Britain at War 2014-06

SOMME SLAUGHTER 1916: ONE MAN’S STORY

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BRITAIN’S BEST SELLING MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY

Captain Lionel

Crouch

Killed in Action, July 1916

TYPHOONS OVER THE BEACHES RAF Pilot 's

D-Day

Log Book

The fighting on V Beach at Gallipoli, April 1915, RAF Wing-walking Victoria Cross, A WW1 Memorial Under Fire in the Second World War, Heinkel He 111 Undercarriage Recovered, Operation Pedestal and more …

PLUS:

NORTH SEA BATTLE, 1943 Coastal Forces in night action during a Five Hour Sea Fight Off East Anglia

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The bombing of the Houses of Parliament during the Second World War

TRUE STORY OF A REAL WW1 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

JUNE 2014 ISSUE 86 £4.40

Notes from the Dugout

www.britainatwar.com Should you wish to correspond with any of the ‘Britain at War’ team in particular, you can find them listed below: Editor: Martin Mace Assistant Editor: John Grehan Editorial Consultant: Mark Khan Editorial Correspondent: Geoff Simpson Australasia Correspondent: Ken Wright Design: Dan Jarman EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES: Britain at War Magazine, Green Arbor, Rectory Road, Storrington, West Sussex, RH20 4EF or email: [email protected]. ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES: For all aspects of advertising in ‘Britain at War’ Magazine please contact Alison Sanders, Advertisement Sales Manager Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131 or email: [email protected]. GENERAL ENQUIRIES: For general enquiries and advertising queries please contact the main office at: Britain at War Magazine Key Publishing Ltd PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131 Fax: +44 (0)1780 757261 SUBSCRIPTIONS, BINDERS AND BACK ISSUES: Britain at War, Key Publishing, PO Box 300, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1NA Email: [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTIONS, BINDERS AND BACK ISSUES HOTLINE:+44 (0)1780 480404 Or order online at www.britainatwar.com Executive Chairman: Richard Cox Managing Director/Publisher: Adrian Cox Group-Editor-In-Chief: Paul Hamblin Commercial Director: Ann Saundry Production Manager: Janet Watkins Marketing Manager: Martin Steele

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IVING AND working in Sussex, I have passed the Chattri Memorial countless times. I knew that it commemorated those Indian soldiers who died in hospital in Brighton during the First World War and who were subsequently cremated on the South Downs, but little more than that. Then Peter Hibbs brought to our attention his detailed research and examination of the site and how it came to be damaged during the Second World War – the results of that research can be seen on page 47. During the First World War the men of the Empire willingly joined with the UK’s armed forces to fight a common enemy. Even though the Independence movement in India was already gaining ground, thousands volunteered to fight. Many, of course, were wounded or taken ill, and were sent to the UK for treatment. Brighton was one of those places, and the Royal Pavilion, amongst other buildings, was requisitioned for use as a military hospital specifically for Indian troops. Some of those men sent there did not live, and the Chattri Memorial was constructed to remember them. Just how much mutual respect was shown by all concerned was exemplified by the manner in which the people in Brighton, both in the form of individuals and as a town, helped to create the Memorial which still sits on the South Downs above Patcham to the north of Brighton. The people of Brighton were proud to welcome the wounded Indians, just as the Indians – Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs – were proud to play their part. For this reason, the Chattri will, no doubt, have an important part to play in the forthcoming centenary commemorations.

‘Britain at War’ Magazine is published on the last Thursday of the preceeding month by Key Publishing Ltd. ISSN 1753-3090 Printed by Warner’s (Midland) plc. Distributed by Seymour Distribution Ltd. (www.seymour.co.uk) All newsagents are able to obtain copies of ‘Britain at War’ from their regional wholesaler. If you experience difficulties in obtaining a copy please call Seymour on +44 (0)20 7429 4000. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part and in any form whatsoever, is strictly prohibited without the prior, written permission of the Editor. Whilst every care is taken with the material submitted to ‘Britain at War’ Magazine, no responsibility can be accepted for loss or damage. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or Key Publishing Ltd. Whilst every effort had been made to contact all copyright holders, the sources of some pictures that may be used are varied and, in many cases, obscure. The publishers will be glad to make good in future editions any error or omissions brought to their attention. The publication of any quotes or illustrations on which clearance has not been given is unintentional. We are unable to guarantee the bonafides of any of our advertisers. Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions before parting with any information or item of value, including, but not limited to, money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information in response to any advertisements within this publication.

© Key Publishing Ltd. 2014

Martin Mace Editor

COVER STORY By 6 June 1944, eighteen squadrons with around 350 Hawker Typhoons, the majority of which were equipped with rockets, were available for close support missions over Normandy. Indeed, the lead up to, during and after D-Day, was an extremely hectic period – as Mark Hillier discovered from the flying log book of one Typhoon pilot, Pilot Officer Brian Spragg. Mark reveals more in "Typhoons Over the Beaches" on page 63. This month’s cover image, based around Airfix’s remarkable 1:24 scale Hawker Typhoon model, depicts Hawker Typhoon IBs in action over Normandy in the summer of 1944. For more information on the kit, or the others in Airfix’s range, please visit: www.airfix.com

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Contents

ISSUE 86 JUNE 2014

47 THE FUNERAL PYRE

Sitting majestically on the South Downs near Brighton is the Chattri Memorial. Dedicated to Hindu and Sikh soldiers who had died in the First World War, Peter Hibbs reveals how it was damaged in the Second World War.

FEATURES 33 THE SEABORNE OBSERVERS

Only one body of men had the knowledge and experience to help identify aircraft accurately and so, on D-Day, the Royal Observer Corps went to sea.

40 SLAUGHTER ON THE SOMME

The story behind one of the many killed on the Somme – Captain Lionel Crouch – who lost his life during an attack on German trenches in July 1916.

63 TYPHOONS OVER THE BEACHES Y MAN’S STOR ION”1916: ONE HTER INVAS SLAUG ET GREA SOMM TED THE D-DAY: “I PLOT

R R

James WAAF Marys Room,

Subscribe and Save Save!

Captain Lionel

Crouch

Killed in Action,

July 1916

Operation Priory HISTORY MONTHLY Bentley MILITARY 6 June 1944 MONTHLYBEST SELLING BRITAIN’S HISTORY SELLING MILITARY BRITAIN’S BEST Blitz Fireboat

OONS TY DUEL OVER BEACHES OVER TTHEPH THE DESER Restored

Hunt For Gallipoli VC

The RAF’s Highest

Scoring WW2

Pilot's

RAF Ace in Action

D-Day

Log Book

V Beach The fighting on 1915, at Gallipoli, April Cross, Victoria RAF Wing-walking Under Fire in A WW1 MemorialWar, Heinkel the Bringing Home the Second World Recovered, in 1945 He 111 Undercarriage … by Air PoWs and more MARCH 2014 Operation Pedestal ISSUE 83 £4.30

PLUS: PLUS:

Japanese Midget on Submarine Attack“Stalin’s Tank” Sydney Harbour, 1941, Placards … more Unveiled in September Trench Raid and Captured in 1915

AN ENEMY’S KINDNESS

of a The true story a German soldier, horror picture and the ele of Passchenda

VICKERS

TO SEA FIGHTNORTH BATTLE, 1943 THE FINISH of the Forces in Coastal The gallantry crew during a andaction night commander at theSea Fight Five Hour of HMS Shark in 1916 Anglia Off East Battle of Jutland

TYRE FOUND WELLINGTON

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OPERATION

EXODUS

UNE 2014 ISSUE 86 £4.40 J

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ the The bombing of Houses of Parliament during the Second World War

A REAL WW1 AFTER OFSTORMS BEACH STORY ON TRUE

E RYAN SAVING PRIVAT

JUNE 2014

Subscribe to Britain at War Magazine and make great savings on the cover price. See pages 38 and 39 for details.

The lead up to, during and after D-Day was an extremely hectic period – as Mark Hillier discovered from the flying log book of one Typhoon pilot, Pilot Officer Brian Spragg.

72 WW1 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

On 21 October 1914, Driver James Bell enlisted in the Australian Army and embarked for service overseas. Little would he have known that he would eventually return home under the most unusual circumstances. www.britainatwar.com

26 THE BATTLE IN THE NIGHT

In October 1943 the newspapers reported on a “Five Hour Sea Fight Off East Anglia”, in which four E-boats were destroyed and seven damaged, out of a force of about thirty which attempted to attack a convoy on the night of 24/25 October. Tony Martin details the part in the battle that was played by a young Telegraphist Anthony Chapman in his first-ever engagement.

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54 THE RAF ON THE AIR: “FIRE-FIGHTING GALLANTRY IN THE AIR”

For his actions on the night of 7/8 July 1941, Sergeant James Allen Ward, the second pilot of a 75 Squadron Vickers Wellington, was awarded the Victoria Cross. As he later described in a recording for the BBC, his gallantry entailed fighting a fire outside of his burning aircraft whilst it was airborne.

REGULARS 6 BRIEFING ROOM

News, Restorations, Discoveries and Events from around the UK.

22 FIELDPOST Your letters.

57 TANK TIMES

The latest edition of Tank Times from the Tank Museum at Bovington.

62 IMAGE OF WAR

21 September 1944 – Mustangs Behind Enemy Lines.

70 DATES THAT SHAPED THE WAR

We chart some of the key moments and events that affected the United Kingdom in June 1944.

101 RECONNAISSANCE REPORT A look at new books and products.

114 WHAT I WOULD SAVE IN A FIRE

Elizabeth Scott, Exhibitions Manager at the Imperial War Museums, explains that, in the event of a disaster, she would attempt to save HMS Belfast’s ship’s bell.

Editor’s Choice 76 ROUGH JUSTICE

Though Operation Pedestal succeeded and Malta was re-supplied and saved, writes Brian Crabb, some of those involved were brought before Courts Martial.

83 SHOT BY A SNIPER

Trooper Robert Wright survived the D-Day landings and the subsequent fighting during the battle at Villers-Bocage unscathed – that was, he recalls, until the following day. Shot by a German sniper, he was duly presented with an unusual memento.

86 LORD ASHCROFT’S “HERO OF THE MONTH” In the latest instalment in a series examining his “Hero of the Month”, Lord Ashcroft details the remarkable story of Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Archer GC, OBE, ERD.

106 BATTERED BY THE BLITZ

The night of 10/11 May 1941 saw the final great Luftwaffe raid on London. Amongst the 5,000 buildings that were destroyed or damaged that night were the Houses of Parliament.

www.britainatwar.com

91 V for VALOUR

Staff officers were a much-maligned part of the British Army during the First World War. However, when the landing on Gallipoli’s V Beach was thwarted on 25 April 1915, it was a small group of “Red Tabs” who helped turn the tide, as Steve Snelling relates.

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News • Restorations • Discoveries • Events • Exhibitions from around the UK

BULLETIN BOARD

THE AUSTRALIAN Department of Defence has confirmed that a further twenty Australian soldiers buried in Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery have been identified. Relatives are being notified after the soldiers became the latest to be identified out of the 250 Australian and British soldiers recovered from a mass burial site at Pheasant Wood in 2009. The discovery brings to 144 the number of Australian burials that have been identified through DNA and/or other evidence. It is anticipated that the newly-identified soldiers are likely to have graves dedicated in their names for the first time at a ceremony in Fromelles in July 2014. There are still 67 Australian and two British soldiers who remain unidentified. Another thirty-seven have been interred as “A soldier of the Great War – Known unto God”. PLANS ARE being made for the unveiling in France of a memorial to a Lancaster crew. Everybody on board was killed when the aircraft belonging to 582 Squadron at Little Staughton was shot down in the run-up to the aiming point while targeting a V1 site in France on 20 July 1944. A number of the crew were attached from 109 Squadron, including the pilot, Squadron Leader “Freddie” Foulsham, DFC, AFC and his regular navigator, Flying Officer John Swarbrick, DFC. They were leading an Oboe attack on the site at Foret-du-Croc near Freulleville. All are now buried in Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery. Now local people and relatives of the men who died intend to unveil the memorial on 20 July 2014. However it has not proved possible to trace a relative of John Swarbrick and, in particular, his daughter Ann Marie, born in Preston in 1944. Anyone with information is asked to phone Bob Knox on 020 8398 2469. BANFF IN Aberdeenshire is going to be the location of a permanent memorial to mark the centenary of the start of the First World War. The memorial, in the grounds of Duff House, will take the form of a small copse of trees. “This year several Scottish shires are marking the onset of the First World War given that it was such a significant turning point in history,” said Mrs Clare Russell, Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire, who proposed the creation of the new Banffshire memorial, which has been supported by Aberdeenshire Council.

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Heinkel Undercarriage Assembly Recovered THE RECOVERY of the Dornier Do 17 from the Goodwin Sands for the RAF Museum has highlighted the fact that the English Channel and parts of the North Sea are littered with aircraft wreckage, much of which emanates from the periods of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, writes Andy Saunders. Not all of them, though, are likely to be in anything near the state of completeness in which the Dornier was found and it is certainly the case that the winter storms of 2013/2014 have broken up or shifted some of the known wrecks. It is also likely that some wrecks have become exposed on the sea bed through the action of the weather and this has caused a number of aircraft wrecks, or items from them, to be revealed. In some cases, this has been on the foreshore, whilst in other instances items have been picked up in trawl nets in locations where fishermen have never previously snagged wrecks. In recent weeks a south coast trawler “caught” a complete undercarriage assembly and tyre from a Heinkel He 111 some miles The recovered section having been brought ashore.

The Heinkel He 111 undercarriage assembly being pulled from the waters of the English Channel. (ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)

out from Beachy Head. Although the magnesium alloy wheel had corroded away to leave just the brake assemblies, the tyre (marked “Dunlop”) was still in situ and in exceptionally good order. In good condition, too, was the rest of the assembly with some parts clean and bright, especially the chromed extending oleo section of the leg with its leather gaiter. Quite apart from the fact that the relic was visually identifiable as coming from a He 111, a number of the component parts bore the unique He 111 identifier part number prefix of R8-111. Given the condition of the recovered section,

one can only speculate as to the state of the rest of the wreck that is associated with this find should any of it remain in situ. At this stage, it has not been possible to determine anything else about this item other than that it originates from the wreck of an as-yet unidentified wartime Heinkel He 111. Throughout the Second World War, an almost incalculable number of He 111s were brought down in this general area of the English Channel. Nevertheless, it is an intriguing relic from that period and the fishermen who recovered it have now passed the item on to the Wings Museum at Balcombe in Sussex where it has been cleaned, treated and inhibited and against further corrosion, and placed on public exhibition.

First World War Shell Fuze Cufflinks

IN 1915 Private Len Smith picked a poppy from No Man’s Land in Flanders and pressed it in the pages of his diary in which he documented his wartime exploits. Len also illustrated the diary which was published in 2009 under the title Drawing Fire. The poppy was found in the dairy and it still retains a little of its red colour. In his diary Len wrote about the surprising prevalence of the poppies in No Man’s Land: “Considering the numerous shell holes, they were very numerous and made a very brave

display – I know they thrilled me intently and a butterfly or two made a vast difference to the atmosphere.” To mark the centenary of the First World War, the Royal British Legion has commissioned a number of solid brass cufflinks to be made, inspired by Private Smith’s poppy. The brass comes from artillery fuzes recovered from the battlefields of the Western Front. Brian Gray, from the Royal British Legion, said: “These poppies really are special. For us they are a direct link right back to the battlefields. It feels like

reaching out and touching history. What is most remarkable is that these objects were created for war but are now being turned into an act of remembrance that will help the Legion and its dependents.” Accompanied by a certificate of provenance, the Flanders Fields cufflinks are exclusively available through the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Shop. They cost £79.99 with proceeds going to support members of the British armed forces and their families, past and present. For more information visit: poppyshop.org.uk www.britainatwar.com

Exhibitions from around the UK • Events • Discoveries • Restorations • News

The Royal Mint Strikes Silver Coins From Sunken Wartime Bullion THE ROYAL Mint has announced that it is striking a limited number of silver coins from the bullion cargo of the SS Gairsoppa – more than seventy years after the silver carried on board was destined to be delivered through The Royal Mint’s doors to boost its silver stocks during the Second World War. Correspondence between The Royal Mint and the Bank of England following the ship’s sinking on 17 February 1941, reveals the impact the loss of the bullion had on the UK’s wartime reserves, even threatening the temporary suspension of production at the Mint within two months if supplies ran out.

ABOVE: A member of staff at The Royal Mint with one of the silver bullion ingots which, recovered from the wreck of the SS Gairsoppa, will be used to strike the coins. INSET: The reverse of the Gairsoppa Britannia Quarter-Ounce Silver Coins.

Odyssey Marine Exploration, which, as we have previously reported, recovered the silver from Gairsoppa, has now passed a large quantity of the bullion to The Royal Mint for the striking of the 99.9 pure 1/4oz silver Britannia bullion coins, which are edged with the name SS Gairsoppa. With a limited run of just 20,000, SS Gairsoppa Britannia QuarterOunce Silver Coins are now available direct from The Royal Mint: www.royalmint.com

The First Military Flying Casualties Commemorated

ROYAL GUESTS joined with the Royal Air Force to pay tribute to two pioneers of military aviation in a ceremony at Stonehenge on 1 May 2014. The Earl and Countess of Wessex joined personnel from No.3 (Fighter) Squadron at the rededication of a memorial which commemorates the death of two airmen who lost their lives in the Royal Flying Corps’ first fatal flying accident. On 5 July 1912, Captain Eustace Loraine and Staff Sergeant Richard Wilson were killed after their aircraft crashed from a height of 400 feet. A report in the New York Times noted: “[They] were killed this morning, while flying over the great encampment here. They were taking

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ABOVE: The rededication ceremony at Stonehenge on 1 May 2014. BELOW LEFT; A contemporary postcard of Loraine and Wilson’s crash site, 5 July 1912. BOTTOM LEFT; An early photograph of a 3 Squadron aircraft over Stonehenge. (ALL IMAGES © CROWN/MOD COPYRIGHT, 2014)

their usual early morning practice, and the aeroplane had reached a height of 400 feet, when the machine lost its balance, turned over and fell with a crash to the roadway. Sergt. Major Wilson was killed instantly, but Capt. Loraine lived a short time, although he was unconscious when picked up.” To commemorate their colleagues at the time, the squadron unveiled The Airman’s Cross, a Celtic cross made of Cornish granite, at Stonehenge on 5 July 1913, after which the site became known as “Airman’s Corner”. The cross was recently moved as part of the

refurbishment of the Stonehenge Visitor Centre and surrounding area, and a plaque to mark its new home was unveiled by the Earl and Countess. The ceremony ended with the traditional Last Post and Reveille performed by RAF personnel alongside musicians from the Grenadier Guards and Royal Engineers, acknowledging the original parent Army units of Loraine and Wilson. The squadron is currently based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, and today operates the multi-role Typhoon. They form part of the RAF’s Quick Reaction Alert (QRA), defending the UK’s airspace twenty-four hours a day, 365 days of the year.

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BULLETIN BOARD

ON THURSDAY, 25 April 2014, Irish men and women who died at Gallipoli and elsewhere during the First World War while serving with the Australian and New Zealand armies, numbering about 600, were remembered at a service in Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Dublin, writes James Scannell. Those present at the service included Ruth Adler, Australian Ambassador to Ireland, Kenneth Ryan, First Secretary of the New Zealand embassy, Zeki Güer, Counsellor at the Turkish embassy, representatives from the Irish, Australian and New Zealand defence forces, and Professor Jeff Kildea, this year’s Keith Cameron Professor of Australian History at University College Dublin, who gave the oration. Professor Kildea is compiling an on-line archive on the 6,500 Irish men and women who served in the Anzac forces during the First World War. The results of Professor Kildea’s work are scheduled to be published in October 2014. IT HAS been announced that a £100,000 fund is to be made available to help ensure that the resting places of First World War Victoria Cross holders are preserved as a “truly fitting tribute”. The funding, to be matched by supporters of a national newspaper campaign, aims to restore all of the Victoria Cross graves in need of repair. Some are said to require only minor work, such as cleaning headstones that have become illegible. Others, meanwhile, are in a severe state of disrepair and require extensive restoration. In some cases, headstones have crumbled away whilst others are in danger of total collapse. The fund relates to those VC holders who did not die in circumstances that would ensure they fell within the remit of the CWGC. A NEWLY-FORMED history society has discovered the remains of a rifle range used by a Welsh battalion in the First World War. The Secretary of the Aberystruth Archaeology and History Society, Ian Fewing, was out walking in Cwmcelyn, Blaenau Gwent, when he came across a collapsed wall. He contacted First World War researcher Peter Tamlyn and local archaeologist Frank Olding, who discovered the site is marked on a 1919 dated map as a firing range. Mr Fewing said: “From what we could find it was used by the 3rd Battalion of the Monmouthshire Regiment, which was from Blaenau, and it would have been used to prepare for the First World War.”

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BULLETIN BOARD

THE SITE of a former Australian prisoner of war camp which held captured crew members from the German cruiser, Kormoran, is up for sale for $160,000. On 19 November 1941, the cruiser HMAS Sydney encountered Kormoran as she was sailing off the coast of Western Australia. In the ensuing engagement Sydney was sunk with the loss of all hands and Kormoran was so badly damaged she was scuttled. The surviving German crew was sent to the PoW camp at Murchison in central Victoria. There are no longer any remnants of the camp at the site. A NEW housing development in Pershore, Worcestershire, is to pay tribute to the world’s last known combat veteran of the First World War. Claude Choules, who was born in Pershore in 1901 and grew up in nearby Wyre Piddle, will have a street named after him a new housing estate located at Allesborough Farm. It has been decided to name one of the roads “Claude Choules Close” as a tribute to the man who, just fourteenyears-old, lied about his age to join the Royal Navy. Claude Choules died in 2011 at the age of 110. ON WEDNESDAY, 11 June 2014, Andy Tonge’s talk for the Somerset Branch of The Western Front Association, to be held at Othery, will cover Mons and the Retreat. On Saturday, 14 June, the Scotland (North) Branch will be hosting Martin Hornby for a talk looking at the vital role played by the naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. On 16 June, the Tyneside Branch will be presenting a talk entitled “Training Tommy; Infantry Training in WW1” by Tony Ball. On 27 June, “Top Secret! British Boffins in World War One” is the title of a talk being held by the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Branch at Harpenden, whilst the following day the Birmingham Branch will host Peter Hart who will look at the question “Why did Britain go to war on 4 August 1914?” On 8 July, Dr Ritchie Wood will be speaking on the various British Army Tunnelling Companies that saw service during the First World War, his talk being hosted by the Cheltenham and Gloucester Branch. For full details of each event, and the many others arranged by the various branches of the WFA, including how to attend, please visit: the association's website www.westernfrontassociation.com - and then select "Branches".

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News • Restorations • Discoveries • Events • Exhibitions from around the UK

Shorncliffe Trust To Mark WW1 Centenary THE SHORNCLIFFE Trust was set up eight years ago to save the heritage and archaeology around Sir John Moore’s redoubt next door to Shorncliffe Army Camp, near Folkestone, Kent. Shorncliffe was the birthplace of the legendary 95th Rifles (the Green Jackets) which was made famous in Bernard Cornwell’s series of “Sharpe” books and which is now represented in the British Army by The Rifles. Shorncliffe has a rich military heritage lasting over 200 years which includes the heyday of the Victorian era and as the gateway to the trenches during the First World War. Today Shorncliffe Camp still plays host to service personnel, including Gurkha soldiers who are currently based there. In light of the forthcoming First World War centenary commemorations, the Shorncliffe Trust has launched several fundraising projects. Included amongst these is Jumpers for Goalposts. Working in partnership with Help for Heroes, the Shorncliffe Trust hopes to bring the spirit of the Christmas Truce 1914 to every family, household and community in the United Kingdom. It wants there to be a moment on Christmas Day 2014 when every household puts down their mince

Surviving First World War training trenches near Folkestone.

pies, turns off the TV and goes outside to greet neighbours, have a warm drink and kick a football around using the Jumpers for Goalposts pack. Chris Shaw, Chairman of the Shorncliffe Trust, says, “The score will be immaterial on the day but the spirit of the British and German soldiers meeting in ‘No Man’s’ Land’ will live on.” The Shorncliffe Trust is working with the Belgian Tourist Office, representing Brussels and Wallonia, to recreate the original football truce at Plugstreet in Comines-Warneton, just prior to Christmas Day 2014.

The Shorncliffe Trust is a member of the First World War Centenary Partnership, a network of local, regional, national and international cultural and educational organisations led by the Imperial War Museums. There are currently 1,400 members from across twentyseven countries and the Partnership continues to grow on a weekly basis. For further information please contact Chris Shaw, the Shorncliffe Trust’s Chairman by email at: chris. [email protected]. Deborah Shaw, the Shorncliffe Trust’s media representative, can be emailed at: [email protected]

Shoreham Fort Military Weekend ON THE weekend of 7/8 June 2014, the Friends of Shoreham Fort will again be hosting their military history weekend. This will be the group’s fifth year of inviting living history groups onto the site to bring the Victorian fort to life. Each year FoSF have enabled more and more people to experience life as a soldier

and to explore this unique fort, with almost 3,000 people attending last year’s event. Built in 1857, Shoreham Fort, a scheduled ancient monument, was constructed to defend the harbour at a time when the fear of a French invasion, during the reign of Napoleon III, was at its height.

Shoreham Fort, which also saw service in the Second World War, is now the last fort of its kind. Over recent years the Friends of Shoreham Fort have been restoring the fort with the ultimate aim being to return it to its original condition. Whilst much still remains to be accomplished, visitors will be able to explore caponiers that defended the flank of the Carnot walls, the magazines and shifting rooms where the shells and cartridges were loaded, and wander around the gun platform. A recently installed, reclaimed, Second World War Nissen hut (positioned where a similar structure stood in the Second World War and seen here) will add to the theme of the weekend. Entrance is free but donations are welcomed to help with the ongoing maintenance of the fort and to secure this event for future years.

www.britainatwar.com

NEWS FEATURE |

Film Footage Recalls More 100 Years Of Flying

Film Footage Recalls More

100 Years of Flying TO MARK a period of service spanning more than a century, one of the oldest fixed-wing squadrons in the world recently marked its anniversary with the release of rare archive film footage from 1914. Formed on 13 May 1912, 2 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was trained to carry out reconnaissance, a role its modern day counterparts have continued to fulfil to this day. On the outbreak of war in 1914, the squadron was one of the first to be ordered to France as part of, noted the Official Historian of the RFC, the “first organized national [air] force to fly to a war overseas”. By the evening of 12 August 1914, the aircraft of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 squadrons had been concentrated together on the South Coast near Dover. Just before midnight, the final order was received: “All machines to be ready to fly over at 6.0 a.m. the following morning, the 13th of August.” The first aircraft of 2 Squadron to take off departed from Dover at 06.25 hours that morning; the first to arrive landed at Amiens at 08.20 hours. This machine, a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c, was flown by Lieutenant Hubert Dunsterville Harvey-Kelly, Royal Irish Regiment, attached RFC (who would subsequently be killed in action). Harvey-Kelly was, in fact, the first British aviator to land in France. It was not until 25 August 1914, that an enemy aircraft was brought down by a British aeroplane. Of this subject, the Official History records: “On the 25th of August three machines of No.2 Squadron chased an enemy monoplane. It was forced to land; Lieutenant H.D. HarveyKelly and Lieutenant W.H.C. Mansfield landed near it and continued the chase on foot, but

A 2 Squadron RFC aircraft pictured shortly before the squadron’s deployment to France, 1914.

(© CROWN/MOD COPYRIGHT, 2014)

the Germans escaped into a wood. When some trophies had been taken from the machine it was burnt.” It was after the start of the retreat from Mons on 24 August 1914, that the RFC began to come into its own, an increasing number of reconnaissance flights were flown, many of which resulted in helpful intelligence. It was also in this period that the first German machine to be seen by the British appeared over the aerodrome at Maubeuge on 22 August 1914. Major C.J. Burke, 2 Squadron’s Commanding Officer, described the event in his diary: “At about 2.25 p.m. an Albatross biplane passed

The first British pilot to land in France in 1914 was Lieutenant Hubert Dunsterville Harvey-Kelly DSO – he can be seen in this image, taken shortly before his departure for France, lying on the ground next to the haystack studying a map. Harvey-Kelly was killed on 29 April 1917, the 25th victim of the German ace Leutnant Kurt Wolff of Jasta 11. (HMP)

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over the town. Major Longcroft with Captain Dawes as passenger, Lieutenant Dawes with Major Burke as passenger, on B.E.’s, gave chase. The gun machine piloted by Lieutenant Strange also went out. The machine (Albatross) had far too long a start, and got into a rain cloud.” In 1915, during the battle of Neuve Chapelle, the squadron pioneered the use of aerial photography in order to map the trenches of Northern France. Although its principal role was not air-to-air combat, 2 Squadron RFC could count an “Ace” amongst its ranks in Arthur William Hammond, who was credited with five aerial victories as an observer/gunner. The squadron can also claim two First World War Victoria Cross holders amongst its ranks, in Second Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse and Lieutenant Alan Arnett McLeod. Speaking of the announcement of the release of the film footage and 2 Squadron’s anniversary, Wing Commander Jez Holmes, Officer Commanding No II (Army Cooperation) Squadron noted that “when the squadron converts to the multi-role Typhoon and moves to RAF Lossiemouth in 2015, the Squadron’s history books will record over 100 bases and forty aircraft types.” The newly-released film footage was taken on 14 May 1914 at Seaton Carew, West Hartlepool. It depicts 2 Squadron’s CO, Major C.J. Burke, demonstrating state of the art flying manoeuvres to a large crowd. The aircraft captured on camera was Burke’s Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 No.228. www.britainatwar.com

Medal

| NEWS FEATURE

AIR COMMODORE R. "RAS" BERRY

MAIN PICTURE: Lance-Corporal 49809 James Collins Albert Medal in Gold.

(ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF SPINK; WWW.SPINK.COM)

BOTTOM RIGHT: James Collins AM pictured as a Swansea Town Footballer.

The same auction in which Lance-Corporal Collins’ Albert Medal was sold also included the medals of Air Commodore R. “Ras” Berry (19172000). The “Mighty Atom”, as Berry was known, claimed at least fourteen aircraft destroyed, ten shared destroyed, nine “probable”, seventeen damaged and seven destroyed on the ground. A Battle of Britain veteran, Ronald Berry was involved in one of the earliest interceptions of the war over the United Kingdom, claiming a Heinkel He 111 damaged, on 7 December 1939. Amongst his eight medals is an “Immediate” DSO from 1943, and a 1940 “Immediate” DFC and Bar. The recommendation for the DSO includes the following: “Out of a total of 412 operational sorties this Officer has carried out 45 Sweeps over France and no less than 85 Sweeps since coming to North Africa six months ago. The work carried out by Fighter Squadrons at Bone under his leadership during the first few months of this campaign was largely responsible for the sea supply lines being kept open ... His gallantry and determination to engage the enemy at all times are outstanding.” Berry’s medals were sold by Spink for £120,000. (IMAGES COURTESY OF SPINK)

WW1 Life-Saving Medal Sold at Auction LANCE-CORPORAL 49809 James Collins, AM was born in 1897 at Lochee, Dundee, where before the First World War he was a keen footballer, playing centre-half with St. Joseph’s F.C., and considered by many to be one of the city’s most promising young footballers. Following the outbreak of war in 1914 he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and served with the 14th Field Ambulance on the Western Front. It was with the RAMC that an incident occurred which resulted in the award of the Albert Medal in Gold, “in recognition of his gallant action in saving life in France”. The citation for the award, which was gazetted on 1 January 1918, states: “On the 11th November, 1917, near an advanced dressing [at La Bergere, south-west of Monshyn-le-Roux] in France, a lunatic soldier escaped from his escort and ran away along a trench. Collins ran after him, and when he got near him the man threatened to throw a bomb at him. Collins closed with the man, who then withdrew the pin from the bomb and let it fall in the trench. In an endeavour to save the patient and two other soldiers who were near, Collins put his foot upon the bomb, which exploded, killing the lunatic and injuring Collins severely; www.britainatwar.com

fortunately the two [other] soldiers were not hurt. Collins, who could easily have got out of the way, ran the gravest risk of losing his life in order to save others.” Collins was severely wounded in the leg. Indeed, his feet were so riddled with shrapnel that in hospital back in the UK he was told that his only hope was amputation. However, he refused to allow this, his burning ambition being to one day play football again. After fourteen operations over a period of almost two years, and with shrapnel still in his toes and ankles, he was signed by Swansea Town A.F.C. (now Swansea City, the Premiership team). He played with the “Swans” for fifteen years (when the picture on the right was taken), and was their captain when the team won the Third Division Championship in 1924-25; the following season the team reached the Semi-Final of the F.A. Cup. A Royal Warrant of 8 March 1866 announced the institution of a decoration to award “daring and heroic actions performed by mariners and others in danger of perishing, by reason of wrecks and other perils of the sea”. This decoration was to be known as the Albert Medal, being named in memory of the Prince Consort who had died in 1861.

A further Warrant in April 1867 created two classes of the award, and ten years later the award for extended to include acts “performed on land ... in preventing accidents in mines, on railways, and at fires, and from other perils on the shore”. There were now four medals in all: Sea First and Second Class, and Land First and Second Class. In 1917, the title of the awards was altered, the First class becoming the Albert Medal in Gold, the Second class merely the Albert Medal. In 1949, the Medal in Gold was abolished and replaced by the George Cross. On the outbreak of the Second World War Collins volunteered again for service with the Royal Engineers. He died in Dundee in 1963. With a pre-sale estimate of Estimate £5,0007,000, Collins’ medal (seen above) was sold by the auctioneers Spink for £18,000. JUNE 2014 11

NEWS FEATURE |

A Memorial To Two Bomber Crews Is Unveiled

FLYING OFFICER James Henry Scott “Jim” Lyon was one of 37,000 Australian airmen who volunteered to join the RAF after the UK sought help from its Allies. He was sent to RAF Bardney in Lincolnshire in 1943. It was there that he met his wife, Margaret Bruce, but only agreed to marry her in November of that year after completing a full operational tour, for which he was awarded the DFC. After he had completed his operational tour of thirty missions Lyon, nicknamed "Benny" or "Tiger" by his colleagues, was "screened" from further operations and was posted to No.11 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Westcott as a Staff Pilot Instructor. On 15 March 1944, Lyon was at the controls of a No.11 Operational Training Unit Vickers Wellington, Mk.X LN660 (coded KJ-O), which took off from RAF Westcott at 20.05 hours on a night cross-country training flight. After being airborne for two-and-a-half hours, the Wellington was on finals for landing at RAF Westcott. Being just a few miles from RAF Westcott, 10-year-old Peter Cannon had grown used to the rumble of aircraft overhead. Yet at around 22.35 hours that night the sound he heard was unusual, and he leapt out of bed to peek through the blackout curtains into the night sky. “I remember this very peculiar noise,” related Peter Cannon. “It was an aeroplane, but one that sounded in a lot of trouble.” A badly damaged Vickers

Wellington suddenly came into view. The Wellington, which was on finals to land, had collided with a Short Stirling that was returning from a mission to Amiens, France, on the first mission of its crew's operational tour. The Stirling, Mk.III EH989, coded WP-P, was also preparing to land when it struck the Wellington, from below on the starboard side. Based at RAF Tuddenham, the 90 Squadron Stirling was flown by Flight Sergeant Joseph Vernon Spring RAFVR. The stricken Wellington fell towards the ground. “It was only a matter of moments, then there was this terrific bang and a great fire went up into the sky,” continued Peter Cannon. Though he did not know who was on the Wellington at that time, he later discovered that the crew included his next-door neighbour, Flying Officer Lyon. “I used to watch him cycling back from Westcott to his house. I can picture him now. The pilots were like celebrities to us. That night, he must have known he was going in the direction of where his wife lived and steered the ’plane away.” The Wellington crashed half a mile east of Quainton Road railway station, and one-and-ahalf miles north-east of Westcott. All eight men on board were killed. The Stirling flew on for a few more minutes before it also crashed, at 22.47 hours, at Astwell Park, Wappenham, Northamptonshire. Once again, all of the crew lost their lives. A memorial plaque commemorating the fifteen aircrew who died was dedicated on the

seventieth anniversary of the crashes. A number of relatives of those who were killed from both crews were present, including Bruce Blanche and Jim Lyon's granddaughter, Melanie Lyon, who had come from Australia. For Bruce, who is the nephew of Flying Officer Lyon, the ceremony marked the culmination of a lifetime of research. Blanche, now 68, never met his uncle, but as a boy became interested in the picture of him on his grandmother’s mantelpiece.

A Memorial to two

Bomber Crews

is Unveiled at Westcott TOP: Flying Officer James Henry Scott Lyon, DFC, RAAF.

(IMAGES AND RESEARCH COURTESY OF B.BLANCHE AND LINDA IBROM)

BELOW: The memorial is unveiled at Westcott during March 2014.

12 JUNE 2014

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S P I T F I R E D AW N

by

Mark Postlethwaite Gava RAF Fighter Command Spitfires take off at dawn to deploy to a forward airfield near the south coast of England at the height of the Battle of Britain. The Artist writes; "Over the years I've been extremely fortunate to have met and chatted to dozens of Battle of Britain pilots. I always asked them what was their overriding memory of that long hot summer of 1940. For most of them, their answer was sheer bloody tiredness! Being up at dawn and not standing down until sunset was hard enough, but add to that flying up to five sorties a day with all the physical strain associated with air to air combat, and you realise how physically fit they had to be to cope with it all. I painted this scene to try to capture the mood of the start of another long day for three members of 'The Few'. What would the new day bring? Would they live long enough to see the sunset or would they spend the day dozing in a chair waiting for a scramble that on this day would never come? I'll leave that to your imagination..."

Overall limited edition of 210, all copies signed by the artist. Image size 63cm x 30cm (25" x 12") Overall size 70cm x 38cm (27" x15")

Numbers 1-150 £50,

30 Artist’s Proofs £65, 20 Remarques £250,

10 Double Remarques £350

See the original canvas of Spitfire Dawn in the Guild of Aviation Artists' Annual Exhibition in the Mall Galleries, London, from 22nd - 27th July 2014. Mark Postlethwaite has been a professional, independent aviation artist for over 20 years. This means that his prints, originals and commissions have no gallery, agent or publisher fees built in. As such his commissions start at just £2000 and you get to deal directly with the artist. For more details, please visit the website or contact him via the address below.

Mark Postlethwaite, sidewinder PublishinG ltd, 11 sheridan Close, enderby, leiCester, le19 4Qw enGland.

Tel. 0845 095 0344

email. [email protected]

www.posart.com

www.facebook.com/markpostlethwaitegava FREE WORLDWIDE POSTAGE ON ALL ORDERS OVER £80 For orders below £80, Postage £3 UK, £6 Europe, £10 Worldwide per order.

