A Spy Too Far Pt. 02

Portland was an ideal location for the Flotilla as the steep terrain prevented, or made difficult any attacks on ships in the harbour from the air, Submarines were always in the most danger when entering or leaving harbour as they had to surface to do it.

On this his first morning on board Tony stood at the top of the gangway as Tony looked down at the boats assembled in the port trot.

To the casual observer they looked just like normal T class or S class submarines. But beneath the camouflage there were the captured U Boat. It was VIC which Tony knew from experience was the workhorse of the German submarine fleet, The boat was very cleverly camouflaged with a canvas and plywood cover which concealed their true identity. As well as this boat, they had a mixture of T Boats, S Boats. They had also got two X craft with the necessary two crews for each.

Tony knew the majority of the Submarine's Captains, and some of their First Lieutenants. His reception had been a little mixed. But the fact that he was here, following a promotion had quickly brought the realization that there had been more to his so called defection, than was common knowledge Tony was a little sad at leaving Angie, as things were developing very well between them.

But Tony had received a postcard through the forces post office from Cassie with the comments on "Whose a clever boy then?" Tony guessed from the comment, that Cassie was now pregnant, and Tony was to become a daddy.

As Tony stood and watched, he became aware of some turmoil and shouting on the casing of one of the S boats. He was a little surprised to see Lieutenant Henry Drake (Angie.s husband) giving a public reprimand, to a leading hand who Tony presumed, was the Second Coxswain of the boat. Tony could not logically interfere, but Tony could, and did refer the incident to his commanding officer.

When Tony spoke to the Submarines Captain about it. The captain responded .

"He is a bloody good pilot sir. But he is a shit bag as a person" his Captain responded.

"Would you like him transferred to the spare crew?" Tony suggested.

"I would love to sir, but they do not have a qualified navigating officer to swap him with."

The Captain did however promise to have a word with him on his general behaviour towards ratings. Tony did promise to seek an urgent replacement for him and a recommendation that he be returned to General Service as being unsuitable for submarines.

His boat an "S" Class Submarine HMS Sea Trigger was one of the first detailed by Tony to go out on a mission. It was detailed to tow one of the X craft to survey a beach nr Calais. The X craft would be towed by HMS Sea Tiger to within range of the shore. The passage crew and the action crew would then change over, transported each way by a rubber dinghy, under cover of darkness.

The Sub Lieutenant diver from the X craft, would wear a rubber wet suit, and leave the X craft by a chamber known as the wet and dry chamber. He would swim inshore, take samples of the sand, and try to ascertain the firmness of the sea bed at several points using implements given him by Special Operations, and note any defences in place, on or near the beach. He should then return to the X craft, where he would enter the wet and dry compartment on the X craft, which would then be drained, and he could rejoin the rest of the crew to return to the towing submarine. They would then be exchanged for the passage crew and the Submarine would again take them in tow, and return to the depot ship.

However on the return to HMS Sea Trigger reported that Lieutenant Henry Drake had been killed together with two ratings on the casing as they tried to recover the rubber dinghy, used to transfer the two X craft crews, by a burst of machine gun fire from a passing E Boat presumably returning to base . The guns crew were at action stations and had returned fire with their 3" gun and Lewis guns, and set the E Boat on fire which blew up quite quickly. They had managed to secure the hatches quickly and dive to return to the depot ship. But no bodies had been recovered.

On their return the Captain of the Sea Trigger was quite bitter, complaining that with rubber dinghy's they had to have the fore hatch open for far too long. They would do much better with much less risk if they could use Commando type collapsible canoes, which could be lashed to the casing, and not leave the boat vulnerable to attack with a hatch open.

Tony took the point and said he would arrange for trials to take place using the new type canvas canoes to see if it was a realistic option.

After Tony had been there for about three weeks Tony had begun to relax and enjoy his job. The thought of possible assassination had passed to the back of his mind. It came as a horrible shock when to his dismay his colleague Commander Maurice Flagella was shot dead by a sniper whilst walking on the quarterdeck one afternoon. It was assumed because they were similar in height and build to Tony, and that he wore a Commanders uniform that he had been mistaken for him. The sniper was never caught.

Angie rejoined the WRNS and was posted, (after Tony pulled a few strings) to HMS Osprey in Portland. They were married just one year later. At about the same time Tony was promoted to Captain, and appointed to liaise and co-ordinate with the US Forces at the Admiralty on the invasion of Europe

Angie became pregnant almost immediately after their marriage. On the cessation of hostilities Tony was sent to Germany as an area commander at Kiel dockyard, where he was responsible in getting the harbour open to shipping fairly quickly. He was joined by Rolf who was now happily married to Jean, and who acted as a local civilian advisor to the allies.

Tony's job was very much involved in the salvage of ships that the allies had previously sunk. in the war. Angie and his young son joined them when conditions were safe, and they had a very pleasant three years before Tony returned to the UK, and was posted in command of one of the Royal Navies modern destroyers. Tony later previously heard through his contacts that Elizabeth Von Pep was captured by the Russians in Berlin and so far has never been heard of again.

His Grandparents, Rolf's parents and most of his cousins died in a German concentration camp. Only his Cousin Greta survived, and that was probably due to the fact, that she was an active member of the Gestapo before her arrest.

The End