Attack on the Homeland Page 3

  The Doctor and his staff had expected dramatic results from this super strain of virus, however, the test results were even better than they could have hoped for. The virus would cause mass casualties wherever it was dispersed, and once infected, the victims would either continue to spread the virus like the common cold or turn into zombie like creatures who went on a killing spree whenever they encountered other people. The results would be staggering and the Americans wouldn’t know what hit them until it was too late. Even the Doctor had no idea how this virus could be controlled once it got started. Death by incineration or destruction of the person’s frontal lobe were the only two solutions Mengele could come up with, without further experimentation.

  Once all the test subjects had died or had been killed, the medical staff donned special protective clothing and removed the bodies for further examination and finally autopsy of the body. Almost all the originally infected persons were completely covered by oozing sores and tumors and most no longer looked to be even human. Further examination of the bodies revealed a massive failure of the lungs and several other major organs and when the brains were finally examined the staff saw that it too had large tumors growing on several of lobes, thus accounting for the erratic and violent behavior of the initial test group. The Doctors had succeeded in developing a strain of virus that mankind had never experienced before and once it was unleashed on the Americans the results would be shocking. Those who managed to avoid being infected would run and hide for fear of becoming infected. Industry and manufacturing would come to a standstill and the American war machine would grind to a halt, at least temporarily. The group was sure that both Himmler and the Fuhrer would be elated when they were told the tests results.

  Mengele, however, would later decide to tell Himmler about only a part of the test results, least he has second thoughts about releasing such a weapon against the Americans. The two men were scheduled to meet again in a few days, following Himmler’s meeting with the Fuhrer. The doctor decided to fill Himmler in on the results of his tests, which he did not do before setting up their next meeting. He knew that once the Fuhrer approved the plan nothing could stop its deployment. The doctor was eager to get the green light for this endeavor. He was confident that it could turn the tide of the war.

  GREEN LIGHT

  Mengele and Himmler met a few days later and the Doctor began to outline the results of their research and limited testing. The Doctor told the SS Commander that the initial tests were even more successful than anyone could have hoped for. Death was certain once a person became infected with the virus. He outlined the controlled experiment and told Himmler that, as expected, subjects started to show signs of the infection in as little as three days and that death followed soon afterwards. The lungs became infected after contact with the virus and subjects began to experience respiratory problems rapidly thereafter. As with the plague, subjects began to show signs of skin discoloration and tumors began to erupt in four or five days, with severe oozing of fluids, blood and pus to follow. As they had expected, the rabies portion of the virus had the most pronounced effects and by the sixth day subjects, who hadn’t already died, began to display signs of aggression and violence and attack any surviving subjects in the same containment cell. Mengele told Himmler that they had also decided to introduce some non-infected subjects into the control area to see how the infected individuals would react toward them. He said that almost immediately, the zombie like infected subjects began to size up the uninfected subjects and shortly thereafter attacked them. He said that the attacks were of a very violent nature and that within fifteen minutes all the uninfected subjects were dead. By the end of the seventh to eighth days all the subjects in each containment area were dead or on the verge of death. Autopsies performed on all the infected subjects revealed the same results. Individuals suffered severe lung infection and destruction of lung tissue, tumors had erupted on numerous parts of the body, to include the face, chest and arms and legs, and tumors and other malignant growths had formed on the subjects’ frontal and parietal or side lobes of the brain. The new super virus had exhibited characteristics of all the viruses used to produce it and had intensified the effects of each virus used. Mengele decided that he would not mention that the virus had caused the infected subjects to also exhibits signs of cannibalism and that after killing the uninfected subjects, had proceeded to eat them. The doctor felt that this end product might prove too much for even the Fuhrer and that it was better to just not mention it to anyone. He had also instructed the doctors and staff who took part in this experiment that they were not, under any circumstances, to disclose what they had witnessed during the course of the experiment. Both men agreed that the virus that had been produced would meet Hitler’s objective of inflecting devastating results on the Americans on their own soil. Himmler told the doctor that during his last meeting with the Fuhrer, Hitler had given him the approval to proceed with the deployment of the virus when Himmler and Mengele were confident that they were ready to carry out the mission.

