- Your documents. Mister … Tamerlane? How did you get here? Business? No, this is a routine check.
The check was not routine. The suspect was seen on this road. Officer Cornwall flipped through the papers thoughtfully. Insurance is fine. Formally, there is nothing to show.
The driver looked curiously in the mirror at the policeman. He stood at the B-pillar, not approaching the driver's door. A standard security measure to reduce the risk of surprise attack.
- Step out of the car, please.
The driver did not move, continuing to smile. A barely audible cry came from the trunk.
- Out of the car! Alive! Cornwall's hand pulled the Smith & Wesson out of its holster.
The friendly expression disappeared. Sitting half-turned, the driver tried to shoot at the intrusive law enforcement officer. He was only a split second late: a policeman shot him in the back of his shaven head.
A simple denouement, if the unexpected had not happened. Officer's Smith & Wesson misfired …
The wounded Cornwell ran to his car as if in a fog. From the next shots he was protected by an inverted wheel: an old police trick that became a ritual at every stop on the road.
Crouching down, Cornwall reloaded the pistol. Shot! Second! Third! The fourth hit the attacker's head.
The radio said: Highway North, skirmish at ninety-sixth. The officer is wounded."
I'm sure most of you have guessed the motives and implications of "noir fiction"
The names of the actors have been left unchanged. The episode with a shootout on the highway demonstrates the peculiarities of meeting a murderer in a peaceful guise. Despite the safety measures taken, the risk always remains. Initiative and surprise are on the side of the "wolf in sheep's clothing". And the risks increase even more if something does not go according to plan.
May 8, 1941 on the calendar. The Norwegian-flagged cargo ship Tamerlane (a disguised raider Penguin) is approaching for inspection by His Majesty's cruiser Cornwall.
"Penguin", aka "Tamerlane", aka Greek "Kassos", aka Soviet "Pechora", aka the elusive "Raider" F "from the reports of the British Navy, aka" Ship 33 "and" Hilfskreuzer 5 "(HSK -5) in the reports of the Kriegsmarine, a true master of reincarnation, who traveled in 357 days of his march a distance equivalent to two equators of the Earth. During this time, he captured and destroyed 28 large ships with a total tonnage of 136 thousand gross register tons. "Penguin" takes pride of place among the most effective ships in the history of wars at sea!
In terms of the value of the sunk tonnage, only her colleague Atlantis (Raider C) and a series of “formidable thirties” from another era could compare with the Penguin.
German raiders belonged to a specific class of military equipment. It combined the features of a light cruiser (six 150 mm guns), a destroyer (4-6 TA and a dozen torpedoes), a minelayer ("Penguin" had 380 mines on board) and an expeditionary floating base for supplying submarines in remote areas of the ocean.
There were also signs of a landing ship (one hundred fighters to form boarding teams), a floating prison and a reconnaissance ship. Sneaking into the Pacific Ocean, one of the raiders collected a vast array of information about the Northern Sea Route, which was later used to conduct military operations in the Arctic.
“… We continuously photographed the shores, photographed all the objects that we met on our way. They photographed the islands they passed by, near which they stood, photographed Cape Chelyuskin, photographed the icebreakers under which they walked. At the slightest opportunity, depth measurements were made; they landed and photographed, photographed, photographed … the raider's radio service practiced intercepting and processing radio communications between ships and icebreakers EON."
Pictures and radio intercepts were the most innocuous that these ships had to offer. They represented a truly mortal danger in other conditions.
And we - without lights, so it will be more true. And trade will become much more honest
The raiders were not like the auxiliary cruisers of other states.
British "Rawalpindi" or Japanese "Hokoku Maru", former liners, were in the line of fire as a necessary measure. An alternative to large warships for patrolling ocean communications. The auxiliary cruisers did not hide their new destination and proudly carried the flag of their country.
