On 30th October 1942, U-559 was spotted by a RAF Sunderland. The destroyer group of HMS Petard, Pakenham, Dulverton and Hurworth and a Wellesley patrol aircraft hunted for the submerged U-boat for 16 hours, constantly depth charging. After dark, U-559 was forced to the surface because of damage. She was close to Petard, which immediately opened fire on U-559.

The German crew scrambled overboard without destroying their codebooks or Enigma machine and, crucially, having failed to open all the sea-water vents to scuttle the U-boat properly.

Tony Fasson, a Scotsman born and raised near Jedburgh, was the first to volunteer and together with Colin Grazier, from Tamworth they dived from their ship, HMS Petard, and swam towards the sinking submarine. Behind them, in one of the ship’s boats, came 16-year-old canteen assistant Tommy Brown.

They boarded U-559 and retrieved the U-boat's Enigma key setting sheets with all current settings for the U-boat Enigma network. Grazier and Fasson were inside the U-boat, attempting to get out when it sank and both drowned. The Enigma material they seized from the U-559 enabled Alan Turing and his team of brilliant codebreakers at Bletchley Park to crack the German naval Enigma code and pave the way for peace.

Grazier and Fasson were awarded the George Cross posthumously, Brown was awarded the George Medal. The Victoria Cross was considered but not awarded, for the reason that their bravery was not "in the face of the enemy".

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