  Mengele assured his colleague that based on the results of his secret testing he would be ready to package the virus so that it was ready to be moved to the American shores in about two to three week’s time. Himmler said that he would met again with the U-boat commanders to go over their strategy for making the Atlantic crossing with their precious cargo. The two men agreed to meet again in about a week’s time to finalize everything.

  BOUND FOR AMERICA

  Himmler met with the three U-boat Commanders a few days later and laid out his plan for transporting his cargo from the sub pens located in Bergen,Germany and Lorient,France. The submarine pens were bunker like structures designed to protect the U-boats from air attack while they were being repaired and retrofitted with newer type equipment and weapons. The three U-boats would take different routes to cross the Atlantic and reach their objectives off the shores of North Carolina. U-756 was under the command of Otto Falke, age 23, who had already been awarded two Iron Crosses, the U-Boat War Badge and the German Cross in Gold. His boat would leave from the sub pens in Germany and sail northward toward Newfoundland and St Johns and then cruise south along the US coastline until it reached North Carolina. Hans Walkerling, age 30, had been awarded one Iron Cross and had already sunk 4 merchant ships and one British war ship. He would command the U-532 and would take a more direct route from the sub pens in France and sail directly across the North Atlantic on a zigzag course arriving at his objective off the shores of North Carolina. Heinz Salman, age 34, was the most experienced of the three U-boat commanders and had been awarded two Iron Crosses and the German Cross in Gold and had already sunk 7 ships before this assignment. Commanding the U-751 he would sail from the French sub pens and head due south toward Bermuda before turning sharply toward America and his final destination of North Carolina. The three boats would depart at varying times and arrive off the North Carolina shores where commando teams would carry their cargoes to shore via small landing craft. They would meet up with German Intelligence Agents who had already established themselves in the United States under various cover identities. Himmler again stressed that the commanders must not tell anyone, including their crews, what the final objective was until they were well out to sea. He said that the commanders would have additional orders placed in their safes on board the U-boats and that these orders were only to be opened after they were out to sea for four days. The average U-boat traveled at about 17 knots an hour surfaced and 7.5 knots when submerged. The boats would average about 750 km per day and so the crossings would take between 12-14 days depending on sea conditions and whether the subs were cruising on the surface or had to run submerged because of enemy ships in the area. The crews had done extensive drills on evading detection by enemy military convoys and most of the current generation U-boats had a crush depth of about 656’, which was deep enough to evade the enemy’s sonar. The crews had been instructed to avoid contact with any ships enroute to their destinations, however, they still had
to be prepared should they somehow be detected by the Allied patrols. The ships were to avoid radio contact with the homeland and other ships during the entire crossing. They were only allowed to transmit a coded signal if the commander believed that a convoy had detected them and it appeared that they would be sunk by the ensuring attack.

  Himmler instructed the commanders to make ready and that their cargoes should be ready and delivered to their vessels within the week. Himmler concluded his meeting by wishing the commanders good luck in carrying out their mission. He added that their success could help turn the tide of the war in Germany’s favor and bring the Americans to their knees. The commanders departed and traveled to their respective ships to await further orders.

  PREPARING THE DEADLY CARGO

  While Himmler was holding his final meeting with the U-boat commanders, Mengele and his staff were busy at work preparing the canisters of the deadly virus for its trip to the United States. Mengele was sure that the effect of the virus on the American population would be mass hysteria among the people and that the ensuing pandemic would set the Americans’ war efforts back several months or longer. Mengele had second thoughts about telling his superior about ghoulish effects of the virus and the fact that the infected had turned into man eating creatures who reacted violently and without any thought or feeling toward both infected and uninfected persons they encountered. He decided that once the shipment was on its way to the United States he would let Himmler know about the dramatic side effects of the new super virus. He was sure that at that point neither Himmler nor the Fuhrer would reverse course and stop the mission.

