Britain at War Magazine 2015-08 (100)

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BATTLE OF BRITAIN 75: THE 'FEW' POWs

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BRITAIN’S BEST SELLING MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY

TALLBOY

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SUNK BY STUKAS English Channel Ordeal

TAKES ON THE

WEAPONS DAMBUSTERS STRIKE BACK

HERO

VETERAN

INTERVIEW

Meet the man who served the whole of WW2

ISSUE 100 COMPETITION TOP PRIZES Closing Date: 30th Sept. 2015

SALERNO LANDINGS: WELSH THE INVADERS SPEAK HERO First-hand interviews from the front

Lewis Evans VC

AUGUST 2015 ISSUE 100

UK £4.50

www.britainatwar.com Should you wish to correspond with any of the ‘Britain at War’ team in particular, you can find them listed below: Editor: Andy Saunders Assistant Editor: John Ash Editorial Correspondents: Geoff Simpson, Alex Bowers, Mark Khan Australasia Correspondent: Ken Wright Designer: Dan Jarman EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES: Britain at War Magazine, PO Box 380, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 9JA Tel: +44 (0)1424 752648 or email: [email protected]. ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES: For all aspects of advertising in ‘Britain at War’ Magazine please contact Alison Sanders, Advertisement Sales Manager Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131 or email: [email protected]. GENERAL ENQUIRIES: For general enquiries and advertising queries please contact the main office at: Britain at War Magazine Key Publishing Ltd PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131 Fax: +44 (0)1780 757261 SUBSCRIPTIONS, BINDERS AND BACK ISSUES: Britain at War, Key Publishing, PO Box 300, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1NA Email: [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTIONS, BINDERS AND BACK ISSUES HOTLINE:+44 (0)1780 480404 Or order online at www.britainatwar.com Executive Chairman: Richard Cox Managing Director/Publisher: Adrian Cox Commercial Director: Ann Saundry Production Manager: Janet Watkins Group Marketing Manager: Martin Steele ‘Britain at War’ Magazine is published on the last Thursday of the preceeding month by Key Publishing Ltd. ISSN 1753-3090 Printed by Warner’s (Midland) plc. Distributed by Seymour Distribution Ltd. (www.seymour.co.uk) All newsagents are able to obtain copies of ‘Britain at War’ from their regional wholesaler. If you experience difficulties in obtaining a copy please call Seymour on +44 (0)20 7429 4000. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part and in any form whatsoever, is strictly prohibited without the prior, written permission of the Editor. Whilst every care is taken with the material submitted to ‘Britain at War’ Magazine, no responsibility can be accepted for loss or damage. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or Key Publishing Ltd. Whilst every effort had been made to contact all copyright holders, the sources of some pictures that may be used are varied and, in many cases, obscure. The publishers will be glad to make good in future editions any error or omissions brought to their attention. The publication of any quotes or illustrations on which clearance has not been given is unintentional. We are unable to guarantee the bonafides of any of our advertisers. Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions before parting with any information or item of value, including, but not limited to, money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information in response to any advertisements within this publication.

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From the

Editor

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S BRITAIN and the free world marks the end of the Second World War, so this month’s issue of Britain at War gives us different glimpses of the conflict across almost six years of bitter fighting. In particular, John Nichol’s cover story dealing with the attacks on Hitler’s V-Weapon sites provides a chilling reminder that the stakes were always high. It also points up the fact that, when they were needed the most, some extraordinary heroes came forward to face daunting challenges in the fight against oppression. Only last month we carried news coverage of events commemorating Operation Dynamo and the evacuation from Dunkirk, an event which signalled the commencement of Britain’s defensive stance in holding the line during the Battle of Britain which, it can be argued, became a pivotal point of the war. Of course, that battle is remembered largely for the participation of the famed ‘Few’, RAF Fighter Command’s beleaguered and outnumbered pilots. However, the Battle of Britain was not just about Fighter Command and in this issue we look at the part played by the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and a small number of the unsung heroes of RAF Balloon Command as they battled their way along the English Channel during 1940 whilst under relentless attack from the Luftwaffe. On the RAF Fighter Command side, however, we look at a somewhat overlooked few of the ‘Few’ – those pilots who became POW during the battle. Thus, at the very beginning of our commemorative features covering the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain this summer, we are able to focus this month on elements of that battle that are little written about. Of course, after the Battle of Britain, there were very many highs and lows in the conduct of the war against Germany and the Axis powers, with the V-Weapon attacks against Britain in 1944 posing a massive threat and what was really a most urgent challenge. As it was in 1940, pilots of RAF Fighter Command played their own important part in defending the country from the V-1 Flying Bombs, but against the V-2 rockets there could be no defence. Equally, the never-deployed V-3 could have no defensive measure engaged against its missiles and the only option was to knock out the massive launch sites and facilities for all of the V-Weapons that were being set up along the French coast within easy range of London. John Nichol’s feature tells the truly remarkable story of the men, the aircraft and the bombs of RAF Bomber Command that took on the task of smashing the threatening V-Weapon sites. Those who participated in all of these battles and operations were surely heroes, but perhaps nothing sums up better the unbreakable spirit of Britain, her Commonwealth and of her Allies than Lord Ashcroft’s feature on the wonderful Eric Garland. Specially written for Britain at War by Lord Ashcroft to mark the end of the Second World War, the story is one of the most remarkable courage, fortitude and endeavour and of a man who served throughout the entire duration of a war, first as a Commando and later as a RAF fighter pilot, and who amassed three gallantry awards. It is the story of men such as Garland, and of other often unsung service personnel, that provides the very substance of Britain at War magazine. Finally, and whilst the magazine continues to mark significant anniversaries of all Britain’s conflicts since 1914, Britain at War also has its own milestone event to mark this month with the publication of its 100th edition. To celebrate, we are running a competition for our readers and the details will be found on page 70. A mass of exciting prizes are on offer, so be sure to participate. As the saying goes: You need to be in it to win it!

Andy Saunders (Editor) www.britainatwar.com

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FEATURES 24 TALLBOY TAKES ON THE V-WEAPONS 

88 A FEW NEAR MISSES 

34 DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES 

98 PRISONERS AMONGST ‘THE FEW’

Better known for the legendary Dams Raid, John Nichol tells the story of what the RAF’s elite 617 Squadron did next.  

Once mighty battleships are humbled by a new technology. Martin Mace describes the sinking of the unsuspecting HMS Majestic.  

In a special feature, Lord Ashcroft interviews a commando turned Spitfire pilot turned escapee, thrice decorated veteran Eric Garland. 

As the Battle of Britain rages over the Channel, Chris Goss tells how some of the pilots fighting for Britain would end up as POWs. 

42 THE RELUCTANT HERO

Steve Snelling presents the story of Lewis Evans, Wales’ most decorated, and most modest, soldier of the First World War. 

