As the U-47 sailed through the icy waters of the North Atlantic, its course stretched forward, intersecting with the tracks of a large convoy of transports. And this huge transport fleet is exactly the various maintenance and supply materials sent by the United States to Iceland.

In order to send more supplies to the Icelandic authorities and to ensure Iceland's absolute security, this huge transport fleet even loaded a full 3,000 American soldiers to strengthen the British defenses in Iceland.

Standing on the bridge of a transport ship, the face of the commander of an infantry regiment of the US Army turned pale. He was so uncomfortable with this kind of long-distance sea transportation that he complained to the officers beside him: "I really can't understand why we are carrying so many supplies and soldiers to that place where the volcano is still smoking." ”

The waves in the Atlantic Ocean made all the seasick people feel uncomfortable, and most of these poor American soldiers had never experienced such a distressing sea rush, so everyone had vomiting and other uncomfortable symptoms.

"I don't know, I heard from the division headquarters that we were just the first soldiers to be sent to the island, and then the entire division would be transported to the island one after another to prevent a possible cross-sea landing of the German army...... Ahem!" replied that his combat staff officer's face was not very good-looking, and the long sea shaking made his appetite lose and he seemed weak to speak. They are the U.S. Army, not the U.S. Marines, and if they had to be divided, such tasks should have been performed by the soldiers of the U.S. Marine Corps.

"Mr. President must have been fooled by the damned British. Pulling the vomit bag, the regimental commander began to feel something churning in his stomach again, and he retched twice before he continued: "Otherwise, why would we come to the aid of the British weapons and supplies, and send us to a place where birds don't?"

"The espionage services are convinced that the Germans are throwing more and more experience into atomic weapons. "An American intelligence officer who happened to be on board the ship with him on the ship, and he didn't speak because he himself was a poor creature unfit for a long voyage, and he had vomited the contents of his stomach since yesterday, and had not eaten a single thing yet.

He looked at the vomit bag in the regiment commander's hand, and had an urge to turn over his stomach, so he held on to an iron handrail beside him, and hurriedly said in a faster voice: "It is possible that the Germans have begun to master more powerful superweapons, so we can't give them this outpost airport in Iceland." If they occupy Iceland, they could bomb New York or Washington. ”

"To hell, two days ago, when you were still in Congress debating, you announced that the Germans had begun mass production of battleships and aircraft carriers in an attempt to attack New York and the East Coast of the United States...... Some people even claimed that Germany had plans to land in the United States, but everyone knew that this was alarmism. The regimental commander retched twice, and there was really nothing to vomit in his stomach, so he softened his tone and retorted to the American intelligence officer.

U.S. intelligence did provide a lot of information about the German army, but much of that information was speculative or unsubstantiated. So although privately there are many departments in the military that believe in Germany's scientific progress, they cannot prove it in detail.

Six months ago, for example, the Americans discovered that several German universities were involved in research on atomic weapons, but they were unable to continue the investigation. The Gestapo and the SS dismantled countless spy networks in the United States, so that the United States really did not make any decent progress in this regard.

However, the Americans still know that many heavy water factories in Norway and the mainland, and that the Imperial University of Berlin and several other universities are conducting large-scale research on atomic weapons. There is even a recent investigation report that the Germans have successfully used uranium enrichment centrifuges to purify some uranium ore mined in the Czech Republic.

However, there is really not much evidence to prove this information, so it is not very convincing on the side of the US Congress. Although the U.S. military, Roosevelt and others believed that the Germans were developing all kinds of superweapons, this belief could only stay at the level of belief.

Moreover, because the intelligence services are involved in so many things, some things are mixed with each other and become fake news beyond recognition. For example, the Imperial University of Berlin procured and used a large number of electron tubes, which is documented in the United States - although the Americans counted these things in the German atomic bomb project.

