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Among Germany's "underwater aces" in World War II, Wolfgang Lüth was one of the most notable. Not only because of his charisma and combat skills (ranking second among submarine commanders with a total sinking tonnage of 230,000 tons, after Otto Krechmer's 260,000 tons), but also because he was a commander who commanded early Type II submarines. The range and ammunition carrying capacity of the Type II submarine are not as good as those of the successor, the Type VII submarine, and the creation of excellent kills on such a small boat is a great reflection of the personal qualities of the commander. Luce received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross while commanding the Type II submarine, enough to make him stand out among the underwater aces.
On September 26, 1940, U-138 arrived at naval base Lorian in France under the command of Wolfgang Luce. It was a Type II D submarine, nicknamed "shuttles" in the German Navy, to make fun of its short, chubby boats. During the time that the U-138 was sent to the dock for repairs, Luce and the crew were given a rare vacation. Because it was the first time they had set foot on the coast of France, they seemed excited. According to the memories of the navigator on the U-138, Luce was a fairly approachable captain and enjoyed joining the gatherings of his subordinates. While in France, not only did he enjoy champagne and dinners that were unimaginable at sea, Luce also organized group sightseeing operations and football matches with other submarines.
Figure 1. Gunter Prion and Otto Krechmer celebrate Luce's return in Lorian
It was a happy time for the Atlantic Submarine Force, with almost all the ace captains gathered in Lorian, including Gunther Prien, Otto Kretschmer and Joachim Schepke, among others. They returned from the hunt they had just taken, a ruthless slaughter of the Allied NH-72 fleet and the first time the Allies had learned the power of wolf pack tactics. The captains gathered together to celebrate the success of the battle and scrambled to snatch joachim Shepke's newly acquired Knight's Iron Cross. The happy and laughing Luce did not know at this time, and he was about to get this medal.
Figure 2. U-138 is moored in the dock, but at this time it is U-37 in the dock
On 6 October, the U-138, which had completed repairs, left the docks in preparation for a new round of combat cruises. On the morning of October 8, all preparations were in place, and U-138 left Lorian accompanied by frigates. At noon, U-138 bid farewell to the frigate and headed for the ocean alone.
On the first day of the battle cruise, the U-138 ran into trouble — the steering system malfunctioned. She had to take a huge risk of floating up for repairs, and luckily, no planes showed up that day. On October 10, U-138 approached the southern coast of Ireland and British aircraft began harassing it. Out of caution, Luce decided to bypass Green Isle from the west. The next afternoon, U-138 received a telegram from U-48 reporting the discovery of an eastward fleet of ships off the coast of Rockel. Luce decided to join the pursuit, but received news of the loss of contact between the U-48 and the fleet 12 hours later.
Figure 3. Type IID submarine in the dock
On October 12, U-138 spotted smoke from sea level from a steamship. Initially expected the ship to have 2,000 tons, Luce decided to pursue. But there was clearly no suspense in the game — the steamboat itself was much faster than the submarine, and the sudden heavy rain caused the submarine to lose her target. But the outcome of the voyage pleased Luce, who found himself in the middle of the freight lanes, where there was no shortage of targets – of course, high reporting brought extreme danger.
On the afternoon of October 13, U-138 began her hunt. The first target was two freighters heading for the northern seas, one in a straight line and the other in a cautious zigzag shape. After weighing the pros and cons, Luce decided to attack the latter. He commanded U-138 to a suitable attack position and dispatched the attack at 15:32.
Figure 4. U-138's sister boat, the U-139
“... Two torpedoes were fired. Heading angle 90 °, target speed 10 knots, aimed 30 meters from the bow, distance 250 meters, torpedo depth of 3 meters. The name "Dargun", the Norwegian flag, can be seen at the bow of the ship, and the cargo is wood. I ordered two torpedoes to be fired to ensure they were sunk, which was the first target, and it didn't matter what the cargo she was transporting was. The torpedo, after sailing for 16 seconds (about 240 meters), hit the Cambridge and the mast and observed a black cloud from the explosion. The second torpedo grazed the hull of the ship and did not hit. I went around the back of the boat to her left and fired the G7a torpedo again, but didn't hit it. At this point the ship began to speed up and quickly left the range of the submarine. ”
Luce was not wrong in his judgment of the ship, which was the Norwegian transport ship Dargun, which traveled to Clyde as part of the NH-77 fleet. But he was completely misjudged by the torpedo hit. The first torpedo that "hit" actually exploded prematurely on the nearby side of the ship, causing little damage to the ship, so the Dargun was able to speed up and escape. The panicked Norwegians, as they accelerated their disengagement, reported the appearance of the submarine to the British. The British sent frigates to meet the Norwegian ships and seaplanes to search for U boats in the area. When the seaplane appeared in U-138's field of vision, Luce knew there was no hope, and he gave up the attack on another steamboat and decided to dive into hiding. During the continuous heavy rain, U-138 was unable to observe any valuable targets. Luce decided to dive out of the area, expecting things to improve the next morning.