78 INSIDE THE AVALANCHE – SALERNO 

Using first-hand interviews from the men of the 16th Durham Light Infantry, Peter Hart reveals what it was like to be in the forefront of action when the Allies landed at Salerno in September 1943. 

Contents ISSUE 100 AUGUST 2015

34 DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES 4

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78 INSIDE THE AVALANCHE - SALERNO

Subscribe & Save!

61 BALLOONS UP! 

A subscription to Britain at War offers great savings on cover price.

Our Editor details the fate of HMS Borealis and the innovative countermeasure that failed Convoy Peewit. 

See pages 86 and 87 for more details.

REGULARS 6 BRIEFING ROOM 

The latest news and events for your diary. 

21 FIELDPOST 

Your letters, input and feedback. 

58 FIRST WORLD WAR DIARY 

August 1915 in our monthly guide to the First World War. August would see a busy month in the war at sea, a widening of the war’s global campaigns and a calm before the storm on the Western Front. 

72 RECONNAISSANCE REPORT 

Includes a new title on the Ghurkhas, the story of a British family trapped in France and an enduring inter-service rivalry. 

106 DATES THAT SHAPED WORLD WAR TWO 

Victory! The war is over! August and September 1945 in the spotlight in our last look at the key events of the Second World War. 

108 GREAT WAR GALLANTRY    

More tales of valour from the Great War in our monthly series, including another Hero of the Month from Lord Ashcroft. 

114 THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN OBJECTS 

Featuring the Nordenfelt Gun, a relic of the Gallipoli campaign. 

Editor’s Choice

50 A PLUCKY CHAP

A sad, thought provoking and warming tale of respect for ones enemies is related by Robin Schäfer.

COVER STORY

A Lancaster of 617 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, is loaded with one of the massive ‘Tallboy’ earthquake bombs in preparation for another attack on the German V-Weapon sites in France. The aircraft carries the name ‘Honor’ and an impressive mission tally See John Nichol's fascinating account of the use of these weapons against the V-Weapon sites on page 24. (COLOURED BY DAN JARMAN FROM A PHOTOGRAPH

98 PRISONERS AMONGST 'THE FEW'

SUPPLIED BY WORLD WAR TWO IMAGES)

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

Prince Harry at Bastion Rededication ON 11 June 2015 Prince Harry joined a congregation of 2,000 people, including the Prime Minister, current and former members of the Armed Forces and their families, as well as the bereaved, at the Bastion Memorial Service of Rededication at the

National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire. The service was held to remember those who gave their lives in the Afghanistan conflict. The memorial was rededicated by Deputy ChaplainGeneral Peter Eagles and a minutes silence was held in

memory of the fallen. Prince Harry also addressed the audience on the memorials significance. The original memorial wall, built in Afghanistan, was deconstructed in 2014 following the end of British combat operations. It has been reconstructed at the National

Memorial Arboretum and includes parts of the original structure. A new addition is an engraved map of Afghanistan marking the locations where British forces served. The Bastion memorial is now open to the public.

TOP LEFT: Prince Harry attended the service and delivered an address on the importance of the Bastion Memorial to families of those who served in Afghanistan and as a place of remembrance.

TOP RIGHT: Lance Corporal Martin Oakes of the Scots Guards plays “A Pipers Lament” at the Arboretum. ABOVE: The reconstructed Bastion Memorial.

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(ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF CROWN COPYRIGHT)

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After four months of work, the Ulster Aviation Society have readied their McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom FG.1 (XT864) and moved it from RAF Leuchars in Scotland to its new home in Belfast. By the end of the year, XT864, a veteran of the RAF and Royal Navy, will have been rebuilt and will join the Ulster Aviation Society's collection of aircraft.

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The Princess Royal has unveiled a memorial dedicated to war horses in the town of Romsey, Hampshire. The life size statue of horse and accompanying officer was funded by £50,000 raised by the public. The Romsey Remount Depot trained and dispatched some 10% of the 1.3m hourses, mules and donkeys shipped overseas with British forces in the Firrst World War. Sadly, few would survive.

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A British veteran of the Korean War has been honoured on a South Korean commemorative stamp. Lt Col James Power Carne VC led the men of the Gloucester Regiment against 10,000 Chinese troops at the Battle of Imjin River and has been depicted on one of 10 stamps commemorating the 65th anniversary of the start of the war.

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Sir Christopher Lee (1922 – 2015) LEFT: Flying Officer C F C Lee in Vatican City, 1944, soon after The Liberation of Rome. RIGHT: Christopher Lee, pictured in 2009 at an awards ceremony.

(MANFRED WERNER (GNU-FDL))

PROLIFIC ACTOR Sir Christopher Lee has passed away aged 93, leaving behind a legacy and defining an entire generation of the horror genre as well as a number of stellar performances in some of films greatest roles. Although best known for his rich acting career, Sir Christopher’s military career is also of note. In 1939 Lee volunteered to fight for the Finns in the Winter War, where he was tasked with supporting Finnish forces for a short time before returning to Britain and joining the Home Guard. He later enlisted with the RAF where as an intelligence officer he specialised in decoding German ciphers. Upon his arrival in North Africa, Lee was based with the Long Range Desert Group where he was involved in much behind enemy lines activity, including sabotage. Sir Christopher was later assigned to the Special Operations Executive where he was involved in espionage and reconnaissance amongst other clandestine duties in German occupied Europe. He would also be involved in No.1 Demolition Squadron ‘Popski’s

Private Army’ amongst other special forces and with the Gurkhas of 8th Indian Infantry Division. Lee dined frequently with Vladimir ‘Popski’ Peniakoff himself. Sir Christopher was mentioned in dispatches, and in addition to his six campaign medals, received others from Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Fluent in several languages including French, German, Italian, and Russian, post war Sir Christopher was tasked with tracking down war criminals while serving with the Central Registry of War Crimes and Security Suspects before retiring from the RAF in 1946 at the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

War and Peace Show - The Future

HAVING ORGANISED the War and Peace Show for 27 of its 33 years, Rex Cadman and team have announced that they have decided to call it a day. In a statement released prior to this year’s show at the Folkestone Racecourse at Westenhanger, Rex said: ‘We’re very proud to have grown the show from a small club event with about 100 vehicles to a position where we are the world’s largest military show which sees over 4,000 vehicles and attracts over 100,000 people. A great many other military vehicle shows

have War and Peace as their parentage, having grown out of our event.’ Internationally recognised as the premier event of its kind, and supported by Britain at War Magazine, the show has always been a draw for military vehicle enthusiasts, restorers and owners as well as re-enactors and collectors and also popular for those with a serious interest in all aspects of military history. Among the hundreds of trade stalls are to be found a wealth of treasures, including books,

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The oldest surviving Fairey Swordfish Mk 1 took to the skies for the first time since 2003 after benefiting from a £200,000 grant from the Peter Harrison Heritage Foundation. With this example entering service in 1941, the legendary 'Stringbag' torpedo bomber has been rebuilt by the Royal Navy Historic Flight and others. (IMAGE: CROWN COPYRIGHT)

ABOVE: Members of the public enjoying a tank ride on a FV432 armoured personnel carrier.

