Britain at War 2017-01

KNIGHT'S CROSS VALOUR: FIGHTING 'TOMMY'

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BRITAIN’S BEST SELLING MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY

DUEL 'ACES'

AFRIKA KORPS VETERAN

GÜNTER HALM

Knight's Cross in the Western Desert

OF THE

Dogfight To The Death Above The Coast of Kent

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Kaise r Max' 's War 'Lo Germ ng an Ghost Ships Gun The Ja of GC Co va Sea u r ag Burm ese J e in ungle

STUKA RAID VICTORIA CROSS Sacrifice in Britain's Worst Home Waters Warship Loss

MARRIED IN BELSEN

From Mayhem at Normandy to Marriage in Belsen's Hell

www.britainatwar.com JANUARY 2017 ISSUE 117 UK £4.60

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From the Editor... T

HE PUBLICATION of material relating to Nazi concentration camps is one which is difficult and sensitive for any editor to cover, but we do so this month through the eyes of a British soldier, ‘Ted’ Reynolds, who experienced the horrific aftermath of the discovery of the camp at Belsen. This topic, though, contrasts with another feature in this issue on an entirely different aspect of Germany’s war. In telling the overall story of Britain at war, we are always keen to look at the experiences of those who fought against this country and her allies. Only by doing so can we begin to grasp the context of the First and Second World War and of other conflicts. We are therefore delighted to welcome back our contributor Robin Schäfer with a fascinating account of an Afrika Korps veteran, the Knight’s Cross decorated Günter Halm. Halm’s account is a frank and honest appraisal of what it was like to fight the British in the Western Desert. Told in his own words, this is the story of an honourable soldier who was doing his duty and serving his country and is very far removed, on every level, from the horrors being perpetrated elsewhere. Fortunately, Halm survived to tell his story although so many of his comrades did not. Of those, and those who suffered in the service of the Third Reich, it might equally be said that all of them were also victims of the Nazi regime. We are grateful to Günter Halm for his willingness to share his memories with us. His and ‘Ted’ Reynolds’ contrasting stories are equally important ones to tell and to record.

Andy Saunders (Editor) EDITORIAL Editor: Andy Saunders Assistant Editor: John Ash Editorial Correspondents: Geoff Simpson, Alex Bowers, Rob Pritchard Australasia Correspondent: Ken Wright EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES Britain at War Magazine, PO Box 380, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 9JA Tel: +44 (0)1424 752648 or email: [email protected].

Assistant Editor John Ash

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The average sale for the period Jan-Dec 2015 was 10,843, print and digital copies monthly.

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© Key Publishing Ltd. 2016

FEATURES 22 A Duel of Aces

48 A Disgraceful Episode

30 No Greater Love

54 Married in Belsen

40 Victory Through The Lens: Pt 2

62 Long Max

When Canadian fighter pilot ‘Johnny’ Kent found himself in a dogfight over the Kent coast during November 1940 he knew that he was up against a seasoned veteran of air fighting in what was to be a deadly duel to the death, as Andy Saunders explains. With a Bible in one hand and a Thompson submachine gun in the other, saintly and unorthodox resistance hero, Hugh Seagrim GC, selflessly gave all for the Karen peoples of Burma and the British Empire. Steve Snelling takes up his story. Mark Barnes highlights the bravery of war photographers as he shares the second part of his selection of unique photographs taken on the frontline by men armed with only a camera.

Andy Saunders details the story of a Victoria Cross earned in a British harbour during 1940 when a powerful and potentially Stuka-busting warship fell victim to the very aircraft it was designed to counter. James Luto relates the extraordinary story of a veteran’s war from the beaches of Normandy to the liberation of the Concentration Camp in Belsen and his subsequent wedding at that infamous place. The discovery of a series of photographs prompted Chris Goss to investigate the story of the massive German Long Max gun of the Great War.

Contents ISSUE 117 JANUARY 2017

22 A Duel of Aces 4

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54 Married in Belsen

74 Reputations: Ivor Maxse

Editor’s Choice

John Ash highlights the career of General Ivor Maxse. Much admired within military circles, he is an otherwise forgotten officer who had the potential to change how the British fought in the Great War.

86 The Battle of Spurn Head

Alastair Goodrum explores the tactical choices behind the success that was the RAF’s first big fighter engagement of the Second World War, examining how the British could well have achieved greater success in their victory.

64 Steel and Sand

Robin Schäfer and Knight’s Cross veteran Günther Halm tell the latter’s remarkable story of one German soldier’s perspective of battling the British in the Northern Sahara in an exclusive feature for Britain at War.

REGULARS 10 News

News, restorations, discoveries and events from around the World.

46 Image of War

In the first of this month’s Image of War presentations, a German fighter ace basks in the glory of his growing tally of victories and the award of a Knight’s Cross.

84 First World War Diary

Our look at the key events of the Great War reaches January 1917. Haig receives promotion, Germany gambles with the USA, and Maude gains in Mesopotamia.

96 Great War Gallantry

Our monthly analysis of some of the awards listed in the London Gazette reaches January 1917 and Lord Ashcroft selects his ‘Hero of the Month’.

101 Fieldpost

Your letters, input and feedback.

104 War Artists

In the first of a new series, Britain at War regular contributor Phil Jarman explores the work of sculptor Henry Moore as he recorded Londoners sheltering from falling bombs during the Blitz.

108 Recon Report

Our monthly round-up of new products and publications includes our Book of The Month which is an astonishingly detailed look at the harrowing story of the infamous Nazi ‘Death Camps’.

112 Image of War

COVER STORY

Squadron Leader ‘Johnny’ Kent, in Spitfire QJ - J of 92 Squadron flying from RAF Biggin Hill, battles with the Messerschmitt 109 E-7 flown by Haptm Wilhelm Enßlen of Stab. II/JG52 high over the Kent coast during a furious dogfight on 2 November 1940. During the combat the well-decorated Enßlen was shot down and killed, becoming Kent’s seventh confirmed victory. (ILLUSTRATION BY PIOTR FORKASIEWICZ)

In our second Image of War photograph this month, American salvage workers begin operations on a Pearl Harbor warship lost during the deadly raid of 7 December 1941.

114 First World War Object

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Postcards sold in aid of blinded soldiers at St Dunstan’s are the subject of this month’s object from the Great War.

NEWS FEATURE 6 Ghost Ships

John Ash looks into the mystery surrounding seven Allied warship wrecks of the Second World War that have recently ‘vanished’ from the bottom of the Java Sea. www.britainatwar.com

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NEWS FEATURE

Ghost Ships of the Java Sea

Ghost Ships: Seven Sunk Down in the murky depths of the ocean, the wrecks of seven Allied warships sunk in the Battles of the Java Sea have disappeared, reports John Ash.

ABOVE: Java moored in Sydney in 1930, behind her are the destroyers De Ruyter (renamed Van Ghent in 1934, not to be confused with Doorman’s flagship) and Evertsen. Van Ghent was scuttled on 15 February 1942.

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NVESTIGATIONS HAVE begun after the discovery that the wrecks of several sunken Allied warships have ‘disappeared’, and suspected to have been plundered for scrap, off the coast of Indonesia. The Dutch Ministry of Defence reported the vanishing on 16 November after attempts to film three of the wrecks in preparation of a new exhibition and hopes of placing commemorative plaques. The missing Dutch ships are the light cruisers HNLMS De Ruyter and Java, and the destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer. In a statement, the Dutch MOD said: “The desecration of a war grave is a serious offence” and disclosed that the two cruisers seemed to have been completely gone, with little remaining of Kortenaer. The Dutch authorities have since announced intentions to widen the scope of their investigation to include more wrecks.

RIGHT: Admiral Doorman’s flagship, De Ruyter, at anchor shortly before the Battle of the Java Sea, camouflaged in the two-tone grey splinter pattern common to Dutch ships. She was lost with 344 of her crew, including Doorman. BELOW: The destroyer Kortenaer at anchor at Batavia, Dutch East Indies, in 1931, taken from the USS Black Hawk.

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Dutch Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis told MPs of the disappearances on 15 November, before the news publicly broke. “The Battle for Java Sea is part of our collective memory”, she explained. “The wrecks bear silent witness to the tragic events and form a backdrop to the many stories about the terrors of war and the comradeship between crew.” The story has caused outrage in the Netherlands and one newspaper, De Telegraaf, ran the front page story under the headline “Mystery in the Java Sea”. However, British ships were also sunk in the engagement and the UK’s Ministry of Defence have confirmed it contacted relevant authorities

after reports emerged Royal Navy vessels have also been affected. Concerns regarding the state of the wrecks of HMS Exeter, HMS Encounter, and HMS Electra increased after scans revealed similar damage and disappearances. The 3D mapping report showed severe destruction to four British and American vessels. The heavy cruiser Exeter, well-known for her part in the destruction of the pocket-battleship Graf Spee, is said to be all but gone, likewise the destroyer, Encounter. A large part of HMS Electra is said to remain, however. Although much of Exeter’s crew were saved, 54 are still at their action stations and eight were lost on Encounter which also carried survivors from

Ghost Ships of the Java Sea

NEWS FEATURE

unken Warships Vanish Kortenaer. Most of Electra’s 145 crew are thought to have died, in addition to a number who had been rescued from other ships. The UK’s MOD, recently criticised for failing to protect Jutland wrecks in the North Sea, stated that any such matter where war graves are involved is taken seriously, although it admits it is struggling with the sheer number of Royal Navy wrecks across the world. Officially, the three British wrecks are not yet protected. Nevertheless, the MOD confirmed the reports with a spokesman stating, “Many lives were lost during this battle and we would expect that these sites are respected and left undisturbed without the express consent of the United Kingdom.” The organisation has condemned the disturbances and requested the sites be protected from further damage. On 17 November, Dutch news reported the UK’s MOD was beginning an official investigation. Dozens of warship wrecks litter the seabed around Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, each now under a common threat. Commercial salvaging causes substantial upset among veterans, historians and governments vying to preserve the resting places of the ships and sailors. However, this does little to dissuade illegal salvage activities when the potential profits of £2,000 per tonne of phosphor bronze propeller material, for example, are so lucrative. Additionally, long sunken steel is highly valued for advanced technological products, as it is uncontaminated by radioactive pollutants. Several wrecks have been affected, including outside of the Java Sea, such as HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, both sunk in the very beginnings of the war with Japan.

Java under fire during the Battle of the Java Sea, possibly showing the torpedo hit to her aft, just 15 minutes before she sank after losing her stern.

Repulse sits at some 55 metres, a remarkably easier salvage than her companion, Prince of Wales, resting 67 metres under the surface. The three Dutch vessels are around 70 metres down, and experts say salvaging at that depth would have been a huge operation and unlikely not to have been noticed. Although unclear at this stage if affected in this instance, previous illicit salvage activity on the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth has long been known about and the subject of much controversy, although previous operations have not extended to such devastating extent. Also known is the previous salvage of Dutch submarine O16, sunk by a mine in 1941. However, not all believe the ships are the victims of extensive salvage, although if another cause is to blame there is little to explain the

sudden disappearances – other than shifting caused by storms or the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. That said, the ships would have slowly filled with sand over the years, increasing their weight substantially, making shifting less than likely. These are all large warships, with Exeter, De Ruyter, and Perth all in excess of 170m in length, and thousands of tonnes in weight, with Java being slightly smaller. The submarine USS Perch, also disappeared in its entirety, and was around 90 metres in length. A representative of the salvage firm Mammoet told Dutch newspaper, Algemeen Dagblad, that such an operation was bordering on the impossible because of the extreme depth. Other experts explained a salvage project of this scale would require large cranes and larger vessels, and could not be completed quickly. 

British heavy cruiser HMS Exeter off the Panama Canal Zone, 1939.

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NEWS FEATURE

Ghost Ships of the Java Sea

The Indonesian Navy stated they were unaware of the disappearances as local authorities distanced themselves from the mystery, although are prepared to set up a joint investigation team. A spokesman admitted that should claims of illegal salvage be true, the operations may have taken years. Indonesia’s National Archaeological Centre argues they were never asked to protect the sites and could not do so alone, although a UNESCO convention is supposed to ensure protections of all sensitive wrecks. If the allegations are true, this is not expected to be down to salvagers posing as fishermen; rather, it is thought the warships were blown apart by explosives to facilitate plundering. At the time of the First Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, it was the largest surface ship engagement since Jutland and still remains one of the largest sea battles of the 20th Century. It was also one of the costliest, with some 2,300 Allied sailors killed. The Japanese, led by Takeo Takagi, lost just 36 men. Among the dead was war hero Admiral Doorman, who was one of among 900 Dutchmen and 250 Indo-Dutch troops who went down with the ships. At least 386 British sailors died in the battle - each is commemorated on memorials, the figure including those who died as prisoners of war. The battle was fought between a hastily assembled alliance of four navies, ABDACOM – American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The invasion of the Dutch East Indies had progressed at an alarming pace and, twice, Allied ships had been defeated as land forces were pushed back. Darwin, a major

port in Australia, was in range of land-based aircraft and also vulnerable to carrier strike. A force of the four-nation’s ships consisting of two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and nine destroyers, sailed from Surabaya to intercept a Japanese invasion force, and, harried by air attack, demoralised, and without cohesion, they faced a Japanese convoy escort of two heavy and two light cruisers, with 14 accompanying destroyers. Most of the ABDACOM fleet had been damaged, the USS Houston went into action with a third of her 8in guns inoperable which meant that Japanese heavy cruisers, each with ten 8in guns, were even more potent. The Allied ships engaged in poor weather during a seven-hour battle from about 1615 hours. In the beginning, both sides were firing ineffectively, including HMS Exeter with her new gunnery control radar. However, Exeter was hit and damaged by the Haguro, and forced back to Surabaya. Two salvos of Japanese torpedoes, 92 in all, were also fired, hitting Kortenaer and breaking her in two - another success for Haguro. HMS Electra, meanwhile, ran out of ammunition engaging Jintsu and Asagumo after scoring several hits on the latter, forcing her to retire. However, in turn, Asagumo also sank her. That evening, their torpedo ammunition expended without success, the four US destroyers retired. At 21:25 HMS Jupiter, which had sunk the Japanese submarine I-60 a month earlier, hit a mine laid by the Dutch ship Gouden Leeuw, and sank, and at 23:00, with his command reduced to four cruisers, Doorman attacked again. However, torpedoes

struck his ship, De Ruyter, and the Java - both of them sank, claimed by the Haguro. Only 111 were rescued. Doorman’s last command was to order Perth and Houston to retreat to Tanjung Priok. Both Perth and Houston, along with the HNLMS Evertsen, were sunk in the Sundra Strait at midnight on 1 March, when the ships battled an invasion fleet consisting of a carrier, at least three - possibly five - cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 60 troopships and other vessels. A further 1,071 were killed. Japan lost four troop ships and a minelayer, at least one to friendly fire, with 10 killed. Exeter was also sunk on 1 March in the Second Battle of the Java Sea when sailing with the USS Pope and HMS Encounter. All three ships were destroyed after being encircled by Takagi’s cruisers and 800 sailors captured, 190 of them dying in captivity.

The battles saw ABDACOM massacred, a lack of cross-training and compatible equipment counted against them in battle against a highly-skilled Japanese force. ABDACOM fought on, but with air forces moving to Australia, ten ships lost and the rest withdrawn, the last Dutch, Indonesian, and British troops surrendered on 9 March. Control of the fourth largest producer of oil went to Japan, the gallant and costly efforts of ships having bought just one day for the defenders on land. Theo Doorman, 82, son of legendary Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, who commanded the ABDACOM force, was accompanying an exhibition which hoped to mark the 75th anniversary of the battle. He stated there was nothing but an empty groove where his father’s ship, the De Ruyter, once rested. He simply said, “I was sad”. Adding: “…for centuries is was a custom not to disturb sailors’ graves. But it did happen here.”  TOP LEFT: The USN heavy cruiser USS Houston underway in 1940, post-refit. ABOVE: HMS Exeter rolls over and sinks, 1 March 1942 after being torpedoed by the Japanese destroyer Inazuma. This Japanese photo was captured by American Forces on Attu Island, Alaska in 1943 LEFT: A cruiser under attack as pictured from a Japanese aircraft. This is most likely HMS Exeter.

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

Rare Great War Tractor Under The Hammer

HISTORIC MILITARY vehicles remain ever popular on a world-wide basis with the ubiquitous Jeep being by far the most widely owned, the most popular and the most affordable. However, there are occasions when an ultra-rare vehicle will more than grab the attention of the military vehicle fraternity when it comes up for sale – even if it is outside the price range for most collectors. Such was the case with a Holt 75 tractor which was recently sold by auctioneers, Chaffins. The sale in October provided an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire another of these highly desirable and hugely important machines – there being just four examples known to exist in the UK. An imposing and fascinating piece of equipment, the tractor has tremendous historic significance.  An iconic machine, feted on both sides of the Atlantic, the 75 was a product of the Holt Manufacturing

Company, the forerunner of the Caterpillar Tractor Company, and was built at both its Stockton (California) and Peoria (Illinois) plants. The model was in production from 1914-24 and 4,161 were made, including a total of 1,810 military tractors, supplied from Peoria to the British, French, Russian and US armies during the First World War. Some 1,362 were supplied to the British War Department, mostly as gun tractors hauling heavy howitzers, but also as prime movers for supply trains in various theatres of war and were manned and maintained by the Army Service Corps. The Holt 75 was a powerful machine with a big four-cylinder petrol engine (7½in bore x 8in stroke) that developed 75hp at a leisurely 550 rpm. Although a crude design by modern standards, the power unit was a very rugged and reliable motor. The flywheel,

governors and magneto drive were all exposed, and the large cylinders contained flat-top pistons. The transmission gave two forward speeds and a single reverse. Steering was via large steering clutches, 3ft in diameter, assisted by a tiller wheel at the front. The tractor bears the number 3580-75032, but this is thought to be the engine number rather than the chassis number and was built in late 1917 to military specification and has always been painted olive green. Evidence of military specification includes the auxiliary water tank to feed the radiator, the hard-mesh protecting the radiator, and the two skid-rings on the tiller wheel. One theory is that the tractor was one of many still at the factory when the military orders were arbitrarily cancelled when the Armistice was signed in 1918, although the exact history of this example cannot be confirmed.

Many of these machines were purchased after the Armistice by the US Government for use by public authorities on projects such as the Los Angeles aqueducts. When acquired by the present owner in 2003, the Holt 75 was found to be in good condition with little wear in the mechanical parts, except for the tracks, and after arriving in the UK it underwent an extensive restoration including new pins for the tracks. New alloy pistons were also fitted and the cylinder valve assemblies overhauled. Whatever its history, and whetheror-not this particular tractor had ever served with the military, this example of the Holt 75 stands as a notable representation of an important piece of British Army WD equipment of the First World War with its rarity and significance reflected in the hammer price of £62,000.

Missing Spitfire Roundel – Where is it Now?

BULLETIN BOARD

DURING THE production of the 2005 Channel 4 TV special documentary ‘Who Downed Douglas Bader?’ the wreckage of Spitfire IX, MA764, was recovered by the production company in the search for the remains of Bader’s

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Spitfire. Although unrelated to the crash of Bader’s Spitfire, the aircraft had been shot down onto farmland near St Omer very close to the spot where Bader himself had been downed and the wreckage was recovered to both investigate and eliminate the possibility that it might, in fact, be Bader’s Spitfire. Spitfire MA764 of 122 (Bombay) Sqn was shot down on 25 November 1943 and its pilot, Sgt Donald Bostock, baled-out and managed to evade being taken POW. Landing close to the farm where Bader’s Spitfire is known to have crashed, Bostock was initially hidden under sacks of potatoes in the farmhouse cellar before he went on the run and managed to return to the UK in January 1944. During the recovery of MA764, a

A photograph of a First World War soldier has been successfully identified thanks to a museum volunteer in Bexhill, East Sussex. David Hatherall saw The Army Children Archive’s plea for information about a recent photograph taken into their possession, which resulted in the Bexhill museum volunteer conducting painstaking research to uncover the serviceman’s identity. It has since been confirmed that the soldier in the photograph with his family is Sapper William Ball with his wife, Florence, and daughter Nellie. TACA founder, Clare Gibson, said: “We are enormously indebted to David for his enthusiasm and hard work in identifying the family in this First World War photograph and putting their lives into context.” 

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discarded flying helmet was found in the cockpit inscribed with the initials ‘DB’, initially raising the intriguing possibility that this was, indeed, Douglas Bader’s Spitfire! The Spitfire wreckage has subsequently undergone a process of restoration and reconstruction, although during that process a significant part of the aircraft remains went missing

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and the current custodian of MA764, Mark Collenette, would very much like to know where it is. The fuselage roundel, which had been recovered in remarkable condition, is the object in question and readers with any information as to its current whereabouts are asked to get in touch with us on [email protected] and we will pass on any relevant details.

A local authority tree-felling programme is under fire after campaigners demanded that plans were re-examined with the threat of First World War commemorative trees being cut down. The 23 trees on Western Road, Crookes, Sheffield were planted in recognition of the sacrifices made by young soldiers during the Great War who attended the nearby Westways Primary School. Much controversy has resulted from the proposed plans with many members of the public speaking up in opposition to the local council’s programme. A Sheffield City Council spokesperson said that local households were being canvassed for their views. The plantation of trees at this site are a registered war memorial, but the local authority wish to fell them for road maintenance.

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

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Scottish Poppy Conserved

BULLETIN BOARD

AN IMPORTANT artefact dating from the early days of the Poppy Appeal has undergone vital conservation work at the National Army Museum, writes Alexander Nicoll. It was in 1922 that Earl Haig established the first poppy factory in Richmond, Surrey. Four years later Lady Haig established a poppy factory in Edinburgh to produce poppies exclusively for Scotland. Not only were the Scottish poppies of a different design to those sold elsewhere in the UK, but from its inception the Scottish Poppy Appeal has always operated independently from The Royal British Legion’s appeal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  The conserved Scottish poppy dates back to the 1930s. It was donated to the National Army Museum (NAM) by Ms Grant-Hunter and related to her grandfather, Private David Chapman, who served in the Royal Army Service Corps from 21 September 1914 to 14 September 1918. At the time it was purchased, poppies were made from a range of materials such as silk and paper, all of which were sold at different prices. It was not until 1954 that it was decided that only one style of paper poppy

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should be produced, and which would no longer be sold for a set price but given as a token in response to a donation to the charity. The NAM’s Scottish poppy was very crushed and misshapen, with its petals folded in on themselves. The crushed cotton fabric of the outer petals was soiled and fraying, and the inner petals of silk were invisible except for broken fibres falling from the centre. The metal stalk was wrapped around with green and ivory wool threads, and bent in on itself. Curator Emma Mawdsley explained how the task of restoring the poppy was completed: ‘Conservation was undertaken very much on a trial basis, since initially it was felt that the petals might be too brittle and damaged to withstand any treatment at all. Working very gradually, the petals were first cleaned with a microvacuum unit and additional threads were removed from the stalk. Then the outer petals were carefully eased open in a stream of steam from an ultra-sonic humidifier. Gradually, the outer petals could be opened and flattened and pinned out to shape. Once the inner silk

A new gallery has opened in Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand, to commemorate the countrymen and women who served in the First World War. The exhibition highlights the individual stories of the New Zealanders who fought whilst also reflecting on the sacrifices they made and the legacies they left. Curator Georgina White said: “I hope that visitors feel excited about the potential for discovering stories in the hidden detail of objects, so much so that they want to rush home and re-examine the treasures they’ve stored in shoeboxes in their attics.” For further information, please visit the Auckland War Memorial Museum website at www.aucklandmuseum.com

petals were revealed it was possible to gently humidify them, so we could open them out in turn, clean them with a micro vacuum and align the frayed and broken silk fibres. The inner petals were extremely fragile, so special material was used to support the fabrics that were too weak to be stitched, this was placed behind each petal and heat-sealed in place using a spatula iron. This was then repeated on the face of each silk petal so that they are both supported and protected for the future. Finally, the outer petals were supported by a collar of film to hold the flower in shape. The centre of the flower is now clearly visible with its metal centre and stamens and lettering, which reads, “Haig’s Fund”.’ The separate, and distinct Scottish Poppy Appeal was renamed Poppyscotland in 2006. The organisation merged with the Royal British Legion in 2011, joining the latter’s group of charities, though Poppyscotland continues to operate as a distinct charity. The poppies sold in aid of Poppyscotland today remain distinct in that they have four petals instead of the two of those sold by the Royal British Legion.

LEFT: Silk poppies being manufactured at Richmond during the 1930s. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS) BELOW: The Scottish poppy prior to the conservation work. (NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM) BOTTOM: The poppy after the work was completed. It will be on display in the Remembrance section in one of the National Army Museum’s new galleries. (NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM)

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A German research team has uncovered the crash site of an RAF aircraft shot down during the Second World War, killing six airmen from Blackpool. Plans are now underway to erect a memorial dedicated to the servicemen who perished near the German village of Hassloch. Halifax DK165, MP-E, is believed to have been en-route to its target - the Czech city of Plzen - when it was shot down by night fighters around 69 miles south of Frankfurt. Herr Wieman, co-founder of the research team, said: “Because of the background behind this location, a memorial at the crash site will be our final goal so that nobody will pass this spot without knowing the story.” Commemorations of RAF Bomber Command crews in German are becoming increasingly more commonplace.

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SEVENTY-TWO years after it fell into Allied hands, one of the largest combat vehicles to see action in the Second World War was due to arrive in Southampton from the US on 15 December, bound for The Tank Museum in Dorset. The 70 ton Panzerjäger Tiger (P) Elefant, has undergone an historic 3,500 mile journey across the Atlantic. It was captured near Anzio, Italy, by US troops in June 1944 and shipped stateside for evaluation.  Tank Museum Curator David Willey said: “Tiger tanks like this one have a powerful reputation which was underpinned with Nazi propaganda at the time.  This reputation has persisted beyond the war itself into books, films and video games.”

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

An Elefant is Coming!

ABOVE: The US Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center Elefant, now on loan to The Tank Museum.

The tank is being loaned from the Ordnance Museum at Fort Lee, VA, by The United States Army Centre of Military History and is one of just two surviving examples of the 91 Elefants built. Designed by

Ferdinand Porsche, it will be the first time an Elefant, a self-propelled gun and member of the ‘Tiger Family’, has ever been seen in the UK. From April 2017, The Tank Museum will feature an exhibition:

‘The Tiger Collection – the Tanks, the Terror & the Truth’ exhibition sponsored by World of Tanks.  The exhibition will bring every member of the Tiger tank family together for the first time in history. However, one example that has eluded the Museum will be appearing virtually, courtesy of exhibition sponsors World of Tanks. “We’re taking our experience of creating historically accurate models and using this to create an exhibit to complete the collection,” said Richard Cutland from World of Tanks. “Using the latest digital technology, visitors will see a fullsized Sturmtiger with the use of our Augmented Reality App. We’re pleased to support an exhibition of such international significance.”

Wittering EOD Destroy Massive ‘Bomb’

ABOVE: The suspect device. (MOD CROWN COPYRIGHT 2016)

BULLETIN BOARD

TECHNICIANS FROM RAF Wittering were faced with one of the largest bomb finds in recent years as they travelled to Dorset to make safe a 10,000lb device uncovered in a quarry near Corfe Mullen. The Wittering team was from 5131 (BD) Sqn, the RAF’s EOD unit and the MOD’s leading unit when it

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comes to the disposal of large airdropped munitions. Upon arrival, it proved impossible to establish how dangerous the device still was, and experts opted to dispose of the bomb, which had laid hidden for more than 70 years but was in near-pristine condition, as if it were at its most dangerous.

Last month, the 99th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion was commemorated in Canada. City officials and members of the public gathered at the monument at Needham Memorial Park overlooking the former neighbourhood of Richmond, an area virtually flattened by the explosion in December 1917. The tragic incident occurred when a Belgian relief ship and a French vessel carrying explosives collided in the harbour. The resulting blast and tidal wave killed 2,000 people in the Halifax area, and injured another 9,000 amounting to 20% of the city’s population. The Halifax explosion was the largest man made explosion prior to the 1945 atom bomb. Large commemorative events are expected for its centenary this year. 

12 www.britainatwar.com

As the condition of the device was so good, it had proven impossible to confirm the contents of this extraordinarily large UXO find nor the stability of its filling without first making it safe by controlled detonation. The disposal of the device meant Dorset emergency services had to set up a safe boundary, but as the bomb was uncovered in a quarry, there was some natural protection for locals. As it happens, once the casing of the bomb was blown open, its contents were revealed to be concrete. Although it is not known how the device got to the quarry, it is likely that this was a test, dummy, or prototype device, as German weapons dropped on Britain were substantially smaller, and more explosive. Group Captain Rich Pratley, Commander RAF A4 Force, of which 5131 Bomb Disposal Squadron is a part, said: “Time and again 5131 Squadron has proven itself to be a key military

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capability. Operationally speaking, their expertise is invaluable and at home, as we have seen today, their skills are irreplaceable.”

ABOVE: The contents of the bomb, revealed post-demolition. (MOD CROWN COPYRIGHT 2016)

A South Lanarkshire Second World War veteran has self-published a number of his wartime diaries at the age of 94. Mr. Alfred Hodgson from Cambuslang served as a naval officer during the conflict with harrowing first-hand accounts from D-day, the capture of Antwerp and stories of the North Atlantic merchant convoys included in the publication. Serving from the age of 18 in 1941, Mr. Hodgson was under almost constant German attack for the next five years. Now his stories have been brought to light after 70 years, Alfred considers himself very lucky to have reached 94. He said: “The thought that I might not have been here today to tell my story has crossed my mind many a time.” Alfred Hodgson's memoirs provide valuable insights into a wartime serviceman's life.