NEWS FEATURE |

First World War Casualty Recognised

NEARLY A century after he was killed in an accident, the death of a First World War soldier has been officially recognised and recorded. Twenty-eight-year-old Gunner 1011 Robert Corfield had worked as a hairdresser in Aberystwyth before the war. He had enlisted in the Cardiganshire Battery of the Royal Field Artillery, part of the 1/2nd Welsh Brigade RFA, at Pembroke Dock on 9 September 1914. On the morning of Thursday, 26 August 1915, Corfield’s battery was performing mounted drill in a field alongside Ampthill Road in Bedford. Corfield was taking part in what was described in the subsequent Coroner’s report as “ordinary drill”. As part of this he was seated on a gun limber with a colleague when he fell backwards off the limber and underneath the wheel of the gun that they were towing. Captain John Cook of the Royal Army Medical Corps was in an adjacent field and immediately attended the seriously injured and unconscious Gunner Corfield. Cook found him still alive but

A portrait of Robert Corfield. (COURTESY OF THE WEST WALES WAR MEMORIAL PROJECT)

BOTTOM LEFT: A troop of mounted field artillery similar to the unit that Gunner Corfield was serving in at the time of his accident. (HMP)

First World War Casualty Recognised suffering from a serious head wound, from which he later died. The conclusion drawn at the inquest was that Corfield may have fainted as a result of having been overcome by heat. It was noted that when he fell there would have been ample opportunity for Corfield to grab on to something to steady himself, but he had made no attempt to do so. Additionally, it was noted that Corfield’s colleague on the gun had not been in a position to observe him fall; even if the Driver had witnessed the fall, it was felt that it would have been impossible for him to stop the carriage in time to prevent the gun accidentally running over Corfield. The Coroner concluded that “the deceased had been prepared to fight for his country and had died as nobly as if he had been fighting”. Gunner

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Corfield was also described in the reports as being “a very steady young man and one of the best they had in they Brigade”. Until the recent announcement, Gunner Corfield had not officially been recognised as a First World War Commonwealth casualty. This fact came to light as a result of research performed by the West Wales War Memorial Project. This is an initiative to commemorate all of the men and women from the three counties of West Wales – Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire – who have fallen in conflicts throughout the world. Whilst the project focuses on the casualties of both world wars, those who have fallen in other wars are also remembered. Thanking the project’s researchers for bringing Corfield’s case to his attention, Lord Astor of Hever DL, Under Secretary of State and the Lords Spokesman on Defence, stated, “Please let me assure you that the Ministry of Defence is firmly committed to ensuring that those who have died as a result of their service in the First World War do receive due recognition for their sacrifice and bravery.”

Robert Corfield’s grave in Aberystwyth Cemetery.

(COURTESY OF THE WEST WALES WAR MEMORIAL PROJECT)

Gunner Corfield’s name has been entered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the United Kingdom Book of Remembrance. This register is maintained at the CWGC’s Head Office in Maidenhead and, at the time of writing, contained 164 names. The CWGC’s website states: “The United Kingdom Book of Remembrance commemorates United Kingdom casualties of the two World Wars who were not formerly recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The men and women remembered here are presently commemorated solely by their database and register entry. The Commission will continue to investigate the grave location details.” For more information on the West Wales War Memorial Project, please visit: www.wwwmp.co.uk www.britainatwar.com

Wartime German Bunker Re-Opened On Jersey |

NEWS FEATURE

Wartime German Bunker Re-Opened on Jersey Recovered Objects to go on Show in the Channel Islands Military Museum Which is Celebrating its 25th Anniversary THE DISCOVERY of a “forgotten” wartime bunker on Jersey was made whilst workmen were installing electric/computer cables in the grounds of a property at Green Island on the island’s south coast. It was whilst a trench was being dug across the garden with a mini digger, that the machine struck a solid object. After clearing away the soil it was found that the surprisingly sizeable object was made of concrete. It was soon evident that it was in fact a wartime German bunker or shelter. There are another two German structures on the property, but this one was totally unknown to the occupiers. It was at this point that Damien Horn, the curator and owner of the Channel Islands Military Museum, was contacted. When he investigated the structure he found that he could see the top of a doorway which was partially blocked by a tree that had grown there in the last seventy years. With the owner’s permission, the decision was made to open the doorway. With further help from the mechanical excavator, this was accomplished on Monday, 21 April 2014. Through his extensive local knowledge and additional research, Mr Horn drew the conclusion that the bunker, which is in effect a shelter, was part of what was known as Resistance Nest La Motte A. Along with Resistance Nest La Motte B, it formed the Stützpunkt (or Strongpoint) La Motte. This collection of fixed defences and associated features of La Motte A was constructed in the grounds of a private dwelling 100 yards from the Green Island slipway. This particular resistance nest (more correctly a Widerstandsnest) was equipped with a 5cm KwK 39 L/60 (5cm Kampfwagenkanone 39 L/60) gun. Whilst this weapon was common on many stretches of the German’s Atlantic Wall, the example at Green Island is stated to have been the only one 

(ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF DAMIEN HORN/CHANNEL ISLANDS MILITARY MUSEUM UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

ABOVE: The first tantalising glimpse inside the shelter at Green Island. Note the top of the Zwillingssockel 36 mount in the foreground.

ABOVE: After much digging, the Zwillingssockel 36 mount is brought out into daylight by Damien Horn of the Channel Islands Military Museum.

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ABOVE: The entrance into the previously forgotten shelter at Green Island is slowly revealed.

ABOVE: The Zwillingssockel 36 after an initial clean following its recovery from the re-discovered wartime bunker.

JUNE 2014 15

NEWS FEATURE |

Wartime German Bunker Re-Opened On Jersey

emplaced on the Channel Islands. The garrison of Resistance Nest La Motte A, which amounted to a pair of NCOs and seven other ranks, were also equipped with at least one MG 34 machine-gun. Confirmation of this was found in the bunker by Mr Horn. When he was finally able to enter the shelter what he actually discovered was a Zwillingssockel 36 – a twin MG 34 anti-aircraft mount (Zwilling being the German for “twin”) – buried in the infill. “To say I could not believe what I was seeing is an understatement,” said Mr Horn. “I had seen the back of the chair poking out of the sand but had not dared hope I was right. But there in front of me was the proof. Some information on the Resistance Nest says there were two MG 34s at the site, but does not say they were on a twin mount so it was exciting to be able to confirm this.”

After considerably more digging, the mount was freed from the surrounding sand and then dragged through the doorway and finally out into daylight for the first time in many decades. “The mount is missing the frame which the machine-guns were attached too,” added Mr Horn. “I think it is possible that after the end of the Occupation the weapons, and frame, were removed, leaving the mount in situ in the concrete position at the end of the garden. Sometime after the Occupation, maybe 1946/47 the owners of the property may have decided to block the shelter up and used the twin mount as a big lump to retain the sand infill.”

UNEXPLODED MORTAR ROUND DESTROYED UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE, a legacy of the German occupation of the Channel Islands, continues to be uncovered on Jersey. Following on from the discovery of a number of German Teller mines (see Issue 85), another recent find was an unexploded Mortier Brandt 81 mm Mle 27/31 mortar round. Following the events of 1939 and 1940, the Germans captured extensive numbers of this French weapon from a variety of sources, including the French, Dutch and Polish armed forces. With the German designation 8.14cm GrW 278/1(f), this weapon had a range between 1,000 and 1,900 metres depending on the type of round fired.

ABOVE: This is the actual spot at Green Island where Damien Horn believes the Zwillingssockel 36 mount was originally situated – the darker area of concrete on the emplacement’s roof. LEFT: An archive photograph of Resistance Nest La Motte A with the 5cm KwK 39 L/60 gun (foreground) still in situ. It is possible that the covered entrance to the machine-gun position is visible to the left of this view. Incredibly, the wooden chalet seen here still remains. (COURTESY OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS OCCUPATION SOCIETY)

“To find such an interesting piece in a shelter today is truly amazing,” continued Damien Horn. “I would have been happy with a rusty German helmet but that exceeded anything I could have dreamed of. I have cleaned the sand off the mount and propose to display it in the Channel Islands Military Museum as an item found in 2014 just to show it is still out there if you are lucky enough to find it.” The museum, which is located on St Ouen’s Bay and is also housed in a wartime bunker, is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The unexploded round was found at the low water mark in the middle of St. Aubin’s Bay towards the end of April 2014. It was subsequently destroyed in situ in a controlled explosion (above) by the island’s Bomb Disposal Officer.

ABOVE: On examining the chalet, Damien Horn found evidence of the German occupation in the form of graffiti and carvings – such as those seen here. As well as the year “1941”, there appears to also be a number of names.

RIGHT: A wartime photograph of a Zwillingssockel 36 in use. The section of the frame that is missing from the Green Island example can clearly be seen. (BUNDESARCHIV,

BILD 101I-028-1632-13/WEBER, ROBERT/CC-BY-SA)

16 JUNE 2014

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NEWS FEATURE |

First World War VC Honoured

First World War

VC Honoured A FIRST World War soldier who was awarded the Victoria Cross has been remembered in a ceremony at London’s Euston station, writes Geoff Simpson. Lance Corporal John Alexander “Jock” Christie had earned his award at Fejja, Palestine in 1917. At the time he was serving with the 1/11th (County of London) Battalion London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles). Sponsored by the Railway Heritage Trust, the plaque at Euston station was unveiled by Jock Christie’s son, Kenneth. In part it states on the plaque that Christie was “a former London and North Western Railway parcels clerk based at Euston station, who enlisted in 1914 and served in Gallipoli, where he was wounded at Suvla Bay. Returning to action in Palestine he took part in actions to repel the enemy from retaking captured positions at Feja near the port of Jaffa. During the action he single-handedly attacked the enemy lines to prevent recapture of the British positions.”

FURTHER RECOGNITION AND THE VC ASSOCIATION AS WELL as having a locomotive named after him, in January 1919 Christie was also presented with a mahogany bureau and cheque by the L&NWR station staff at Euston. He also received a silver salver from the citizens of Islington, where he had moved before the war. During the 1926 General Strike Christie drove a food wagon on the streets of London and during the Second World War was both a driver in the Auxiliary Fire Service and a Sergeant in the Special Constabulary. He was a founder member of the VC Association and at the time of his death, aged 72, he was Honorary Treasurer.

Christie was reluctant to talk about his actions. The announcement of his award in The London Gazette states the following: “Lance Corporal Christie … took a supply of bombs over the top, proceeding alone about 50 yards in the open along the communication trench and bombed the enemy. He continued to do this alone in spite of very heavy opposition until a block had been established. Returning towards our lines he heard voices behind him; he at once turned back and bombed another party … breaking up another bombing attack. “By his prompt and effective action he undoubtedly cleared a difficult position at a most difficult time and saved many lives. Throughout he was subjected to heavy machine gun fire and shell fire. He showed the greatest coolness and a total disregard for his own safety.” Christie had been born in Edmonton, Middlesex on 14 May 1895, but was living in Islington on enlistment. After a head wound at Suvla Bay he found himself part of the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force up the Mediterranean coastline. Christie suffered severe sunstroke in the Sinai desert, but nevertheless took part in the fighting at Gaza in the spring of 1917. The offensive in Palestine restarted in the autumn of that year. Christie’s VC action, on the night of 21/22 December 1917, took place days after General Allenby’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Christie was part of an attempt to exploit the situation north and east of Jerusalem when he performed his gallant acts. After the war Jock Christie became a commercial traveller and later worked in the wine trade. He lived in Bramhall, Cheshire in later life and died there, aged 72, on 10 September 1967.

The plaque to Lance Corporal John Alexander “Jock” Christie VC which was recently unveiled at Euston Station.

In 2010 a memorial bench was unveiled in Bramhall Park, but there had been a much larger tribute to Jock Christie that no longer exists. With the end of the First World War approaching, Kenneth Cantlie, a premium apprentice at the Crewe locomotive works of the LNWR suggested that the company should name a locomotive Victory in tribute to staff who had gone to war or served in the armed forces. The idea was approved by the Board, but it decided that the name to be applied to a Claughton-class express engine should be Patriot. Kenneth Cantlie was given the task of progressing the new locomotive through the works. A difficulty later arose. It had been intended that Patriot would carry the number 69, but a former soldier who had returned to Crewe pointed out that this would make the railway a laughing stock amongst war veterans as “soixante neuf”, 69 in French, was a euphemism for Belgian brothels. The locomotive was therefore given the safer and appropriate number, 1914. Three members of LNWR staff had earned the Victoria Cross and so three Claughtons were named as L/Corp. J.A. Christie VC, Private W. Wood VC and Private E. Sykes VC. Years later war-related names were transferred to more modern locomotives, but not the Christie name, presumably because he had left railway service at this point.

The Claughton-class express engine L/Corpl. J.A. Christie VC.

18 JUNE 2014

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WW1 Soldier Statue Unveiled

| NEWS FEATURE

The statue that was unveiled at the War and Peace Revival’s Folkestone Racecourse site. (COURTESY OF CRAIG FREATHY)

WW1 Soldier Statue Unveiled TO MARK the forthcoming centenaries of the First World War, a statue of a First World War soldier was unveiled by Hugo Fenwick, High Sheriff of Kent, at the War and Peace Revival’s Folkestone Racecourse site on 10 May 2014. Designed and cast by Michael Whiteley, the nine-foot-high statue represents a soldier of The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) advancing through the trenches. On the outbreak of war in 1914, The Buffs comprised three battalions of the Regular Army. The 1st Battalion was in Britain and deployed straight to the Western Front. It stayed there throughout the conflict. The 2nd Battalion was in India and joined the 1st Battalion for ten months in January 1915, before moving to Salonika for the rest of the war. The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion was a training unit and, as such, it remained in the UK throughout the war. By the Armistice in 1918, The Buffs also included six battalions of the Territorial Force, along with a further four New Army battalions. Of the statue’s unveiling, the War and Peace Revival’s show organiser Rex Cadman said: “The statue is stunning. For the next five years the World War One centenary is going to be an important part of our lives – we wanted to have something we could be proud of … so we thought it was fitting for there to be recognition of this www.britainatwar.com

connection with World War One with a memorial here at the Racecourse.” It was also announced at the unveiling that a competition had been launched for pupils at schools throughout Kent to name the soldier represented in the statue. The chosen name will be announced at the War and Peace Revival Schools Day on Wednesday, 16 July 2014, the first day of this year’s show. There will be a strong First World War theme at this year’s show. Amongst the attractions will be a replica trench system and a First World War railway. The latter was present at last year’s show, though the intention for the 2014 event is to increase the size of the track. The locomotive used at the show

The Simplex locomotive that ran at War and Peace Revival’s 2013 show. (HMP)

THE WAR & PEACE REVIVAL 2014 The world’s largest vintage and military festival, this year’s War and Peace Revival takes place at Folkestone Racecourse between Wednesday, 16 July 2014, and Sunday, 20 July 2014. For more information, please visit the event’s website: www.thewarandpeacerevival.co.uk

is a 20hp “Simplex”. Built in 1916, Motor Rail 264 is the oldest surviving Simplex in Great Britain. These locomotives, known as petrol tractors, formed the backbone of the War Department Light Railway effort during the First World War. These tractors were vital in moving supplies from railheads up to the front lines. They could be used in areas where steam locomotives were too vulnerable to enemy fire. “With such an important anniversary this year,” added Rex Cadman, “we at War and Peace wanted to mark it in a significant way. Both Westenhanger and the Racecourse were used by World War One soldiers from 1915 onwards.” JUNE 2014 19

NEWS FEATURE |

Memorial Unveiled At Wartime Airfield

Memorial Unveiled At

Wartime Airfield A MEMORIAL commemorating three wartime flying accidents was unveiled at the former RAF Sleap (pronounced “Slape”) in Shropshire on 12 April 2014, writes David Smith. Flown by a trainee crew from No.81 Operational Training Unit (OTU), Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk.V LA937 had taken off from RAF Sleap at 20.50 hours on 25 August 1943, to conduct a night navigation exercise. It was in the early hours the following morning that disaster struck. Landing at 03.10 hours, as the pilot, Flying Officer K. Laing RCAF, turned to line up with the runway both of the Whitley’s engines faltered. Unfortunately, the aircraft had overshot the flarepath and was flying at an angle across it. After two bounces the pilot tried to raise the undercarriage to bring the Whitley to a halt but, by this stage, it was too late. As the bomber bounced into the air again its port wing struck a Nissen hut and was torn off. The fuselage swung round and smashed into the Watch Office, killing its pilot and bomb aimer (the latter was Sergeant T. Armstrong RCAF). The rest of the crew were badly injured. Three people in the tower, one of them the Station Commander, were hurt. About fifteen WAAF personnel escaped with minor cuts and bruises. Despite considerable damage, the Watch Office was temporarily repaired and operational by 09.00 hours the following morning. The subsequent investigation into the incident reported that the pilot had been too hasty in changing over his fuel tanks during the flight, as, when examined, the wing tanks were found to still have fuel in them. The other tanks had, however, then run dry causing the engines to falter on landing. It was decided that to prevent another similar accident occurring “a red obstruction light should be placed on the Watch The Watch Office at Sleap today.

20 JUNE 2014

The new memorial at the former RAF Sleap being unveiled on 12 April 2014. The actual unveiling was undertaken by an RAF veteran who flew from Sleap in the post-war period, when the airfield operated as a relief landing Ground for RAF Shawbury’s Central Navigation and Control School. (IMAGES COURTESY OF DAVID SMITH)

Office” when flying is in progress”. Just twelve days later an almost identical, but much more serious accident occurred. At 00.20 hours on 7 September 1943, another No.81 OTU Whitley, BD257, was taking off when, having built up a considerable speed, it swung off course and also collided with the Watch Office. The aircraft burst into flames. Of the five crewmen on board, only the rear gunner survived. Such was the scale of the crash that three personnel

on duty in the Watch Office were also killed, two of whom were WAAFs from the station’s meteorology section. A further two WAAFs and the surviving member of the Whitley crew, Sergeant S. Williams, were rushed to the RAF hospital at Cosford suffering from severe burns. The third accident commemorated by the new memorial had claimed the life of a No.81 OTU glider pilot when his Airspeed Horsa, LH834, crashed during a night landing on 10 November 1944. After casting off from the tug aircraft at too high an altitude, the pilot thought he was going to overshoot the airfield and began a 360 degree turn to lose height. In the process the glider struck a contractor’s hut on the edge of the airfield, killing the pilot and injuring his co-pilot. During the Second World War, RAF Sleap was a satellite of RAF Whitchurch Heath (later renamed Tilstock) used originally for Bomber Command training. From January 1944 its role changed to that of training glider pilots. Through the co-operation of the Shropshire Aero Club, the Wartime Aircraft Recovery Group (WARG) operates a museum on the site. This all-volunteer group investigates crash sites and recovers and displays artefacts as a memorial to pilots who gave their lives operating in the Shropshire area. The recently unveiled memorial is sited outside WARG’s museum, adjacent to the control tower of what is still an active airfield. www.britainatwar.com

FIELD POST

Our Letter of the Month is sponsored by

Pen & Sword Books

'Britain at War' Magazine, Green Arbor, Rectory Road, Storrington, West Sussex, RH20 4EF | [email protected]

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Edward Benn Smith VC

SIR – An appeal has been made through our local paper for information about Edward Benn Smith, who was from Summerseat near Ramsbottom in Lancashire, who won a Victoria Cross and a Distinguished Conduct Medal in the First World War. This

Lieutenant Edward Smith was buried in Beuvry Communal Cemetery Extension. (COURTESY OF THE

COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

has come about because Joe Easton, 72, a retired Captain from the Lancashire Fusiliers and amateur historian, came across Edward Smith during the course of his research on the Lancashire Fusiliers in the First World War. Joe found that Edward also served in the Second World War and was killed in France in 1940. Joe, originally from Ashton under Lyne but now living in Cambridge, said; “I have got a letter from Edward to an officer who was recuperating having lost a leg, and the address on the letter is 3 India Street, Summerseat. I want to know if the community are aware of this highly decorated Summerseat hero and if they are to get in touch.” The Summerseat Village Community Group is now helping with research but Viv Sayers, the Summerseat Village Community Group secretary said: “Sadly, no one has heard of Edward Benn Smith. But Summerseat has a newly formed heritage group and we will undertake research now to uncover the story of this heroic man.” The following account of the action for which Smith was awarded the DCM is given on the internet: “On 10 August 1918, then a Corporal with the 1/5th Battalion, Lancashire

Fusiliers, he was leading a daylight patrol near Hébuterne … to examine points in the German lines where information was required. As the patrol was about to retire, ‘Ned’ Smith saw a party of about 40 Germans about to take up outpost duty. Despite being heavily outnumbered by the German soldiers, Corporal Smith led his small party of men and engaged the enemy, breaking up the German party and causing severe casualties. As well as receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal for this action, Ned Smith was promoted to the rank of Lance Sergeant.” The following details regarding Smith’s VC were given in a supplement to The London Gazette of 18 October 1918: “Sjt. Edward Smith, D.C.M., Lancashire Fusiliers, while in command of a platoon, personally took a machine gun post with rifle and bayonet, killing at least six of the enemy, regardless of the hand grenades they flung at him. Later he led his men to the assistance of another platoon he saw in difficulties, took command, and captured the objective. During the counter attack next day he led forward a section and restored a portion of the line. His personal bravery, skill and initiative were outstanding, and his conduct

throughout an inspiring example to all.” Smith served in the Army during the Second World War, being killed, aged 41, in France on 12 January 1940, as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. The following letter written by his Colonel was received by Smith’s parents and published in a local newspaper: “I have the dreadful task of informing you that your son Edward, passed away as a result of a bullet wound in the head and was buried with full military honours this afternoon. His death has stunned us all and we deeply feel the loss of a gallant officer. He was a tower of strength to the battalion and a friend of every officer and man. I can hardly express to you our profound grief and heartfelt sympathy. The sole comfort is that he died very soon after he received the fatal wound and suffered hardly any pain. God rest his soul and comfort you both.” Dawn Taylor. By email. Ed - If anyone has any information get in touch with Joe by visiting www.lancsfusiliers.co.uk, or by contacting the Britain at War editorial team in the usual way.

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SIR – I am the Lay Minister at St Mary’s Church, Oatlands in Weybridge and I am currently researching the names on our war memorials. They are within the building in a special chapel and reflect the First World War, the Second World War and the six civilians who were killed by a bomb on 23 February 1944. There are a total of seventy-five recorded names (forty-nine for the First World War and twenty-six for the Second World War). Through the Commonwealth War Graves

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War Memorial Research Commission website I have been able to identify all but eleven (eight from the First World War and three from the Second World War, though the date of death for the latter are not known): First World War: Lancelot Harry Adams (died 1917); Frederick Leslie Bailey (1918); Herbert Charles Bailey (1918); Ernest Barnett (1917); Albert Edward James Clark (1917); Harry Hardy (1915); Levi Allan James (1917); Charles William Smith (1916); (dates of death not known).

Second World War: Jim Compton RN; Michael Durrant RAF; William Wright RN. I would like to find details, not only of the missing eleven, but more personal information about all seventy-five. Can any readers advise me where I can find more information? Please contact me by post, phone or email. Hugh Montgomerie 45 Hillcrest Court, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 8AD. 01932 660280 [email protected]

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Raid On Middle Wallop

SIR – The article telling the story of the raid on Middle Wallop in the April edition was thoroughly enjoyed. Whilst reading it I recalled copying some Battle of Britain details relating to 609 Squadron – and suddenly they were found! My notes told me that they were copied in 1990 at the RAF Museum, Hendon for the 50th anniversary of the battle. In a cabinet was displayed some interesting sheets, the first of which was headed “Disposal of u/s aircraft Log Sheets for 609 Sq.”. The first entry read: “L7088, P/O Edge. Landed with u/c retracted.

Disaster at Sheerness – a pall of smoke hangs over the spot where HMS Bulwark had been moored at the time of the explosion. This is the view of from HMS Queen. (IWM; SP2912)

A Royal Navy Disaster SIR - HMS Natal was not the only Royal Navy warship to be lost whilst anchored in a British port during the First World War [as described in Issue 84]. During research for a book that I hope to publish detailing men and women from my area who died while serving as members of the armed forces in World War One and World War Two, I found that on the 26th, November 1914 the coal fired Battleship HMS Bulwark, a member of the 5th Battle Squadron, was at anchor at number 17 buoy at Kethole Reach in the River Medway just off the port of Sheerness when she blew up and sank taking with her many members of her crew. As she was taking on coal at the time it has been suggested that her loss was caused either by the ignition of very highly combustible coal dust or by the ignition of charges for her main guns overheating after being stored close to a pipe containing high pressure steam from her boilers. One of those lost when she sank was Stoker 1st, Class Alfred Edward Randle. Alfred was the son of Alfred and Emily Randle who came from Smethwick in the landlocked West Midlands. Along with

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other members of the crew whose remains were not recovered, Alfred is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.   Robin Bird. West Midlands.  Ed – The loss of HMS Bulwark is featured in a new special produced by the Britain at War Magazine team: 1914 An Illustrated History of the First Year of the Great War. One witness, Signalman Eric Peacock, on board HMS Irresistible later stated: “That day, as all days at 8 am, we were indicating by flags the state of coal, provisions and water. It so happened that Bulwark’s hoist was a bit adrift and so we were watching her. As her flag reached the top, there was a terrific explosion and then the startling realisation that Bulwark was no longer there, just an open space between adjacent ships, calm water and bits and pieces floating. It was devastating.” For more information on the special, or to order a copy, please visit: http://shop.keypublishing. com/

Catterick.’ [no date was given].” The next entry was: “21.11.39, L1060, Sgt. Staples. Colln. With L1082 and Petrol Tanker after Landing. Drem.” Then there were further entries ending on 29.4.41 However, returning to Middle Wallop, the entry for 14.8.40 read: “R6692, R6977. P9322, Dae’d [damaged] in hangar from E/A attack.” I just thought this addition would be of interest. From my books, the three ’planes were repaired and flew later with other units. Ron Durand. West Sussex.

Wartime Crash Recalled

SIR – At 13.00 hours on Saturday, 5 April 2014, a memorial service was held close to where wreckage fell from a Lancaster that crashed seventy years ago. This is the story of what happened that day in 1944. During the afternoon of Saturday 8 April in that penultimate year of the war, Lancaster I R5672 took off from RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire, for a routine air test after being delivered to the Lancaster Finishing School (LFS) at Hemswell, following a refurbishment and thorough overhaul. R5672 was a two-year old veteran with 695 flying hours to its credit and, although deemed too elderly for long trips across Europe and back, it was thought to be alright for the short trips from the LFS. At the controls that day was the CO of the LFS, a very youthful 23-year-old Acting Wing Commander Eric Campling DSO, DFC, who had completed two tours of thirty ‘Ops’ apiece with 100 Squadron and 460 Squadron. Campling had a Flight Engineer with him, Sergeant Lance Regan, who was ‘resting’ at the LFS after a tour of thirty Ops. Also on board for an air experience flight were six Airmen, the majority aged in their late teens and early twenties; the oldest one being Aircraftsman Harold Quinton, a 34-year-old father of six who had worked in a Lancashire cotton mill. Another on board for the air test was 24-year-old Taniya Whittall, a Second Officer in the Air Transport Auxiliary, whose pilots ferried aircraft from

factory to airfields. She had learned to be a pilot at Redhill Flying Club, Surrey, in 1939, and was qualified to fly twin-engine aircraft. The daughter of an Indian Army colonel, Taniya had previously served in both the WAAF and the WRENS before joining the ATA. Having ferried an aircraft to RAF Hemswell, she was waiting for a lift to her next job, and perhaps accepted the offer of a trip in the Lancaster to experience four-engine flight. R5672 took off for its air test, and was soon lost to view. Later that Saturday afternoon, the Lancaster was heard, and then seen, flying at tree-top height near Caistor, about fourteen miles from Hemswell. Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion and R5672 disintegrated, killing all on board. Such was the force of the explosion, the end walls and windows of a Nissen hut at RAF Caistor were blown in. At the memorial service around 100 people attended, including relatives of some of the RAF service men and women killed in the accident, and a message was read out by one of the pilot’s twin sisters. The Standards of the Royal Air Force Association and the Royal British Legion, and a bugler sounded the ‘Last Post’ and ‘Reveille’, the sound echoing across the quiet countryside. A memorial plaque was dedicated by the vicar, and then attached to the wall of a nearby farmhouse. Wreaths were laid in memory of those that lost their lives in that quiet corner of rural Lincolnshire.

Robin Fletcher. Doncaster. JUNE 2014 23

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Appeal for Information Sir – I am writing to see if any readers may be able to assist with some information I seeking relating to Allied aircraft crashes in France during the Second World War. I am a British ex-pat currently living in a small village in upper Normandy called Lyons La Forêt. Every year in our village we pay respects, by way of ceremonies, to those members of the Allied forces whose ’planes crashed in local area. With this year being the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the liberation of France we are organizing remembrance ceremonies in June and August and would like to ask for the help from Britain at War’s readers to locate relatives of some the brave men who lost their lives in the various crashes.  There are five specific crashes that occurred, all of which were bombers. Four of the aircraft were British and one American. The British aircraft comprised two Avro Lancasters, one Handley Page Halifax and a de Havilland Mosquito. The American aircraft was a Boeing B-17. The specific details of the aircraft and the crews that we are interested in are:

Avro Lancaster ND533

This 49 Squadron aircraft took off on

9 June 1944 from RAF Fiskerton for a bombing mission over Étampes. During the mission the ’plane was shot down and crashed at La Villeanise, about two kilometres from Lyons La Forêt. The crew were: F/O B.E. Bell (Pilot); F/O H.D. Clark (Air Gunner); F/Sgt S. Holmes (Flight Engineer); F/O D. Mac RAAF (Navigator); Sgt J. Holden (Wireless Operator); Sgt J.J. Reed (Air Gunner); F/O P.D. Hemmens (Bomb Aimer); and F/Sgt J.J. Reed (Air Gunner). Some relatives of F/O H. Clark and F/Sgt S. Holmes have already been located. 

Boeing B17G 42-102464

This 750th Bomb Squadron aircraft took off on 14 June 1944, from RAF Glatton, on a mission to bomb Le Bourget, Paris. On the return journey it was hit by flak damaging the cockpit and knocking out three of the four engines. All the crew baled and the ’plane crashed near to Fleury La Forêt. Some of the crew were taken prisoner upon landing (I believe all later returned to the UK) and at least one managed to evade capture. The crew were: 1st Lt Charles R. Blackwell (Pilot – evaded); 2nd Lt Theodore R. Baskette (Co-Pilot – PoW); 2nd Lt Irving H. Meyers (Navigator - – PoW); 2nd Lt Verne M. Boon (Bomb

aimer – PoW); T/Sgt Thomas Howard (Flight Engineer – PoW); T/Sgt Edward Nobazny (Radio Operator – PoW); S/Sgt Francis W. Mc Call (Left Waist Gunner – PoW); S/Sgt Thomas G. Leahy (Ball Turret Gunner – PoW); and S/Sgt Sylvester C. Kuraszkiewicz (Tail Gunner – PoW).

Handley Page Halifax LW143

This 102 Squadron Halifax took off from RAF Pocklington on 29 June 1944, to bomb Blanville-Sur Loing. It was shot down over Lyons La Forêt and crashed near the hamlet of Goupilier. The crew were: F/Sgt Nigel Douglas Campbell, RAAF (Pilot – Killed); Sgt Donald E. Leslie (F/Eng – PoW); Sgt A. Douglas Eagle (Navigator – PoW); P/O Jack Wilson RCAF (Bomb Aimer – killed); F/Sgt Noel Albert Pardon RAAF (W/ Op – killed); and Sgt Ronald L. Levington (Air/Gnr – PoW); Sgt Reg W.I. Joyce (Air/Gnr – PoW).

Avro Lancaster ME614

This 463 Squadron aircraft took off from RAF Waddington on 5 July 1944, to attack a V-1 installation at Saint-Leu-D’Esserents. The aircraft was shot down by a Luftwaffe fighter and crashed at Les Maisons Blanche on the outskirts of Lyons La Forêt, killing all on impact. The crew were:

F/O N. Webb RAAF (Pilot); F/O Arthur Albert Connor RAAF (Navigator); F/O Ernest Gatenby Fletcher RAAF (Bombardier); Warrant Officer Launcelot Harrison RAAF; F/O Malcolm John Mc Leod RAAF; F/Sgt Patrick John Dunford RAAF; F/Sgt Archibald Oswald Gillet RAAF; and F/Sgt Thomas Hendry RAF.  

De Havilland Mosquito HK315

This 219 (Mysore) Squadron NF.Mk XVII took off from RAF Bradwell Bay and was shot down over Touffreville, about five kilometres from Lyons La Forêt. Both crewmembers died as a result of the aircraft crashing. The crew were: F/Lt Douglas Edyvean (Pilot) and F/O Peter F. Sturges (Navigator/Wireless Operator) If anyone is able to help with the contact details of relatives of these crews or knows of any stories concerning the Allied forces in our village Lyons La Forêt during the Second World War, or even know anyone related to any of the regiments who passed through the area, could they please contact me by email at [email protected] or by telephone on 00 33 (0)2 32 49 96 62 or 00 33 (0)6 31 44 04 19.  Alex Brzeski. By email.

Schloss Spangenberg SIR – I was most interested in the article on Schloss Spangenberg [“The March to Freedom”, issue 84]. I knew that there were two camps, upper and lower, and I assumed the upper one was the Schloss itself, being ‘A’ and the lower one being ‘H’. My wife and I have stayed at the Schloss twice over the last few years when we were touring Germany and Austria. At the Schloss we were given a tour, including a visit to the Well in the lower foundations where a tunnel had been started by the prisoners trying to get through to the dry moat. However it was soon abandoned. I tried to find out where the lower camp was situated but without success. The only place that came to mind was where the local

24 JUNE 2014

supermarket was situated. The reason I thought this was because in Oliver Philpot’s book, Stolen Journey, he mentioned that the lower camp was a former agriculture school with the river just below the windows over the wire enclosure. He describes watching geese on the river as “the whitest birds I have ever seen”. He calls Chapter XIII of the book “The White Geese of Spangenberg”. We wandered round the town and on the river were five white geese! I also have a book on Wing Commander Hay Day by Sidney Smith with a photo taken in the courtyard of the Schloss in 1939 showing a group of RAF prisoners. The background of the photo is exactly as it is today. The home of the main camp of Oflag IX A/H; Schloss Spangenberg. Oflag IX J. Alexander. Scone, Perth.

A was established as early as October 1939 to house RAF and Armée de l’Air prisoners. (COURTESY OF INGMAR RUNGE)

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THE BATTLE IN THE NIGHT Coastal Forces in Action

THE BATTLE IN T

In October 1943 the newspapers reported on a “Five Hour Sea Fight Off East Anglia”, in which four E-boats were destroyed and seven damaged, out of a force of about thirty which attempted to attack a convoy on the night of 24/25 October. Tony Martin details the part in the battle that was played by a young Telegraphist Anthony Chapman in his first-ever engagement. TOP RIGHT: Telegraphist P/JX 403107 A.J. “Sparks” Chapman.

(ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF TONY CHAPMAN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

T

ONY CHAPMAN joined the Royal Navy at the earliest opportunity and trained as a Telegraphist. He volunteered for the submarine service but unbeknown to him his father was required to give his permission due to Tony’s age. This was withheld and Tony was posted to Coastal Forces to serve on Motor Gun Boats (MGBs). He became part of the crew of MGB 607 which, commanded by Lieutenant Mike Marshall RNVR, was stationed at the Coastal Forces base, HMS Midge, in Great Yarmouth.

MAIN PICTURE: A Royal Navy Coastal Forces vessel in action. (COURTESY OF PEN & SWORD BOOKS: WWW.PEN-AND-SWORD.CO.UK)

26 JUNE 2014

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THE NIGHT On Saturday, 24 October 1943, the Fairmile D-class MGB 607, together with MGB 603, commanded by Lieutenant Roger Lightoller, formed Unit Y in a picket line of light Costal Forces which nightly protected convoys passing from the Thames Estuary north to the Humber, as well as in the opposite direction. The other elements in the screen were Unit R (MGBs 609 and 610 under Lieutenant Pat Edge RNVR), MGBs 315 and 327 (under Lieutenant Caulfield RNVR) and ML 250 and RML 517 under Lieutenant Commander Elford RNVR. The convoy sailing north was escorted by five destroyers – HM Ships Pytchley, Worcester, Eglington, Campbell and Mackay.

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THE BATTLE IN THE NIGHT Coastal Forces in Action

ENEMY BOATS At about 20.00 hours more than thirty Schnellboote, or E-boats, left their bases on the Dutch coast. These included eight vessels of 4. Schnellbootflottille which were based at Ijmuiden under the command of Korvettenkapitän Werner Lützow in S88. The E-boat force had been ordered to make a concerted attack on a northbound convoy in the vicinity of Smith’s Knoll off the Norfolk coast. They proceeded in line until about twelve miles off the convoy route at which point they split into divisions of four or six boats. Kapitänleutnant Causemann in S120 led one of the divisions to the westward, whilst Korvettenkapitän Lutzow turned 

JUNE 2014 27

THE BATTLE IN THE NIGHT Coastal Forces in Action south-west with E-boats S88, S62, S110 and S117. The presence of the E-boats was reported by RAF bombers returning from a raid. The convoy escort was warned and Nore Command made plans to attack the E-boats by cutting off their line of retreat to the Dutch Coast. This set the stage for a major battle spread over many hours involving as many as sixteen separate encounters between the E-boats and the Royal Navy destroyers and Coastal Forces. At about 23.18 hours the destroyer HMS Pytchley on the seaward side of the convoy detected six E-boats by radar and opened fire. She drove them off to the north-east severely damaging one and preventing accurate location of the convoy. Fortunately, due to the convoy being two hours ahead of schedule, the E-boats reached the convoy route well astern. Shortly after midnight, in the early hours of the 25th, Lightoller's Unit Y was ordered northward to intercept the E-boats on their return to the Dutch coast. At 01.13 hours it was in position.

AMBUSH Lutzow’s division of four boats crept in towards the convoy route but was engaged by HMS Mackay. A wild action ensued, involving gunfire, delayed action depth charges and a smoke screen laid by the E-boats. S63 was hit in the engine room which reduced her speed to twenty knots. The coastal forces were also engaged in running battles with further groups of E-boats and heavy damage was suffered by both sides. Lieutenant Edge's Unit R was involved in stalking one group to prevent it breaking through the British screen. For forty minutes they prevented the E-boats from attacking the convoy which was running on

ABOVE: ML 838 pictured during its running up trials on the Nile in March 1944. Commissioned on 1 January 1944, ML 838 survived the war and was sold to Turkey on 2 July 1946.

a parallel north westward direction. When the E-boats finally gave up and made a run to the north the two MGBs and five E-boats converged and had a brief action in which one of the latter was hit severely and possibly sank. Unit Y, waiting at its interception station, could clearly hear and see the flashes of the distant action. Lieutenant Marshall later reported that after sighting star shell from the other actions a number of E-boats were detected by hydrophone moving eastwards. Unit Y proceeded to intercept. “With MGB 603 close astern,” Tony Chapman recalled below deck on MGB 607, “we raced towards the prey, the ship’s engines roaring fit to burst and the whole ship vibrating with the sheer power. The lull was strangely silent but short-lived as suddenly our

ABOVE LEFT: Following the events of October 1943, Tony Chapman was posted to the crew of the Fairmile B-class motor launch ML 838. Ordered on 18 May 1942, ML 838 was built by the AngloAmerican Nile Tourist Company of Cairo, in which company’s yard this photograph was taken during February or March 1944. Telegraphist Tony Chapman can be seen on the far right. LEFT: Crewmen on a Fairmile D-class operate the 6-pounder Mark VII gun of their vessel whilst it is port at Lowestoft. The exposed positions in which the gun crews worked can clearly be seen. (IWM; A25162)

28 JUNE 2014

guns began firing. “The noise was indescribable. Apart from the ear-splitting crack of the pom-pom and Oerlikons it sounded as if a herd of wild elephants had been let loose as the thumping and tramping of heavy boots reached a crescendo above us ... In addition to the guns, the boots and the shouting there was also the bedlam [caused] by men dragging ammunition boxes along the deck to the guns and the empties being pushed to one side. “MGB 603 opened up shortly afterwards and the E-boat received the combined hail of HE and incendiary fire. The reply was erratic and, being divided, largely ineffective. Within a few minutes she was ablaze from stem to stern and clearly beyond all aid.” The E-boat exploded in a shower of flames and sparks.

