| MICHEL (October 17, 1943)
German commerce raider of 4,740 tons, originally the Polish freighter 'Biolskoi' captured in Norway, was sunk by four torpedoes from the American submarine USS Tarpon (Cmdr. T. Wogan) about 60 miles off the Japanese island of Honshu as she approached Tokyo Bay. A tremendous explosion soon after the fourth torpedo struck, sank the vessel and she went down within thirteen minutes with the loss of 263 officers and crewmen including her commander, Captain Gumprich. Sadly, nineteen Norwegian seamen, prisoners on board the Michel, died in their 'cells'. There were 110 survivors who managed to reach shore. During her first cruise, commanded by Hellmuth von Ruckteschell, she sank 15 ships, (including the Gloucester Castle) a total of 99386 tons. On her second cruise, commanded by Captain Gunther Gumprich, she sank 3 ships, 27,632 tons. The Michel was the last of the ten armed merchant cruisers which the Germans employed during the war.
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On weald of Kent I watched once more
Again I heard that grumbling roar
Of fighter planes; yet none were near
And all around the sky was clear
Borne on the wind a whisper came
'Though men grow old, they stay the same'
And then I knew, unseen to eye
The ageless Few were sweeping by
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