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Canadian War Museum Acquires Medals Of Last Commonwealth Soldier Killed In WW1 LEFT: Private George Price’s medal

group which has been donated to the Canadian War Museum. (TILSTON MEMORIAL COLLECTION OF CANADIAN MILITARY MEDALS, CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM; CWM20160175-001)

BULLETIN BOARD

JUST OVER a mile to the southeast of the Belgian city of Mons is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery of St Symphorien. It is, writes Robert Mitchell, like no other cemetery on the Western Front, for it is there that the first British soldier and last Commonwealth soldier to be killed in action during the First World War are buried. The latter is Private George Lawrence Price. It is his medal group and memorial plaque that have been donated to the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario. Born in Falmouth, Nova Scotia, Price was a 24-year-old farm labourer in Saskatchewan when he was conscripted into military service. After training in Canada, he travelled to the UK, being posted to Bramshott Camp in Hampshire. It was there that he joined the ranks of the 28th (Northwest) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. The battalion was eventually posted to France. Indeed, two months before his death, Private

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Price survived a gas attack during the fighting to cross the Canal du Nord in France. At 05.05 hours on the morning of 11 November 1918, the Armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed. At 06.50 hours a message was sent from Field Marshal Haigh’s headquarters. It read: ‘Hostilities will cease at 11.00 hours today, November 11th. Troops will stand fast on the line reached at that time which will be reported to Corps Headquarters. Strictest precautions will be maintained. There will be no intercourse of any kind with the enemy.’ Private Price’s battalion was ordered to occupy the community of Ville-sur-Haine and then take up defensive positions on the Canal du Centre some four-and-a-half miles north-east of Mons. There the men were to halt and find suitable accommodation. The Canadians duly took the village without opposition, but as they approached the bridge over the canal a German machine-gun opened fire. Nevertheless, with the enemy holding the northern bank of the canal and the Allies the opposite side that should have been the end of the Canadian advance. It was now just a few minutes before 11.00 hours and the war to end all wars was drawing to a close. However, Price, who was serving as a runner in ‘A’ Company, and three others decided to cross the

The name of a serviceman who lost his life in Afghanistan has been added to his home town’s war memorial. During a ‘routine patrol’ in the Kandahar province, 26 year-old Lance Corporal Oliver Thomas, of the Intelligence Corps, tragically died on 26 April 2014 when the Lynx helicopter he was flying in crashed, killing four other servicemen. Since his death, residents of Kington, Herefordshire, have campaigned for his name to be inscribed on the local war memorial remembering the dead of two World Wars. Elizabeth Banks, Mayor of Kington, said: “It is entirely right that Oliver’s name joins other members of his family who sacrificed their lives for the country.” 

canal. Precisely why they did this is not known. It has been suggested that they may have been trying to secure billets in the houses across the canal before the ceasefire, or that they were seeking out the machine-gunner who had fired at the Canadians when they approached the bridge, or merely checking on what the enemy were doing. Whatever the reason, the four men crossed the bridge and entered one of the houses, quite possibly the house from which the machine-gun had been fired. Inside were only the householder and his family. The Canadians moved to the next house, which again was occupied only by civilians. George Price then stepped out into the street. A single shot rang out. Price half turned and slumped into the arms of one of his comrades, Art Goodmurphy. The Canadian dragged Price back into the house. From across the street a young Belgian girl risked her life by

running to help Price. But George Price had been hit in the heart and there was nothing Goodmurphy or the girl could do to save him. It was 10.58 hours. Two minutes later the fighting came to an end. It is worth noting that there are conflicting accounts surrounding Price’s death. The authors Peter Barton and Richard Holmes, in their book Battlefields of the First World War, state that Price was shot by a German sniper ‘while holding flowers given to him by Belgian citizens grateful for their liberation’. The account of his death in the Mons City Museum states that ‘Price went out to attack the enemy with his Lewis machine gun, but he was mortally wounded by a bullet in the region of the heart’. Private Price’s artefacts were donated to the Canadian War Museum by the Royal Canadian Legion in Kentville, Nova Scotia, with the support of his descendants.

ABOVE: Canadian soldiers in Mons itself on 11 November 1918. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

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A Montreal businessman has allowed his vast private collection of First World War artefacts to go on public display at the Canadian Centre for the Great War in Montreal. Mr. Mark Cahill’s collection has been built up over the course of three decades with around 90% of the century old pieces being made up of Canadian items including pins, medals, helmets, uniforms, weaponry, personal effects and letters. With his grandfather fighting for the U.S army in the First World War, and his father in the Second World War, Mr. Cahill’s interest stems from very personal experiences. He said: “At the end of the day, it’s not about the war, it’s about all our families, all our friends, a common experience. It’s what we try to do here, we try to tell the individual story - the story of the common people and the experiences they had.”

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Soldier’s Tale Commemoration Project Shortlisted for Award A HIGHLY-PRAISED project aiming to encourage interest in the Great War among the young has been shortlisted for a national award. WW1 Soldier’s Tale was launched in June 2014 by DNA and uses Facebook and Twitter to explain real history and experiences through the stories of a fictional soldier, Walter Carter, and has been chosen as one of 16 finalists at the national Remember WW1 Awards. More than 160 projects were considered for the shortlist, but WW1 Soldier’s Tale stood out in the Community Research and History category. The project uses the voice of Walter Carter, a Batterseaborn Territorial Force soldier of the 1/23rd London’s, to relate the experiences of those on the Home Front and in the Trenches. So far, he has fought at Loos and at the Somme, having been wounded twice and seeing his battalion effectively wiped out.

Carter, although fictional, shares the experiences of himself and his cast of friends, family, and his partner back home – each with their own voices. Carter’s sister is working in France as a Ward Sister, while his partner, Lily, serves as a motorcycle courier. The family has already borne one loss; that of the eldest son, Charlie, killed at Ypres. The stresses of social change, loss, injury, economic turmoil, air raids, and international events are all documented as the family do their best to get through the upheaval of war. In a recent post, Walter, whose ‘photo’ is actually that of an unknown Welsh soldier, said in response to the news that voting rights would be extended to service personnel: “What a thing that would be. At the moment, we can only vote if we’re over 21 and a householder or tenant, which seems a bit rich when you’ve been off fighting for your country since

you were 18.” It is hoped this modern presentation of historical issues will interest the young, whose lives are thankfully so very different. The genuine experiences related by the characters have been gathered from a range of historical sources and a number of historians have been involved in ensuring the stories are authentic. Carter’s words are published in real time, offering a unique presentation of fact and contemporary evidence. Managing director of DNA, David Noble, stated: “Young people are following Walter’s adventures in the First World War online - lots of schoolchildren have adopted him and catch up with what he is doing every week… We were delighted to be chosen as finalists among some truly outstanding projects over the last two years… I would like to think what we have done with Walter could encourage similar projects at individual schools.”

For more information on the project, please visit: ww1soldierstale.co.uk

ABOVE: Friend of Lily Carter and of the family, passionate suffragette Mabel Ellen Green, like the lady in this photo, worked in a munitions factory. (NATIONAL ARMY MUSUEM)

RAF Pilot No Longer 'Missing'

BULLETIN BOARD

IN 2011, Britain at War magazine ran an account of an action during the Battle for Norway in April 1940 which left one RAF pilot missing in action with no known grave. Until now, Plt Off Hector Garmen

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Webb, 43154, of 224 Sqn, has been commemorated by name on the Royal Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede which records the names of RAF personnel whose remains were never recovered or

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh has unveiled a memorial dedicated to the inspirational band of badly burned Second World War airmen who went under the knife during the pioneering days of plastic surgery. Surviving members of the ‘Guinea Pig Club’ gathered at the National Memorial Arboretum to witness their President, the Duke of Edinburgh, lead the ceremony which saw a memorial stone placed amongst other monuments found on the site. It was designed by Graeme Mitcheson, and bears the outline of a Spitfire wing while on its reverse, set against the outline of a crashing Hurricane, is the face of Sir Archibald McIndoe, the visionary surgeon who treated badly burned servicemen. 

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where burial locations could not be established. Plt Off Webb was pilot of Hudson N7249, one of three aircraft of 224 Sqn which took part in ‘a show of strength’ over Åndalsnes on 23 April 1940, flying from RAF Leuchars. Essentially, these aircraft were the only ones available with sufficient range to reach this distant location but things went horribly wrong once the three Hudsons appeared over Romsdalsfjord where HMS Curacoa immediately opened fire on the unfamiliar and unexpected aircraft. With their glazed noses and twin fins and rudders, the twinengine aircraft were not dissimilar to the Luftwaffe’s Dornier 17 and, unfortunately, the gunners were

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on their mark. One aircraft (N7264) was hit and very badly damaged, but managed to make it back across the North Sea whilst another (N7249) was shot down and crashed at Toklegjerdet after two of its crew had baled-out. Unfortunately, Webb was killed and although the burial nearby of an unidentified airman in Åndalsnes had been linked to Webb (this link previously highlighted by Britain at War magazine) it is only now that the MOD and CWGC have confirmed to Plt Off Webb’s next-of-kin in the USA that they are satisfied this is his grave. The dedication of a new CWGC headstone, named to Plt Off H G Webb, will take place during the summer of 2017.

Lieutenant Commander John Moffat (Jock), the Fleet Air Arm Swordfish pilot whose torpedo was credited with crippling the Bismarck in May 1941, has died peacefully in Perthshire, aged 97. The torpedoing of Germany’s largest and most powerful battleship by Swordfish Squadrons from HMS Victorious and HMS Ark Royal was one of the most important battles at sea ever fought by Britain and the Royal Navy, ending the threat of the greatest German surface raider of the Second World War. ‘Jock’ Moffat’s torpedo jammed Bismarck’s rudder which resulted in the ship being unable to avoid shells from the British warships which ultimately sank her. A full obituary will appear in the February edition of Britain at War magazine.

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No Hope for HMS President?

ABOVE: HMS President with St Paul’s Cathedral in background.

LAST YEAR, Britain at War reported the threat to HMS President, one of only three British Great War warships which still survive. The submarine hunter had been moved to Chatham from her wellknown London berth while her home of 90 years was redeveloped and it initially seemed unlikely she would find a new home after the

HMS President Preservation Trust sadly failed to raise the money needed after an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund was unsuccessful. However, it seemed that the ship might be spared the scrapyard, as Ship Management International reported early in November that funds raised by the LIBOR fines levied on banks may be diverted to further preserve the ship. The Treasury stated it was to give “full consideration” to the application. Unfortunately, Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s Autumn Statement seemed to turn down the bid to preserve the vessel, as tens of millions of pounds of LIBOR funds were directed instead towards several Armed Forces and Emergency Services charities, RAF Centenary events, and museums. Director of the HMS President Trust, Paul Williams, stated: “Her hull is only a few millimetres thick now in some places… As we mark the centenary commemorations of the First World War it seems an absolute travesty

that we will potentially be saying goodbye to one of only three remaining warships from that era. What a loss to our heritage that will be.” MPs and Peers, including Lord Boyce, Admiral of the Fleet, and the chairman of the Defence Select Committee, Dr Julian Lewis MP, have all called for the ship to be saved. The City of London Corporation had given its support to a new mooring adjacent to London Bridge However, without the funding required, the HMS President Preservation Trust are unable to move forward. At the time of writing, a letter querying the LIBOR decision and requesting a meeting with the appropriate parties, including the Chancellor, has been signed by 19 MPs and peers. The Trust urgently requests members of the public write to their local MP urging them to support Julian Lewis MP in securing this meeting. Paul Williams told Britain at War that the Trust has raised £20,000 through Just Giving and a further

£250,000 in pledges to be released should a major part of the £3m total investment required to secure the historic vessel come from the Government. Sparing President was costing £7,000 per month, but, generously, the docks have waived mooring charges for a further three months, thus buying more time. Therefore, the Trust has the funds to spare the important warship until 17 February 2017. A donation page can be found at: https://www. justgiving.com/hms-president As Britain at War went to press, we received news that an emergency debate has been secured for 15 December, sponsored by Dr Julian Lewis, Chairman of the Defence Select Committee. He will request Government funding of £3m to restore the hull and pay for the new mooring. The Trust now hope, if successful, to finish works on the ship before the 2018 WW1 centenary commemorations although still request that concerned readers contact their local MP.

Fate of Lost Submarine Unravelled

THE WELCOME spate of recent submarine finds has continued with the fate of a lost British Second World War submarine possibly solved, reports Alex Bowers. The wreck the lost vessel has been discovered just 6 miles north-west of Tenedos, less than 20 miles from the infamous Dardanelles Straits. The recently uncovered vessel is thought to be HMS Simoom, which disappeared without trace between 4 and 19 November 1943. Researchers who identified the vessel, including Dr Innes McCartney and Turkish film-maker Savas Karakas, are confident of the validity of their conclusion. The Simoon was one of only two British submarines lost in the area, the other being HMS Trooper, but Simoon featured fewer torpedo tubes and a separate 4in deck gun, rather than the armament housed as part of the conning tower as was the case with Trooper. Commissioned on 30 December 1942, Simoon served in the Mediterranean where she attacked the Italian cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi. However, her torpedoes

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missed, and instead sank the destroyer Vincenzo Gioberti. Patrolling the Aegean on her sixth sortie, Simoon was of the third group of S-class submarines. The 66 metre vessel carried 48 crew and was armed with six forward and one aft 21in torpedo tubes, 13 torpedoes, a deck gun, a 20mm cannon and machine guns. Ordered to port on 13 November, it is unknown if she received the signal having being declared overdue on 23 November after failing to arrive at Beirut. Her loss remained a mystery but German radio suggested British sailors had been captured in the Aegean after a submarine was destroyed whilst the logs of U-565 state she fired at a target described as “probably a submarine” east of Kos. However, these place Simoom in the wrong area, and the claimed survivors did not state on which submarine they served. Post-war British analysis claimed Simoom was mined on 4 November off Donousdda Island. Her discovery, 73 years later, was made by Turkish wreck-hunter

Selcuk Kolay. His team had been scouring for wartime wrecks for two years, but were unaware of the identity of their discovery: “Since we did not expect to find a submarine in the related area, and with no known report of such a loss, we carried out a few dives to verify that what we had seen on the sonar screen was really a submarine.” He continued: “The visibility was excellent, and when we reached a depth of about 45m we could clearly see that we indeed had a submarine

wreck below us… We hope that the descendants of the HMS Simoom’s crew will be very much interested in knowing their ancestor’s grave”. The discovery found extensive damage had been sustained to Simoom’s starboard hydrophone, the position of which suggests she was on the surface when hit. It is now thought that she hit a mine laid by the German minelayer Bulgaria or the Italian torpedo boats Monzambano and Calatafimi in September 1941.

ABOVE: HMS Simoom underway shortly before her commissioning on 30 December 1942.

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Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown Medals Sold

PLACES TO VISIT

A MEDAL group and a set of papers belonging to the late Eric Brown, legendary combat and test pilot, Fleet Air Arm extraordinaire and Boys Own adventurer, have been bought by the by the Fleet Air Arm museum, a spokesperson for parent institution The National Museum of the Royal Navy told Britain at War. Calls for the medals to remain in the UK had been made by many, including Eachan Hardie, Brown’s pen pal. A ‘thrilled’ Hardie, 11, wrote to prominent individuals in the British aviation industry, requesting they club together to purchase the items. The museum thanked Hardie for his efforts. Renowned for flying 487 types of aircraft and numerous other world records, the records of Leith-born ‘Winkle’ Brown are unlikely to ever be repeated or broken. Among his many achievements was flying German jet and rocket aircraft, often more of a danger to the pilot than the enemy!

Highly and deservedly decorated, his 1942 DSC, 1970 CBE along with his AFC awarded in 1947 and Defence Medal with King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct were offered for auction by the late pilot’s family at Bonhams, London. Together with his logbooks, dated from 1942 until his final flights in 1970. They had been valued at between £150,000 and £200,000. However, the medals failed to sell at auction as they did not meet the reserve price. This allowed the museum and its parent, the National Museum of the Royal Navy, to step in and place an offer of an undisclosed sum. The bid used money donated by an unnamed party as well as funds raised by the museum. Historian Paul Beaver said: “To my understanding, a generous donor identified by the Fleet Air Arm Museum and the museum (National Museum of the Royal Navy) through some of its own funds struck a deal

with auctioneers Bonhams for a substantial price. It’s really good that the medals and logbooks have been safeguarded.” Professor Dominic Tweddle, Director General of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, stated: “It is fair to say that Captain Brown was by many measures the Fleet Air Arm’s most significant pilot of the post-war period and we are thrilled and honoured to be able to class this collection as one of our own. We can now preserve the record of innovation which is contained within Captain Brown’s log books which includes previously untapped information and display them for the world to see.” The FAA museum already houses Brown’s Mk 1 Vampire, which he landed on HMS Ocean in 1945 – the first ever jet landing on a carrier. In addition, his goggles and gloves form part of their collection. Tweddle added: “The Fleet Air Arm Museum is the spiritual home of the service and a right and fitting

home for the medals and logbook to be displayed.” Among his many world records, Brown also conducted the most carrier landings, 2,407 in total, and 2,721 catapult launches. Brown witnessed the liberation of the concentration camp at BergenBelsen, survived the sinking of HMS Audacity and was a personal friend of Neil Armstrong. He also had a role interrogating leading Nazi officials after the conclusion of the Second World War and, additionally, flew for HM The Queen. John Millensted, Head of Medals and Coins at Bonhams auctioneers, said the reason Eric Brown’s family decided to part with the extraordinary collection was so “others might appreciate them”. He added: “We are delighted that the medals are going to such an appropriate home where visitors will be able to learn about the achievements of this extraordinary man.”

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Lancashire & Cheshire Branch The truth behind the Christmas Truce of 1914 will be told by Taff Gillingham in his talk ‘How Football Fouled The Truce’ at 19:30 on 13 January. Venue: TA Centre, Armoury Street, off Greek Street, Stockport SK3 8AB. Contact: 016637 40987. [email protected] Open to all.

East London Branch ‘The Battle of Arras’ is the subject of Jeremy Banning’s talk at 19:45 on 19 January. Venue: Walthamstow Cricket Tennis & Squash Club, 48a Greenway Avenue, London E17 3QN. Contact: 07956 541897. [email protected] Open to all.

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Avon Branch Dr Colin Chapman will talk about the 125,000 ‘German Prisoners of War in the UK’ during WW1 at 19:45 on 18 January. Venue: Royal British Legion, Regent Street, Kingswood, Bristol BS15 8JX. Contact: [email protected] Tel: 01179 614270 All welcome.

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Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire Branch ‘Unsung Heroes – The Stretcher Bearers of World War One’ is the subject of Dr Emily Mayhew’s talk on 20 January starting at 20:00. Venue: Room SP101, Sports Hall, St George’s School, Sun Lane, Harpenden, Herts AL5 2UH. C ontact: 07500 040600. [email protected] Open to all.

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A DUEL OF ACES

Deadly Combat over Kent Coast: November 1940

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DUEL O

When Canadian fighter pilot ‘ace’ Sqn Ldr ‘Johnny’ Kent tangled in a dogfight over and that the duel which ensued would certainly be a fight to the death; a case of ‘kill

TOP: Not actually the demise of Enßlen’s aircraft but, instead, another Me 109 diving to destruction over Kent in 1940. ABOVE: Although taken some weeks after the incident covered in this feature, these are the Spitfires of Kent’s 92 Sqn during a ‘scramble’ take-off.

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K or

ver kill

A DUEL OF ACES

Deadly Combat over Kent Coast: November 1940

OF

ACES

Kent during 1940 he knew at once that his adversary was an old hand at air fighting or be killed’. Andy Saunders tells the story of this aerial battle between two ‘aces’. 

ABOVE: This RAF report on the discovery of Enßlen’s body confirms that no identity disc was found but that personal effects were being forwarded to RAF Intelligence for evaluation. www.britainatwar.com 23

A DUEL OF ACES

Deadly Combat over Kent Coast: November 1940

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y the Autumn of 1940 the Luftwaffe had begun to employ Messerschmitt 109-E fighters in a fighter-bomber role to operate against targets in South East England. It was, of course, not a purpose for which the agile fighter was ever intended and when used in the capacity of ‘bombers’ the weighed-down aircraft needed their own fighter protection; usually accompanied by escorting by Me 109s operating in their intended combat role. Such was the case on 2 November 1940 as 15 Me 109 fighter-bombers headed for targets in London with their escort of 30 fighters from II./JG52. Heading up the covering fighter escort was 29 year-old Hauptmann Wilhelm Enßlen, the Gruppenkommandeur. As a fighter pilot, Wilhelm Enßlen had already made a name for himself in the Spanish Civil War. Here, in 1938 and 1939, he had been part of an elite band of Luftwaffe fighter pilots who achieved ‘ace’ status in that war with no less than nine

TOP LEFT: Squadron Leader ‘Johnny’ Kent DFC, the Canadian CO of 92 Squadron, November 1940. The personal emblem on his Spitfire represents the Canadian maple leaf, over which is superimposed the Polish emblem to signify his time with 303 (Polish) Sqn during the Battle of Britain. TOP RIGHT: ‘Johnny’ Kent (second from left) walks away from one of the squadron Hurricanes with the Polish pilots of 303 Sqn during his time with them in the Battle of Britain when he scored a considerable number of his victories.

victories to his credit. Later, in the Battle of Britain, he had added two further claims; a Spitfire on 27 September and another on 8 October. Of the latter two claims, it is likely that the 8 October victim was Sgt Rufus Ward of 66 Squadron, shot down and killed over Rochester. Less than one month later, Enßlen would himself fall to the guns of a Spitfire when, on 2 November, he tangled in combat with a Spitfire flown by Sqn Ldr J A ‘Johnny’ Kent, the Canadian CO of 92 Squadron. Kent, already a seasoned fighter pilot of the Battle of Britain, had accrued at least five victories together with two probable victories and one damaged and been awarded the DFC. It could be argued, then, that both pilots were relatively evenly matched when they faced each other on 2 November 1940. Kent describes the combat in graphic detail in his biography One Of The Few (The History Press, 2016) where we pick up the story after his Biggin Hill Spitfire squadron had first intercepted the raiders over South East England:

‘The rest of the formation dived for the coast and did not attempt to turn and fight, at least all but one. We chased after the fleeing Germans and I caught up with this one and attacked. I found that I had picked an old hand; instead of just running away he waited until I was very close and then suddenly broke to the right and into the sun. I momentarily lost sight of him but as he continued to turn he moved out of the glare of the sun and a tail chase developed. As we came around full circle he repeated his manoeuvre but this time I pulled my sights through him and, although losing him under the nose of my aircraft, gave a short burst in the hopes that I might get some tracer near enough to him to frighten him into running for home. I misjudged my man, however, and he continued his tactics and apparently had no intention of running at all but finally after the fourth or fifth circle I drew my sights through him again, gave a longish burst and was startled when he suddenly appeared from under my nose and we very nearly collided. I still have a very vivid mental

BELOW: The Messerschmitt 109s of Stab.II/JG52 prepare to take off during the autumn of 1940.

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A DUEL OF ACES

Deadly Combat over Kent Coast: November 1940 LEFT: The Messerschmitts of II./JG52 dispersed at Marquise during the late summer of 1940. A POW from the unit described the airfield as merely ‘a stubble field’ and that the men had to build their own accommodation huts.

picture of him looking up at me as we flashed past not twenty feet apart. I distinctly remember that he had his goggles up on his helmet and his oxygen mask in place. I also recall the gashes along the side of the Messerschmitt where my bullets had struck and the tail of the aircraft with practically no fabric left on it and a control cable streaming back with a small piece of metal whirling around on the end of it. It is one of those pictures of a split-second’s action that remains indelibly imprinted on one’s mind. I did not, in the heat of the moment, fully appreciate the significance of all this and was jubilant when I saw that my opponent was reversing his turn, a fatal move in a fight, and I gave him one last burst from ‘fine quarter’ into his left side. A thin trail of grey smoke appeared and the aircraft rolled quite slowly onto its back and started down. I immediately thought that he was getting away and followed him with throttle wide open hoping to catch him as he levelled out. The last time I glanced at the airspeed indicator it was registering something like 450mph but still the Me 109 outdistanced me and I finally lost it against the ground. While continuing my dive, and waiting to see the grey plan-form of it as it pulled out, I was startled to see a vivid red flash and a great cloud of jet black smoke appear as the machine hit the ground and exploded. I came down low to see where the aircraft had struck but could see no sign of it, until I noticed some soldiers running across the fields waving to me. Then I saw it. A gaping hole that looked just like a bomb crater and hundreds of little bits scattered around.

A few days later the Intelligence Officer told me that the pilot had been quite a highly-decorated major [sic] but it had not been possible to establish his identity. Apparently, I had shot away his controls and he was on the point of baling out when my last burst killed him. This was deduced from the fact that his fighting harness was picked up undone and undamaged and the left half of his tunic was found with six bullet holes in it. Of the pilot himself…he was under the engine which was thirty feet down in the ground [sic]; not surprising considering the aircraft had gone in vertically from about 16,000 ft.’ In contrast to the details provided by ‘Johnny’ Kent, when they reported on the crash near Burmarsh Halt (which had occurred around 08.55) the RAF’s Air Intelligence ‘G’ Section (A.1 2g) could only record the barest of details: ‘Report No. 4/114 1940 Me 109. Crashed on 02.11.40 at Dymchurch. Map ref: R.5347. No details of this aircraft can be given. Following fighter action in the neighbourhood this aircraft dived into the ground at high speed and is completely buried. Pilot probably dead

LEFT: Hauptmann Wilhelm Enßlen on his wedding day.

in crater. A piece of one shell gun (20mm) was found, the armament therefore being two shell guns and two MG 17 machine guns.’ It was sparse information, but given the high-speed impact with the ground it was hardly surprising that little could be deduced from the ‘gaping hole’ which Kent had observed. Not only that, but with apparently no trace of the pilot being found either dead or as a POW 

BELOW: Increasingly, the Luftwaffe resorted to using the Me 109 as a fighterbomber during the late summer and autumn of 1940 but had to provide further Me 109s, unencumbered by bombs, to act as protection.

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Deadly Combat over Kent Coast: November 1940

ABOVE: Filled with pride, Wilhelm Enßlen’s wife admires the glittering gold Spanish Cross, encrusted with diamonds, pinned to her husband’s chest. She had to wait more than 70 years to finally discover the fate of her beloved husband. RIGHT: ‘…a great cloud of jet black smoke appeared as the aircraft hit the ground and exploded’. Again, this isn’t the impact of Enßlen’s aircraft but the funeral pyre of another Me 109. It is typical of the scene that would have been witnessed at Dymchurch on 2 November 1940.

it was concluded, incorrectly, that he was dead and in the impact crater caused by his crashing aircraft. This inaccurate information was obviously communicated to Kent. In fact, unseen to the RAF pilot, the German flier had left the aircraft before it hit the ground. The only information on this sortie came from the German side in the form of an RAF interrogation report relating to Fw Otto Junge of 6./JG52 who was shot down at 08.47 and landed on the sea two miles south east of Dymchurch. Receiving hits in the engine about 12 miles from the coast when the Gruppe encountered ‘about 40 Spitfires’, Junge tried to get home but eventually his engine caught fire and he ditched. The pilot’s rubber dinghy had been holed by bullets and so he swam until he was picked up by a fishing boat. Later, he told his captors that the entire formation crossed the coast at Ramsgate and then flew up the Thames, but when set upon by Spitfires the fighterbombers ditched their bombs and the entire formation made off south. It was here that Junge, and his CO, Hptm Wilhelm Enßlenn, were downed by the defending fighters.

FAR RIGHT: ‘…I drew my sights through him again.’ The reflector gunsight of a Spitfire of the type through which Kent peered as he shot Wilhelm Enßlen’s Me 109 from the sky. (COL POPE) RIGHT: The illuminated ‘cross hairs’ of the Spitfire’s gunsight, here reflected twice against the reflector plate and windscreen. (COL POPE)

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DEAD FROM BULLET STRIKES

In his extraordinarily detailed account of this aerial duel, Kent was correct when he observed that he must have picked on ‘an old hand’. Equally, he was correct when he explains that the pilot was ‘highly decorated although it had not been possible to establish his identity’. In fact, and although Kent hadn’t witnessed what happened to the Messerschmitt when it disappeared against the countryside below, Wilhelm Enßlenn

had evidently abandoned or fallen clear of his aircraft. Quite what happened is unclear, although we do know from mortuary records that he fell into the sea just beyond the low water mark at Dymchurch where he was ‘rescued’ from the sea. The use of the word ‘rescued’ rather implies that he was pulled out alive but died later. However, it seems certain that he fell into the sea without an open parachute and was either killed on impact with the water or was already dead from bullet strikes, just as ‘Johnny’ Kent describes. What is not debatable, however, is that for some unknown reason his body defied identification but, rather mysteriously, he was ultimately buried at Folkestone (New) Cemetery in Hawkinge, Kent, under the name A Schenk. As Kent accurately recorded, it was not possible to establish the identity of the pilot he had shot down although the burial of ‘A Schenk’ would, at first sight, appear to fly in the face that assertion. Rather unusually, though, the headstone placed on the grave had no date of death inscribed because no casualty by this name could be identified from German records, either having occurred on 2 November 1940 or at any other

A DUEL OF ACES

Deadly Combat over Kent Coast: November 1940

Kent’s testimony that he had been told by his squadron’s Intelligence Officer that his opponent ‘had been quite highly decorated’. And in that single statement could well lie a clue to the mystery of ‘A Schenk’.

date. The consequent inability of the German War Graves Service to identify who this man was, or when he died, thus accounting for the lack of any further detail on the headstone. How or why this man came to be named ‘A Schenk’ is a mystery, although we do know that personal effects recovered from the body were examined by RAF Intelligence Officers; on 8 November, Sqn Ldr S D Felkin reporting that no identity disc had been found but that personal effects had been forwarded to the RAF’s A.I.1(k) intelligence department. From Felkin’s report we also know that the discovery of the body subsequently identified as ‘A Schenk’ was already associated with the crash at ‘Eggland’ [sic] near Burmarsh Halt. (Note: Mistakenly, Hagueland had become Eggland in this report, introducing further confusion to the whole conundrum) We also know from

GREAT LEADERSHIP AND SKILL IN BATTLE Whilst only a theory offered by the author, it is noteworthy, and perhaps significant, that a German medal manufacturer of the period was a company named Anton Schenkl of Vienna. It must be concluded, anyway, that RAF Intelligence had at least discovered either a medal or medals on the body (or else found some evidence of the pilot being ‘highly decorated’) for Kent to have been given that very specific information. Taking this one stage further, and assuming the burial of ‘A Schenk’ to be that of Wilhelm Enßlenn, it would indeed be correct to describe him as ‘highly decorated’. In fact, Enßlenn was one of only 28 recipients of the coveted Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords and Diamonds, a decoration bestowed for service in the Spanish Civil War where he had shown great leadership and skill in battle. Additionally, at the time of his death, Enßlenn almost certainly held both

ABOVE: The Spanish Cross in Gold with Diamonds. Only 28 of these medals were awarded, one of them to Wilhelm Enßlen. Could it be that a maker’s inscription on this or another medal gave rise to the mis-identification of Wilhelm Enßlen as A Schenk? LEFT: The grave of ‘A Schenk’ at Hawkinge (Folkestone) Cemetery, Kent. RIGHT: The control column which Wilhelm Enßlen had gripped during his final furious dogfight. BELOW: The vital aircraft constructor’s plate with its number which finally unlocked the mystery. Note the portion of yellow engine cowling behind.

the Iron Cross of the First and Second Class order. It is also likely that he would have worn the ribbon of the Luftwaffe 4 Year Service Medal. Whilst it is not known whether Anton Schenkl was a manufacturer of the Spanish Cross award, or even if Enßlenn was wearing the medal at the time of his death, the company of Anton Schenkl certainly made Iron Crosses as well as other decorations and badges. Could it have been that either a medal or badge, or some accompanying documentation discovered about the deceased pilot’s person, recorded the name: ‘A Schenkl’? Then, somehow, this name was misread as ‘Schenk’ and in the absence of any other means of identification, Wilhelm Enßlenn had simply been misidentified as ‘A Schenk’? The similarity of Schenk and Schenkl is certainly something of a coincidence under the circumstances. Either way, the identification of the body recovered from the sea off Dymchurch was simply incorrect.  www.britainatwar.com 27

A DUEL OF ACES

Deadly Combat over Kent Coast: November 1940 ONE OF THE FEW The History Press (2016) ISBN: 978 0 7509 6820 1 www.thehistorypress.co.uk Hardback, 272 pages. RRP £20.00 Recently up-dated and reprinted by The History Press, One of The Few is the story of Johnny Kent through the Battle of Britain and beyond. We are grateful to Alexandra Kent and The History Press for permission to quote from the book in this article.

