State

By SALLY G. MOORE When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 and World War II was declared, not only on Japan but also Germany, the German Navy ordered its submarine wolfpack to American shores, and they picked the North Carolina coast as their hunt¬ ing grounds. The United States was totally un¬ prepared for this maneuver, and the German U-Boats created havoc with maritime shipping, They struck first in January, 1942, in the Cape Haiteras to Cape Lookout area. By early March the Germans realized they were in con¬ trol; and during the spring of 1942, of the 74 known sinkings of tankers and freighters along the entire coast of North Carolina, 52 occurred in the Cape Hatteras-Cape Lookout area. Torpedoed by Nazi U- Bools just off the Outer Banks in that terrorized spring of 1942, the British tanker "Empire Thrush" was almost under when she wos spotted by о potrol plone. (Gfficiol U. S. Coast Guard Photo.) When the U-Boats Hit Cape Lookout Citizen volunteers fought tlie war with their own planes and boats, bnt Denard Mavis used a capstan and house jacks. Millions of dollars worth of valuable cargoes were destroyed, and hundreds of lives lost. Men were burned to death, drowned, oaten oy sharks, and many times the German submarines would surface and machine-gun any survivors. Panic Feared From Hatteras to Lookout, almost every night the residents along the coast would hear the explosions, and out over the ocean they could see the red glow in the night sky of one, two or three ships burning. The situation was very, very critical; and fearing panic, the government did not let the public know how serious conditions were. Much of the Outer Banks was iso¬ lated, without bridges or roads. On the mainland the small villages were miles apart, separated by low, swampy de¬ serted land. The residents didn’t know what to expect and would not have been surprised at an invasion; possibly any minute they were going to be evacuated from their homes and sent inland, but they did not panic. Their only immediate hope was the Na¬ tional Guard, which ordered troops to the North Carolina coast, and set up temporary bases along the Outer Banks. These troops constantly pa¬ trolled along the edge of the ocean, and were on the alert for almost any¬ thing. Volunteer Defenders With trained personnel to meet the emergency sadly lacking, the govern¬ ment quickly organized special groups of citizens to fill the gap. Volunteer civilian airplane pilots came from all over the state, and were formed into a volunteer group known as the Civil Air Patrol (CAP); and during the first months of the war, they were our only air force along the coast. They deserve a great deal of credit for their hours in the air, and their untiring efforts, with equipment that certainly was not quali¬ fied for the stress and strain of constant patrol. They did a remarkable job and gave the local people a certain amount of comfort, but everyone realized it was inadequate. Beaufort Airport was born at that time, and has survived as the only commercial airport in the county today. The commercial and charter boat skippers were contacted and organized into a volunteer group called the East¬ ern Sea Frontier, in which they were used as “Confidential Observers in At¬ lantic Waters” to report any unusual activity. Many of the small pleasure boatmen joined the Home Guard, and came under the command of the Navy. They were sent on patrol and some became so frightened they joined the Army, and were glad to do so. Local boatmen were hired to transport troops and tons of equipment to the Outer Banks. More U-Boats The underwater attacks became so numerous and severe off-shore that the entire coastline was ordered blacked out. Still the U-Boats were successful. Freighters and tankers were prime tar¬ gets, and bunker oil covered our shore¬ line. Even our wildlife became casual¬ ties. Thousands of our shore birds became trapped and died in the oil that came ashore. Amid all this confusion and turmoil, troops were ordered to be stationed to defend Cape Lookout Bight. A sub¬ marine net was strung across the en¬ trance to Cape Lookout, and a small army base set up on shore. The plans called for two big guns (155 mm rifles, commonly called Long Toms, weight approximately 6V2 tons), to be set up on land facing Beaufort Bar. в THE STATE, April 15, 1960