  Mengele and his staff of doctors decided that the virus should be contained in a primary container constructed of a special strength glass that they used in numerous laboratory experiments and that the top would be a special airtight stopper that was fastened to the vial, and would not come loose during the transport of the virus. The tops also had two other functions when they reached their final destinations. One type could disperse a mist like vapor that would make the virus airborne and would be used in densely populated areas to have the maximum effect on people. The second type top could be unfastened and the virus introduced into drinking water, where it would mix with the populations supply of water and become a deadly elixir to whoever drank it.

  The canisters were then placed into a watertight secondary container constructed of stainless steel with some special padding around the glass containers. This type steel did not corrode, rust or stain as ordinary steel did, if it comes in contact with water or other elements. Lastly the cargo was placed in an outer container that bore the emblem of the Nazi SS. Mengele thought this was a nice touch to add to his deadly cargo. The last outer box also contained some protective equipment for the German Intelligence Agents who would be responsible for delivering their cargos to the Americans. A special mask, gloves and a protective outer garment were enclosed for each operative. Mengele knew that the Germans would not want to lose these vital assets on American soil at this critical phase of the war. The doctor also enclosed a detailed instruction sheet outlining how the canisters were to be handled, how they were to be operated and the cities or areas on the East Coast where he felt the virus would have the most profound affect. He knew Himmler would also transmit a coded message to them but he just wanted to be sure they understood the deadly nature to this virus.

  THE FINAL MEETING

  Himmler and Mengele met the following week to discuss what each had done to get this project into the action stage. Himmler talked about the three U-boat Captains that had been selected for this mission and how their boats were now being final checked prior to sailing from Germany and France. He told Mengele that although he told the commanders about the urgency of their mission and that they would be carrying a highly classified cargo, he had not told them the exact particulars about what the actual cargo was. He had instructed the commanders that the precious cargo had to be kept under lock and key and that at least one sentry had to be posted around the clock with the cargo to insure its safety and so that no one tampered with it. He concluded by saying that all U-boats would be ready to set off for their targets in America in two days time.

  Mengele talked more about their experiments with the virus and said that is was far more deadly that they had first anticipated. He again failed to inform his superior about the side effects of the airborne rabies virus and the fact that most of the infected test subjects had become man eating creatures once the virus took full hold of them. He outlined the details of the canisters his researchers had developed and how they had packaged the virus canisters in two containment vessels and placed them in a third plain container to mask the cargo’s true identity. He talked about how the virus strains would be released through a devise that produced an airborne vapor and also how it could be released into the Americans water supplies. He also mentioned that they had included some protective gear with all the canisters to protect the German operatives who would be responsible for releasing the agents. He said that they had just about finished all their packaging and that the cargos would be delivered to Himmler the very next day so that he could get them to the respective U-boats in a timely manner. The two men agreed to meet again in about a week’s time to see how the voyage of their special cargo was going.

  JULY 4, 1943

  The sub pens at Bergen, Germany and Lorient, France, were a scurry of activity as the final supplies and cargoes were loaded into the three U-boats. Himmler had intentionally picked the departure date of July 4th, the date of America’s Independence, as a kind of humorous starting point of what was to happen to the unsuspecting Americans. Groups of Hitler’s famous Waffen-SS provided added protection to the sub facilities to ensure that nothing went wrong during the final preparations.

  The Waffen-SS, or Armed SS, was originally created as the armed wing of the Nazi Party and had gradually developed into a multi-ethic and multinational military force of Nazi Germany. It consisted of the most elite of the German military forces and initially membership was limited only to persons of true Germanic Aryan origin. Most Germans in the military considered it a distinct honor to be selected for the Waffen-SS, which at the time was under the direct command of Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler. Besides deploying his SS units to the sub pens during their final preparations, Himmler decided that he would have two members sail with each U-boat to ensure that the cargoes remain protected throughout their long journey. Only the Captain of each ship was aware of the true identities of these men.

