ORIGIN

Doenitz Islands

Off the coast of Denmark

January 1944

The revolutionary Type XXI U-Boat crept into the bay. Streamlined and sleek, it displaced 1600 tons and had an underwater speed twice that of any other submersible. These were the final days of the U-Boats. They had enjoyed success throughout the war, but thanks to improved allied tactics and support groups they were now losing. The fight had become increasingly unbalanced, and in every theatre they stood less chance of survival. As fresh young crews set off on patrol, it became less likely they would return. This was the reason that the first mate of the Westfalen Kurt Stapel did not expect to see Germany again. They would pick up supplies here and then leave for the Atlantic, and death, probably at the hands of the new “Walker” support groups that the allies were employing. The tide of the war was changing.

Kurt sighed as the port came into sight. It was night, but he could still see the men moving around on the docks. He pulled the collar of his oilskin coat up to combat the cold of the night and tried to ignore the rain falling upon him. He turned to the captain. “What exactly is this place anyway Otto?” Otto Weddigen, the only commissioned officer on board, frowned. “Not quite sure. It’s one of those research places I think. Probably working on some new and more efficient way of killing Jews”. Kurt nodded. If this was a place of research then the Jews were probably the ones being tested on. He’d heard stories of the sort of things that happened. Nasty ones.

As the Westfalen docked Kurt went below and fetched Wilhelm, the chief engineer, to accompany him. He wanted to make sure that the ship was in full working order when it went out to the ocean. The two men walked down the gangplank and shook hands with the young soldier waiting for them. As he spoke Kurt took note of his uniform. Waffen SS. Things on this island were definitely not normal, that was for sure. Not when Hitler’s personal guard was stationed there. They got into a Kubelwagon and were driven to the island headquarters.

Following the same young trooper down the almost medival corridors of the mansion HQ of Colonel Schweiger, Kurt beckoned to Wilhelm to stay close. He knew that Wilhelm was thinking the same thing as him. Herrenvolk. The master race. Every man they had seen on the island had been blonde.

When they entered Schweiger’s office Kurt had expected yet another blond man. The colonel was, however, bald. Kurt sat and informed the Colonel as to what was required for the submarine. Spare parts, an extra schnorkel, more diesel and so on could all be easily obtained said Schweiger. They went over some of the more complicated matters, such as the possibility of removing the acoustic devices from the new torpedoes. Eventually it was time to leave. But Kurt couldn’t leave without asking the question that had been annoying him the whole time he had been on the island. “What is it that you do here Colonel? Is it V2 rockets? I suspected as much when I saw the SS troops”

The colonel smiled. “I’m glad you asked!”

“When I was first given command of this Island in three years ago I thought that my talents were being wasted. I thought that I was going to be bored out here. But, my dear boy, I was most certainly wrong. Upon arriving I asked the same question you did. What goes on here is the future of the Reich. This is a place of research into the herrenvolk. The man at the head of this, Jurgen Krupp, is a genius. They’re working on chemicals to make our troops invincible. Already they’ve got a formidable fighting machine in the shape of some of the experiments with the untervolk.”

Kurt grimaced. As he had thought. Jews being experimented on. But the experiments of which the bald man spoke interested him.

“What do you mean invincible?”

“Quite literally invulnerability. I saw some of the tests that Krupp carried out. Jews withstanding bursts of machine-gun fire. They become extremely strong as well. I’ve watched them kill each other with their bare hands.”

“Why aren’t we already employing these chemicals then?”

“Well there are a few problems that need ironing out.”

“Such as?”

“Well… behavioural problems. And Jews seem to enter a catatonic state, from what I’ve seen. The chemicals also cause disfigurements in some cases. Krupp doesn’t tell me much about it. I only know from what I’ve seen in the holding pens.”

Kurt frowned again. Holding pens? Surely that was no way to treat one’s fellow man. He wanted to leave now, despite his curiousity. He rose from his chair, said his goodbyes and left.

As they walked back down the dock Kurt recounted what he had learned to Wilhelm. The engineer shivered, partly due to the cold. They heard splashing and looked ahead. Two of the Waffen SS men were throwing things into the water. As Kurt passed he saw three corpses floating on the surface of the inky water. He scowled in disgust and walked on toward the U-Boat.

As Kurt reached the submarine he began to realise something was wrong. He could hear shouting and arguing. He broke into a sprint, determined to put a stop to any possible fights between his men and the island guard. He arrived at the diesel pumps just in time to see one of Wilhelm’s engineers bringing a spanner down on the head of an SS trooper. There was a cracking sound and blood ran down the man’s neck. His eyes rolled and he fell to the ground with a dull thud. Kurt drew his luger on the engineer. “Drop the spanner now!” The engineer shouted a protest but , seeing Wilhelm over Kurt’s shoulder, he lowered it.