“AN ALMIGHTY EXPLOSION” MGB 603 and 607 then parted company in pursuit of more prey. At this point, another enemy vessel was spotted to the south in flames due to a fire onboard. “We quickly bore down on E-boat number two,” continued Chapman as MGB 607 moved in for the kill. “There was the fearful tumult on the upper deck as the gun crews flung themselves into a frenzy of destructive activity. Again we approached virtually unscathed and poured a withering, lethal mixture into the prey which, being unable to stand this second assault rapidly became an inferno. She pulled away, battered and broken, listing slightly, until the end came with an almighty explosion which reduced what had minutes before been an entire www.britainatwar.com

THE FATE OF THE COMMANDERS NEITHER THE captain of MGB 607, Lieutenant Mike Marshall, nor the commander of MGB 603, Lieutenant Roger Lightoller, survived the war. Both died in tragic circumstances as the fighting in Europe drew to a close or had ended. Roger Lightoller had spent the war saving people. He had, for example, saved 120 men from the beaches of Dunkirk whilst assisting his father, Charles “Titanic” Lightoller, in the family launch Sundowner. In 1942 he was Mentioned in Despatches for saving the crew escaping from the sunken submarine HMS Umpire. He rescued nineteen German seamen from E-boats sunk in the October 1943 action and in 1944 received another MiD for saving United States personnel in Portsmouth harbour. Lightoller finished his war as Royal Navy shore officer in the American-run French port of Granville in Northern France. By any standard it should have been a safe posting until the war in Europe ended. Then, on the night of 8/9 March 1945, German forces on the Channel Islands launched a raid on Granville, causing much damage to ships and the port’s facilities. It was reported that one Royal Navy officer and five of his men had been killed in the attack. That officer was Roger Lightholler. He left a wife and young daughter. Mike Marshall was a successful sportsman who had won five caps playing rugby for England before the war. After the October action he was transferred to an MGB flotilla based at Dartmouth. He took command of MGB 503 which was fitted with diesel engines. This flotilla engaged in clandestine operations to the coast of Occupied France, shipping agents in and out and recovering Allied aircrew who had evaded capture. Between January and March 1944, MGB 503 managed to rescue 100 Allied airmen without detection and he received a Bar to the DSC for his outstanding leadership and seamanship. After D-Day, MGB 503 was renumbered 2003, as well as redeployed to Lerwick. Mike Marshall was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and Senior Officer of the Lewick Flotilla engaged in clandestine operations to Norway. Just after the war in Europe ended Marshall volunteered to command MGB 2002 on a trip taking Merchant Navy officers to Sweden to organise the return of British ships that had been interned during the war. In transit MGB 2002 hit a floating mine and was totally destroyed. There were just two survivors. Mike Marshall left a wife and two young daughters.

warship to a smouldering mass of flotsam spread over an expanse of sea.” Below deck Tony had been receiving reports of the other engagements. These reports seemed to indicate that the Coastal Forces had enjoyed universal success, with no evidence of losses being suffered by any of the Royal Navy vessels. That was about to change. “Up until this point in the proceedings MTB 607 had been riding on the crest of a victorious wave,” recalled Chapman. “We had enjoyed marked superiority and handed out savage punishment on the enemy with minimum damage to ourselves but now it was our turn to be engulfed in the frenetic cauldron of devastating fire. Having dealt clinically and ruthlessly with ‘E’ boat number two,

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THE BATTLE IN THE NIGHT Coastal Forces in Action yet another was spotted heading straight for us and not far away. It was, judging by the huge bow wave, at full ahead with an ominously clear resolve to do battle. Her course was evidently calculated with the intention of ramming us. “An urgently executed alteration of our own course avoided this possibility but brought us broadside on to each other thus giving all guns (apart from our port-side machine-guns) a clear field of fire. As the diverging courses brought us within close range both vessels opened up a devastating barrage of fire which could hardly fail to miss as we moved ever closer. “As the range decreased so the appalling consequences increased. There was no escape. From stem to stern and time and time again but mostly it was the upper deck which received the very worst of

it. Not a gun crew escaped. A cluster of HE burst in the wheel house just below the bridge creating carnage there.”

ALL GUNFIRE CEASED Down below Tony was sat next to fellow Telegraphist Norman Fairholm at their station. As the action rose to a crescendo of noise and violent movement Fairholm said, “I’m going up top to see what’s happening”. “You can’t go up there like that” Chapman replied as Fairholm left the cabin. “Removing my headphones I followed into the galley flat with the idea of pursuing the conversation. The noise and commotion was at its worst as he mounted the hatchway. I watched as he reached the top and for a moment he seemed to pause. Simultaneously, the whole of the flat and hatchway 

RIGHT: Two members of ML 838’s crew, Stoker Silvester (on the left) and Tony “Sparks” Chapman, at Leave Camp 181 in Beirut. FAR RIGHT: A number of Coastal Forces vessels underway in the Aegean – with ML 838 immediately astern.

BELOW: A sister ship to MGBs 603 and 607 – the Fairmile D-class MGB 606 – pictured underway. Ordered on 15 March 1941, 606 was commissioned on 7 July 1942. Reclassified as a Motor Torpedo Boat, MTB 606, in 1943, this vessel was sunk by gunfire from German surface vessel off the Dutch coast on 4 November 1943. (IWM; FL15328)

JUNE 2014 29

THE BATTLE IN THE NIGHT Coastal Forces in Action LEFT: The original caption to this image states that it shows “ML 838 somewhere in the Med”.

exploded into a blinding arena of blue flashes and deafening bangs. I was momentarily blinded and as my vision cleared so he landed at my feet only to present a horrifying sight. There was absolutely nothing left above his shoulders and his disintegrating head had drenched the entire hatchway and me in blood. “I turned back into the cabin to report his death to the bridge when one of those utterly irrational thoughts, so characteristic of shock, crossed my mind – ‘a man is not dead until a doctor says so’. So I went into the galley flat again to be sure. Any further thoughts were put out of my mind almost immediately by an almighty crash which knocked me clean out. As I was flung across the flat the forr’d watertight door separating the galley flat from the mess-deck burst open and the sea came pouring in.”

30 JUNE 2014

The water quickly rose to about three feet. Chapman yelled up the voice pipe to the bridge to report the situation to the skipper. Lieutenant Marshall, meanwhile, had judged his moment precisely and, turning to port, had rammed the E-boat amidships. All gunfire had ceased. Both MGB 607 and the German E-boat were incapable of further action. Marshall ordered the MGB to go astern and it pulled back from the enemy vessel which caught fire and sank. The Coxswain and Chapman managed to close the watertight doors, preventing any further loss of buoyancy. With the bilge pumps still capable of working the galley flat was gradually dried out. The MGB, however, was in a terrible state. “Although the upper deck was more or less intact the entire mess-deck had been

RIGHT: Tony Chapman, on the left, pictured with a fellow crewman from ML 838 and a member of the Greek Sacred Regiment on Kos, VE Day 1945. The Greek Sacred Regiment was formed in Palestine in 1942 from Greek Army officers and cadets fighting at the time in the Middle East. In 1944 it is increased to regimental strength and was put under the command of British Raiding Forces. It was involved in combat operations with the combined SAS/ SBS raiding forces on the islands of the northern Aegean Sea and the Dodecanese.

ripped away from underneath as the ship tore through the E-boat, cutting it in two. All the crew’s kit and possessions had floated away into the North Sea along with the structure.” The wireless room had lost all power and, with nothing for Chapman to do below deck, he went up top. “The upper deck was a shambles with blood and mess everywhere which the lucky survivors were beginning to clear up as best they could in the dark. Wounded men were gently gathered on or around the bridge to be administered by a Leading Seaman [who was] ill-equipped for the task. The obviously dead were laid out neatly in a row between the bridge and the engine room hatch and discreetly covered with blankets from the wardroom which, like the W/T cabin, had escaped intact.” Two or three of those killed had, like Chapman’s fellow Telegraphist, clearly died instantly, so obviously severe were their injuries. One gunner on the midships Oerlikon, for instance, had been hit by a 20mm shell which had passed through the gun-shield taking the side

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THE BATTLE IN THE NIGHT Coastal Forces in Action off his head as it exploded. On the other hand, another member of the crew, who had been hit by two smaller shells which had passed right through him without exploding, took a long time to die. For much of that time he was fully aware of his agonies and his inevitable fate.

BACK TO PORT Apart from the machine-guns on the bridge there was not a weapon capable of being fired on MGB 607. The boat itself was crippled and the only movement she could make was astern – and only then at two knots and in a wide circle. It was around an hour later that MGB 603 located its stricken sister boat. A line was passed across and the long, slow

haul back to Great Yarmouth began. Incredibly, however, the fighting was not over. As the two MGBs were heading towards port, radar detected other E-boats approaching to resume the action. On MGB 603, Lieutenant Lightoller slipped the tow and intercepted the contact which comprised six enemy boats. His subsequent report detailed a little of the what followed: “At 0420 enemy close abeam to starboard. Fire was opened on nearest ship and it is considered that serious damage was done. It is thought we were only quicker on the draw by a matter of seconds as the six E-boats opened fire on 603 very quickly. At this point smoke was made to confuse the enemy.” After a running fight, the E-boats retired eastward at a high speed. Lightoller had not only saved his own boat, but had undoubtedly saved the defenceless 607. At approximately 05.00 hours MGB 603 returned to 607, to resume towing the crippled boat back to HMS Midge. At midday on the 25th an RAF rescue launch reached the two MTBs. The wounded were taken off and the launch raced back to Lowestoft. Overhead the two www.britainatwar.com

BOTH ABOVE: Two of Tony Chapman’s images taken during the liberation of Kos at the end of the war in Europe. OPPOSITE LEFT: Tony Chapman’s vessel, ML 838, pictured on VE Day in 1945. At this point ML 838 was alongside in Kos harbour having participated in the island’s liberation.

boats were protected by two Spitfires which appeared at regular intervals to make sure that no enemy vessels or aircraft attacked the MGBs which were making slow progress. “Making about four knots may be moving but one feels little actual sense of movement and the monotony of the trip, added to the loss of sleep, conspired to create a feeling of utter, wearied dejection. Slowly – ever so slowly – the day wore on and finally, at midafternoon, Yarmouth came into view. “Very cold and almost past caring, those of us on our feet fell in immediately forr’d of the bridge (the foc’sle would have been too dangerous, since it now extended out over fresh air) and stood there in a semi-comatose silence. Thus it was, we made our way into the harbour and with MGB 603 doing the work slowly nudged up river towards the docks. It was quite suddenly that we became aware of people – lots of them. On the town side of the river there were throngs of civilians and on the starboard side, the naval vessels in the trots were lined with matelots. Our fame had gone before us. “In a moment, it seemed, our spirits were raised from the uttermost depths

THE WAR OF THE MOTOR GUN BOATS One Man's Personal War at Sea with the Coastal Forces, 1943-1945

MORE OF Tony Chapman’s experiences whilst serving in the Coastal Forces during the Second World War can be read in The War of the Motor Gun Boats; One Man’s Personal War at Sea with the Coastal Forces, 1943-1945. Published by Pen & Sword Books, for more information or to order a copy, please visit: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

to the highest. The passage up the river was nothing less than a triumphant procession with the townsfolk on the one side and the boys in blue on the other all waving and yelling.”

COUNTING THE COST Both Marshall and Lightoller received the Distinguished Service Cross for the action and there were a clutch of other awards for the two crews. There were no casualties on MGB 603; of MGB 607’s crew, however, five men had been killed and six wounded, some severely. The results of a night action are notoriously difficult to assess with accuracy. It was certainly one of the largest Coastal Forces and E-boat actions of the Second World War. It would seem that the damage inflicted by either side in the sixteen separate engagements was about even, but none of the British boats were sunk, against at least four of the enemy. An Admiralty report summed up the night battle with these words: “This major E-boat operation was frustrated with considerable loss to the enemy and the results were a triumph.” MGB 607 had been badly damaged, with much of its bow missing, so the boat was paid off and the surviving crew dispersed to other appointments. After extensive repairs 607 was brought back into service and took part in the D-Day landings in June 1944 with another crew. Tony Chapman remained at HMS Midge until the spring of 1944 when he joined the crew of a Motor Launch, ML 838, in the Mediterranean. He served on ML 838 until the end of the war.  ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Much of the information about the action described here was drawn from an account compiled by John Arkell, the navigating officer on MGB 607 who was badly wounded in the battle and awarded the DSC.

JUNE 2014 31

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THE SEABORNE OBSERVERS The Royal Observer Corps and D-Day

THE SEABORNE

OBSERVERS During Operation Overlord the waters of the English Channel would be filled with thousands of ships, and the skies above swarming with thousands of aircraft. In such circumstances the chances of gunners on the ships mistaking friendly aircraft for those of the enemy were clearly very high. Only one body of men had the knowledge and experience to help identify aircraft accurately and so, on D-Day, the Royal Observer Corps went to sea.

I

T WAS estimated that in the course of the Allied landings on the coast of Sicily in 1943, of every ten Allied aircraft that were lost, eight were shot down by “friendly fire”. Clearly, the planners noted, a solution had to be found for Operation Overlord. Whilst the experienced gunners of the Royal Navy warships could, in theory, be expected to accurately identify

hostile and friendly aircraft this was not the necessarily the case with the numerous merchant vessels and the less-experienced US warships. The Observer Corps had been in existence since 1925, receiving its Royal status in 1941. Its men and (from 1941 onwards) women had been watching the skies over the United Kingdom throughout the Battle of Britain and

the Blitz and had acquired an enviable reputation for dependency and accuracy. A call, therefore, went out for volunteers to go to sea on D-Day. Around 1,100 men answered the call, from whom 800 were selected. 

A convoy of US warships and supporting vessels heads across the Channel towards the Normandy beaches – a sight familiar with many of the ROC’s Seaborne Observers. (CONSEIL

REGIONAL DE BASSE-NORMANDIE/US NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

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JUNE 2014 33

THE SEABORNE OBSERVERS The Royal Observer Corps and D-Day

FAMILIARISATION Amongst those chosen was 18-year-old Graham Warner who had joined the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) in 1943 as part of No.2 Group. He had mainly been stationed at Post H2 on Cooden Golf Course near Pevensey Bay in East Sussex. On Sunday, 14 May 1944, Graham travelled to Bournemouth where the Royal Bath Hotel had been requisitioned as a ROC training depot. “By the very nature of things we were a strange assortment of individuals,” Graham later wrote. “We were all either too young, too old or unfit for military service.”1 Graham was in the last category and was worried that his Osteomyelitis, which had caused one leg to be turned outwards and almost an inch shorter than the other, would bar him from joining the group. However, he passed his medical examination by standing on tip-toe on his short leg, whilst praying that he would not be asked to walk!

ABOVE: The pass issued to Graham Warner when he arrived at Barry Docks to join his ship.

At Bournemouth Graham and the others had two weeks intensive training, which included a “fly-in” by captured enemy aircraft. This was described by anther ROC volunteer, J.A. Coubrough: “On the Sunday morning, the RAF treated us to a ‘circus’, a display of many types of aircraft we might have to identify, including three captured German machines, a Fw 190, a Ju 88 and a Me 109, each of which was flown in a group of Allied ’planes, with which they might easily be confused. While we lined the top of the cliff, these aircraft circled over the sea, flew along the line of the beach – sometimes so low that

they were actually below us – and some of the pilots ended by coming straight in a few feet above the sea and pulling the stick back at the last possible second, so that they only just cleared our heads. It was a thrilling and, at the same time, an instructive display.” The Air Ministry had compiled a list of the types of aircraft likely to be seen in the operational areas, and each Observer was given a set of silhouettes covering practically the whole of this list. The ROC instruction itself consisted of short talks on each of the aircraft in the list and films on the recognition features of various aircraft. The men were also

(COURTESY OF

GRAHAM WARNER, VIA JAMES STRAWSON)

RIGHT: Seaborne Observers pictured during their training at Bournemouth prior to D-Day. Graham Warner can be seen in the front row second from the left. (COURTESY OF

GRAHAM WARNER, VIA JAMES STRAWSON)

MAIN PICTURE: Allied heavy bombers, in the form of a number of USAAF B-17s, pictured passing over Allied warships as the latter cross the English Channel, en route for Normandy, on 6 June 1944. (US NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER)

34 JUNE 2014

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THE SEABORNE OBSERVERS The Royal Observer Corps and D-Day

shown models of the various aircraft as seen from every possible angle and under varied conditions of light. The main focus, though, was on testing the ability of the volunteers. There were spotting tests with photographs of aircraft, a test in which the tail of one aircraft was stuck on to the body of another, with the oddest-looking results, and tests in which small models were run down wires stretched across the front of the building, while the volunteers stood on the other side of the road, trying to identify them as they flickered across white walls and black windows. They also had to undertake what was called the “Trade Test’”, which consisted of a film showing shots of thirty aircraft in flight, some fairly easy and lasting for a number of seconds, others (taken from combat films) lasting only a second in the top right-hand corner of the screen. It was a new style of test to most of the men but failure levels were surprisingly low. The volunteers were also taken to a steamer anchored in Poole harbour to help them gain some familiarity with the layout of a merchant ship. “A visit to an extremely dilapidated and rusty old tramp ship,” Graham Warner remarked, “did absolutely nothing for our confidence in what we had volunteered for”. After passing their tests, the men were enrolled in the Royal Navy, and given the temporary rank of DEMS PO(AI), which stood for Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships, Petty Officer (Aircraft Identifier). They were taken, 150 men at a time, to a naval school for two days. There they were taught about nautical terms, naval ranks and badges, about saluting, how to sling up a hammock and lots of useful tips, such as to wear a towel round their necks to keep them warm in www.britainatwar.com

ABOVE LEFT: The set of instructions issued to the ROC’s Seaborne Observers, in this case Graham Warner, during their preparations for D-Day. (COURTESY OF GRAHAM

WARNER, VIA JAMES STRAWSON)

TOP RIGHT: Two mementoes of Graham Warner’s time on the SS Charles Willson Peale – two menus signed by members of the ships’s crew (lower ranks on the left hand one, some of the ship’s officers on the right). (COURTESY

the wind and to keep out rain and spray out. The trainers also informed the observers that they did not have to actually watch for aircraft, but simply identify them when reported by the look-out men. Their task was to confirm to the gunnery officer whether they were hostile or friendly. “They warned us that the look-outs in the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and the U.S. Navy each used different terms for the bearing of an aircraft when giving their reports,” recalled Graham. Soon, the men were off to their respective ships with two Observers being posted to each vessel. For Graham his destination was an American Liberty ship, the SS Charles Willson Peale. The SS Charles Willson Peale was a standard Liberty ship, which, for the Normandy landings, was carrying a cargo of tanks and trucks. Whilst, officially, Graham and his colleague were to advise the captain on which aircraft were friendly and which were hostile, in reality they worked very closely with the Armed

Guard officer in charge of the ship’s US Navy gunnery units. These consisted of the Gunnery Officer, an Ensign (the equivalent to a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy), two Signalmen and around thirty other ranks. Graham joined the ship at Barry, the day after which she sailed into the Bristol Channel. On 4 June 1944, she weighed anchor and headed for Normandy.

TUESDAY, 6 JUNE 1944 “Went on watch very early to find we were now heading South East towards France,” continued Graham Warner. “Most amazing sight – the sky and sea absolutely filled with aircraft and ships and everything heading for the coast of France. Spitfires and Lightnings took over the escort of the convoy from the Avengers. Hundreds of Dakota aircraft towing Horsa gliders.” When Charles Willson Peale was about half-way across the Channel, news was received that on Omaha Beach, which was where the merchant ship was to 

OF GRAHAM

WARNER, VIA JAMES STRAWSON)

RIGHT: Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory KCB, DSO, Commanderin-Chief Allied Expeditionary Air Forces, addresses a parade of Seaborne Observers at Fighter Command HQ. (COURTESY OF MARK KHAN)

JUNE 2014 35

THE SEABORNE OBSERVERS The Royal Observer Corps and D-Day discharge its cargo, the Americans had suffered heavy casualties. This meant that the men and vehicles on Charles Willson Peale might be re-directed to another beach where a more certain foothold had been established. As a consequence of this, the ship had to wait off the Cherbourg Peninsula for further instructions. Other Seaborne Observers, however, went towards the beaches as planned. Observer Lieutenant G.A.D. Bourne was serving on board the SS Empire Broadsword, a Landing Ship, Infantry. He was roused at 03.00 hours on D-Day: “At daybreak we are surprised to find that we are already in sight of the Normandy coast but owing to a sea mist its outline appears blurred and dim. The weather is overcast with some cloud at 1,000 feet and cloud ceiling at 10,000 feet. The wind is westerly, blowing at 15 knots,

and waves are three to four feet high, with a heavy swell running. “A low drone increases to a roar as the first aircraft sweep overhead a few minutes later. Typhoons racing for the French coast to start their day’s work. Several large landing craft, carrying vehicles, are already in the bay, but as there is apparently no hostile activity, it seems that we have not yet been noticed. We are now going ‘slow ahead’, troops crowd the deck and scan the coastline. “A Norwegian destroyer [HNoMS Svenner] is slowly overtaking us on our port quarter, 2-300 yards away and I cast a quick glance at her as she draws abreast our beam. At the same moment there is a flash, followed by a deafening explosion and a cloud of black smoke, and we can see that she is severely damaged amidships and is already starting to crumple. Several more ABOVE: The letter of thanks signed by Air Commodore Finlay Crerar, Commandant Royal Observer Corps, which was sent to Graham Warner on 9 August 1944. (COURTESY OF GRAHAM

WARNER, VIA JAMES STRAWSON)

ABOVE: Despite the enormous naval presence, a German torpedo boat was able to sink one of the Allied warships on D-Day. As G.A.D. Bourne recalled, His Norwegian Majesty’s Ship Svenner was hit by two torpedoes fired from a German E-boat. She was struck amidships, exploded, broke in two and sank very quickly. Of the 219 crew on board Svenner, 185 were rescued. HNoMS Svenner is described as the only major Allied warship lost to enemy action on 6 June 1944. One of her anchors was recovered in 2003 and now forms the basis of a memorial at Sword Beach. (COURTESY OF MARK KHAN)

BELOW: Assorted naval craft pictured on the US beaches during the Normandy landings. (US NAVAL

HISTORICAL CENTER)

internal explosions and she commences to sink. Bows and stern rise out of the water as she slowly settles amidships first, her back broken, in the form of a ‘V’. “Twenty minutes later her stern has disappeared and only 15 feet of her bows remains above the water. We cannot stop or change course, as we are under orders, and the order is ‘assault’. Appalled at the suddenness of the disaster, we can only look on. “05.30 hours, a rattle of chains and we drop anchor. Although the shore is only five miles away, it is still partially obscured by mist. Not a shot has been fired from the land and we, for our part, are under orders to hold our fire at all costs during this voyage. “There is a fairly heavy sea running with a rise and fall of at least six feet. Quite enough to make the launching of our fully-laden craft a dangerous business. All the more credit that this is accomplished without mishap.

“A low drone increases to a roar as the first aircraft sweep overhead a few minutes later. Typhoons racing for the French coast to start their day’s work." 36 JUNE 2014

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THE SEABORNE OBSERVERS The Royal Observer Corps and D-Day ABSENCE OF ENEMY

ABOVE: ROC veteran and former Seaborne Observer Graham Warner pictured at a reunion of the Seaborne Wing of the ROC which was held at Newhaven Fort (the location of the ROC Museum) in East Sussex. (COURTESY OF JAMES STRAWSON)

Whilst the Luftwaffe appeared in relatively small numbers on D-Day, there was an enormous amount of aerial activity. “As time passes activity increases,” G.A.D. Bourne continued, “and soon we are busy identifying ’planes which approach from all directions – all are friendly. “Spitfires and Lightnings maintain a constant patrol overhead, prepared to keep the Luftwaffe at bay whilst our troops storm the beaches. The gunners are ‘itchy fingered’, each keen to be the first to open fire. They are particularly suspicious of Marauders, coming in low over the sea at zero feet to strafe the beach defences, especially as some of the big shells bursting in the water look suspiciously like bombs; but the system works, all are reported ‘friendly’ and the gunners hold their fire.”

EFFICIENT PROTECTION FOLLOWING OPERATION Overlord, Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory KCB, DSO, Commander-inChief Allied Expeditionary Air Forces, wrote a message that was circulated to all ROC personnel and posts: “I have read reports from both pilots and naval officers regarding the Seaborne volunteers on board merchant vessels during recent operations. All reports agree that the Seaborne volunteers have more than fulfilled their duties and have undoubtedly saved many of our aircraft from being engaged by our ships guns. I should be grateful if you would please convey to all ranks of the Royal Observer Corps, and in particular to the Seaborne observers themselves, how grateful I, and all pilots in the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, are for their assistance, which has contributed in no small measure to the safety of our own aircraft, and also to the efficient protection of the ships at sea. “The work of the Royal Observer Corps is quite often unjustly overlooked, and receives little recognition, and I therefore wish that the service they rendered on this occasion be as widely advertised as possible, and all units of the Air Defence of Great Britain are therefore to be informed of the success of this latest venture of the Royal Observer Corps.”

“Ten L.C.A. [Landing Craft Assault] from each of our four ships form the first wave of the assault, each containing thirty picked men, faces blackened, helmets festooned with pieces of camouflage netting, and carrying seemingly impossible loads which include flame throwers, mine detectors, and large quantities of explosives for blowing up beach defences and strong points. Each craft is manned by a crew of Royal Marines. The time is 05.55 hours. “At first it seems that these flatbottomed, top-heavy craft must be swamped or overturned. In spite of skilful handling by the Marines, it is obvious that they are shipping a lot of water as wave after wave breaks over

them. But somehow they make it and we lose sight of them going all out in their race for the shore. “We have not long to wait before the sound of firing can be heard and we know that the battle has begun. All the gun crews are straining to penetrate the haze; any moment now the enemy may strike and every fresh sound is suspect. [Bill] Acklam and I have one advantage over the gunners: we are concerned only with hostile aircraft, but they have to be prepared for attack by surface vessels and submarines as well.” However, as G.A.D. Bourne comments, “the enemy appears to have an appointment elsewhere”. www.britainatwar.com

Graham Warner’s ship, still lying off the Cherbourg Peninsula, was compelled to wait throughout the night of D-Day, though it was shelled by German shore batteries and experienced a number of air alarms during the night. As the aircraft could not be clearly seen in the dark, the presumption was made that they were all hostile and were treated as such by the gunners. This seemed to be justified in the early hours of the 8th when aircraft were engaged and bombs were dropped very close to the ship. It was not until Friday, 9 June 1944, that Charles Willson Peale was able to move closer into the shore (within a mile) to disgorge its cargo. Graham Warner recalled that an air raid on the beaches resulted in at least two enemy aircraft being shot down. During the early evening a number of fighters flew low over the anchorage. “All the naval ships opened up a heavy anti-aircraft barrage,” Graham recalled. “We identified them as a mixed flight of Mustangs and Spitfires and we ordered

ABOVE: Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory (centre) speaking with Observer Lieutenant G.A.D. Bourne who was Mentioned in Despatches. Air Commodore Finlay Crerar, Commandant Royal Observer Corps, is on the right. (COURTESY

OF MARK KHAN)

ABOVE LEFT: A contemporary cartoon relating to the service of the Seaborne Observers on US vessels. (COURTESY OF

GRAHAM WARNER, VIA JAMES

the gunners to hold their fire. With all the naval units firing, our gunners were most reluctant not to join in. We received an urgent message from the Headquarters ship to cease firing on friendly aircraft. Regret to say that four Mustangs and one Spitfire were shot down. Needless to say, our reputation as Aircraft Identifiers leapt right to the top of the class in the eyes of the ship’s gunners and we never again had any hesitation on their part in accepting our judgement.” Graham’s training at Bournemouth had also paid dividends: “Later in the evening we were again attacked by low-flying enemy fighters which not only dropped bombs but machine-gunned troops on the beach. These were the first we had seen of the new long-nosed version of the Focke-Wulf 190 but which we instantly recognised thanks to the training silhouettes that we had been issued with.” As G.A.D. Bourne noted, the system with the ROC observers controlling the gunfire of the merchant ships worked very well throughout Operation Overlord. Indeed, it was later reported by Wing Commander P.B. Lucas, an Air Staff Officer, that: “The general impression amongst the Spitfire wings, covering our land and naval forces over and off the beach-head, appears to be that in the majority of cases the fire has come from British Navy warships and not from the merchant ships. Indeed I personally have yet to hear a single pilot report that a merchant vessel had opened fire on him.” 

NOTES 1.

2.

Skywatch With Neptune: An Observer’s Season at Sea, the personal recollections of Graham Warner, provided with the kind assistance of James Strawson. Observers’ Tale: The Story of Group 17 of the R.O.C., (Privately Published, 1945), pp.53-7.

STRAWSON)

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14/05/2014 16:07

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN Battle of the Somme 1916

More than 95,000 men lost their lives during the four months of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Exactly how and under what circumstances many of those men died will never be known but the last heroic moments of one of those soldiers, Captain Lionel Crouch, was witnessed by his comrades. MAIN PICTURE: The view looking out from the rear wall of the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Pozieres British Cemetery, near Ovillers-la-Boisselle, into the general area of what would have been No Man’s Land on the night of 20/21 July 1916. The attack by Lionel Crouch’s men would have been made roughly from the left hand side of the dark green field in the centre foreground. The German front line was to the right-hand side of this view. It is assumed that Lionel was killed in the area of this dark green field. (HMP)

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L

IONEL WILLIAM Crouch was born in 1886, and after an education at Marlborough College became a solicitor by profession. Before the First World War he had been a keen part-time soldier, joining the 1st Buckinghamshire Volunteer Rifle Corps. He was gazetted Second Lieutenant in 1907. On 1 April the following year this unit became the Buckinghamshire Battalion, The Oxfordshire Light Infantry, and was transferred to the Territorial Force. In 1909 Lieutenant Crouch took over command of the Aylesbury Company, being promoted to the rank of captain in 1912.

The battalion was mobilized on 4 August 1914, with Captain Crouch now being in command of what was then ‘B’ Company 1/1st Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. On 30 March 1915, the battalion went to France, with his brother Guy as ‘B’ Company’s second-in-command. Guy, though, was hospitalized just a few weeks after arriving on the Continent on 21 April.

THE SOMME The battalion had its share of the action in the trenches throughout the months that followed, but was not involved in

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GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN Battle of the Somme 1916

that fateful first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. Lionel in fact wrote to his father on 6 July, saying that, "Our Corps show was a bit of s misfire". A day later he revealed to his father that there was, “Nothing of note to tell you, except rain, rain, rain, dull skies and cold winds. Was there ever such a quote summer unquote? The trenches, roads, and tracks are as bad as ever they were.” Held in reserve, the Bucks men were able to observe the effects of the fighting, even if they were not yet involved. “When an infantry

LEFT: Captain Lionel Crouch pictured between August 1914 and March 1915, during the period his battalion was in training at Chelmsford. (COURTESY OF JON COOKSEY)

RIGHT: A picture of Lionel Crouch taken in Aylesbury during 1912. (COURTESY OF JON COOKSEY)

attack is in progress, it is interesting to see the wounded coming back, some on foot, others in motor-lorries, waggons, motor- and horse-ambulances,” wrote Lionel. “The papers write a lot of claptrap about the cheerful wounded. Of course they are cheerful; they know that they are on the way to Blighty. One sees them all bandaged up roughly, with their faces perhaps all blood, or with their clothes cut and torn, where their wounds are. Sometimes they seem to be in pain, but usually are very happy. The bad cases are of course on stretchers inside the ambulances. It is a sight one will never forget.” Lionel’s next letter to his “Dear Old Dad” was written on 10 July 1916. “I was talking to a gunner officer who watched the advance, and he said that the accounts in the papers are quite true. The men were fine; they marched ahead under very heavy shell and machine-gun fire which simply mowed them down. The survivors went straight on, not running, but walking. The dead are lying out there in hundreds. What the place will soon smell like, I hate to think.  www.britainatwar.com

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GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN Battle of the Somme 1916

“One man lay out wounded for five days. He finally crawled into our trenches. He had been unable to tell which were ours and which were German until he saw a bully-beef tin lying outside, which made him guess that they were British. He threw the tin in and attracted attention. He had eaten the biscuits of his iron ration, but had been unable to open his bully-beef tin owing to his wounds. He had subsisted on grass. “He had a fractured thigh, but the wound had healed. His arm was badly hit and there were actually maggots in his arm. He was very cheerful and ate a large meal.” Five days later, Lionel wrote to his mother about captured German troops that he had seen. “The first little batch of six or eight were Guards, I think. They had the silver braid on their collars and included a young officer who wore spectacles and looked more like a conscientious objector than anything else. Another batch looked a

fearful collection of blackguards, dirty, unshaven, and covered in dust.” On 19 July 1916, he wrote to his "Dear Old Governor", a pet name for his father, describing what he called “one piece” of the battlefield: “We had to go through an erstwhile German village. I had never before realised the power of high explosives. This village must have been once a pretty little place in its cluster of trees on the crest of a rise. According to the map, there was once a church, no doubt with its usual pointed spire showing through the foliage. That village is now completely off the map. I know you will think it an exaggeration, but it is true. There is not a vestige of a brick wall. I never even saw a brick. “The place is merely an area of several acres of mounds, craters, and banks of earth and chalk, with a few burnt stumps of trees emerging from heaps of debris; there is not the slightest sign or indication of a house of any sort. “Of course the smells were not exactly those of a rosegarden. One walked on along a road lined with battered trees and the inevitable shell-holes; there was also a more sinister border to the road, consisting of dead Germans in singles, pairs, and little heaps, lying in every conceivable attitude. “Yet farther on we proceeded by a long German communication trench, and it was astonishing to note the accuracy of our artillery fire. Although this communication trench was some miles behind the old Boche front line, it had been searched from end to end and almost flattened out. The length seemed interminable. “From one point evidently one of our attacks had just started, because there were ladders up against the sides, and a clearer indication still, the results of the Boche machine-gun fire, in the shape of dead men lying on the sides in the attitude of going forward. It was extraordinary to see all these

LEFT: Departure for the front. Captain Lionel Crouch (on the left) is pictured with Lieutenant (later Captain) R. Gregson Ellis on the day that their battalion departed for France, 30 March 1915.

(COURTESY OF JON COOKSEY)

BELOW: Captain Lionel Crouch (front left) and his company officers pictured in May 1916. (COURTESY OF JON COOKSEY)

LEFT: Lieutenant Lionel Crouch (third from left in the foreground) accompanies Field Marshal Earl Roberts during an inspection of a Guard of Honour on 14 July 1910. Taken in the Market Square in Aylesbury, the occasion was the unveiling of a statue of Lord Chesham.

(COURTESY OF JON COOKSEY)

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men lying there apparently asleep. About fifty yards of this trench was a veritable charnel-house; the dead were everywhere on the sides, in the floor of the trench. It was like walking through a bivouac of sleeping men. One had to step over and round them. I found one of my men sitting on one; he thought that it was a pile of sandbags.” Lionel wrote one more letter to his father the next day, the 20th. It was a joyful letter, revealing his passion for stamp collecting and describing how he had slept securely in an old gun emplacement, despite the German shells. It was to be his last. That night the Ox and Bucks would be going over the top.

THE ATTACK On the night of the 20/21 July 1916, the Buckingham Battalion was to attack the

German positions between Ovillers and Pozières. This was in conjunction with the 1/5th Gloucestershire Regiment and the 1/4th Battalion Ox and Bucks. ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ companies were detailed for the attack, with ‘D’ Company in reserve. That day was a busy one. Much of the officers’ time was taken up with the issuing of detailed orders, explanatory lectures to the NCOs and men, and the drawing and distribution of stores such as small arms ammunition, grenades, Very lights, ground flares, shovels, all of which would have to be carried into the attack.  By 22.30 hours the company commanders had given their final instructions to the men, and the www.britainatwar.com

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN Battle of the Somme 1916 so, for as the men rose the machine-guns cut many of them down. Officers especially were dropping on all sides. A few isolated men reached the objective, but of these hardly any returned. The attack, including that portion of it made by the Glosters and Ox and Bucks on the flanks, failed. The attack was a costly affair for the Bucks Battalion. Four officers and eight other ranks were killed. A further 100 had been wounded, with another forty-one missing. One other officer was known to be wounded and taken prisoner. Lionel was known to be amongst those that had been hit, but exactly what had happened to him was at first unclear. Soon, though, the reports came in that he had been killed leading his company.

Green Line, The Buck's Objective

A Co B Co

Lionel's Attack C Company

Sickle Trench

“GOODBYE” Some information concerning Lionel’s last moments were detailed in a letter written by one of his comrades: “The attack in ABOVE: An annotated map showing the scheme of the attack, and the area in which Captain Lionel Crouch was killed, on the night of 20/21 July 1916. The road running across the map from the bottom left to the top right is the main D929 from Albert to Pozières. Pozieres British Cemetery can be found on the north side of this road a short distance to the right of the number 9. (COURTESY OF JON COOKSEY)

battalion started for the front line, which was a march of some two-and-ahalf miles. The battalion was to attack in four lines, on a front of two companies, each in line of platoons in column of sections, with two sections in the first line, one in the second and one in the third. ‘C’ Company (Captain G.G. Jackson) was on the right of the attack, with ‘A’ Company (Captain N.S. Reid MC) on the left. Lionel Crouch’s ‘B’ Company was in immediate support to both companies in one line, and formed the fourth wave. The enemy trench was situated about 325 yards from the forward assembly trench (known as Sickle Trench), though a tape had been laid by the Royal Engineers 175 yards from the German line, for the battalion to form up on. Zero hour was fixed for 02.45 hours.