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A memorial to almost 300 Indian soldiers who died during WW2 in Eritrea has been restored by CWGC craftsmen. The Keren Cremation Memorial commemorates Sikhs and Hindus whose remains were cremated in accordance with their faith. Located 90km west of Asmara, it was the scene of the most decisive battle in East Africa, when an Allied force defeated an Italian army twice its size.

maps and photographs – aside from more general selections of militaria. Additionally, the War and Peace Show has also been at the forefront of honouring veterans and is proud of its educational value on the annual school days. Although the press release from Rex and his team announced that it was their last show, the good news just before we went to print was that a new owner for the event had been found and that the show’s future seemed assured and ‘to be in good hands.’

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ABF The Soldiers’ Charity will honour the huge losses sustained and the courage of troops involved at the Battle of the Somme 99 years on in a frontline walk. The 100km walk, stretched over three days, will pass famous sites such as the Menin Gate, Theipval Memorial and the Lochnagar Crater and aims to raise money for charity.

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Sir Nicholas Winton (1909 – 2015)

SIR NICHOLAS WINTON, who saved the lives of hundreds of Czechoslovak children, has passed away aged 106. He leaves behind not only his children, but generations of grateful families born from those so selflessly saved. Winton, invited by a friend, arrived in Prague in December 1938 to find the city home to most of Czechoslovakia’s Jews following the annexation of Sudetenland. An influx of refugees needed support and Sir Nicholas began by relief workers. However, before long his concerns grew for the displaced children and working from his hotel in Wenceslas Square he sought to evacuate them. Before long desperate parents rushed to add their children to his list and within weeks, Winton had 6,000 names. Returning to London, Sir Nicholas worked with the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia and a Czechoslovak travel agency to arrange transport. This was not cheap, each child needed a

The operation to recover the ‘Black Horse’ Spitfire will be featured in the October edition of Britain at War magazine.

new home, foster parents and the substantial sum of £50 as a guarantee, in addition to travel costs in cases where the parents could not afford them, but Winton persevered. By March 1939, the Nazis occupied all of Czechoslovakia and the threat posed grew, but in nine months, Winton rescued 669 children. As the children arrived at London Liverpool Street, Winton looked on as they were collected, elated by each success, saddened by the fact more children remained in Prague. Winton successfully arranged for eight trains out, but sadly the ninth train, with 250 children on board, disappeared after war was declared. During the war, Sir Nicholas drove ambulances for the Red Cross, serving alongside the BEF and was evacuated from Dunkirk. He later joined the RAF and his post war work involved selling items hoarded by the Nazis to raise money for Jewish organisations. Winton always made

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time to volunteer no matter how busy his careers kept him, and it was for this he was appointed MBE in 1983. His story of heroism was largely unknown, even by those he rescued, but in 1988, The Sunday Mirror published a story based on the contents of Winton’s scrapbook and TV appearances discussing

his story, including one where the audience was formed from those he rescued, followed. Winton received several honours including the freedom of Prague and a Knighthood. However, a modest Sir Nicholas insisted he had done nothing special, “I just saw what was going on and did what I could to help.”

‘Black Horse’ Spitfire Recovery

ABOVE: The Rolls Royce Merlin engine from the ‘Black Horse’ Spitfire is recovered from a field at Draycott, Somerset, on 10 July. It is due to go on display at the company HQ of Lloyds Bank. (PHOTO: ZOE SAUNDERS)

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ABOVE: Sir Nicholas Winton visiting Prague in 2007. (LI-SUNG)

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Battle of Britain airmen, most if not all well into their 90’s, have recently been welcomed to Clarence House for a tea party by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall as part of the 75th anniversary of the legendary battle. The event was the first such since the 70th anniversary events five years ago.

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Two Arctic Convoy veterans have finally been honoured with the new Arctic Star medal after a 70 year wait. Dr Yves Dias and Matthew Usher received their retrospective medals after a successful application. Men like them endured harsh sub-zero conditions and vicious German attacks in the Allied effort to keep the Soviet Union in the war by supplying them with arms and supplies.

ON FRIDAY 10 July, the 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain, TV presenter and historian Dan Snow fronted a project to recover the wreckage of Spitfire P8148 ‘The Black Horse’ from a field at Draycott, near Weston Super Mare, Somerset. The aircraft was a Presentation Spitfire purchased by the employees of Lloyds Bank which had been gifted to the RAF in 1941 and carried the name ‘Black Horse’ after the bank’s iconic symbol. The Spitfire had been lost on 12 July 1942 after a mid-air collision with another Spitfire, P8278, whilst being operated by 52 Operational Training Unit from RAF Hawarden. The pilot of P8148 was Sgt William Johnston, an Irish volunteer, who

baled-out safely from the stricken Spitfire leaving it to dive into a meadow where the front part of the fighter buried itself in the soft soil. The recovery operation was conducted with the son of William Johnston and other family members present in a project that was live-streamed on You Tube and was also filmed for a documentary programme. Most of the wreckage of the Spitfire had been recovered in 1942, but a very well preserved Rolls Royce Merlin XII engine was recovered from several feet below the surface. After cleaning and conservation it is intended that the engine will go on display at the HQ of Lloyds Bank in London, the company having supported the project.

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New Zealand politician Ron Mark is seeking assurances that iconic Gallipoli painting Simpson and his Donkey, depicting New Zealander Richard Henderson, will not leave the country after its sale at auction stating ‘this painting is part of our culture. If it cannot be bought for public benefit then it should, anyway, stay in the country.’

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First World War Vehicles Surprise Crowds at Military Pageant

ABOVE: Visitors to the Military Pageant Airshow hosted by the Shuttleworth Collection in early July were treated to some amazing examples of vehicles from the First World War including a replica British tank, a range of lorries, and a wartime bus. (IMAGE COURTESY OF PHIL CHAPLIN)

Payments to VC and GC Recipients Raised

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DESPITE THE pressures on the United Kingdom’s finances, and the divisive atmosphere generated by budget season, few will disagree with one element of George Osbourne’s 2015 budget, although there have been concerns on how far the new gratuity will be extended. Funded by fines levied on banks, an annual tax free gratuity payment of £10,000 will be awarded to future recipients of the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest award for valour in the military, as well as the George Cross, the country’s highest award for gallantry for civilians. Currently, recipients of the awards are awarded an annuity worth £2,129. The move is

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expected to be part of a package of donations to military causes, and builds on nearly half a billion pounds worth of spending on good causes raised from bank fines. (IMAGE: CROWN COPYRIGHT)

To mark the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme, a national commemorative event will be held at 12:00 on 1 July 2016 at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Thiepval Memorial. This will be led, on behalf of the UK Government, by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and by the Mission du Centenaire de la Premiere Guerre Mondiale on behalf of the French and in partnership with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Royal British Legion. By going to the website at http://somme2016.org/en/ it is possible to register for a ballot for tickets to what will be one of the premiere events of the Great War Centenary. The ballot opens on 28 September 2015. Entrants must be resident in the UK or Ireland.