When the enemy appeared, the British sailors radioed the coordinates and died in an unequal battle. "Rawalpindi" - that daring daredevil who threw himself under the guns of "Gneisenau". A similar feat was accomplished by Jervis Bay, standing in the way of Admiral Scheer.
In a dueling situation with warships, such "cruisers" were doomed.
The German raiders didn't work that way. All the time they passed themselves off as harmless and stupid "hucksters". They went to work under the flags of allied or neutral states. And when they were figured out and tried to shoot, they screamed the loudest on the air about the attack on the peaceful "merchant" of an unknown warship, save who can! The Kriegsmarine sailors had less honor and conscience than the bones in a jellyfish.
Like submarines that exploit the uncertainty and uncertainty of the aquatic environment, the raiders took advantage of the uncertainty of the situation and the need for their adversaries to abide by the rules of the sea.
The hulls of the cargo ships were a tactical gimmick. "Hilfkreuzers" were specially created in such a way as to break the blockade and dissolve in the ocean under the guise of civilian ships.
The armament was hidden behind the bulwarks. A "masquerade" was used with removable chimneys, masts and fake cargo arrows.
One of the few signs that the raider could give out was the absence of "colored" in the crew of the merchant ship. The moment that the pilots of the patrol aircraft were paying attention to.
For reconnaissance, the raiders used their own seaplanes with British identification marks. Noticing another "victim", the scout boldly flew up and dropped a packet with instructions on the deck. “A German raider has been spotted in the square. Be careful. Lie on the course nord."
On the course the "Penguin" was waiting for them. Holy naivete.
And who could have known for sure how long this crazy raid would last and how it would end?..
Hence the highest autonomy. The economical engine of a civilian vessel with an average fuel consumption of 38 tons / day with a supply of diesel fuel of 4000 tons allowed the Penguin to cover a distance of 30,000 miles.
The desalination plants on board provided the raider with 15 tons of fresh water per day. More than enough for a crew of 400 people and hundreds of prisoners languishing on board.
The Fritzes had the foresight to load everything on board, from skis and tropical uniforms to beads and trinkets for the New Guineans.
In case of the capture of unexpected prisoners, there was a supply of women's and children's things, toys and baby food.
In the rooms intended for the imprisonment of crew members of sunken ships, the Germans installed microphones. Uncover an escape plan or overhear any information about the whereabouts of other ships.
Here death is like a bride. The circle is narrowing, and the bride has no more playful girlfriends
The main armament of the "Penguin" consisted of six 6 '' guns (real caliber 149 mm), removed from the battleships of the Kaiser fleet, ammunition for 300 high-explosive shells per barrel.
No matter how obsolete the guns of the German raiders seemed, the power of their shells was enough to smash the tower of almost any warship - of those that could be sent to capture them.
Opponents noted the training of the German artillerymen. Despite the casemate arrangement of some of the guns, in which only four guns could fire on one side, the fire performance of the raiders was an unpleasant surprise for everyone who tried to stop these killers.
In 2008, when examining the wreckage of the Sydney lying in the depths, experts counted at least 87 hits with the main caliber! The consequences of the battle with the raider "Cormoran", during which the opponents drowned each other. All in all, the Germans managed to fire over 500 shells from three guns (the fourth tank gun was demolished by Sydney fire at the very beginning of the battle).
The design of the warship implied a more convenient placement of weapons with large elevation angles of the trunks. But in a battle with a raider, this did not guarantee victory.
The raider simply refused to fight long distances. At great distances, he continued to grimace, playing "huckster". He was taking time to escape again in an unknown direction with the onset of darkness.
The exception was Atlantis, which was spotted at the time of transfer of fuel to the submarine. "Covered" red-handed!
In other cases, the raiders opened fire only when it became clear that exposure was inevitable. At that moment, the distance between the opponents was reduced so much that the physical wear and tear of German barrels or a smaller rangefinder base no longer mattered much ("Penguin" had two rangefinder posts with a base of 3 meters).