"Just because of an inexplicable piece of information, and then according to your speculation, send a whole 3,000 soldiers to this kind of place?" the regimental commander felt more and more aggrieved the more he spoke: "You might as well send us to England, so that we can still die a heroic death." ”

Now the Americans saw the war with the Germans as a disaster, and they resisted being sent to the far Middle East, even preferring to go through Australia and then bypass the Japanese naval area of activity and go straight to India rather than take the South Atlantic route where German naval submarines cruised everywhere.

And the German sharks that hunted underwater in the North Atlantic were a lingering nightmare for American and British captains. These unscrupulous submarines would attack any enemy ship that came within their range, sometimes even sinking a passenger liner by accident, and then sending a clear telegram to the Americans providing the coordinates of the sunken civilian vessel.

"Come on, Congress just rejected a proposal to send 100,000 troops to the Soviet Union to assist in the Eastern Front. Now it is not easy to fight the Germans directly. The intelligence officer smiled bitterly and then said: "Now there are many factions in the Soviet Union, and those people don't have the backbone like Stalin, so they are waiting for Stalin to die so that they can sign a peace treaty with the Germans." ”

"The situation on the Soviet side is already so dangerous?" The regimental commander obviously heard the news for the first time, and asked with a frown: "We have supported so many weapons and supplies, and they have not been able to hold back the Germans?"

"Isn't it...... In fact, there is nothing to tell you, this kind of secret is almost known to everyone. The intelligence officer, probably because he was sent to a place like Iceland, was also a little resentful and self-defeating, and directly reported the confidential documents to the evening newspaper: "I heard that the things sent to the Soviet Union are being compressed, and I am afraid that in the end they will be cheaper than the Germans." ”

The three of them were still talking about various situations, and suddenly a warning came from the periphery of the fleet. The whole fleet was busy, all the ships began to accelerate slowly, and some of the anti-aircraft guns were already sitting in the positions of seamen in life jackets.

"Alarm! Alarm! A destroyer has spotted a German submarine!" a crew member ran quickly, shouted a few words at the American officers, and then ran past them at a high speed. The red sirens in the cabin were flickering, and the American GIs in the hammocks looked at the busy sailors with frightened and dazed eyes.

"Boom, boom!" At the outskirts of the fleet, on the sea in the distance, the sound of destroyers' guns roaring, who knows what fatal damage they can inflict on German submarines by firing with their main guns at this time, in addition to emboldening them. Another sailor arrived in the dust and began to give life jackets to several American officers on the bridge.

"Hey, are you going to throw us who can't swim into the sea?" cried out the American regiment commander with some displeasure at the rudeness of the crew.

The crew member tried to tie up the life jacket as much as he could, and replied without raising his head: "Sir, we are at the core of the entire fleet, so there is generally no danger. But we have to keep you safe, so we have to put on your life jacket first. ”

"Aren't German submarines usually attacking only at night? Is it necessary for us to be so nervous in the middle of the day?" the American officer in charge of intelligence asked the sailor who kept knotting the rope in his life jacket as he checked his life jacket.

The sailor was still busy with his work, but he replied without pause: "Sir, it is true that German submarines usually attack only at night. However, some German captains would also fire torpedoes during the day, which was not a regular rule. ”

Before he could finish his sentence, the artillery fire on the periphery of the other side stopped, and then the news was that the alarm was lifted: "Alarm lifted! Alarm lifted! German submarines did not attack, and most of our fleet passed through the dangerous sea area! Repeat side, alarm lifted! Alarm lifted......

So everyone relaxed, and the soldiers who thought they were dead began to pray incessantly, and some kept making crosses on their chests to thank God for His mercy.

For sailors of the Navy and transport ships, all this seems much more commonplace. They are constantly shuttling at sea all year round, and this is often the case. The lookout post could mistake a whale or anything else for a German submarine because of its nervousness, and then the whole fleet was tense for a while, and finally the alarm was lifted.

Sometimes, the false targets that were discovered could also be real German submarines, because during the day the German submarines only tracked the fleet from a distance, pointing out the course and speed of the Allied fleet to the friendly forces behind, and they liked to attack at night, which was more conducive to their afloat and launch valuable torpedoes at a more perfect angle.