“Perhaps you can tell me why you have just split the skull of a fellow German?” he yelled at the young man. He turned and nodded to Wilhelm and the Chief engineer ran to the submarine to get help. He turned back to the young man standing over the SS guard awaiting the explanation. He got it. “The SS took the crew sir! They took ‘em all at gunpoint. I was preparing the pumps for refuelling and they didn’t see me. They took them out toward those barracks there, and left this guy to guard.”

Kurt stared at the man, open mouthed and unsure. He kept the luger aimed at the man’s chest, and called for Wilhelm. Wilhelm appeared two minutes later. He reported that there was no one on board, but there were signs of a scuffle and some blood on the floor of the captain’s cabin. Kurt placed his luger back in it’s holster. He knelt down beside the SS man and felt for a pulse. There was none. He handed the soldier’s pistol, a Walther P- 38, to Wilhelm and took the MP-40 machine pistol for himself. He turned to the younger man, who Wilhelm called Scheer, and told him, “No guns for you until I’m sure you’re telling the truth.” He stood up.

He could remember back to January 1940 when he had been 16. His father had a friend who was a reporter. This friend had told anybody who would listen about places where the unterfolk were being held. This friend had mentioned awful goings on in places like Auten and Auschwitz. Jews being tortured, experimented on and killed. His father’s friend had been a smart man. So when the Gestapo had paid him a visit he ceased to talk of such things.

Now, what seemed like a thousand years after those times, he looked into the darkness of the night and could just about make out a barracks. It was surrounded by walls, barbed wire and Kurt, squinting, could see a guard tower. This looked like the kind of place that his father’s friend had talked about. He guessed that the Jews being used in the experiments were being kept here. He assumed that if he didn’t act soon he and his fellow sailors might end up being part of the experiment as well. He beckoned to the other two to follow him and ran toward the hills by the prison.

Looking down from the hill he could see the whole prison. He saw that most of it was made up of the pens that Schweiger had described. Through the mist and heavy rain he could make out figures lurching around inside of the pens. He decided that, as much as he sympathised with them, he would not help these people to escape. The events that Schweiger had told him of were too fresh in his memory. He saw little signs of security other than the tower, after all it is difficult to escape an island. With Wilhelm and Scheer following his example he stayed low and moved down the hill toward the prison buildings. He reached the side of the building and had begun to look for a point of entry when he heard a low growling to his side. He brought the machine pistol up, preparing to shoot. The growling had come from a pen right beside the building. As Kurt looked closer he saw what had become of the Jewish people. The figure closest to him was rotting. Kurt was surprised he hadn’t smelt it from the hill. The man… thing’s face was covered in blisters, lacerations and boils. Strips of flesh dangled from it’s forearms. It’s bare feet had almost completely decomposed and Kurt was able to see the bones in many places. He gagged and as he turned to avoid the sight of the awful creature he saw that his two friends were exhibiting signs that they shared his view.

Turning back, and trying to avoid looking into the pen he saw that a small chain link passage linked it to the building. He was sure that the captain and the rest of the crew were inside but he had no intention of going through the pen. He had begun to get up to look for a door around the corner when he heard shouting. He could make out Otto’s voice. He spun and saw the men being led out of the prison, along the passage and toward the pen by five SS soldiers. When some of the Navy men saw what the pen held they turned and refused to enter. For their protests the received blows and threats. The SS stopped about half way down the cage and closed a gate there. The prisoners continued down the tunnel to it’s end. The soldiers, now aiming their guns, ordered the sailors to open the door. The U-boat crew, smelling the foul stench and seeing the full horror of the pen, refused. The blonde haired, blue eyed soldiers opened fire, killing two of the men. Then the captain, not wanting to watch his crew die, opened the gate.

At first Kurt hadn’t believed what he was seeing. As the crew of the Wesfalen walked into the pen every single…..monster…..inside moved toward them. When the men started to scream as they were eaten alive Kurt took action. He turned to Wilhelm and Scheer. “You two get them out of there. I’ll take the herrenvolk.” he barked. He handed his luger to Scheer and ran into action. At first the young men watching from the tunnel didn’t hear him over the screams of the dying men. But as he got closer One of them turned around. He had half a second to note the naval uniform. Then Kurt opened fire, cutting the five men down in a hail of 9mm rounds. He turned and ran to give assistance to Wilhelm, who had shot the lock off of the pen gates. Wilhelm was firing at the inhuman things but to little effect. He could see Scheer’s corpse being surrounded by a crowd of the catatonic experiments. The thing continued to come at Wilhelm, like… well…a zombie. It was clear that this wasn’t going to work. He shouted to Wilhelm to retreat and made for the hills.