However, some of the raiders ("Thor", "Komet") managed to get new six-inch "torpedo canon", as on the destroyers of the "Narvik" class.
In the presence of artillery of the same caliber, the raider and the opposing British-built cruisers represented "crystal vases with mallets." Under these circumstances, each got a chance to inflict fatal injuries on the other. At the same time, the raiders, as a rule, were much larger than their opponents. And purely because of the size, they could last longer. While the constructive protection of most cruisers of the 1930s. could not prevent the spread of fire, the destruction of compartments or the loss of mechanisms from concussions with multiple hits of 6 '' shells.
Raider creators also made efforts to improve combat resilience. An armored bridge, double sides in places of ammunition storage, the space between which was filled with sand.
In addition, each raider carried torpedo weapons.
“The battle showed how skillfully enemy ships change their appearance and what a dilemma the cruiser captain must face when trying to expose him. The danger that a cruiser is exposed to by approaching such a ship too close and from a direction convenient for gun and torpedo firing is obvious: the raider always has the tactical advantage of surprise."
(The commander of the cruiser "Cornwall".)
Farther and farther, until he enters the square, where fate awaits him with the main caliber
The raider's crew could disguise the ship as a merchant ship. Using open directories, he could reproduce his callsigns. The only thing that the Germans could not fake was the reports of the allies. On the presence in the specified area of certain merchant ships. And it became fatal.
No ship "Tamerlane" to the north of the Seychelles should not be!
By that time, the "Cornwall" had already been on a parallel course for an hour, displaying the signals "Stop the ship", "Lie in a drift" to no avail. The frightened "merchant" did not react to the threats, sending one after the other radiograms about the pursuit by an unknown warship. The distance between the opponents was rapidly closing, reaching eight miles (according to other sources - 11,000 m). Unsure of the identity of the suspicious vessel, Cornwall, fired a couple of warning volleys - and turned to approach.
Sirens sounded on the raider, shields fell, the flag of the German Navy was raised on the gaff. The Penguin fired the first salvo, landing dangerously close to the Cornwall.
And suddenly the unexpected happened: the armament on the British cruiser failed due to a short circuit! Next, the telephone line of the fire control posts failed. At this critical moment, the Germans had a couple of direct hits at Cornwall. External damage seemed minor, but debris broke the steering gear cables. The unarmed, unguided ship rolled to the left under a hail of German shells!
The various descriptions of that fight differ in detail, but the overall situation is paradoxical. At some point, there was a threat that the "peaceful huckster" would deal with the "County"-class cruiser …
The only thing that saved Cornwell in that situation was the caliber of 203 mm. Recovering from the first round, the cruiser regained control of the weapon and fired back!
Having got out of the range of the Penguin's cannons and using his advantage in long-range guns, he began to shoot the raider in cold blood. Correcting volleys with a seaplane lifted into the air. It wasn't long before another four-gun salvo tore the Penguin to shreds.
Of the 402 people of his crew, 60 survived, and of the two hundred captured sailors on board, only 24 survived.
During the battle, the British used up 186 shells of the main caliber, the Germans managed to fire 200 rounds.
Despite all the security measures taken and the maintenance of a significant distance between the "Cornwall" and the suspicious ship, the victory did not come easily
As for another famous fight between Sydney and Cormoran, it deserves a separate analysis. The price of carelessness? Only partly.
Without at all relieving the responsibility of the Australian commander, who allowed a criminal rapprochement with the raider, given the technical features of the Hilfkreuzers and the fury with which the raider attacked the enemy, Sydney had little chance at any distance.
Unlike the mighty Cornwall, the Sydney was armed with eight 152 mm guns. He was smaller and weaker than his colleague in all respects.
Its opponent, the Cormoran, by contrast, was the largest and most armed of the Kriegsmarine auxiliary cruisers.
The main thing that united these episodes was the inability to clearly identify the enemy. That required a rapprochement at a dangerous distance and inevitably exposes the pursuers under attack.