BELOW: Luftwaffe ground crew of a fighter unit wait for ‘their’ aircraft to return from a sortie over England. On 2 November 1940 the groundcrews of II./JG52 waited in vain for two of their pilots to return; their CO and one other.

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A VITAL CLUE

Although records provided a positive link between this mysterious burial and the unfortunate German airman pulled from the sea at Dymchurch, confirming that this man had fallen from a Me 109 which had crashed just yards from the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway track at Hagueland, New Romney, nothing otherwise helped to identify who ‘A Schenk’ really was. Circumstantial evidence, however, existed to link the crash with the airman pulled from the sea at Dymchurch to the burial at Hawkinge - and thence to Hptm Wilhelm Enßlenn. But it was certainly the case that no burial place for Enßlenn had hitherto been recorded. Officially, he was still listed as missing with no known grave and it was not until 1982 that a vital clue was quite literally unearthed when wreckage of the Messerschmitt was excavated at Hagueland. The discovery of the main aircraft data plate during this excavation showed the wreck to be a Messerschmitt 109 E-4, Werke Nummer 3784, the excavation further proving that the pilot had not been in the aircraft on impact as the 1940 report had suggested. More importantly, the

crucial discovery of the aircraft’s number positively confirmed, by crossreferencing German loss reports, that this was indeed the machine flown by Hptm Enßlenn when he was lost on 2 November 1940. Whilst circumstantial only, and providing insufficient proof that ‘A Schenk’ was indeed Wilhelm Enßlenn, it was nonetheless a most valuable piece of the jigsaw which finally provided a rather more tangible link connecting the puzzling Hawkinge burial to Enßlenn. Nonetheless, another two decades were to pass before a tenacious researcher of German war burials in Britain, Joe Potter, convinced the Volksbund Deutsches Kriegsgraberfursorge (German War Graves Service) of the connection between the burial of ‘A Schenk’ and Hptm Wilhelm Enßlenn. Consequently, the VDK authorised the replacement of the incorrect headstone with one bearing the name of Wilhelm Enßlenn. By great good fortune, it transpired that Enßlenn’s elderly widow was still living when Joe Potter finally got his breakthrough. For nearly seventy years she had wondered what had happened to her man. Now, Wilhelm Enßlenn is no longer missing. 

Token F_P.indd 1

08/12/2016 09:34

NO GREATER LOVE

Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma

NO

GREA Resistance leader Hugh Seagrim waged war 75 years ago with a Bible in one hand and a Tommy gun in the other to become one of Britain’s most highly decorated clandestine heroes of the Second World War. Steve Snelling chronicles an epic saga of courage and self-sacrifice in Japanese-occupied Burma. 

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LOV

NO GREATER LOVE

Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma

MAIN IMAGE: Clandestine hero: Hugh Paul Seagrim (1909-1944), inspirational leader of the Karen resistance movement, best remembered by his nickname as ‘Grandfather Long Legs’.

NO

ATER

OVE

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Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma of a ruthless Japanese regime aided and abetted by Burmese nationalists, would serve as a lifelong inspiration. Describing his unconventional commander as a “bloody saint”, he recalled a man, worshipped by his native troops as a demi-god, who conducted war “with the Bible in one hand and a Tommy gun in the other” and whose courage and self-sacrifice became the moving spirit behind an unrivalled guerrilla campaign which helped seal one of the greatest victories of the Far Eastern conflict.

‘ACCIDENT PRONE’

ABOVE: Beasts of burden: elephants like these seen fording a river in the Karen Hills were used to ferry arms and supplies among Seagrim’s underground army of volunteers.

BELOW: Burmese battleground: it was in these hills that Seagrim was hidden while the Japanese carried out their campaign of terror in early 1944.

T

he jungle trail followed no discernible pattern as it snaked precariously over precipitous hills and through thickets of bamboo. Every step was a struggle. But the small party, comprising a solitary British soldier and seven Karen guerrilla fighters, did not deviate as they trudged ever deeper into one of the remotest corners of Burma. For five exhausting days they slithered and stumbled through the southern Shan Hills until, at last, they reached their journey’s end. A quarter of an hour or so after passing a primitive bamboo shelter, they approached an even more ramshackle hideaway and its sole occupant: a tall, bearded, dark-skinned man, his long hair tied up in a bob, clad in native dress. At first glance, he looked like an Indian. But appearances were deceptive. Within moments, the gaunt and gangling figure had leapt

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down from the shack’s veranda and, in a voice trembling with emotion, welcomed his visitor. “Hello, old chap,” he said. “How are you?” In this peculiarly English manner did Roy Pagani make the extraordinary acquaintance of Hugh Seagrim, more familiarly known to his army of Karen tribesmen as ‘Grandfather Long Legs’. It was, by any standards, one of the Second World War’s strangest and most remarkable encounters between two British soldiers - one an escaped prisoner from the notorious Death Railway and the other the most revered of all British resistance leaders operating behind enemy lines. Pagani would later compare their meeting with that of Stanley and Livingstone. And there were certainly parallels between them as the unruly adventurer found himself in thrall to a visionary destined to be remembered as the embodiment of the Christian soldier. The memory of their time together, engaged in a perilous clandestine struggle against the tyranny

One of five brothers to serve ‘King and Country’, Hugh Paul Seagrim was an unusually independently-minded officer whose unorthodoxy was almost certainly rooted in his free-spirited upbringing. The youngest son of a gifted clergyman, he was born in Ashmansworth, Hampshire, in 1909, the year that his father became rector of Whissonsett-with-Horningtoft, two small Norfolk villages 20 miles north-west of Norwich. Schooled at home until his eighth birthday, he grew up with a love of nature and the surrounding countryside that served as his playground in what was a charmed childhood. His brother Jack recalled: “We were as poor as church mice, but we had a wonderful life… We knew everybody by their Christian names and we were all great friends. We had a huge garden, a huge house and we had our own cows, pigs, hens, bees and dogs - lots of dogs. As youngsters we could do more or less what we liked, but we had to go to church at least once every Sunday and took it in turns to pump the organ while our mother played.” In those halcyon days before and during the First World War, Hugh acquired the first of his nicknames, ‘Bumpkins’ shortened to ‘Bumps’ on account of his propensity for tumbling

NO GREATER LOVE

Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma

down stairs. “He was incredibly accident-prone,” Jack recalled. “I even remember him once falling out of our pony and trap and landing slap in the middle of the road!” By 1917, though, the three youngest brothers, Derek, Jack and Hugh, had exchanged village life for boarding school in Norwich where they became known as Seagrim major, Seagrim minor and Seagrim tertius. None were particularly academic, though Hugh harboured ambitions of becoming a doctor until his father’s death in 1927. The loss, during his final year, ended all hopes of a university education and with the family’s finances strained, he resorted instead to a career in the services. His brothers were all officers in the army - Charles in the Royal Artillery, Cyril

ABOVE: Brotherhood of valour: the Seagrim boys with their mother at home in Norfolk. Hugh Seagrim, the youngest, is second from the right, with Derek, the future Victoria Cross recipient, next to him on the far right. They remain the only instance of brothers earning the nation’s highest bravery awards.

the Royal Engineers and Derek with the Green Howards (with whom he later earned a posthumously awarded Victoria Cross in North Africa) and Jack in the Indian army. As a result, Hugh sought to break the mould by joining the Royal Navy but a medical examination scuppered his plans when it was discovered he was partially colour blind. And so it was that he became the fifth sibling to enter Sandhurst, and on his way to a commission in the Burma Rifles, where he quickly gained a reputation as an amusing if somewhat eccentric officer with a radical outlook on military and imperial life in general. A friend, Harold Braund, who later served with the Burma Frontier Force and knew him as a fellow worshipper at Rangoon’s Anglican Cathedral, described him as “a dynamic, infectious character”. Recalling happy times spent in the company of ‘Stookey’ Seagrim, as he had been dubbed after a defrocked Norfolk rector whose scandalised liaisons with prostitutes had made headlines around the world, Braund observed how they “got involved in discussion, sometimes religious, sometimes not, but usually serious despite which, Stookey’s manner of arguing promoted laughter sooner or later”. Part philosopher, music lover, voracious reader and inveterate traveller to the remoter regions of Burma and the Himalayas, he did not fit easily into the reactionary world of the colonial ruling class. 

LEFT: Charmed childhood: Hugh with his father, the Rev Charles Seagrim, rector of Whissonsettwith-Horningtoft during the First World War.

LEFT: Family gathering: Hugh Seagrim is on the far right, next to his brother Derek, in this rare reunion between the two world wars.

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Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma RIGHT: Tribute: Harold Braund, right, was a pre-war friend who described Seagrim as ‘a dynamic, infectious character’. Braund later served with the Chin Levies, earning an MBE and a Military Cross.

RIGHT: Ill-equipped: men of Seagrim’s unit, the Burma Rifles, with First World Warvintage Lewis gun prepare to meet the Japanese onslaught in late 1941.

He eschewed the ‘horsey atmosphere’ of the polo field for the football pitch where he was often the only British player in a team of Burmese. He drank little, smoked less and argued a lot, particularly about senior officers’ hidebound attitudes towards soldiering. Over time, he also came to question training methods, which he felt were too formal and fundamentally unsuited to the character of the hill men who made up the bulk of his battalion, also the recruiting system, which he maintained duped ‘simple’ folk into enlisting for paltry reward, and the rigid promotion structure which he criticised for placing seniority ahead of merit and ability to lead. Of all his complaints, the one that rankled most was the failure to acknowledge the particular strengths of the soldiers they commanded. Rather than mindless drill and formal manoeuvres, he argued time and again that they would be better trained as guerrilla fighters to operate in the hills they knew so well. That such revolutionary views might have hindered his own advancement mattered hardly a jot. For as he was fond of remarking, “he would sooner have been a postman in Norfolk than a General in India”. It would take a world war and the prospect of

BELOW: On manoeuvres: men of the Burma Rifles practice an attack as they prepare for conventional war in 1941. They would prove illprepared for the struggle against the Japanese.

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catastrophic defeat for High Command to recognise the error of their ways.

‘HARASSING PATROLS’

In January 1942, the man who had spent much of his career cheerfully challenging authority and forever flouting convention suddenly found himself no longer ‘a prophet without honour’ but rather as a key figure in a new form of irregular warfare intended to counter the seemingly

unstoppable march of the Imperial Japanese Army into Burma. After only a few weeks spent in charge of a detachment of the 12th Burma Rifles guarding Mingaladon airfield, Captain Hugh Seagrim’s application to join the so-called Karen Levies being hurriedly raised under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Noel Stevenson, an irascible and far-sighted Frontier Service administrator, was granted. At the age of 32, ‘Stookey’ Seagrim finally had the opportunity to put his frequently espoused ideas into practice in the most desperate of circumstances. Though little over a month old, the war in the Far East was progressing badly for the Allies when he set off for Papun in the Salween District with a truck-load of arms and in full knowledge that the region to which he was headed was liable to be overrun in a matter of days. His plan, outlined during a meeting with Major General Jackie Smyth, Commanding 17th Division, was to organise a force of Karens using as a nucleus the 55 members of the Salween District military police, to stage hit-and-run raids on the enemy’s rail and road communications between Moulmein

NO GREATER LOVE

Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma

and Rangoon. Operating under the aegis of Special Operation Executive’s Oriental Mission, albeit under Army control, he was supplied with 200 Italian rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammunition which reached him just hours before the Japanese advance effectively cut him off from the retreating British and Indian army. The risks, already enormous, now multiplied - but Seagrim stuck to his original plan. As the Army, together with thousands of mostly Indian civilians, continued the longest retreat in British military history, he determined to remain behind, foster resistance and to share the uncertain fate of his Karen volunteers in the belief that they would one day be able to rise up in support of an anticipated counter-offensive. Between February and April 1942, as his force swelled to number more than a thousand, he became engaged in a ruthless struggle for survival; more often, this was against sections of the Burmese Independence Army

otherwise known to the British as the Burmese Traitor Army. In a bitter internecine conflict characterised by atrocity and massacre that served as a grim presage to the longer war to follow, the ill-armed but more highly motivated Karen Levies eventually triumphed, driving the Burmese turncoats out of the hills. By then, Seagrim, who had moved his base further north to an all but inaccessible village deep in the heart of Karen country and out of touch with the Allied forces disappearing rapidly north towards the Indian border. His last contact with a British officer was via a letter delivered by one of his most trusted volunteers which resulted in a small but much-needed supply of arms. It was barely enough to mount anything beyond what a report described as “harassing patrols against Jap foraging parties”. Seagrim, however, remained undaunted. Together with a final shipment of shotguns and grenades, he had received word not only of the parlous state of affairs in Burma, but also of a

possible way out should he prefer to escape. In accepting the former, he chose to ignore the latter. No matter how bleak the outlook, he had resolved to continue with his mission for as long as possible and, in the words of a last letter written to his mother, “to leave a memory with the Karens”. It was a brave act of defiance that very nearly ended before it had hardly begun. Returning from an audacious but vain attempt to renew contact with retreating British forces in order to obtain a wireless receiver 

ABOVE: Source of strength: the church at Pyagawpu where Seagrim worshipped while preaching resistance to the Japanese. LEFT: Training for war: camouflaged troops from the Burma Rifles lead their pack mules through the jungle during the countdown to war. LEFT: Great escaper: Roy ‘Ras’ Pagani served with the East Surrey Regiment before transferring to the 18th Reconnaissance Regiment. BELOW: Forested refuge: the jungle-clad hills of the Salween district of Burma proved fertile ground for resistance to the Japanese occupation.

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Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma RIGHT: Resistance refuge: a hut typical of the sort in which Seagrim was sheltered during his efforts to maintain the loyalty of the Karen people during the Japanese occupation.

BELOW: Faithful friend: Po Hla, the former Burma Rifleman who acted as a liaison officer for Seagrim, and was later sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by the Japanese. He escaped by jumping out of a train while being moved from Rangoon in April 1945. BELOW RIGHT: Loyal lieutenant: Ba Gyaw, the first SOE agent to parachute into the Karen Hills in 1943. Later captured, he was executed together with Seagrim in September 1944.

and transmitter, he and two others were ambushed by bandits. One of his companions was killed, but he escaped and went into hiding from which he did not emerge for four gruelling months.

‘SMILEY-FACED’

Although he did not know it, Seagrim was the last-remaining British officer from the Oriental Mission still at large in Burma. But despite being marooned in a pestilential forest without any idea of the location of his superiors, or means to contact them, he persisted with his efforts to expand his sphere of influence. Before heading north on his failed reconnaissance, he had given strict orders to his burgeoning army of resistors to lay low. They were to “return to their villages in order to protect them against the dacoits [armed robbers]… and to keep as quiet as possible until he called for them”. But from his isolated hut near Mawtudo, where he remained

under the protective care of two Karen pastors, Seagrim continued to grow his organisation. Between bouts of malaria and spells of work, helping local peasant farmers tend their fields, he made clandestine contact with an increasing number of former soldiers from the Burma Rifles, compiled a secret register of potential new recruits and made preliminary plans for his extended network of guerrillas to assist British troops when they returned. In order to maintain support, he ordered the sale of three ‘government elephants’ to pay his expanding underground army and, at the same time, made unsuccessful efforts to signal his presence to ‘friendly’ aircraft. Finally, with his health weakening, he arranged to return to Pyagawpu. He arrived at a neighbouring village on 5 December 1942, wearing traditional Karen garb and carrying only a Tommy gun, pistol, blanket and Bible which he would read from cover to cover no fewer than 12 times. According to Ian Morrison, the

Times correspondent who became his biographer, he was “bare-foot and bearded, thin and haggard, but in great spirits”, or, as one volunteer put it, “smiley-faced”. Seagrim’s morale was further lifted by the extraordinary arrival of Roy ‘Ras’ Pagani. Having escaped from the Burma end of the Death Railway, the 27-year-old corporal from the 18th Reconnaissance Regiment had been guided into the hills by friendly Karens. Their mutual joy was unconfined. They spent their first night together talking without pause about their experiences. “I’d never met a man more likeable,” recalled Pagani years later. “We talked about religion and beliefs and there was never any question of officer and other rank.” The astonishing meeting acted as a muchneeded tonic to both men. It served also to galvanise Seagrim into renewed action with Pagani a willing ally in his scheme. After just 10 days together, Pagani, who had agreed to put on hold his own ambitious hopes of reaching India, was sent off to take control of the southern sector with instructions to put a stop to feuding and to beat off any enemy incursions - though only if he felt strong enough to do so. “He put his faith in me,” Pagani later recalled, “and told me to go with the motto: ‘to think is to act’.” It was typical of Seagrim. Ever the compassionate commander, he never lost sight of the bigger picture. To him, resistance meant maintaining the loyalty of the Karens and establishing an army in waiting rather than indulging in the kind of pin-prick raids that would have served only to provoke brutal retribution for no military purpose. One of his most trusted supporters, Saw Ta Roe, later reported a village elder urging Seagrim to supply him with arms and ammunition to fight the Japanese, “but the captain said that the time is not yet riped (sic)”. Another time, Saw Ta Roe recalled Seagrim telling him “not to be disheartened as the British troops will be returning”. For now, though, there were only two. And, all too soon, there was just one.

‘BURNT DOWN’

Having successfully reasserted control in the south, Pagani returned to Pyagawpu to discover Seagrim was no longer there, having been forced to go back into hiding at a few hours’ notice following a Japanese sweep of the neighbourhood. The two men would never meet again. After waiting for three or four days, Pagani 36 www.britainatwar.com

NO GREATER LOVE

Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma

decided to resume his great escape - an epic journey destined to end with his recapture and incarceration in Rangoon Jail. Seagrim, however, was able to stay one step ahead of his pursuers thanks to the unswerving support of his loyal volunteers who included Po Hla, a former subaltern in the Burma Rifles, who acted as a liaison officer between the various sections. And, although he didn’t know it, help was also on its way from another unexpected source which, ultimately, would prove a curse as well as a blessing, leading to the downfall of the most successful resistance leader in Burma. Following the first Chindit operation in the spring of 1943, reports had reached SOE Headquarters suggesting

that Seagrim was still very much alive. A daring plan was, therefore, hatched to the send a search party to the Karen Hills to find out for certain and, if possible, make contact with him. Led by Burma Rifleman Second Lieutenant Ba Gyaw, they represented the advance guard of a second wave of British resistance leaders, comprising two Scots, Major Jimmy Nimmo and Captain Eric McCrindle, pre-war timber workers who had trekked out of Burma in 1942. After myriad difficulties and delays, Ba Gyaw and Nimmo were both able to reach Seagrim and, by October 1943, were feeding ‘high grade’ intelligence back to India. But so much activity did not go unnoticed. Parachutes had been seen. Rumours fuelled reports leading the Japanese to step up their hunt. Bit by bit, the net began to tighten round the newly reinforced resistance network, culminating in a campaign of terror that spelled the beginning of the end for Seagrim. In the space of 48 hours in mid-February 1944 McCrindle and Nimmo were killed in fire-fights as Japanese forces led by Captain Motoichi Inoue of the Kempeitai raided two of the volunteers’ forest camps. Yet again, the man known as ‘Grandfather Long Legs’ was on the run, but this time the Japanese pursuit was as brutal as it was remorseless. Persecution was their chief weapon in efforts to flush out Seagrim. Saw Ta Roe later gave the colonial authorities

an account of the horrors inflicted on his people: “After a week’s search for him and as he could not be found the neighbouring jungles were burnt down together with many Karen villages for a radius of eight miles round Papun and all food destroyed.”

‘I WILL SUFFER’

Pillage and torture were followed by executions with the threat of more to follow, but still the Karens continued to shelter Seagrim. Earlier, with the crisis deepening, Seagrim called a meeting of Karen elders at which he had asked them to decide 

ABOVE: Fugitives: Eric McCrindle, far right, seen here during the desperate retreat through Burma in 1942, volunteered to join Seagrim in the Karen Hills and was killed during a fire-fight with the Japanese in February 1944. LEFT: Clandestine warrior: Jimmy Nimmo commanded the SOE team dropped into the Karen Hills in the autumn of 1943.

LEFT: The hunter: Captain Motoichi Inoue led the brutal campaign to kill or capture Hugh Seagrim and to eradicate his resistance network. www.britainatwar.com 37

NO GREATER LOVE

Resistance in Japanese Occupied Burma RIGHT: Honours displayed: descendants of the Seagrim family presenting Hugh’s George Cross group and Derek’s Victoria Cross group to the Imperial War Museum on loan. FAR RIGHT: For gallantry: Seagrim was awarded a posthumous George Cross for ‘self-sacrifice and bravery’. According to the citation accompanying his distinction, he ‘deliberately gave himself up to save others, knowing well what his fate was likely to be…’ BELOW: Roll of honour: Hugh Seagrim’s name features along with his brother Derek on the war memorial in Whissonsett where he grew up.

his fate. “Must I… make my way out of this place; must I surrender to the Japanese; must I commit suicide?” And he concluded, according to Saw Ta Roe by saying “If I have to suffer I will suffer it by myself. I do not like Karens or anybody to suffer for me.” At that time they had agreed for him to move, but abandonment of the people who had shielded and sustained him for so long was no longer an option in Seagrim’s eyes.

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At least 270 people had been arrested, many of them beaten and some murdered. The only way to stop the slaughter was to give himself up in the certain knowledge that he would be effectively signing his own death warrant. One day in March, 1944, Hugh Seagrim walked into a Japaneseoccupied village. According to Saw Ta Roe, “he gladly came to surrender, dressed in Karen costume”. Almost his first words to the senior Japanese officer: “Treat the Karens generously. They are not to blame. I alone am responsible for what has happened in the hills.” It was a plea he would repeat throughout his incarceration in Rangoon, and again at his trial in September when the death sentence was passed on him. Saw Ta Roe, who was with him almost to the end, recorded: “Before…sentence was passed the Japanese officer asked… whether he agreed to the sentence passed. Captain (sic) Seagrim replied that this war is not a Karen war but a war between the Japanese and the British, therefore you must release all the Karens.” But it was all to no avail. Seven Karens, including Lieutenant Ba Gyaw, were sentenced to death with Seagrim. Offered a last meal of rice and hot tea, most declined. Saw Ta Roe, who was among 10 Karens given 10-year prison terms, witnessed the final act. “Seagrim’s hands were tied behind his back,” he later reported. “They were then told to get into a motor truck and were driven away. Captain Seagrim, as he passed us, shouted ‘goodbye’ to us all. This was my last view of our Seagrim.” Some time before, Seagrim had told one of his supporters:

“Christ sacrificed for the world. I will sacrifice for the Karens.” He had kept his word, just as he had kept faith in the people who had answered his call to remain true to the British cause. Months after his death in front of a Japanese firing squad that faith would be fully justified as 12,000 Karen fighters, armed and led by British agents, took part in Operation Character, a major guerrilla campaign launched against the retreating enemy forces that was credited with helping drive the Japanese out of Burma. In the fullness of time, Seagrim’s final gallant gesture would be recognised by the posthumous award of the George Cross which, together with a Distinguished Service Order and MBE awarded for his work in the Karen Hills, made him the most highly decorated British clandestine warrior of the Second World War. But his most enduring legacy was to be found elsewhere, in the Christian example he had set. He had wanted to ‘leave a memory’ and this he had done at the cost of his life. Roy Pagani, who survived captivity to receive a Military Medal for his audacious escape from the Death Railway, later reflected: “Through all their subsequent troubles, the Karens never forgot what he did for them. He was a good Christian who made the ultimate sacrifice and I think the Karens saw him as a symbol of those who would relieve them of oppression.” 

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VICTORY H G U O R H T S N E L E H T For post-war generations, the photographic depiction of events during the Second World War forms the biggest part of any understanding of that conflict, and through what are often iconic images. Here, Mark Barnes, in the second of his features, showcases the result of some of his work in editing nationally important wartime photographic archives up until the end of the conflict.

L

ast month, we looked at a series of photographs taken from D-Day up until around the end of September 1944. Those remarkable images were amongst those taken by war photographers Bill Tetlow, Bill Warhurst, Eric Greenwood, Frederick Skinner, R H Gough and Cathal O’Gorman. It is to these men that we owe much in the way of our visual understanding of events from D-Day up until the fall of the Third Reich and beyond into the immediate post-war period. Theirs was a truly stunning photographic record of

this remarkable period in history and the images reproduced here, and in Part one of this feature last month, represent over two and a half thousand images and several hundred hard prints that the author reviewed during his process of creating a photographic narrative. "Britain’s press photographers do not receive much recognition for their contribution recording the road to victory in 1944 and 1945 and I hope my work generates interest in a remarkable group of men who are some of the unsung heroes of Second World War news photography." 

IMAGE 15: King George VI paid a five day visit to his armies and on 16th October 1944 he became the first British monarch to confer a knighthood on the battlefield since King Henry V at Agincourt in 1415. He also holds the distinction of being the last British monarch to have fought in a battle having been a gunnery officer at Jutland in 1916. Miles Dempsey and John Crocker were also knighted in the field at Eindhoven by the king; but the inclusion of Monty’s Chief-of-Staff Major-General Francis ‘Freddie’ De Guingand, seen here, was the most unusual. He was still only a substantive major at the time. HERBERT W WARHURST THE TIMES WN5832. IMAGE 16: Away from the front line, Winston Churchill arrived in Paris on 11th November to commemorate Armistice Day and received a magnificent welcome. His relationship with General Charles de Gaulle had always been difficult to say the least but unlike Roosevelt he had recognised that the general offered the best hope to lead the Free French against the Nazis and their Vichy puppets. Charles de Gaulle’s distrust of “les Anglo-Saxons” was as strong as his determination to see liberated France take her place on the world stage once more. He held a grudging respect for Churchill because he had stuck by him and any differences the men had were set-aside during the visit. Churchill and de Gaulle lay wreaths at the Arc de Triomphe. ERIC GREENWOOD THE TIMES DD444. IMAGE 17: Just as the winter weather deteriorated Kemsley photographer Bill Tetlow left Paris on his way to the front line in the Netherlands. He paid a visit to a Mixed AntiAircraft battery on 13th January 1945 where he photographed women of the ATS operating rangefinders and predictors for 3.7inch guns. Although mixed units met with approval women were barred from working the guns. There do not appear to have been any issues about them getting their tot of the rum ration. It was delivered in the same type of SD jar men of the Great War would recognise. H WILLIAM TETLOW KEMSLEY M4256P.