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Forgotten Army to be Remembered

TRIBUTES WILL be paid to those who served in Fourteenth Army, the British Army of the Burma Campaign, as part of a series of events to mark the 70th Anniversary of VJ Day. Armed forces personal will support the commemorations and assist veterans as well as former Prisoners of War and internees, who will also be acknowledged. The service will be attended by the president of the Burma Star Association, Viscount John Slim, son of Fourteenth Army’s long-serving commander Lord Slim. August 15 will see events planned by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal British Legion, including a VJ Day commemoration at Horse Guards Parade. Senior political and military representatives will join veterans and their families in a

traditional Drumhead service before the Armed Forces lead veterans past the Cenotaph and the statue of Field Marshal Lord Slim. Another service at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, will represent Prisoners of War, internees and their widows and families. The Burma Campaign saw Britain and their Commonwealth allies turn, in the words of Lord Slim, 'defeat into victory'. They ended Japanese dominance in the region and arguably developed into the most effective jungle fighting force of the era. Over 500,000 men served in Fourteenth Army, including 100,000 British and 340,000 Indians. A substantial British and Commonwealth effort also extended outside of Burma, into the wider Far East and the Pacific.

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Bomb disposal experts have been called to the Kentish seaside town of Herne Bay as work to install a footbridge near the existing Blacksole Bridge uncovered improvised phosphorus bombs. Smoke rose from the site as the bombs, issued to the Home Guard in this case to protect the bridge from potential German invaders, were made safe.

British troops marked the end of their presence in Germany with a parade in Bergen that focused on friendship and reconciliation. It included musicians from the Royal Armoured Corps, soldiers from 3 Regiment RHA, 32 Engineer Regiment, and two medical regiments. They were presented with the prestigious Fahnenband.

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Maunsell Forts to be Luxury Resort AFTER OVER 70 years of battling the elements, the old British Army Maunsell air defence forts at Red Sands, off the coast of Whitstable, Kent, look today to be in a rather dilapidated condition. However, a new scheme has the potential to restore, preserve and utilise the forts. The planned 44 room hotel, complete with helipad, restaurant and museum devoted to the forts and their designer, Guy Maunsell is certainly unique, and would be accessible only by hovercraft or helicopter. The seven tower complex at Red Sands was part

of a chain of army and navy forts (each designed by Maunsell) protecting the Thames and Medway estuaries. Each complex was armed with four 3.75in antiaircraft guns (each mounted to its own tower) and a pair of Bofors 40mm cannon (mounted together in the same tower). These surrounded the central control tower, and offset from the rest of the group was the searchlight tower. Together the three Thames army forts claimed the downing of 22 aircraft and 30 flying bombs. They continued to be used until

the late 1950’s and then became synonymous with pirate radio, with some stations using the forts as their base of operations. If pursued, the plans to develop the forts into a hotel complex would see accommodation built into the gun towers. A restaurant, lounge and other leisure facilities as well as the foyer would surround the central control tower in what has been coined as the ‘rubber ring’, an odd looking superstructure presented as a possible design. The Bofors tower would contain the executive suites and a health

spa and each tower would be connected by a series of glass walkways. The old searchlight tower is set to become a museum dedicated to Maunsell and his ingenious forts – complete with separate arrivals jetty. The plan to restore the fort at Red Sands appears to have been met with encouragement, with consent given to further explore the proposal by The Marine Maritime Organisation, the Port of London Authority, and the owners of the seabed the forts stand on, Crown Estates.

ABOVE: The easily recognisable sea forts at Red Sands, built in 1943, are visible from the beaches at Whitstable and Herne Bay. (PROJECT REDSAND)

Channel ferries halted by mines

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THE PORT of Calais had to be closed for much of Sunday June 7 as the French Navy defused and disposed of a pair of British Second World War sea mines, leading to the cancelling of multiple ferry services running on the Calais to Dover route – the ferry link between Dover and Calais is said to serve 30,000 passengers a day.

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The mines had been discovered previously on a beach near Calais port and the effort to defuse the mines, one of which was thought to have been booby-trapped and therefore could not be moved, was deliberately scheduled for a Sunday in order to minimise the impact defusing the devices would have on travellers and freight traffic.

With over 54,000 names the Menin Gate at Ypres is the second largest memorial to the missing in the care of the CWGC. The sounding of the Last Post has taken place every night there since 1928 and hundreds gather each night to listen and remember. Speaking as the Last Post sounded for the 30,000th time, HRH The Duke of Kent: ‘As President [of the CWGC] it gives me great pleasure to thank the people of Flanders, Ypres and the Last Post Association for continuing to honour the sacrifice of our fallen. Families whose loved ones were lost in the fields of Flanders derive great comfort from the ongoing commitment of the Belgian people to commemorate them. I offer warm thanks and hope this nightly act of remembrance will continue to inspire and resonate in perpetuity.’

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"Poppies,Women and War" AN INNOVATIVE and free new photographic exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool promises to give tribute to woman caught up in conflict from the First World War to the present day and aims to bring to the foreground personal stories of the women affected by conflict across the globe that had perhaps previously been hidden behind the headlines. The growing exhibition, ‘Poppies, Women and War’ will pair botanical images of Poppies, our symbol of remembrance, German police have seized a Second World War Panther tank from a 78 year old man as they investigate whether the man’s collection, which also included a torpedo and a notorious 88mm anti-aircraft gun, is in breach of German law. The German Army took nine hours to remove the wartime equipment, which is not functional, from the man’s cellar.

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with striking portraits of women taken by Lee Karen Stow and includes stories from women who have served in war, as well as those related to family members involved in military action, and those unfortunate women who have become victims of conflict. Opening on 24 July, Poppies, Women and War’ which promises to be a compelling and thought provoking display will run until February 2016 before continuing its tour to the University of Hull that summer.

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A new statue has been unveiled in Middle Wallop to commemorate the pilots of the Air Observation Post. Formed in 1940, the team of artillery spotter pilots was tasked with directing artillery fire from the air. In addition to the statue’s dedication, one of the surviving pilots received a Legion D’Honneur.

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

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Kent Police help return stolen U-Boat propeller

ABOVE: Jane Bealby pictured right, with families of the airmen from Stirling EF127 who are commemorated on the monument.

