this blog, and for me  suffering from PTSD (battle fatigue)it is very difficult to recount events and battles that happened to me and my crew. I am also reluctant to do so for fear of being viewed as a "hero" when the only heroes are those who never came back. I truly believe   this. However, for the sake of history, I will write of one event eerily similar to one or more of my own experiences--and of others in FAW7, VB110.

.....A PB4Y-1 (B24 Liberator)named "The Bloody Miracle" of VB-103, Fleet Air Wing 7, found the U-Boat U-271 on the surface in the Atlantic,east of Limerick, Ireland. The boat carried a crew of 51 and was captained by Kapitanleutnant Curt Barleben, 34 years old and a native of Oldenburg who had captained U-271 since the boat was commissioned in 1942.  Based presently at Brest* in France it was operating as part of the Hinein Wolfpack and had yet to experience success. 

.....The Liberator was flying at 800 feet to rendezvous with an American convoy approaching the south coast of England when the U-Boat was seen. Diving steeply and turning, the aircraft closed on the submarine, receiving some damage from defensive fire.  At about 500 yards, the bomb bay doors were opened and six depth charges dropped as the plane flew over the boat at a harrowing 50 feet, the depth charges straddling the submarine with three falling near to the port side.  The fourth fell so close to the port side as to almost hit the submarine while the fifth and sixth fell to the starboard. The charges had been set to detonate at 30 feet and the sub seemed to be almost lifted clear of the water as they exploded.


.....U-271 began to slip beneath the waves and being unsure if the sub was fatally damaged, two sonobouys* were dropped.  When a positive contact was made, a Mk.24 Zombie aerial mine was dropped, the reply coming a few seconds later as a massive explosion indicated that the Zombie had found its target.  The area was searched for survivors without success. When I learned of this event it saddened me for the death of about 50 German sailors. The fact is that after boot camp, I never asked to become a combat aircrewman. My object was to be a desk clerk, (I took typing, bookkeeping, and stenography in high school)but since there were no schools open for clerks, and since I loathed washing pots in the mess hall, I agreed to go to the real war; the rest is history.


*(A sonobouy is a device with a microphone and a parachute inside of it so when dropped the chute opens and when the sonobouy hits the ocean the microphone drops below the surface and a crewman tuned to the sonobouy frequency with earphones he can hear whether or not the sub has been destroyed or its position)


*(One Liberator was named "Brest or Bust" by its crew).