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VICTORY THROUGH THE LENS PART 2 War Photography in Wartime Europe

IMAGE 18: A week later Tetlow was on the front line on the German frontier with the Netherlands recording dramatic events with skill and determination. This burning Churchill fell victim to a mine near Laffeld. Crew members beat a hasty retreat with recovered items. WILLIAM TETLOW KEMSLEY M4256P

IMAGE 19: The superior quality of German armoured vehicles was appreciated all too well by the Allies and there were many examples of captured equipment being put into service. This Panther Ausf G named Cuckoo was captured by 4th Tank Battalion Coldstream Guards near Overloon in October 1944 and did good work until the troublesome fuel pump caused an engine fire destroying the vehicle. It is pictured on 26th January 1945 when the tank featured in what is now known as a photo-call for photographers and newsreel cameramen. HERBERT W WARHURST THE TIMES WN6294. IMAGE 20: The superior quality of German armoured vehicles was appreciated all too well by the Allies and there were many examples of captured equipment being put into service. This Panther Ausf G named Cuckoo was captured by 4th Tank Battalion Coldstream Guards near Overloon in October 1944 and did good work until the troublesome

PICTURES DISTRIBUTED TO EVENING NEWSPAPERS.

fuel pump caused an engine fire destroying the vehicle. It is pictured on 26th January 1945 when the tank featured in what is now known as a photo-call for photographers and

newsreel cameramen. HERBERT W WARHURST THE TIMES WN6294.

www.britainatwar.com 41

IMAGE 21: British troops and armour from unidentified units amid the ruins of Uedem. There are a few determined faces mixed in with others content to smile for Bill Warhurst’s camera. The photographer clearly did not intend to crop too much from the bottom of the image in favour of the sky, but we are left with an image that evokes the chaos and destruction encountered by Monty’s armies during the invasion of Nazi Germany. HERBERT W WARHURST THE TIMES WN6450. IMAGE 22: Bill Warhurst takes a break to enjoy a smoke on the banks of the Rhine on 24th March 1945. Although possessing physical presence complete with signature cigarette holder, he was an immensely modest man who would never brag of his exploits and seems rather to have projected a sense of bemusement at his role of eye witness to history. Bill was just 56 years old when he collapsed and died while photographing a rehearsal at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon on 16th March 1953. He was part of a dynasty of professional photographers, including that continues to this day. THE TIMES WN6600. IMAGE 23: By the beginning of April 1945, the British Second Army supported by the two airborne divisions deployed during Operation Varsity were close to the outskirts of Münster. The city would be assaulted by the US 17th Airborne Division supported by 6th Guards Tank Brigade. Bill Warhurst and Bill Tetlow were present when units formed up for the assault in the recently captured village of Appelhülsen. The two men worked in the same streets as the battle progressed and they photographed men of 513rd Parachute Infantry Regiment climbing on Churchill tanks and M10 Achilles tank destroyers of 4th Tank Battalion Coldstream Guards ready for the advance. Bill Warhurst stood on the deck of an Achilles to take the wide shot of paratroopers making themselves comfortable on a Churchill, 2nd April 1945. HERBERT WARHURST THE TIMES WN6648.

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VICTORY THROUGH THE LENS PART 2 War Photography in Wartime Europe

IMAGE 24: Bill Tetlow took this classic shot of the same Churchill seen on the left in the previous picture. The realisation that these two images matched was the genesis of my book when I first noticed the connection in 2000 during research for a project. H WILLIAM TETLOW, KEMSLEY M4261J.

IMAGE 25: A feature of the last month of the war was the race for German military and industrial secrets carried out by the Anglo-Americans and the Soviet Union. It was a serious business for the British with specialist units branching out across the Reich to secure scientists, technicians and anyone of interest in addition to documents and hardware. This relatively undamaged V2 rocket was a valuable find but the photographer did not record the location. RH CLOUGH KEMSLEY M4261J. IMAGE 26: 7th May 1945. News of victory brought crowds out onto the Champs-Élysées. With three photographers in theatre Kemsley Newspapers had the flexibility to retain one of them in Paris and it fell to Frederick Skinner to take this wonderfully atmospheric image of that great evening in the City of Light. FREDERICK R SKINNER, KEMSLEY E6560.

PICTURES DISTRIBUTED . S R E P A P S W E N G IN TO EVEN

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VICTORY THROUGH THE LENS PART 2 War Photography in Wartime Europe

IMAGE 27: Victory left a very important loose end to tie up. The liberation of the Channel Islands went by the name Operation Nestegg. The veteran destroyer HMS Bulldog, with Kemsley man Herbert Muggeridge aboard, arrived off St Peter Port, Guernsey on 8th May carrying lead elements of Force 135 under command of Brigadier Alfred Snow. The commander of the Channel Islands, Vizeadmiral Friedrich Hüffmeier, refused to take orders from the British but sent an emissary, Kapitanleutnant Armin Zimmerman, to discuss terms. Just after midnight the second in command of the islands, Generalmajor Siegfried Heine came aboard and agreed to surrender and Snow’s men went ashore at 0845hrs. There was joy for Guernsey man Petty Officer JD Langlois when his sister Alice greeted him for the first time in five years. HERBERT MUGGERIDGE KEMSLEY M4246Q. IMAGE 28: Former Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler had experienced a rapid fall from grace during the final days of the Third Reich. Hitler had branded him a traitor for seeking to negotiate with the Anglo-Americans, describing it as the “Worst treachery he had ever known.” After Hitler’s suicide he attempted to ingratiate himself with Karl Dönitz but the new Head of State dismissed him from all his offices the day before the surrender at Reims. On 21st May Himmler and two companions were stopped at a checkpoint manned by former Soviet prisoners of war who were suspicious of the true identity of the man claiming to be a Luftwaffe sergeant named Heinrich Hitzinger. He was delivered to the British at Lüneburg on the 23rd and having admitted his true identity he swallowed a hidden cyanide capsule during a medical examination. He took fifteen minutes to die. Bill Warhurst photographed the corpse. HERBERT W WARHURST, THE TIMES WN6869. IMAGE 29: Winston Churchill attended the British victory parade in Berlin on 21st July where Major-General Lewis Lyne’s 7th Armoured Division – the Desert Rats - put on a great show for the prime minister. He returned the compliment telling them “Dear Desert Rats! May your glory ever shine! May your laurels never fade! May the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war which you have made from Alamein, via the Baltic to Berlin never die!” The Challenger and Cromwell tanks of 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars rumble along with the Victory Column making a suitable background. H WILLIAM TETLOW KEMSLEY M4270X. IMAGE 30: The trial of leading Nazis began at Nuremberg on 20th November 1945. Bill Tetlow recorded much of the day-to-day activity in the courtroom and he found time to take behind the scenes images. He is a picture of concentration in this image taken by an unknown photographer. This is one of two 35mm frames showing him at work. No other images of Tetlow remain in the News UK archive. KEMSLEY M4282X.

Casemate, the publishers of Mark Barnes’ superb book ‘The Liberation of Europe 1944-45’, are giving away four copies of the book as prizes in our competition. With a cover price of £25.00, hardback, and in A4 format, the book contains hundreds of high quality photographs across 282 pages and is the book on which the foregoing ‘photo feature was based. 44 www.britainatwar.com

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IMAGE OF WAR ‘BUTCHER-BIRD’ ACE Summer 1942

Hptm Johannes Seifert, Kommodore of I./JG26, stands by the tail of his Fw 190 on the Channel Coast during early June 1942 shortly after having been awarded the Knight’s Cross. At this time he had achieved 34 victories. He claimed his 41st during the Dieppe Raid on 19 August. He eventually scored 57 victories (46 over the Western Front) but was killed on 25 November 1942 when he collided with a USAAF P-38 over Lille. (1940 MEDIA LTD)

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‘A DISGRACEFUL EPISODE’

Victoria Cross in British Home Port: 1940

F

rom the outset of air operations against the British Isles, shipping had found itself in the sights of the Luftwaffe and once the air campaign had got properly underway following the Dunkirk evacuation it became a stated German war aim to attack and cripple Britain’s shipping. Convoys of merchant ships in the English Channel and North Sea became regular targets from the air by day, and were frequently attacked at night by E-Boats. Similarly, Royal Navy vessels also came under attack; the Luftwaffe weapon of choice often being the much-feared Junkers 87 Stuka dive-bomber. Its effectiveness against shipping, especially if uninterrupted in its task, was formidable and even a near-miss would be sufficient to sink or disable a ship. On 4 July 1940, though, the Stukas had a RN ship in Portland Harbour on its target list. Given the purpose of that ship, then its targeting was arguably a brave move. On the other hand, its successful removal would deny the British a dangerous defensive asset at this important naval facility. As HMS Foylebank rode silently at her mooring inside Portland Harbour on the morning of 4 July, war seemed very far away. The Luftwaffe had yet to begin its real air assault and an atmosphere of surreal detachment from war generally prevailed. Whilst the ‘Phoney War’ was over, one Foylebank sailor later remarked that things, then, were rather more ‘Sitzkrieg’ than ‘Blitzkrieg’. Very soon, any false sense of security would be shattered. 

On 4 July 1940, the Luftwaffe struck a major blow in its first attempts to secure air supremacy in the There were still six days to go before the Battle of Britain ‘officially’ commenced, but the day saw both

En her

‘A DISGRACEF 48 www.britainatwar.com

‘A DISGRACEFUL EPISODE’

Victoria Cross in British Home Port: 1940 The anti-aircraft ship, HMS Foylebank.

the oth

English Channel when Junkers 87 Stukas attacked a convoy off Portland and the naval base itself. heroism and a massive loss of life sustained during German air attacks, as Andy Saunders relates.

FUL EPISODE’ www.britainatwar.com 49

‘A DISGRACEFUL EPISODE’

Victoria Cross in British Home Port: 1940

ABOVE: HMS Foylebank is left ablaze after the deadly Stuka attack. RIGHT: After the raid, HMS Foylebank is left burning and sinking.

RIGHT: This remarkable image, snapped from the cockpit of one of the attacking Stukas, shows the raid against Portland underway with HMS Foylebank already hit and on fire in the harbour. (VIA CHRIS GOSS)

BELOW: An artist's impression of Jack Mantle at his guns during his heroic VC action.

to resolve sighting issues on moving targets. During the onslaught, multiple bombs struck Foylebank with direct hits; 500kg, 250kg and 50kg missiles all raining down in salvos of four at a time; one hundred and four being dropped in total. Other bombs fell close to Foylebank, causing blast and splinter damage, one scoring a direct hit which blew to matchwood the Foylebank’s own tender tied up alongside and sank a tug, the SS Silverdial Silverdial.

from the port barrel and 28 from the starboard. Meanwhile, Leading Seaman Jack Mantle was battling to get his set of ‘Pom-Pom’ guns to bear.

On board, it was mayhem and carnage. One who was there described the ghastly scene on deck as ‘…a cross between a butcher’s shop and scrap metal yard.’ In a few short minutes, no less than 176 Royal Navy sailors had been killed, and Foylebank sent to the bottom. In the moments before she succumbed, however, some of the gunners reached their stations and began to fire back. Such was the surprise of the attack, however, and so quickly was it over, that only the ‘Y’ four-inch gun managed to fire, getting off 27 rounds

kept down the heads of defenders firing back. In addition, the altimeter was set to local altitude above mean sea level and when passing the set altitude for bomb release a loud warning horn sounded, telling the pilot to press his bomb release and pull out of the dive. As the Stuka pulled out and drew away, so the rear gunner would take over machine gunning to maintain anti-aircraft fire suppression. So, when the Stukas dived on Foylebank they raked her with bombs and bullets continuously, and for several minutes.

ON FIRE AND SINKING

In a diving attack, the Stuka pilot’s usual method was to dive as steeply as possible (sometimes up to 90°) towards the stern of the ship. At around 1,500ft the angle was decreased to 45° and the pilot’s Revi gunsight lined up on the target ship’s stern as the pilot fired his 7.92mm MG 17 machine guns, one in each wing. Gradually, the bullets moved along the length of the ship and when the pilot saw them striking the water ahead of the bow, so the bombs were released. In this way, machine gun fire was an aid to sighting and also

A ‘BUTCHER’S SHOP’ SCENE

With long-range fighter cover provided by the Messerschmitt 110’s of V./(Z)LG 1 and Messerschmitt 109’s of I./JG 1 (re-designated as III./ JG 27 the following day) the Junkers 87 dive-bombers of III./St G 51 (also re-designated as II./St G 1 two days later) struck Portland shortly after 08.15, bombing the harbour and ships. Twenty-six aircraft took part in the raid, and one of the vessels hit was, indeed, HMS Foylebank, an anti-aircraft ship converted from a freighter and stationed at Portland from 9 June. Mounted on Foylebank were four twin four-inch high angle guns, multiple two-pounder quick firing “Pom-Pom” guns and 0.50inch calibre machine guns. Appearing overhead without warning, the Stukas dived on Foylebank before the gun crews had time to react to the ‘Action Stations!’ alert, and, unlike many of the Stuka’s shipping targets, she was, quite literally, a sitting duck – stationary within the harbour. There was no question of taking avoiding action, and neither did the Stuka pilots need

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‘A DISGRACEFUL EPISODE’

Victoria Cross in British Home Port: 1940 CENTER LEFT: German bombs falling across Portland Harbour's mole during a later attack on the Royal Navy base in the summer of 1940. LEFT: Jack Mantle VC.

up the survivors and dive bombers kept coming, machine-gunning and bombing, lifting the launch almost out of the water. Well we loaded the hands on-board until we could not carry any more and made for the nearest jetty. Some poor fellows were in a sad mess. We landed as quickly as we could and went back for more. By this time the enemy dive bombers had done what they had come to do, Foylebank was on fire and sinking.’

MAGNIFICENT BEHAVIOUR

This was just as the gun crews were racing along exposed decks and gangways to get to their stations. Some were lucky to escape, but many were cut down by bullets or splinters – or literally caught in bomb blasts from direct hits. Harbour Master Edward Palmer was on duty on a launch in Portland Harbour during the attack, and later recalled: ‘Out of the sun they came, enemy dive bombers. Diving straight down onto the guard ship, machinegunning and bombing. Hell let loose, about twenty planes, they appeared to have caught us napping. I immediately told my crew that we were going in to pick up the hands and ratings who were jumping and being blown into the water alongside of her. There was a barge with work people alongside of Foylebank, a bomb dropped alongside the barge, turning it upside down. We got alongside and started to pick

Throughout the attack, and standing in his exposed gun position, Jack Mantle was having difficulty with the change-over lever on top of the top of the gun. Through blast or gunfire it had become bent, although he had managed to get away a few rounds. Already, Mantle had been hit and badly wounded in the leg and was losing a great deal of blood, but instead of seeking medical attention he stayed at his post. Just as he won

his struggle with the damaged lever, so a further wave of Stukas came over The Mole and Portland’s South Ship Channel. As Mantle openedup, so did the pilot of the first diving Stuka. Immediately, the young sailor fell across his gun, mortally wounded by hits across his chest from gunfire. Lifted down from his bullet and splinter riddled station, a blood-soaked Mantle was taken to Portland Hospital. It was here that the 23-year-old seaman died later that day. Of Mantle’s action, the captain of HMS Foylebank, Captain H P Wilson, reported to C-in-C Portsmouth and on receiving Wilson’s report was moved to record that Mantle: ‘…behaved too magnificently for words.’ It was magnificent behaviour that, ultimately, would lead to the posthumous award of a Victoria Cross. His citation was fulsome in its praise: ‘Between his bursts of fire he had time to reflect on the grievous injuries of which he was soon to die; but his 

LEFT: Hptm Anton Keil, who led III./StG51. BELOW: The Staffel Kaptan of 8./StG51, Oblt Martin Schmid, flew on the 4 July 1940 operations. He is pictured here during a visit to the unit by actress and film star Olga Tschechowa.

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‘A DISGRACEFUL EPISODE’

Victoria Cross in British Home Port: 1940

‘AN ANGRY SWARM OF BEES’

ABOVE: Survivor Ron Walsh is interviewed above Portland Harbour. A RFA supply vessel is moored almost exactly where HMS Foylebank sat. TOP RIGHT: Jack Mantle lies buried in Portland Cemetery on the slope overlooking the scene of his VC action. (DARIUS JOHN SMITH)

great courage bore him up till the end of the fight when he fell by the gun he had so valiantly served.’ Notwithstanding Jack’s Mantle’s courage, nothing that might be called a really effective defence was put up by HMS Foylebank. Although she was an anti-aircraft ship, she was sunk by the very kind of attack against which she was designed to defend, although two Stukas of 7./St G 51 had, in fact, been lost during the attacks through antiaircraft fire; Lt Wilhelm Schwarze and Uff Julius Dörflinger were killed when their Junkers 87 B-1 crashed into the English Channel south of Portland, the crew of another 7 Staffel machine being rescued from the sea off the Cotentin Peninsula. Other defences that day were totally impotent, though.

RIGHT: HMS Foylebank survivor and Royal Navy veteran Ron Walsh with Jack Mantle's VC during a BBC television interview about his experiences on the ship on the heights overlooking the spot where Foylebank was sunk.

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During the attack on Portland the Messerschmitt 110’s and 109’s had circled protectively overhead to ward off the anticipated interfering RAF fighters. However, there was absolutely no response from RAF Fighter Command who had been taken by surprise as much as had the Royal Navy. Unfortunately, radar failed to properly detect the approaching raid and thus there was no early warning. Indeed, a solitary Fairey Battle of 10 Bombing and Gunnery School, RAF Warmwell, found itself all but caught up in the dive bombing attack on Portland. It was the only RAF aircraft anywhere in the vicinity. Piloting the aircraft (K9429) was Sgt A W Kearsey. Steadily approaching the practice bombing range at Chesil Beach, he noticed bombs falling off to his left at Portland, and, ‘…an angry swarm of bees above’. He called his trainee aircrew to man the Vickers ‘K’ gun, but it had been taken out for ground defence! Feeling vulnerable in closeproximity to this mass of Stukas and enemy fighters, Kearsey beat a hasty retreat to Warmwell. To quote Kearsey: ‘I was going downhill, ballsout, and as fast as I could!’ Meanwhile, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had been sufficiently alarmed by events in the English Channel on 4 July 1940 that

he felt it necessary to issue an ‘Action This Day’ memo to the Admiralty: ‘Could you let me know on one sheet of paper what arrangements you are making about the Channel convoys now the Germans are all along the French coast? The attacks on the convoy yesterday, both from the air and by E-Boats, were very serious, and I should like to be assured this morning that the situation is in hand and that the Air is contributing effectively.’ Of course, in respect of air (RAF) involvement on 4 July 1940, there simply was none. Effective or otherwise. The only RAF presence, and only accidentally, had been Kearsey’s Fairey Battle. Of the events on 4 July, overall, Admiral Max Horton was scathing, calling it: ‘A disgraceful episode…’. Certainly, it had been a clear demonstration of German power in the English Channel and the inability of the Royal Navy and RAF, thus far, to do very much about it. The Stukas and E-Boats were a deadly force against the coasters and merchant ships running the Channel, as well as Royal Navy vessels. In fact, the convoy attacked far out to sea by Stukas (Convoy OA 178) lost the SS Dallas City with the Flimston, Deucalion and Antonio hit and damaged. Later, the battered convoy came under nocturnal attack by E-Boats, losing SS Elmcrest and having two more vessels damaged. If lessons had been learned from 4 July 1940, it would still be the case that convoys and moored vessels would continue to come under punishing attack; Stukas by day, E-Boats by night. Nevertheless, the supreme courage exhibited on board HMS Foylebank by Leading Seaman Jack Mantle VC was demonstration enough that fortitude and bravery by Britain’s armed forces during the German air attacks on Britain in 1940 would not uniquely be the domain of RAF fighter pilots. 

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09/12/2016 11:14

MARRIED IN BELSEN

A Soldier’s Journey from Normandy to Belsen

W

hen T5958306 Lance Corporal (Driver) ‘Ted’ Reynolds, Royal Army Service Corps, crossed the Channel as part of the D-Day invasion force, never in his wildest dreams did he imagine he would find love and long-term happiness amongst the ruin and destruction of Germany, or that, bizarrely, he would get married amongst the ruins of the horror that was Belsen. ‘Ted’ recently revisited Normandy, when all his memories of those stark events of the invasion, insofar as those events concerned him, suddenly came back into sharp focus. Obviously, some of the fastmoving details of those hectic days have faded into distant memory, particularly because few

of the soldiers, if any, had facilities to keep any written notes or take photographs recording their movements. As such, this is a fascinating oral testimony of the events surrounding D-Day, and its aftermath, through the eyes of just one man who was there. This, then, is ‘Ted’ Reynolds story, told in his own words.

UNDER-AGE AND SIGNING UP!

“I joined up in August 1940, at the St Albans recruiting office, following the withdrawal from Dunkirk when we felt that we ought to get involved somehow. So, me and some of my schoolmates put our ages up from 16 to 18 and landed up in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, based at Hemel Hempstead

and Boxmoor. From there I was transferred onto Henlow and Bassingbourne, and then on to an East Anglian airfield to relieve RAF ground defences. The RAF Regiment was formed later to take over the duties of guarding airfields and after a period at King’s Lynn, Lincoln and Yorkshire, and on various exercises, I took up driving after which I transferred to Royal Army Service Corps for training in Nottingham. My driving instruction through 1942 -1943 covered all types of vehicles, including tracked vehicles and transports. So, with all this training, I was sent on a course at Aldershot where I learnt how to purify water taken from polluted ponds and rivers to make it fit for human consumption because I was to be detailed to drive a 15cwt water carrier truck. 

MAIN IMAGE: The Royal Engineers and Pioneers burntthe horror camp down. OVERLEAF: A photo of Eddie and Helena November 1945.

married i An ordinary soldier’s far from ordinary wartime experiences were related to marriage to a former slave-labourer which was conducted in the unlikely setting

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Ja of

to ng

MARRIED IN BELSEN

A Soldier’s Journey from Normandy to Belsen

in belsen James Luto in a fascinating account of D-Day and beyond, up to the soldier’s of a place that had been a veritable Hell on Earth; Belsen Concentration Camp.

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MARRIED IN BELSEN

A Soldier’s Journey from Normandy to Belsen

SIMULATED BEACH LANDINGS

Following my time at Aldershot, I was transferred to Scarborough and a RASC training area which prepared us and our vehicles for simulated beach landings. This enabled us to drive waterproofed vehicles under water five or six feet deep. This was in February, March and April 1944 and it was very cold and very wet. Finally, in late May, I was transferred to Chatham and immediately involved in the great rush to waterproof

all types of vehicle. Each make of vehicle had its own problems, and an instruction card was issued to make the job fool-proof. Large drums of a black sticky compound called ‘Bostik’ were issued, and this substance was moulded around distributors, coils and high tension leads. A plastic pipe was provided, rising upwards from the top of the carburettor to allow air intake, and a metal pipe was attached to the exhaust pipe, rising to a height of about 5 feet. As each vehicle was completed it was driven to Mote Park in Maidstone for testing. Here, concrete driveways crossed the River Medway. The Engineers, who were in charge, had winches ready to recover vehicles that failed the test. I crossed in my truck, without mishap.

D-DAY FINALLY COMES

On the day before D-Day I drove my Bedford 15cwt water carrier in a convoy

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to London, and on 6 June my RASC/ RAMC unit set sail from East India Docks. It’s interesting to recollect that some dockers resented our attempts, along with the help of the Royal Engineers, to load the ships in the dockyard because it was their job! They were eventually persuaded that this wasn’t just another exercise. Sure enough, overnight more and more troop convoys arrived and rapidly filled the ships to capacity. Then, the silence of the night was shattered by all the ships’ horns and hooters; we were on our way in a US Navycrewed Liberty ship. To where was still a mystery. As we passed the coastline of southeast England, between Ramsgate and Dover, the ship’s address system broadcast a BBC signal that Allied Forces had invaded France at various points on the Normandy coast early that morning. However, not many of us could even pin-point exactly where Normandy was! Crossing the Channel, we were allowed above decks to check over our vehicles, and after being stuck below decks it gave us some sense of relief and we now settled down to anticipate what we were in for when we arrived at our landing area. Approximately twelve miles off the French coast, the ships stopped and some gathered alongside where one or two actually bumped each other - this drowning out the noise of the

ABOVE: King, Green and Jig beaches from the air during the 50th Division landings . LEFT: T5958306 (Driver) Ted Reynolds, Royal Army Service Corps 1943. BELOW LEFT: Driver Reynold's RAMC identity certificate issued whilst he was attached to the 31st Field Dressing Station. BELOW RIGHT: Army form A.2038 War Department Driving permit for 1946 - 1947.

MARRIED IN BELSEN

A Soldier’s Journey from Normandy to Belsen

ABOVE: Ted standing next to truck A4999961 – on the back is written “My old Chev, Gemen near Bocholt Germany Apr 45” The A stands for Ambulance. RIGHT: 31st BR Field Dressing Station RAMC – on the back is written “Luneburg Germany complements of C W Bushnell”. BELOW: “A bit of loot” Luneburg May 1945, one of Ted’s mates wearing a German Officers peaked cap whilst sitting in a German Officer's convertible staff car.

distant gunfire away to the south of us. One by one, our ships slowly crept forward and we were aware of a number of battleships coming in on the horizon and escorting us closer to the French coast which we now knew to be Normandy. Our ship was stationed on the right of the convoy and the noise became deafening, particularly the salvos of heavy shells and rockets from the warships now in a semi-circle around us. HMS Belfast’s shells were right alongside, and overhead! About a mile or so out we could see all the activity on the beaches and various landing craft darting to and fro from ships to shore and others returning to our supply ships.

ORDERED OVER THE SIDE

We were ordered over the ship’s address system to gather our full kit and get ready to go over the side on scrim nets and rope ladders, and down to the waiting Landing Craft Tank (LCT) bobbing up and down on the waves below. I dropped down the rope ladder, waiting for a lull in the

violent swell. As I reached the point where the landing craft was almost touching my legs, a hefty Yank sailor suddenly propelled me onto a cushion of scrim netting on the floor of the LCT. I have no idea of the time, whether I had eaten anything or even if I’d gone to the toilet, or even exactly what day it was! All I recall is assisting in the process of transferring our vehicles to vacant spots on the US Navy landing craft, which within twenty to thirty minutes were loaded and approaching the Normandy beach. It was now a fairly bright afternoon when the LCT ramp was flung down onto almost dry sand near PortEn-Bessin, signposted: KING/ JIG/ITEM. We were on Gold Beach, near to the ill-fated American Omaha beachhead. Luckily, the sandy beach was hard and my unit’s vehicles, Bedford 15cwt Trucks, 15cwt Bedford Water Truck and a

Bedford QL troop carrier all landed OK on the near-dry beach. So now, on D Day + 1, we had finally landed and it wasn’t long before we heard shots overhead. Fortunately, they were our own. Further along we were strafed by a lone German fighter which just missed us as the bullets ricocheted off a wall. We eventually moved inland to a reception area where we were able to remove the waterproofing. My truck was nearly full of clean water which was much appreciated by the troops already established on the beachhead and they were able to wash and clean-up. As it was emptying, I reported in and was told to find a route to Creully where a water point was being established along with mail distribution, food supplies, bakery etc. At first, I couldn’t use the water point and so put my own hoses in the river near Creully and drew off some 600 gallons, purifying it through my tank’s filters. I then checked that my water supply was ok (if a little chlorinated) and as nobody complained  www.britainatwar.com 57

MARRIED IN BELSEN

A Soldier’s Journey from Normandy to Belsen

LEFT: Letter by the Commander-in-chief on non-fraternisation. This was in a series of four simple booklet type letters given to each of our soldiers there at the time instructing them on how to conduct themselves in relationship to the German civilians (non-fraternisation) and issued in the name of the commanderin-chief Field Marshal Montgomery. Letter number one in March, 1945, was the longest and most severe, more or less telling the soldiers not to have anything to do with any of the civilians including talking to any of their small children.

TOP: Belsen Concentration Camp - This temporary sign was erected by British troops, detailing just a portion of the grisly death total, which eventually reached 50,000. ABOVE: Ted's paper pass that enabled him to enter Belsen Concentration Camp, at the time he was stationed in the SS Camp Barracks.

I was told to return for a further dip. I shudder to think of the outcome should my training have been at fault. I could have changed the course of invasion history! Fortunately, nothing happened to the health of the British troops. Eventually, the Royal Engineers and Pioneer Corps set up their own water point at the same spot where I had originally drawn water near Creully.

BOOBY TRAPS AND MINES

My Company was dug in at a farmhouse near Cruelly and this later became SHAEF HQ for General Montgomery and Eisenhower. As my water drawing efforts were no longer essential, my commander had received a request from the General Patton’s

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15th Army Group for assistance with supplies, as theirs had temporarily dried up. So, now my Bedford 15cwt truck was constantly in use running from whatever supply depot was handy to the various separated American units. We even came across a mobile bakery – white bread, crusty rolls. I got some of this welcome stuff back to my own unit, along with some mail and the newspapers. We moaned about the British Army, but our communication methods were far superior in the invasion to the American chain of command. The Americans were completely let down at the Omaha beachhead. The effects were felt at St Malo, where I was billeted with ‘rookie’ US soldiers who were constantly talking about ‘Mom’ and of home cooking. Many of those US lads were completely unaware of the sufferings the British had endured through the Blitz of our cities, or of

the severe rationing. I called back to my base near Cruelly and helped with distributing mail and bread to various units right through to Caen. Some two miles west of Caen was a Royal Artillery base where I bumped into an old school friend, Stan Hunt, from Watford’s Alexander School. Back with my own base unit, we moved on into the interior and with Montgomery constantly moving all 2nd Army troops whenever possible we kept on going and making do, improving our lot as we went along through Bayeux and into Caen (which was in ruins) towards the awful-smelling ‘Falaise gap’ which was by now a stinking mess. My vivid memories are of refugees straggling along crowded roads and of unattended cattle, their un-milked bodies grossly extended, and cows blown-up in abandoned minefields they had wandered into. A new menace also became apparent when we were warned not to move abandoned German vehicles or bodies because of possible booby traps and

MARRIED IN BELSEN

A Soldier’s Journey from Normandy to Belsen

mines. We lost at least one dispatch rider through this, and attended several nasty injuries. We progressed through Belgium, and by November found ourselves resting up at a transit camp at Bourg Leopold where there was a complete change around and I was given a new vehicle to drive, a Chevrolet No.4 Red Cross ambulance. My newly-allocated Chevrolet was equipped with its own heater, battery charger, fridge unit and all mod cons just like a caravan. I then joined 31st Field Dressing Station, which became my base right up to the cessation of hostilities. We moved from Eindhoven, near the Phillips’ factory, and then onto Osnabruck and eventually Luneburg where we were to stay until July 1945. My ambulance and I were then ordered to Soltau, where we came across thousands of displaced persons at Munster Lager.

