The Virginian-Pilot
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REPRINT: Order a booklet containing all eight parts.
 In early 1942, while the nation was still stunned by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, German U-boats began prowling the waters off the Atlantic East Coast. Over seven months, nearly 400 ships were sunk or damaged. Particularly hard hit were the waters off Cape Hatteras, which became known as “Torpedo Junction.”Few people realize how close to home the war came, but Outer Banks residents became used to hearing explosions and seeing ships on fire off the coast. Hundreds of ships were blown from the water off Virginia and North Carolina.
Coast Guardsmen, Navy crews and civilians saw the evidence firsthand, as beaches became coated with oil from stricken tankers and bodies washed ashore.
Survivors would tell horrifying stories of shipwreck and flames. The unlucky ones would drift for days and weeks, dying one by one of starvation and exposure. Bloated corpses would wash ashore or simply disappear beneath the gray Atlantic.
The Allan Jackson. The Dixie Arrow. The Royal Navy trawler Bedfordshire. The list of victims is long.
And it wasn’t just Allied ships. In daring attacks by the Navy, Coast Guard and Army Air Forces, U-boats were sunk as well, with reminders evident today in local cemeteries.
BUY THE BOOKLET
The Virginian-Pilot, from Aug. 2-9, 2009, recounted the largely forgotten U-boat attacks off the East Coast through historical documents and eyewitness interviews. To read the entire eight-chapter series, purchase reprints here for just $7.
CREDITS: Diane Tennant, researcher and writer; Carl Fincke, editor; Bill Tiernan, photographer; Sam Hundley, designer; Miranda Mulligan, information graphics and online designer/producer; Dewey Knudson, copy editor; Norm Shafer, videographer.
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VIDEO: Listen to residents' stories of the attacks.
Sources for the stories in the series are: interviews with Anne Jackson Henry, Theodore Mutro, Gibb Gray, Blanche Jolliff and Carol White Dillon; “Torpedo Junction ” by Homer H. Hickam Jr.; “The Approaching Storm” by Alpheus J. Chewning plus his research papers at the Old Coast Guard Station Museum; “Ocracoke Island: Its People, the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Base During World War II ” by Earl W. O’Neal Jr.; “Hitler’s U-boat War ” by Clay Blair; “Hitler’s Undercover War: The Nazi Espionage Invasion of the U.S.A. ” by William Breuer; Capt. Jerry Mason (ret.) personal collection; uboatarchive.net; uboat.net; www.sharkhunters.com; National Park Service; articles by Kevin P. Duffus, published in the Island Free Press; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Sanctuaries Web site; Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum; Ocracoke Preservation Society; personal papers of Hamilton W. Howe, Harry J. Kane and Kenneth M. Tebo in the East Carolina University library, used with permission of the heirs; “American English ” by Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes; “Wolf at the Door ” by Alan Flanders; archives of The Virginian-Pilot; “An Outer Banks Reader,” selected and edited by David Stick; Skin Diver magazine August 1990; “Heroes in Dungarees ” by John Bunker; the Outer Banks History Center; The Day Book of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum; “Submarine Warfare in Local Waters ” by Harry C. Nash Jr.; www.unctv.org; and an unpublished manuscript by Horst Degen, used with permission of Guenther Degen.
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Correction
For the Iowans among ye: "Des Moines"
History
My late mother Virginia Johnston told me of volunteering to stand on rooftops at Virginia Beach and watch for submarines, but I never fully believed her till now. She heard she could join the WACs and get paid for the same work, while being stationed in Tidewater, so she did that, only to be sent to service at Fort DeMoines. After 6 months there she said were the hottest, coldest and loneliest she had ever been, she returned honorably to her family in Norfolk. I have her well-earned service medals, and in her small way she was part of the "Greatest Generation."
Trivia
Fred Wellner was L.I. (Engineering Officer) aboard several German U-Boats including U-137, U-409, U-642 and U-3518. After the war, he became a U.S. citizen and was later General Manager at the General Electric television plant in Portsmouth.
Still In The Dark Ages
The Virginian-Pilot is still in the dark ages of on-line publishing, continuing to attempt to get people to purchase their propaganda. By only publishing high-interest articles like the U-boat series in hardcopy or in on-line-purchase format they communicate their lack of commitment to advertising-based, on-line publishing, alienating on-line readership in the process. They still think they can compete with local news sources that publish for free (think TV news websites). If they can’t get enough people to read and support their free on-line propaganda, why do they think they can get enough people to pay for it? People reject paying for the Pilot because of their regular, biased reporting and these specials are unlikely to change people's thinking.
Now it's the Russian subs!
This area is RICH in history. The U Boat story off the East coast in WW II is just one.
The Germans had problems but were still able to accomplish what they set out to do to some degree.
Great research, background, and context.
Thanks Pilot for giving Diane the time and money to bring these people to life. It is truly a remarkable piece of writing of important local history.
Too bad we can not get video recordings of the folks still around here that remember that time. It would be a great tool for future historians.
Thanks for a look back.
This has been a good feature..
in the Pilot this past week. It's remarkable how quickly the tables were turned on the Germans, given the jump they had. It shows how vital forward bases are for naval forces, which the Germans didn't have for their subs that were designated for patrolling America's east coast.
Good job, Pilot!
This region is filled with history of all sorts that many people, especially those that just move here with the military, probably don't have a clue about. Articles like this are great for informing people about the rich history, both good and bad, this area has. This is a great piece of work, thank you.
Frank Roberts
I can't get that link to work, any suggestions?
missing the articles...
Would love to read the article online, as where I am deployed I cannot exactly stop by the 7-11 and pick up the paper. Any chance the articles will be viewable online anytime soon? Thanks.
The series online
Thanks for you interest in the story. If you want to read it now, you can get it through e-pilot, which is linked out of the story above. We also plan to run the entire series online at a future date once the print run is over.