Author's note: This story is just something I thought up while playing HOI4. Not sure how long this story will be, please send me feedback as it helps me see where I fucked up. With that out of the way lets 'dive' into the life of U-666's Captain herr Lincoln Loud.
The world had been plunged into the chaos of war by the Axis powers. The main nations in this alliances were Nazi Germany, Italy and the Empire of Japan. All 3 powers adopted different doctrines to wage their wars, Japan relied upon elite Infantry supported by Aircraft and Artillery. Italy relied upon Infantry supported by Aircraft and the use of chemical warfare. The Germans relied upon their armour and CAS(Close Air support) Aircraft. This was also the case for their Naval strategy, the Japanese favoured carrier fleets, the Italians stuck with the old view of big ass motherfucker battleships while the Germans adopted more sinister strategy. This was submarine warfare which would in theory allow Germany to starve the UK into submission, it was also cheaper to build submarines compared to battleships and carriers. This style of warfare was referred to as trade interdiction, and was in Nazi Germany spearhead by Admiral Karl Donitz.
This style of warfare provide to be highly effective and the British and Soviets lost hundreds supply ships to the German submarine wolf packs, however as the war went on the Allies adopted better strategies to counter the U-boats. And by the end of 1943 the German kriegsmarine was basically beaten. However despite the huge number of U-boats being destroyed and the accompany drain of sailors, the Germans kept up a futile and ineffective U-boat campaign.
Lincoln Loud was from the port city of Wilhelmshaven(born in 1918), a centre of sea warfare as in the past it had served as a Pirate stronghold and later the main naval port of Prussia. It was also an important port to the Nazis for a number of reasons. As Lincoln had grown up in a city with a rich naval heritage, he had been spell bond by the epic stories of Pirates who got rich raiding the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. However as a child it seemed unlikely that Lincoln would ever serve on warship as he was weak and sickly. Lincoln trained hard though and by his 20 birthday he was healthy and in great physical shape and went to join the navy. At first he served on the Destroyer Max Schultz which took part in the disastrous operation Wikinger, which led the destruction of the Max Schultz and most of the crew dying. Lincoln was the only survivor and survivor's guilt plagued him for the most of his life.
After the loss of the Max Schultz Lincoln was promoted and made a Captain of U-666, U-666 was a type VIIC submarine that was put into active service in 1942 under Lincoln's command. That was 2 years ago, now it is 1944 and submarine Captains are an endangered species.
Lincoln looks at the maps on the table in front of him they show the last know position of a large allied convoy bound for the UK, he starts to nervously tap the map which only furthers his stress.
"Muller, get the fuck in here now" shouts a drained Lincoln.
"Yes Captain." says a young officer along with a salute, this is Muller the U-666's Navigator.
"How long before we reach Azores."
"I would say 10 hours, maybe 12 if we get caught in a storm Captain."
"Good." replied Lincoln he was sick of this fucking life, stuck in metal coffin. Only yesterday they had been in a wolf pack with 4 other U-boats hunting a British Cruiser and just when the had thought they had caught it a squadron of Vickers Wellington (naval patrol aircraft) appeared and well the hunters became the hunted. U-666 was the only submarine to make it out the rest had been sunk. This wasn't a rare occurrence, the U Boats were increasingly becoming the hunted thanks to the US and UK control of the skies and them fielding hundreds of naval patrol aircraft. This caused so much damage to the German U-Boat fleet that its numbers were in sharp decline. Lincoln had also realised that because of this, the plan to starve the English had failed and all they were doing was wasting lives.
It was from this line of thought that Lincoln had started to wonder if the War was unwinnable. The Germans were on 2 fronts, Italy and the Eastern front. The news from Italy had renewed Lincoln's faith in the Wehrmacht but the news from the East shattered this. The East had at the start been a dream for the Germans with them encircling tens of thousands of Soviets soldiers in the 1st months. However eventually the tide turned after Stalingrad and the Eastern front became a nightmare for Germans.
Lincoln had only ever been sent to the East once as part of Wolf pack Flag. They were deployed to the black sea in 1942 to prevent Soviet troops retreating and reinforcing Sevastopol. Lincoln and has crew were green at that stage and will they didn't see a shit ton of action it did give them some vital experience. However it was also there they learnt of the inhumanity of man as they watched a stuka dive bomber strafe lifeboats carrying women and children.
The image of the lifeless corpses just floating in the water sickened and angered him, but like most Germans angered by their comrades cruel actions they did jack shit. This didn't stop Lincoln from hating himself. However despite this a part of Lincoln felt that along as the war is won it will be worth it as there will finally be peace. It was this sick logic that allowed Lincoln to give the German Navy his all and what made him a good captain.
Lincoln's crew were similar to himself in many ways, they all shared his love for the fatherland but were torn when present we the horrors that had been committed in it's name. They all grew up in coastal cities or towns and all had ancestors who had been sailors. This along with the fact that these are likely the people you'll die alongside, allowed the crew to get on well with each other...well except for one crew member.
Authors note: fuck thanks for reading this far ha. hope you enjoyed it, leave a review or PM with your thoughts. Likely to do 14 more chapters for this Fic.