MOVING OUT At 02.15 hours on 21 July, the men climbed up out of Sickle Trench to form up on the tape. ‘D’ Company (Captain E.V. Birchall) then moved up to occupy Sickle Trench as soon as the other three

companies had gone forward to their positions. Although no unusual amount of gunfire had as yet started, the enemy appeared to be very nervous, possibly sensing an attack, and at 02.30 hours they began sending up large quantities of flares. This was disconcerting for the attackers, as it showed only too plainly that the enemy was awake and alert. A few minutes later, red flares went up from the German lines. Whether these were a signal to the enemy machineguns to open fire is not known, but open fire they did. There was still some time to go before Zero hour, so the British troops were able to lie flat on the ground, even though, a number of them were hit. The moment to attack, however, arrived only too soon and the German machine-guns still chattered unceasingly. At 02.45 hours the British guns opened up with a roar, and shells flew just over the Ox and Bucks' heads, bursting in a line of flashes along the trench opposite. It was the signal to advance. Few, however, were able to do

ABOVE: The men of the Buckinghamshire Battalion march through Chelmsford en route to their port of embarkation on 30 March 1915. (COURTESY OF JON COOKSEY)

which dear old Lionel was killed … [was] in open country and at night. I mayn’t tell you more. He was hit by a machine-gun bullet, but was not killed at once, as he fell down and said to Wheeler, ‘I’m hit, Wheeler’. Wheeler started to try to get him to a shell-hole, but was then hit in the arm himself, so he had only one arm to drag Lionel with. “Lionel was hit again almost at once, and that seemed to be fatal, as he said ‘good-bye’ to Wheeler several times, and then spoke no more, and Wheeler said he evidently died almost immediately after the second bullet. He doesn't think Lionel suffered very much, thank God. Wheeler then went back and reported that Lionel had been killed.” 

The view today from the rear of the British front line on the night of 20/21 July 1916, looking out over No Man’s Land towards the German forward trenches. The latter were in the approximate area of the second dark green crop which can be seen here on, or just over, the ridge to the left of this shot. The start line for the British attack was in the area of the green crop just beyond the tractor. Note the Pozieres British Cemetery on the horizon on the right. (HMP)

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GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN Battle of the Somme 1916 LEFT & RIGHT: A small memorial cross which had been placed by Captain Lionel Crouch’s standard CWGC headstone on his grave (right) in Pozieres British Cemetery.

Further details were provided by Private C.J. Wheeler, who was Lionel’s servant. In a letter to Lionel’s parents, Wheeler wrote: “I can assure you he died bravely. He was leading and cheering his men on when he was hit with a bullet. “I was dragging him back to a shellhole when I was hit in the muscle of the right arm. I still tried to get him back, but could not do much with one arm, when he was shot again, this time through the stomach, and he died in about ten minutes. I laid with him until his death, and then took his maps and personal property he had on him.” BELOW: The wooden marker that was used on Lionel Crouch’s original battlefield grave. The fact that his name has been engraved on it suggests that this was the marker put in place by his brother on 14 November 1916. Along with Lionel’s medals, this wooden cross is on display today in the TA Centre in Oxford Road, Aylesbury. (COURTESY OF THE

BUCKS MILITARY MUSEUM TRUST)

It would seem that Lionel’s body lay unburied for six weeks before others could risk going into No Man’s Land, as the regimental Chaplain, Kenneth Jackson, informed Lionel Crouch’s mother in a letter dated 30 August 1916: “Yesterday I was up in that part of the line where your son lost his life. There we found his body. We buried him where he lay, and we had a short service. A small cross now marks the spot.” Lionel’s brother Guy was also later able to find out a little more information concerning the burial service, as he described to his mother on 3 September. “I have to-day been able to see the officer

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(BOTH HMP)

BELOW: A drawing of Lionel Crouch’s original battlefield grave that was based on notes and a rough sketch made by his brother, Guy, in November 1916. (COURTESY OF

JON COOKSEY)

who was in charge of the burial party who found dear old Lionel and buried him. He says he knew who he was by his medal-ribbon, etc., and buried him near where he lay, and the padre who was with them read a short service over him. They put up a stick

with his name, regiment, rank, and the date (July 21) on it (they had no crosses left), and also left a card in a shell case with the same particulars on it, in case the stick got displaced or obliterated. The whole thing was necessarily rather hurried, as the party was being shelled and one man was hit by shrapnel.” Then, finally, on 14 November 1916, Guy was at last able to visit the resting place of his brother: “I went up this morning and met a party of three men and a lance-corporal … and we made up dear old Lionel’s

BELOW: The site of Pozieres British Cemetery stands roughly on the spot where the line of Sickle Trench meets the D929 road. The trench would have run north along the cemetery wall on the right. The British attackers formed up roughly along the left hand edge of the dark green field in the foreground. The German front line, their target, was approximately 300 yards to the right. (HMP)

grave properly. The cross is of wood and has a Bucks Battalion cap badge let into the top, and the lettering is cut into the wood to make it permanent. The grave is in a hollow made by a shell, about 8 feet across and 1 foot deep. We made up the mound, and made an edging of cast-iron shell-cases, like this … So the top of the mound is about level with the surrounding ground, and the 1-foot dip into the shell-hole makes a very good protection to the grave itself.” Lionel Crouch had clearly meant a great deal to those that knew him and fought by his side, as the efforts taken to find his body and provide it with a suitable grave bear testimony. Captain Crouch might have gone forever, but thanks to the perseverance of his comrades he will never be forgotten. 

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Tankfest F_P.indd 1

20/03/2014 10:13

THE FUNERAL PYRE Chattri Memorial

The Funer al

Pyre Sitting majestically on the South Downs, high above Patcham near Brighton, is an unusual war memorial. Dedicated to Hindu and Sikh soldiers who had died in the First World War, the Chattri Memorial is a reminder of the contribution they made to the Allied cause. Peter Hibbs relates the history of the memorial and investigates the scars it bears from another global conflict.

I

N 1914 the Indian Army was the largest volunteer force in the world, with almost a quarter of a million men under arms, and when war broke out the Indian Government offered Britain the services of two cavalry and two infantry divisions. Designated the Indian Expeditionary Force A, the four divisions were formed into an infantry corps and a cavalry corps and incorporated into the British Expeditionary Force in France. Almost immediately after their

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arrival at Marseilles, the Indians were moved up into Belgium and thrown into action in the Ypres Salient. The Indian infantry fought on the Western Front until they were transferred to Egypt in October 1915. The cavalry, though, remained on the Continent, serving with the British cavalry divisions until they also transferred to join their countrymen in Egypt in March 1918. During the period when the

Indian infantry was still serving on the Western Front, twelve thousand Indian soldiers who were wounded or taken ill on the Continent were hospitalised at sites around Brighton on Sussex’s south coast. The placing of the wounded Indians at Brighton began in November 1914 when, on the 21st of that month, Colonel Sir Walter Lawrence visited the city and met with the Mayor, Alderman John Otter. The meeting was to inform the Mayor that King 

BELOW: The Chattri Memorial on the South Downs above Patcham. (ALL

IMAGES COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

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THE FUNERAL PYRE Chattri Memorial George V had requested the use of the Royal Pavilion as a military hospital for wounded Indian soldiers. This was immediately agreed to and the following telegram was sent to Lord Kitchener, the then Secretary of State for War: “Understanding that the Royal Pavilion at Brighton is specially suited for hospital treatment of Indian troops, the Corporation beg to place it at His Majesty’s disposal for that purpose”.1

MUSLIMS ON THE LAWN One of the biggest problems with the accommodation of the Indian troops was that of dealing sensitively with the three main religion groupings – Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. As a result a marquee in the Pavilion’s grounds became a Sikh temple and the Muslims were able to use the lawn in front of the Dome as this was facing east. Nine kitchens were erected in the grounds to cater for the various religions. Just what the Royal Pavilion may have looked like at that time was portrayed in an article in the Manchester Guardian: “It was one of the happy ideas of the war – due, it is said, to the suggestion of the king – to house the wounded Indian soldiers in the Royal Pavilion. That production of the bizarre imagination of King George the Fourth, after the interval of a century, played a really useful part in making our eastern soldiers feel at home. No one who ever visited the pavilion while it was an Indian hospital will forget the strange look of those huge saloons, with their faded decorations in gilt, crimson and looking glass, full of dark men from all the Indian races recovering from their wounds got on the fields of France. It was the most eerily foreign scene to be found in England.”2 A novelist, Alfred Ollivant, also wrote

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ABOVE: The Chattri carries this inscription: “To the memory of all the Indian soldiers who gave their lives for their KingEmperor in the Great War, this monument, erected on the site of the funeral pyre where the Hindus and Sikhs who died in hospital at Brighton, passed through the fire, is in grateful admiration and brotherly affection dedicated.” BELOW: Indian soldiers recuperating in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. (HMP)

of a visit to the Royal Pavilion: “A tall brown stockade surrounds the garden now. Over it you see the domes and minarets and ornate roofs not of an Eastern palace, as you might expect, but of the pleasure-house of an English King. As we drove up to the gate a man in khaki stopped us. Then he saw the Doctor sitting at my side and saluted. The motor slid on through the garden and drew up at the entrance. “On the seats by the lawns under the elms figures were sitting, strange indeed and yet not entirely out of place in that semi-Oriental environment: men in blue coats and trousers, brown men with white pugarees bound about their heads. One came hobbling down the path on crutches, swinging a foot as big as a punching-ball by reason of its bandages. An orderly in khaki passed him, shoving a kind of enlarged mailcart such as children use. The orderly, a sturdy English youth with the closecropped bullet-head of the private soldier, bore down on the back of the mail-cart, tilting up the seat of it – to balance his charge. And that charge was not a child. At first I thought it was an idol; then it seemed to me a man without legs; finally I recognized it for an Indian soldier squatting crosslegged on the seat ... These floors which of old answered to the nimble feet of courtiers, the swish of ladies’ skirts, and the music of mazurkas and minuets, echoed now to the stump of crutches, the slither of slippered feet, and the shuffle of carrying parties bearing patients to and from the operating theatre set up in what was of old, perhaps, the royal pantry. “In the entrance-lobby there was a group of men. Some were playing cards and some were watching the players. With their dark faces, the red scarves bound about their heads, an occasional crutch, or peep of white bandage, they www.britainatwar.com

THE FUNERAL PYRE Chattri Memorial but seventy-two sadly died. Of this number, fifty-three were Hindus and Sikhs and they were cremated at a spot 500 feet above sea level on the South Downs near Patcham, their ashes being scattered in the sea as part of their religious rites. The first cremation took place on 31 December 1914; the last a year later on 30 December 1915. The other nineteen were Muslims. Their bodies were taken to the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, Surrey, and then buried in accordance with Islamic tradition in a new cemetery.

THE BURNING GHAT ABOVE: The Chattri Memorial pictured before the unveiling ceremony. (HMP)

LEFT: The Prince of Wales speaks to the assembled dignitaries, veterans and members of the public during the unveiling of the Chattri on 1 February 1921. (COURTESY OF

JUDY MIDDLETON)

BELOW: A commercially produced postcard of the Chattri – a view which illustrates its isolated location. (HMP)

An example of the sombre ceremonies that took place during 1915 was observed by a Times correspondent: “Before the body was put into the big black motor-hearse a photographer was allowed to come and take a picture of the dead man’s features, to be sent to his relatives in far India. The bier lay in a small court among the hospital buildings, where a little crowd of the personnel had gathered to watch. Over the body was stretched a pall of printed cretonne, bright flowers on a dark ground, and white chrysanthemums were strewn lavishly upon it … The photographing done, the face was covered, the bier was put into the hearse, the crowd clambered into the big motor-ambulances, and we set forth upon the long drive. “Through the pretty village of Patcham, intensely English with its church and its duck pond, this strange funeral procession went, till the road changed to a steep track; and before long the motors left the track and took their heavy way over the soft turf in a fold of the down. Soon there came into sight a very ugly little screen and shelter of corrugated iron … there is no English 

looked like a jolly pack of pirates out of one of Stevenson’s books. But surely no cut-throats ever looked quite so happy, or grinned with such utter honesty, as those … men who sat round the table slamming down the cards.”3 The Royal Pavilion was not the only building in Brighton to be transformed into a military hospital for wounded Indian soldiers. The Brighton General Hospital in Elm Grove, at the top of a hill near the Brighton racetrack, was renamed the Kitchener General Indian Hospital, whilst York Place School was also converted and requisitioned for the wounded Indian soldiers. It was in December 1914, that the first group of 345 injured soldiers from the Indian Army was transported to Brighton by train. Most of the Indian soldiers hospitalised in Brighton survived their injuries or illnesses, www.britainatwar.com

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THE FUNERAL PYRE Chattri Memorial

word for it: and but a short time ago to find its parallel one must have journeyed thousands of miles. For this was the burning ghat of our Hindu troops. “At the foot of the hill on which it stood the vehicles stopped: the mourners clambered out of the ambulances, and with much chattering and gesticulating began to take the body from the hearse. In time (for all the ceremony was conducted with an odd mixture of cheerful disorder, strict ritual and absorbed devotion) the procession began to climb the hill, the mourners chanting as they went … “The sun came through the fog and round us lay the Sussex Downs in characteristically English weather… We passed inside a little enclosure, where stood three platforms of cement. One of these was carefully swept and sprinkled with water; and when thus purified for the reception of the dead, it was heaped with wood blocks for the burning. “The body, under its bright pall and the chrysanthemums, lay outside on

the grassy slope; when the preparations had been made the mourners gathered round it. It was sprinkled with cleansing water: the face was exposed again, and honey and ghee, and minute portions of the eight metals, and other ritual things, were passed between the pale lips. Then the mourners gathered round in a semi-circle; and squatting on their haunches with their hands folded and their eyes downcast, chanted their singsong chants, now shrill, now soft, now a murmur and then a shout. “At last came the time of the burning … When all was ready the body was laid on the pyre and over it and around it were heaped more and more blocks of wood and much straw. Then crystals of camphor were lighted in a spoon on the end of a long pole; and when they were flaming well were poured on the centre of the fire. A flame leapt up. A torch made of straw and camphor was lighted at this flame, and applied to the four corners: melted ghee was poured here and there, and soon the whole

ABOVE: During one visit to the Chattri, the author carried out an extensive survey of the structure and the damage caused during the Second World War. He then plotted out the results on a graphic of the memorial – in this case showing the front of the memorial which, it would seem, was hit at least 113 times. Note how most of the strikes are clustered around the central staircase and the marble structure itself. Some of the red dots represent more than one hit. The three large slabs in the foreground represent the original cremation sites. LEFT: This graphic details the damage to the north-west side of the memorial. As can be seen the damage is much lighter; the author could only identify seventeen bullet strikes or fragment impacts.

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ABOVE: Once the damage was plotted out, it became apparent that the “fire” came from two main directions – as indicated on this plan of the memorial.

pyre was ablaze. And while it burned the mourners kept tossing upon it little pinches of ghee mixed with grains and fruit, scent, saffron, and spices. It will burn for long: and today when the friends of the dead man go back, they will find nothing but perhaps a few fragments.”4

THE CHIEF MOURNER The Assistant Quartermaster of the Royal Pavilion Hospital was a young medical student D.R. Thapar, who was a member of the Indian Volunteers Ambulance Corps and later became a general in the Indian Army Medical Service. In his memoirs he wrote about an occasion when a cremation nearly went horribly wrong: “In my hurry or perhaps ignorance I www.britainatwar.com

THE FUNERAL PYRE Chattri Memorial Damage to the Chattri’s dome.

TOP MIDDLE: This section of a 1941-dated Ordnance Survey map shows the location of the Chattri in relation to the surrounding South Downs Training Area. The latter is indicated by the pink colour, whilst the Chattri (shown as “monument”) is the green “island” at the bottom of the map. The road to the left is the A23 main London Road.

asked for the necessary logs of wood and a drum of kerosene for the cremation. When all was ready, we stood round the pyre and after the Last Post had been sounded, I, as the chief mourner, set it alight. There was a tremendous explosion and half the wood went flying about and all of us were thrown a few feet away. It was perhaps my mistake but the British Q.M. orderly, not understanding what I meant by ‘kerosene’, had issued a drum of petroleum. The correct nomenclature should have been ‘paraffin’. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt; and after rearranging the pyre and rubbing down our bruises we all solemnly swore that the incident would be considered ‘top secret’.”5 www.britainatwar.com

BOTH LEFT: Two of the eight pillars supporting the Chattri’s dome, both of which display evidence of the damage caused during the Second World War. The pillar in the top image has been repaired by the insertion of a rectangular block.

THE MEMORIAL The original idea for a memorial to be erected to those Indians who were cremated on the Downs was first suggested by Lieutenant Das Gupta of the Indian Medical Service, who approached the mayor of Brighton, Mr J. (later Sir John) Otter, in August 1915 for permission to erect a monument on the actual site of the cremations. The mayor was attracted to the proposal and became an enthusiastic supporter of the scheme, eventually becoming Chairman of the Indian Memorials Committee for Brighton.6 In 1916 John Otter proposed two memorials. One to be erected on the ghat, which he envisaged would bear “a tablet with names and to contain one of the stone slabs on which cremation took place”. The other, in the town, would be of a more general nature to commemorate the link with the Indians (the southern ABOVE: Not all of the visible damage was repaired in 1946. gateway to the Pavilion). 

RIGHT: The marble plinth upon which the pillars and dome stand displays plenty of evidence of the wartime damage.

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THE FUNERAL PYRE Chattri Memorial

His proposal received support from the King’s commissioner in charge of the welfare of Indian troops, Sir Walter Lawrence, who had already considered that some formal recognition should be given to the Indians who had died fighting for Britain and the Empire. This was put to the Secretary of State for India, The Right Honourable Austen Chamberlain, who agreed that “where cremation has been resorted to, a simple monument of an oriental character should be erected on the site of the crematorium”. There the matter rested until Alderman Otter’s proposals came to the attention of the India Office in June 1916.

FUNDS RAISED In January 1917 the General Purposes Committee of Brighton Council voted £750 to the scheme and this was matched by the India Office. After seeking bids for a suitable monument, it was realised that more money was needed. So both the council and the India Office doubled their contributions and, with a total of £3,000, the idea became a practicality. Unfortunately all transport at the time was needed for the war effort and the work on the monument had to be undertaken by the stone masons at their quarries. The result was that the memorial was not transported to Patcham until the summer of 1920. The monument – the Chattri Memorial – was finally unveiled by the Prince of Wales on 1 February 1921. The following day the

ABOVE: A close up shot of one of the bullet or fragment strikes on the marble plinth. ABOVE RIGHT: The Muslim Burial Ground at Horsell Common, Woking, Surrey, pictured in August or September 1917. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, the first Imam of Woking Mosque, stands proudly beside the newly completed Chattri entrance. The burial ground was built during the First World War to receive Muslim soldiers who had passed away at the Indian Army hospitals in Brighton.

Western Morning News gave this account of the event: “The visit of the Prince of Wales to Brighton yesterday was almost without parallel among Royal tours, not only by reason of the tremendous reception which he received, but on account of the enormous amount of work he managed to compress into a visit of six hours’ duration. “The Prince fulfilled six distinct engagements in widely-scattered parts of the town. It was in every sense a triumphal progress. He drove from place to place through streets gaily bedecked with flags and lined with thousands of cheering people. Everywhere his youthful, smiling face made an immediate appeal to the populace … “The first engagement of the Prince was near Patcham … where a memorial has been erected to Indian soldiers who died in Brighton hospitals during the war. A procession of motor cars, numbering about forty, left the station, the Prince

driving at the head in company with the Mayor, and followed by a distinguished company of military, naval, and civil representatives. “A mile beyond Patcham the cars left the road, and for a couple of miles followed a track marked out on the turf of the undulating Downs, climbing to an eminence of about 500 feet where the memorial has been erected … As the procession approached across the Downs 21 minute guns were fired by the 34th Brigade Royal Field Artillery. “The Prince, unveiling the memorial, said: ‘It is befitting that we should remember, and that future generations should not forget, that our Indian comrades came when our needs were highest, free men and soldiers who were true to their salt, and gave their lives in a quarrel of which it was enough for them to know that the enemy were the foes of their sahibs, the Empire, and their King … India never forgets kindness and

(©ENGLISH

HERITAGE ARCHIVE/ MARY EVANS)

BELOW: The front wall of the monument has also been heavily hit.

ABOVE: Unveiled during a special service on Sunday, 26 September 2010, the Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial stands only a few yards from the Chattri. An inscription on the memorial, written in Hindi, Punjabi and English, reads: “In honour of these soldiers of the Indian Army whose mortal remains were committed to fire”. (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

52 JUNE 2014

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THE FUNERAL PYRE Chattri Memorial LEFT: The Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial is seen here on the left, with the Chattri on the right. (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

Jaimal Singh Johal studies the name of his grandfather, Subedar Manta Singh – one of the soldiers who are commemorated on the Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial. Subedar Manta Singh was badly wounded in the Allied attack on Neuve-Chapelle in March 1915 whilst helping to save the life of an injured officer called Captain Henderson. He was eventually sent back to the UK, to a hospital in Brighton. There, the doctors informed him that he would have to lose both of his legs as they had become infected with gangrene. Unfortunately, he died from blood poisoning a few weeks later. (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

sympathy, and from this Chattri a wave of goodwill will pass to India. Mahomedan soldiers who passed away were buried with full military honours at Woking, and a gate of an Oriental character will be added to the Pavilion in their memory. May these two memorials, so historical and distinct with compassion and mutual regard, strengthen the ties between India and our country.”

UNDER FIRE The Chattri Memorial comprises a marble dome supported by eight pillars, in front of which a stone staircase leads www.britainatwar.com

down to the base of the monument. In turn, the latter incorporates three granite slabs that mark the original cremation sites. Situated on a sloping hillside overlooking a valley, the memorial is just over a mile from the nearest public road. This isolated position on the South Downs ensured that the Chattri came under fire, quite literally, during the Second World War. As the war progressed, large tracts of land were requisitioned for military training – and the South Downs were no exception, with much of this area being incorporated within the South Downs Training Area (SDTA). There specific instructions to those troops using the SDTA, as evidenced by one document entitled “Standing Orders – South Downs Training Area Blocks 3-8” – the Chattri, it should be noted, stands at what would have been the western edge of Block 4. These instructions stated that “damage to property will be avoided as far as possible”, that “buildings will not be used as targets”, and, more tellingly, “Stanmer House, Stanmer Church and its graveyards and the Chattri Memorial are out of bounds”. “As far as possible,” continued the 1943dated instructions, “exercises will be designed so that shooting will naturally be directed from the boundaries of the areas towards the centre and along the length of the areas. Targets will be erected in valleys and hollows as far as possible, so that fire will be directed against the sides of slopes and ridges. If targets are not used, the importance of shooting only into the sides of ridges will be impressed on all ranks. “There must be a responsible Officer or Senior NCO with every troop of tanks, infantry section, mortar detachment, carrier section and equivalent sub-units. These Officers or NCOs will have the dual role of checking faults as they occur and ensuring that reasonable safety precautions are observed. They must also carry out a preliminary recce of the ground before the exercise takes place.” At the same time, even though the field

ABOVE: The steps at the front of the memorial bear the scars of the Second World War. It appears that all damage was filled and patched with mortar, some of which has since fallen out.

in which the Chattri stands is shown on one wartime Ministry of Agriculture map as an “island” – in effect an area that was out of bounds to troops in order to protect it – it still suffered damage. The level of the damage was clearly apparent at the end of the war, the years of neglect and lack of maintenance having taken their toll. One retired Indian Army officer who visited the memorial in November 1945 wrote to Field Marshal Lord Birdwood that the Chattri was “in a thoroughly dilapidated condition and has apparently been used as a target by troops during training as the memorial is now cracked and pitted by rifle bullets”.7

Birdwood duly passed this information on to the India Office,. When the land was de-requisitioned in 1946 the War Office accepted the charge for any repairs and agreed to have the Chattri restored. With this work completed, in 1951 the annual pilgrimage (then organised by the British Legion) began again – an event which, after a number of changes, continues to this day. 

NOTES 1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Manchester Guardian, 28 September 1916. Quoted on: www.black-history.org.uk/pavilionindian.asp. Alfred Olivant, The Brown Mare and Other Studies of England Under the Cloud (G. Allen and Unwin, London, 1916). The Times, 16 October 1915. Lieutenant General D.R. Thapar, The Morale Builders: Forty Years with the Military Medical Services of India (Asia Publishing House, London, 1965). Initially Otter acted in his capacity as mayor, but after relinquishing that post in 1916 he continued as Chairman of the Indian Memorials Committee for Brighton. Much of the above information can be found on the following, highly recommended website: www.chattri.com

JUNE 2014 53

THE RAF ON THE AIR Sergeant James Allen Ward



      



During the Second World War, RAF personnel regularly described their activities on the radio for listeners of the BBC. These broadcasts described their experiences in their own words and in effect provided the human stories behind the official communiqués. Each month we present one of these narratives, an account selected from over 280 broadcasts which were, at the time, given anonymously.

ABOVE: Sergeant Ward standing in the cockpit of L7818. After the Münster raid, Jimmy Ward was given his own aircraft and a new crew. As skipper, he flew three more times over Germany. (IWM; CH2963)

8 PART

54 JUNE 2014

O

N THE night of 7/8 July 1941, Bomber Command despatched aircraft against four German cities, one of which was Münster. The force for this target consisted of forty-nine Vickers Wellingtons from No.3 Group. The crew of one of these Wellingtons, from 75 Squadron, was a mix of nationalities. The skipper, Squadron Leader R.P. Widdowson was a Canadian; Sergeant James Allen Ward, the second pilot, was from New Zealand, as was the navigator, Sergeant L.A. Lawson and the rear gunner, A.J.R. Box. It was a Welshman, T. Evans, who manned the front turret and the wireless operator, Sergeant W. Mason, was an Englishman from Lincolnshire. For the raid on Münster, Widdowson had been allocated a new aircraft,

L7818, coded AA-R. He took off from RAF Feltwell in Norfolk at 23.10 hours. The raid was a success, after which Widdowson’s return flight took him across Holland. Jimmy Ward revealed what happened next in a broadcast he made for the BBC: “We dropped our bombs right in the target area and then made a circuit of the town to see what was going on before the pilot set course for home. As second pilot I was in the astro-dome keeping a look-out all round. All of a

sudden, over the middle of the Zuider Zee, I saw an enemy machine coming in from port. I called up the pilot to tell him, but our inter-com. had gone ‘phut’. A few seconds later, before anything could be done about it, there was a slamming alongside us and chunks of red-hot shrapnel were shooting about all over the place. “As soon as we were attacked, the squadron leader who was flying the ’plane put the nose down to try and dive clear. At that time we didn’t know that www.britainatwar.com

BELOW LEFT: Being the First New Zealander to be awarded a Victoria Cross in the Second World War, Ward naturally received much press attention. As well as recording a talk for the BBC, he was also filmed with the rest of his crew. In this still Ward is third from the left. (CRITICAL PAST)

RIGHT: Aircrew from 75 Squadron in front of a Wellington Mk.I. (HMP)

the rear gunner had got the attacking ’plane, a Messerschmitt 110, because the inter-com was still out of action and we couldn’t talk to the rear turret. “We’d been pretty badly damaged in the attack. The starboard engine had been hit and the hydraulic system had been put out of action, with the result that the undercarriage fell half down, which meant, of course, that it would be useless for landing unless we could get it right down and locked. The bomb doors fell open too, the wireless sets were not working, and the front gunner was wounded in the foot. Worst of all, fire was burning up through the upper surface of the starboard wing where a petrol feed pipe had been split open. We all thought we’d have to bale out, so we put on our parachutes. “Some of us got going with the fire extinguisher, bursting a hole in the side of the fuselage so that we could get at the wing, but the fire was too far out

along the wing for that to be any good. Then we tried throwing coffee from our flasks at it, but that didn’t work either. It might have damped the fabric round the fire, but it didn’t put the fire out. “By this time we had reached the Dutch coast and were flying along parallel with it, waiting to see how the fire was going to develop. The squadron leader said, ‘What does it look like to you?’ I told him the fire didn’t seem to be gaining at all and that it seemed to be quite steady. He said: ‘I think we’d prefer a night in the dinghy in the North Sea to ending up in a German prison camp.’ With that he turned out seawards and headed for England. “I had a good look at the fire and I thought there was a sporting chance of reaching it by getting out through the astro-dome, then down the side of the fuselage and out on to the wing. Joe, the navigator, said he

thought it was crazy. There was a rope there; just the normal length of rope attached to the rubber dinghy to stop it drifting away from the aircraft when it’s released on the water. “We tied that round my chest, and I climbed up through the astro-dome. I still had my parachute on. I wanted to take it off because I thought it would get in the way, but they wouldn’t let me. I sat on the edge of the astro-dome for a bit with my legs still inside, working out how I was going to do it. Then I reached out with one foot and kicked a hole in the fabric so that I could get my foot into the framework of the ’plane, and then I punched another hole through the fabric in front of me to get a handhold, after which I made further holes and went down the side of the fuselage on to the wing. Joe was holding on to the rope so that I wouldn’t sort of drop straight off. 

A close-up of the damage caused to Vickers Wellington Mark IC, L7818 of 75 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF, pictured at RAF Feltwell, Norfolk, after returning from the attack on Münster. While over the Zuider Zee, cannon shells from an attacking Messerschmitt Me 110 struck the starboard wing (A), causing a fire from a fractured fuel line which threatened to spread across the whole wing. Efforts by the crew to douse the flames failed, and Sergeant Ward volunteered to tackle the fire by climbing out onto the wing via the astro-hatch (B). With a dinghy rope tied around his waist, he made hand and foot-holds in the fuselage and wings (1, 2 and 3) and moved out across the wing from where he was eventually able to tackle the burning wing-fabric. (IWM; CH3223) www.britainatwar.com

JUNE 2014 55

THE RAF ON THE AIR Sergeant James Allen Ward

ABOVE: Sergeant Ward speaking to the press at RAF Feltwell, Norfolk. Note the VC medal ribbon on his tunic. (CRITICAL

PAST)

BELOW RIGHT: On 15 September 1941, Ward’s Wellington was one of twelve bombers from 75 Squadron detailed to attack Hamburg. Whilst over the German city, Ward’s ’plane was hit by antiaircraft fire and burst into flames. Two members of the crew baled out to safety, the other four, including Ward, were killed. Twentytwo-year-old Sergeant James Allen Ward VC was buried in Ohlsdorf Cemetery, Hamburg. (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

56 JUNE 2014

   AS THE crew of L7818 slept after their return on 8 July 1941, Wing Commander C.E. Kay, submitted a report on Sergeant Ward’s actions. After describing Ward’s climb onto the wing, he wrote the following: “Here, in this precarious and dangerous position, and threatened at every moment to be swept into the North Sea by the force of the slip stream, he laboriously and patiently proceeded to smother the fire with the aid of an engine cover. At this critical stage when the fire was spreading and threatening to take complete charge, his efforts in checking and subduing it, undoubtedly saved the aircraft, and the lives of his five companions … For this utterly selfless and inspiring deed, he is submitted for the highest honour.” When he woke up, Ward learnt that he had been recommended for the Victoria Cross. The following day, the commanding officer at Feltwell, Group Captain Buckley, applauded Ward’s “cool undaunted courage and resourcefulness” and sanctioned Kay’s recommendation. This was supported by Air Vice-Marshal Baldwin who agreed that “this supreme act of courage and self-sacrifice merit the highest honour that can be awarded”.

“I went out three or four feet along the wing. The fire was burning up through the wing rather like a big gas jet, and it was blowing back just past my shoulder. I had only one hand to work with getting out, because I was holding on with the other to the cockpit cover. I never realised before how bulky a cockpit cover was. The wind kept catching it and several times nearly blew it away and me with it. I kept bunching it under my arm. Then out it would blow again. “All the time, of course, I was lying as flat as I could on the wing, but I couldn’t get right down close because of the parachute in front of me on my chest. The wind kept lifting me off the wing. Once it slapped me back on to the fuselage again, but I managed to hang on. The slipstream from the engine made things worse. It was like being in a terrific gale, only much worse than any gale I’ve ever known in my life. “I can’t explain it, but there was no sort of real sensation of danger out there at all. It was just a matter of doing one thing

after another and that’s about all there was to it. “I tried stuffing the cockpit cover down through the hole in the wing on to the pipe where the fire was starting from, but as soon as I took my hand away the terrific draught blew it out again and

finally it blew away altogether. The rear gunner told me afterwards that he saw it go sailing past his turret. I just couldn’t hold on to it any longer. “After that there was nothing to do but to get back again. I worked my way back along the wing, and managed to haul myself up on to the top of the fuselage and got to sitting on the edge of the astrodome again. Joe kept the dinghy rope taut all the time, and that helped. By the time I got back I was absolutely done in. I got partly back into the astro-hatch, but I just couldn’t get my right foot inside. I just sort of sat there looking at it until Joe reached out and pulled it in for me. After that, when I got inside, I just fell straight on to the bunk and stayed there for a time … “Just when we were within reach of the English coast the fire on the wing suddenly blazed up again. What had happened was that some petrol which had formed a pool inside the lower surface of the wing had caught fire. I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is pretty hard after having got as far as this.’ However, after this final flare-up the fire died right out – much to our relief, I can tell you. “The trouble now was to get down. We pumped the wheels down with the emergency gear and the pilot decided that, instead of going to our own base, he’d try to land at another aerodrome nearby which had a far greater landing space. As we circled before landing he called up the control and said, ‘We’ve been badly shot up. I hope we shan’t mess up your flarepath too badly when we land.’ “He put the aircraft down beautifully, but we ended up by running into a barbed-wire entanglement. Fortunately nobody was hurt though, and that was the end of the trip.” The award of the Victoria Cross to Sergeant Ward was announced by the Air Ministry in The London Gazette of 5 August 1941. For their part, Widdowson received the DFC and the wounded Box was awarded a DFM. 

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May 2014

Tank Times

Published by The Tank MUSeUM, Bovington, Dorset, UK, BH20 6JG

Tel: +44 (0) 1929 405 096

WARhORSe TO hORSepOWeR OpeNS IN STyLe

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FROM The WORKShOpS

Mike Hayton Mike Hayton takes a light hearted look at the “A” team…

In early April our new Warhorse to Horsepower exhibition was opened with the appropriate pomp and circumstance by Troopers Cribb and Sherring of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, Trustee Dan Snow and one very well-behaved horse. The new display examines the role of horses before, during and after the First World War, with the key emphasis on the British Army’s transition from horsed Cavalry to armoured vehicles and the reasons behind this major shift in land warfare. In his opening speech Dan Snow said, “Warhorse to Horsepower tells one of the key stories of the First World War; it isn’t one of suffering and futility, but one of innovation. If you want to find out about the real stories behind the wonderful Warhorse fiction come here, to best Museum in the UK, to hear them.” Following the speeches, the doors of the hall opened to reveal our Mark IV replica tank, accompanied by the two troopers and Adam, the horse. Guests watched as Trooper Cribb marched forward and cut the ribbon with a First World War sword; declaring the exhibition open. Two years in the making, the exhibition starts just before the First World War, when mechanisation had already begun, and takes visitors all the way through to the start of the Second World War when armoured vehicles had largely replaced the horse at war. The display uses sculptural horses to tell their story and highlight their struggle through the various stages of war.

emotional response than traditional text panels. Although only newly opened, visitors have already been observed listening in to the horses’ chat and even occasionally stroking them.” With the original vehicles and model horses, a host of interactive displays and dramatic imagery; it is hoped ‘Warhorse to Horsepower’ will have a multi-generational appeal and do justice to the experience of both men and horses between 1914-1939.

First World War CENTENARY COMMEMOR ATION

04.08.14

Exhibition Manager, Sarah Lambert said, “The design team opted for nine talking horses to act as the storytellers of the exhibition with the belief that they would inspire a more

Inside… ● FUNNIeS ThAT MISSeD D-DAy ● TANKFeST UpDATe ● WhAT’S ON ● The MORRIS BROTheRS ● TIgeR DAy

So just how do seven full time workshop staff potentially keep up to 90 vehicles in running order, fill the VCC to overflowing and organise over 60 volunteers? Let me introduce you to my “A” team. Andy Price is the Workshop Volunteer Manager, whose part aim in life is to keep everyone happy. Andy, whose favourite saying is “I think we should”, is often seen scratching his head and muttering. A rose between two thorns can best describe Workshop Foreman, Bob Nelson. Bob sits firmly between two managers (myself and Andy), he also handles the “needs” of the workshop staff who comprise: Ian “Buzz” Aldridge is our Sherman driver and Fury film veteran, with a worrying resemblance to Buzz Lightyear. Brian Frost, Rides Vehicle mechanic and Sherman driver was an extra on the Fury film, as well as an expert on fencing. Wherever we go we hear Brian say, “you see the fence over there, I built that”. Matt Carvalho jealously guards the Leopard C2; we think his investment in three dogs is to keep us away from his beloved tank! Matt is responsible for all Tank Museum vehicle licensing, as well as advising the almost computer illiterate Workshop Manager! Ian “Slim” Burgess is our most Continued on page 2...

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The Tank MUSeUM - May 2014

FROM The WORKShOpS Continued…

www.tankmuseum.org

TIgeR DAy

Tel: +44 (0) 1929 405 096

IN BRIeF

experienced Tiger 131 driver, he doesn’t seem to be put off by the fact that it successfully managed to break his leg last year. One of Slim’s many talents is an ability to mimic his colleagues with uncanny accuracy. My job is certainly made easier by having a contrasting but utterly reliable team. Meanwhile, what do we actually get up to? Well, our main task is to keep the running fleet running which, as the years go by, gets increasingly arduous – both with vehicle reliability and sourcing parts. In addition we have five M548 fully tracked cargo carriers, which have been converted to Rides Vehicles. These travel a lot of miles in the course of a season and require constant attention. Vehicle preparation for recurring events like Tanks in Action and our Experience days is ongoing. Then there’s Tankfest. This event requires a tremendous amount of organisation from every department in the Museum, including the Workshops. In addition to ensuring all the additional vehicles required will run safely on the day, Tankfest also requires the input of a large number of volunteers. Everyone needs to know which vehicle they’re driving and what their responsibilities are. Many use the grassy area behind the main workshops to camp for the week and it makes for a lively atmosphere. In order to cope with some of the extra vehicle activities a new volunteer workshop bay has been built recently, together with another workshop bay for Community Service use. The volunteer workshop bay is large enough for one Chieftain sized main battle tank or three smaller vehicles to be worked on simultaneously. To the rear of these workshops is a ‘dry storage’ area to store spares for running fleet vehicles. All in all my job is very special to me; I would never have guessed 20 years ago that one day I would be responsible for the operation and preservation of the greatest collection of tanks in the world.

Tiger Day 2014 was another roaring success, with over 2000 visitors pouring in to The Tank Museum to see Tiger 131 in action.

on to the Vehicle Conservation Centre floor. Rare vehicles like the Conway tank and Valentine DD were on display for our visitors to get a closer look at.

Despite a little drizzle, crowds packed the arena to see the Tiger and its contemporaries; Panzer III, T-34 and the Kettenkrad as they charged around the track. The display also featured the Centurion and Leopard, accompanied by commentary from David Willey looking at the impact the Tiger had on these future designs.

For two guests it was a particularly special occasion, as they became two of only a handful of people to have ever ridden in the original Second World War Tiger 131, after each having been successful in either our Tiger tank raffle or eBay auction.

This was also the first Tiger Day at which visitors were allowed access

Tiger Day returns next year and Premium tickets are available now from our website.

fighting vehicle. To finish off the day, our staged arena battle will be based on Operation Market Garden in recognition of its 70th anniversary.

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As well as updating the look of tankmuseum.org, there is now scope for more detail on what visitors will be able to see and do during their visit, with more information on our collection as a whole. One of the key parts of this is our new Virtual Tank Museum. Partly funded by the Arts Council, the Virtual Tank Museum gives visitors the opportunity to explore The Tank Museum’s main exhibition hall, The Tank Story Hall, which tracks the history of armoured vehicles from start to finish. Each tank is accompanied by images and videos, as well as a run-down of key facts. The website address remains the same, tankmuseum.org, and we hope that you will find the new site informative and engaging.