Broomhill Grange Aviation Monument 100 GUESTS, including relatives, attended a ceremony on June 19 to unveil a new memorial dedicated to an aircrew involved in a crash in 1944. The memorial, near Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, was raised by local farmers Jane and Robert Bealby, with support from Newark Air Museum and Nottinghamshire County Council. In the early hours of February 1944, a Short Stirling Mk III heavy bomber, EF127, crashed on a seven hour training flight from RAF Winthorpe that began the previous evening. The base at Winthorpe housed a training unit set up to retrain aircrews

to fly heavy bombers, and the crew of EF127 were in the final stages of their conversion programme. The bomber, short on fuel, went down in appalling winter weather conditions in an accident that would killed five of the seven crew. Unveiled by Jane Bealby the monument was blessed and then a time capsule, complete with recovered fragments of the crashed Stirling bomber, was placed by the daughter of Reg Plath, one of the two crash survivors. Arrangements to visit the memorial can be made by contacting the Newark Air Museum.

KENT POLICE’S Rural Task force, together with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, were thanked for their role in the return of an unusual First World War artefact. The artefact, a propeller from the German U-boat SM U-8, was handed back to the German Navy on June 15 after it was seized by Kent Police from a property in Sandgate, near Folkestone, the previous year. U-8, one of over 300 submarines operated by the German Navy in the First World War, was the first German submarine to be sunk in the First World War, being sunk in March 1915 with her entire crew being captured after sinking five British merchant ships herself. She had become snagged in antisubmarine netting and forced to surface about 10 miles east of Dungeness, Kent. U-8’s crew were picked up by the Royal navy destroyers HMS Gurkha and HMS Maori before being sunk by their guns – an event watched by crowds standing alone the coastline.

The phosphor bronze propeller had been fashioned into a coffee table and had spent much of its life in the Sandgate home. The Maritime Coastguard Agency must be informed of any item that is recovered from sunken wrecks within 28 days, otherwise the removal is considered to be theft and perpetrators can be hit with a large fine. The propeller was seized in 2014 as a result of a large joint investigation into the theft of high-valued artefacts being raised from shipwrecks in the English Channel. More items were recovered following a number of seizures across Kent. The handover ceremony took place aboard the Karlsruhe, a Bremen-class frigate, in Portsmouth harbour. Jan Hackstein, the German Naval Attaché, described the ceremony as “a wonderful sign of reconciliation and friendship between the United Kingdom and Germany.” The propeller, now it has been returned, will be put on display at the German Naval Memorial in Laboe.

BELOW: SM U-8 sinking after being scuttled off of the Kent coast on March 4 1915 by the Royal Navy destroyers HMS Gurkha and HMS Maori. Until that point, U-8 had enjoyed a fairly successful raiding career, sinking British merchant vessels over 23/24 Feburary 1915.

Century Old Crew Lists Revealed from Navy

PLACES TO VISIT

A TEAM of over 400 volunteers from across the globe working from 100 year old documentation have completed their gargantuan efforts to transcribe and make searchable the names and details of at least 750,000 sailors and 39,000 voyages. The 4 year ‘e-volunteer’ 1915 Crew List Project hopes to bring to light the valuable contribution

of the Merchant Navy in Britain’s battle against the Central Powers. The bravely and significance of these unsung heroes has now been immortalised along with a number of their previously untold stories. The digitised lists, presented on an extremely easy to use and cleanly designed website, can be found at http://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk/

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66th Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Edinburgh Castle, 7-29 August An international favourite, the Scottish capital hosts a world famous global showcase of talented musicians and performers in the specatular grounds of Edinburgh's majestic castle.

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Avenue House at War Exhibition Stephens House and Gardens, Finchley, London, Until 30 September A free new exhibition explores the service this house gave in both World Wars as a hospital and ARP Headquarters. Be sure to check out this insightful event complete with displays of air raid equipment and an escape tunnel.

Military Odyssey Kent Showground, Detling, Kent, 29 – 31 August Witness 4,000 participants recreating a vast 2,000 year period of history ranging from the Romans through the World War's and up the present day in the world's largest multi-period re-enactment show. An event sure to cater to all! Airbourne Eastbourne Eastbourne, East Sussex, 13 - 16 August A free air show spectacular featuring a thrilling line up of fast jets, aerobatic teams, parachutists, and rotary aircraft. Some of the aircraft listed in the line up includie the Vulcan, the Breitling Wingwalkers, Norwegian Vampires and more.

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BRIEFING ROOM |

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

RAF Valley Sea King in last SAR flight

A RAF Search and Rescue Sea King from RAF Valley, much like the one above, also from Valley, stood down after its last flight from the base. 09.00 hours on July 1 marked the end of RAF SAR operations from Valley, with the Maritime Coast Guard Agency taking over. Valley’s Sea Kings and their air and ground crews have saved hundreds of lives in over 10,000 callouts – Thank you! (As a type, the Sea King has served with the RAF and Royal Navy in many theatres of operation, both at home and overseas. Most notably, the helicopter was used in The Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan where it was employed in trooping, transportation, special operations and rescue roles, with images of a Sea King rescuing survivors from stricken ships during the Falklands campaign being notable during the types sterling service with British forces). (CROWN COPYRIGHT)

Rifle Mystery at IWM

PLACES TO VISIT

INVESTIGATORS RE-EXAMINING a series of murders committed in Northern Ireland have uncovered a rifle linked to several unsolved cases inside a display case in London’s Imperial War Museum. The IWM had the weapon, a vz.58, a Czechoslovakian designed assault rifle developed in the late 1950s, featured as part of a display dedicated to the period known as ‘The Troubles’ - a controversial, raw, and important aspect of British and Irish history. Forensic experiments conducted nearly 20 years ago confirmed the rifles link to a fatal 1992 attack on a Belfast betting shop which killed five, including a 15 year old boy. It is now believed that the weapon is

linked to other cases including at least two earlier murders. The rifle had previously been thought to have been disposed of, something shocked families of the victims were told by the authorities. In a statement to the BBC, Imperial War Museum said that the vz.58 had been appropriately included as part of a wider permanent exhibit on the period. The museum itself was unaware of the rifles history. and was given little information. The museum is now working to investigate other firearms from its collection. It is not known if the rifle, now removed from the cabinet, will return to an amended display.

World-Record Spitfire Auction Result THE AUCTION of Spitfire Mk I, P9374, took place at Christie’s in London on 9 July (see Britain at War, June 2015) with the results exceeding the estimated price of £2.5 million. Instead, after a great deal of saleroom interest, a flurry of bidding saw the hammer fall on the Spitfire at an astonishing £2.7 million to an as-yet undisclosed buyer. The buyer was not in the room and bidding via telephone, and although the hammer price was £2.7 million the final price, with commissions, will be around £3.1

million - thereby making this a world-record price achieved for a Spitfire. Prior to the sale, the Spitfire had been on public display outside the Cabinet War Rooms in central London where it had attracted a great deal of public interest. The 'sister' aircraft to P9374, Spitfire Mk I, N3200, was donated to the nation for the Imperial War Museum earlier the same day when it was handed over by the owner, Tom Kaplan, to HRH Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, at the IWM, Duxford.

