Go In and Sink! Read Online Free PDF Page B

torpedo and a British one when it found its mark. Not to those on the receiving end. And Browning, as a submariner, should have been first to respect an enemy’s skill, if only to use such knowledge to destroy him.
    Browning said, ‘We’ll go down. They should be ready for you now.’
    He led the way along a steep catwalk without saying more. Perhaps he sensed Marshall’s reaction to his outburst. He did not seem easily fooled by anything.
    Across the deck of the H-boat and then a brief pause while Browning initialled a signal pad for another officer.
    Marshall stood quite still only his feet moving to the little boat’s gentle motion. He looked up at the U-boat’s conning-tower where a seaman was putting finishing touches to a newly-painted ensignia.
    The officer called Marker said gently, ‘Thought it best to invent a new badge for the boat. Just in case Jerry knows he’s lost her.’
    The ensignia was of a prancing black bull, with steam shooting from flared nostrils and bright green eyes which stared forward as if to see some possible victim.
    The commander continued, ‘The painter got the idea from a Walt Disney film.’ He grinned. ‘What better to catch a bloody
milch-cow
than that, eh?’
    Browning turned. ‘Your new company has been training aboard for two weeks. It was all the time we could afford. But you can rub off the rough edges while you’re on passage to the rendezvous area. After all, I’m not expecting you to start looking for trouble. Just the targets we talked about.’ The blue eyes hardened. ‘No heroics beyond the job.’
    Marshall nodded. If only he could control his limbs. Even his teeth were chattering so badly he imagined the others must have noticed. Cold, nerves, or just the plain apprehension of going straight back into the melting-pot without a break. It might have been all or none of them.
    They scrambled across a creaking bow and then Marshall reached out to grasp the rail around the U-boat’s conning-tower. It was merely for a few seconds, and yet … It even
felt
different.
    A sentry saluted as they climbed up the straight ladder to the bridge, and Marshall wondered how much, if anything, they all knew about his arrival. Within days he would know that sentry’s face and what lay behind it, probably as well as the men he had said good-bye to in Portsmouth. He threw his leg into the bridge and hesitated. That was only two days ago.
    Another pause as he looked around him. It was unlike
Tristram’s
bridge. Narrower and longer, while just abaft the conning-tower he saw a deadly looking Vierling gun mounted on a bandstand. Four barrelled, eighty-eight millimetre cannon with a tremendous rate of fire. He knew that much already.
    Then they were climbing down, the smells and sounds rising to greet them, until at last they were all assembled in the well-lit control room. Browning stood aside to watch his reactions.
    Marshall knew they were studying him but ignored them. It was his ability which mattered now. Once at sea there was not a dockyard man or a depot ship mechanic who could help him.
    It was well laid out. More spacious than he had expected, and he noticed that, unlike British boats, there was a section in the control room entirely for the engineer officer. So he would be in here with his captain. It was excellent to be in close contact with a man so vital to the boat’s safety and performance. On the other hand, he would feel his eyes on him throughout each attack or flight from danger, gauging their chances, seeking out his skill, or lack of it.
    Browning said, ‘I’ve cleared the boat of all but essential personnel. Thought you’d like to get the feel of things unhampered.’
    ‘Thanks, sir.’
    He saw printed instructions had been pasted over German wording on many of the gauges and dials. One brass plate remained on the forward bulkhead, unmarked. A reminder.
    U-192. Krupp – Germania, Kiel – 1941.
    Despite his excitement he felt a chill on his spine.
    Half to