There will also be entertainment in the form of 1940’s dancing, as well as mini tanks to drive, a shooting range and a living history area; to name just a few activities on offer. Tankfest is one of the biggest dates of the year in The Tank Museum’s calendar. Planning this weekend is an all year round pursuit for our staff and this year’s event is fast coming together. This Tankfest looks set to be our best yet and visitors will be treated to a whole host of activities. There will be arena displays throughout the day, including historic armour, a British Army display and the inaugural tank pull challenge, which will see teams from The Royal Armoured Corps and The Royal Marines go head to head pulling an armoured

Annual passes are not accepted at Tankfest. Standard admission tickets are still available. We look forward to seeing you there!

Mike Hayton Workshop Manager

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We are always trying to give our visitors the best possible experience when they come to The Tank Museum. Part of this is what they see before and after their trip, and more and more people are checking our website for up-to-date information. With that in mind we have recently launched a brand new website.

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The Tank MUSeUM - The WORLD’S BeST COLLeCTION OF TANKS An Independent Museum and Registered Charity No 1102661

World of Tanks merchandise is now on-sale in The Tank Museum shop, both online and at the Museum. The popular online game World of Tanks, part of a series developed by Wargaming.net, has produced a range of t-shirts and accessories for fans of the game and tanks alike. We are the only retailer in the UK to stock official World of Tanks merchandise and it is already proving to be a hit with our visitors. See tankmuseum. org for more details.

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The FUNNIeS ThAT T MISSeD D-DAy by David Fletcher

A Churchill Mark IV fitted with the Farmer Front anti-mine plough. A number were built but it was never used in action.

Hobart’s Funnies are almost inseparable from D-Day; never mind that they continued to work, and prove useful for the remainder of the war in Europe. Or that by popular acclaim they lasted for some years afterwards and still do to a limited extent, it is their contribution to D-Day and the Normandy Landings that have grabbed the public imagination and of course the transient interest of the media. But when you come to look at it carefully you find that essentially only three types took part in the assault landing, these were the Sherman Duplex Drive amphibian, the Sherman Crab mine clearing flail, and the Churchill Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers or AVRE. Indeed the Sherman DD had ceased to be one of Hobart’s Funnies by then and had been passed on to other regiments not now part of Hobart’s 79th Armoured Division. Plus the AVRE of course appeared in a number of guises, fitted with the Bullshorn mine clearing plough, the Bobbin carpet layer, the Small Box Girder Bridge and the fascine, but these were all attachments to the basic tank, attachments that could be shed once their special role was over, while the basic AVRE remained to continue the fighting. Perhaps we should not forget the armoured bulldozers, Caterpillar D8s mostly, which also operated on the Normandy beaches under the auspices of 79th Armoured Division. And granted, by the end of the day some Churchill Crocodile flamethrowers had landed with 141 Regiment, RAC, but these were not numbered amongst Hobart’s Funnies at this time, nor would they be for some months to come.

A Churchill Mark IV using a Churchill ARK Mark I to climb a vertical earth bank.

However, after that rather extensive preamble what I really want to mention here are those Funnies, which for one reason or another, did not participate in the Normandy landings. Some, such as the RAM Kangaroo, LVT Buffalo and Canal Defence Light along with the Centaur Dozer, would arrive later but there were others which might have proved useful but which, for one reason or another, were not scheduled to take part. These include the various types of demolition device attached to a tank and, most surprising of all the turretless Churchill ARK.

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DAvIS SUBMARINe eSCApe AppARATUS

The demolition charge placers can be dealt with first; there were any number of these rejoicing in such names as Carrot, Onion, Goat, Elevatable Goat and the mysteriously named Quinson Device. Some of them date back to 1943 and originated from other organisations such as the Obstacle Assault Centre or the Special Devices Branch of the Department of Tank Design. Not all of them were attached to the Churchill AVRE, though of course they could be, but in pre-AVRE days they were often fitted to ordinary Churchill gun tanks. Some of them worked quite well, quite devastating in fact but one feels the reason why they never appeared on D-Day was because the 290mm Petard weapon carried by the Churchill AVRE was almost as devastating and on the odd occasion where it could not demolish an obstacle in one go it could ultimately batter it into submission. Mind you in terms of variety you could say the same about the mine clearing ploughs, besides the Bullshorn Mark IIIA, use in limited numbers on D-Day, there were dozens of others developed by a variety of organisations, which were never used at all. They make an interesting subject for study by themselves. But all of these were in a sense attachments to the AVRE and were represented, at least vicariously, on D-Day; the ARK was not, and despite the fact that it was used extensively in Italy it never appeared in Normandy nor very much, if at all, later on in the campaign, as far as one can see. And this despite the fact that some fifty were built, on redundant Churchill tank hulls mostly by the MG Car Company at Abingdon. Never mind what other authors say on the subject, proof is lacking and they are certainly not listed amongst the types used on D-Day. And by the way, irrespective of what other authors tell you about ARK being derived from Armoured Ramp Karrier it wasn’t, Ark was short for Ark Royal which was also flat on top, work it out for yourself. As to why the ARK wasn’t used on D-Day one can only assume they had a viable alternative; in this case it would have been the Churchill AVRE with Small Box Girder Bridge, there are plenty of instances where you see them being used to climb a sea wall onto a promenade, just as ARKs were often seen doing on pre D-Day exercises in Britain. The advantage of course, when shipping space was at a premium, is that this way you got two for the price of one, a ramp or bridge that could be put in place and a fighting tank which could afterwards go on to do other things. The odd thing is that ARKs are rarely mentioned after D-Day, particularly not in the 79th Armoured Division history where you’d expect to find them if anywhere. Two are mentioned as being attached to F Wing, the 79th Armoured Division’s experimental wing at Gheel in Belgium, but what they were doing there is not explained. Naturally if anyone does know, or has any actual evidence of ARKs being used in NW Europe then please share it.

The Tank MUSeUM - The WORLD’S BeST COLLeCTION OF TANKS An Independent Museum and Registered Charity No 1102661

In recognition of the 70th anniversary of D-Day, The Tank Museum is putting together a special exhibition in the WW2 hall. It will feature a number of items relating to D-Day, including models of the Funnies, documents from our archives and items exploring the troops’ preparations for the amphibious landings on D-Day. One significant area of this, particularly for the crews of the floating tanks, was preparing for an emergency situation in which they might find themselves in the water. From 1943 troops were sent to Fritton Lake, Suffolk to begin their amphibious training on the new DD tanks. One of the most important things they learnt was how to escape from a sinking tank. The risk of drowning while going down with your tank was very real, not just for those inside but even those “on deck” who were liable to get caught if the screen collapsed inwards. At first it was assumed that escape would be no more difficult than from a sunken submarine so tests were carried out with the Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus (DSEA), originally intended for use by submarine crews, which comprised an inflatable pack worn across the chest and a little reservoir of oxygen. In practice the DSEA proved too bulky, so a more compact device known as the Amphibious Tank Escape Apparatus (ATEA) was developed by the Siebe Gorman Company and proved far more suitable. The ATEA would go on to be supplied to Sherman DD tank crews for the Normandy landings. This DSEA pattern went out of service in 1950, and few still exist.

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10/04/2014 18:14

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The Tank MUSeUM - May 2014

FROM The

eDITOR

www.tankmuseum.org

The Morris Brothers Towards the end of last year we received a donation of items, now on display in our new Warhorse to Horsepower exhibition, which documents the journey of two brothers during World War One, from their enlistment to the Cavalry to their final roles in the Tank Corps.

Andrew Sawyer The opening of Warhorse to Horsepower marked the culmination of years of work by The Tank Museum’s Curatorial team. It was a reminder of the importance of the stories we tell and how our ability to tell them impacts on our visitors. The new exhibition forms a part of our efforts to commemorate the First World War and our constant endeavours to ensure that our visitors are engaged and informed. As we look ahead, there are a number of exciting changes going on at the Museum, meaning there is always something to come back for. Our ever popular Tanks in Action display, which takes place on the weekdays of most school holidays, is having a facelift; visitors will now be able to see the First World War battlefield brought to life in our arena. Our 4th August event, which will be one of the biggest in Dorset to mark the centenary, offers another chance for remembrance. Plans are also being drawn up to refresh our trench experience in the future and there are a number of new exhibitions in the pipeline. Whilst the D-Day anniversary offers another opportunity for us to look at the ingenuity of the Second World War and the terrific challenges faced by the Allies, in the context of our collection. With Warhorse to Horsepower now open to the public, another successful Tiger Day under our belts, followed by a jam-packed Easter holidays, we now look forward to Tankfest. There is so much going on at the Museum and we hope you’ll have an opportunity to come for a visit soon.

Brothers, James and Lawrence Morris, were very close and worked as butchers in civilian life. Together, in 1915, they joined the King Edward Horse, following each other then into the Northumberland Fusiliers and finally the Tank Corps. Amongst the items donated are letters and postcards written between the brothers and their parents. Their parents were of course always keen for news of their sons’ safety:

WHaT’S On

Corps on 28th September 1918. His parents received confirmation of this terrible news in a letter from James’ Commanding Officer: “He was buried yesterday by his tank and as soon as possible a suitable cross will be put up.” (1st October 1918) These letters, along with James Morris’ medal group and memorial plaque, cap badges, sweetheart brooches and photographs of the brothers, not only demonstrate the great technological progress at this time but also the personal story of two close brothers who, like so many thousands of others, were just aiming to get through it all and return home safely to their family.

24.5.14 – 1.6.2014

May Half Term Visitors will have the chance to learn more about D-Day with talks, tour, trails and activities. *Children go free.

28.6.2014 – 29.6.2014

TANKFEST 2014#

“I am very anxious to know how you are, as everything seems so gloomy and we get very little news. I have just got a letter from Lawrence, he is thinking they are coming back ...

The world’s best display of moving armour returns for 2014! Some historic vehicles will make their show debuts, with a number of old favourites returning to the arena.

I do wish you were coming with him.

James Lawrence

Morris

From your loving Mum and Dad.” Unfortunately only one brother would return home - James was killed in action whilst serving with 11th Battalion Tank

Lawrence Henr

y Morris

4 AUgUST event Update e Th

The Tank Museum’s 4th August Commemoration Event is taking shape, with a series of planned arena displays, talks and tours.

World War and the origins of the War, among others. A Living History display, with a real trench system, will feature near the Vehicle Conservation Centre.

The Kuwait Arena will see our Mark IV and A7V replicas trundling round, accompanied by the Great War Air Display team and the Gordon Highlanders. There will also be a tank mobility display later in the day, featuring both First World War and modern vehicles.

Activities for children include medal decoration, writing war poetry and painting wooden tanks. Children who download and create a decorative Tank Museum poppy will be given free entry on the day – see tankmuseum.org for details.

Talks will be going on at the Museum throughout the day, including “Tommy in the Trenches”, a look at tanks in the First Andrew Sawyer Editor

Tel: +44 (0) 1929 405 096

Normal admission prices apply on 4th August and Annual Pass holders will be admitted as usual.

Subscribe For Free!

The Tank Museum | Bovington | Dorset | BH20 6JG t: 01929 462 529 | e: [email protected] The office is open Mon - Fri 9.00am - 5.00pm.

4.8.2014

WW1 Centenary Commemoration Commemoration of the outbreak of the First World War, with talks, tours, living history, a mock battle and air display.

20.9.2014

Britain at War Show This yearly event returns, looking at the events surrounding D-Day with talks tours and activities throughout the day. #You may not use your Annual Pass for re-admission on these dates. *See our website for details.

The Tank MUSeUM - The WORLD’S BeST COLLeCTION OF TANKS An Independent Museum and Registered Charity No 1102661

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IMAGE OF

WAR

IN EARLY September 1944 the veteran 249 (Gold Coast) Squadron under its Australian Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader Jack te Kloot, began converting to the North American Mustang III. It also moved to an airfield at Biferno on the Italian Adriatic coast from where it would conduct operations over the Balkans. It was ‘A’ Flight which converted first, followed in turn by ‘B’ Flight. The whole unit was operational in eighteen days. The squadron’s first operation was flown from Brindisi on 13 September, when te Kloot and Second Lieutenant Shields flew a sweep along the Vardar valley into northern Greece shooting up a number of locomotives. The pair flew another operation that afternoon. In the course of this Shields was hit and forced to bale out. Picked up by Partisans, he was back in Italy by late October. Late in the afternoon of Thursday, 21 September 1944, Squadron Leader te Kloot led three other pilots to a small secret airstrip that had been prepared by Partisans in the heavily wooded mountains of northern Greece. The Germans were evacuating Greece up the Vardar River valley and the 249 Squadron detachment had been instructed to mount attacks on Axis forces from this hidden location behind the lines. As soon as they landed the Mustangs were camouflaged by freshly cut branches. The airstrip was known as “Piccadilly Peggy” and it was there that the image seen here, te Kloot’s Mustang III HB946, ‘GN-E’, was taken soon after the Allied fighters’ arrival. At first light the following morning te Kloot led his detachment off on the first of their missions from “Piccadilly Peggy”. The three Mustangs carried out a number of strafing attacks on enemy transport across Salonika before attacking the enemy landing strip at Megara. Diving in to attack, te Kloot destroyed two stationary Junkers Ju 52 transports. This was followed by strafing a military parade before flying back to Brindisi. Te Kloot subsequently noted: “Two Ju 52s destroyed on Megara LG near Athens. Two

locos destroyed, three locos damaged. Several oil wagons fired. Three M/T destroyed, one M/T damaged. One ... parade liquidated.” Despite te Kloot’s success, the other two aircraft failed to return. Flight Lieutenant Alf Dryden was killed after being struck by debris from an exploding train, whilst Captain Whittingham, who was also damaged at the same time, managed to bale out and returned that night. Early in the morning of 2 September, te Kloot led 2nd Lieutenant J. Malherbe on a further series of attacks against enemy communication targets before heading for Tatoi airfield near Athens. There the pair found over twenty parked Ju 52s, as well as a number of Messerschmitt Bf 109s in pens on the north-west corner of the airfield. Sweeping in at low level the two pilots destroyed five of the transports, three being credited to te Kloot, before they headed north, attacking further rail stock. After a period of bad weather, 249 Squadron’s Mustangs were back in action over Greece again on 27 September. On this occasion, four aircraft attacked further rail transport targets before sweeping in on Prokhama airfield where several parked Focke-Wulf Fw 190s were hit. The following day, te Kloot led Flight Lieutenant P.F. Noble in a highly profitable attack on Salonika airfield, as he later described: “Strafed main aerodrome at Salonika – one Ju 52 destroyed, one Iti destroyed, one He 111 destroyed, one Go 242 glider damaged. Flt Lt Noble three enemy aircraft damaged.” The pair then attacked further targets, during which te Kloot had a lucky escape, as he also noted: “Four locos destroyed, two damaged. Received 40mm cannon shell in wing. Aircraft write off on return to base.” During a very successful week, in which he had regularly flown from “Piccadilly Peggy”, Jack te Kloot had personally destroyed eight enemy aircraft on the ground and damaged a ninth. At the end of his tour he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. (IMAGE COURTESY OF SQUADRON

MUSTANGS BEHIND ENEMY LINES LEADER J. TE KLOOT DSO)

21 September 1944

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A D-DAY PILOT 'S LO G BOOK

TYPHOONS OVER THE BEACHES By 6 June 1944, eighteen squadrons with around 350 Hawker Typhoons, the majority of which were equipped with rockets, were available for close support missions over Normandy. Indeed, the lead up to, during and after D-Day was an extremely hectic period – as Mark Hillier discovered from the flying log book of one Typhoon pilot, Pilot Officer Brian Spragg.

F

OR THE Second Tactical Air Force, including its Typhoon squadrons, the build up to D-Day, as well as the events during and after the landings, was unquestionably a busy period. The Typhoon pilots were tasked with attacking a wide variety of targets in northern France; targets which included radar stations, road and rail communication facilities, and No-ball, or V-weapon, sites.

For one of the Hawker Typhoon pilots, 257 (Burma) Squadron’s Pilot Officer Brian Spragg, just how busy a period it was can be ascertained from the entries in his flying log book. Born at Weedon in Northamptonshire in 1923, and educated at Daventry Grammar School, Brian had joined the RAF in September 1941 having attended St. Andrew’s University. After  his initial training, Spragg was sent

An artist’s depiction of Hawker Typhoons IBs in action over Normandy which is based around Airfix’s remarkable 1:24 scale Hawker Typhoon model. For more information on the kit, or the others in Airfix’s range, please visit: www.airfix.com www.britainatwar.com

JUNE 2014 63

TYPHOONS OVER THE BEACHES A D-Day Pilot's Log Book

to No.5 British Flight Training School in [Target Area] was sprayed with 8,700 Florida to continue his flying training. cannon-shells.” Upon his return to the UK he was For Brian Spragg, his log book notes posted to an Operational Training Unit three flights on 5 June 1944. The first flying Hurricanes. Finally, in October was a circuit; the second, an air sea 1943 Spragg was posted to 257 (Burma) rescue patrol. Whilst 146 Wing was Squadron which was, at that time, based returning from the attack on St Valery, at RAF Warmwell in Dorset. 193 Squadron’s Squadron Leader David By the eve of D-Day, Spragg and his Ross DFC was observed to bale out fellow pilots were aware that the Allied fifteen miles from Sandown on the Isle invasion of France was imminent. Even of Wight. He was last seen trying to 257 Squadron’s Operations Record Book climb into his dinghy. Spragg (who was (ORB) notes this fact on 4 June 1944: at the controls of Typhoon MN757) and “By this morning all aircraft of the wing his fellow pilots, in successive patrols, bore the black and white stripes which hunted in vain for the missing pilot convey to all that ‘something’s cooking’. Flight Lieutenant Brian Spragg pictured Flying was confined to beside a Boeing-Stearman PT-17 trainer at an airfield in Florida during 1942. quick low circuits.” The squadron’s aerial offensive was, however, resumed the next day: “Aircraft of this squadron, plus eight of No.193 Squadron, continued the air assault against radar targets when they dived and low-level bombed installations near ST. VALERY. Results were moderate … T/A

until a mist which descended over the water led to the search being abandoned. Spragg’s final sortie of the day, for which he and seven other Typhoons took off at 19.30 hours, was to attack a German headquarters near Carentan. The mission was, he noted, “abortive”. In his log book he also added the comment, “Didn’t bomb”. “Coming back,” Spragg later informed the historian Norman Franks, “we went over a ship that was keel-up in the water and there were a lot of chaps swimming about in the sea. We were on strict R/T silence and couldn’t even call up and tell anybody. It was about 20-30 miles off St Catherine’s Point, off the Isle of Wight.”1 The scale of the naval and maritime activity in the English Channel that day was obvious to the Typhoon pilots, as another member of 257 Squadron, Flying Officer S.J. Eaton, later recalled: “We suddenly became aware of all these boats, hundreds and hundreds of boats, as far as

TOP LEFT: Pilot Officer Brian Spragg’s log book entries for May 1944, during which month he attacked a variety of targets in northern France.

A pair of 257 Squadron Hawker Typhoon Mark IBs are pictured waiting on standby, whilst attended by their ground crews, at RAF Warmwell, Dorset during 1944. The furthest aircraft is JP494, coded ‘FM-D’. (WW2IMAGES)

64 JUNE 2014

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TYPHOONS OVER THE BEACHES A D-Day Pilot's Log Book

the eye could see. It was an incredible picture and our Wing Leader, Reg Baker, called up and ordered R/T silence, ‘… not another word until you land’.”2 “Late in the evening,” continued 257 Squadron’s ORB, “all the pilots and technical people were assembled in the Officers’ Mess. W.C. [Wing Commander Ernest] Baker informed us that tomorrow

ABOVE and TOP RIGHT: Brian Spragg entries in his log book for June 1944, including that for D-Day, and, on the right, those for July.

– 6th June 1944 – was ‘D’ Day. Maps and data of the invasion plan were displayed and the assault plan revealed by the W.C. … Suitable toasts were partaken of, and the meeting closed in an atmosphere of eager anticipation of the ‘big party’.” Flying Officer Ken Trott, a 197 Squadron Typhoon pilot, was another who recalled the build-up on 5 June 1944, having also being tasked with attacking targets in northern France. “The Channel was covered with boats of various kinds,” he recalled, “a fantastic sight and it seemed impossible that the Germans did not know what we were up to. “On our return to Needs Oar Point

Airfield … all squadron pilots were told to attend a large mess tent where a covered blackboard was set up. We were then informed by the senior officer present that tomorrow, the 6th of June, would be D-Day. The blackboard was then unveiled to reveal the proposed landings, etc. We were told to turn in early, as we should be on call from approximately 4 a.m. the next morning. Needless to say, the roar of aircraft going overhead towards France made sleep almost impossible in our tents.”3

D-DAY The pilots of 146 Wing awoke on the morning of D-Day to the sounds of the invasion underway. “We all took an early breakfast,” continued Trott, “and reported to our various dispersals, where the ground crew were already running up the Sabre engines of our Typhoons and then refuelling them while we awaited the first calls to briefing.” The pilots of 257 Squadron were equally keen to play their part in Operation Overlord, but they would have to wait until the evening. The honour of being the first Typhoon units to go into action 

Personnel of 146 Wing pictured in June 1944, at about the time of the D-Day landings. Pilot Officer Brian Spragg is circled. This formation was made up of the following Typhoon units – Nos. 193, 197, 257, 263 and 266 Squadrons.

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JUNE 2014 65

TYPHOONS OVER THE BEACHES A D-Day Pilot's Log Book fell to three Canadian squadrons of 143 Wing which were over the beachheads as the first landing craft charged in towards the shore. “Der Tag – but ours,” noted 257’s ORB. “Not such a heavy programme as anticipated, but almost all our pilots ranged over the beachhead once.”4 The first six pilots to take off, Brian Spragg included, did so at 17.05 hours. Led by Squadron Leader R.H. Fokes DFC, DFM, the seven Typhoons headed south over the Channel. In due course they came under the control of a ship which, code-named Baldwin, was positioned off the French coast. Acting on Baldwin’s instructions, they attacked two tanks four miles north-east of Caen which they raked with cannon fire. In his log book, Spragg noted that they had attacked tanks, vehicles and cattle! “They were on the road but from height we couldn’t really tell exactly,” Spragg informed Norman Franks. “By the time we got down – spraying – we found that ‘they’ were cattle. It was all of a bit of an anti-climax for we’d been up since 3.45 a.m. waiting for something to happen.” Two further patrols were duly

BELOW: A weather-beaten Typhoon with underwing invasion stripes gets bombed-up, presumably in the summer of 1944. (WW2IMAGES)

66 JUNE 2014

Armourers load rockets on to a Typhoon in the summer of 1944. (WW2IMAGES)

BELOW: Training complete, Flight Lieutenant Brian Spragg is photographed sitting in the cockpit of a 257 Squadron Typhoon.

completed by 257 Squadron, the other sorties taking off at 19.45 hours and 21.40 hours respectively. The ORB states: “A fairly successful bag of assorted transport including tanks, trucks and staff cars were ‘britched up’ and a tented Hun camp was strafed. The occupants of one staff car tumbled out and sought shelter in a chateau. This was promptly demolished by a direct hit with a 500-lb bomb. There was little flak opposition in all these prangs.” For his part, in his log book Brian Spragg made the following entry: “Invasion – Allied forces landing in France from Cabourg

to Montebourg. Beachheads well established. D-Day!!” Another of 257 Squadron’s pilots airborne on D-Day was Flight Sergeant A. Shannon. “On D-Day we went to Caen and I clobbered two trucks and one staff car,” he later recalled. “We were a little over-awed by the occasion, and by the forecast of events. I was rather set by Wing Commander Baker who got us all together on the evening of the 5th and said the possibility is that I won’t be with you here tomorrow – but it’s going to be a great day for all of us. Circumstances rather overtook us and we were quiet rather than thrilled or emotionally affected by it, more or less reflective. We went to bed early but we didn’t see a lot on D-Day because it was hazy. We saw the lines of ships stretching across the Channel and the movement on the other side, the smoke and haze rising.”5 New Zealander Typhoon pilot Desmond Scott recalls the efforts of 123 Wing (198 and 609 squadrons) which flew out of Thorney Island. It was “extremely busy hammering away in support of the Allied landing; but in view of the confused state of the bridgehead it was almost impossible to learn exactly what was happening. Several pilots had been shot down by

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TYPHOONS OVER THE BEACHES A D-Day Pilot's Log Book

flak ... The squadrons had destroyed their first tanks in an attack on two enemy road columns. Southwest of Caen many thin-skinned vehicles had been destroyed. Until conditions on the bridgehead had stabilized, thus establishing a pronounced bombline, our activities were mainly confined to areas southeast of the main assault zone. “It was not until the evening that I was able to head for the Normandy beaches, and was just in time to join a sky train … that reached out southwards from Selsey Bill as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of four-engined bombers were strung in a narrow stream … all bound for the Normandy bridgehead.” Overhauling the slower aircraft in the massive aerial armada, Scott was soon over Normandy. There was no shortage of targets. “Two motorcycles and what appeared to be a staff car were racing along a road near Cagny, and I swept down and raked them with cannon fire. All three came to a sudden and dusty stop, but I did not see what became of them … All along the fringe of the bay [near Ouistreham], as far as visibility would permit, I could see smoke, fire and explosions. Inland some areas were completely smudged out by evil clouds of smoke. Underneath it great flashes of fire would erupt and burst like bolts of orange lightning. Normandy was like a huge, fire-rimmed boiling cauldron … “Like homing seabirds, many aircraft accompanied me back across the Channel. At various distances were lone Spitfires, and here and there a lumbering four-engined bomber, ragged packs of www.britainatwar.com

Typhoons, Mustangs and Thunderbolts, all heading for the peace and security of their home bases on the south coast of England. For us it was the end of D-Day; for many it had been the end of a lifetime. Tomorrow would be D+1, and for our pilots more targets of interdiction.”6 On D-Day, the Typhoons of the Second Tactical Air Force flew over 400 sorties at the cost of eight aircraft and pilots. Four of those had been shot down by the Luftwaffe, whilst the others had succumbed to flak or debris thrown up from the bombing.7

THE OFFENSIVE CONTINUES D+1 dawned with a solid cloud base over the North Coast of France from 1,500 feet to 3,000 feet. Indeed, Brian Spragg recorded in his logbook that the “weather was pretty poor”. For his flight sortie of the day, an armed reconnaissance, he took off from Needs Oar Point at 10.05

TOP: Wing Commander R.E.P. Brooker, the No.123 Wing Leader, takes off from RAF Thorney Island in his Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB, MN570 ‘B’, to carry out a sortie over the Normandy beachhead in company with seven more Typhoons of 198 Squadron. They attacked and destroyed several German armoured vehicles on the Caen-Falaise road. (IMPERIAL

WAR MUSEUM; FLM3107)

ABOVE RIGHT: Even whilst the battle was raging in Normandy, there was still training to be undertaken. LEFT: A post-war photograph of Wing Commander Brian Spragg DFC. (ALL IMAGES

COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

hours. As the seven aircraft approached the beachhead they were diverted by their control ship to investigate possible targets on the road south-west of Caen that runs through to Villers-Bocage. As the Typhoons flew over the French countryside, they spotted some German motor transport. In the moments that followed a half-track and a truck were attacked with bombs and cannon fire. The outcome, noted Brian in his log book, was “vehicles left burning”. A concentration of troops was also sighted but the control ship indicated that they might be Allied personnel, so no attack was made. The seven pilots returned to Needs Oar Point having been airborne for 1 hour 45 minutes. There were some 493 Typhoon sorties flown on D+1. As a result of stronger German resistance, fifteen Typhoons were shot down. The following day Spragg took part in another armed reconnaissance. The four Typhoons involved, having taken off at 15.30 hours, headed just to the south of the beachheads, patrolling from Saint-Lô onwards to Caumont. Locating tanks which they believed to be Panzer IVs, the pilots rolled in to attack with bombs. One tank immediately blew up, whilst the other was left smoking. Three German trucks were also attacked, this time with cannon, and though the ORB reports that strikes were seen, “no conclusive results could be observed”. Spragg recorded in his log book: “2Pz Mk IVs destroyed, 3 MT damaged. Bags of joy.” Though the weather on 9 June 1944, prevented operations, many of the sorties flown by 257 Squadron over  JUNE 2014 67

TYPHOONS OVER THE BEACHES A D-Day Pilot's Log Book the next few days continued to be directed by the control ship code-named Baldwin. The actual targets included troop concentrations, motor transport, tanks, and railway or road centres. At the same time, losses amongst the Typhoon units continued to mount. On 12 June, D+6, seven 257 Squadron pilots undertook an armed reconnaissance led by Battle of Britain veteran Squadron Leader Ronald Fokes DFC, DFM. Splitting into two sections, the Typhoons ranged out across the area between Falaise and the south of Caen. The ORB notes that six German vehicles were hit, four of which were left smoking. One staff car was also left in flames. One section spotted and attacked some railway wagons loaded with tanks near St Pierre: “Two bombs dropped with unobserved results.” At one point, however, Squadron Leader Fokes’ aircraft was hit by flak eight miles south of Caen. He was seen to bale out at 1,000 feet. Flying Officer “Paddy” Carr, Fokes’ wingman, was orbiting overhead and saw 257’s CO hit the ground hard, after which he lay motionless in tall grass near his aircraft. Fokes’ Typhoon was not the only one to be hit. Having also suffered flak damage, Carr managed to land at airstrip B3 near Sainte-Croix-sur-Mer. The following day Spragg was also hit by German fire during a sortie that he described in his log book as “low level bombing and strafing south of Caen”. A total of eleven aircraft led by Wing Commander Baker were briefed to attack a German HQ near a wood south west of Troarn. All aircraft successfully dropped their bombs in the target area from heights of 2,500 feet down to 1,500 feet, following up the attack with strafing runs. Flak was noted as being “meagre” but Spragg was unfortunate and records in his log book being “hit by flak, wing

RIGHT & ABOVE: One of the post-Overlord missions undertaken by Flying Officer Spragg (he was promoted in October 1944) was an attack by 146 Wing (led by Group Captain D.E. Gillam) on the Sicherheitsdienst headquarters in Amsterdam on 26 November 1944. A total of twenty-four Typhoons were involved, with Spragg leading a section of four aircraft. Smoke from the attack can still be seen in this aerial reconnaissance photograph. The successful attack destroyed German records on the Dutch resistance movement.

tip blown off”. Spragg was the first to return, landing back at Needs Oar Point at 18.30 hours. On the evening of 20 June 1944, 257 Squadron was tasked with attacking a tunnel on the railway line south-west of Pont l'Éveque. “We attacked the target in two waves,” states the ORB, “one wave against each end of the tunnel. The results were considered very good; several bombs going through the tunnel mouth at S.W. end and two near misses at N.E. end successfully closed the tunnel. All attacks were carried out at zero feet.” Spragg noted in his log book that he had “lobbed bombs in tunnel”. The attack was, he added, a “Wizard prang”. By the end of June 1944, Spragg had completed twenty-one hours of operational sorties. He served with the squadron right through until February 1945 completing 187 hours of operational flying on the Typhoon and having, by

the 15th of that month, flown no less than 163 sorties. Awarded the DFC in 1945, he had survived being shot down twice and force landed his aircraft, gaining two “Green Endorsements” in his log book for exceptional flying skill and judgement. 

NOTES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Norman Franks, Typhoon Attack (Stackpole, Mechanicsburg, 2010), p.115-6. Ibid, p.115. Quoted on: www.winkton.net TNA Air 27/1528. Norman Franks, Ibid, p.116. Desmond Scott, Fighter Pilot (Arrow, London, 1982), pp.109-10. Chris Thomas, Typhoon Wings of 2nd TAF 1943–45.

NEXT MONTH: In next month's issue, Mark Hillier details one of Brian Spragg's post-war actions which involved a future Israeli Prime Minister.

BELOW: The open farmland that was RAF Needs Oar Point - Pilot Officer Brian Spragg’s base for his D-Day operations. This Advanced Landing Ground was constructed in 1943, the first aircraft of 146 Wing arriving on 10 and 11 April 1944. (COURTESY OF STUART LOGAN; WWW.GEOGRAPH.ORG.UK)

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At 12.15 hours on this day, a heavily loaded freight train pulled out of Whitemoor marshalling yard near March in Cambridgeshire. Heading for Ipswich, the cargo on the train included forty-four wagons containing a total weight of 400 tons of bombs. About ninety minutes later, as the train was approaching Soham station, the driver, Benjamin Gimbert, looked back to see flames coming from the leading wagon. The train was halted, at which point fireman James Nightall uncoupled the first wagon, allowing Gimbert to draw away. As the locomotive and burning wagon pulled into Soham station, it exploded. Nightall and a signalman on the platform were killed. Gimbert, though badly wounded, survived. For their actions in preventing a far worse disaster, Gimbert and Nightall were awarded the George Cross.

4

The first Allied soldiers, members of the US 5th Army, reached the centre of Rome late on this day. The next day President Franklin D. Roosevelt welcomed the fall of Rome with the words, “One up, two to go”.

4

As Allied preparations for the D-Day landings reach their conclusion, and the countdown to the landings themselves began, Rommel left for Germany to meet with Hitler and celebrate his wife’s birthday.

6

During a sitting in the House of Commons, the Prime Minster, Winston Churchill, rose to make an historic announcement. “I have … to announce to the House,” he said, “that during the night and the early hours of this morning the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place. In this case the liberating assault fell upon the coast of France. An immense armada of upwards of 4,000 ships, together with several thousand smaller craft, crossed the Channel. Massed airborne landings have been successfully effected behind the enemy lines and landings on the

 FLYING BOMB ATTACK

Released to the press on 3 August 1944, this image shows a V-1 Flying Bomb diving onto London. The buildings in the foreground are the Royal Courts of Justice (Law Courts) on the north side of the Strand. It is stated in the definitive Blitz Then and Now that this particular V-1 fell on Wild Street on Wednesday, 28 June 1944. (HMP)

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 THE SINKING OF U-980

The Type VIIC U-boat U-980 sailed from Bergen on 1 June 1944. Commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hermann Dahms, by the afternoon of Sunday, 11 June 1944, U-980 had reached a position roughly 120 miles north of the Shetlands. At 15.15 hours that day the submarine was sighted by the crew of a Consolidated Canso of 162 Squadron. The pilot, Flying Officer Lawrence Sherman, immediately attacked. Seven minutes after the engagement had begun Sherman made another pass. This time, four depth charges were released from an altitude of just fifty feet. They straddled the vessel – as seen in this photograph – with two falling on the port side, and one landing midway between the bow and the conning tower. As the plumes of water from the explosions subsided, U-980 was seen trailing oil. The damage caused by the depth charges was extensive; at 15.32 hours U-980 sank with all hands. (HMP) beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time. The fire of the shore batteries has been largely quelled. The obstacles that were constructed in the sea have not proved so difficult as was apprehended. The Anglo-American Allies are sustained by about 11,000 first line aircraft, which can be drawn upon as may be needed for the purposes of the battle. I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details. Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever occurred. It involves tides, wind, waves, visibility, both from the air and the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen.”

7

The first Allied airstrip in Normandy - B1 - was opened at Asnelle, north-east of Bayeux.

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D THE WAR

8

Overnight, the 12,000lb Tallboy bomb was used for the first time on an operational raid, being dropped by aircraft of 617 Squadron in a raid on a railway tunnel near Saumur. The target area was illuminated with flares by four Lancasters of 83 Squadron and marked at low level by three Mosquitoes. Twenty-five 617 Squadron Lancasters then dropped their Tallboys with great accuracy. The bombs exploded under the ground to create miniature “earthquakes”; one actually pierced the roof of the tunnel and brought down a huge quantity of rock and soil. The tunnel was blocked for many months.

9

The first elements of the Mulberry Harbours were towed into place off the Normandy beaches.

10

After Montgomery announced that, “We have won the battle of the beaches”, Churchill, Smuts, Brooke, General Marshall and Admiral King crossed the Channel where they were met by Montgomery. After a beach welcome they drove through “our limited but fertile domain in Normandy”.

10

Allied aircraft began operating from airfields in Normandy. Within the first three weeks since the landings, no fewer than thirty-one Allied squadrons were transferred to airfields in north-western France.

13

The V-1 flying bomb campaign opened on this day. At 04.08 hours, two members of the Royal Observer Corps on duty at Dymchurch spotted the approach of an object spurting flames from its rear and making a noise like “a Model-T Ford going up a hill”. They had spotted the first V-1 flying bomb, code-named Divers by the Allies, to be launched against the UK. During the course of the day, Flakregiment 155(W) launched a total of ten V-1 flying bombs from launch sites in the Pas de Calais. Four did not make it across the Channel. One of the ten hit the railway bridge in Grove Road, London. The structure was badly damaged, as was the railway track. A number of houses were demolished and six people were killed.

16

In the course of an intensive V-1 barrage, seventy-three reached the London area. During the next ten days, an average of 100 flying bombs fell on England every twenty-four hours.

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JUNE 1944

Key Moments and Events that affected Britain in WW2

 BALKAN AIR FORCE FORMED

On Thursday, 1 June 1944, the RAF’s Balkan Air Force (BAF) was formed under the command of Air Vice Marshal William Elliot. The main focus of BAF operations was to provide support for the Yugoslav partisans, particularly through attacks on communications, but it also operated over Greece and Albania. During its first month of operation, BAF North American Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire squadrons claimed 262 locomotives destroyed. The original caption to this image states that it shows steam escaping from a locomotive after it was hit by a Mustang in the Maribor area of Yugoslavia. (HMP)

23

Scrambled from RAF West Malling at 21.50 hours to intercept Divers approaching from the Channel, 91 (Nigeria) Squadron’s Flying Officer Kennth Collier was flying a Supermarine Spitfire XIV. Having spotted a V-1 flying on a steady course at 2,500 feet, he used up all his ammunition in an unsuccessful attempt to shoot it down. Undaunted, Collier flew alongside and using his wingtip eventually tipped it off course. The missile spun down out of control and exploded in a field, this being the first occasion when this method was used to destroy a flying bomb.

26

Intended to outflank and seize the German-held city of Caen (originally one of the objectives for D-Day itself) Operation Epsom began. The first major British offensive to be launched since the landings in Normandy, Epsom ended on 30 June. Caen would not be completely in Allied hands until the middle of July.

27

Herbert Morrison, the Home Secretary, informed the War Cabinet that since the V-1 attacks had begun, 1,600 people had been killed and 4,500 seriously wounded.