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Blackpool Air show Blackpool, Lancashire, 9- 10 August Boasting an incredible line up including the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the legendary B-17 Flying Fortress, the free seafront show returns for 2015. Other participating aircraft include the Vulcan bomber and the RAF's Red Arrows.

Western Front Association Event A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Battle of Coronel 1914’ Dr Scott Lindgren examines of the famous Battle of Coronel, where the German East Asia Squadron defeated a squadron of Royal Navy cruisers, at the Manor School, Nether Poppleton, York, on August 8 at 14.30.

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World War Two: The People’s Story at the Braintree District Museum Braintree, Essex, Until September 12 A fascinating new exhibition focusing on the Essex home front and those who experienced life in the county in wartime. It is the result of a six month oral history project and seeks to mark VE day and the county's wartime involvement.

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Western Front Association Event 1915 Year of Crisis in Command At 19.30 on August 14 Professor John Derry visits the TA Centre in Stockport to consider the effects of the rapid expansion of the BEF’s commitments on Western Front and the resultant effects on command in 1915.

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.

Open everyday from February to Mid - December Only five minutes drive from the Brittany Ferries Terminal at Caen/Ouistreham

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

BATTLEFIELD VISITS

Remembrance

Tours to stir the Heart

RIGHT: The Second World War Ranville Cemetery.

THERE IS a growing interest in visiting the former battlefields of the two World Wars with both men and women, all in their late eighties and nineties, retracing their steps and taking time to remember fallen colleagues and the life-changing events they experienced by taking trips as far afield as Burma and India, as well as to France and Belgium. Most of these veterans were very young at the time – teenagers in fact – and the war was the first time they were away from home. Many would never return. In some ways, it can be difficult for veterans to travel, as they tend to need both emotional and physical support and so the Royal British Legion (RBL), sensitive to their needs, have set up Remembrance Travel to offer specialist tours. As a consequence, it is also finding that a growing number of people are keen to know more about where their parents, grandparents or great grandparents were stationed, and what they witnessed. ‘We take a wide range of groups, historians, veterans and their family and friends on trips all around the world to revisit the battlefields to find out more about what life was like for those on the frontline’ Nichola Rowlands, Royal British Legion, explains. ‘The 100 and 70 year anniversaries have seen a real boost in interest with a generation looking to connect with what their ancestors experienced.’ Britain at War magazine are therefore pleased to be able to help the RBL promote this unique Remembrance Travel facility. 18 www.britainatwar.com

As well as visiting key historical sites, including the locations of some of the most hard-fought battles, the tours also offer opportunity for quiet reflection at war memorials and cemeteries. Ancestors on Remembrance Travel tours are able to learn about what their family went through during the wars. So much of what had been unimaginable becomes clearer when visiting battlefields. At the moment, there is the added bonus of meeting with veterans on the tour and hearing from them exactly what it was like to be there. For veterans, of course, it is also the opportunity to find old friends, both living and dead. Many are eager to visit the places were the D-Day invasion occurred. For the recent commemorations, Remembrance Travel took a tour of over 50 people, including 14 D-Day Veterans, their families, carers and relatives of the fallen on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Normandy. They were able to gain special access to ceremonies and events over the commemorative week, including a meeting with HM The Queen, HRH Prince Charles, HRH Duchess of Cornwall and the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon David Cameron. Travelling on this tour was 94-year old Geoffrey Payne, a veteran of Normandy who served with REME as part of the 20th Anti-Tank Regiment. Geoffrey landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 and travelled up the beach in a Bedford truck but was later badly wounded and spent a month in hospital. His close friend, Thomas Gray, was not as lucky and was killed on 10 July 1944. On his return to Normandy, Geoffrey was keen to find his grave and as he and a colleague were wandering

through the thousands of graves at the St Manviex War Cemetery, Cheux, they found him – “I never believed he would be in this Cemetery. I was so lucky as we had been past so many graves and didn’t have a clue where he was, but we found him”, said Geoffrey. D-Day veteran Michael Stone was also on the tour. In October 1941, aged 19, he was commissioned in 53 (London) Medium Regiment with the next three years spent in Lincolnshire and Scotland, preparing for the landings in Normandy. The Regiment was part of 4 Army Group Royal Artillery. Recalling run-up to D-Day, Michael said: ‘There was suppressed excitement everywhere. Between 1 and 4 June we were embarked on several LSTs (Landing Ship Tank). By 10am on 6 June we had a grandstand view of the coast being battered by broadsides from battleships. ‘These were joined by salvoes of rockets and fire from the self-propelled field guns of 3 Division as their LCTs (Landing Craft Tank) approached shore. Anchored some two miles off with an uninterrupted view, we awaited our turn. What a wonderful target for enemy aircraft we presented! One plane strafing the beach was de-tailed by ground flak. Otherwise, to our great surprise, the Luftwaffe was largely absent. ‘Between the dunes off Queen Section, Sword Beach, we wound ashore. As the only guns then in the beachhead heavier than field artillery, we were soon to commence firing in support of the Norfolks of 185 Brigade, as heavy opposition had forced them back.’ The Regiment was soon to lose men, and memories are very personal. ‘A night or two after landing my troop suffered its first loss. A bomber dropped a string of bombs across our gun position. Several fires were started necessitating the rapid movement of charges and shells. When order was restored we found our Bren AA position had been hit, half-burying 19-yearold Danny Higgins and killing 37-year-old Bill Benn, a long-serving TA soldier known to us all. Weller, our Battery Sargent Major, was in tears of rage at the loss of his old friend.’ After the fall of Caen the Regiment advanced from the beach bridgehead to occupy the Colombelles area. ‘We received a lot of mortar fire. One bomb scored a direct hit on Sgt Mayes’ gun pit. Only one man was killed Danny Higgins, tragically the boy who had survived earlier. His grave lies not far from that of Bill Benn at Ranville.’ Michael will never forget those he fought alongside. The D-Day Remembrance tour enabled the 92 year old to return to some of the major sites of the conflict and to cemeteries and memorials where he paid his respects to those who didn’t make it. Being able to travel on the Royal British Legion’s D-Day Remembrance Tour meant a lot to veteran James Minnis and his daughter Sarah, 53, who travelled with him. He explained: ‘I had returned many years before with my wife, but I really wanted to go back.’ He continued: ‘The whole trip was very well organised and very emotional. The most moving aspects of the tour were reading the gravestones at the cemeteries we visited - some of those buried there were just 18 or 19 years of age. We were very moved by the spontaneous displays of gratitude shown by the people of Normandy, young and old, wherever we travelled.’ Remembrance Travel trips to India are often taken by women veterans, who are whisked back to an exotic, colourful world, experienced when quite young.

