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IPTC: Caption
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Photographed from a Navy aircraft, Socony-Vacuum Oil tanker Steamship Dixie Arrow, her back broken by three torpedoes, burns furiously as her cargo of 96,000 barrels of crude oil caught fire on the morning of March 26, 1942. When Reichsklanzler (Reichchancellor) Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, the only offensive weapon was Grossadmiral Karl Donitz's U-Boats. Donitz directed five subs to the East coast of the United States that month and they arrived in January 1942. Named Operation Paukenschlag ("Drumbeat") these five Type IX U-Boats, and an additional sixteen others enroute, covered American ports from Maine to the Caribbean. They immediately scored tremendous successes; they particularly focused on oil tankers, which brought ninety-five percent of the American Northeast's oil from the Gulf of Mexico. United States Navy Admiral Ernest J. King refused to recognize the crisis or to implement convoys as the British recommended. Within six months, 609 ships were lost and over 5,000 crewmen and passengers had been killed. U-71, under Kapitanleutnant (later Korvettenkapitan) Walter Flaschenberg (October 26, 1908- November 3, 1994) was part of the second wave of U-Boats sent to the American coast. After the success of the first wave, Flaschenberg doubted the Americans would continue to send tankers on unescorted runs through Cape Hatteras, Noth Carolina. U-71 waited off Diamond Shoals. She had already sunk the freighters SS Ranja (Norway) and SS Oakmar (United States). Flaschenberg doubted he would have the honor of presenting Donitz with a tanker kill, but early in the morning of March 26, the SS Dixie Arrow came into view at 0730 Hours. She had left Texas City bound for Baltimore a few days before under the command of Captain Anders M. Johanson (1889 - March 26, 1942). Johanson attempted to ascertain the safety of Cape Hatteras from United States Navy vessels he encountered en route, but he could not verify reports of mines and U-Boa
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IPTC: Copyright Notice
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Caption ©2007 MFA Productions LLC
Image in the Public Domain
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