30

It was announced that since D-Day the Allies had landed 630,000 men, 600,000 tons of supplies and 177,000 vehicles in Normandy. JUNE 2014 71

THE WW1 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN Driver James Bell

ABOVE: Driver James Bell was the only one of five brothers who survived the First World War. (ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF ROSS PARRY; WWW.ROSSPARRY. CO.UK, UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

B

EFORE HE enlisted in the Australian Army on Wednesday, 21 October 1914, James Bell was a gear hand. It may have been because of these practical skills that he was posted to the 2nd Light Horse Brigade Train (6 Company, Army Service Corps) as a Driver in December 1914 – the 2nd Light Horse Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade. On the 21st of that month he embarked on the troopship HMAT Port MacQuarie at Sydney, much of the rest of the brigade having already sailed for Egypt. Originally from Yorkshire, James, who was 27-years-old when he enlisted, had previously served for two years with the

Territorial Army. He had also served for three years with the British Army in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) before buying himself out in 1913 when he decided to emigrate to Australia. James was one of five brothers, three of whom remained in Yorkshire whilst James and his younger brother Laurie, a miner by profession, emigrated. When war was declared, all five of the Bell brothers felt obliged to join up. In the months and years that followed, one after the other they would all lose their lives until only James was left. One of the first of the five brothers to volunteer, Laurie enlisted in the 4th Battalion Australian Imperial Force (AIF),

this being among the first infantry units raised during the First World War. Like the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions it was recruited from New South Wales (both James and Laurie lived at the same address in the state – 60 Arthur Street, Surry Hills, Sydney) and, together with these other battalions, formed the 1st Brigade.

The WW1

saving private ryan On 21 October 1914, Driver James Bell enlisted in the Australian Army and duly embarked for service overseas. Little would he have known at the time that he sailed from Sydney that he would eventually return home under the most unusual circumstances. 72 JUNE 2014

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THE WW1 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN Driver James Bell MIDDLE LEFT: Laurie Bell, who was one of two of the Bell brothers to serve in the Australian Imperial Force. LEFT: A picture of Herbert Bell, of whom, of all the brothers, the least is known.

The battalion was raised within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked just two months later. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving on 2 December 1914. The 4th Battalion AIF took part in the Anzac landings at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, forming part of the second and third waves. At Anzac, the battalion took part in the defence of the beachhead and in August, along with the rest of the 1st Brigade, led the charge at Lone Pine. The battalion served at Anzac until the evacuation in December. Laurie, however, did not leave Turkish soil. Aged 22, and having attained the rank of Lance Corporal, he was killed on 1 December 1915. That day his unit was in the line in the area known as Shell Green. A sloping cottonfield prior to the Allied landings, it was located on the seaward side of the feature named Bolton’s Ridge. Shell Green remained in close proximity to the Turkish lines for the duration of the fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula and was frequently under Ottoman shell fire. The 4th Battalion’s War Diary records the following for 1 December: “Water ration very short, able to obtain enough for evening meal by sending to NORTH BEACH. Enemy’s shell landed amongst several machine gunners – casualties one killed 3 wounded. Weather clear and bright.” Laurie Bell was buried in Shell Green Cemetery. www.britainatwar.com

For Laurie’s parents, William and Elizabeth Bell, who lived in the village of Marrick in the Yorkshire Dales, the notification of their son’s death would have been followed soon after by further bad news. Within a matter of days of Laurie being killed, another of the Bell boys lost his life. As 1915 drew to a close, the men of the 1st/6th Battalion, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) found themselves in the trenches of the Ypres Salient in the area of Boesinghe (now Boezinge).  ABOVE: Laurie Bell’s CWGC grave marker.

ABOVE: The first of the Bell brothers to be killed was Lance Corporal Laurie Bell. He was buried in Shell Green Cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula. (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION) JUNE 2014 73

THE WW1 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN Driver James Bell

ABOVE: Sergeant John W. Bell was buried in Talana Farm Cemetery. Talana Farm was one of a group of farm houses named by the army from episodes of the South African war. The cemetery was begun by French troops in April 1915, taken over by the 1st Rifle Brigade and 1st Somerset Light Infantry in June 1915, and was used by fighting units until March 1918. (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

The village itself is on the west side of the Yser Canal, and was, during the greater part of the First World War, directly faced by the German front line on the east side. On 27 December 1915, Sergeant John W. Bell was shot in the head. He lies in Talana Farm Cemetery, which was just over half a mile from the edge of the Salient. The oldest brother, Joseph, was the next to fall. The 42-year Sergeant was serving in the same battalion and regiment as John when he was killed by a shell or grenade in Flanders on 23 June 1917. As he was buried in the communal cemetery extension in Sailly-Labourse, it is possible that he died from wounds, and not immediately, as the village was used by field ambulances for much of the First World War. The fate of the remaining brother, Herbert, is uncertain. It is stated that he died whilst a prisoner of war, but both when and where has not been ascertained. On 26 March 1916, Driver James Bell embarked at Alexandria, bound for Marseilles. He arrived at the French port on 2 April. He served at various locations in France, including at Rouen, and was “in the field”, throughout the rest of the year and into the following. It was during this period that James’ sister Annie, who lived in Haworth, West Yorkshire, stepped in. In June 1916, she wrote to the authorities to explain the tragedy that had befallen her family: “I am writing to appeal for your assistance to ask you to send my brother No.1126 Driver James Bell, 4th Australian Ammunition Sub. Park A.I.F., France back to Australia. He has been in the firing line three years and has a wife and two children in England receiving no separation allowance. 74 JUNE 2014

TOP RIGHT: The oldest of the five brothers to die in the First World War – Sergeant Joseph Bell. LEFT: A newspaper cutting relating to the death of Sergeant John W. Bell.

“He has had three brothers killed. Another has been missing two years last September. He is the only one left out of five brothers. Hoping to solicit your help.” From the extant correspondence held in James Bell’s service records, it is clear that Annie Bell’s story was checked out – though the process was a seemingly slow one. On 27 December 1917, the Commanding Officer of the 4th Australian Ammunition Sub. Park submitted a brief report in reply to Annie’s letter. The Colonel simply stated: “The statement regarding her brothers is correct.” In due course, the matter was passed up the chain of command, with an opinion or approval being sought at each stage. Finally, on 23 January 1918, the Deputy Adjutant General of the AIF gave the following instruction: “Approval is given for the abovenamed soldier [Driver James Bell] to be returned to Australia for discharge. Please send him to report to Admin. Headqrs. A.I.F. London, for passage accordingly.”

BELOW: Sergeant Joseph Bell was buried in SaillyLabourse Communal Cemetery Extension. (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

Exactly a week later, on 30 January 1918, orders were issued by the AIF’s headquarters at 130 Horseferry Road: “Will you please arrange his passage by the next available transport.” At the same time, James was directed to report to No.2 Command Depot at Weymouth on 12 February 1918. However, throughout the time this discussion had been taking place, James was in hospital in France. Consequently, it was not until 2 February 1918, that he finally made the journey across the Channel en route for the AIF’s headquarters. His time in London was not trouble free – on the 12th, when he should have arrived at Weymouth, he was reported as absent without leave. His period of absence lasted until 09.30 hours the following morning. For this offence, James was forfeited three days’ pay. His journey home, however, remained unaffected and on 18 March 1918, Driver James Bell sailed from the United Kingdom on Durham Castle. Duly discharged from the army, James Bell died many years later in Australia from natural causes. 

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ROUGH JUSTICE ??????? / ????????

HMS Manchester pictured underway on 29 May 1942. (IWM; FL4159)

S

IXTY MILES to the south of Sicily, and just a few minutes flying distance away, is the Island of Malta. When Italy declared war on the United Kingdom in the summer of 1940, Malta, the closest British territory, was placed in the gravest danger. The Italian air force, the Regia Aeronautica, began to attack Malta the day after the declaration of war, sending fifty-five bombers and twentyone fighters to bomb the Maltese

ABOVE: The approximate positions of the ships of Operation Pedestal which were sunk or damaged on 12 and 13 August 1942 – including HMS Manchester.

aerodromes. From that moment on Malta was effectively isolated from the outside world. With its deep harbour and excellent port facilities Malta was a vital staging post between Gibraltar and Alexandria, and a key base for the Royal Navy. Its importance grew when Axis forces began operations in North Africa, as the 10th Submarine Flotilla, operating out of Malta and supported by the RAF, began to take

an increasing toll on the Axis shipping taking supplies and reinforcements to the Panzergruppe Afrika. “With Malta in our hands, the British would have had little chance of exercising any further control over convoy traffic in the Central Mediterranean,” General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel explained. “I have personally warned Kesselring [Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring was in charge of

BELOW: This oil painting by Robert Blackwell depicts Operation Pedestal underway in August 1942. In this scene both the tanker SS Ohio and the refrigerated merchant ship MV Port Chalmers are seen prior to the deadly torpedo attack by the Italian submarine Axum. Both Ohio and Port Chalmers reached Malta – the latter on 13 August, whilst Ohio famously staggered into Valetta Harbour two days later. (COURTESY OF ROBERT BLACKWELL, VIA BRIAN CRABB)

ROUGH JUS

76 JUNE 2014

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ROUGH JUSTICE Operation Pedestal

Luftflotte 2 with responsibility for air operations in the Mediterranean] of the tragic consequences for my lines of communication between Italy and Africa if he does not succeed in establishing air superiority over Malta.”

OPERATION PEDESTAL Throughout 1940 and 1941 the Royal Navy escorted convoys through the western Mediterranean, with varying degrees of success, in a bid to keep

the beleaguered island and its armed forces supplied. By early 1942, the supply situation on Malta had become desperate, particularly with regards to aviation fuel. Consequently, in August 1942, the largest convoy up to that time was assembled. Convoy WS21S consisted of fourteen transports, including the large oil tanker SS Ohio, protected by a powerful escort and a covering force of forty-four warships. It was code-named Operation Pedestal. 

USTICE www.britainatwar.com

TOP RIGHT: An enemy aircraft is pictured during an attack on the ships of Convoy WS21S. Note the heavy anti-aircraft fire, fragments from which can be seen falling into the sea. RIGHT: Captain Harold Peter Drew DSC RN.

The endeavour to break through the Axis blockade of the Island of Malta, known as Operation Pedestal, was amongst the most heroic naval actions of the war in the Mediterranean. Though the operation succeeded and Malta was re-supplied and saved, writes Brian Crabb, some of those involved were brought before Courts Martial. JUNE 2014 77

ROUGH JUSTICE Operation Pedestal If the convoy failed to reach Malta, the island was almost certain to fall into Axis hands. The great convoy passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 August without incident, but the following day the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle was torpedoed by U-73 and sank. Repeated aerial attacks saw another carrier, HMS Indomitable, damaged and a destroyer fatally crippled. Attacks throughout 11 August caused little damage until the evening when HMS Nigeria, HMS Cairo and Ohio were hit by torpedoes. Cairo was sunk but Nigeria remained afloat and returned to Gibraltar, whilst Ohio limped on. More attacks followed and five merchant ships were lost as well as the destroyer HMS Foresight. Night brought some relief, but this was only temporary. Amongst the escorts was the Southampton-class light cruiser HMS Manchester, which had been commissioned into the Royal Navy as recently as 1938. As she rounded Cape Bon a mine was detonated close under her port bow, either by a destroyer sweep or her own paravanes which were deployed from the bow at the time, but no damage was caused. The Fiji-class cruiser HMS Kenya then fired a star-shell high into the sky, illuminating the surrounding area with

a dim light. Through the milky light lookouts spotted four Italian E-boats. All the British warships opened fire, turning towards the torpedo boats. The speed of the Italian craft and a smoke screen took them out of danger. That was the end of the first attack by the Italians. The star-shell fell into the sea and darkness descended over the

ABOVE: A SavoiaMarchetti SM.79 torpedo bomber flies over the cruiser HMS Nigeria. This picture illustrates just how low the Axis pilots had to fly during their torpedo attacks. (ALL

IMAGES COURTESY OF BRIAN CRABB UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

LEFT: An aerial reconnaissance photograph which, taken by an Italian aircraft of 4º Gruppo on 13 August, shows the effects of the enemy attacks during Operation Pedestal.

78 JUNE 2014

convoy once more. As the Allied ships reached the area of Keliba lighthouse, its bright beam lit up the convoy which could be seen for miles around. Gunners on both Kenya and Charybdis requested permission to shoot out the light but the lighthouse was in neutral Vichy-controlled Tunisia, and permission was refused. Then, shortly after 01.00 hours, a torpedo struck HMS Manchester. “An enormous and deep explosion resonated from within the ship,” recalled Ordinary Seaman Roland Hindmarsh. “Then the floor, whipping from side to side, settled down again.” Two of the Italian E-boats (MS 16 and MS 22) had managed to close to within fifty yards of Manchester before releasing their torpedoes. The first torpedo passed ahead of the cruiser but the second hit abreast the after engine room. Manchester’s rudder was driven over and the warship began to circle until, ten minutes later, her engines stopped.

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The crew of a multiple pom-pom on board HMS Manchester enjoy cigarettes during a lull in the action, 12 August 1942.

ROUGH JUSTICE Operation Pedestal

OPERATION SUBSTANCE

Men smothered in fuel oil taking a breath of fresh air on the flight deck of the cruiser HMS Manchester after being rescued from below deck after the cruiser was hit by an aerial torpedo during Operation Substance. (IWM; A4919)

Commander William Robb was in the engine room when the torpedo struck: “I felt an explosion with severe shaking or bouncing of [the] ship, and knew [the] ship had been hit. I looked at the after unit gauge board, which appeared normal. I heard a loud knocking on the starboard outer shaft. I saw by the repeat revolution indicator from the after engine room that the starboard inner shaft had stopped. Ship immediately assumed a list to starboard.” The list to starboard was some 10 to 12 degrees.

SITUATION CRITICAL Captain Harold Peter Drew DSC RN, deeming that the situation his ship found itself in was critical, ordered the destruction of all signal publications and confidential books. The damage reports received by Drew described the extent of the cruiser’s damage: “The port outer shaft alone remained intact, though steam was not then available, but it was

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thought we should be able to get it going in time, possibly three hours. “The after engine room was flooded, the 4 inch magazine was flooded together with other adjacent compartments, but the limits of the damage had not been finally established. Conditions below were naturally difficult, darkness, fumes and some wreckage impeded the work ... The water in the after engine room was beginning to boil as a result of escaping steam, and rescue work there was urgent. The W/T office was flooding slowly. Two dynamos were out of action, and the power was off the steering gear ... Turret hoists were not working ... One gyro compass was out of action. There was not much ammunition in the 4-inch ready-use lockers, after firing at the E-boat, and this fact together with the flooded magazine, put a limit upon the further use of this armament. The port pom-pom had been reported as temporarily overheated.” HMS Manchester was clearly in a great deal of trouble.

OPERATION PEDESTAL was not the first Malta convoy that HMS Manchester and Harold Drew had been involved in. In July 1941, HMS Manchester had formed part of Operation Substance, this being the Royal Navy operation to escort convoy GM 1, the first of a series from Gibraltar to Malta. On 23 July the convoy was attacked by nine Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 torpedo bombers, one of which launched a torpedo that struck Manchester on the port quarter (though the aircraft itself was then shot down). She was badly damaged but Drew believed he could still save his ship, which duly struggled back to Gibraltar on one engine. The fact that he had saved Manchester the year before did not stop him from being reprimanded at the Court Martial. The affair did not seriously affect Drew’s career, however, as he rose to the rank of Commodore and became an ADC to King George VI. BELOW: Convoy WS21S under attack – near misses are exploding between MV Brisbane Star (damaged, but arrived at Malta on 14 August) and SS Wairangi (carrying a cargo of fuel in drums, this vessel was subsequently sunk). This picture was taken from the cruiser HMS Kenya.

At around 02.00 hours the destroyer HMS Pathfinder went alongside the stricken cruiser to see what assistance it could render. “I decided to get away as many people as I could no longer use, such as the 4-inch [gun] personnel,” Drew later reported. “About three hundred men were sent, as many as Pathfinder could take.” Drew’s memory was faulty, as Pathfinder’s log recorded just 172 officers and men taken on board. Drew now had to consider his options. It was pitch black and he was in the swept channel of a minefield. It would also soon be daylight and the immobile cruiser would be an easy and obvious target for enemy aircraft and boats. At this stage, nevertheless, he was still hopeful of being able to get his engines 

JUNE 2014 79

ROUGH JUSTICE Operation Pedestal Drew was expecting to be attacked again at any moment. Robb replied that the ship could “take” another torpedo, but Drew felt it was not right or justified to risk the lives of a large number of men. “Here we are close to shore, and if we act quickly we can get the ship’s company ashore as a body, and they may be of further service to the country.” Drew, it seems, had already made his mind up on the course of action he should take. “If we decide to sink the ship, what do we do about it?” He asked Robb. “Open up all sea cocks and magazine floods, remove [the] condenser doors, and get [the] torpedo party to place scuttling charges,” came the reply. Drew had decided. He was going to sink his own ship. going again in three hours. This, he calculated, would just give him time, if he was able to make ten knots, to get out of the minefield and into the open water and head back to Gibraltar. As he waited on more detailed damage reports Drew had to contemplate what course of action he should take if the engines or steering could not be repaired. It was certainly vital that the ship, including its radar equipment, should not fall into enemy hands. There were also many men still on board. The Admiralty, of course, would expect Drew’s main attention to be focussed upon preserving his relatively new and expensive cruiser. Commander Robb was asked to come up from the engine room to help advise him on the state of the engines. Robb told Drew that he had stopped the starboard outer shaft because the inner shaft had stopped. Drew then said to Robb, “Is the engine which you had to stop ready to use now?” Robb replied that if the problem was what he thought it was, “it is only a matter of restarting the circulater”. “And if it is not what you think it is, how long will it take to put right? Will it take 2 or 3 hours?” “I cannot say, Sir” answered Robb, “without seeing what is wrong, but I am confident it will be all right, and can

ABOVE: Taken from the decks of HMS Kenya, this image shows one of the most damaging losses of Operation Pedestal – the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle sinking on 11 August. Here, Eagle can be seen healing to port after being hit by four torpedoes fired from the German U-boat U-73. The merchant ship MV Glenorchy (subsequently sunk) can be seen in the foreground – note that her lifeboats have been swung out ready for use. ABOVE RIGHT: As Italian motor torpedo boats attack the convoy on 13 August 1942, the Dido-class cruiser HMS Charybdis opens fire.

OPERATION PEDESTAL

The Story of Convoy WS21S in August 1942 THE FULL story of HMS Manchester’s involvement in Operation Pedestal, along with the rest of the ships and events of Convoy WS21S, described as “the most bombarded convoy of the Second World War", is portrayed in Brian Crabb’s latest extensively researched and detailed book. For more information or to order copies please visit: www.briancrabbmaritimebooks.com

80 JUNE 2014

quickly check up on it. If it is no good we shall have to take our chance on the port inner [shaft], it was still revolving when I left.”

THE FATEFUL DECISION Drew then explained the situation to Robb. “I have to make the decision whether to try and save this valuable ship, against the risk of further heavy loss of very valuable lives ... I am afraid we may be put in a position where we could not move and the ship may be captured by the enemy. I could not bear to think of this fine ship being captured.” Robb apparently replied that they still had a chance and he wanted to try and carry on to Malta. Drew countered this by saying that if they tried to reach Malta they would be certain to be caught by the enemy. “We are no further use to the convoy,” Drew responded, “and it would be unfair to detach an escort for us”. He also pointed out to Robb that even if the engines were started, they were unable to steer. Robb felt that they would still be able to use the hand steering pump. Drew dismissed this as being “not much use”.

COURT OF INQUIRY At approximately 05.00 hours, as dawn was breaking, an Italian aircraft arrived overhead and launched a torpedo at the stationary ship. By then the crew of HMS Manchester was making for the shore. As it happened the torpedo missed, but Drew turned to Robb and said: “That proves it. That proves we did right. I hope she will go all right, Robb. That was a very hard decision to take.” In his subsequent report, Robb recounted the final moments of HMS Manchester: “The ship listed over to starboard. We heard shell cases on [the] pom-pom deck rattling as they rolled down [the sloping deck]. The diesels were still running. [The] stern of [the] ship went under and [the] bow lifted up. Estimate that [the] ship sank after 0530, approx.” Captain Drew had lost his ship but, with the exception of just thirteen men killed due to the impact of the torpedo, he had saved his crew. He knew he would have to give a full explanation of his actions to a Court of Inquiry. What he did not know was that it would turn into a Court Martial. www.britainatwar.com

ROUGH JUSTICE Operation Pedestal

ABOVE: An Italian Motoscafi Anti-Sommergibili (MAS) boat pictured travelling at speed in the Mediterranean. It was light fast craft such as these that were deployed with such devastating effect against Convoy WS21S as it rounded Cape Bon early in the morning of 13 August. The merchant ships were still in disarray after the attacks of the previous evening and became easy prey to the form attack made by the MAS boats.

Drew and his crew had fallen into the hands of the Italians and it was only in 1942 that the men from HMS Manchester were repatriated. The inquiry was held shortly after their return. It was only after all the evidence had been given that Drew learnt that the investigation was more than just an inquiry. “When I came down here to attend this Court, I was under the impression that I would have to satisfy the Court as to my action on a matter of judgement – a decision made under unusual circumstances. The nature of this Court under Section 92 of the Naval Discipline Act, of course means that it is only at the end that you discover what you are accused of and now I find that I am being charged with negligence.”

GUILTY PARTIES Drew was far from happy. As he later complained to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, he was only accused of something after the case had been heard, which meant that he did not have the chance to prepare or mount any kind

ABOVE RIGHT: Another oil painting by Robert Blackwell, this image depicts another of the Royal Navy warships involved in Operation Pedestal, HMS Kenya, under attack on 14 August 1942. As can be seen here, Kenya was near missed by a stick of bombs while on the return voyage to Gibraltar. One of the bombs blew a sizeable chunk out of one of the blades of the port outer propeller, causing a vibration in that shaft.

BELOW: The destroyer HMS Foresight sinking on 13 August 1942. She had been disabled by an aerial torpedo during the fierce air attacks the previous evening. She was taken in tow by the destroyer HMS Tartar but had to be sunk by torpedo the next day.

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of defence. “The evidence of one of the witnesses, which was quite unexpected by me, and of which I had no inkling before I heard it in court, must have presented a very different picture to the Court. It was very different indeed to the one I saw on that night in August. A very vigorous and well prepared defence would have been necessary to re-establish in the minds of the Court the situation as I saw it at the time.” By this time, Drew had already received the verdict of the court: “In that he negligently performed the duty imposed upon him when acting as Commanding Officer, whereby he gave orders on 13 August 1942 for His Majesty’s Ship Manchester to be abandoned and scuttled when, having regard to the conditions prevailing at the time, it was his duty to stand by the ship and do his utmost to bring her into harbour.” Drew was sentenced “To be dismissed from HMS Victory, and severely reprimanded”. Drew was not alone in being punished by the court. Lieutenant Commander Daniel Duff RN, the ship’s Gunnery

Officer was also reprimanded for negligence, as he “a) ordered the transmitting station to be abandoned without due cause, b) he permitted other gunnery positions to be evacuated without due cause, c) he failed to take proper steps to restore the fighting efficiency of the gun armament”. Temporary Lieutenant Allan Daniels, Temporary Sub Lieutenant John Tabor, and Warrant Officer Albert Reddy were also reprimanded. Petty Officer Samuel Phillips received perhaps the most serious penalty of all those sentenced. For leaving the wheel and telegraph in the lower steering position unmanned, as well as not reporting to the Navigating Officer that the port telegraph was showing full speed ahead and the starboard telegraph half speed ahead, he was reduced to the rank of Leading Seaman. The remnants of the convoy arrived at Malta between 13 and 15 August. Only five of the original fourteen merchant ships reached the island but, crucially, these included Ohio with its precious load of fuel. As for HMS Manchester, she is described as being the largest ship sunk by enemy motor torpedo boats or E-boats during the Second World War. 

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Trooper Robert Wright. (COURTESY OF ALAN WRIGHT)

NOT TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY Trooper Robert Wright

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HE 4TH County of London Imperial Yeomanry was formed in November 1901 at Charing Cross, as a yeomanry regiment of volunteers from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the Indian subcontinent, who were resident in the United Kingdom. It was disbanded in 1924 but with the declaration of war in 1939, the 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) was formed. Shipped to Egypt in 1941, the 4th CLY formed part of the 22nd Armoured Brigade which, in turn, became part of the 7th Armoured Division, the famous “Desert Rats”.

After fighting its way through North Africa, and into Italy, 7th Armoured was transferred back to the UK in early 1944 to prepare for Operation Overlord. After re-equipping with Cromwell tanks, the regiment was moved by road to a concentration area in the grounds of Orwell Park School, Ipswich, and on the 1 June 1944 commenced moving to Felixstowe Docks to embark for Normandy. Amongst the ranks of the 4th CLY was Trooper Robert Wright of ‘B’ Squadron. “We sailed from Felixstowe on the 5th of June and by 3pm on June 6th we arrived at the beach-head but 

The 4th County of London Yeomanry was caught unawares in the streets of Villers-Bocage. The Londoners suffered severe losses, though Trooper Robert Wright, as his son Alan describes, survived this deadly battle unscathed – that was until the following day.

NOT TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY A Cromwell Mk.V tank of 4th County of London Yeomanry, 22nd Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, leads a column of armour (including a Sherman Firefly, immediately behind) and soft-skin vehicles inland from King Beach, Gold sector, on 7 June 1944. (IWM; B5251)

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NOT TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY Trooper Robert Wright

ABOVE: One of the 4th County of London Yeomanry’s Cromwells that were knocked-out during the fighting in Villers-Bocage. This tank, No.T187608, was that of Sergeant-Major Gerald Holloway. (BUNDESARCHIV, BILD 101I-494-3376-20/ZWIRNER/CC-BY-SA)

the congestion was such that we had to wait until the next day to go ashore on Gold Beach,” Wright later wrote. “There was no opposition and in spite of the water-proofing the tanks landed in only two foot of water. As we moved inland through the minefields we passed German POWs going in the opposite direction. The Regiment duly moved to a concentration area near Bayeux and here we lost our first tank and crew: the crew were surprised in woodland and they could not rotate the gun to engage the German tank.” Having established a foothold on Hitler’s Fortress Europe, the Allied armies sought to break out from the beachhead and XXX Corps, with the 7th Armoured as its spearhead, was sent into a gap between Villers-Bocage and Caumont. This move was scheduled to take place on 12 June. “After resting on June 11th in preparing to move on the following day we were nearly caught in the open by snipers,” continued Trooper Wright. “The Colonel arrived back from a briefing with a new target – the small town of Villers-Bocage. As we were late in starting we were still some miles distant when dusk fell, so orders were given for Regiment to leaguer for the night."

ACTION AT VILLERS-BOCAGE “In the morning our ‘B’ Squadron followed the recce vehicles which set

off down towards the town with me driving the lead tank (No. 3 Troop): intelligence told us that the town was free of Germans. Before entering the town my tank commander received instructions to pull over and allow ‘A’ Squadron, the RHQ and ‘C’ Squadron to move ahead and so we ended up in the rear – a decision for which I would be very grateful in the next few hours! “The leading elements of our column, fortified by intelligence which reported that the town was free from Germans, moved right through to the other side of the town and stopped. For a short time everything was quiet and then suddenly there was indescribable noise and confusion. “Some of the Honeys [M3 Stuart tanks] and half-tracks of the Rifle Brigade were burning: the RHQ tanks began to reverse down the narrow street and as they did so Spandaus opened up from the windows above and the street began to fill with smoke. There was the sharp crack of an 88mm signalling the presence of a Tiger tank. So much for intelligence! “I shouted to my Commander (2nd Lieutenant Hedges) that it was time to get off the street and he told me to reverse down a side street and we found ourselves in a little square. I pulled the tank tight up to a wall with the gun trained on the entry we had just driven in. Out of the smoke came the muzzle of a

ABOVE: The Iron Cross given to Trooper Wright. Alan Wright would like to return the medal to any descendants of the original recipient. Alan can be contacted through the Britain at War editorial office. TOP FAR RIGHT: This photograph was found in the case with the Iron Cross. (ALAN WRIGHT)

"The next morning I was lying outside our dead tank talking to a man digging a slit-trench when a shot rang out and suddenly I was a casualty!" 84 JUNE 2014

gun – the longest gun I’d ever seen and I wondered when the tank was coming! “It was a Tiger with its 88mm gun. The tank stopped and fired down the street then moved further into view and I shouted to the gunner to ‘get him!’ He fired our 75mm gun but, frighteningly, the shell just bounced off the turret armour of the Tiger. (The Tiger weighed in at 52 tons while the Cromwell was only 30 tons). “Other tanks from ‘B’ Squadron were using the same tactics to ourselves – hiding in side streets and trying to hit the German tanks on the weaker side or rear armour. The speedier Cromwells began dashing across the main street between the Tigers and firing at the rear of the German tanks. These tactics caught the Germans unawares and in this manner three Tigers and a Mark 4 were set on fire. (The French Fire Brigade was an additional hazard as it was with great difficulty they had to be dissuaded from putting out the fires!). These were minor www.britainatwar.com

NOT TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY Trooper Robert Wright WITHDRAWAL The 4th CLY suffered the loss of twelve officers and three men missing, as well as eighty-five Other Ranks also becoming casualties. Trooper Robert Wright had survived, but not to fight another day, as he explained: “The next morning I was lying outside our dead tank talking to a man digging a slit-trench when a shot rang out and suddenly I was a casualty! The sniper was quickly detected and dispatched but his bullet had hit me in the upper left arm, smashing the bone; it then travelled on to hit me in the thigh and after its exit took the finger off the guy digging the trench. One bullet – five wounds! I should have been dead meat as the sniper was only 150 yards away, with a rifle and a telescopic sight. “After the wounds had been dressed and my arm put in a splint, I was given the dead German sniper’s Iron Cross which I still have today. I was quickly shipped out with other casualties in LST 425 and I was on my way to hospital in Southampton. As it turned out my war was over.”  victories to be set against the major losses. “We were told to pull back and harbour the tanks and as we were doing so I felt the tank lurch and the engine temperature shot up. As I tried to move off the engine stalled. I found out that the steel plates protecting the engine cooling system had been blown off by HE and the water had leaked out from the damaged radiator. If it had been an armour-piercing shell we would have all perished.” The 22nd Armoured had been ambushed by the tanks of the Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101 (101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion). In less than fifteen minutes 4 CLY was severely battered, losing thirteen or fourteen tanks, two anti-tank guns and as many as fifteen transport vehicles. Soon, though, the 1/7th Battalion, Queen’s Royal Regiment arrived on the scene with their 6-pounder anti-tank guns and PIATs. Brigadier “Loonie” Hinde ordered Villers-Bocage to be held at all costs, but at 14.00 hours the Germans attacked the town again. “We entered the town in complete silence when all of a sudden we were shelled and fired at by Spandaus which caused absolute havoc among our troops,” related Lance-Corporal “Jimmy” Kay of the 1/7th Queens, referring next to the “frightening” sight of the Tiger and Panther tanks which then appeared. “The Tigers seemed unstoppable and the guns of the Cromwells seemed to have no effect upon the giants.” www.britainatwar.com

ABOVE: One 4th County of London Yeomanry tank crew, that of Captain L. Cotton MM (seen here on the left), pictured with their Cromwell VI tank on 17 June 1944. Cotton had been promoted to captain following the regiment’s action at Villers-Bocage. Note that he is also wearing an Iron Cross on his uniform! (IWM; B5682)

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LORD ASHCROFT’S “HERO OF THE MONTH” Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Archer GC, OBE, ERD

Lieutenant Colonel

Stuart Archer GC, OBE, ERD Time and again, Acting Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Colonel) Stuart Archer showed premeditated courage in defusing enemy bombs during the first year of the Second World War. In the latest of his “Hero of the Month” series, Lord Ashcroft salutes a soldier who tackled well over 200 explosive devices, and lived to tell the tale.

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TUART “ARCHIE” Archer is the oldest living recipient of the George Cross. All being well, he will celebrate his 100th birthday early next year, almost seventy-five years after taking part in actions for which he was rewarded with Britain and the Commonwealth’s most prestigious decoration for gallantry not in the face of the enemy. Bertram Stuart Trevelyan Archer was born in Hampstead, north London, on 3 February 1915, during the First World War. He attended Sheringham House School in Hampstead and the then Regent’s Street Polytechnic. Aged twenty-one, he qualified at the youngest possible age as an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He pursued a career as an architect all his working life – with the exception of

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LEFT: Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Archer GC, OBE, ERD pictured during a VC & GC Association function. (COURTESY OF TONY GLEDHILL GC)

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Jon Enoch/eyevine

LORD ASHCROFT’S “HERO OF THE MONTH” Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Archer GC, OBE, ERD

ABOVE: German ground crew pictured with a selection of bombs about to be loaded on to Heinkel He 111s in preparation for another raid on the UK. Both 50kg and 250kg bombs can be seen here – both types that Archer would have dealt with. (WW2IMAGES) MAIN PICTURE: The controlled detonation of a German bomb, which fell on the parade ground at RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire, on 27 August 1940. The bomb did not explode, but buried itself deep in the ground where it was subsequently destroyed by the Station Armament Officer. The announcement of Acting Lieutenant Archer’s award of the George Cross included a description of similar work he had undertaken: “On the 15 July 1940, four 250 kilogram bombs were dropped on St Athan aerodrome, South Wales, two of them within 10 yards of some vitally important assembly sheds. Lieutenant Archer immediately went to the scene and the first bomb was excavated. As its fuse was expected to be booby trapped, it was loaded, with the fuse still in, on to a lorry. Lieutenant Archer himself drove the lorry to a site some two miles away and the bomb was detonated. The other bomb was dealt with in the same way.” (WW2IMAGES)

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Lord Ashcroft’s

“Hero of the Month” his time in the Army. In 1937, he joined the Honourable Artillery Company, Territorial Army. In January 1940, the year after getting married, he was commissioned as an officer into the Corps of Royal Engineers and was posted to 553 Field Company. Lieutenant Archer quickly became a veteran bomb disposal expert and, by the end of August 1940, he had already dealt with some 200 bombs. These incidents included difficult and dangerous work on 27 August 1940, when he had to tackle the first enemy bomb with a new type of delayed-action fuse. At this time, enemy bomb makers had been deliberately tasked with coming up with a fuse that would kill bomb disposal experts – and others 

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LORD ASHCROFT’S “HERO OF THE MONTH” Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Archer GC, OBE, ERD

within its range. The arrival of the delayed-action fuse meant that eighty hours were meant to elapse between the bomb being dropped, or found, and the device being tackled – unless there were exceptional circumstances. The events of 2 September 1940 were, most certainly, exceptional. To start with, they took place after four of the most sustained days of bombing of the entire war. The German bombing of Britain had started in June 1940, shortly after the Dunkirk evacuations. But 29 August marked the start of a sustained period of enemy attacks which resulted in there being 2,500 unexploded bombs waiting to be tackled within forty-eight hours. During this period of heavy bombing, Archer, plus a sergeant from the Royal Engineers and twelve Sappers, was based at Cardiff. It was around 09.00 hours on 2 September 1940, that Archer was told that a large number of unexploded bombs were hampering attempts by fire-fighters to control a major blaze at the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s refinery at Llandarcy, near Swansea. Already that year, Archer had time and again held his nerve and displayed great courage while dealing with unexploded bombs. However, the situation he found shortly after arriving at the oil refinery at around 10.00 hours was more hazardous than even he had encountered before. The officer with 88 JUNE 2014

ABOVE: A Royal Navy Bomb Disposal team pictured having successfully completed a task in London during September 1940. The bomb seen here is a 250kg device, similar to that dealt with by Acting Lieutenant Archer at the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s refinery at Llandarcy on 2 September 1940. (HMP)

the local bomb disposal section led him to a storage area where some oil tanks were already burning fiercely and others were so hot they seemed as though they were ready to burst into flames at any moment. In a relatively small part of the storage area, there were four unexploded bombs, including one directly under an oil tank. Archer chose to tackle this bomb first, judging this to be the best way to prevent further fires from breaking out. Although this oil tank was not alight, two others just fifty and eighty yards away were already in flames. These were generating such intense heat that it was feared the tank that Archer was working on might also burst into flames. Indeed temperatures became so high that steel melted and – in the words of the historian John Frayn Turner – “the tanks flared like gigantic Roman candles”. To add to their already-considerable difficulties, the bomb that Archer and his team were tackling had embedded itself diagonally in the corner of the concrete plinth at the base of the oil tank. With the heat generated from the two nearby burning oil tanks bearing down on them relentlessly, Archer and his men had to work in short, sharp stints before retreating to gather themselves for the next inevitable onslaught. Archer figured out that fifteen-minute shifts were ideal because they reduced the chance of one of his men making a fatal mistake. After two hours of the most tense and difficult work, and with flames and smoke spiralling hundreds of feet into the sky, one of the three other bombs – the one nearest to the device they were working on – went off. The midday explosion took place 150 yards from

where the men were working, forcing them to throw themselves on the floor in case they were hit by debris, flames or boiling oil. By 14.00 hours, just as Archer and his colleagues were uncovering the bomb casing on their device, another of the two other bombs in their area exploded. Miraculously, yet again the bomb disposal team escaped injury. The bomb that Archer and his team were tackling was a 250kg device, the casing of which had been split on impact with the ground. This left the main explosive so exposed that it was clearly visible through the crack. The fuse pocket had also been ripped away and there was a tangle of wires visible too. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect was that Archer spent most of the time that he was defusing the bomb, hanging

BOTH RIGHT: The George Cross. The Royal Warrant states: “It is ordained that the Cross shall be awarded only for acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.” (HMP) www.britainatwar.com

A member of a US Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit pictured with a defused German 250kg – the damaged casing has revealed some of the explosive content. (US NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

upside down and reaching deep into the device at full stretch. Initially, he took off the circular base plate. Then he saw that it was powder explosive, which he scooped out of the way. Next, he examined the fuse pocket. As he gripped the exposed wires with pliers, he pulled until the fuse came away. This exposed the clockwork delayed-action apparatus at the rear. Then he unscrewed the gaine mechanism and placed the clockwork components in his pocket. When he looked again into the tube and shook it gently, another mechanism with another gaine came into view. He realised he was looking at a sophisticated booby trap that had been intended to kill any bomb disposal expert who was seeking to make safe the device. Moments after Archer unscrewed this second gaine there was a crack and a flash – which he realised had been caused by the detonation of a small cap. The worst of the bomb disposal team’s ordeal was over by 14.50 hours. By then, they had been working in the hottest, tensest and most dangerous of circumstances for more than four and a half hours. During the operation, the men must have been aware that they were more likely to die than live, yet at no time did they flinch from their task, or ask to withdraw. A study of the device by experts at the War Office revealed that the mechanism Archer had discovered was fitted with anti-withdrawal fixture. It worked on the basis that, if the first gaine was removed, the second would detonate, causing death and carnage. Archer had been fortunate in that his bomb, unlike two others that had dropped nearby, was not timed to explode until after www.britainatwar.com

LORD ASHCROFT’S “HERO OF THE MONTH” Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Archer GC, OBE, ERD the period when he was handling it. He emerged from the experience with the distinction of being the first man to pull out a fuse from an anti-withdrawal booby trap – and live to tell the tale. Archer’s George Cross was announced on 30 September 1941. The citation praised his “most conspicuous gallantry in carrying out hazardous work in a very brave manner”. On another occasion during the war, after defusing ten small bombs in Swansea, Archer crashed his car into a lorry because of the black-out and broke his leg. His wife reacted to the news by saying “Thank god for that!”, hoping it would mean his bombdangerous disposal work was ended for a time. However, Archer was soon back defusing bombs. Archer, who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, survived the war and later became closely involved with

years ago to explain the work he carried out near Swansea on 2 September 1940. The first showed a close-up view of the device that he tackled and the initial seven steps that he took to make it safe. The second diagram is even more revelatory for it shows Archer reaching, upside down and with his sleeves rolled up, deep down into the bomb, which was, in turn, embedded in concrete close to an oil tank. By way of explanation, he wrote two short notes in capital letters. The first note read: “We excavated out to get at the fuse but the fuse top had been broken off by passing through the concrete and I could not get the fuse out from this side.” The second note, which had an arrow pointing at his arm as it extended into the bomb, read: “Could just get at the fuse pocket by reaching inside.” Archer’s daughter was also keen to point out that on numerous occasions her father, after making a bomb as safe

the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. He served as chairman of the association from 1994 until 2006. Archer, who retired as an architect from his firm Archer and Son in 1995, represented the association at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 2002. Archer, who has also been awarded the OBE, lives in north London. His wife Katherine, who was known to family and friends as Kit, died nineteen years ago. However, he has three grown-up children, ten grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. While researching my book George Cross Heroes four years ago, I discovered there are some five hours of his tapes at the Imperial War Museum in London in which he talks about bomb disposal work. Furthermore, his daughter, kindly supplied me with two diagrams that her father had drawn more than twenty

as he could at the scene, had insisted on driving it on his own to a remote place to detonate it. This was so the men working with him were not put at risk. “He was well known for the love and care of his men,” she said. 