Figure 5. Another sister boat of the U-138, the U-143
After giving the crew a break in shifts, Luce continued north with his U-138. At 16:28 on Oct. 14, the lookout observed a destroyer, followed by several large transport ships. Discover the fleet! Luce was immediately excited, and he calculated that he and the fleet were about 4,000 meters away, and if the fleet maintained course, then there was a chance to enter a good attack position. But the change came too quickly, and the fleet quickly made a turn, and the speed of the Type II submarine could not catch up with the fleet. The U-138 lost the opportunity to attack and had to float and wait and send the report of the sighting to the Naval Command.
At 18:27, both U-137 and U-93 sent reports of sightings on the fleet, which made Luce confused and unsure whether to continue pursuing the fleet he had discovered or joining the friendly hunting ground. Soon, however, Dönitz's telegram arrived—ordering U-138 to join U-93's hunting group and attack under the siege of several U-boats. Luce's task is to wait in the sea area where he is currently located, waiting for the prey to appear. Luce's mood was very mixed at the moment, and he had missed the opportunity to pursue the swerving fleet, and whether the fleet discovered by the U-93 would reach here was unknown.
It was already midnight on the 14th, and there was no news from the headquarters, and Luce was so depressed that he forgot his birthday— October 15 was the ace captain's birthday. But the crew remembered that just after midnight on the 15th, Franz Gramicki, the officer on duty, woke up their captain and stuffed him with a bottle of brandy. But luce was not the only crew celebrating his birthday on this day — at 2:30 a.m., the tower attendant shouted into the boat, "A fleet!" An entire fleet! "It's a birthday present from the British — the OV-238 fleet.
Figure 6. Frigate Foulestone, a member of the OV-238
One, two, three... Luce discovered that it was a large regiment of 30 ships. In fact, the OV-238 is a fleet of 40 ships, escorted by 4 frigates. The fleet maintained the eight columns in the same manner and did not attack very well. At this time, the visibility is not very good, and I still have a good hidden advantage. Luce decided to seize the opportunity to launch an attack.
The U-138 took the position in front of the fleet and moved to the right of the fleet. Two hours later, the U-138 came three kilometers ahead of the first row of transport ships, and Luce picked three transport ships as his target.
At 5:10, U-138 fired a steam torpedo from a central torpedo tube, and two minutes later she fired another G7a. At 5:15, she fired the last G7a torpedo at the third target.
Figure 7. G7a torpedo
The third torpedo was fired just in time for the first torpedo hit. At 5:15 a.m. there was a big explosion at the stern of the first freighter aimed, accompanied by flames and smoke. The stern of the freighter began to flood heavily and sank after 12 minutes. The third torpedo hit 1 minute and 56 seconds later and, as before, hit the stern of the freighter. The second torpedo was deflected. The freighter, hit by a third torpedo, set fire, but U-138 had no time to record her results— the escort ships rushed in that direction.
U-138 retreated rapidly to the west, and on the way out, U-138 kept in contact with the fleet in order to return at dawn to check on the sinking of the second freighter. After the convoy left the area, the U-138 returned to the attack point, but by this time there were no more freighters on the surface of the sea, and instead a destroyer was on alert. Given that the torpedoes had run out, Luce decided to return to Lorian. There were no accidents on the way back and they returned to the base four days later.
Luce estimated that the two freighters hit were both 10,000 tons, and the latter was certainly sunk in the circumstances at the time. He telegraphed Dönitz after the attack was complete. The telegram reported the damage to the Dargun and the sinking of two 10,000-ton freighters. In fact, Luce overestimated the tonnage of the two freighters, with the Bonner, which was hit and sunk on 15 October 1940, at 5,327 tons, compared with the other struck, the British Glory, at only 6,993 tons. After being hit by a torpedo, The Glory of England lost her self-navigation ability, but was still maintainable, and she was later towed back to the port by the arriving Royal Navy to repair it.
Figure 8. The sunken Banner
Luce underestimated his total sinking tonnage on his first battle cruise (34,644 tons versus Luce at 29,000 tons), and on this battle cruise he overestimated. So far, the total sinking tonnage he claimed on the U-138 was 49,000 tons, when in fact it was 39,971 tons. Adding up his previous gains in commanding the U-9, Dönitz saw an impressive number — 12 merchant ships, 87,236 gross tonnage. Although he still had his 100,000-ton kill record, considering that he had achieved them with the Type II submarine, Dönitz thought Luce was fully worthy of the highest honor. On 24 October 1940, Wolfgang Luce received a belated birthday gift from the German Navy, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Of course, post-war studies have shown that Dönitz overestimated Luce's achievements, and by October 19, 19,400, Luce's record should have been 13 ships, with a gross tonnage of 56,640. But that didn't disparage Luce's accomplishments as commander of the Type II submarine. You know, the captain of the Type II submarine did not sink more than 50,000 tons of tonnage. The U-57, commanded by second-place Erich Topp, had a total sinking tonnage of only 36,000 tons.
Figure 9. A picture of Luce himself
It is worth mentioning that another ace of the Type II submarines who received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Karl Fleige, who commanded the U-18. His award was made in July of '44 and was entirely of a propaganda nature. You must know that the sea he fought was in the Black Sea, and the only result was the Soviet minesweeper TShch-11. Fleger, of course, could not be compared to Luce, a veritable ace commander of the Type II submarine.
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