Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 471: Memories
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"The captain made what he thought was the right choice, but the result did not go as he expected. Who knows in advance what will happen later, may his soul rest in peace." Gérard moved away and pretended The hot soup lunch box stretched out his hand and crossed his chest.
"Go on, Gérard, what happened to this ship later." Sergeant Coleman sat opposite Gérard, and he pushed a plate of cured meat in front of the French sailor.
"We have not been able to wait for the return of the lifeboat. Some people began to be anxious." Gérard nodded to express his gratitude to the sergeant, and his fork lifted a piece of bacon from the plate.
"Some sailors who think they are good water are ready to swim to the other side in a lifebuoy. Among them is a good friend of mine, his name is Louis Noel, from Aino, that place is close to São Paulo. I have never I have seen a sailor stronger than him. He is 1.9 meters tall, two heads taller than me." Gélar chewed on the marinated pork slices and held up the aluminum water glass with beer.
"Did he succeed? This Noel." asked a young German sailor beside him.
"Like other people who wanted to do this, it was washed away by the current. You must know that the Loire is not a small river ditch in the countryside. It was at low tide and the flow of the river itself was very fast, plus The channel we are in was dug out manually, so there is a strong undercurrent under the water. We can only watch them being taken away by the river, there is no way. I heard from my commander that if these people were not washed into the sea , There is at least a 50% chance of surviving, but so far, I have not heard any news that any of them have been found."
"It's terrible, it's the first time I heard of such a thing." The young first-class soldier smacked.
"You are still too young to know that we were in Narvik..." a sergeant said with a beer.
"Please, stop mentioning Narvik."
"It's going to start again."
"We all know."
"Sergeant Norman, let Gérard finish the story." Several veterans in the dining room made a noise.
"Okay, okay, please go on, Gérard." Corporal Norman smiled and shook his head.
"We originally thought about using the wooden door in the cabin to pierce a raft, but the fate of the sailors made us dispel this idea. Then your reconnaissance plane appeared in the sky, and the officers asked us to control the anti-aircraft guns and fire, but Everyone was scared at the time, and no one wanted to obey the orders of the officers.
We thought that this warship was destined to be finished. Everyone will be sent to your prisoner-of-war camp. The battle belonging to us is over, so no one wants to die at this time.
So we all hid in the cabin and left the officers on the deck. As a result, after waiting less than a minute, these "brave men" rushed into the cabin. It was a group of hypocrites. Guys. You have all seen one of them, Captain Raoul. "
"The proud grouse in the high artillery command post." A German sailor said with a smile.
"I won't slander a French naval officer like this, but you really speak it vividly." Gérard broke off a piece of crusty white bread.
"Don't interrupt, what happened later?"
"We never dared to go to the deck before dark. The power supply was never restored, and even the telephones between the cabins could not be connected. Everyone could only rely on human resources to convey instructions from superiors. To be honest, few people took this The order is serious, we cannot be said to be cowardly, but what everyone was thinking at the time was how to survive." Gérard sighed with emotion when he said this.
"I can understand that people really don't have much choice on a battleship that has lost all power and ran aground." Sergeant Norman nodded and said.
"At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the German army had entered the city of Saint-Nazaire. Our watchman noticed billowing black smoke in the direction of the base. Afterwards, we learned that it was a few workers left on the wharf that lit it. A petrol truck. We heard a fierce firefight from the shipyard. At that time, Jean Barr didn't have many self-defense weapons, and we were not even equipped with marines.
Some people think we should fly the white flag and surrender to the German Army. At that time, we were also very worried about being bombed by your air force, because there are two planes that have been flying over the port. We believe it is impossible for them to see this Big battleship parked in the center of the river. "Gérard put a few slices of bacon and pickled cucumbers in the bread, and then spread a spoonful of French seeded mustard sauce.
"They did see it." A voice interjected, and the sailors looked up and saw a German navy captain standing at the door.
"Sir!" Everyone in the cabin quickly stood up.
"Sit down. I happened to pass by the door just now. I heard your discussion. I was also very interested in the story that Gérard told." A sailor stepped aside, and Captain Corbysky laughed. Sitting at the table.
"Pour a beer for the captain." Sergeant Coleman ordered.
"No, I'll be on duty later." The captain declined the reception from his subordinates.
"The reconnaissance plane did spot this battleship, and they also reported to their superiors." The captain took the topic of Gérard.
"The problem is that the army's goal at the time was to occupy the city. They did not put this piece of information in the priority category." The captain took the coffee that the sergeant handed over, bowed his head and nodded after smelling it. Thanks.