BELOW LEFT: On 11 February 1940, as a civilian instructor at RAF Manby, Leonard Henry Harrison was called to use his knowledge and skill when a grain carrier limped into Immimgham Dock having been bombed in the North Sea. An unexploded bomb was wedged in the main deck. The bomb had a fuse of a type unknown at that time. With help from a colleague, Flight Lieutenant John Dowland, Harrison managed to defuse the bomb (depicted here). A month later, he was called to defuse another bomb, this time onboard a fishing vessel in the Humber. “For acts of exceptional coolness and courage on several occasions”, Harrison was awarded the George Cross. Like Archer, Harrison was also involved with the VC & GC Association, including a period as Honorary Treasurer. (HMP)

GEORGE CROSS HEROES LORD ASHCROFT KCMG PC is a Conservative peer, businessman, philanthropist and author. The story of Archer's life appears in his book George Cross Heroes.. For more information please visit: www.georgecrossheroes.com Lord Ashcroft’s VC and GC collection is on public display at the Imperial War Museum in London. For more information visit: www.iwm.org.uk/heroes. For details about his VC collection, visit: www.lordashcroftmedals.com For more information on Lord Ashcroft’s work, visit www.lordashcroft.com. Follow him on Twitter: @LordAshcroft

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W 24 Hours that c the course ofhanged WW2 A

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he Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord, was the greatest air, land and sea operation ever conducted. Its success depended on the invading forces gaining a foothold on Hitler’s Fortress Europe on the first day, D-Day. On that single day 150,000 troops, almost 7,000 warships, transport vessels and landing craft and thousands of aircraft, launched the assault that would mark the beginning of the end of the Third Reich. Though not all the objectives were achieved in the bitter and bloody fighting, enough ground had been won by the end of D-Day to enable reinforcements to be landed and the beachhead expanded. This 132-page special from the team behind Britain at War magazine pays tribute to the twenty-four hours that changed the course of the Second World War.

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V FOR VALOUR Turning The Tide

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LAMES DANCED in wild confusion across the ruined rooftops of Sedd el Bahr, casting an eerie glow over the human flotsam of an invasion teetering on the brink of disaster. Hours of slaughter had given way to bloody deadlock on the southern tip of the Ottoman-held Gallipoli peninsula. A few yards from a foreshore carpeted with bodies, the wounded, traumatised and exhausted survivors of a force spearheading the British army’s assault on the Dardanelles lay huddled behind www.britainatwar.com

a sandy bank as enemy fire continued to rain down on them. Murderous day had given way to nervewracking night. It was freezing cold, a steady drizzle was falling and the air was rank with the stench of blood and death. From out of the darkness, shouts of “Allah” mingled with the groans and cries of the wounded and the dying. To Lieutenant Guy Nightingale it was a vision of Hell beyond imagination. One of the few surviving officers of the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers to reach the beach unscathed, he wrote: “I’ve 

Staff officers were a much-maligned part of the British Army during the First World War. However, when the main Gallipoli landing was thwarted on 25 April 1915, it was a small group of “Red Tabs” who helped turn the tide, as Steve Snelling relates. MAIN PICTURE: Bloodbath at V Beach – Charles Dixon’s painting captures the horror of the gallant but costly attempts to reach the shore via sallyports cut in the side of the SS River Clyde and a bridge of lighters. Despite the heroic efforts of seamen and soldiers, few reached the beach unwounded and those who did so were unable to make further progress on 25 April 1915. (ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

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V FOR VALOUR Turning The Tide never spent such a rotten night.”1 Nor had Captain David French. Surrounded by dead and injured men and with barely twenty survivors for company, this wounded officer of the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers later admitted: “I thought it was all up.”2 Both men had seen their battalions shattered as they dashed and splashed on the morning of 25 April 1915, into what Nightingale called “a regular death-trap”. By mid-afternoon, in spite of the almost suicidal efforts of a devoted naval party that included boy midshipmen, it was clear that the landing plan had miscarried and was temporarily halted. At that stage, the ruined castle which adjoined the village of Sedd el Bahr was still firmly in enemy hands. So, too, were the trenches straddling the high ground which dominated the narrow, amphitheatre-like beach, from the redoubts at Fort 1 on the western flank to Hill 141 in the centre. Of the thousands of men, comprising units of the 86th and 88th brigades, charged with securing the Cape Helles sector known as V Beach and the

territory beyond as far as Achi Baba, fewer than 400 had made it ashore from open boats and a converted collier, the SS River Clyde, which had been run aground near a spit of rocks below the castle walls. Hundreds more were killed. Their corpses littered the lighters intended to act as a makeshift bridge from the collier to the shore and were piled in heaps across the rocks and in the shallows where the sea was stained red with their blood. Among the casualties were a large number of senior officers who included the brigadier-general in command of 88th Brigade and two battalion commanders. By nightfall, when the bulk of the troops aboard River Clyde were led ashore under cover of darkness, effective command of the stalled V Beach operation had devolved upon two 29th Division staff officers, Lieutenant Colonels Weir de Lancey Williams and Charles “Dick” Doughty-Wylie together with Major Arthur Beckwith, the senior surviving officer of the 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment. They were faced

ABOVE: “Dick” Doughty-Wylie was marooned aboard River Clyde, where, according to a fellow staff officer, he “sat and suffered” throughout the landing debacle of 25 April, before helping formulate a new plan to revive the stalled assault.

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ABOVE: Bound for Gallipoli, “Dick” Doughty-Wylie is pictured speaking with General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, aboard HMS Arcadian, the headquarters ship, a few days before the landings on the Gallipoli peninsula. Doughty-Wylie had originally intended to accompany the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps but was persuaded by fellow staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Weir de Lancy Williams to join him aboard River Clyde for the main V Beach landing at Cape Helles. According to Williams, Doughty-Wylie “did not want much inducing”.

with a Herculean task that would have daunted many lesser men: to rescue a mission which many of those sheltering along the foreshore already considered a hopeless cause. Those men who had miraculously survived the initial holocaust and had spent the rest of the day and night trying to stay alive seemed a spent force. Nightingale considered them “exhausted with the strain of the landing and depressed with what they had already experienced”.3 Their reinforcements were in little better state. After spending the day cooped up in the holds of River Clyde while the slaughter went on around them, they had been shocked by the dispiriting scenes which greeted them on V Beach.

BELOW: A view of the beached River Clyde beneath the battered fortress of Sedd el Bahr taken from the high ground separating V Beach from the neighbouring W Beach, later renamed Lancashire Landing in honour of the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers who landed there on 25 April 1915.

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V FOR VALOUR Turning The Tide landed that night did so by jumping “on to the backs of dead men, to the most horrible accompaniment in the world”.5 Even then, their ordeal was far from over. That first night on the seaward edge of V Beach was anything but restful. “At intervals,” continued Gillett, “search lights flashed hither and thither.” Bullets spattered the sandy bank behind which the weary men of the Dublins, Hampshires and Munsters crouched in the full knowledge that the cover it afforded was but temporary. All too soon they knew they would have to abandon ABOVE: William Lionel Wyllie’s depiction of SS River Clyde pushing in to V-Beach. (HMP)

“The sight that met our eyes was indescribable,” wrote Second Lieutenant Reginald Gillett, of the 2nd Hampshires, who led his platoon ashore shortly before dusk. “The barges now linked together and more or less reaching the shore were piled high with mutilated bodies – and between the last barge and the shore was a pier formed by piles of dead men.”4 According to Lieutenant Commander Josiah Wedgwood, who commanded a party of Royal Navy machine-gunners aboard River Clyde, every man who

RIGHT: Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hotham Montagu “Dick” Doughty-Wylie, VC, CB, CMG (1868-1915), employed in the Intelligence Section of GHQ, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, was the most senior recipient of the Victoria Cross during the Gallipoli campaign.

ABOVE: A view of River Clyde rammed into the shore of Cape Helles became one of the iconic images of the Gallipoli campaign. Four of its volunteer ship’s company, including its captain, Commander Edward Unwin, were awarded Victoria Crosses for their selfless efforts to land the troops and rescue the wounded. Another two VCs went to a Royal Naval Division officer carried aboard the ship and a midshipman from HMS Cornwallis who bravely joined the attempt to connect lighters from the collier to the shore. BELOW: The view from River Clyde at 08.00 hours on 25 April 1915, with the V Beach landing effectively stalled. The lighter in the foreground is crowded with dead and wounded while the dots visible on the foreshore are survivors from the landing force sheltering behind a sandy bank. The ruined fortress of Sedd el Bahr towers above the right flank with Turkish positions strung along the higher ground beyond thick belts of barbed wire.

its shelter and fight their way up the bare slopes, through belts of barbed-wire, or into the castle and village beyond, and eject the Turks opposing them at the point of the bayonet. These, then, were the men, many of whom had not slept a wink for the best part of forty-eight hours, who Williams, Doughty-Wylie, Walford and Beckwith had to galvanise in order to turn defeat into victory on the shores of Gallipoli. Though they did not know it, they were opposed by fewer than 350 men, forming a single company of the 3rd Battalion, the Ottoman 26th Regiment. Williams later admitted: “Next day, we ought to have been able to seize the crest quite easily but the men were  sticky and lack of officers very www.britainatwar.com

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BELOW: Gateway to victory – the postern gate on the eastern side of the castle which led into the village of Sedd el Bahr. It was here the assault was temporarily halted until Captain Walford took charge. The photograph was sent to Walford’s widow by a fellow officer who wrote: “He was leading a charge out of the gate you see up the pathway to the bush you see in the right foreground. The Turks met them with bombs first at the bush.”

V FOR VALOUR Turning The Tide

apparent; they wanted a good leader.”6 Williams and Doughty-Wylie had spent an uncomfortable and frustrating day aboard River Clyde. As GHQ staff liaison officers, their role was unclear. Commander Edward Unwin, in charge of the collier, reckoned they had merely “wriggled on board”. “I never discovered quite why,” he wrote, “but there they were.”7 As such, they were spectators to the fiasco. Both men spent much of the day and night on the ship’s upper bridge where Unwin tried in vain to stop Doughty-Wylie from “unnecessarily exposing himself over the iron screen”. The risks were plain. While similarly observing the Turkish positions from the lower bridge, Lieutenant Colonel Hubert Carrington-Smith, CO of the Hampshires and senior army officer aboard River Clyde, had been sniped and killed. Doughty-Wylie, however, appeared oblivious to the fire which continued to pepper the stranded ship. In fact, according to Williams, he seemed “positively to enjoy it”. ‘Dick’ Doughty-Wylie was an outstanding figure. Tall and stout, he was a 46-year-old veteran of countless colonial wars – and had the scars to prove it. But his fighting days with the Royal Welch Fusiliers were a distant memory when he accepted Williams’ invitation to join him aboard River Clyde.

ABOVE: Captains Walford and Addison, the leading figures in the capture of the castle, were buried together near the southern entrance to the fortress. A wooden cross marked the grave. Captain Walford’s body was one of thirteen reinterred in V Beach Cemetery at the end of the war.

ABOVE RIGHT: Captain Garth Neville Walford (1882-1915) was brigade major of the 29th Divisional Artillery contingent. He was sent aboard River Clyde around midnight on 25 April.

Since his last campaign in Somaliland more than a decade earlier, he had carved out a new career as a soldier-diplomat. His most recent accomplishment had been to help resolve a border dispute in the Balkans, whilst the outbreak of war found him serving on the staff of the British consulate in Addis Ababa. It was the entry of Turkey into the war on Germany’s side in the autumn of 1914 that brought about the unexpected resumption of his military career. With the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force forming under the command of General Sir Ian Hamilton, Doughty-Wylie, who had spent years as a diplomat in Turkey before the war, was appointed intelligence officer on the GHQ staff. Few men knew more about the fighting qualities of Britain’s latest enemy, though when he embarked for Gallipoli his life was in turmoil. Married for ten years to a wealthy widow, who was running a war hospital in France, he had for three years also been enjoying a secret affair. In one of his last letters to Gertrude, Doughty-Wylie described the River Clyde “wreck ship” plan as “ingenious” and added, prophetically: “If I can get ashore, I can help a good deal in the difficult job of landing enough troops to storm the trenches on the beach – and to see the most dashing military

exploit that has been performed for a very long time.”8 Such glory seemed a remote prospect on the night of 25 April as Doughty-Wylie discussed ways of breaking the deadlock with Williams. Around midnight, they were joined aboard River Clyde by Captain Garth Walford, brigade major of the 29th Divisional Artillery, who brought with him orders direct from Major General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, commanding 29th Division, to renew the assault. Williams, who had gone ashore to

MAIN PICTURE: The Turkish perspective. A British officer sent this photograph to Captain Walford’s widow and wrote on the back: “View of V Beach from the Castle. The River Clyde was beached at extreme left of photo. Old French battleship and steamer beached afterwards to form breakwater”. Part of the barbed wire defences which held up the advance can still be seen.

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V FOR VALOUR Turning The Tide

ABOVE: Sedd el Bahr after the battle of 26 April 1915. This photograph was published with the caption: “To reach this meagre, crumpled place … British soldiers worked, struggled and rushed forward beneath a blazing sun and amid a fury of crushing fire”.

try and bring a measure of order to the chaos, had hoped to do that under cover of darkness. Major Beckwith, however, insisted the men were too exhausted to carry it out so soon. The plan called for a three-pronged attack beginning at first light, preceded by a naval bombardment of the Ottoman positions. Beckwith, accompanied by Walford, was to lead the assault on the right to capture the castle and village. Williams, meanwhile, was to take charge on the left, where he hoped to link up with troops advancing from the neighbouring W Beach, whilst the remnants of the Dublins and Munsters were to advance in the centre through thick belts of barbed-wire which still formed an unbroken barrier straddling the slopes above the beach. Doughty-Wylie’s role was initially confined to little more than that of an observer. According to Williams, “he was to watch progress and bring up the reserve of such stragglers as would be left behind”.9 Things, however, did not stay that way for long on 26 April 1915. The assault was late in starting due to confusion over the navy’s contribution. When it did eventually begin, it quickly went awry. On the left, the attack, in Williams’ words, simply “withered away”, leaving him with barely a dozen men as the rest were either dead,

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ABOVE: The fighting for Sedd el Bahr. An artist’s impression of Doughty-Wylie, a cane held aloft, leading the charge through the village with a backdrop that appears little resemblance to the reality.

BELOW RIGHT: Scarred by war, this picture of the main street of Sedd el Bahr was taken twenty years after the war. It was along this narrow road that Doughty-Wylie led the assault which eventually secured V Beach. According to the original caption, “the houses in this street have never been properly rebuilt, and few of them are more than poor shelters”.

wounded or reluctant to follow. In the centre, there was hardly any movement. Only on the right, where the attackers consisted largely of two relatively fresh companies of the 2nd Hampshires, were there signs of progress. Inroads were made into the castle and, around 06.30 hours, Lieutenant Colonel Tizard, observing from River Clyde, spotted a small party of men dodging what he took to be machine-gun fire as they made for the gap between the walls of the fortress and the barbedwire entanglements that led towards the village. Leaping over a wall, they were driven briefly to ground, before advancing again, picking their way round buildings occupied by snipers as they skirmished their way closer to Sedd el Bahr itself. This meagre force represented the spear-tip of V Beach’s blunted advance. Their leader was Garth Walford.

The 32-year-old artilleryman, a veteran of the Retreat from Mons (in which he had been twice wounded), was the galvanising spirit of the infantry’s charge through the castle. Not content with merely helping to organise the assault, he had been at the forefront of the advance from the outset, hustling and leading the men on against stubborn opposition. The struggle amid a rabbit’s warren of ancient fortifications and cramped houses was close and confused with some of the fiercest fighting taking place around a small postern gate which led from the castle into the village beyond. The Turks appeared to have the entrance covered with any movement through the gate prompting a burst of fire. For a moment, the advance was checked – until Walford, determined to regain the initiative, led a charge through the gate. In the face of what the Hampshires’ historian called “desperate resistance”, Walford surged forward with the remains of ‘Y’ Company. The men were met by a flurry of bombs thrown from the cover of some nearby bushes, but pressed on into the maze of houses. The fight that followed was bloody and brutal with no quarter given. “The Turks contested every house and had to be ousted with the bayonet from one after another,” ran one account of the battle. 

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V FOR VALOUR Turning The Tide “Some lay quiet, concealed in cellars or ruins, till our men had passed by and then fired into their backs.”10 Among those killed was Walford’s chief lieutenant, Captain Alfred Addison, who fell victim to a Turkish grenade. Casualties mounted and the attack stuttered. Anxious to recover the lost momentum, Walford braved the Turkish fire to lead more men through the bullet-swept postern gate. It was while leading one party that the gallant gunner was hit and killed. His last message back to River Clyde, timed at 08.45 hours, read: “Advance through Sedd el Bahr is very slow. Am receiving no support on my left.”

RIGHT: A French officer visits the grave of Lieutenant Colonel "Dick" Doughty-Wylie later in the campaign. His friend, Lieutenant Colonel Weir de Lancy Williams, later wrote: "We just buried him as he lay and I said ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ over his grave and bid him goodbye."

ABOVE: An artist’s impression of Corporal Cosgrove’s VC action. According to the citation published on 23 August 1915, he single-handedly pulled down the posts of the Turkish wire entanglements, “notwithstanding a terrific fire from both front and flanks, thereby contributing to the successful clearing of the heights”. Recommending him for an award, Second Lieutenant H.A. Brown wrote that the 26-year-old Irishman “deserves the height of praise”.

Back on River Clyde, Doughty-Wylie had had enough of being a helpless spectator. “I can’t stick this any longer,” he told another officer. “I’m going to see what I can do on shore.”11 It was a little after 09.00 hours when he ventured onto V Beach with another staff officer, Captain George Stoney, in the hope that they “might find something to do”. Armed with nothing more dangerous than a walking stick, Doughty-Wylie strode along the foreshore in an insouciant display of courage that was inspirational. “He walked about quite regardless of the snipers, but who as a matter of fact did not fire at us,” wrote Stoney.12 Then, “after talking to lots of people lining fences”, he despatched Stoney to the centre of the beach “to whip up any effectives and advance up 96 JUNE 2014

RIGHT: DoughtyWylie’s grave, alone of all Britain’s Gallipoli war dead, remains outside of a formal cemetery, on what was once Hill 141. When Cape Helles was evacuated in January 1916, the Turks continued to respect the last resting place of a man who had earned acclaim from their own Sultan.

the front of the hill”, while he made for the castle and the on-going struggle in the streets of Sedd el Bahr. Along the way, a bullet tore through his red-braided staff cap, knocking it off his head. Lieutenant Nightingale, who happened to be near at the time, recalled being “struck by the calm way in which he treated the incident”. A little later, the Munsters’ officer was astonished to see Doughty-Wylie leading a rush with a rifle and bayonet, though this was quickly discarded and for the rest of the day’s fighting he remained unarmed as he took over where Captain Walford left off. Nightingale, who by then had joined the assault on the village, recalled how Doughty-Wylie led by example, just as Walford had done before him. “I saw him on several occasions that morning walk into houses, which might or might not contain a Turk ready to fire on the first person who came in, as unconcernedly as if he were walking into a shop,” he wrote.13 According to Nightingale, his manner, a mixture of cool courage and contempt, acted as a tonic in lifting spirits. But even so, it still took several more hours of vicious fighting to winkle the enemy out of the village. Nightingale called the street battle “an awful snag” that lasted, according to his reckoning, five-and-a-half hours. “Every house and corner was full of snipers and you only had to show yourself in the streets to have a bullet at your head,” he wrote in a letter home. “I got one swine of a Turk with my revolver when searching a house for snipers but he nearly had me first.”14 At 11.30 hours, Doughty-Wylie sent word back that “a strong footing” had been established in Sedd el Bahr. Half an hour later he signalled that parties were through the village and “in position to attack Hill 141”, the strong Turkish redoubt which dominated V Beach. There followed a pause during which Doughty-Wylie organised the next stage of the advance. His plan was for a co-ordinated assault under cover www.britainatwar.com

V FOR VALOUR Turning The Tide

A STEADFAST HERO IN A Suffolk country church, a stained glass window evokes England’s legendary hero to pay symbolic tribute to the chief architect of the V Beach victory. It portrays ‘Dick’ Doughty-Wylie in the manner of a latter-day St George, slaying the Turkish dragon on the shores of Cape Helles. Set in the west wall of St Peter’s Church at Theberton, near the hall where he was born, the striking memorial faces the Doughty family chapel where plaques honour his courage and the achievements of his uncle, the great Middle Eastern explorer and author of Arabia Deserta, Charles Doughty. By a strange coincidence, the window’s knightly imagery seems to echo the purple prose of the commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. Writing in his Gallipoli Diary, Sir Ian Hamilton eulogised: “The death of a hero strips victory of her wings. Alas, for Doughty-Wylie! Alas, for that faithful disciple of Charles Gordon; protector of the poor and of the helpless; noblest of those knights ever ready to lay down their lives to uphold the fair fame of England. Braver soldier never drew sword. He had no hatred of the enemy. His spirit did not need that ugly stimulant. Tenderness and pity filled his heart and yet he had the overflowing enthusiasm and contempt of death which alone can give troops the volition to attack when they have been crouching so long under a pitiless fire. Doughty-Wylie was no flash-in-the-pan VC winner. He was a steadfast hero … Now as he would have wished to die, so he has died.”

of another naval bombardment to be launched shortly after 13.30 hours. Major Cecil Grimshaw was to lead the remnants of the Dublins, while, at the same time, the Hampshires under Major Beckwith were to advance from the end of the village and the Munsters, led by Captain Stoney, would push up the slopes from the centre of the beach. Final orders having been issued, Doughty-Wylie stood watching the fall of shells as the battleships opened up again. To Nightingale, he appeared to be brimming with confidence: “His sole idea and determination was that the hill should be taken that day at all costs, for he realised that it was impossible for us to hold any position between the high ground and the edge of the cliff where we had spent the previous night.” Across the fragile beachhead bayonets were fixed and final preparations made. Near the foreshore, where Stoney had gathered together all the men he could find, a party of Munsters, forty or fifty www.britainatwar.com

LEFT: The V Beach commander, Major General Aylmer HunterWeston (18641940). Nicknamed “Hunter-Bunter”, he rose to command VIII Corps in France and was elected Unionist MP for North Ayrshire at the height of the war. Hunter-Weston recommended both DoughtyWylie and Walford for the Victoria Cross, insisting that their “glorious deed … saved the situation” at Cape Helles. In a letter home, he wrote: “I am trying to get them both a suitable posthumous reward and hope I may succeed. No honour could be too high for them.”

ABOVE: The scene on V Beach at Cape Helles, 6 May 1915 – a photograph taken from the bow of the collier River Clyde. (COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; H10284)

strong, was waiting to lead the charge, their mission being to create paths through the thick bands of barbed-wire. Suddenly, on Stoney’s word, they were off, sprinting for the wire through a “murderous” hail of fire that quickly laid out their leader. The charge might have stalled there but for the courage of a 26-year-old corporal from County Cork who refused to be beaten. William Cosgrove wasn’t sure whether he “ran or prayed the faster” as he urged his comrades on up the slope. “Some of us got close up to the wire, and we started to cut it with pliers,” he later recalled. But their brave efforts were to little avail. “You might as well try and snip Cloyne Round Tower with a

lady’s scissors, and you would not hurt yourself either. The wire was of great strength, strained as tight as a fiddle string, and so full of spikes or thorns that you could not get the cutters between.”15 With men falling all around and the advance in danger of faltering hardly

before it had begun, Cosgrove settled for an altogether more desperate method of forcing a way through. Throwing his pliers away, he scrambled towards one of the stakes holding the wire with bullets striking the ground at his feet. “Pull them up,” he roared above the din. “Put your arms round them and pull them out of the ground.” It was no easy task, but at 6ft 6ins tall Cosgrove was a giant of a man with the strength to match. “I dashed at the first one,” he recalled, “heaved and strained, and then it came into my arms and same as you’d lift a child. I believe there was wild cheering when they saw what I was at, but I only heard the screech of the bullets and saw dust rising all round from where they hit.” Cosgrove, who escaped miraculously unscathed the fire directed at him, had no idea how many posts he ripped up, but his officer reckoned he succeeded in making a gap thirty yards wide through  the wire. As soon as the way was

 

RIGHT: The view of V Beach, from Cape Helles, today. Sedd el Bahr is in the background with the fort behind it, whilst the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s V Beach Cemetery is in the centre of the foreground.

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V FOR VALOUR Turning The Tide clear, “the rest of the lads”, in Cosgrove’s words, “came on like devils”. The men surging out of Sedd el Bahr were in much the same vengeful mood. According to Nightingale, they swept along the shoulder of the hill “in one mass”, cheering as they rushed through an orchard and a cemetery towards the first line of wire entanglements. With Beckwith and Doughty-Wylie leading, the latter waving his cane as encouragement, the mixed force of Dublins, Hampshires and Munsters made for the only entrance that led across a twenty feet deep moat surrounding the Turkish position. By then, the enemy fire had slackened. Ordered originally to pull back to Krithia, near the foot of the Achi Baba hills, in the late morning, the Turkish troops had held on longer than planned because of the heavy bombardment. But with the invaders “at every hand” and defeat certain, the defenders who had been fighting for the best part of two days with few reinforcements had “no course left but to flee”. The Ottoman retreat spared Stoney’s party, dashing up from the beach, heavy casualties. Only four men were wounded in the last rush. Among them was William Cosgrove. Hit by a burst of fire in the side and back, he nevertheless managed to reach the Turkish position before collapsing. As they charged into the trenches, the Turks were already “clearing out”. Not many, according to Stoney, escaped alive. “The place proved to have been held by only a very few men – certainly if there had been more we could not have got up as easily as we did,” wrote Stoney.16 Those defenders who did manage to get away were chased by fire directed from the edge of a moat lined

with exultant British troops. However, victory at V Beach was bitter-sweet, tarnished as it was by the cruellest of tragedies. Among those who died in the final moments, with success already assured, were Major Grimshaw of the Dublins and the architect of the hard-won triumph, Lieutenant Colonel “Dick” Doughty-Wylie. For more than five hours, DoughtyWylie had inspired all around with his reckless gallantry, infecting “exhausted and disorganised troops” with his own dauntless spirit to turn defeat into victory. But in the end he had taken one risk too many. As the Turks ran back along their trenches, he remained standing, his

ABOVE: The SS River Clyde pictured at V Beach later in the campaign. (HMP) BELOW: The Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s V Beach Cemetery borders the shore at Cape Helles close to where many of the 696 commemorated there were killed during the landing and early fighting.

orderly beside him. The men shouted, “Get down, sir, you’ll get hit!” Ignoring them, moments later, recalled Private William Flynn, “an explosive bullet hit him just below the eye, blew all the side of his face out”.17 His orderly died with him. That night Guy Nightingale helped bury him on the site of his greatest triumph, a hill running down to the sea that would soon become known as Fort Doughty-Wylie. Not long after, Doughty-Wylie’s brother, a senior naval officer, visited V Beach and marvelled at how “after a day and night of failure and no heart left in the men … the place was taken”.18 In the fullness of time, the great courage displayed at the outset of an ultimately disastrous nine-month campaign would be recognised by a sprinkling of hardearned honours. The list of awards was headed by three Victoria Crosses to Cosgrove, Walford and Doughty-Wylie, an Irishman and two Englishmen cast in “the grand old mould”. Together, in the words of Major General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, they had “achieved the impossible”. 

NOTES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

The interior of Sedd el Bahr fort after its capture on 26 April 1915. Following the capture of Sedd el Bahr the tip of the peninsula rapidly became a base camp for the British forces at Cape Helles. (HMP)

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14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Lieutenant (later Major) Guy Nightingale, letter to his sister, May 1915, IWM. Captain David French, personal account, NAM. Lieutenant (later Major) Guy Nightingale, account written for the Royal Welch Fusiliers’ Regimental History. Second Lieutenant Reginald Gillett, personal account, IWM. Lieutenant Commander Josiah Wedgwood MP, DSO, With Machine-Guns in Gallipoli, 1916. Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Weir de Lancy Williams, letter, 22 May 1915. Commander (later Captain) Edward Unwin, The Landing from the River Clyde, an account written for Rear-Admiral R.E. Wemyss. Lieutenant Colonel “Dick” Doughty-Wylie, letter to Gertrude Bell, April 1915. Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Williams, op.cit. C.T. Atkinson, History of the Royal Hampshire Regiment, Vol II (Gale & Polden, 1950). Commander (later Captain) Edward Unwin, op.cit. Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) George Stoney, letter, 10 May 1915, IWM. Lieutenant (later Major) Guy Nightingale, account written for the Royal Welch Fusiliers’ Regimental History. Lieutenant (later Major) Guy Nightingale, letter to his sister, May 1915, IWM. M. MacDonagh, The Irish at the Front (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1916). Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) George Stoney, op.cit. Private William Flynn, Sound Archives, IWM. Rear-Admiral Henry Doughty, letter, 27 November 1915.

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HAUPTMANN HERBERT Cleff was captured in Egypt during the Allied advance from El Alamein in November 1942. He held the title of Technischer Kriegsverwatungsrat, or Technical Staff Officer. He was taken to the Middle East branch of the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre in Cairo to see if any useful information could be obtained from him. He had served with Panzer units in France and Russia and had been awarded the Iron Cross. Though he was cautious with the information he revealed, he appeared to be more than a simple captain in the Afrika Korps. Such was the interest taken in Cleff, over the course of three months he was interrogated at length seventeen times. Slowly Cleff disclosed more and more information concerning tank design. The more interest that was taken in Cleff, the more self-important he felt, and this overcame his earlier caution. It was felt that if he was transferred to the United Kingdom even more information might be forthcoming and so he was flown to the UK in February 1943. Cleff was certainly able to talk knowledgeably about tank development and design but it was also found that he had some knowledge of aircraft and missile technology, and that some of his work with the Kriegsmarine had included submarine propulsion. The classification of documents relating to Cleff correspondingly rose from ‘Secret’ to ‘Most Secret’. He was able to create technical drawings of a number of the projects he had worked on. In these he displayed considerable competence,

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which seemed to verify his claims. He was interrogated by officials from both the Royal Navy and the by the RAF. He had been involved in meetings at the experimental flight test centre at Peenemünde and his reference to rockets, some indication of which the British authorities had already received, was of particular interest to his interrogators. Cleff referred to rocket-propelled projectiles up to 100 tons in weight as being already in existence, if not, by then, ready to use. They would travel at three times the speed of sound and would need only fifteen tons of propellant for a range of 500km. To support his claims, he provided specific values of combustion temperatures and pressures, exhaust velocity, and so on. Cleff also spoke about jet engines and the use of aerothermodynamic ducts on aircraft, disclosing hitherto unachievable speeds. The subsequent Air Intelligence report produced a rapid response as Cleff claimed such aircraft could cruise at around 810mph, with a top speed of 1,120mph at a height of 59,000ft. Cleff even stated at which factories the fuselage and wings of this type of aircraft were being made. The concerns such information raised amongst the senior figures in the RAF can be imagined. Other prisoners had hinted a jetpropelled aircraft and secret missile bases. Coupled with Cleff’s more detailed information, the indications were that major new weapons and aircraft were in the later stages of development. Eventually, he decided to collaborate fully with his captors, with a view to bringing the war to an earlier

| RECONNAISSANCE REPORT

end, though always insisting that the object was to destroy the Nazi regime, to the advantage of Germany in the long run. As a consequence he was released by the Home Office in August 1943 and given a job in the Ministry of Supply. As well as his normal PoW allowance of £2 8s 0d a month he was given a salary of £6 a week, tax free. So, less than a year after having been serving with the Axis forces in Egypt, Herbert Cleff found himself living independently in London and commuting daily to a paid job specially created for him, with an office in Whitehall next to that of the Director Armoured Fighting Vehicles. But just how much of what Cleff was saying was really true? Cleff’s work for the Ministry of Supply continued until and beyond the end of the Second World War. He was clearly valued by many, going on to work with the Admiralty. This book by Brian Brinkworth, as well as detailing Cleff’s life and work, examines, as far as possible, the veracity of many of Cleff’s claims. It is fairly obvious that Cleff exaggerated his knowledge but that, in the end, no-one was really too bothered about this. As a leading aeronautical engineer, Roy Fedden, observed, the ‘senior authorities’ showed little interest in challenging what Cleff had claimed. Their attitude was, he said, “What are you so excited about? We’ve won the war, haven’t we?” Cleff, therefore, received the benefit of the doubt by default.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

SECRETS OF A GERMAN PoW

The Revelations of Hauptmann Herbert Cleff Brian Brinkworth

Publisher: Pen & Sword www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78303-295-2 Hardback. 182 pages RRP: £19.99 Illustrations  Appendices 

References/Notes Index 



JUNE 2014 101

RECONNAISSANCE REPORT |

The Britain at War team scout out the latest items of interest HOW BRITAIN KEPT CALM AND CARRIED ON

LONDONERS ON THE WESTERN FRONT The 58th (2/1st London) Division in the Great War

Real-Life Stories from the Home Front

David Martin



Anton Rippon

EVEN TODAY, almost a

century after the start of

 BY POSTING adverts and appeals in

the First World War, historians

national and local newspapers as long

histories of the many units

Anton Rippon, has gathered together

are still piecing together the

ago as 1978, the author of this book,

involved in the conflict. This

a collection of stories from people all

book by David Martin on the 58th

over the United Kingdom that reveal

(2/1st London) Division adds to

their experiences of life between 1939

that growing collection.

and 1945. From the Blitz to the Home

The division was composed of the

Guard, blackouts to unexploded bombs,

173rd, 174th and 175th brigades and included such battalions as the 2/8th

service life at home and abroad, there are stories here from all walks of life and

Battalion London Regiment which

Brigade explained: “Every minute’s

Post Office. Others, like the 2/10th

particular task in hand for the coming

was solely made up of men from the and 2/11th were composed of men mainly from Hackney and Finsbury respectively.

A Territorial division, it mobilised in

August 1914 but it did not see service overseas until 1917, being deployed on defensive duties in Norfolk and

Suffolk, followed by final training in

training must be concentrated on the battle. The men in the ranks must be told everything [on] how he is part

of an advance all along the line. Now

174 Brigade has the most difficult and therefore the most honourable task, namely that of taking and holding Wurst Farm heights.”

from men, women and children of the

contributions to the Allied war effort. Drawn from many different walks of life, these individuals included a princess, a beauty queen, a war widow, a teenage girl and an Australian journalist, all of whom worked closely with resistance movements throughout Occupied Europe. Publisher: Amberley; www.amberley-books.com ISBN: 978-1-4456-2311-5 Hardback. 188 pages RRP: £16.99

BOMBER HARRIS

Sir Arthur Harris’ Despatch on War Operations 1942-1945 Compiled by John Grehan and Martin Mace

time. Their undiluted first-person stories

 THE STRATEGIC bombing

stand testament to the events of the

campaign conducted

Second World War. Publisher: Michael O’Mara Books; www.mombooks.com ISBN: 978-1-78243-190-9 Hardback. 222 pages RRP: £14.99

against Germany in the

THE BRITISH AIRMAN

The starting line for the attack

of these women who made valuable

Second World War was, and remains, one of the most controversial operations of the entire war. Harris’ despatch explains in detail the success of his methods which, if given full reign, may have brought the war to a speedier conclusion, but with even more German

Wiltshire. Having crossed the Channel

was not a trench but rather a line of

Of the First World War

that year that the 58th Division

This was due in part to the fact that

 THE FIRST World

operations, Harris’ despatch was not

War was the first

published by the government, though the

air war, fought by

full text is reproduced here along with an

true pioneers and

explanation why it was withheld. Publisher: Pen & Sword; www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78303-298-3 Hardback. 414 pages RRP: £30.00

in January 1917, it was on 20 August received its orders to entrain for the Ypres Salient where it was to take

over part of the front facing St Julien and Langemarck. There the division was thrown into the Third Battle of Ypres.

The first unit of the 58th Division to

shell holes ahead of the trenches. the Germans had got the range of the trenches and lots of men

concentrating there would inevitably suffer heavy losses. It also meant

that attack would start closer to the German positions.

Those German positions consisted

see action was the 2/12th Battalion,

of a fortified trench line, known

the 2/11th in late August. It was

protected with fortified shell holes,

the London Regiment, followed by on 20 September, however, when

the Londoners, along with the 55th (1/West Lancashire) Division and

the 51st (Highland) Division were

ordered to attack the German lines. The method of attack was a novel

one. Rather than a frontal assault all along the line, as had so often been

gun posts and trench mortars, with

concrete bunkers behind the trenches. The Germans had held this ground for

a long time and further back they had built fortified strong-points centred upon existing farm buildings.

The attack was delivered at 05.40

2/8th Battalion, the London Regiment

casualties at an early stage of the

and limited success, this time the

was to break the German line at a

single point and consolidate. Another

battalion would then pass through the 8th’s position and turn right along the

German line, followed by a third which would turn left. The aim was to roll

along the German line rather than to attack it head on.

The attack was to be accompanied

by six tanks of 13 Company, ‘E’ Battalion Tank Corps, of 1 Tank Brigade. In the preceding days

the division had trained hard for

this battle, as one officer of 174th

102 JUNE 2014

battalions, all officers bar one became battle. Eventually the Wurst Farm

heights were taken and held against

enemy counter-attacks. As a tribute to the 58th Division’s efforts the heights were renamed London Ridge.

REVIEWED BY ALEXANDER NICOL.