BODIES INTO MASS GRAVES

A few miles south of Soltau was Belsen Concentration Camp and on 12 July we were ordered to move there to assist in the removal of survivors of this horrible place. When we arrived, we found that there were vast supplies of food and stores packed to the roof in the modern brick-built SS barracks with their tree-lined roads – a showpiece disguising the awful sheds and gas chambers hidden from view three miles away at the back. We comandeered twenty-four barrack blocks in the camp and filled them with patients, and were responsible for loading all the ambulance trains. The camp was an entirely unexpected discovery, although we had all heard rumours, and were detailed to round-up any German civilians we could find to help clear up the mess and put bodies into mass graves. The Royal Engineers and Pioneer Corps burnt the horror camp down, while everybody was dusted with DDT powder and we burnt any clothing etc. Eventually, some of these inmates were very slowly fed and those who recovered wanted to assist in running their own welfare. This released us to remove or bury those beyond help. All of this had been a long way from the apprehension and uncertainty of entering Normandy, but in those months since June 1944 we had grown up. We knew what the dirty side of war was. The local German population of Bergen, Celle and Soltau were forcibly brought to this place, but we got no real satisfaction showing them how low their government had sunk in allowing 

ABOVE: Newly liberated and shocked prisoners wait for a food distribution from the British Army. TOP LEFT: The tables are turned. The shackled camp commandant, Josef Kramer, is guarded by a British soldier. Dubbed 'The Beast of Belsen' he was hanged for his crimes on 13 December 1945. LEFT: A British soldier de-louses a former prisoner with DDT powder.

LEFT: British soldiers supervise the distribution of soup to the former camp inmates.

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MARRIED IN BELSEN

A Soldier’s Journey from Normandy to Belsen

TOP: A photo of the table arrangements for Ted and Helena’s wedding reception in Belsen. TOP RIGHT: A photo of Ted and Helena’s wedding cake, a surreal image given the horror just yards away.

ABOVE: Marriage order of service. RIGHT: The Church St Lambert in Belsen where Ted and Helena got married.

these conditions to prevail. Some protested that although they knew about these atrocities they could not complain for fear of being arrested themselves. Many broke down, and that will live with them forever. However, all this confusion had its lighter moments as the days passed and I was ordered back to Munster Lager to assist the local medical commander in getting some of the Displaced Persons to hospitals and transit camps in the area. By now, I was a familiar face and found time to make many friends. Among them, my soon-to-be wife, Helena, who came with me to help in administration as she was a good interpreter speaking Russian, Polish, German and Ukrainian. Helena Wasilewna Kislewska was an attractive 22-yearold native of Kiev, scarcely more than a schoolgirl when the Germans invaded her home town, the capital of Ukraine, and transported her in a forced labour squad to Germany. Here, she spent three weary years being shifted from place to place slaving for the Nazis. Eventually, she escaped and was still living the life of a fugitive in Luneberg when British troops liberated the town. They didn’t arrive a minute too soon, for she was in a critical condition from undernourishment and was taken to a special recuperation camp for very bad cases. It was there, at Munster Lager, that we met.”

MARRIED IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMP That ‘Ted’ and his Helana should be married in the surreal and more than slightly macabre surroundings of Belsen Concentration Camp at

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least brought some light to that otherwise dark place, albeit fleeetingly. The couple were, in fact, wed at St Lambert’s Church (which had been set up in Belsen) by a British Army Chaplain, the reception held in Canteen No.10 within the Belsen camp itself and to which 120 guests had been invited. Certainly, it must have been one of the strangest and most unlikely events that would ever take place in this otherwise horrendous location; the marriage of one of the liberating British soldiers to a former Ukrainian slave labourer.

However, and although ‘Ted’ soon brought his bride home to Watford, she had to endure a long while alone, and in a strange country, until 1946 when the Army finally demobbed her man and he was able to return home to married life and normality, working as a bus conductor on Watford bus route No.321. ‘It is one of my most beautiful memories’, said Mrs Helena Reynolds of her wedding in Belsen. That any ‘beautiful memory’ could ever come from this place is, of itself, truly amazing. 

The Memorial

Pegasus museum

is dedicated to the men of 6th British Airborne Division. The 1st liberators to arrive in Normandy on June 6th 1944. Archive films, a guided visit and many interesting and authentic objects enable the visitors to relive this momentous time. The original Pegasus Bridge is on display in the park of the museum along with a full size copy of a wartime Horsa glider.

The Memorial Pegasus wishes Britain at War readers a Happy New Year Open everyday from February to Mid-December Only five minutes drive from the Brittany Ferries Terminal at Caen/Ouistreham

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Tel: +33 (0) 231 781944 Fax: +33 (0) 231 781942 Memorial Pegasus Avenue du Major Howard 14860 Ranville Normandy • France www.memorial-pegasus.org

12/12/2016 11:15

LONG MAX

German Big Guns in The Great War

LONG MAX Just outside Koekelare in northern Belgium, in the hamlet of Leugenboom, is a museum devoted to the Pommern Battery. The battery’s claim to fame is that it once held a massive gun; the 38cm Schnelladekanone (SK) L/45. Known to the Germans as Lange Max (Long Max) it was the biggest gun in the world in 1917. Chris Goss outlines the story behind some images he recently unearthed. ABOVE: A German artilleryman gives scale to one of the shells used in the Long Max gun. In this case, however, the gun is a rail mounted version of the weapon.

RIGHT: Looking down the formidable barrel of Long Max.

O

Originally intended to be fitted to the German Bayern-class battleships, the Long Max gun was instead adapted to fire from land-based positions. The German gun manufacturer, Krupp, therefore adapted eight of these guns to be fired from either railway mountings or at fixed emplacements. Due to the recoil of this massive weapon, the railmounted guns only had an effective firing range of just over 22km, but if they were installed in a fixed location the gun could fire its 400kg shell just under 50km. The gun weighed just over 75 tons and had a barrel length of 52 feet. The length of the massive shell was something over six feet in length.

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Operated initially by the Marinekorps Flandern, ‘Lange Max’ guns were located at the Deutschland Battery between Bredene and Klemskerke to the north-east of Ostende and at the Pommeren Battery at Leugenboom. These guns were intended to protect Ostend, but the latter was also more than capable of dropping shells much further away than that. Being just 44km from Dunkirk, the Batterie Pommern shelled Dunkirk quite regularly from June 1917 onwards. There were other smaller batteries, however, such as the Wilhelm II Battery at Knocke which had been established to protect Zeebrugge. Though this site was

LONG MAX

German Big Guns in The Great War IMAGES LEFT AND BELOW: General views of Long Max, showing its massive concrete emplacement, the breech and loading mechanism and external gun shield.

equipped with a slightly smaller calibre 30.5cm SK L/50 gun. On 16 October 1918, the Pommern Battery was finally overrun and captured by Belgian troops. Unlike the seven other guns which were destroyed on the orders of the Allied Commission of Control, this gun survived and like the other two Batteries in northern Belgium it became a popular attraction for those visiting the battlefields or trying to find the graves of lost family members. The gun was still there in the very early 1920s, but apparently in 1924 the weapon was sold to France for experimental work but was then captured in France by the Germans in 1940. Its eventual fate is not certain, but it seems very likely that it was simply broken up and processed for scrap metal to aid the German war effort. In October 2014, a museum was opened at the former site of the Battery (http://www.langemaxmuseum.be/en/ visit/site). Although the gun no longer exists, the huge concrete emplacement is still visible and this remaining relic, along with the museum itself, certainly gives a very good impression of the massive scale of the Long Max gun and what it could and did achieve. 

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STEEL AND SAND

Fighting the British in the Western Desert: 1942

OVERLEAF: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel awards the Knight's Cross to Günter Halm. (left)

R

uweisat Ridge is a rocky and austere geographical feature in the Western Egyptian desert, set between the Mediterranean Sea and the Qattara Depression about 12 miles south of El Alamein. The series of engagements fought across it as part of the Battle of El Alamein rightfully rank among the most crucial of the African campaign in the Second World War. Following the German victories at Gazala, and the capture of Tobruk, the British 8th Army had been forced to withdraw. Establishing new positions at Mersa Matruh, a small coastal port halfway between Cyrenaica and El Alamein which was then the last coastal fortress in Allied possession, the port having been fortified in 1940 when Italy first invaded Egypt.

Rommel’s Panzerarmee Afrika, in close pursuit of the British, and trying hard to destroy them before they had a chance to regroup, attacked Mersah Matruh on 26 June 1942. Only three days later four British divisions had been routed and forced withdraw another 120 miles further east, into the vicinity of El Alamein itself. At that point both sides were worn out and depleted, yet General Claude Auchinleck decided to make a stand and organised a defensive line stretching from the coastal settlement of El Alamein to the Qattara depression in the south. Rommel’s forces finally attacked these new positions on 1 July 1942. His aims were to bypass Alamein aiming his main thrust with 15. and 21. Panzer-Division at the centre of the Allied lines, while a secondary blow

was struck further north near the coast. Here the 90. Leichte InfanterieDivision was pinned down and halted by heavy artillery fire and a counter-attack by the Allied 4th Armoured Brigade. The fighting continued to rage over 2nd, 3rd and 4th July with both 15. and 21. Panzer-Division, supported by the Italian Ariete Division, trying to force a breakthrough on both sides of the Ruweisat Ridge. Yet again, these attacks were repelled by British and Commonwealth troops. On 10 July, the Italian 60th Infantry Division, routed after an attack by the Australian 26th Brigade, aimed towards the direction of Tell el Eisa; a near catastrophe which forced Rommel to commit the few reserves he had left at his disposal. 

S TEEL AN The fighting in the Western Desert between Allied and Axis forces was as bitter and suffered catastrophic losses at the hands of the Afrika Korps. On the German side, the winning the Knight’s Cross in the process. Robin Schäfer presents his remarkable

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me act sto

STEEL AND SAND

Fighting the British in the Western Desert: 1942

AND S AND

nd he ble

merciless as any war could be, and at Ruweisat Ridge a British armoured brigade actions of just one man, Günter Halm, stood out as he battled to stem the Allied advance story which is told exclusively for Britain at War by Günter Halm himself.

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STEEL AND SAND

Fighting the British in the Western Desert: 1942

TOP RIGHT: Afrika Korps uniform cuff titles. RIGHT: Halm and his crew. His FK36(r) was a modified Soviet 76.2mm gun retaining Russian ammunition. A later version used German shells. Heavier than the Pak 38 or 40 and with less penetration, they still proved effective and worth the tiny cost to convert them. BELOW: Knocked-out Valentine tanks and, in the distance, a Matilda, after the battle.

After suffering heavy casualties, German forces finally managed to gain a foothold on the western side of Ruweisat Ridge (Point 63) on 15 July 1942. During the night of 21/22 July 1942 the Allies (XIII Corps) launched an attack to retake the lost ground.

THUNDERING THROUGH CLOUDS OF DUST

Infantry of the 2nd New Zealand and 5th Indian Division were ordered to launch attacks on Point 63 and to clear gaps through a German minefield which would allow an

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armoured attack along the southern slopes of Ruweisat Ridge to pierce the German screen of anti-tank guns with the objective to take El Mreir, a terrain feature lying to the southwest of the ridge. Unknown to the Allies, German defences had been much improved and strengthened within the previous week; the density of the minefields had been increased, as had been the number of antitank gun positions. Nevertheless, initial progress was good with both the Indians and New Zealanders managing to take their objectives,

taking prisoners and pushing screens of German infantry out of their positions. Yet, at daybreak, a German counterattack retook the lost ground and overran the 6th New Zealand Brigade. Undaunted by these setbacks, and the fact that the infantry had failed to clear a path through the minefields, the CO of XIII Corps insisted that the planned armoured attack must be launched by 23rd Armoured Brigade, consisting of two battalions (40th and 46th Royal Tank Regiment), and mustering 122 Valentine and 18 heavy Matilda II tanks. To avoid the worst of the German minefields, the brigade’s route of attack was slightly altered, yet these new orders were not received and by 8:00 am on the morning of the 22nd of July 23rd Armoured Brigade rolled forward to engage the enemy in what was to become one of the most catastrophic Allied operations of the Second World War. Thundering through clouds of dust in two columns (40th RTR on the right and 46th RTR on

STEEL AND SAND

Fighting the British in the Western Desert: 1942

the left), and with engines roaring, the historian of the 5th New Zealand Brigade, evidently impressed by the spectacle, later commented that the tanks ‘thundered past at a great pace - a real Balaclava charge!’ Yet the glorious moment was soon to be over when the tanks raced into the minefield, losing the first 20 in the process. What followed can only be described as a massacre.

THE BURNING HOT DESERT

The line west of Ruweisat Ridge was being held by Panzergrenadier-Regiment 104 of the 21. Panzer-Division. The regiment had entrenched itself well and had secured its regimental front with a cleverly laid minefield. Adding to these defences were single anti-tank guns of the regiment’s 14th company which had been positioned far in front and out of sight of the German infantry lines. Two guns of the staff

company’s anti-tank platoon lay on the northern and southern slope of the ridge, close to Point 63, with their barrels pointing eastwards. Standing their ground in the middle of the burning hot desert, out of sight even of each other, the closest German lines, defended by the regiment’s 3rd battalion under command of Hauptmann Werner Reißmann, lay about 3 kilometres behind them. Further in the rear

ABOVE: Map of Ruweisat Ridge. BELOW: Afrika Corps steel helmet and goggles. In the chaos of the sudden action described in this feature, Günter Halm had no time to don his helmet!

was Panzer-Regiment 5, whose 23 operational tanks formed a mobile armoured reserve. Among the crew of the southernmost AT gun of Panzer Grenadier Regiment’s staff company on the southern slope of Ruweisat Ridge was 19-year-old German: Panzergrenadier Günter Halm. A machine tool fitter by trade, he was one of thousands of German boys who volunteered to fight for the Vaterland and, having joined the German Army as a recruit in 1941, he would soon become the youngest soldier of the German Afrika Korps and the second youngest soldier of the German Army to be decorated with the 3rd Reich’s highest award for bravery in combat, the coveted Knight’s Cross. Today, Günter Halm is 94 years old - a slightly fragile, unpretentious man with his mind still as sharp as a knife. He clearly remembers that fateful day; a day of catastrophe for the Allies and a day which would entwine his name forever with the now legendary name of El Alamein. Günter takes up his own story: 

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ABOVE: Halm's gun crew with their FK36(r) marked with eight victory rings on the barrel.

LEFT: Günter Halm was commissioned later in the war and, after his service in the Western Desert, he went on to serve in Normandy where he was eventually taken POW.

GÜNTER’S STORY

It was on 16 July 1942 and we were holding a position about 3 kilometres in front of one of our battalions on a slope of Ruweisat Ridge, a Jebel 20 to 30 metres high, which stretched from west to east towards the enemy lines. The other gun of the platoon stood, out of sight for us, on the other side of the ridge. Our gun was a Soviet made F-22 M36 divisional gun, one of hundreds which had been captured during the campaign in Russia. It had been modified to serve in an anti-tank role as by then we were short on large calibre weapons like that. Our German designation was 7.62 cm PAK 36 (r). It had a terrific muzzle velocity and range which was very much comparable to that of our 8.8 cm Flak guns. Not only could we not see the other gun of the 68 www.britainatwar.com

platoon, we could not even move our guns to support each other in any way. Our pulling lorry had been taken to the rear and without it, it was hardly possible to move the gun due to the rocky ground and the steepness of the slope. It had taken many a day of hard work in temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius to dig our gun in, to anchor the trail legs in the ground and to camouflage it properly. After that, we covered it with camouflage netting, stacked the ammunition crates behind it and then had the pleasure of cleaning the whole thing and its mechanics from the fine sand and dust that had settled on it. A painstaking task which had taken hours and which had to be repeated at regular intervals.

EVERY SECOND COUNTED

Regular loading, aiming and drill was very important, as in combat a gun RIGHT: Halm chats with Rommel after his investiture of the Knight's Cross 'in the field'.

crew must function like clockwork. In the thick of battle there is no time to manage and supervise every movement and decision – here, every man needed to know his job, what shells to bring, which lever to push and when. In battle the enemy armour would attack in spread out formation. With the limited field of vision the aiming scope offered, it was necessary to correct the elevation and horizontal angle before every shot, an adjustment based on the speed and distance of the target. This had to be practiced as often as possible because in action every second counted. The blast of each shot triggered a huge cloud of fine dust and sand which made it impossible to acquire a new target or to observe the effect of a fired round through the gunsight. This in turn meant that there were a few seconds after each shot where we were moreor-less blind. Luckily, this was problem

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Fighting the British in the Western Desert: 1942

we shared with the enemy tank crews whose field of vision had the same limitations. Yet once we were spotted the enemy would pass our position on via radio which made surviving more than difficult. Yet the firepower of our gun enabled us to take out any kind of enemy armour at ranges of up

to 1500 metres, or even more when firing at light tanks. Using indirect fire our shells could hit targets up to 13 kilometres away. In front of us was no man’s land and minefields, while behind us were the remains of our Panzergrenadier Regiment which had taken heavy losses during the previous night’s fighting, a fact about which we knew nothing on the morning of the 22nd. Even through our binoculars it was impossible to see anything remotely English, so we were quite relaxed and felt relatively secure. During the night, the crew slept gathered around the gun, while one man took watch on a rotating basis. On 19 July a dispatch rider brought us an MG34 machine gun which we were to use to defend against infantry, something that surprised and worried us to the same extent. Something was brewing and I remember that on the evening of 21 July none of us could sleep. The sun was setting, dipping the ridge and the surroundings into a dark red

light. We all knew that there would be troubles ahead although none of us had any idea what they would be. After sunset, only a couple of hours later, we could hear the crunch of feet in the sand, muffled murmuring in English and the clink of equipment and weapons. A large body of men was marching past us at a distance of only 50 metres! The plan to fire at them with our new machine gun was quickly discarded as we were under clear orders not to betray our position to the enemy. A few days later I learned that these enemy soldiers had not been part of an enemy patrol, but elements of a large force of New Zealanders which later engaged our third battalion in battle.

A BURBLING, UNSETTLING SOUND

When dawn broke on the following morning, all Hell broke loose when the English began plastering the surroundings and the regimental areas behind us with artillery. 

LEFT: Dug in! Hidden in its camouflaged emplacement, Halm's gun is all but invisible. BELOW: Afrika Korps issue sun helmet. BOTTOM: A disabled Matilda II tank with Valentines littering the background. Featuring armour which was thick even by late war standards, the Matilda II was a tough target. While the lighter Valentine, the most produced British tank of the war, was only slightly less thickly armoured.

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RIGHT: Gunners and their ammo. Halm's gun crew pose with rounds for their converted antitank gun.

BELOW: Halm's gun is moved into position.

We were sure that we had been discovered. Pressing ourselves into the ground we could only pray not to be hit. Splinters of shell and rock fragments were not a great threat as our position offered protection against them. A direct hit, though, would have turned us into mince-meat. Later there suddenly was another, different sound that mixed itself into the thunder generated by the shell fire. A burbling, unsettling sound we had all heard before. Tanks! Now we had no other choice than to leave the relative safety our position had offered us. We had to rise and stand up to be able to see what was coming towards us. Amidst a shower of seething hot pieces of metal and razor sharp splinters of rock, Leutnant Skubovius rose first, using his binoculars to see through the clouds of dust and sand raised by the blast of the detonating shells. Only our Unteroffizier Jabek, as so often before, remained prone and did not move. Even though the engine sounds got louder and louder we

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could not see a thing. Only when the barrage suddenly lifted and moved further to the rear could we suddenly see them. A huge formation of enemy armour spread out in front of us. The closest tank, quite clearly one of the command vehicles, was only 50 metres away to our right. By that time, a group of five tanks, the advance guard, had already passed by, a fact that I only learned about later. We had spotted the enemy just in time, yet to score a hit we had to turn the whole gun by 45 degrees. This in turn meant that we had to release the trail legs, which we had anchored firmly into the ground.

ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE

Our first shot was a direct hit which tore the closest tank apart. As the trail legs were now not anchored in the ground anymore the recoil of the first shot sent the gun flying backwards a distance of around three or four metres, with me still sitting on the

gun layer’s seat and catching my leg between the wheel and the barrel and bruising it severely. The pain was immense, yet there was no time to feel pain. The second round had already been loaded; I took aim and my comrade pulled the firing lanyard. Again, the recoil was terrible, although this time I reacted as trained, jumping backwards from my seat to avoid being hit in the face by the gunsight while putting my full weight on the trail leg to reduce the force of the recoil. Another direct hit. This way it continued, aim, fire, reposition the gun, aim, fire, reposition…and so on. Here, we turned into what we had

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trained to become; machines feeling neither fear nor pain. It did not matter if we got killed or wounded just so long as we kept on firing, firing, firing. Two men, the Unteroffizier and a comrade, lay on the trail legs to soften the recoil and a third man brought up the shells, which the loader rammed into the breech. So far, the English ‘tankers’ had not spotted us, but now all Hell broke loose. I heard a comrade shouting “Gute Nacht Marie” (goodnight Mary) when the first armour piercing round smashed through the steel plate of our gun shield, followed only seconds later by a second one. Loader number three suddenly screamed in pain when a shell tore a fist sized hole into his lower leg, spurting blood

everywhere. I could not help him. Another comrade dragged him up the slope towards our second gun. Now, there were only five of us left. The Leutnant kept observing the situation through his binoculars while I chose the targets and took aim. Time stood still. Everything around me turned into slow motion and time began to freeze. A third and a fourth AP shell punched through the gun shield. No one took notice. Aiming and firing was all that mattered. Even today I can still hear the eerie sound of armour piercing shells which grazed the ground in front of us before they whizzed past and over our heads. After firing another round, and in a careless moment, I failed to lean backwards quickly enough and the gunsight smashed against my forehead throwing me into the sand. The sight was smashed, my head rang like a bell and we were not able to aim properly anymore. Lying in the sand, a high explosive shell detonated near one of the trail legs showering me with hot splinters. Blood ran down my face and I realised that none of us was wearing a steel helmet. We had been caught by surprise and no one had thought about putting one on.

it. Covering my head with my hands, shock and awe overcame me. I started shivering, pressing my face into the hot sand. My head was bleeding profusely and I noticed a number of shell splinters had buried themselves into the bone of my skull. Only a few years ago I had an X-ray taken and much to my surprise there are still two splinters the size of a fingernail lodged in it. Our second gun had destroyed tank which had tried to flank us to fall into our rear, not knowing that there was another anti-tank gun positioned behind us. Then we heard what in our situation was the most wonderful sound imaginable. The howl of our dive bombers! A wave of Stukas was screaming down to finish what 

TOP LEFT: Günter Halm proudly displays his hard-earned Knight's Cross. ABOVE: Halm with his comrades after the award of the Knight's Cross in the desert. LEFT: Refreshment after the battle. Note the dressed injuries on his arm.

LEFT: Halm with his gun before the heat of battle.

‘A MARK ON YOUR SOUL’

There was no way we could hope to carry on the fight so we decided to withdraw towards the position of our second gun. Under constant enemy shell and machine gun fire we worked our way up the slope before throwing ourselves into cover behind

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ABOVE: In 1962 Günter Halm was invited to a reunion in Liverpool of 40 RTR. Here, he was give the honorary 'appointment' as 'Number 1 AntiTank Specialist of the British Army.' His caption to the photo reads: '2am. Whisky and soda and Lili Marlene.'

we had started. Of the carnage they inflicted, we saw nothing. Minutes later, a severely wounded Englishman dragged himself out of the remains of the tank that had fallen victim to our second gun. He had somehow survived and now lay in the shadow of his tank. There was nothing we could do to help him. He asked our Leutnant for his pistol. The wish was granted, and the Englishman shot a

bullet through his own head. Even after the carnage of the previous hour the fate of this brother in arms hurt me deeply. War is cruel and it is merciless. When it became quiet we walked back to our gun to have a closer look at it and at the field of battle. Nine shots had pierced our gun shield. The gunsight was lying metres away, while the scorched sand around it was littered with debris, crates and empty shell cases. It had been Hell, but we were alive. Our loader with the shell wound in his leg did not survive the journey to the dressing station and my friend Prokorni could not speak anymore and was brought into hospital. He died of diphtheria

RIGHT: Memories. Günter Halm pays a visit to the Tank Museum, Bovington, during the summer of 2016.

NO MORE WAR! ‘Both friend and foe are gone. Today only the memory remains, because comradeship and friendship are stronger than death. As young men, we were forced to fight against each other to the bitter end in the most brutal of all wars. We all did our duty for our Fatherlands. The difference to other theatres of conflict was that the fighting in Africa was fair. After the battle and the killing was over, both sides turned into humans. Friend and foe helped one another and treated the other side with respect and honour. We wore different uniforms, but we all knew that the foe was just like us. Men with families, fathers, brothers and sons fighting for their loved ones and their country. I found proof of that on the ship that took me into captivity in America and on which, by the strangest coincidence, I met an English Captain whose tank had been hit by my fire at Ruweisat Ridge. It had been my fire that had taken away one of his feet. After a long conversation, he embraced me. We shook hands and he said “Kamerad, it is a shame that we were born in different Fatherlands”. He gave me his address in England and asked me to visit him after the war. Sadly, this address was taken from me when I arrived in the POW camp, yet I have never been able to forget this man. I am moved and impressed by English fairness and respect. Whereas, in my country, the old German soldiers are still being criminalised by politics, it is the invaluable friendships with my former enemy, new friendships and old ones, which define who I am today. Nie wieder Krieg!’ (No more war!)

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Günter Halm, July 2016.

a few days later. If death comes and takes those away who are dear to you, if you are close to such an amount of carnage, death and destruction, it touches you somehow. It leaves a mark on your soul which is difficult to overcome. What I witnessed in the endless waste of the African desert will never leave me.’

THE ATTACK HAD BEEN BROKEN

Günter Halm and the brave gun crew of Leutnant Skubovius had destroyed nine enemy tanks and disabled a further six in less than 14 minutes. His first four victims (destroyed within two minutes) were of ‘C’ Sqn and RHQ 40 RTR. The CO’s tank (40 RTR) was hit first and the driver killed. Ten minutes later, now in a tank of ‘A’ Sqn, the regimental CO, Lt Col Howard C F V Dunbar, was hit again and mortally wounded. By the end of the day, 23rd Armoured Brigade had, staggeringly, lost 116 of its tanks while nearly half of the tank crews had been killed or wounded. The unit had virtually ceased to exist. What had taken two years of training to build had been destroyed in 30 minutes. The attack had been broken and thrown into chaos and German dive bombers and an armoured counter-thrust finished what Günter Halm’s gun had started. 

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REPUTATIONS

Major-General

Sir (FREDERICK)

IVOR MAXSE

Among the Most Important Men of the Great War? Innovative and tactically brilliant, Major-General Ivor Maxse had a knack for command both in field and staff roles. Known for his courage, he repeatedly ignored instruction for the benefit of his troops and his decisions and roles rank him as a key commander. Yet, he remains relatively unknown. John Ash explores the General’s career. ften forgot amongst the bloody horror of 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, are the successes, the most famous being that of the 36th Ulster Division. The battle took place on the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne and popular visions of the division advancing wearing orange sashes, whether myth or reality, only adds to the legacy of their remarkable achievement. Despite having to retreat in the face of a counterattack and to protect their flanks, the division’s commanders used their initiative and had not stuck to the constricting orders issued to the wider army. Their innovation and training paid off. Further along the line, near Albert, another division – the 18th (Eastern) – also had some hard-fought gains. The 18th were fortunate to be operating close to the wellexperienced French and benefitted from that, but, like the Ulstermen, did not fully adhere to the rigid orders impressed on the rest of the army, and they had received radical and unique training. This was the work of their commander,

O

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Major-General Ivor Maxse, and its applications would change the British way of war for those who heeded his words. Born in London on 22 December 1862, Maxse entered Sandhurst in 1881 following an education at Caterham’s Preparatory School and Rugby School. He was commissioned into the 7th Royal Fusiliers in 1882 and served in India. Bored by unimaginative drill and the general monotony of policing the peacetime frontier, he wrote to his father, the wealthy and prominent Frederick Maxse, former naval officer and liberal campaigner, sharing his frustrations. Nine years later, Maxse had returned to England and transferred into the Coldstream Guards after his father paid for his commission. The purchase of commissions was common at the time, and although the system can be criticised for disadvantaging talent, it allowed Ivor Maxse to shine. Although he was again bored of infrequent and undemanding training and duties, his good service led to promotion to Major in the Egyptian Army in 1896, and it was here where his high-rising military career began in earnest. »

REPUTATIONS MAJOR– GENERAL SIR (FREDERICK) IVOR MAXSE Nickname(s): Tartar Born: 22 December 1862 Died: 1958 (aged 95) Allegiance: United Kingdom Service/branch: British Army Battles/wars: Mahdi Revolt: Battle of Atbara, Battle of Omdurman, Battle of Umm Diwaykarat, Second Boer War, First World War: Battle of Mons, First Battle of the Marne, Battle of the Aisne, Battle of the Somme, Battle of Arras, Battle of Passchendaele, Spring Offensive. Awards: Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Distinguished Service Order, Mentioned in Despatches.

OVERLEAF: Innovative and thorough, General Sir Ivor Maxse. BELOW: British wounded gathered at an advanced dressing station behind the Somme front.

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REPUTATIONS RIGHT: Royal Artillery officers of 9th Division examine a captured 5.9inch gun on the west bank of 'Happy Valley', during the Battle of Arras in 1917. (US LIBRARY

OF CONGRESS)

CENTRE: General Maxse, Commander XVIII Corps, presents medals to men of the 152nd (1st Highland) Bde, 51st Division. St. Jans-Ter-Brizen, 21 August 1917. BELOW: As always, supply was key. Here, in a scene not unfamiliar in any depiction of modern warfare, the loading of ammunition barges on the River Scarpe. Note the light railway engine. Trench railways became a vital part of the logistics mission. (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

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After nearly two years of skirmishes, occupation dutes, and logistics work, Maxse was serving in Herbert Kitchener’s army in 1898, seeing battle at Atbara in April, and at Omdurman in September. In November 1899, under the command of (then Colonel) Francis Reginald Wingate, Maxse led 13th Sudanese Battalion in the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat, a victory as decisive as the two before. The fast-moving Mahdists threatened to outrun the AngloEgyptian/Sudanese force but a flying column which consisted of Maxse’s troops, a large mounted element, six maxim guns and two other battalions of infantry forced the “entire defeat of the Khalifa’s army” in an action in which Maxse was Mentioned in Despatches.

