The U-boat wolfpacks of the G-Faction carried immense renown. At level 110, even the little submarines could field six veterans, with another two backup members in the 80s.
And the Z-class destroyers were no fewer in number than the subs.
Tonight, one small ship would be summoned to the Commander's side.
They could see him even now in dreams, even brush against him indirectly—but to stand by his side in the flesh was something else entirely. A dream they all longed for.
Who would be that lucky?
The answer would come soon enough. Summoning small ships rarely took longer than an hour. For submarines, sometimes only a few minutes.
Who would it be?
Hikaru sank into the steel memories.
To understand the G-Faction, one had to understand the history of Germany during the world wars.
Germany—the loser of two wars.
In the First World War, Germany was utterly defeated.
The Treaty of Versailles carved up its overseas colonies among the Allies, stripped 13.5% of its territory, 12% of its population, 16% of its coal, and half of its industrial capacity. On top of that, Germany was forced to pay for reparations—a debt it only finished repaying in 2010, ninety-two years later.
Observers at the time said the Treaty was no peace, only a twenty-year truce. They could see that it pushed Germany too far, and that sooner or later, the country would fight again.
But the Treaty had anticipated this.
German rearmament was watched closely. No air force allowed. The army could not exceed 100,000 men. The navy, no more than 15,000. Ships—including destroyers and torpedo boats—limited to thirty hulls, with submarines, tanks, and heavy artillery banned entirely.
Revenge seemed impossible.
And Germany's greatest rival, the mighty British Empire, ruled the seas with a Royal Navy so vast and overwhelming it made the world suffocate.
It was in this climate that the German U-boats were conceived and trained. Their mission was simple: challenge the unchallengeable Royal Navy.
Germany could not match the UK in sheer numbers. With limited coastline and resources, there was no way to "mass produce" surface fleets.
So the wolfpacks were born. U-boats slipped across the seas like wolves roaming a prairie.
Hunting in packs, they terrorized Allied shipping. In November 1942 alone, U-boats sank 118 ships, a staggering 740,000 tons in a single month.
But their most famous victory was not by a wolfpack, but by a lone wolf.
In October 1939, U-47 was sent on her second patrol—to raid the Royal Navy's bastion at Scapa Flow.
It was a lone strike, an attempt to assassinate a king.
If discovered, the submarine—barely able to dive past 100 meters—would be helpless against depth charges. Death would be certain.
But submariners lived with that risk. Their weapon demanded courage above all else.
After days underwater, U-47 slipped into Scapa Flow in the dead of night.
The battlecruisers Hood and Repulse, and the battleships Rodney and Nelson, had fortunately sailed days earlier. But one prize remained inside.
The battleship HMS Royal Oak, of the Royal Sovereign class.
From 4,000 meters, U-47 fired torpedoes. They missed—or at least, caused no clear damage. The British did not react.
So U-47 crept closer. At only 1,500 meters, she fired three more torpedoes. This time, all struck home on the battleship's starboard side. Explosions thundered.
Five minutes later, a massive flash and blast followed—Royal Oak's magazine had ignited. The ship rolled and sank within a minute, taking over 800 sailors with her.
It was David and Goliath. A 770-ton VIIB-class submarine had slain a 33,000-ton capital ship—and escaped alive.
U-47 instantly became a legend. She was hailed as the "Bull of Scapa Flow."
Her feat sparked a frenzy of wolfpack tactics. In the Second World War, Germany would build over 1,100 U-boats, sinking 3,500 enemy ships—millions upon millions of tons of Allied shipping.
And yet, Germany was a defeated nation. Twice defeated.
[End of Chapter]
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