Marsali Wood, aged 88, attended a tour there accompanied by her daughter Karen Nevshehir. It was the first time Marsali had returned to Calcutta, where she had been stationed 70 years ago. In 1943, Marsali was living in Notting Hill, London, when at the tender age of 17 she joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). This all-female unit was founded in 1907 by Captain Edward Baker. His idea was that women who joined FANY would not only be first-aid specialists, but would have skills that would allow them to get to casualties on the battlefield itself. This meant the original members, known as ‘FANYs’, were trained in cavalry work, signalling and camping out and were sent to battlefronts in both World War I and World War II. The unit was active in both nursing and intelligence work. Marsali joined the FANY’s Special Operations Executive before travelling to India, where she worked as a FANY in Calcutta. During the whole of 1945, Marsali worked tirelessly with other Morse Code operators in the Special Operations Force 136, signalling to people behind enemy lines in Burma. ‘Sadly, there were many war casualties and I did lose comrades who were also my friends. On the Remembrance Travel tour, we visited Bhowanipore Cemetery in Calcutta and I was able to lay poppies, supplied by the RBL, on the grave of a fellow FANY, Elsie Rita Nelson, who died aged 22. It was so moving.’ Marsali’s daughter, Karen found the tour to be very emotional: ‘It was more of a pilgrimage than a holiday. Everything about it was touching – the other people on the trip each had their own stories. It was poignantly wonderful. ‘My Mother was the only person stationed in India on the tour. It was lovely going together – seeing it through my Mother’s eyes – up until then I couldn’t imagine just how much she had gone through serving at the Tullygunge base. Marsali will never forget the tour: ‘Both the RBL and Arena Travel were excellent. It was an awe-inspiring trip, very memorable, and totally worth it.’ Remembrance Travel tours prove an emotional experience for many, yet it can also give veterans peace and closure on the events that happened so long ago. As Nichola Rowlands explains: ‘We are very aware that some people find the whole experience rather overwhelming, so we ensure we’re on hand to support our guests at all times. All tours are accompanied by a specialist RBL guide to offer factual historical details and support – this is what makes our tours so special. Uniquely, many also include a doctor, RBL Trustee, local guide and a Standard Bearer.’

ABOVE: Marsali Wood in 1945 whilst serving in Force 136 in India and a more recent photo with daughter Karen at the Victoria Museum in Calcutta.

LEFT: Michael Stone pays an emotional visit to Sword Beach.

MORE INFORMATION To find out more about the Royal British Legion’s remembrance tours, in association with Arena Travel, please visit www. remembrancetravel.org.uk

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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

Why no bar to Jacka’s Victoria Cross? SIR – Lord Ashcroft’s accounts in Britain at War of the valour of so many of our service people are, for me, one of the highlights of the magazine. I wonder if I can assist His Lordship as to why Albert Jacka (issue no 99) was not awarded a bar to the Victoria Cross for his actions at Pozières on 7 August 1916. According to my reading of the erudite book The Evolution of the Victoria Cross by M J Crook, such an award was not possible at the time in the particular circumstances of Jacka’s case. Crook draws attention to the fact that the VC Warrant operative during the First World War refers to the possibility of a bar being awarded, “to anyone who, after having received the Cross shall again perform an act of bravery .........” He also cites a case from the 19th century that led to a strict interpretation of these words. While most of the VC files for the First World War have been destroyed Mr Crook is able to quote a precedent from some years previously. Corporal (later Lieutenant Colonel) John McKay of the Gordon Highlanders received a VC for actions in South Africa. Before the award was received (or, in that case, gazetted) McKay was recommended for a bar for a further act. This was turned down using the words in the warrant quoted above as the reason.

In the case of Albert Jacka, Lord Ashcroft says that the investiture at which he received his VC took place in September 1916. This is where the problem seems to lie. I do not know if a recommendation for a bar to Jacka’s VC for the action at Pozières, was ever made, but it appears that, if it had been put forward, it would have been inevitably rejected however unreasonable that might seem to us now. This would not have been true of Jacka’s third act argued to be

worthy of the VC. The bars awarded to MartinLeake and Chavasse during the Great War were in order because both officers had already received their original awards. A new VC warrant was issued in 1920 and in this the wording was changed to, ‘…if any recipient of the cross shall again perform an act of bravery .......’ Crook attributes these words to Mr R U Morgan of the War Office who was secretary of the committee then considering the new warrant with Crook feeling that they allow a broader interpretation. David Ingles, Craven Arms, Shropshire. The Editor forwarded this letter to Lord Ashcroft for comment, who has since responded as follows: Thank you for your generous comments on my "Hero of the Month" articles. I have to admit that I was unaware of the main point that you raise in your letter, resulting from your knowledge of M J Crook's book. I am indebted to you for highlighting this issue. Lord Ashcroft

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 21

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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]

'The Desert Rat's' Road To Berlin SIR – I read with interest your piece ‘Squalor in Berlin’ by James Luto in the July issue of Britain at War. My late grandfather, Sgt Walter Etherington, served with the Devonshire Regiment as part of the 7th Armoured Division, ‘The Desert Rats’, having seen active service through North Africa and later in north-west Europe. At the end of the war he was also in Berlin, along with the subject of James Luto’s most interesting

piece. Among Walter’s various papers and effects I have found the attached photograph which I felt might be of interest to your readers. I am presuming that this photograph was taken on one of the main roads coming into Berlin and seems to have been erected by the 7th Armoured Division. Family opinion is divided, but the consensus seems to be that Walter is actually the Sergeant on the left although we actually have no photographs of him at all from this period and all family members who would have known him at this time are long deceased. Either way, it is a fascinating image although one wonders what the two young Berlin boys on the left might be thinking. Certainly, both of them will have quite recently endured some terrifying events as their home city came under relentless attack by air and land and culminating in the ferocious battles that marked the last days of the war. Paul Etherington. Reading. By email.

Luftwaffe Tourism To 'Tomato Island'

SIR – I refer to your fascinating piece relating to the bombing of St Peter Port, Jersey, during June 1940. This attack was, I believe, carried out by aircraft of the 8th Staffel of Kampfgeschwader 55 and readers may be interested to know that men of this unit made a specific visit by flying in to the island in their Heinkel 111 aircraft just a couple of weeks later, in July 1940, and presumably to see for themselves the effects of their attack. Arriving as tourists on what they called the Tomateninseln, it is perhaps a matter of conjecture as to whether the Luftwaffe visitors made it known to the islanders that it was they who had ‘visited’ previously on 28 June, and with such deadly effect. Either way, men of

the 8th Staffel were happy to be photographed collecting trays of tomatoes ready to transport them back to their new operating base at Villacoublay near Paris. As they flew in to the island that day they also photographed their aircraft at low level just off the coast, the one showing the backdrop of cliffs to be Sorel Point on the mid-north coast of Jersey. I thought your readers would be interested to see some of the images that I have in my archive collection. These were shot that day as the Luftwaffe tourists visited the Channel Islands in what was the lull before the storm that was the Battle of Britain finally got underway. Robert McInnes. Glasgow, by email.