BRIT VERSUS BOER

Later that year, the Second Boer War saw Maxse serving as a LieutenantColonel in a staff role. The first months of the conflict proved disastrous for the British. They had fought far and wide, across most of the globe and the experience this gave commanders was useful. However, the huge variety in opponents, tactics, and ability and the disparities between them meant British approaches to colonial war were usually effective

but rarely innovative. The cunning and well-equipped Boer, whose leaders had a firm grasp of modern European tactics, took advantage of this complacency and poor tactical development and reverted back to guerrilla tactics after their attempts at a conventional stand failed. Such tactics should not have been a shock, the British in South Africa had already defeated the Xhosa, a local peoples which recognised they could not defeat the British in the field and adopted hit-and-

run methods. It was successful for a time, but ultimately defeated by using mounted troops and building a string of forts – similar tactics to what would eventually bring about Boer defeat. Nevertheless, Maxse was one of a small cadre of experienced mid-ranking officers dispatched to help reverse the situation. His part was to assist in the restructuring of transport and logistics systems, for which in February 1901 he was again Mentioned in Despatches. He innovatively streamlined the system

REPUTATIONS and consolidated organisation at the theatre level, with supply companies (including his own) shadowing combat units and in direct support of them. He would later criticise the clumsiness of the campaign, and began to reflect on how war should be conducted. The period between the Second Boer War and the Great War saw Maxse appointed to several battalion and brigade commands. During one of his postings, his battalion was moved to a barracks without a smallarms range. This was not unusual in the constraints of peacetime army funding, where many soldiers would fire a weapon about once in a year. Maxse battled to change this and through his own ends secured funding for a range to be installed and maintained with a supply of

free ammunition. While his peers mocked him, and did little other than complain about the situation, Maxse’s men trained, and in 1905 won the McCalmost Cup for marksmanship. At all points in his command career, if the men were not shooting, they were watching, learning, getting used to the noise, day in, day out, all weathers, no matter how large the formation.

TO FRANCE

In August 1914 he took 1st Guards Brigade to France, part of the expert core of the British Expeditionary Force. The brigade was involved in the Battle of Mons, the First Battle of the Marne, and the Battle of the Aisne. A notable early indication of Maxse’s moral courage comes from the retreat from Mons. British units were continually ordered to join the march at 03.30, but this usually resulted in a bottleneck which prevented prompt movement. Instead, against orders, he gave his men an extra hour of rest, joining the march later. Consequently they were in a better fighting condition. Following the stabilising of the front, Maxse was promoted and sent to England to head a new formation. The 18th (Eastern) Division was established in September 1914, and was part of Kitchener’s Second New Army. The division was severely short of trained and experienced officers and NCOs, and had little in the way of equipment and supplies. Nevertheless, Major-General Maxse, was impressed by the volunteers, and set about his work. »

ABOVE: Armed with an array of European (even British!) and American firearms, the Boer Commando and their elected leaders were a simple and effective mounted militia unit for the burghers. Their tactics caused no end of problems for the British. However, with no clear command structure, infinite logistical problems, and no means of enforcing discipline or standardising training, the limitations of the force would have stunned a logistician of Maxses’ calibre and would ultimately prove to be a factor in their undoing.

LEFT: Pictured in 1936, this is the battlefield of the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan in 1898 in which Kitchener’s forces fought against the Mahdi’s successors. (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

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REPUTATIONS scheduled for July. Maxse’s division was among those best prepared for the battle to come, and the difference his regime made would become apparent. In addition to this training, he was a very hands-on commander, although ‘Chateau Generalship’ was a necessity for senior commanders rather than choice (as envisaged by many), Maxse breaks the ‘trend’ of the myth anyway, often touring the positions occupied by his division to the extent that his own staff commented that it was difficult to keep up with the man.

THE SOMME

ABOVE: The 9th Lancers arrive at Mons, 21 August 1914, reputedly the first British troops to arrive at Mons, and “the vanguard of the millions of men who were to follow them to the front”. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS) MIDDLE RIGHT: Private Carter of ‘D’ Coy, 4th Bat, Middlesex Regiment, on sentry duty at Mons, taken barely hours after the cavalry units arrived. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS) RIGHT: This recruiting poster published by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, in August 1914, calls for men to join the Army. The push for volunteers led to the founding of several new formations, with regiments growing to vast numbers of battalions and new divisions, such as the 18th, being established.

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With Maxse's keen interest in training, the 18th was transformed. His experiences, gained in India, Britain, and during the colonial campaigns, provided a useful bedrock of ‘do’s and don’ts’ for experimentation. He employed a range of innovative techniques, which focused on instilling independence and initiative in the unit’s officers and NCOs. He sought to teach methods, not principles. It was better to modify method to fit a situation, reasoned initiative, rather than be guided by general principles and left to fill the gaps, the desperate initiative the army taught. However, by giving small units within a battalion the freedom to operate with some independence, cohesion and discipline could be threatened. This was solved by thorough planning and rehearsal. He believed the training of his men should be practical, constant, tough, and pursued at every opportunity and at all levels – even when a company was on the frontline. If units along the front had to be weakened so men could be released for refreshers, so be it. His battle rehearsals were completed on researched ground, as similar to that ahead of his lines as possible. This concept would later be known as ‘Battle Drill’, and would have a marked effect on 18th Division. In May 1915 the 18th was deployed to the Western Front, and spent the winter occupying the trenches. Come spring 1916, the division was moved to the Somme area, near Albert, in preparation for the mass offensive

After a terrific seven-day bombardment, on 1 July 1916 tens of thousands of British and French soldiers left their trenches along a 14 mile span of front astride the Somme River and set off across no man’s land. Expecting a great victory, the actual result was catastrophic, and despite an overall Allied success by the end of the battle, the Somme will always be remembered for the failures of the British Army on that first day. The 18th Division however, secured all of its objectives, which were situated along the Montauban Ridge, near

Albert. This was no doubt in part due to Maxse and his training and innovation, but credit must also go to French formations in the theatre, and the fact the terrain in his sector offered him the space (a wider than normal no man’s land) for his actions. That said, the bold move to hide the division between the opposing trenches to be in a better position to take advantage of the creeping barrage was masterful. He had also encouraged his subordinates to ignore the directions from 4th Army

REPUTATIONS

commander General Rawlinson, which called for a slow advance. Instead, the 18th rushed their first waves to the objectives and ‘mopped up’ with the second, slower, waves. In January 1917, the command of XVIII Corps, part of 5th Army, was given to Maxse who was temporarily promoted to Lieutenant-General. The Corps fought in the Battle of Passchendaele, which although a victory, was far more bloody and long winded than it should have been – partly due to the hesitation of General Gough, 5th Army commander. The Army was transferred to the Somme, occupying a hastily constructed line of defences which had been built after German troops retreated to the Hindenburg Line in early 1917. What followed was

a period of quietness, but Maxse continued to innovate. In late 1917, anticipating a looming crisis on manpower reserves, he authored a paper calling for the reorganising of the infantry platoon. His suggestions were not to further cut the number of men in the unit, if anything, he sought to increase it, but it also suggested that platoons and companies should operate along wider fronts, and be issued with twice the number of Lewis Guns to compensate. In addition, he also called for ‘H-Hour’, the start point of any major offensive, to change from dawn to early afternoon. For a slight loss of surprise (which, strategically, was nigh on impossible to achieve along the Western Front anyway), the soldiers in return got more rest and

preparation. Units could move into position in daylight, where possibly their observed movements would be considered to be routine by the enemy, or at the very least the identified offensive would be expected to occur the following dawn. Once underway, a later attack left the enemy with a smaller window to observe, direct fire onto the aggressor, and organise a counterattack. The British then had the night to consolidate before stepping off the next morning. It worked, although ‘H-hour’ did not change across the board, not even in 5th Army.

ABOVE: Soldiers being instructed on the use of the bayonet by charging dummies at Tadworth Camp, on the edge of Epsom Racecourse Surrey, during the First World War. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

SLAMMED INTO THE LINE

The stain on Maxse’s career came in Spring 1918. On 21 March elements of four German armies slammed into the British frontline, mainly against 5th Army, and there were 55,000 British casualties on the first day alone. The move made use of some 50 German divisions redeployed along the Western Front, freed up by Russia’s exit from the war and it was hoped that a decisive blow using this strength could end the conflict before American troops could be fully deployed. Although ground was gained, the offensive ultimately failed and set the scene for 100 days of consecutive British advance. The battle had cost Germany the initiative, if they were not already outnumbered by the arrival of the Americans, they certainly were now. The casualties were severe in the Sturmtruppen (Stormtrooper) units, and naturally these contained »

LEFT: A battery of 8-inch howitzers, 39th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, firing in support of attacks in the FricourtMametz Valley during the Battle of the Somme. Maxse exploited innovations in artillery tactics to better the tactical situation for his troops.

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REPUTATIONS RIGHT: The Belgian aide-de-camp to the King finds a souvenir on the Somme battlefield near Pozières, 16 May 1917. The King and General Hubert Gough, Commander Fifth Army, who praised Maxse, can be seen in the background. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

RIGHT: An aerial photograph of a British gas attack in progress between Carnoy and Montauban during the Battle of the Somme, shortly before Maxse’s advance on the village of Montauban, seen top left. BELOW: The iconic shot of Passchendaele, a sea of mud which is the ground over which the battle was fought in November 1917. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

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By ignoring the French orders and retreating toward the 5th, Maxse forced the French to commit their reserves and plug the gap, and he prevented German troops from exploiting this gap and separating the British and French. General Gough made clear in his writings that he had no doubt that this brave disobedience saved not only 5th Army, but the entire Allied cause. Yet, Maxse was criticised for his conduct in the retreat, and Haig considered him to have been totally reliant on German troops playing to his hand. Maxse’s units had received at least 10 days’ worth of defence training, but he focused on effective but local small section actions rather than the more stable and consistent the best soldiers and equipment. For the Allies, their failures, namely the lack of a unified commander, were quickly rectified with the appointment of Ferdinand Foch as supreme general. Nevertheless, 5th Army was rapidly overwhelmed and forced into a full retreat. Maxse was both seen to have underperformed yet to have saved 5th Army. Ultimately, he made a decision which took a lot of moral strength, and averted disaster. At the time, Maxse actually fell under French jurisdiction, and during 5th Army’s retreat the French ordered XVIII Corps to retreat southwest along with the bulk of the French Army. Maxse knew a gap of two miles already existed separating his force from the nearest British formation in 5th Army to his north.

REPUTATIONS LEFT: Canadian troops carry a wounded man from the Passchendaele battlefield. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

time as Inspector General to roll out his method, nor was he the only innovator. Training improved as a whole across the Army, and the high number of casualties necessitated constant retraining. Eventually the entire British force grew to be fairly proficient in ‘allarms’ tactics, but few units were trained as thoroughly or as innovatively as Maxse’s. While an important figure, Maxse’s impact and changes were only of limited value to the army in its entirety. While the units which adopted the training regime he put forward were more successful, his reforms were not uniformly rolled out across the British Army as he never had the time to implement his changes before the end of the war. » platoon and company level defensive actions advocated by British High Command. In the event, his corps was simply forced back, and this made him an easy target for blame, rightly or wrongly. However, Haig and others could not deny the general’s ability, and Maxse is often seen as the most capable of 5th Army’s Corps Commanders.

INSPECTOR GENERAL

In June 1918, Maxse was removed from command of XVIII Corps and moved sideways into the role of Inspector General of Training for the BEF. Many, including Maxse, saw this as demotion. He went from commanding 50,000 men to just a few dozen. Whether intended as a slight or not, the move was perfectly suited to him, the BEF desperately needed its training to improve as there was little sign of the war ending, even

LEFT: Soldiers, including the crew of a vital Lewis gun - a weapon seen as absolutely necessary by Maxse - in a forward trench on the Western Front. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

BELOW: A practice grenade explodes during training. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

by summer 1918. The role can be seen as a nod to the unusual talents of Maxse, who was finally given the platform to properly develop and implement his innovative methods. His 1917 paper, renamed ‘The Brown Book’, was widely circulated as were his notes in fighting in Flanders and along the Somme. The focus remained on small units, developed into the ‘Platoon Training’ method, and he quickly disseminated lessons from the Spring and Hundred Day offensives. In September 1918, his recommendations were adhered to, and the standard platoon regained its fourth section and was allocated extra Lewis Guns. An inspiration to other trainers to come, Ivor Maxse was an innovative and forward thinking leader who although highly capable, was sadly not utilised in the ideal role until it was too late. He did not have enough 81

REPUTATIONS

ABOVE: German troops on the move during the Kaiser’s Offensive in March 1918. (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

Additionally, he had critics, and as a final obstacle, the training of soldiers within a corps or division was largely the responsibility of that particular commander. Immediately post-war, Maxse would be highly critical of the armistice negotiations and was expectant of another conflict with Germany. He caused controversy when in November 1919 he spoke at the annual dinner of the York Gimcrack Club, where he said: “For myself, I don’t understand it, and I prefer a League of Tanks to a League of Nations”.

SUPREME LEADER?

Highly analytical, Maxse was brought up to question, research, and reason by his father. Well-educated, he was a superb student of classics and military history, and had penned three books before he had become Corps

RIGHT: The Battle of Arras in 1917 saw further success for the British, here, soldiers of 13th Battalion, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment stand with captured machine guns in front of a German mobile pillbox in Tilloyles-Mofflaines, 10 April 1917. (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

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Commander. He also made a conscious effort to keep up to date in regard to technology, becoming competent on how systems such as tanks operated, whereas many of his peers only studied the principles of the new development’s role, or shunned the advances altogether. At the beginning of the war, a British rifle battalion was exactly that. A large grouping of riflemen, supported by a handful of machine guns. By the end of the war, a battalion’s arms would be much more diverse, requiring differing levels and technical skill and varying methods of use. The change was so rapid that it is claimed a battalion commander of 1914 would not recognise his own unit in 1918, nor understand how it fought or know the limitations of its arms, but a 1918 battalion commander would be unfamiliar, but comfortable, in his understanding of a present day

battalion and of combined arms. Maxse, always at the forefront, is the exception, and his men were kept ahead of the curve. Although he cannot be given sole credit for the evolution of the army’s arms and tactics, it can be said that his desire to be at the vanguard of military technology combined with his focus on improving his units meant that they likely coped the best with adaptions to warfare, and were probably the most potent. His system generated the best of men, strong leaders, and innovation at all levels beneath him. Preparation, disseminating information to lower ranks, thorough training and rehearsal, and good reconnaissance were all trademarks of an attack led by Maxse. With even his platoon leaders aware of his methods, even they were able to seize the initiative and modify the grand plan when the unknown was encountered. Perhaps the ultimate testament to Maxse is thus; When the US Army rewrote its doctrine regarding military leadership in the late 1990s, they considered effective leadership to be a combination of four skills – interpersonal, conceptual, technical, and tactical. Major-General Sir Ivor Maxse was one military leader carefully analysed in studies at the school of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with a heavy focus on his personal and moral courage and his innovation. A Major there stated: “No matter how complex, unfamiliar, or desperate a situation General Maxse was put in, he continually surpassed the moral requirements of a leader.”

1917: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

This 132-page special from the team behind Britain at War magazine, tells the story of the fourth year of the Great War.

A

SPECIAL

Despite victories at the Somme and Verdun, the fourth year of the Great War saw no relaxation of Allied efforts.The war of attrition that had seen the incremental weakening of the German Army, and the German nation, had to be maintained, even accelerated, throughout 1917. Features include: The Zimmermann Telegram

With Germany increasingly being forced onto the defensive, the German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmermann, advocated a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.

The US Enters the War

On 2 April, President Wilson delivered a speech to the joint houses of Congress, in which he stated that the US had some ‘very serious’ decisions to make. These decisions related to the conduct of Imperial Germany, following its announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare

The Third Battle of Ypres

The Germans were demoralised and exhausted after suffering a catastrophic defeat at Messines, and the British artillery continued to hammer at the German positions to the south and east of Ypres.

The Battle of Cambrai

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The Passchendaele offensive had ground on for months with no sign of a breakthrough. Casualties had amounted to around 200,000 men and all that had been gained was a few hundred yards of ground. It was against this background that Colonel J.F.C. Fuller, proposed ‘a tank raid south of Cambrai’.

Rationing Begins

The actions of the German U-boats and the enormous demands the war imposed upon Britain’s merchant fleet, meant that food supplies in the UK came under increasing pressure in 1917.

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08/12/2016 11:04

FIRST WORLD WAR DIARY JANUARY 1917: The first month of the fourth year of a great war where seemingly no end was near. Now in control of nearly all aspects of state, German High command gambles their international position and the response of the United States by ordering the resumption of an unrestricted U-boat campaign. The British gain in their attempt to retake Kut, while the English coast is struck once again out of the fog of the North Sea.

WESTERN FRONT:

1 January: General Sir Douglas Haig is promoted to Field Marshal. King George V writes: “I hope you will look upon this as a New Year’s gift from myself and the country.” 3 January: The first Portuguese troops, part of their expeditionary force, land in France.

HOME FRONT:

1 January: Prime Minister Lloyd George leaves London for Rome with CIGS Robertson for a conference, the major focus of which is to discuss Lloyd George’s approach to shifting the war effort to other fronts. 17 January: French General Nivelle visits London to discuss a 1917 spring campaign with Lloyd George and British generals. He calls for three limited offensives but still claims that artillery, then the cause of half of all casualties, will assure victory. Haig agrees to extend the BEF line by eight miles, but not the 25 the French hoped for. Haig had previously requested that should the French offensive fail, they would take over his lines to free up troops for his attack in Flanders. Lloyd George’s hopes are that Nivelle’s assured successes will set the stage for the removal of Haig. 25 January: German destroyers shell the Suffolk towns of Southwold and Wangford.

UNITED STATES:

31 January: The German Count Bernstorff reluctantly and tearfully announces to the US Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare and of their threat to deliberately target hospital ships is to start on 1 February. There are concessions; the US are promised that mariners already at sea will be given a period of grace and the US may sail one ship per week from the UK, provided it carries no contraband and is clearly marked with an agreed scheme. The move blocks ongoing German attempts to negotiate a peace through the United States and President Wilson.

WAR AT SEA:

4 January: The Russian battleship Peresvyet, captured by the Japanese in 1904 and one of a number of captured vessels sold back to the Russians in 1916, burns and sinks after hitting two mines laid by SM U-73 off Port Said. Between 116 and 167 men die. 9 January: Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Cornwallis is sunk off Malta after being hit by two torpedoes fired by U-32. There was 75 minutes between the first and second strike. Fifteen are killed out of her crew of 720.

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EGYPT:

9 January: General Philip Chetwode attacks strong Ottoman defences at Rafah. In victory, the British take 1,600 prisoners and secure the Sinai and Egypt.

JANUARY 1917 WORLD MAP

WAR AT SEA

23 January: A force of 24 destroyers and cruisers from the Dover Patrol and the Harwich Flotilla sail to intercept the German 6th Torpedo Boat flotilla as they move toward Zeebrugge. Two German destroyers are damaged, but R-class destroyer HMS Simoom is sunk.

GERMANY:

9 January: With the support of the navy, the Kaiser and Hindenburg, and despite opposition from Chancellor Hollweg, General Ludendorff confirms unrestricted U-Boat warfare will resume in a bid to cut off Britain’s imports of foodstuffs and other material. Knowing the move will likely push the United States into war, Ludendorff believes US efforts will come too late. 16 January: German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmermann, requests Mexico stop supplying the Royal Navy and allow U-Boats to be based there. An infamous telegram states German ministers in Mexico City should offer an alliance to Mexico should the United States enter the war in a bid to keep the US out of the conflict. He promises financial support and encourages the retaking of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. He also asks if Japan, then an ally of Britain, could be convinced to join this new proposed alliance.

ROMANIA:

3 January: With heavy pressure on the Romanian military continuing, the important town of Focscani, and its central railway line, is taken by German and Bulgarian troops. Two days later, they take Bralia and on the 6th, Russian and Romanian troops evacuate Dobrudja.

WAR AT SEA

14 January: The Japanese battlecruiser Tsukuba sinks in Yokosuka harbour, killing 305, after deteriorating shells cause a fire in her magazine which explodes. Windows 7.5 miles away are broken, but most of her crew survive as they were on shore leave.

MESOPOTAMIA:

9 January: Gibraltar-born General Frederick Maude advances up the Tigris and stages actions along his whole line, winning battles but sustaining casualties - most notably at Sannaiyat. After attack, counter-attack, and another attack, success is achieved at the Khudhaira Bend, with just 1,000 yards gained at the cost of 700 killed and wounded. The next day, the British find the Turks have abandoned the majority of the line. 19 January: After a week of small attacks, Turkish troops capitulate and retreat across the River Tigris. Maude now stands ready to attack the Hai Salient.

EAST AFRICA:

3 January: The 25th Frontiersmen Battalion, led by infamous hunter and explorer Captain Frederick Selous, skirmishes with German troops in the battle of Behobeho. Selous is killed, reportedly by a German sharpshooter and the German commander, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, sends a letter of condolence. 20 January: General Reginald Hoskins replaces General Jan Smuts in command of British troops in East Africa as Smuts leaves the theatre to take up a position on Lloyd George’s War Council. Both men believe Lettow-Vorbeck will be defeated within months.

MIDDLE EAST:

24 January: As a continuation of their guerrilla campaign, Lawrence of Arabia and King Feisal with their 400 Arab troops fight their way into Al Wejh which falls after a brief bombardment from British warships and a small naval landing by 200 sailors. The easy and near-bloodless victory hands the initiative to the British and Arabs.

25 January: Maude begins his attack on the Hai Salient, capturing 1,800 yards of frontline on both sides of the river. However, Turkish counterattacks using troops armed primarily with grenades retake much of the positions and cause 1,100 casualties. A day later, Indian troops retake the same ground in 12 hours of battle.

www.britainatwar.com 85

THE BATTLE OF SPURN HEAD

RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle

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THE BATTLE OF SPURN HEAD

RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle

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THE BATTLE OF SPURN HEAD

RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle

ABOVE: The pilots of 46 Squadron at RAF Digby in front of a Gloster Gauntlet in 1938. Sqn Ldr Philip ‘Dickie’ Barwell is seated in centre of front row. The squadron moved to Digby on 15 November 1937 and re-equipped with Hurricanes on 6 March, 1939. (JOHN BARWELL) RIGHT: The King talks with Sqn Ldr Barwell with the pilots of 46 Squadron lined up behind. (1940 MEDIA) RIGHT: HM King George VI at Digby on November 2, being introduced to pilots of 46 Squadron involved in the Spurn Head engagement. In foreground from right are: AVM Leigh-Mallory; HM The King; RAF Digby station commander, Wg Cdr J B H Rogers; Sqn Ldr ‘Dickie’ Barwell. The incoming 46 Sqn CO, Sqn Ldr ‘Bing’ Cross, is standing behind The King. (ALDON FERGUSON, 611 SQN HISTORIAN)

A

t the outbreak of war in 1939, RAF Digby in Lincolnshire was part of 12 Group, RAF Fighter Command. Based there was 46 Sqn with its full complement of Hawker Hurricane I aircraft under Sqn Ldr ‘Dickie’ Barwell’s command, and with 20 officer pilots and six NCO pilots on strength. Digby was also home to 611 Sqn operating the Supermarine Spitfire I; both squadrons providing air cover for convoys passing the Lincolnshire coast and local air defence between the Wash and the Humber. The Spitfires of 611 Sqn had previously been based at RAF Duxford, but had taken over from 504 Sqn at Digby when the latter moved to Debden. Also based at Digby was 229 Sqn, then re-forming as a night fighter squadron equipped with the Bristol Blenheim IF. Despite the tense nervousness of the first few

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weeks of war, little happened at Digby throughout September and for most of October apart from routine patrolling of the sector. In late October, however, a BBC broadcast of a government communiqué announced that enemy aircraft searching for a convoy of merchant ships had been engaged off the Lincolnshire coast in what was ‘the first sustained air engagement of the war’.

JUICY CONVOY TARGET

Information was received at HQ 12 Group on 20 October that two convoys of British ships, one heading north and the other south, were estimated to pass each other off the coast of the Group’s ‘K’ Sector during the following day. This would be in the vicinity of Spurn Point and mouth of the Humber and, as the Luftwaffe watched and prepared for an attack, so the RAF waited. The scene was being set for what became known as the Battle Of Spurn Point. Featuring prominently in the air engagement which ensued was Sqn Ldr Phillip ‘Dickey’ Barwell of 46 Sqn who had amassed 2,600 flying hours mostly on fighters - in the 15 years

he had been in the RAF. The events that unfolded were almost the natural culmination of his talents, and in the confusion that developed in the action he was surely the right man who was in the right place at the right time. His success during the RAF’s main opening fighter action of the war would put him on the ladder to higher command. In anticipation of enemy air action against such a juicy convoy target, 46 Sqn was instructed to send its six Hurricanes of ‘A’ Flight on detachment to RAF North Coates shortly after dawn on the 21 October where it would be reinforced later by ‘A’ Flight of 611 Sqn. Having been originally based at RAF Digby, 504 Sqn, equipped with Hurricanes had, since 10 October, been part of 11

THE BATTLE OF SPURN HEAD

RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle Group at RAF Debden, Essex, but received orders to take-off at 11.00 on 21st and fly to Digby to reinforce its two resident fighter squadrons. Upon arrival at Digby, 504’s aircraft were re-fuelled and sent forward to North Coates where its ‘Blue’ and ‘Red’ sections were instructed to take off and patrol over the convoys. Meanwhile, 611’s ‘A’ Flight (Red section: Flt Lt Banham, Plt Off Watkins, Sgt Burt; Yellow section: Fg Off Bazley, Plt Off Mitchell, Sgt Mather) was ordered from Digby to North Coates at 10.25 and proudly recorded that the six aircraft were airborne in 3mins 57sec from receiving the call. Landing at North Coates, they were placed on standby. From 12.00 hours onwards on 21st, further information arrived at RAF Digby Sector Operations Room from Group HQ and the Observer Corps, leading the Sector Controller to

believe an enemy reconnaissance of the convoys was taking place. At 13.40 an unidentified enemy aircraft was reported flying west from Grimsby and ‘Yellow’ section of 504 Sqn was scrambled to patrol at 20,000 feet but made no contact with enemy aircraft and returned to Digby. Then, at 14.09 and 14.12 two enemy raids, ‘X1’ and ‘X2’, were plotted by Digby and at 14.15, ‘A’ Flight of 611 Sqn and ‘A’ Flight of 46 Sqn were scrambled to patrol at 15,000 feet between North Coates and Mablethorpe. These two raids were plotted heading towards the convoys, which by this time were passing each other just north of Spurn Point. As a result, Group HQ ordered the following disposition of fighters: ‘A’ Flight of 611 Sqn to orbit Mablethorpe at 16,000 feet, ‘B’ Flight of 611 Sqn to orbit North Coates at 7,000 feet and ‘A’ Flight of 46 Sqn to orbit North Coates at 5,000 feet.

ABOVE: Readiness at RAF Digby; Flt Lt Jack Leather and Fg Off Watkins of 611 Squadron enjoy a game of backgammon. (ALDON FERGUSON, 611 SQN HISTORIAN) LEFT: A Hurricane of 46 Squadron is re-armed at RAF Digby at around the time of the Spurn Head action.

BELOW: Pilots of 611 Squadron pilot at readiness at RAF North Coates with Sqn Ldr Jack Leather in chair. (ALDON FERGUSON, 611 SQN HISTORIAN)

A GAGGLE OF ENEMY AIRCRAFT

The next incident came at 14.52 hours when another enemy raid: ‘X4’, was reported 30 miles southeast of the convoys and ‘A’ and ‘B’ Flights of 611 Sqn were ordered to intercept. These Flights sped off towards this new threat, but encountering cloud it transpired that for all its efforts only one Spitfire from 611 actually made contact with raid ‘X4’. Apparently, all 611’s Spitfires had failed to receive any further RT transmissions and thus were without ‘vectors’ (course instructions) at the crucial time. During the climb through cloud, 611’s Sgt John Mather lost the formation and at 14.40, quite by accident, came across a pair of Spitfires from 72 Sqn flying out of RAF Leconfield. Mather latched on to them, and around 14.57 the three of them sighted and attacked a ‘gaggle’ of enemy aircraft, identified as Heinkel He115s, at about 9,000 feet. Sgt Mather thought he was 30 miles east of Spurn Head, while his 

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THE BATTLE OF SPURN HEAD

RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle two companions thought they were 15 and 20 miles east, respectively. Sgt Mather also reckoned there were 10 or 12 enemy aircraft ,but the 72 Sqn pilots thought there were 14 or 15 aircraft. Enthusiastically, Sgt Mather dived at a target on the flank of the enemy’s rear group, probably opening fire at far too great a range, loosing-off all his ammunition (2,900 rounds) by the time he had zoomed in to 100 yards range. At that point, he found that he had to break away sharply because he had misjudged his approach speed. He didn’t see if he had actually hit his target, either. The floatplane at which he fired dived steeply away and was not seen again, Sgt Mather subsequently submitting a combat report claiming one enemy aircraft ‘damaged’. The two Spitfire pilots of 72 Sqn, ‘B’ Flight’s ‘Green’ section comprising Fg Off Thomas ‘Jimmy’ Elsdon and Australian Fg Off Desmond Sheen, submitted combat reports on return to Leconfield. On this sortie, Sheen was flying Spitfire K9959, RN-J, and

RIGHT: Fg Off Desmond Sheen of 72 Squadron in 1939. (DIANA FOSTERWILLIAMS, VIA KRISTEN ALEXANDER)

BELOW: Heinkel He115C1, werk nummer 3252; a later model, but similar to those engaged over Spurn Head. This aircraft served with 1/ KuFlGr 906. (DON HANNAH) BOTTOM: Spitfires FY-Q & FY - L of 611 Squadron 1939. (CROWN COPYRIGHT)

became the first Australian pilot to fire his guns in anger during the war. He described his engagement thus: “Scrambled at 14.30. Fourteen enemy aircraft intercepted over convoy and attacked while flying north and five miles east of convoy, fifteen miles SE Spurn Head. Enemy formation - leading five in vic and three sections of three very loose and spread out, speed 160mph. Rearmost

three attempted to provide covering fire and went up and astern prior to attack. My section of two aircraft attacked these three, whereupon they split up and employed individual evasive tactics of steep turns, diving and climbing and throttling back. One EA abandoned evasive tactics and dived steeply apparently in trouble and attack broken off. Second EA seriously damaged and petrol tanks leaking badly. Observer obviously killed or badly injured. It proceeded east losing height and skidding after attack, broken off through lack of ammunition. Thought not possible for it to reach home base. Main formation left convoy when attacked and made for home and seen later to be attacked by six fighters. Enemy aircraft camouflage: olive green and brown above, with white underneath wings. Large black cross under wings. Armed: light gun mid upper fuselage. Front armament unknown.” Jimmy Elsdon’s report was similar, noting that the Spitfires attacked individually, since “[standard] Fighter Command attacks were not applicable due to evasive tactics.” The pilots claimed two ‘probables’.