"We are also very strange. Until dark, the Germans did not send anyone on board. They didn't seem to have seen this warship at all. You must know that this is a 38,000-ton battleship with 30 bridges. Meters high, floating on the river like a hill." Because the officer was present, Gérard stopped his dinner.
"In fact, it’s very simple. The army used to have no one on board, because the information they got was that this warship had been sunk by the French Navy and its facilities had been destroyed. This is a useless scrap ship. In addition, the military mission was very urgent at that time, and they had no spare personnel to come on the ship to check, so they put the matter on hold in the rush." The captain said over a coffee.
"Where did they get the information?" Coleman asked curiously.
"A reconnaissance battalion captured four lifeboats on the shore, and the captured sailors confessed. It seemed that they wanted to protect the people on board, so they deceived the Army scouts." Kobeski shook his head Speaking of.
"It was the first time I knew about this. We have always been wondering why the four lifeboats did not return. It is because of their lie that we were trapped on the boat for six days." Hot Lal had a suddenly realized expression, then said with a wry smile and shook his head.
In order to save weight, Jean Barr only brought food for two hundred people to eat for two days when it set sail, because the original plan was that they would be able to get to Bordeaux in only one day, and then replenish supplies and fuel there.
The two tugboats have fled one after another. Lieutenant Colonel Berdychick could not find a reason to stop them from doing so. The astronomical tide that night did not allow the ship to escape from the reef, and even if it successfully floated, they had already Unable to start power. The bilge pipeline entered water and the entire power system completely collapsed. The two diesel generators stopped working one after another. The fuel oil and boiler water pumps driven by electricity were no longer functioning.
This warship completely lost the possibility of escape, and Berdychick's mentality has also changed a little. He is no longer eager to destroy the warship. The navy lieutenant colonel began to plan for his future.
Beginning the next day during the day, the sailors and cadets on this warship tried every means to get the attention of the Germans on the shore.
The main force of the army that occupied Saint-Nazaire at that time has already left this military port and has begun to accelerate its march toward southern France. Only some logistics and security forces remained in the city. Because of their insufficient strength, they did not send anyone to garrison the river bank. This means that all the efforts made by the French navy sailors on the ship have been shown to the blind.
Although there are less than half of the people on the boat, they are carrying daily food. After the power is lost, it cannot be stored for a long time in the hot summer. The temperature in the cabin under the sun quickly rose to forty degrees. There was no electric drive and the ventilation system stopped working. People could not stay in the airtight bottom cabin to move around, otherwise there would be a risk of suffocation.
The sailors hung a string of white sheets on the masts and watched the traffic on the road on the river bank, but they just turned a blind eye to them.
On the third day, all the last food on the ship was eaten, and the French soldiers began to face the danger of famine. Although there is a lot of water in the fresh water tank, there is no pump to pump fresh water into the water supply system. They can only open the bolt-sealed hatch cover and use the bucket to extract drinking water. Because of the hot weather, the water quality is beginning to be fast.
They hung the death signal flag on the mast, and even lit a bonfire on the deck, but it still didn't help. No one paid attention to them, as if the whole world had forgotten this battleship.
Until the fifth day~IndoMTL.com~A cargo ship downstream from Nantes passed by Jean Barr, and spotted French sailors on the ship with frantic semaphores. The captain approached Saint-Nazaire after landing. The German commander in the city reported this unexpected discovery, which finally attracted the attention of the German army.
At this time, the Germans realized that they were hiding such a big fish under their noses. The absurd thing was that during the five days of occupying Saint-Nazaire, no one asked to check it out. The garrison commander hurriedly reported the situation to his superiors, saying that there was still an undisarmed French battleship in his jurisdiction.
"When the speedboat of the German Navy got on the side of the ship, it was as if we had seen our relatives. I never thought that I wanted to meet the Germans so much. I remember giving the sailor who boarded a big hug. , And kissed his cheek, which shocked the guy on the spot." Gérard scratched his head in embarrassment.
"It was not only the sailors who were scared. After boarding, we discovered that the battleship was basically intact. The commander of the garrison of Saint-Nazaire was also commended for this because he broke the army’s captured ships so far. The highest historical record of the ship, but I think this is more like a cover up of the negligence of the intelligence service." Kobisky drank the coffee in the cup, then he stood up and said goodbye to the group of sailors.
"I'm going to be on duty at the bridge. I'm glad to hear the wonderful story of Gérard. I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner." The captain walked to the hatch.
"Everything is over, Gérard, Jean Barr has a brand new look. But I suggest that you should record your experience on this battleship. When our younger generations read this history, believe They will definitely find it interesting."
The captain returned a military salute to the sailors, turned and walked out of the hatch. (To be continued.)
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