AFTER-ACTION REPORT

"It was an accident ..."
--Dieter Schrempf, Chief Botswain, U-32

Under the command of Captain Janisch, the U-32 undertook a shakedown cruise in the North Sea with her sister ship, the U-35. Details are unclear, but the pair encountered a British convoy and managed to sink several escorts and the majority of the convoy. During the action, the U-35 took a direct hit from the U-32's deck gun to the conning tower, killing her captain and disabling her. She was able to return on the surface, under cover of darkness, to Wilhelmshaven. The crew of the U-32 was cited for gallantry in action.

48 hours later the U-32 was dispatched to Norway with a complement of experimental mines and two SS officers. Their destination was an Allied research installation deep in a fjord. The facility was assaulted and destroyed, at the loss of eight sailors. Operation Feuerkugel (Fireball) was a qualified success.