‘TALLY-HO!’

At 14.30, having missed out on the action, 611 Sqn’s ‘Yellow’ section was ordered to patrol North Coates at 7,000 feet then landed there at 15.45 to re-fuel. By this time, Sgt Mather had returned to the fold, landing back at North Coates to re-fuel and re-arm. Still airborne was 611’s ‘Red’ section, one of which was now ordered to patrol seawards below the cloud base. Fifteen minutes later, and Plt Off Douglas Watkins had intercepted an ‘unidentified enemy aircraft’ 30 miles off Spurn Point. He managed to make

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THE BATTLE OF SPURN HEAD

RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle

one attack, closing in to just 25 yards, before it disappeared into cloud cover and he lost sight of it. Watkins, too, landed back at North Coates at 15.45 to re-fuel and re-arm. While orders were being transmitted (albeit unheard!) to 611 Sqn, yet more information came down the line from Group HQ to Digby that nine German seaplanes - i.e. those of the original formation that had not engaged with the Spitfires - were flying due west and heading for the south-bound convoy. Now, ‘A’ Flight of 46 Sqn, led by ‘Dickie’ Barwell, were ordered to leave their orbit pattern and intercept this enemy formation. Simultaneously, ‘B’ Flight of 46 Sqn was ordered to back-up ‘A’ Flight by repositioning to North Coates.

Continuing their patrol, the six Hurricanes of 46 Sqn’s ‘A’ Flight Hurricanes were controlled from Digby Sector Operations Room which was still being bombarded by information coming in from ships, coastguards, radar stations and Group HQ. A mobile R/T van was located at North Coates to help relay some of the radio traffic as and when the aeroplanes flew out of range of the base transmitter, but even so the communications were fraught with difficulty. In part, this may well have been due to the less than effective TR9D radios with which RAF fighters were then equipped. At 14.50, after various changes of course, Barwell was holding ‘A’ flight in formation at 5,000 feet altitude

circling between Spurn Point and North Coates when its slice of the action began. At 14.55, their radios crackled out a new order: “Twelve enemy floatplanes approaching convoy from the south-east at 1,000 feet. Intercept!” Spotting the ships five miles off Spurn Point, Sqn Ldr Barwell immediately led his formation to the east of them at full speed, losing altitude to 2,000 feet as he did so. Now, he told his pilots to take up line abreast in search formation and keep their eyes peeled. Back at Digby, and some seven minutes later a faint “Tally Ho!” was heard through the loudspeaker. The fighter pilots had spotted some German floatplanes four miles away to port and a couple of thousand feet higher. Ordering his pilots to close-up, Barwell banked towards the enemy and gave chase. He had no difficulty in overtaking 

ABOVE: Heinkel He115B being loaded with a training torpedo at its base on the island of Sylt. (DON HANNAH) BELOW RIGHT: Sqn Ldr ‘Dickie’ Barwell’s flying logbook entries for 21 October 1939. (JOHN BARWELL)

BELOW LEFT: German Naval Staff Operations Division War Diary extracts relating to the attack on the British convoys on 21 October 1939.

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RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle

ABOVE: Although a ‘staged’ photograph, this images shows the pilots of 46 Squadron being called to readiness at around the time of the Spurn Head battle. (1940 MEDIA) TOP RIGHT: Sgt ‘Johnny’ Mather is shown here at the back of the pilot’s crew room playing cards. He is the pilot on the left, partly obscured by the seated pilot with back to camera. (1940 MEDIA) BELOW: Heinkel He115B (VIA DON HANNAH)

the slower enemy aircraft and soon manoeuvred his formation into a textbook attacking position behind, above and up-sun of their target.

EXPENDITURE OF AMMUNITION

Sqn Ldr Barwell could now see nine aircraft and identified them as twinengine Heinkel He115 floatplanes and snapped crisp commands: “A Flight; aircraft astern!” followed by “Number 5 Attack!” With that, and telling the rest to pick out their own targets from the left, he dived on the extreme left-hand enemy aircraft. His order of ‘Number 5 attack’ referring to one of the six standard attacks devised before the war, for engaging enemy bombers:1. From above cloud: a three-aircraft section against a single enemy aircraft. 2. From directly below: ditto 3. From dead astern: approach in pursuit or approach while turning.

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4. From directly below: as in No.2 but attacking several enemy aircraft. 5. From dead astern: attacking a large enemy formation. 6. From dead astern: an attack by a full squadron. The Squadron Leader opened fire on his target at 400 yards range, firing several long bursts and closing to within thirty yards before he broke away. Opening fire at this range would, by the time of the later Battles of France and Britain, be proven to be very ineffective. It was, however, at the time of this particular engagement, Fighter Command’s policy to harmonise RAF fighter guns to focus at 400 yards range. Later this would be reduced to 250 yards. Of course, these young tyros, though keen and in a state of high morale, had no experience of combat. Furthermore, the relatively successful use of an RAF ‘Standard Attack’ procedure may well have been counter-productive, since on this occasion it gave the fighters a false sense of its effectiveness. As will be seen below, each enemy aircraft shot down took several passes by the RAF pilots and the expenditure of a lot of ammunition in the process. Certainly,

this first sustained air combat by the RAF taught the service much about aiming, firing and the calibration of machine guns.

STARBOARD WING FOLDING BACK

Determined to hit hard while he had the chance, ‘Dickie’ Barwell fired almost two-thirds of his ammunition at this single aircraft nearly 1,800 rounds! However, he had the satisfaction of seeing flames coming from the starboard engine before diving away under its tail. Turning back towards his target, he watched it crash-land on the sea, its starboard wing folding back as it did so. Meanwhile, Red 2, Plt Off Philip Frost, picked out another Heinkel and his gunfire, too, drew flames from its port engine. In the meleé that followed, Red 3, Flt Sgt Edward Shackley, also attacked the same target as Frost and they both saw it crash into the sea. So far, so good. After the British fighters’ first swoop, the enemy formation scattered in confusion and the Hurricanes broke away to make individual attacks. Then, Sqn Ldr Barwell spotted a Heinkel diving off towards the south.

THE BATTLE OF SPURN HEAD

RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle popped out of cloud, the cloud cover eventually ran out. A final concerted attack by the two pilots drove the Heinkel floatplane down to land in the Wash, apparently intact, but with both engines stopped. This aircraft almost got away, and it is thought the pilot restarted the engines, took-off and limped towards Denmark before finally having to crash-land in the North Sea.

CAUGHT THE ENEMY UNAWARES

He called for the flight to follow him and chased it, firing the remainder of his ammunition at a range of 300 yards but without noticeable effect. This target continued to race off but was no match for the three Hurricanes of Plt Off Bob Cowles and Plt Off Richard Plummer who, together with Flt Sgt Ted Shackley, lined up one after the other to make firing passes at it. Now out of ammunition, Barwell watched proceedings from above and could see his pilots were over-eager and firing from too great a range to be effective. He called over the radio for the last Hurricane to get in much closer. Plt Off Plummer managed to do so, and after two passes the enemy aircraft crashed, upside down, at the eastern end of the Wash. Meanwhile, Plt Off Philip Frost and Plt Off Peter LeFevre had latched on to another Heinkel that was trying to make its escape by dodging in and out of cloud. After chasing it for some time, and firing bursts each time it

Landing back at Digby at 15.35 there was good cause for celebration. Originally, 12 or more Heinkels homed-in on the convoy but the other fighter squadron at Digby, the Spitfireequipped 611 Sqn, drove some of them off and only nine Heinkels managed to break through to the convoy. It was these raiders that the Hurricanes of 46 Sqn’s ‘A’ Flight engaged. The squadron had experienced its first taste of action, caught the enemy unawares, shot down four aircraft and put the rest to flight. Only two Hurricanes had felt the effect of any return fire, and even that was limited to just four bullet grazes on the wings of one and a single hit on the engine cowling of another. The 46 Sqn pilots and aircraft involved in the action that day, and their combat claims, were: L 1802 Sqn Ldr Philip ‘Dickie’ Barwell Red 1 (1 + ¼ shared) L1801 Plt Off Philip Frost Red 2 (½ + ½ shared) L1817 Flt Sgt Edward Shackley Red 3 (½ + ¼shared) L1815 Plt Off Robert Cowles Yellow 1 (¼ shared) L1805 Plt Off Richard Plummer Yellow 2 (¼ shared) L1892 Plt Off Peter Lefevre Yellow 3 (½ shared) There was, of course, a review of

everyone’s actions that day. The main engagement by 46 Sqn took place between 15.06 and 15.08 at an estimated 30 to 35 miles east of Withernsea. Among the criticisms to emerge was one that R/T messages sent out by Operations were consistently spoken too rapidly and squadron call signs were frequently omitted, causing some confusion. It also appeared that, despite a number of separate raids being reported, in the end only one enemy formation was involved as far as the south-bound convoy was concerned and only about 12 enemy aircraft were involved. Post-war analysis of German aircraft losses relating to this engagement confirms the four claims made by 46 Sqn as being the only actual victories. It appears therefore that the ‘probable’ claims by 72 and 611 Sqns were, at best, just ‘damaged’. Indeed, Luftwaffe records admit to three ‘damaged’ He115s as a result of this battle. As for 504 Sqn, this had been the squadron’s first war patrol but by the end of their time over the convoy they had seen no enemy aircraft and returned to Digby. By the time they had landed and refuelled, the enemy had been 

ABOVE: Pilot Officer ‘Dick’ Plummer of 46 Squadron. He was shot down and wounded during the Battle of Britain on 4 September 1940 and died of his injuries on 14 September. (1940 MEDIA) ABOVE LEFT: The lucky charm and identity discs worn by Plt Off 'Dick' Plummer at the Battle of Spurn Head. LEFT: ‘Dick’ Plummer’s letter home to his sister Marion in relation to the Battle of Spurn Head. (1940 MEDIA) BELOW: A Heinkel 115 at its Sylt base during the early war period. (CHRIS GOSS)

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THE BATTLE OF SPURN HEAD

RAF Fighter Command’s First Big Battle

ABOVE: The ‘state’ board preserved in the Operations Room at RAF Digby and reflecting the position on 21 October 1939. (STEVE RICKARDS)

BELOW: The Sector Controller's dais at the RAF Digby Operations Room. (STEVE RICKARDS)

engaged by other squadrons and 504, much to the disgust of its pilots, had missed out on the action, the despondent squadron flying back to RAF Debden during the afternoon of 23 October.

CART-WHEELED IN WELTER OF SPRAY

The enemy aircraft were Heinkel He115B, twin-engine, three-crew, multi-purpose sea(float)planes from 1/Kustenfliegergruppe 406 based at List on the island of Sylt Aircraft coded K6+EH (W.Nr 1876) crashed into the sea and sank five miles east of Spurn Head. The bodies of its crew, Ltn Fritz Meyer (pilot) Oblt-zur-see Heinz Schlicht (observer) and Uffz Bernhard Wessels (wireless operator)

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were washed ashore on the Norfolk coast and buried at Happisburgh on 2 November. Aircraft coded K6+DH (W.Nr 1882) crashed into the sea eastern of the Wash. Its crew, Obltzur-see Peinemann, Uffz Gunther Pahnke and Uffz Herrmann Einhaus were all rescued and taken POW. Meanwhile, aircraft K6+GH (W.Nr 1887) crash landed and sank in the Wash and its crew of Fw Rolf Findersen (injured), Oblt-zur-see Gunther Reyman and Uffz Hans Schultze were captured. A fourth aircraft, K6+YH (W.Nr 2093) was badly damaged during the engagement. Its wireless operator, Uffz Helmuth Becker, was killed and the observer, Lt Gottfried Lenz, sustained bullet wounds in his right hand and leg, but the pilot, Uffz Peter Grossgart, after being forced down into the Wash, managed to get airborne again and headed for Denmark. He struggled as far as position 54.02N; 03.29E, 150 miles east of Spurn Point, but still 200 miles from the Danish coast before spotting a ship and attempting to land on the sea near it. On touching the water, one float broke off, the aeroplane cart-wheeled in a welter of spray and sank, taking the body of Uffz Becker with it. Not, however, before

the two survivors scrambled clear and were rescued by a Danish vessel from Odense, Dagmar Clausen. The two airmen told their rescuers they were the only crew on the seaplane. Four days later, the ship arrived in Korsör, a small port near Odense, where the airmen were handed over to the police. At this time, Denmark was a neutral country but instead of interning the airmen the Danish government decided, on 30 October, to allow them to return to Germany. Three other He115s from this unit were damaged by machine gun fire during the engagement but were able to return to base. These were K6+EH which sustained 65 bullet strikes, K6+ZH with 35 hits and K6+XH with 5 hits. With the loss of four aircraft, 1 Staffel had to be re-organised, this being carried out the very next day when the remnants of the unit were re-designated as 1 Staffel, KuFgr 506. Whilst a success for RAF Fighter Command, much had been learned, operationally, about tactics, radio procedures, air-to-air firing and the conservation of ammunition. With the benefit of hindsight, and up against these slow, lightly armed and unescorted floatplanes, the massacre of the He 115 formation could so easily have been total. 

John Wynne Hopkins B.Ed., A.G.Av.A. MILITARY AVIATION ARTIST

‘Flying Yachtsmen’ Short Sunderland Mk III, ML884/DG-Z of No 422 Sqn RCAF, RAF Pembroke Dock, 8th December 1944. Signed Limited Edition Giclée Print Price £90.00 Approx print size 20” x 14” inches John Wynne Hopkins, Dept BW, Gatooma, 58 Queen Victoria Road, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, SA15 2TH. 07850669779, [email protected]. Website: www.jwhopkins.co.uk

p095_BAW_Jan17_ad.indd 1

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GREAT WAR GALLANTRY

January 1917

GREAT WAR GALLANTRY January 1917

Throughout the First World War, the many announcements of British and Commonwealth gallantry awards appeared in the various issues of The London Gazette. As part of our major monthly series covering the period of the Great War commemorations, we examine some of the actions involved and summarise all of the awards announced in January 1917. BELOW: British soldiers moving in devastated, wet and muddy conditions on the Ancre battlefield in November 1916. In was in such terrain that Private John Cunningham carried out the actions for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. (COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; H08519)

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he afternoon of 2 June 1917 saw King George V undertake one of the largest investiture ceremonies ever seen in Hyde Park in London. As RFC fighters patrolled overhead in case of a surprise German air raid, the King took some two hours to present a total of 351 awards. This number included eleven Victoria Crosses, four of them posthumously. In all, 313 servicemen received their awards personally, whilst twenty-six were received by relatives. There were twelve awards of the Royal Red Cross to nurses. The sixteenth individual to stand in front of the King that day was Private John Cunningham, one of two men whose Victoria Crosses were announced in The London Gazette in January 1917. The other was Private David Ross Lauder who is the subject of Lord Ashcroft’s feature this month.

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The great British offensive on the Somme had persisted throughout the autumn of 1916 with constant, if small gains putting increasing pressure upon German resources and manpower. Not content with this gradual erosion of the strength of the enemy, Field Marshal Haig still sought to achieve a great breakthrough – one that would tip the tide of the war irrevocably in favour of the Allies. With winter closing in on the men in the trenches, Haig prepared for his final large-scale attack of the Somme offensive (and indeed the whole year) in the middle of October, but poor weather led to the attack being delayed until November. That attack was delivered on the morning of 13 November with the objective of capturing Beaumont-Hamel and Serre on the heights to the north of the River Ancre, a tributary of the Somme. Their capture would give the British considerable tactical advantages which

ABOVE: A British soldier escorts an injured German soldier along a railway line after he had been captured and taken prisoner at St. Pierre Divion during the first day of the Battle of the Ancre, 13 November 1916. (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

GREAT WAR GALLANTRY January 1917

GALLANTRY AWARDS GAZETTED IN JANUARY 1917

they could exploit in the spring of 1917 when the weather improved and the offensive would be resumed and the Germans pushed back across the French border. Amongst the men who went ‘over the top’ on 13 November was Private Cunningham, who was serving in the 12th (Service) Battalion, (Hull Sportsmen’s), East Yorkshire Regiment. The Kingston upon Hull War Memorial 1914–1918 website provides the following background: ‘John Cunningham, who was usually known as Jack, was the eldest son of Charles Cunningham, a licensed pot hawker and his wife Mary Ann. He had six brothers. John came from a traveller family. He was born on the 28th June 1897, in a caravan, parked at Swains Yard, off Manley Street, one of the back streets of Scunthorpe (this stack yard no longer exists) … After he left school John became a hawker, like his father before him. He enlisted with the 3rd Hull Battalion when he was seventeen. He carried out his initial army training at South Dalton near Beverley and later served with the East York’s, guarding the Suez Canal in Egypt, from December 1915 to March 1916.’

Attacking from opposite Hébuterne, Cunningham’s 31st Division had been ordered to seize the German trenches and form a defensive flank north of the village of Serre. As Cunningham’s citation in The London Gazette states, ‘after the enemy’s front line had been captured, Pte. Cunningham proceeded with a bombing section up a communication trench. Much opposition was encountered, and the rest of the section became casualties. Collecting all the bombs from the casualties, this gallant soldier went on alone. Having expended all his bombs, he returned for a fresh supply and again proceeded to the communication trench, where he met a party of ten of the enemy. These he killed and cleared the trench up to the enemy line. His conduct throughout the day was magnificent.’ Returning to the evening of his investiture, Cunningham, continues the Kingston upon Hull War Memorial website, ‘left London with his parents who had also been present at the Hyde Park reception, to return home to Hull for leave and the City was to give him a huge welcome. Although his train arrived at Paragon Station at 1.28am,

Victoria Cross Distinguished Service Order Distinguished Service Cross Military Cross Distinguished Flying Cross* Air Force Cross* Distinguished Conduct Medal Conspicuous Gallantry Medal Distinguished Service Medal Military Medal Distinguished Flying Medal* Air Force Medal* Total

2 1,011 24 277 700 2 103 2,301 4,420

* Indicates an award that has not yet been instituted. Mentions in Despatches are not included.

on a Sunday morning, the crowds and a band were waiting to greet their ‘local hero’. On emerging from the station, at the former Anlaby Road entrance, a great roar went up and he was immediately hoisted shoulder high and carried home.’ Having been badly wounded in both legs and in the lungs, Cunningham was discharged from the Army in 1919. It would appear that he struggled with the return to civilian life. Over the months and years that followed, he appeared in court on numerous occasions, and for a variety of reasons. In March 1922, Cunningham became the first of the Somme VC recipients to be sent to prison, for failing again to keep up maintenance payments to his wife. He passed away on 20 February 1941 aged 43 years. A total of 1,011 DSOs were announced in January 1916. Amongst the names of the recipients was that of Captain Frederick Elliott Hotblack, MC. As The Tank Museum archives reveal, Hotblack was born in Norfolk in 1887. Gaining the nickname ‘Boots’, he was educated at the Imperial Service College and Lausanne University. He trained as a family brewer and was a fluent European linguist. Commissioned into the Royal Norfolk Regiment in 1914, he volunteered as one of the founder members of the Intelligence Corps at HQ British Expeditionary Force. With time, he developed the art of tank reconnaissance and intelligence, taping routes for tanks going into battle. He became the Tank Corps’ Intelligence Officer and was responsible for instructing others in tank reconnaissance work. 

TOP LEFT: John Cunningham VC of the East Yorkshire Regiment pictured after the award ceremony in Hyde Park in June 1917. ABOVE: King George V awarding the Victoria Cross to Private Thomas Hughes, Connaught Rangers, during the investiture ceremony in Hyde Park on 2 June 1917. Hughes, the next man in line behind John Cunningham, was the last to be presented with the Victoria Cross that day. (ALL IMAGES HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

LEFT: An officer guides a tank. Captain Frederick Hotblack MC’s similar DSO actions were undertaken in far different circumstances.

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GREAT WAR GALLANTRY

January 1917

RUNNING TOTAL OF

GALLANTRY AWARDS AS OF THE END OF JANUARY 1917 Victoria Cross Distinguished Service Order Distinguished Service Cross Military Cross Distinguished Flying Cross Air Force Cross Distinguished Conduct Medal Conspicuous Gallantry Medal Distinguished Service Medal Military Medal Distinguished Flying Medal Air Force Medal Total

243 4,062 385 10,686 11,045 54 1,413 41,163 69,051

RIGHT: Leutnant Werner Voss. At the time of his death, Voss was ranked only second to von Richthofen in the list of German Aces.

Hotblack had been awarded the MC for his work behind the lines and was later awarded a Bar. The DSO was the result of his actions at Beaumont Hamel in November 1916: ‘He guided a Tank into action by walking in front of it under very heavy fire. He displayed

ABOVE: Two Conspicuous Gallantry Medals were announced in January 1917 – bringing the total so far in the First World War to fifty-four. Undoubtedly a rare award, the CGM was conceived as a naval counterpart for the DCM. Originally instituted in 1855, it was suspended in January 1856 after only eleven awards had been made, only to be restored on 7 July 1874. The Royal Warrant stated that it was to be awarded to Petty Officers and Seamen of the Royal Navy and to NCOs and Other Ranks of the Royal Marines for acts of conspicuous gallantry in action against the enemy at sea.

great courage and determination throughout.’ Following the war he held various staff appointments, including serving as Military Attaché in Berlin in 1935, before being appointed the first Director, Royal Armoured Corps (DRAC) in 1939. He was invalided out of the army, after an accident in April 1940, shortly after assuming command of the 2nd Armoured Division. Hotblack died in 1979 aged 91. Listed in the same issue of The London Gazette as Hotblack was Captain George Alec Parker MC. His DSO, however, had been awarded posthumously. The citation stated: ‘He attacked hostile aeroplanes on three occasions during the same flight, killing an enemy observer. On another occasion he drove off three enemy machines, pursuing one of them down to 750 feet

ABOVE: HMS Defence and HMS Warrior in Action at the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916 – 1 June 1916. Of the two Conspicuous Gallantry Medals gazetted in January 1917, one was to Colour Sergeant Abraham Spooner. His entry in The London Gazette states: ‘Second in command of the Marine detachment of H.M.S. “Warrior.” After his guns were no longer required, he showed the greatest gallantry and initiative in rescuing wounded in dense smoke and gas fumes from Marines’ mess deck.’ Having been badly damaged during the battle, Warrior was abandoned in a rising sea on the morning of 1 June, the vessel floundering.

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three miles behind the enemy’s lines.’ It was at about 09.40 hours on 27 November 1916 that the 23-yearold Parker was shot down over the Western Front. Flying a 60 Squadron Nieuport 17, serial number A281, over Miraumont, he fell to the guns of Leutnant der Reserve Werner Voss. Parker was the first victory of this German Ace. The DSOs announced in January 1917 included a number of naval recipients who were recognised for their actions during the Battle of Jutland. Commander John Coombe Hodgson of the M-class destroyer HMS Moorsom, for example, led the ‘Destroyer attack on enemy Battle Cruisers, but, becoming engaged with enemy Destroyers, was unable to get within range. On conclusion of a gun attack, in which several hostile Destroyers were sunk and the enemy beaten off, he attacked enemy Battle Fleet and fired four torpedoes under very hot fire of enemy Battleships’ secondary armament. His Destroyer was struck and damaged by a shell.’ Fleet Surgeon Ernest Alfred Penfold MB had been ‘in the fore medical distributing station when a heavy shell burst just outside, killing and wounding many. He was knocked down, bruised and shaken, but personally assisted in the removal of the wounded and tended them with unremitting skill and devotion for forty hours without rest. His example was invaluable in keeping up the morale of the wounded and of the medical party under very trying conditions, the shell having destroyed instruments, dressings, etc.’ 

LORD ASHCROFT'S "HERO OF THE MONTH" Private David Ross Lauder VC

Private

LORD ASHCROFT'S "HERO OF THE MONTH"

David Ross Lauder

VC

SACRIFICE

AGGRESSION • BOLDNESS INITIATIVE LEADERSHIP SKILL • ENDURANCE The many Victoria Crosses and George Crosses in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum in London are displayed under one of seven different qualities of bravery. Whilst Private David Lauder’s award is part of the collection, and Lord Ashcroft feels that it falls within the category of sacrifice: “In what is apparently the simplest quality of bravery, Sacrifice epitomises selfless responsibility. Noble, strong, dependable, life is offered up to protect, save or comfort others. It is not always lost, but it is always freely given.” TOP RIGHT: A carriage still smouldering on the West Coast Mainline at Quintinshill near Gretna after the accident on 22 May 1915. RIGHT: Private David Ross Lauder VC. (ALL IMAGES HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

D

RIGHT: Disembarking at Suvla Bay, 6 August 1915.

52nd Division as a member of the 1/4th Battalion, The Royal Scots Fusiliers, he and his comrades were dispatched for Gallipoli, Turkey. Even before they set foot on the frontline in the early summer of 1915 his battalion became involved in two major incidents. As he and his comrades were on their way to their embarkation point, a troop train carrying members of the 52nd Division crashed outside the Quintinshill signal box near Gretna Green in Dumfriesshire. The five-train accident on 22 May 1915 claimed the lives of some 226 men and injured a further 246 men. To this day, the Quintinshill rail disaster remains the worst rail crash in British history.

Next came an accident in which the SS Reindeer, sailing from Mudros to Helles and transporting Lauder and his comrades, collided with SS Immingham. The Immingham, which was returning without troops, sank immediately but Reindeer limped back to Mudros. The Royal Scots did not, fortunately, lose any men in either incident but it was June 1915 before they finally arrived in Gallipoli. On 12 July 1915, the 1/4th Royal Scots Fusiliers were involved in an action at Achi Baba Nullah when they lost all but one of their officers and half their rank and file were killed or wounded. An ill-fated charge on three lines of Turkish trenches, the incident cost 

avid Ross Lauder was born in Easter Glentore, near Airdrie, Scotland, on 21 January 1894. He was the son of Angus Lauder, a tailor, and his wife Marion. Little is known of his early life but, after leaving school, he worked as a carter and trained with the 4th Battalion, The Royal Scots Fusiliers (Territorial Force). In February 1913, he married Dorina McGuigan, a coalminer’s daughter. Lauder was mobilised in August 1914, aged 20, and after training with the www.britainatwar.com 99

LORD ASHCROFT'S "HERO OF THE MONTH"

Private David Ross Lauder VC

VICTORIA CROSS HEROES Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is a businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. His sixth book on gallantry, Victoria Cross Heroes Volume II, was published last year. For more information, visit www.victoriacrossheroes2.com. Lord Ashcroft’s VC and GC collection is on public display at the Imperial War Museum, 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 TOP RIGHT: David Lauder’s medal group. (LORD ASHCROFT COLLECTION)

RIGHT: Private Lauder’s VC Memorial Stone in Greengairs Parish Church, Airdrie.

the lives of several of Lauder’s friends and left a deep impression on him. However, it was for bravery at The Vineyard, south-west of Krithia, Gallipoli, just a month later, that Lauder, then aged 21, was awarded the VC. In a diversionary attack to coincide with the Allied landing at Suvla Bay on the night of 6 August, the 88th Brigade had captured a small vineyard, which became known simply as The Vineyard. On the night of 12 August, the Turks launched a heavy bombardment of British forces, causing many casualties, in an attempt to recapture the lost ground. The 9th Manchesters, who had made substantial gains over the previous four days, had been forced to give up land that they had previously taken. By the morning of 13 August the fighting was still fierce, with both sides moving forward and then being forced back again. At around 11.30 hours, the 1/4th Royal Scots Fusiliers started replacing the exhausted Manchesters. However, despite more casualties, the Turks were eventually driven out and half of The Vineyard was re-secured. By late afternoon on the 13th, the battle was drawing to a close, although Lauder and his comrades continued throwing large numbers of bombs to prevent the Turks from advancing. To amuse themselves, the men were keeping a record of just how many

RIGHT: The view looking south down ‘C’ Beach, towards ‘B’ Beach – both of which were used during the landings at Suvla Bay - taken from the roof of a Second World War-era Turkish bunker.

