By Bob Tedder • There’s always something to be learned from sparse books, even sparse history books that are more journalistic than historiographic. James T. Cheatham’s “The Atlantic Turkey Shoot: U-Boats off the Outer Banks in World War II” is a case in point. If one subtracts the volume’s 22 pages of illustrations, maps and works cited, the remaining 39 pages constitute a nice, informative newspaper article. Therefore, what the reader learns depends entirely on their previously acquired knowledge of World War II in general and Germany’s submarine offensive specifically.
Of general interest is the brief overview of America’s early response to the threat of unrestricted submarine warfare. Cheatham especially emphasizes the lack of concern which permitted unescorted ships to cruise the coast of North Carolina gloriously backlit by undimmed shorelights. The American high command’s lack of interest in the initial strategic arena was not shared by their German counterparts who rushed to interdict the rip tide of vital cargoes flowing past North Carolina’s Outer Banks. This brief period, roughly spanning January through June 1942, for the Germans became known as the Atlantic Turkey Shoot. Although this period is covered much more exhaustively in the secondary sources Cheatham primarily relies on for his limited overview of the subject, his efforts aptly cover the who, what, when, where and how’s of the period.
For North Carolina residents the book provides a comforting sense of ownership derived from geographic familiarity. Although Ocracoke, Pamlico, Manteo, Kitty Hawk and the Outer Banks are all place names which resonate in the Tar Heel consciousness, the terms Brazos, Ceiba, Alcoa Guide, Pleasantville and Nordal are less likely to do so. The former are well-known vacation destinations while the latter are a mere five of the forgotten 74 ships sunk by German U-boats in the same area. In helping to stem the German onslaught our British allies lost an anti-submarine corvette with all hands. The bodies of four crewmen who washed ashore are now buried in a small cemetery deeded to the British government on Ocracoke Island. Perhaps on our collective next trips to the area we can pay homage to these four men who died off our shores. Thank you, Mr. Cheatham; without your little book I would not have known this hugely important gravesite existed.