Peruse her biography:

Part I: Fün Untersee
Part II: Mind-Bombing Berlin
Part III: Dung Beetles in the Eagle's Nest
Part IV: Suisse to Spidgy:
Part V: The Firey End

The Big Finish
Part I: Fün Untersee

The words, "take me to your leader" still echoed in the tinny confines of the command centre of the U-C1, as Kapitan-Leutnant Wilheim Kiesewetter tried hard to stop himself from saluting the sopping and very Fuhrer-like Emily Chesley. Apart from the fact that her heavy tweed jacket smelled like wet sheep (a scent that the 62-year-old commander vaguely remembered from his shepherding days in Schleswig-Holstein), he found the elderly Englander strangely compelling.

The channel was chock-a-block with English ships just waiting to be plucked by the converted Norwegian submarine, but instead they returned to German. The crew was cheered by the shortness of their patrol, and of course, by the presence of Emily. An informal atmosphere akin to her pomegranate club permeated the sub, as did the stench of 30-odd unwashed uber-men. The submariners were delighted to discover that Emily's entire German vocabulary consisted of phrases for ordering sausage platters, and a healthy smattering of dirty pillow talk. They took turns fleshing out her German language skills and listening to stories of her interesting life.They arrived at Senwarden (near Wilhelmshaven), the crew's morale as high as it would ever be. Emily, too, was stimulated by all the attention and later wrote a short story about her experience, unfortunately titled, "My Lovely Seamen."(1)

Grossadmiral Karl Donitz was an efficient leader, and much admired by his men, thought he would often fly into a rage whenever someone referred to him as "cruellers".

Kiesewetter was a literal man, and had brought Chesley to his immediate leader, Grossadmiral Karl Donitz, the leader of the bootewaffe.

For his own part, Donitz had no idea what to do with the elderly . . . woman; it was difficult to tell, as her hair was cropped short and she was dressed in a pair of aromatic overalls kindly donated to her by the U-C1's chief engineer. The problem was compounded by Emily's lack of papers, and that she claimed to be an American reporter from the Evanston Almanac, interested in writing a story on the superiority of National Socialist farming techniques. Or maybe a lifestyle piece about Hitler.

It was so outlandish a request that it was probably the truth.(2) Donitz decided that he would leave the issue to the Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbles, and sent Emily to Berlin.

Next: Part II: Mind-Bombing Berlin...>

Notes:

(1) Emily originally titled this story: "Fün Untersee", but changed it as she thought it too pedantic and abstruse for English readers. [back]

(2) A method that Goebbles later accused Churchill of using, though he himself was the master of "the big lie." [back]