References/Notes Index 

of flight itself. British pilots, observers and gunners played a

the mountains of Italy to the deserts of Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the freezing Russian steppes. But with aviation still in its infancy, many of the machines and techniques, and much of

surrounding Bomber Command’s

AN ENGLISHMAN AT WAR The Wartime Diaries of Stanley Christopherson DSO, MC, TD Edited by James Holland

 FROM SEPTEMBER

and sometimes posed more of a threat

1939 all the way to

to the crews than did enemy action. Publisher: Shire Books; www.shirebooks.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-74781-368-2 Softback. 64 pages RRP: £6.99

the smouldering ruins

THE WOMEN WHO SPIED FOR BRITAIN

Female Secret Agents of the Second World War

of Berlin in 1945, via Palestine, Tobruk, El Alamein, D-Day, Nijmegen and the crossing of the Rhine, An Englishman at War is a first-hand account of the Second World War. The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, Stanley Christopherson’s regiment, was in the vanguard of almost every action in which it took part, amassing thirty battle honours. Christopherson became

 EQUAL TO men in

the commanding officer of the regiment

both their bravery

soon after the D-Day landings, and he

and in the sacrifices

took part in all thirty battles.

they made, the female

Publisher: Bantam Press; www.transworldbooks.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-593-06837-3 Hardback. 551 pages RRP: £25.00

undercover operatives



casualties. Such was the controversy

the equipment employed, were basic,

Robyn Walker

Publisher: Pen & Sword; www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78159-180-2 Hardback. 214 pages RRP: £19.99 Illustrations  Appendices 

of aerial combat but

the globe, from the Western Front and

barbed-wire entanglements, machine-

hours. In both the 8th and 5th

innovators, not only

vital part in the Allied war effort around

as Hubner Trench. The trench was

undertaken with heavy casualties

David Hadaway with Stuart Hadaway

of the Second World War have often had their stories told. The Women Who Spied for Britain traces the stories of just eight

www.britainatwar.com

The Britain at War team scout out the latest items of interest

ARMAGEDDON’S WALLS

WAR REPORT

The Extraordinary Eyewitness Accounts that Revolutionised Journalism

British Pill Boxes 1914-1918 Peter Oldham

Complied by Desmond Hawkins



SOME OF the most

memorable eyewitness

accounts from the Second

and innovation of concrete bunkers,

to the fall of Berlin. Called

pillboxes, blockhouses and general

“War Report”, the first

broadcast was made on the

BBC’s Home Service after the

one from an Australian, Colin Wills:

“This is the day and this is the hour. The sky is lightening – lightening

over the coast of Europe as we go in ... The whole sky is bright; the sea

is a glittering mass of silver with all these crafts of every kind moving

across it and the great battleships

in the background blazing away at the shore. There go the craft past us, the other landing craft. Some are left behind, the slower ones,

each taking their part and going in at the right time for the right job.

Destroyers, Corvettes, patrol vessels ... There’s an enormous cloud of smoke along the shore, not only

from the smokescreen but also from us. From this terrific bombardment ... I can’t record any more now

because the time has come for me to get my kit on my back and get

ready to step off on that shore. And it’s a great day.”

The daily War Report was listened

to by some fifteen million people,

Much of the reporting was not as

upbeat as the exciting broadcasts during D-Day. Amongst the more

sober reports were those relating to the liberation of the concentration

camps. Richard Dimbleby’s account of the British forces’ arrival at

broadcasting unit. They also had to learn enough of each other’s trade to become interchangeable. If, for

example, a recording engineer was

wounded or unfit, the correspondent with him should know enough to

keep his machine operating. They also had to undertake a course in military intelligence so that they

understood what facts could not be

broadcast that might give away vital information to the enemy.

www.britainatwar.com

Frank and Joan Shaw

World War. As the author reveals, many

 IN WE Remember

of these structures – some showing

D-Day, which was first

obvious signs of war damage – still exist

published in 1994, we

in France and Belgium today. Publisher: Pen & Sword; www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78303-300-3 Hardback. 286 pages RRP: £25.00

hear from the men and women who were involved in the assault on Normandy; those who risked their lives for their country. Their stories tell of human bravery and endeavour, pain and heartache. These accounts were

in the gloom ... In the shade of

 ONE OF Britain’s

throughout the country asking for

best-known and most

people’s memories of that time. They

loved poets, Wilfred

were flooded with letters, which they

Owen was killed at

then self-published. These books have

the age of 25 on one

now been republished by Ebury Press. Publisher: Ebury Press; www.eburypublishing.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-09-194157-4 Paperback. 366 pages RRP: £8.99

some trees lay a great collection of bodies. I walked about them trying to count, there were perhaps 150

of them flung down on each other, all naked, all so thin that their

of the last days of

yellow skin glistened like stretched

the First World War,

rubber on bones. Some of the poor

having served as soldier and officer

starved creatures whose bodies

despite his famous misgivings about the

were there looked so utterly unreal

war’s rationale and conduct (his mother

and unhuman that I could have

received the notification of his death

imagined that they had never lived

on Armistice Day). Owen left behind a

at all.”

Dachau was another of the camps

liberated. In another moving report

Ian Wilson concluded that the horror of Dachau was “the world’s worst nightmare come true”.

The War Reports were given by

campaigns of the Second World War

before they were allowed to join the

concrete constructions during the First

Guy Cuthbertson

my way over corpse after corpse

in the UK and across the world. The

undergo a degree of military training

Powerful and Moving True Stories from 6 June 1944

WILFRED OWEN

educated and eloquent individuals.

reporters and their crews had to

WE REMEMBER D-DAY

Belsen is justly famous: “I picked

bringing the events of the war

directly into the homes of those back

German intelligence. Publisher: Pen & Sword; www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78346-268-1 Hardback. 198 pages RRP: £19.99

gives the history of the development

from the Normandy landings

Amongst those first reports was

took full advantage of known, top secret

little knowledge

experience of the subject. This book

Unit that followed the troops

1944.

that tactical plans could be executed that

continental countries, had far greater

by the BBC’s War Reporting

research was passed to the highest levels

to war in 1914 with

on the other hand, as with the other

a series of broadcasts made

systems. Much of his highly prized of the UK’s wartime government, ensuring

protective structures. The Germans,

What are presented here are

Würzburg, Knickebein and X Band radar

and her Allies went

permanent, shell proof

the war correspondents.

monitoring and attacking Germany’s

 THE BRITISH Army

of constructing

World War are those from

nine o’clock news on 6 June

| RECONNAISSANCE REPORT

As such they portray the last great

vividly and graphically. Put together in one volume the reports make

absorbing reading. At the time they were broadcast they must have

produced some of the most gripping radio ever heard.

Publisher: BBC Books www.eburypublishing.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-849-90776-7 Hardback. 512 pages RRP: £25.00 References/Notes Index 

rage, valour and futility of the conflict, including “Anthem for a Doomed Youth” and “Spring Offensive”. In this new

THE BACKWASH OF WAR

The Classic Account of a First World War Field-Hospital Ellen N. La Motte

 THE “BACKWASH

fresh account of Owen’s life. Publisher: Yale University Press; www.yalebooks.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-300-15300-2 Hardback. 346 pages RRP: £25.00

of war” referred to by

COVERT RADAR AND SIGNALS INTERCEPTION The Secret Career of Eric Ackermann

Ellen La Motte were the sometimes dirty, smelly, lice or disease ridden bodies of wounded French soldiers brought into her field hospital, six miles behind the Western Front of the First World War. Arranged into fourteen vignettes, The Backwash of War paints a vivid picture of the events Ellen encountered – so vivid in fact, that this book was banned by the American Government in 1918 when

 AS A Junior

published with the sub-title The Human

Scientific Officer at the

Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed

Telecommunication

by an American Hospital Nurse. Publisher: Conway; www.conwaypublishing.com ISBN: 978-1-844-86-258-0 Hardback. 186 pages RRP: £8.99

Research Establishment, Boscombe Down, and with an honorary



authors writing to 700 local newspapers

biography, Guy Cuthbertson provides a

Peter Jackson and David Haysom

REVIEWED BY ROBERT MITCHELL.

Illustrations  Appendices 

body of poetry that captured the pity,

gathered together as a result of the

commission in the RAF, Eric George Ackermann made numerous flights over Europe during the war whilst researching,

JUNE 2014 103

RECONNAISSANCE REPORT | THE GREAT WAR FOR PEACE

The Britain at War team scout out the latest items of interest

EXOCET FALKLANDS

The Untold Story of Special Forces Operations Ewen Southby-Tailyour

William Mulligan

 TODAY’S

 THIS IS a revelatory account of three

CONVENTIONAL

un-tabulated Special Forces operations,

wisdom is that

Plum Duff, Mikado and Kettledrum,

the First World

which were tasked to destroy Argentina’s

War attuned the

Exocet missiles during

world to large-

the 1982 Falkland’s

scale slaughter, that post-war efforts

campaign. In that

directed by the Treaty at Versailles

context alone this

were botched, that unbridled new

book is of international

nationalisms made the Second World

military importance.

War inevitable. This provocative book

Using previously

by historian William Mulligan refutes

unknown material

such interpretations, arguing instead

and through interviewing key players

that the first two decades of the

who have remained silent for thirty

twentieth century – and the First World

years, Ewen Southby-Tailyour has finally

War in particular – played an essential

established the truth. That it has taken

part in the construction of a peaceful

so long reflects the sensitivities, both

new order on a global scale. Publisher: Yale University Press; www.yalebooks.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-300-17377-2 Hardback. 443 pages RRP: £25.00

military and personal, involved. Publisher: Pen & Sword; www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78346-387-9 Hardback. 314 pages RRP: £25.00

NEW ARTWORK BY MATT HOLNESS  REGULAR READERS of Britain at War Magazine may recall Matt Holness AGAvA’s

ON SALE FROM 26 JUNE 2014

CHURCHILL’S D-DAY VISIT

On Monday, 12 June 1944, six days after the first Allied troops had stepped ashore on the Normandy coast, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, decided to follow in their footsteps. Having crossed the Channel on the K-class destroyer HMS Kelvin, Churchill made the last stage of the journey ashore in a DUKW accompanied by Sir Alan Brooke and General Smuts. His trip, however, was not met with universal approval. To some, elements of the visit represented “the greatest folly”.

TACKLING THE FLYING BOMBS

artwork appearing in Issue

At 04.08 hours on 13 June 1944, two members of the Royal Observer Corps on duty at Dymchurch noted the approach of an object spurting flames from its rear and making a noise like “a Model-T Ford going up a hill”. They had spotted the first V-1 flying bomb to be launched against the UK. Writing in the aftermath of the German Vergeltungswaffe, or Vengeance Weapon, campaign, Air Chief Marshal Sir Roderic Hill, the head of Air Defence of Great Britain, described some of the actions taken to combat the threat.

74 – the article in question relating to the aiming of the Upkeep bouncing bombs by 617 Squadron. Now Matt has teamed up with Tony Garrick to launch a new website to showcase his unique and moving artwork. Among the new prints

THE DAY WAR BROKE OUT

available is “If I Can

Almost 100 years ago, at 23.00 hours on the evening of 4 August 1914, the ultimatum issued by the British government was rejected by Germany. Consequently, a state of war existed between the two nations. But how was the news seen by the British people?

Survive That, I Can Survive Anything!” As the original caption states, it depicts the moment when “a Battle of Britain fighter pilot takes two minutes to sit and reflect on his lucky escape. Moments earlier one of ‘The Few’ was entangled in an aggressive dog fight in the sky’s above the Kent countryside”. The print, seen here, is limited to only fifty worldwide,

each of which is signed and numbered by the artist. There are also five Top Edition Remarques Artist Proofs available.

The latest print by Matt is “Falling

Angels”, which has been released to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day: “As British Paratroopers descend miles away from their

intended Drop Zone, the only guidance comes from above and the sheer hope that luck is on their side as they fall into hostile darkness”. To learn more about Matt’s work and the various prints available, please visit his

new website: www.mattholness.com

104 JUNE 2014

JULY 2014 ISSUE

“HENRY VIII” VC

Fed-up with naval bureaucracy Bill Savage had had enough of being an ‘unpaid’ gunner aboard a motor gun boat. But a few weeks after being talked out of quitting, the seaman nicknamed “Henry VIII” by his crewmates was posthumously selected to receive the nation’s highest martial honour for his remarkable role in the most audacious Combined Operations raid of the Second World War. Steve Snelling charts the incredible story behind an unparalleled award of the Victoria Cross.

www.britainatwar.com

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The "Longest Night"

It became known as the “Longest Night”. The night of 10/11 May 1941 saw the final great Luftwaffe raid of the Second World War on London. Amongst the 5,000 buildings that were destroyed or damaged that night were the Houses of Parliament.

H

ITLER HAD his sights firmly fixed on the East. France was subdued and Britain had withdrawn beyond his grasp but to the East stood the Soviet Union, perceived by the Führer as the greatest threat to the Third Reich. Both Stalin and Hitler knew that their alliance would end violently. It was only a matter of time. With the Soviets watching the German forces attentively along the demarcation lines, Hitler knew that surprise was unlikely to be achieved – but he could at least try. If the Soviets believed that Hitler was still intent upon invading the United Kingdom they would continue to believe that there was no immediate danger of a German attack. So a massive raid was planned upon London which would give the impression that Hitler still hoped to invade Britain. With the start date of Operation Barbarossa originally scheduled for 15 May 1941, the great raid upon London was planned for the night of 10/11 May.

“UP TO MY KNEES IN RUBBLE AND BRICKS” The sirens had first begun their “awful warbling-like sound of a howling wolf,” as one London resident Joan Veazey described in her diary, at 22.53 hours in Croydon. In Westminster it was exactly 23.00 hours and in Kennington it was two minutes past the hour. Leading the Luftwaffe’s aerial armada were the twenty-one Heinkel He 111s of Kampfgruppe 100 led by 32-year-old Hauptmann Kurd Aschenbrenner. This specialist 106 JUNE 2014

A “then and now” image of damage to the Palace of Westminster caused by Luftwaffe raids during the Blitz. The bomb that caused the damage seen here in the Old Palace Yard was dropped on 26 September 1940. (HMP/ COMPARISON BY

ROBERT MITCHELL)

force, equipped with the latest radio navigational aid, ‘X-Gerat’, had been instructed to light up the target for the bombers of Kampfgruppe 54 and Kampfgruppe 55 which were following. The crews of KG 100 released their incendiary bombs just as the sirens had begun to wail. “It was a beautiful night and I was up on Coventry Street,” recalled Special Constable Ballard Berkeley who was on his beat in the West End. “When I was on duty, the sirens had gone and the City was being bombed. The city was getting well lit up. We knew the pattern

– the incendiaries would light up the target and then the bombers would come in and bomb.” This time the Luftwaffe had arrived in strength. Throughout the course of the night, the Germans would fly 541 sorties against the British capital, with many aircraft returning a second time. Constable Berkeley, who went on to play "the Major" in the BBC TV comedy classic Fawlty Towers, noticed how the Londoners appeared unmoved by the incendiaries. It was the day of the FA Cup Final, and newspaper vendors continued to call out for passers-by to read about the match, whilst others, rather than rushing for the shelters, headed for the Lyons Corner House. They, had, after all, seen this many times before. That night, though, it would be different, very different. It would be the worst night they had experienced. “Suddenly, it happened,” explained Constable Berkeley who was deep in the heart of Soho. “I’d heard bombs, been near bombs – but when a bomb hits so close, you don’t hear it. It was the most extraordinary thing. Everything stopped and there was complete and utter silence. It was so quiet, it was unbelievable. Perhaps the explosion had defeaned the eardrums. I don’t know but everything was silent. Nobody moved ... After a few seconds, everything came to life – except the people who were dead ... I couldn’t move. I was standing up but I couldn’t move. I thought my legs had gone but in fact, I was up to my knees in rubble and bricks. That’s why I couldn’t move.”1 www.britainatwar.com

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The "Longest Night"

ABOVE: A view of the damage caused on 26 September 1940. A report on the incident states: “The statue of Richard Coeur de Lion [Richard the Lionheart] appears to have been lifted bodily from the pedestal but sustained only minor damage, the sword being bent.” The survival of the statue was the subject of an Allied radio broadcast in 1940 as “a symbol of the strength of democracy which would bend not break under attack”. (HMP)

www.britainatwar.com

JUNE 2014 107

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The "Longest Night" A TOWERING PILLAR OF DUST The American military attaché, General Raymond E. Lee, was in London at the time of the raid, staying at the Claridge’s Hotel. “It did not take long for a few bombs to crack down close to the hotel,” he wrote, “shaking it from top to bottom, and when I went to the balcony I could hear them [the German bombers] quite near, apparently overhead ... It was dark enough, but the whole sky was lit up by a huge yellowish disc of full moon, while the horizon was illuminated by a great number of fires which extended all around us in a huge ring. “As a rule, the fires before had appeared like rose red illuminations, but tonight a large number of them had huge forked flames leaping up towards the heavens, which indicated to me they were buildings which had been ignited on top by incendiary bombs. I could count not less than fifteen of them all around us, and it really looked as if Claridges’s hotel was the exact hub and centre of the whole design. One of the two wardens, who was keeping his post up there, said he was rather hopeful that two or three bombers had been brought down over London because he had seen them come in a steep dive and apparently in flames.

ABOVE: Another view of the Old Palace Yard in which the damage to the statue of Richard the Lionheart, and more specifically the sword, can be seen a little more clearly. A report dated 2 October 1940 noted that the horse’s “near side hind leg is fractured at the fetlock and above the hock, 40% of the bronze blown away, the core appears to be intact”. This would explain the large patch at the back of the leg that was reported to be still visible in 2009. (HMP)

“As we were talking to him, there was the usual drone of the falling bomb, and then over towards Piccadilly there was a huge explosion and a towering pillar of dust, debris, smoke and sparks, which shot up like magic to the zenith. I heard a sudden convulsive movement, and looking round, found that both [Vincent] Sheeran [an American author] and his wife were grovelling flat on the tin roof, which seemed to me rather shocking, because for a moment I felt that a shell fragment or something had stricken them down. After a little while they got up and dusted themselves off. They hardly seemed to realize that after a bomb had gone off there is not much use falling down.”2 From the offices of the Daily Mirror, in Fetter Lane off Fleet Street, the newspaper’s chairman Cecil King, looked across the city. “The smoke was such that you could not see that it was a full moon with no clouds, the air was full of flying sparks; every now and then there was a roar of a collapsing building ... The Temple Church, one of the great monuments of English history, was on fire ... St Clement Dane had been gutted, and only the spire was alight halfway up the top and sending out showers and sparks – an odd and rather beautiful spectacle.”3 ABOVE: The damage caused by bomb fragments to the base of the statue of Richard the Lionheart can still be seen today – some of it is circled in this image. (COURTESY ILIA TORLIN)

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THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER The Houses of Parliament had long been on the Luftwaffe’s list of targets www.britainatwar.com

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The "Longest Night"

The Commons Chamber was entirely destroyed by the fires that raged after the bombing of 10/11 May 1941. (HMP)

hinges and flung it into the adjoining room where the 54-year-old resident superintendent, 54-year-old Captain Edward Elliot, was with his wife and child. The heavy door hit Edward Elliot, who was killed instantly.4 The Palace of Westminster was on fire. The Victoria Tower, which had been surrounded by scaffolding since 1936, was, for example, alight, the wooden planks on the scaffolding having been set alight by incendiaries. Chief ARP officer, Victor Goodman, led a firefighting party inside the tower to tackle the fire from inside. Outside police sergeant Alec Forbes did not realise that efforts were being made to quench the fires and so he slung a sandbag over his shoulder and began to climb the scaffolding ladders that led up the 300-foot-high tower. With his sandbag he put out fire after fire as he climbed up the successive levels of the scaffolding. As he reached the seat of the fire he

UNDER THE BOMB but had so far throughout the Blitz survived relatively unscathed. This time, however, incendiaries and bombs hit the Palace of Westminster at 00.36 hours. The roof of the Ministry of Works was set on fire and in the back room of the Royal Court on the 4th floor the contents were damaged. At the same time Westminster Hall was struck, as was the House of Commons. One of the bombs killed two auxiliary policemen, Arthur Stead and Gordon Farrant, who were stationed in the octagonal stone turret at the south-east corner of the Royal Gallery. The bomb smashed off the turret which crashed to the courtyard below with the two policemen inside. A member of the staff of Palace of Westminster Custodian, a Mr Bloomfield, helped rescuers to clear through the rubble, both to recover the two bodies and to clear a passage through the debris which blocked the corridor. There was some 700 ARP staff in the building and a blockage could leave them trapped inside. Two other bombs had dropped on the Palace, one of which caused damage to the Peers’ Inner Court, filling the courtyard with rubble. Vast blocks of masonry were hurled into the Royal Courtyard. The other bomb fell through the slate roof over the principal doorkeeper’s room of the House of Lords and crashed through the ground floor and into the kitchen below. The bomb failed to explode but the tremendous rush of air ripped the heavy iron door from its www.britainatwar.com

THE RAID of 10/11 May 1941, was not the first occasion on which the Palace of Westminster had been hit by German bombs. On 26 September 1940, for example, a bomb fell into Old Palace Yard and caused severe damage to the south wall of St Stephen’s Porch and the masonry of the west front. The statue of Richard the Lionheart was lifted bodily from its pedestal, but sustained only minor damage in the form of a bent sword. On 8 December 1940, a bomb demolished the south and east sides of the Cloisters of St Stephen’s, as well as causing considerable damage to the other two sides. On 17 April, 1941, the Speaker’s Residence was damaged, first by a single high explosive bomb and two days later by another which failed to explode. In total, the Palace was damaged by air raids on fourteen different occasions during the war. TOP: A view of the Clock Tower at the House of Commons during the war, with an armed sentry and barbed wire defences in the foreground. (HMP)

LEFT: A picture of the Commons Chamber taken prior to the events of May 1941. This image was circulated to various press agencies around the world following the attack. (HMP)

saw Victor Goodman’s team fighting the blaze. Forbes merely shrugged and retraced his steps, still carrying the sandbag. Goodman had led his team up the tower’s internal staircase, extinguishing the fires before serious damage had been done. “About to return to ground,” wrote the former fireman and author Cyril Demarne OBE, “he noticed a hole he had not seen before and traced it, floor by floor, to the basement where he discovered a large unexploded bomb and a badly-injured House of Commons custodian lying nearby”.5 With the situation at the Palace of Westminster deteriorating a call was put into the Chief Superintendent of the Civil Defence Control at Lambeth, Charlie McDuell, who was Officer in Charge of the London Fire Brigade ‘A’ District, which covered the West End. He immediately ordered his crews into action. McDuell jumped into his staff car and, accompanied by BBC  JUNE 2014 109

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The "Longest Night"

reporter Robin Duff, who had enrolled as a part-time fireman, he sped to Parliament Square. “In less than a minute the big swing doors were open and the appliances were on their way, not only from our station but from every post in the district,” 26-year-old Duff later reported. “We wasted no time on the road and there was no slowing at crossroads; our bells were going and it was up to the other cars – if there were any about – to keep clear. More than once our driver swerved suddenly to avoid a new bomb crater, and glass and debris crunched under the wheels.” Buckingham Palace, bathed in a flickering red glow reflected from the sky, looked stark and deserted as the fire engines, bells ringing and warning lights flashing, swept into Birdcage Walk. Moments later they reached Parliament Square and the fire crews began to set up their equipment and tackle the fires. A Fire Control centre was quickly set up in the Old Palace Yard.

ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: A “then and now” image showing workmen repairing bomb damage in the Old Palace Yard in 1940 and 1941. Note the damage to a number of the windows in the archive image on the left, as well as the missing clock in the tower in the background.

(HMP/COMPARISON BY ROBERT MITCHELL)

seriously hindered access. At the same time, the bombs were still falling as the firefighters went about their work. “There was a terrific crash above our heads,” Robin Duff continued in his report which was broadcast two days later, adding that “Big Ben and the whole clock tower were enveloped in a thick cloud of black smoke. Rubble was falling all around us and for a moment we feared that the tower had crashed to the ground. But when the smoke and dust had cleared away we could see that at least was safe.”

FIRE IN THE HOUSE Walter Elliot, the MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove, had returned to his London home after a day in Parliament, which since the previous year had been sitting at Church House in Westminster. When the bombs started to fall he asked a passing policeman if he knew what the situation was in Parliament Square. He was told that the House of Commons was on fire. “As a good House of Commons man it seemed to me that this was where I came in,” he declared. “I went down to the Embankment to walk along to the House.” Despite the battering that the Luftwaffe was delivering, Elliot arrived there to find the House of Commons on fire and the Victoria Tower still smouldering. The geographical layout of Parliament proved problematic for the responding ARP wardens, firemen and rescue squads. Five miles or more of corridors and 1,000 separate rooms, many littered with smoking debris, 110 JUNE 2014

ABOVE: The Members’ Lobby pictured after the passing of the Luftwaffe on 10/11 May 1941. (HMP)

That said, the glass of the southern clock face had been shattered by a falling small calibre high explosive bomb. The upper Clock Tower was blackened by smoke. The 1859 London landmark lost a half second and its chimes were temporarily put out of action. But both Big Ben and the main clock mechanism survived. The clock’s hour and minute hands remained functional throughout the raid.6 “Bursts of flames shot up from Westminster Hall and from the whole length of the Chamber of Commons,” continued Duff. “More pumps were ordered onto the job and every man there was working feverously [sic]. Some were fighting the fire from the tower courtyard and a few of us went up to a passage joining cabinet ministers’ offices with the Chamber. “Our work was to see that the flames didn’t spread across that passage. We found two hydrants and got the hoses to work through the doorway behind the Speaker’s chair. Very soon there was a great rumbling, ending in a crash. A delayed action bomb had exploded inside the burning building [this was the bomb that had hit, but bounced off, the Big Ben tower] and the outer wall of the Chamber had been hurtled into the courtyard below. “There must have been about thirty men in that courtyard when the wall came down. It was filled with huge blocks of stone and it looked as though there wasn’t more than a square foot anywhere where a man could have lived. But the only damage done was one badly sprained arm.” At the time of the explosion Leading Fireman David Millar had been undertaking a reconnaissance mission for Charlie McDuell. Cyril Demarne subsequently described Millar’s actions: “Dave was despatched to reconnoitre the www.britainatwar.com

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The "Longest Night" LEFT: One individual surveys the aftermath of the bombing and fires at the Palace of Westminster. (HMP)

area to gather information for transmission to control, which had been set up in Old Palace Yard. An important part of his duty was to collect the tally carried by the officer in charge of each appliance, containing details of the station and crew involved. These tallies were displayed on the map of the fire area chalked on the operations board in Fire Control … “Making his way through several corridors, Leading Fireman Millar entered the Commons Chamber. Looking down from the Strangers’ Gallery, he saw that everything appeared normal. Turning to leave, he closed the door behind him. As he did so, a tremendous explosion flung him several yards along the passage.

RIGHT: Winston Churchill inspecting bomb damage in the House of Commons debating chamber, 11 May 1941. In the aftermath of the raid, Churchill made a call for the bomb-damaged archway from Members’ Lobby into the Chamber to be retained as a reminder for future generations. His plea was heard and the archway remains today and is known as the Churchill Arch. (HMP)

PARLIAMENT'S STONE THE DEBRIS and rubble which resulted from the bombing that damaged the House of Commons in 1941 was disposed of or put to use in a variety of different ways. The iron was sent away for use in the foundries. The glass fragments and roof timbers were made into plaques, shields and a gavel and given to the Presidents, Prime Ministers and Houses of Parliament of other countries. The stone, meanwhile, was placed by the Ministry of Works and Buildings, free of charge, at the disposal of the Red Cross. In turn, the Red Cross instructed a company called London Stonecraft Ltd to manufacture souvenirs which could be sold to the public to raise funds. Consequently, between 1942 and 1945 London Stonecraft manufactured a wide variety of souvenirs which included ashtrays, book ends, letter racks, pen holders, wall plaques, inkwells, tobacco jars, bowls, vases (an example of which can be seen here), cocktail mats, spill holders, garden bowls, rose bowls, greeting cards, serviette rings, rocker blotters, paper knives and powder bowls. As a rule, these items carried an emblem on which the source was pointed out. Each item was also supplied with a certificate which, dated 13 May 1942, was signed by Sir Vincent Baddeley, KCB and stated: “I certify that that this Stone was part of the structure of the Houses of Parliament, damaged by enemy air raids on 10th May, 1941.”

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Shaken, but unhurt, his first thought was to report to control before a search was mounted for him, since he was known to be in the building.”7 The Commons building, despite the efforts of Duff and the firefighters, was now clearly beyond saving and adjacent to it was Westminster Hall, the finest medieval hall in the country. “Vigorous attempts were being made to subdue the fire,” Walter Elliot observed, “but it was moving further and further away from the platform at the south end of the Hall and it was evident that the whole roof was in extreme danger.”8 From where the fire engines were positioned, the water from their hoses could not reach the Hall’s wooden roof. Elliot realised that if the fire engines could be placed in Westminster [New] Palace Yard they would be able to fight the fire. A policeman was stood outside the great door and when Elliot explained the situation the constable told the MP that the keys were in the central lobby which was already burning fiercely. Undaunted, Elliott took an axe from one

of the firemen. A verger, realising what was about to happen, threw himself between Elliot and the door. “You must not break down this fourteenth century door,” the verger exclaimed. “Tell you what you want us to do, then,” responded Charlie McDuell. “Shall we save your fourteenth century door or your fourteenth century church?” The verger stood aside. The fire engines rushed in and poured enormous quantities of water onto and into Westminster Hall. Soon, these crews were standing waist-deep in water whilst burning debris fell on them from above. The flames rapidly burnt through the medieval timber of Westminster Hall’s roof, creating a huge hole. In response, fire crews hosed the roof throughout the night, pumping water directly from the Thames after their own reserves ran dry. Through their gallant efforts, the venerable old building was saved.

“AN INDISTINGUISHABLE MASS OF MASONRY” It was in the cold light of day that the true extent of the damage to the Palace of Westminster became clear. One newspaper reporter described the scene thus: “Blackened water dripped down  our backs as we groped our way JUNE 2014 111

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The "Longest Night" RIGHT: Another of our “then and now” images, this one showing bomb fragment damage to one of the walls in the Old Palace Yard. (HMP/ COMPARISON BY ROBERT MITCHELL)

down dark corridors, in which last week MPs were eagerly discussing the Prime Minister’s speech and the events of the war. Glass crunched beneath our feet as we came to the gutted rooms behind the Speaker’s chair – no trace of which could be found now – and standing with precarious foothold, looked at the unrecognisable mountain of rubble and ruin which four days ago was the thronged Debating Chamber.”9 Another newspaper reported that, “The debating chamber is a pile of smouldering ruins, twisted iron girders, and crumbling walls with no roof. Pillars ... soaring windows and oaken walls are all an indistinguishable mass of masonry fifty feet high. The great oak doors which were slammed by ancient

LEFT: Four workmen are hoisted aloft to dismantle the south pinnacle of the House of Commons which had been damaged by a bomb. (PRESS

ASSOCIATION IMAGES)

BELOW: The original caption to this image states that it was taken from the area of what would have been the Strangers’ Gallery, or public gallery, of the Commons Chamber. (HMP)

tradition in the face of Black Rod when he came to the Commons have vanished.”10 On the morning of the 11th, Winston Churchill surveyed the ruins of the house “with frowning face”, where he had experienced some of his greatest moments. “He stood with Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Reith, the minister of Works, and the tears rolled unchecked down his old cheeks. From early on, guessing something of what he would see, he had been unusually quiet, nursing grief. But perhaps he had no true picture of what lay ahead. The Bar no longer stood to check intruders. The green leather-padded benches were charred beyond recognition. The Debating Chamber, the Press Gallery, the Stranger’ and Ladies’ Galleries – all had gone. So Churchill wept”. As General Lee commented, it would be a long time before Churchill would be “pounding the despatch box in front of the Government bench under the eye of the bewigged Speaker in his ancient chair.” The Speaker’s Chair, designed for the 112 JUNE 2014

Palace by Pugin around 1849, had been destroyed; a temporary one was used until the introduction of a replacement which, made from Blackbean wood, was donated by Australia. Churchill’s Assistant Private Secretary, John “Jock” Colville, also surveyed the scene having walked through Parliament Square early on the 11th. He made the following comment in his diary: “I talked to a fireman. He showed me Big Ben, the face of which was pocked and scarred, and told me a bomb had gone right through the Tower.” On Monday, 12 May 1941, Arthur Greenwood, Minister without Portfolio, took a select group of journalists on a tour of Parliament. Greenwood’s role was to start to plan the rebuilding of London after the war. “This too,” he indicated to the assembled reporters with a sweep of his hand, “will now come within my province and I must think about its reconstruction.” Greenwood’s party entered the Commons Chamber from the door behind the Speaker’s Chair. The ashes www.britainatwar.com

BATTERED BY THE BLITZ The "Longest Night"

from the chair blackened their shoes as their footsteps crunched across the debris. The parliamentary correspondent from the Daily Telegraph scaled the wreckage of the Chamber and dropped down into the No Division lobby: “Four chairs stood forlornly around a blackened table. Their leather had melted but on the backs of them a gilt portcullis still showed. Among it all stood a heavy silver inkstand and paper rack stuffed with half-burned notepaper stamped with the House of Commons mark.”11 On the bright side, Greenwood informed the shaken journalists, the mace had been saved, as had the Prime Minister’s private room and his library. Percy Carter, parliamentary correspondent for the Daily Mail, struck

ABOVE: The badlydamaged No Lobby in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. (HMP)

RIGHT: The reconstruction of the Commons Chamber underway after the war. The new Chamber’s foundation stone was laid by Speaker Clifton Brown on 26 May 1948 and it was officially opened on 26 October 1950 by His Majesty King George VI and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. (HMP)

LEFT: The Cloister Court, which separates the House of Commons from St Stephen’s Chapel, pictured after the German attack. (HMP)

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a similarly upbeat note in his copy. “To those of us who have worked at Westminster for so long, it is sad to think upon the fairness which has been wantonly destroyed by peevish people. But let us not waste time on sentiment. On with the war. All wounds will be healed in the new world we build.”12

BUSINESS AS USUAL The last bomb to fall was timed at 05.37 hours on the morning of the 11th. It landed on Scotland Yard. More than 1,400 people were killed that night, though only three lost their lives in the Palace of Westminster.13 A further 1,800 people were seriously injured across London and more than 12,000 left homeless. Fourteen German aircraft were shot down. The bombs and incendiaries started in excess of 2,000 separate fires, nine of which were classified as “conflagrations” and twenty as “major”. Together, these fires consumed an area of about 700 acres of central London, with thousands of streets rendered impassable. More than 5,000 houses were destroyed, with a similar number of buildings being severely damaged. As well as the Palace of Westminster, other iconic buildings were damaged, including Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, the Law Courts and Lambeth Palace.

Fortunately, Hitler knew that however hard he may try, he could never conquer Britain, and as his armies rolled eastwards, the Blitz came to an end. The destruction of the House of Commons did not interrupt the Government’s proceedings, and from late June 1941 until October 1950, the Commons met in the Lords Chamber, while the Lords met in the Robing Room, a fact which was kept secret during the war. 

NOTES: 1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Joshua Levine, Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle for Britain (Edbury Press, London, 2007), pp.453-5. James Leutze, The London Observer: The Journal of General Raymond E. Lee 1940-1941 (Hutchinson, London, 1972), pp. 270-1. Juliet Gardiner, The Blitz: The British Under Attack (Harper Press, London, 2011) p.345. Gavin Mortimer, The Longest Night, 10-11 May 1941 (Cassell, London, 2011), pp.178-9. Cyril Demarne OBE, The London Blitz, A Foreman’s Tale (Battle of Britain Prints International, London, 1991), p.82 Quoted on: www.westendatwar.org.uk Cyril Demarne OBE, ibid. Gavin Mortimer, ibid, pp. 228-9. Nottingham Evening Post, 12 May 1941. Aberdeen Journal, 13 May 1941. Quoted on: www.timeout.com Ibid. According to the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, one other individual was fatally wounded at the Palace of Westminster during the war – 35-year-old Fire Guard Ernest Wheeler. Wheeler was injured there on 31 July 1944, dying of his wounds at Westminster Hospital later the same day.

JUNE 2014 113

Save in a Fire What I Would

Geoff Simpson asks a top curator or trustee which single item in their collections they would reach for in the event of a disaster.

HMS BELFAST'S SHIP'S BELL

HMS Belfast, Imperial War Museums, The Queen’s Walk, London THE CRUISER HMS Belfast is now a major attraction on the River Thames, moored in the Pool of London, as one of the sites presided over by Imperial War Museums. Elizabeth Scott, Exhibitions Manager, points out that, “She is the only surviving big gun armoured warship of any European navy from the Second World War, with a history that extends from 1939 to the Cold War, Korea and beyond. HMS Belfast had a distinguished career, and won battle honours at the Battle of North Cape, and was in action at the D-Day landings. The ship served throughout the Korean War, and ceased her operational role in 1963, when she became an accommodation ship until 1971. As a unique example of the nation’s maritime history in the twentieth century she was saved for the nation in 1971 and was transferred to IWM on 11 March 1978. “Today we tell the story of life on board and explore how war affects and impacts on the morale, resilience and determination of a ship’s community. We take visitors on a journey through the ship’s nine decks and show them what life was like for the crew, which, in the Second World War, numbered up to nine hundred and fifty. “HMS Belfast is IWM’s largest accessioned object (weighing 11,500 tons) so when I was asked what I would save first in a fire my immediate thought was the ship itself. However, since the fire in question would be on the ship I had to rethink my choice. I then thought

114 JUNE 2014

of the silver ship’s bell which is hanging beneath the gun turret on the Quarterdeck. I chose the bell because it represents both the daily routine of naval life but also some of the unique traditions of the Navy. “The bell was presented to the ship by the people of Belfast in October 1948. In August 1947 HMS Belfast departed from Hong Kong and returned to the UK in October to become part of the reserve fleet. A year passed during which the ship was overhauled and refurbished at Portsmouth. In October 1948 she was re-commissioned for foreign service and was to return to the Far East. Before she made this journey she visited Belfast where she was presented with the silver bell. She then made her way to Hong Kong where she became flagship of the HMS Belfast in action on D-Day.

Fifth Cruiser Squadron and remained on the Far East station for the next few years. “The silver bell is a magnificent sight. It is one of the first things visitors notice when they arrive on the quarterdeck. The bell features the city of Belfast’s coat of arms and the ship’s motto, Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus, which means ‘What shall we give in return for so much?’ This is also the motto of the city of Belfast where the ship was built. While the exterior of the silver bell is eye-catching its inner rim holds interesting engravings. It is not uncommon to see visitors bending down to take a look at the inside of the bell and they (IWM FLM 4017)

today, was sounded every half-hour to mark the passing of each watch. “Therefore, in the event of a fire I would try and save the ship’s bell. However as it is solid silver and weighs approximately thirty-four kilos I am not sure I would get very far with it, but I would try my best!”  are all trying to get a glimpse of the various names and dates which are engraved on the inner rim. These are names of children born to serving officers and sailors who were christened on board using the upturned bell as a font. When HMS Belfast was in service the original ship’s bell, which is not on view

HMS BELFAST THE SHIP is open daily apart from 24, 25 and 26 December. At the same time, Elizabeth’s choice comes as the seventieth anniversary of the D-Day landings is about to be marked with activities on board. There is more information at: www.iwm.org.uk

www.britainatwar.com

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. On the 28th July 1914, the threat of oppression loomed with the declaration of war – a war that was to become the first global conflict in history, touching people from every nation for decades to come... Now, on the 100th anniversary of this Great War, a prestigious centenary edition proves a striking tribute to the courageous heroes who sought to defend liberty itself – Lest We Forget. Honour their incredible acts with the 100th Anniversary WWI Commemorative Men’s Watch – a first-of-a-kind, exclusive to The Bradford Exchange.

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14/05/2014 09:59