  Some friends and relatives had gathered to send off their comrades on another deployment to sea, although the departures had been kept fairly secret. At approximately 12 noon the lines to the subs were released and the sleek U-boats, bearing the Flotilla combat emblems of the 7th Unterseebootsflottile, slipped from their moorings and began the two week journey to the Eastern coast of the United States.

  Commander Otto Falke, U-756, headed due north from Germany toward the East Coast of Canada and North America and his initial destination of Newfoundland and St. Johns, where he would then sail southward towards the shores of North Carolina for a rendezvous with their German operatives.

  Commander Hans Walkerling, U-532 and Commander Heinz Salman, U-751, would depart from the sub pens at Lorient and begin their journeys to the American shores. Walkerling would sail directly across the North Atlantic on a zigzag course to the Carolinas and Salman southward toward Florida, before turning north to his final destination.

  The special containers with Mengele’s super virus were all tucked away in locked rooms aboard all three U-boats and sentries had already been posted at the entrance to each. The U-boats should navigate their course to the American shores in about two week’s time and the commanders were eager to get their parcels delivered and to get back into combat action again.

  CROSSING THE ATLANTIC-DAY 1

  The three subs departed the sub pens in Germany and France around noon and began their two-week trip to the shores of America. While the
Captains reviewed various navigation charts, the crews were busy checking all the equipment on board to make sure that everything was working correctly and to familiarize themselves with the new equipment that had been installed while their ships were in dry dock.

  The Atlantic was the second largest of the world’s oceans and although the Captains were familiar with navigating it, they were still aware of the many hazards it presented. The average depth of the Atlantic was 3,400 meters, almost 11,000 feet, and the pressures of this giant waterway could crush a U-boat in a matter of minutes if something went wrong. U-756, which was heading more northerly than the other two subs also had to contend with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a submarine mountain range, which extends from Iceland to fifty degrees Southern latitude. Depths along this ridge could exceed 5,000 meters or almost 18,000 feet. The subs would try to run along the surface to conserve fuel and to make better time and so their cruising would be influenced by the trade winds, which were very active during the summer months. This instability in the atmosphere often led to the formation of hurricanes and other tropical disturbances. The East coast of the United States was a particularly active area for summer tropical storms and North Carolina was famous for the amount of storm activity it received between the months of May and November. The storms and cycle of the moon also affected the ocean currents and the cold water temperatures could produce heavy morning fogs and heavy downpours of rain which made surface running much more difficult. Many a merchant ship and U-boat had met its doom while traversing the Atlantic during the summer season. The area around North Carolina was nicknamed the Graveyard of the Atlantic and for good reasons. The Labrador Current which flowed from the arctic would mix with the Gulf Current from the southern hemisphere resulting in extremely rough seas, high pounding waves and dense heavy fog. The waters between Chesapeake Bay at Cape Henry and south along the coastline to the Outer Banks regions of Virginia and North Carolina, were particularly dangerous and tricky areas for U-boats to navigate along. More than 600 ships of various types had met their demise along these coastlines since the 1500s. The graveyard extended along the entire shoreline of North Carolina, making their final destination a sometimes very difficult and dangerous stretch to maneuver through. Besides the waves and currents, the commanders also had to pay special attention to the ocean depths, as sandbars were another hazard and could shift due to high seas and unpredictable currents. This made their navigational maps sometimes useless as unexpected and unchartered masses could easily ground or damage their vessels. In additional to all these navigational hazards, the commanders also had to contend with the increased naval patrols currently guarding the American shores. Military convoys patrolled the entire East Coast and recently the American Government had decided to employ a wide array of private and commercial vessels, ranging from pleasure yachts and fishing boats to use for patrols of the coastlines, along with merchant ships and ocean liners to transport supplies and men to the European front. Many of the patrol boats were equipped with depth charges, torpedo tubes and deck guns, making them a threat to the subs should they encounter them while surfaced or be detected by a ships sonar.