Destroyers, flying boats, sonars, depth charges? Who is it for? After all, German submarines can be fought with much more fantasy ... At least that's what one of the most famous writers of the 20th century believed
At the moment when the turmoil of war broke out over Europe and the Wehrmacht's armored corpses rolled across the continent, dozens, and then hundreds, of U-boats also set out on the hunt. In a short time they became a real bane of the seas and oceans, decimating Allied shipping. The bold and determined German submarines did not intend to settle for mere casualties in the Bay of Biscay or the Atlantic.
After their Führer declared war on the Yankees, they sailed to the shores of the New World. Taking advantage of the surprise and unpreparedness of the enemy only until July 1942, sank over 450 enemy units . A pale fear fell on the Americans. In the face of the threat, the well-known writer and adventurer Ernest Hemingway also expressed the will to fight the U-boats. Of course, as befits a man with a vivid imagination, he came up with a very original idea.
With a coffin-shaped bomb for U-boats
As we read in the book by Nicholas Reynolds entitled "Comrade Hemingway", the outstanding prose writer suggested to the American ambassador in Havana that he would patrol the Caribbean Sea with his companions by boat "Pilar". From her deck, he was going to look for German submarines.
Hemingway dreamed of hunting U-boats that reached the Caribbean Sea.
But it doesn't stop there. Hemingway hadn't thought to settle for mere observation and reporting. He was going to write down the sending of a Nazi steel beast to the bottom of his account. How was he going to do this? Let's give the floor to Nicholas Reynolds:
Germans should mistake them for a fishing boat, busy with their own affairs. It was hoped that the enemy would come to buy (or confiscate) fresh fish and water. The Pilar crew would be waiting for him with bazookas, machine guns and hand grenades. They were even supposed to take a shoulder bomb with them, " a powerful coffin-shaped explosive with handles at both ends which, when thrown at an object, blocked there and automatically armed ”
Hemingway intended to use the Basque pelota players, specialists in quickly placing the ball where it should go. The Basques would throw grenades inside the U-Boat hatches, opened by an unexpected (it was hoped) crew. If at least one grenade exploded inside the ship, the effect would be devastating, and if the bomb could be thrown onto the U-boat, the deadly weapon would finish the job .
If you think that a diplomat mocked Hemingway, you are wrong. He applauded the whole idea and supported its implementation. Probably the debt of gratitude for the intelligence services the writer had rendered him was of great importance here. Anyway, in the summer of 1942, Captain "Pilar" began his service. He gave the code name "Friendless", meaning "Without friends", in honor of his cat throughout the escapade.
As you probably guessed, Hemingway did not sink any U-boat during the months of patrols. Well, only once - and only perhaps - did he manage to see what could have been a German submarine in the distance. Of course, he immediately informed the US Navy about it. The latter, in turn, appreciated his commitment, giving him - as Reynolds writes in the quoted book - "modest praise". This is where the fight between the author of "The Old Man and the Sea" and the U-Boats ended.
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- Nicholas Reynolds, Comrade Hemingway. Writer, sailor, soldier, spy , Bellona 2018.