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bombs they had each thrown over the lip of the sap. Lauder’s own tally was 200-plus when disaster struck. Lauder’s citation for his VC takes up the story: “For most conspicuous bravery when with a bombing party retaking a sap. Pte. Lauder threw a bomb, which failed to clear the parapet and fell amongst the bombing party. There was no time to smother the bomb, and Pte. Lauder at once put his foot on it, thereby localising the explosion. His foot was blown off, but the remainder of the party through this act of sacrifice escaped unhurt.” Lauder’s bravery had prevented nine comrades being killed or badly wounded. He later recalled: ‘I threw a bomb that fell short. I saw it slip down the parapet and roll towards the bombing party. “A three second fuse does not allow you very long for thinking. I recognised the fault as mine and the only course that seemed open to me was to minimise the explosion as much as possible. So I put my right foot on it. The explosion was terrific and the concussion was awful. My foot was clean blown away, but, thank goodness, my comrades were saved.” Lauder remained conscious after the accident and was carried back to his battalion’s fire trench where he received medical attention. He was later transferred to Malta for further medical treatment before returning to

the UK. He was eventually fitted with an artificial lower leg – from just below the knee – and he learned to walk with it. His VC was announced on 13 January 1917 and, in the same month, he was discharged from the Army and went to work in a munitions factory in Parkhead, Glasgow. He and his wife eventually had three sons and three daughters. Lauder received his award from King George V at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 3 March 1917 – he was Scotland’s only VC from the Gallipoli Campaign. After the Great War ended in November 1918, Lauder worked for the General Post Office (GPO). After getting divorced from his first wife, he re-married and had five further children. In April 1937, Lauder was the passenger in a tramcar when it jumped the rails and collided with a bus in Hope Street, Glasgow. Lauder was cut and dazed in the crash but nevertheless helped those more seriously injured to get out of the wreckage before calmly reporting for work. During the Second World War, Lauder combined his night work as a switchboard operator with being a part-time air-raid warden by day. In 1960, Lauder retired from his GP0 job but continued to work part time as a night-watchman. Lauder died at his home in Cranhill, Glasgow, on 4 June 1972, aged 78. I purchased his medal group last year and a write-up on his life and bravery features in my new book Victoria Cross Heroes Volume II. 

The author of the Letter of the Month may select a book of their choice (maximum value £25) from the extensive range of titles available at www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

FIELD POST

'Britain at War' Magazine, PO Box 380, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 9JA | [email protected]

LETTER OF THE MONTH

The Mosquito Exiles

ABOVE: Mosquito VI HP904/3-E was flown by Sub Lt Breck when he attacked and damaged the U-244 on 20 July 1944. (CATO GUHNFELD COLLECTION)

David Smith’s excellent article on the Bannf Strike Wing in the October issue of Britain at War mentioned the Norwegian manned ‘B’ Flight of 333 Sqn and I thought that Readers might be interested in some further information on this small and unique Coastal Command unit. During April, 1943, the Catalina equipped and Norwegian manned 1477 Flight at Woodhaven, near Dundee, received six Mosquito II and formed into ‘B’ Flight at nearby RAF Leuchars. These were the first Mosquito fighters in RAF Coastal Command and on 5 May the expanded unit became 333 (Norwegian) Sqn under Cdr Finn Lambrechts. The Mosquitos began operations on the 27th, and as mentioned in the article their primary role being reconnaissance, fittingly of the waters off the rugged coast of Norway where its crews soon became expert in navigating

the bleak area and were soon in action. The Norwegian crews’ local knowledge was soon exploited when, in mid-July, a small detachment of two Mosquitos joined others of 235 Sqn and Beaufighters of 404 Sqn at RAF Sumbugh for combined anti-shipping operations. The Norwegians acted as their ‘eyes’ and as ‘outriders’ to the attack force and this was an important step in the development of the Coastal Strike Wings of which the Banff Wing became such a devastating example as so well described in the article. Although gaining some success against the Luftwaffe, ‘B’ Flight’s main raison d’etre was for operations against shipping and from the spring of 1944 increasingly against surfaced U-boats which were to prove dangerous opponents. To counter these, the Mosquitos often carried depth charges. At the end of August 1944, 333 Sqn’s ‘B’ Flight

moved to Banff to join the Strike Wing where the pace increased and by October it was flying over sixty sorties a month. Once more, the main task was act as ‘outriders’ and to lead the way for the strike Mosquitoes of the Banff Wing and sometimes Beaufighters of the Dallachy Wing. Wing attacks were complex affairs, such as that on Boxing Day when, with 333’s outriders leading, the Wing flew into Liervik harbour to attack two 2000 ton MVs, one of which was left on fire and the other smoking. However, as they withdrew two dozen enemy fighters attacked at the entrance of Bomla Fjord and they had to fight their way out. At the start of 1945, ‘B’ Flight also conducted mining of the shipping lanes of the inner ‘leads’. There were still occasional encounters with the Luftwaffe such as that on 12 January when Sub Lt Nodeland shot down a Ju 52 (7U+FL of 2/TG 20) and on 12 March when a Me 109G of 13./JG 5 was shot down by Lts Gulstrud and Bakken flying in HR118 / KK-Q. With the Reich shrinking, and as U-boats in the Baltic began to sail for safety in Scandinavia, they provide rich pickings. On 9 April two aircraft from 333 Sqn were outriders when the Wing sank the U-804 and U-1065 whilst on the 19th came even greater success. Twenty-two Banff Wing Mosquitos

sank U-251, damaged two more submarines and an ‘M’ Class minesweeper. Two days later, on a U-boat hunt in the Kattegat, the force met a group of Ju 88s and nine of these bombers from KG26 were lost with 333 Sqn’s Lt Heine Eriksen flying HP910 / KK-L and getting one for 333 Sqn’s 18th and last air success. One pilot recalled: ‘…the sea was full of blazing aircraft.’ Then, on 2 May, 333 Sqn provided top cover as the U-2359 succumbed to the Banff Wing’s firepower. Germany’s unconditional surrender was signed a few days later. The first task for the 333 Sqn Mosquitos after the German surrender was to provide escort to the cruiser HMS Norfolk that was taking Crown Prince Olav back to Norway. Then, on 8 June, the Flight flew to Fornebu near Oslo in an emotional return where on the 22nd it became independent as 334 Sqn and transferred to Norwegian control on 21 November. The Mosquito remained in use with the Squadron until 1952 when they were replaced by F-84G Thunderjets after nine dramatic years in Norwegian service. Andrew Thomas By email BELOW: This U-boat has almost disappeared in the spray from the fire of an attacking Mosquito of the Banff Wing in the Kattegat when trying to escape to Norway. (G A B LORD)

The author of the Letter of the Month may select a book of their choice (maximum value £25) from the extensive range of titles available at www.pen-and-sword.co.uk www.britainatwar.com 101

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Our Letter of the Month is sponsored by Pen & Sword Books

'Britain at War' Magazine, PO Box 380, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 9JA | [email protected]

Wing Walking Firefighter Dear Sir -I was fascinated to read your feature by John Ash (Wing Walking Firefighter, Britain at War, November 2016) on the exploits of Sgt James Ward who bravely climbed out onto the wing of his Wellington bomber attempting to extinguish an engine fire. Certainly, he was a very courageous man and a Victoria Cross could not have been more richly deserved. One thing that struck me was the image of a pub sign at Feltwell depicting a Wellington on a pub of the same name and with tributes to Sgt Ward displayed in the pub. Well, that rang a bell! During the 1950s and 60s a pub stood on the seafront at Hastings,

East Sussex, which was also named the Wellington. This was on the A259 coast road at White Rock and I suspect that it had originally been named after the Duke of Wellington. At some later point the pub sign was replaced with a depiction of a Wellington bomber and I was always told that this was also in honour of Sgt Ward VC – it being said locally that there was a tenuous connection in that James Ward came from Hastings, New Zealand. However, that may be incorrect although it was a very strong story, locally, and was talked of in the pub itself where James Ward’s deeds were certainly known. What is a fact, though, is that the pub sign depicts an aircraft of 75 Squadron with

its distinctive ‘AA’ code letters – although not actually Ward’s AA-R. It is artwork which also bears a striking resemblance to the box lid artwork by the famed Roy Cross for the packaging of the 1960s Airfix 1/72nd scale model kit of the Wellington. By the 1990s the pub had been unimaginatively renamed ‘The Smugglers’ and the old sign vanished despite my efforts to save it before it was destroyed. Now, even ‘The Smugglers’ has gone the way of many pubs and had closed by the late 1990s due to falling trade. For some years, though, there was at least a nod to some recognition of Sgt Ward VC and the Wellingtons of 75 Squadron in an otherwise unconnected East Sussex seaside town. Thank you for

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an interesting feature and, as ever, a fascinating magazine. Yours sincerely Mark D Cook, Littlehampton, West Sussex By email

Spitfire Squadron And Its Scoreboard's Beer Tally

I was fascinated to read the piece by Andy Thomas about Spitfire Squadrons Down Under (Britain at War, December 2016) and to learn a little more about the squadron with which my father served – which was 54 Squadron. It is the first time I have seen anything about it in print, and so its discovery was a real joy.

102 www.britainatwar.com

My father, Alan James Lawrence, joined the squadron in England as a LAC Armourer shortly before they embarked for Australia and he was quite sure that he’d be remaining posted in Britain. Instead, he was on his way to Australia within a matter of days and with no time for leave or to say goodbye to his family. Initially, he was quite disappointed as he felt sure that the squadron

would see no action in Australia. How wrong he turned out to be. Unfortunately, my father left few possessions and only one or two photographs of his service life. Mostly, these are pictures of himself, the outback and bush life or of his pals. Only one of them is aircraft related and is a large photograph taking up one whole page of his album. On the reverse is

stamped Royal Australian Air Force Official Photograph and a curious inscription by Dad: ‘Where’s my beer?’ and a little figure of Mr Chad peering over a wall. Underneath the photo, on the album page, is the caption which reads: ‘Beers? No! Shooting a Line. Or was it a Lie?’ In fact, the photograph depicts the same scoreboard that appears in your feature on page 66 but seems to have been a photograph taken at a much earlier time. As to the curious inscription on the album page and the reverse of the photo, the story is that my father’s assigned pilot (sadly, I never asked him his name) told him that for each of his victories he’d buy him a crate of beer back in Britain because even single bottles of beer in the outback were hard to come by – let alone crates of the stuff. In total, seven were apparently down to the guns maintained and armed by my father. So, seven crates of beer in total. Father died in 2009, but not long before his passing he looked at this photograph with me and commented: ‘I never did get my bloody beer!’ Yours sincerely, Paul Alan Lawrence, Minehead, Somerset. By email

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ART OF WAR

Phil Jarman looks at the role of key artists during the Second World War.

01

UNIQUE VIEWS OF LIFE UNDERGROUND K

nown worldwide for his semiabstract modernist figures and family groups, Henry Moore’s sculptures have been commissioned to adorn public places since the end of the Second World War and he is now regarded as one of the most significant and influential artists of the twentieth century. Son of a Yorkshire coalminer, Moore was born at the end of the nineteenth century in Castleford and as a schoolboy his passion for craft was evident in his carvings produced in wood and clay, indicating how he would go on to develop his talent throughout his life. Encouraged to pursue a career in teaching, Moore’s life in Yorkshire was interrupted by the First World War and joined the Army in 1917. His regiment fought in the battle for Cambrai where he suffered the effects of a gas attack and resulted in his return to Britain. Following hostilities, Moore became a beneficiary of an ex-serviceman’s grant, enabling him to study at the Leeds School of Art and in 1921 he went on to attend the Royal College of Art in London. Unfortunately, he was not encouraged to continue his pursuit of carving by his tutors and so developed his ideas in his own time. Moore’s ethos of the manipulation of media and materials nurtured his work throughout his career. Observing and studying examples of design and artefacts in the British Museum, and whilst travelling on a scholarship to Italy, Moore began



How did modernist sculptor Henry Moore record the plight of Londoners sheltering in tube stations and shelters during the Blitz?

Unique Views of Life Underground

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to develop an understanding of primitive art from across the globe. His interest in Mexican, African and Ancient Egyptian objects of art with their intrinsic naive forms and shapes, simplified bodies and features were to be incorporated into his own work and went on to become his trademark in post Second World War commissions. After graduating from the RCA, Moore collaborated with other like-minded artists, notably Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Paul Nash who formed the creative group: Unit One. These artists shared a vision for abstraction and surrealism, the work they created possessed some similarities but each pursued their own personal directions. When war broke out in 1939, Moore identified that he could support the war effort by making precision tools, but his contributions took a different turn after Sir Kenneth Clark, Director of the National Gallery, purchased some sketches he had created during the London Blitz. Clark had already formed a list of over 200 practitioners to record the war through art, rather than photography or film, as he believed that artists, like poets, could interpret the suffering, weaponry and individuals in an alternative format that would both appeal to and inform the public and create a lasting record for the future. Moore was not amongst that original list of artists, and as he was a sculptor, Clark was unsure how

Moore’s work could record the war effectively. However, Moore’s visual awareness of the crowded shelters and Underground Stations and studies of the families who for months took refuge below ground to escape the severest of the London Blitz from late 1940 through to 1941 proved to change Clark’s mind. Moore began a series of artworks that he created using chalk and children’s wax crayons to depict the crowded platforms and shelters where women, children and the inhabitants of London huddled together underground and recorded that what he saw, something which resembled images of slaves on ships from centuries before. Moore’s wartime work is now regarded as some of his finest, and formed the shapes and inspiration for later work he produced in three dimensions. Several compositions were selected to tour the United States and Canada in support of fund raising and awareness of the war on the home front in Britain during the darkest days and nights of the war. Following the success of Moore’s shelter drawings, Clark, as Chairman of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee, commissioned the artist to record the effort at the coal face as miners toiled to produce vital fuel to support the war effort. In contrast to the passive poses of the people in the shelters, Moore’s miners possessed energy and action as they carved coal from deep underground. His drawings were produced at

ART OF WAR

Unique Views of Life Underground

the Wheldale Colliery, Yorkshire; coincidentally, where his father worked as a miner at the start of the twentieth century. As an artist, Henry Moore flourished in the post-war era, travelling and enjoying recognition around the world, including taking the International Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1948. Moore received commissions for permanent artworks, and over half a century later his sculptures can still be seen in parks and public spaces across the globe. Moore’s larger than life human figures, created in bronze, developed after the Second World War show references to his sketches of rounded figures with elements reduced to suggestive shapes, often faceless, with holes bored through and undulating lines resembling the Yorkshire landscape of the artist’s childhood. In 1963, Moore was awarded the British Order of Merit, only received in recognition of people who have achieved great things in art, literature or science. In 1977 Moore established the Henry Moore Foundation intended to encourage wider enjoyment and opportunities of the arts. Currently, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield is home to some of the artist’s finest sculptures. Henry Moore died in 1986 and is buried in the Artists’ Corner at St Paul’s Cathedral, ironically close to the sites where he created some of his most memorable work during the war years.

CLOCKWISE: Ghostly abstract figures, huddled together as the weight of the German Luftwaffe rained bombs down on London streets above. A sketch that shows lines of people resting in tunnels, thought to resemble a slave ship from earlier history. The Underground at the Elephant and Castle station caught on camera, just as Henry Moore would have witnessed the scene. An example of Henry Moore’s depiction of toiling miners, working at the coal face in his native Yorkshire. A post-war Henry Moore bronze figure now enjoyed by the public at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield.

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RECONNAISSANCE REPORT | The Nazi Death Camps Then and Now

Edited by Winston Ramsey Publisher: After The Battle www.afterthebattle.com ISBN: 978-1-870067-89-8 Hardback: 456 pages RRP: £44.95

B

THE SUBJECT matter of this book is unquestionably one of the most difficult and distressing of Second World War related subjects for any writer or publisher to tackle, but Winston Ramsey and the After The Battle publishing house must be commended for doing so. Without a doubt, they have provided the most comprehensive coverage of the subject that has ever been published and produced what must surely stand as a definitive work. Whilst the content of the book is certainly more than quite distressing it nevertheless provides us with a glimpse of the true horrors of these places and the industrial scale of the liquidation carried out at camps with names that, even now, still have the power to send a shiver down the spine; names like Buchenwald, Belsen, Dachau, Auschwitz, Mathausen, Sobibor and the women’s camp at Ravensbrück. However, what

108 www.britainatwar.com

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

this book also reveals is that an astonishing 15,000 concentration and labour camps were set up across the Greater Reich and occupied Europe, with one such camp even established in the United Kingdom on one of the Channel Islands. Many of these were labour camps housing forcedlabourers or persons deemed to be ‘enemies of the state’, but others were very specifically purpose-built killing centres. In this epic work, the editor and his team have documented all the major camps across Germany and Europe, as well as a number of camps which are not perhaps so well known. In each study, the camp history is recorded in some detail, the text accompanied by a wide selection of contemporary and recent photographs. In some cases, much evidence of these camps still exists. In others, just about all traces have been swept away and leaving nothing more than a memorial to record the terrible things that happened there. Pictorially, this book really excels – and that is notwithstanding the truly horrible nature of some of the image content. However, it is only through the images that one can even begin to grasp both the scale and the awfulness of it all. Meticulously researched, each photograph is accompanied by a detailed caption explaining the image and, in many cases, offering ‘then and now’ comparisons.

Looking at these bright photographs of the scenes today it is often difficult to reconcile these colourful and airy images of the more recently sanitised locations which were once scenes of depravity, brutality, misery and death. Indeed, it is almost impossible to grasp that these bright images are the very same places where we see grim photographs of wretched skeletal inmates, clad in their striped uniforms, or of bodies piled high in the most hellish and nightmarish of scenes. Yes, this book is harrowing. But it is certainly one which was long overdue and provides a stark reminder of man’s inhumanity to man, in Europe, and still within living memory. Winston Ramsey has most certainly produced a thought provoking book, and one which can only serve to echo the words of BBC broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, who said in 1965: ‘There is one thing you must do – something without which all the measures of relief and succour would be but temporary remedies – and that is to vow with all your heart that such horrible things will never happen again.’ Echoing these sentiments, Winston Ramsey tells us that he produced this book as a record to remind future generations of the millions of lives snuffed out by the Nazi dictatorship and in camps where there was a total disregard

for whether the inmates lived or died. It is, though, the words of one of the very perpetrators of these hideously unspeakable crimes which perhaps resonates the most. Just prior to his execution in October 1946, Gauleiter Hans Frank said: ‘A thousand years will pass and still this guilt of Germany will not have been erased.’ Winston Ramsey’s work lays bare that guilt, and troubling though this book’s contents might be, it is essential reading for those who seek to understand the scale of the Nazi death camp programme. Despite its content, this is a truly remarkable book. REVIEWED BY ANDY SAUNDERS Illustrations  References/Notes Appendices  Index 

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

The Somme:

The Day by Day Account

Chris McCarthy (Introduction by Prof. Peter Simkins) THIS REPRINT of a detailed chronicle of the five-month Battle of the Somme can barely be awarded higher praise. Though not an evaluation or analysis of the history of the Somme, or the factors surrounding the offensive, it is, however, the ideal means by which to understand the evolution of the battle. Coverage of the battle itself has been split into five chapters, one for each month, with every day covered in detail. Entries into the ‘diary’ are preceded by a weather report for that day. Then, the detail of every action follows, broken down by location and sub-battle and by Army, Corps, Division, and Brigade. Individual unit objectives are highlighted, as are their movements and the results of their frequently bloody engagements. The title is very nicely produced and every unit’s entry is accompanied by its insignia. In addition, the book features numerous examples of beautifully drawn maps, fifty of them, and all of them new to this revised edition. Also included are a vast array of images. Some, unavoidably, are extremely well-known but there are several examples of rarer images to add further interest and detail to this important work. The book also features an annotated bibliography, detailed index, a list of books for further reading (with a nod to some of those published since the original 1993 release of this title) and includes appendices showing the Orders of Battle for both sides, as well as a list of VCs awarded to the men of the battle. This is a truly fantastic book and one we are sure to hide away in the office as we are very keen to keep hold of it! In

fact, it is a bible for those interested in the Somme Campaign. Although it offers little analysis of the events, it is wholly unrivalled as a point of reference for exactly what happened on any particular day to any British unit involved. Publisher: Uniform, an Imprint of Unicorn Publishing www.unicornpublishing.org ISBN: 978-1-910500-51-4 Paperback: 182 pages RRP: £28.00

A Stirling Effort

Short Stirling Operations at RAF Downham Market 1942-44 Steve Smith

ALTHOUGH THIS might be a book which at first glance seems to be somewhat ‘niche’ in its interest sphere it is one of those books that most certainly fills a gap in the history of Stirling aircraft and the story of a notable RAF Bomber Command base. This is very clearly a labour of love by author Steve Smith who has examined the histories of the squadrons, the airfield and the men who served there in the most intricate detail and providing firsthand accounts of the missions flown from the base. Additionally, around a third of the book is filled with detailed appendices charting personnel, the aircraft based there and the sorties flown. Extensively illustrated throughout with images of aircraft and aircrew there cannot be a more detailed history of a Bomber Command airfield and its resident squadrons ever written – an airfield which also saw the award of two Victoria Crosses. This is a book which is a must for those who want to learn more of the operational history of the Short Stirling or for those with an interest in RAF Bomber Command. It

| RECONNAISSANCE REPORT

is highly recommended by the Britain at War team. Publisher: Mention The War Publications www.mentionthewar.com ISBN: 978-1-911255-03-1 Paperback: 529 pages RRP: £18.00

Publisher: Gomer Press Limited www.gomer.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78562-168-0 Paperback: 160 pages RRP: £9.99

All For Freedom The True Story of Escape from The Nazis D T Davies

THIS IS as visceral a first-person account of soldier, POW and escapee as could ever be written and the veteran author, D T Davies MM, is to be commended for giving us this testimony of his experiences across several harrowing years. Spending three years as a POW in Austria and Hungary after being captured on Crete, the author endured captivity and labour in often appalling conditions – particularly at the Zemun camp near Belgrade which he describes as ‘Hell on Earth’. This remarkable little book, the story of one man’s war, came about as the result of his two sons insisting that he put his story down on paper for the benefit of following generations of his family and for the sake of history. If this book does one thing apart from recording the war of a man who was truly a hero and who was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery. It also brings into very sharp focus the fact that there are still very many remarkable and untold veteran’s stories out there. That such stories should be recorded before it is too late is something which can only be regarded as highly desirable – and before such history is lost forever. In his own efforts, D T Davies does a most remarkable job and those wanting to learn more of the POW experience simply ought to read this book which is well illustrated, well written and nicely packaged.

Winged Chariot Peter Lush

AS THE 75th anniversary approaches of one of the Second World War’s most audacious raids, the operation against St Nazaire in March 1942, this is a most timely publication looking at an often overlooked and neglected aspect of the raid; the participation and part played by the RAF. In this fascinating work, Peter Lush lays out the story of the important role undertaken by the RAF in Operation Chariot including diversionary raids elsewhere and operations in the English Channel itself. The author has meticulously researched the subject and has been a recognised authority on the raid across several decades. As such, nobody is better placed than he to relate this account – which is expertly done and packaged to the usual standard expected of this publisher. Sometimes, it is hard to comprehend that there could yet remain any story untold of the RAF’s operations in North West Europe during the 1939 – 1945 period although this book very much dispels any such notion! The book is one which we have no hesitation in recommending most highly and is a most valuable addition to the published history of the RAF during the Second World War. Publisher: Grub Street www.grubstreet.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-910690-24-6 Hardback: 190 pages RRP: £20.00 www.britainatwar.com 109

RECONNAISSANCE REPORT | SOE In France 1941 – 1945

An Official Account of The Special Operations Executive’s ‘British’ Circuits in France Major Robert Bourne-Paterson Publisher: Frontline Books www.frontline-books.com ISBN: 978-1-47388-203-4 Hardback. 274 pages RRP: £25.00 THE SPECIAL Operations Executive has become so well known that it is hard at times to remember just how secretive an organisation it was. It engaged in actions that were considered ‘ungentlemanly’ by the moral standards of the day, and its stories were not ones of glorious battles in the summer skies or of dramatic dashes up the D-Day beaches, but of torture, murder and betrayal. After the war, there was no need for such an organisation and its operations were wound up. As so much of what had happened was considered best forgotten, its members were sworn to secrecy and files were ‘weeded’ by the staff in SOE HQ at Baker Street in London. Unfortunately, as they were burning these documents the fire got out of control and the fire brigade had to be called. The result was that a very large percentage of SOE’s files were lost, possibly as much as eighty-five per cent. As SOE was being dismantled in 1946, one of its staff officers, Major Robert Bourne-Paterson, compiled a history of the organisation before it, and much of the information, disappeared from history. His work was done, therefore, as he concedes, in ‘a race against time’, and in his Foreword he accepts that his ‘history’ is far from being an exhaustive account of SOE’s activities in France. That being said, the loss of so many documents means that no SOE history can ever be considered entirely complete and this is a unique

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

study, compiled not by some latter day academic, but by someone who was actually involved at the heart of the organisation. After providing a brief over-view of the structure and purpose of the SOE in France, Bourne-Paterson details the activities of each of the British circuits in France, and this is where this study becomes truly fascinating. The attacks and sabotage efforts of the agents are amazing. Take for instance the attack upon the electricity substation at Five-Lille Engineering works in June 1943. Twenty-five men, some dressed in French police uniforms and others in German uniforms and a few posing as Gestapo, entered the works telling those on duty that they had come to protect the place from Allied parachutists. Whilst supposedly guarding the plant, the men laid explosives. The leader of the ‘Gestapo’ told the engineer in charge at the plant he and his party needed to get reinforcements and the twenty-five men left hurriedly before three large transformers and other smaller ones, along with most of the switch gear and control panels, were destroyed in the subsequent explosions and resultant fire. Other sources also state that forty trucks were also destroyed. There are many, many similar stories throughout the book. What is of particular interest is that Bourne-Paterson enumerates how many people were involved in many of the circuits at different times in their existence and how many were killed in action or executed by the Germans. This is a very good summary of the structure and astonishing activities of the SOE in France, laid out in a very clear fashion. It is impossible to read this book and not be staggered at the scale of the operations that were being conducted under the very noses of the Germans.

REVIEWED BY ROBERT MITCHELL Illustrations  References/Notes Appendices  Index 



FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE

ON SALE FROM 20 JANUARY 2017

Operation 'Leg'

When Wing Commander Douglas Bader was brought down over France on 9 August 1941 he lost one of his artificial legs during the process of abandoning his Spitfire. Taken POW, his captors signalled to say he had lost one of his prosthetic legs and that safe passage would be a given to an aircraft delivering a spare. In the end, the RAF delivered a spare leg, but instead of taking advantage of the ‘safe passage’ offer it was dropped by parachute during a bombing raid as Andy Saunders explains.

Tanks By Train

The sheer logistics of moving the very first tanks from factories to military establishments, and thence overseas for active service, could only be resolved by transporting these huge beasts by rail. Rob Langham takes a fascinating look at how the railway system became the only way to move these cumbersome new weapons around the country and, ultimately, to their destinations overseas.

Maintaining Tradition

As German and Italian troops swarmed the vital British-held island of Crete by air and by sea, it seemed obvious that the garrison could not hold on forever no matter how bitterly it fought. It was down to the Royal Navy, at tremendous cost, to evacuate the Anglo-Commonwealth defenders. Professor Eric Grove explains how the Royal Navy battled to save lives - and maintain their reputation.

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IMAGE OF WAR

USS OKLAHOMA SALVAGE 15 July 1942

Sunk with the loss of 429 after five torpedo hits at Pearl Harbor, here work begins to salvage the USS Oklahoma. A slow process, righting the ship was completed by June 1943. As the remains of those trapped in her previously submerged hull were removed, basic repairs to refloat the vessel were made and she was taken to drydock. However, plans to recomission Oklahoma were abandoned and she was decomissioned in September 1944. Three years later, her hulk sank in a storm 500 miles off Hawaii as she was towed to scrap. Her final resting place is unknown. (VIA KENT RAMSEY)

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The First W

rld War in Objects

POSTCARDS IN AID OF

THE BLIND NO.30

ABOVE: A selection of the postcards from the first set published to raise funds for St. Dunstan’s. (Historic Military Press)

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RIGHT: Sir Arthur Pearson photographed at a rehabilitation centre during the First World War. (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

Even in the early months of the First World War, the large number of wounded men placed great strain on the medical facilities available, both on the Continent and in the UK. Such were the numbers that numerous voluntary organisations, some well-established, others born out of the conflict, found they had a vital role to play. The work of some of these associations and institutions was highlighted by the Minister of Pensions, George Barnes, during a debate in the House of Commons on 6 March 1917. Barnes had started by declaring: ‘It is only right to acknowledge the splendid zeal and disinterestedness of those agencies, and if I say a word about two or three of them I hope that it will not be thought that the omission of others is any slight upon them.’ ‘In the first place,’ continued Barnes, ‘I want to mention one which, I think, is perhaps more complete than any other – that is the splendid provision made at St. Dunstan’s for the men blinded in the War. As is well known, Sir Arthur Pearson lives himself in a world of darkness, but that has not quenched his extraordinary energy which he has thrown into the relief of his fellow sufferers. Some 600 men have been blinded in the War. So far, 210 of them, I think, have already passed through St. Dunstan’s. Three hundred are still there, and 100 others are to follow.’ Sir Arthur Pearson, one-time owner of the Evening Standard and founder of the Daily Express, had lost his sight through glaucoma in the years leading up to the First World War. In 1914 he was made president of the National Institution for the Blind. Then, on 29 January the following year, Pearson founded The Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Care Committee (later renamed St Dunstan’s and now known as Blind Veterans UK). The intention of this new organisation was to provide vocational training rather than charity for invalided servicemen, and thus enable them to carry out independent and productive lives. In the late summer of 1916, the first set of pictorial postcards, five in number, was published to support the work of St. Dunstan’s. Priced at 6d. a set, the postcards came in their own envelope, the front of which carried the following description: ‘This series of post cards, from paintings by R. Caton Woodville [who created three of the set; ‘Blinded For You’, ‘When Night Sets in The Sun is Down’ and ‘Memories’], George Soper [‘Pals’], and Thomas Henry [‘You’ve Not Said How I’ve Growed, Daddy’], is sold in aid of the funds of the National Institution for the Blind, who are responsible for the provisioning and housekeeping of St. Dunstan’s Hostel for blinded Soldiers and Sailors, and the various annexes in connection with the hostel.’ At least two further sets of fundraising postcards were issued before the end of the war.

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