| clive |
Nov 27th, 2000 03:19 PM |
Sorry Burt, but you really should check your facts. The following text is taken from the U.S. war archives (curtesy of AOL!) It is upon this that the recent US film is based: <BR> <BR>'In an ironic twist of fate, the same Kapitän Lt. Fritz-Julius Lemp who had torpedoed the British passenger liner Athenia in 1939 was to play a major part. Lemp, now in command of type IXB U-110, attacked west-bound convoy OB-318 near Iceland. On Friday, May 9, 1941, his torpedoes hit Esmond and Bengore. The Escort Group's Aubretia depth-charged the sub, which was forced to the surface. <BR>Cdr. A. J. Baker-Cresswell, aboard destroyer Bulldog almost rammed the submarine, but was able to stop short when he realized he might be able to capture the U-boat intact. <BR> <BR>The scuttling charges failed to explode, and the British were able to board. Radioman 3C Heinz Wilde, indoctrinated to believe that Enigma was unimpregnable even if captured and, under the impression that the vessel was about to sink, had made no provisions to destroy the Enigma machine or the keys. The British recovered everything - the Naval Enigma with its rotors, the vital keys through June, and position charts. There are two versions of what happened to Lemp. In one, realizing that he had given the British a vital key to Kriegsmarine operations, he committed suicide by drowning himself. In another, he was shot by the British as he attempted to reboard his ship in an attempt to sink it himself.' <BR> <BR>The Poles did assist in supplying the British with information on the enigma codes before the outbreak of war, but the capture of the enigma machine was entirely down to our friends, the British. The other claims you make are also highly contentious. <BR> <BR>
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