Editor's note:
After spending four years in the merchant marine discovering the world and its pleasures, Werner Henke joined the Reichsmarine as a cadet in 1934. But his need for freedom to find his female conquests, his fights, his love of jazz and dance made him excluded from active service from the corps of officers of the Kriegsmarine in February 1941!
He was then in operation at sea as an officer in third on the U-124. Drafted by Admiral Doenitz who is looking for strong characters to lead his U-Boats, he continues the patrol as "officer on hand". The admiral tells him that if he is successful, his file will be "cleaned up." During his last patrol as second officer of the U-124, he proved himself by supervising the shooting of torpedoes which sink 6 Allied buildings. He then received the 1st class Iron Cross, returned to active service and was given command of U-515 type IXC in February 1942.
With an efficient crew, he obtained impressive results from his first patrol in the Caribbean by bringing 10 pennants to his periscope when he returned to Lorient. But his submarine, which entered combat late in the summer of 1942, has already escaped 5 Allied attacks. Not hesitating to face alone a convoy of British warships in November 1942, he was one of the few U-Bootes to achieve success during the Allied landing in North Africa; the U-515 has withstood more than 200 anti-submarine grenades ...
Commander Henke receives the Knight's Cross. During its 3rd patrol in the spring of 1943, while the success of the German submarines declined, the U-515 sailed to Freetown and crossed the path of a convoy in which it sowed panic: it sank 7 boats with their cargo, an operation so disastrous for the Allies that Churchill asked for a report! He still escaped 6 Allied attacks…
After returning to Lorient with 11 pennants, Henke receives the Oak Leaves. On leave in Germany, this tough naval officer, who had previously fought with an SS officer in the past, destroys a Gestapo building! The 4th patrol is cut short by the damage caused by a 12-hour pursuit by destroyers who dropped more than 310 grenades… Despite the shots and grenades of a destroyer and then the attack of 2 bombers, the 5th combat mission s 'completed by 4 additional sunken boats.
But when the ace of the 10th Fleet returned to combat at the end of March 1944 for its 6th patrol, its experience and its tricks were no longer enough to save its submersible chased by an entire armada ...
Captured by the Americans, but rebellious to the end, he will choose his own destiny ... (This book brings together two specials from the magazine Sub-Marine.)