Dunkirk – Sleeping Soldier Mystery SIR – Your recent fascinating feature on Dunkirk sparked my interest in an old photograph that has been kicking around in the family photograph album since the war. During 1940 my father, George W Ashbrooke, was a staff photographer with the Keystone News Agency and was detailed to travel down to Dover and Folkestone in June of that year in order to take pictures of the returning rag-tag army that were streaming ashore from the Dunkirk evacuations. The sight, and the plight, of the returning soldiers both shocked and moved him and instead of taking photographs of what he saw he spent most of the time helping dispense food and drink and taking details of returning

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soldiers names and contacting nextof-kin where he could in order to tell families their menfolk were safe. Exhausted after three days just helping these returning soldiers who were tired, wet and hungry (and sometimes injured) he eventually headed back up to London and photographed men on the train when they were willing to be photographed. He took this shot of six soldiers and told the story that he then tripped over the leg of the tousle-haired soldier sleeping in the foreground. This, of course, woke the slumbering soldier who asked if my father could send him a copy of the picture which he agreed to do. The soldier’s name was McKinley from Newcastle, but my father lost his address and whenever he looked at the photo he commented:

‘I do wish I could have kept my promise to that young lad.’ My father is no longer with us, and although it is such a long-shot after 75 years I dug out the photo of the sleeping soldiers and thought I’d send it to you. You never know, somebody might know who he is. And then at least I could send the photograph which I still have. If he is no longer with us, then maybe his family is out there somewhere? Marked on the back is: ‘For Mr McKinley – whoever and wherever he is.’ Just a small bit of Dunkirk history. But I thought your readers would be interested, anyway. Michael W Ashbrooke. Wembley. Via email

Open everyday from 10am to 5pm local time. 2015 Admission Prices Adults: €5.00 - Groups: €4.00 - School Groups: €3.50

Memorial Du Souvenir F_P.indd 1

08/04/2015 15:00

TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron

OWEN)

MIDDLE LEFT: Tallboy bombs pictured at an RAF bomb dump. Because of the niche purpose and small production run of Wallis's earthquake bombs, air crews were encouraged to return to base and land with any unspent special bombs, a very dangerous undertaking!

(VIA ROBERT OWEN)

FAR RIGHT: John Nichol, the former RAF Flight Lieutenant Tornado navigator, shot down and taken prisoner during the first Gulf War, tells the fascinating tale of 617 ‘Dambuster’ Squadron’s operations smashing German V-Weapons sites post the Dams raids. (ALL IMAGES VIA

AUTHOR UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED)

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takes on the TERROR WEAPONS

(VIA ROBERT

The fabled 617 Squadron is best known for the muchremembered Dams Raid, but its key role in the destruction of the enemy’s V-1, V-2 and V-3 sites has perhaps been underplayed. Bestselling aviation author John Nichol tells how the Tallboy bomb took on the Nazi terror weapons – and won.

TALLBOY

MAIN PICTURE: Wing Commander J E Fauquier, a Canadian with a DSO & two bars and a DFC, led 617 Squadron at the end of the war. Here, he poses with a Grand Slam bomb under his Lancaster. A specially modified variant of the Lancaster bomber was produced to carry the special bombs.

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N 13 June 1944 the first pulse-jet powered V-1 flying bombs - Londoners christened them ‘Buzz-bombs’ and ‘Doodlebugs’ - had been launched against London. From the cockpit of his Lancaster, one 617 Squadron pilot had even watched two of the first V-weapons being launched. ‘The flames from their base looked like a pale green telegraph pole going straight up into the sky,’ he said. ‘Their flight path curved up, over and down into England.’1 For those on the ground, the experiences were horrific. One V-1 exploded near the BBC’s Bush House on the Aldwych in central London during the busy lunch hour. ‘It was as though a foggy November evening had materialised at the throw of a switch,’ a BBC employee recalled. ‘Through

at this time being prepared, but the V-3 Supergun, an even more fearsome weapon of mass destruction, was also being readied at Mimoyecques, 15km south-west of Calais. Code-named Hochdruchpumpe (high pressure pump), the V-3 assembly and launch site was buried in a labyrinth of tunnels, galleries and chambers carved out of the chalk bedrock covering an area of two and a half square kilometres, up to 100 metres below ground. Should the flak batteries clustered around the site not prove

the dust and smoke, the casing of the bomb lay burning at the corner of Kingsway: three victims lay unmoving at the top of the steps, and figures were scattered all over the road. In a nearby first-aid post, the supervisor saw the body of a young female colleague. She was naked and dead, stripped and killed by the blast. Another one I knew came in with blood spurting from her wrist and a deep gash in one eye. From 2.15 to 5.15pm we were treating casualties.’ The final death toll was 46, but another 600 people had been injured in this single attack.2 The launch facilities needed to be destroyed at all costs.

sufficient deterrent to air attack, the facility was also shielded by a massive concrete roof six metres thick, pierced by a series of narrow openings lined with 20cm of armoured steel. In the space of nine months, 120,000 cubic metres of concrete had been poured on the site, building the protective roof and the network of galleries and stores for the weapon, its explosives and propellants and the 1,200 men who were to garrison the site. The heavily camouflaged site was devoid of visible activity, above ground at least, but was being closely watched by Military Intelligence who reported that German scientists were completing a devastating new weapon there, though as yet, they did not know any details of what the weapon actually was.

THE V-3 SUPERGUN

The next generation of more powerful and longer-range V-2 rockets were

TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron

On 6 July 1944, 617 Squadron was tasked with attacking the complex. The aircrews were called into an early morning briefing, showing that it was to be a daylight raid, and at the same time, 100 Halifax bombers from Main Force were carpet-bombing Mimoyeques, dropping almost 500, 2,000 pound bombs on the site. However, while they wrecked the above ground railway line and pounded the surface buildings and flak batteries, the 2,000-pounders did minimal damage below ground level. To destroy the facilities deep below the surface would require 617 Squadron’s groundpenetrating Tallboys.  www.britainatwar.com 25

TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron MIDDLE LEFT: It wasn’t just Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs that were employed against the special V-Weapon targets. Conventional high-explosive bombs were also used, and here a pair of 1,000 lb bombs wait to be loaded onto a Lancaster. (1940 MEDIA LTD)

BELOW: Here, a bomb has penetrated the thick concrete and exploded inside the massive ‘blockhaus’ building. (HISTORIC

MILITARY PRESS)

BOTTOM: Alongside the buildings at Watten is this tranquil pond. It was actually a Tallboy impact crater which originally measured 41 metres across and 18 metres deep. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

CHESHIRE’S BRILLIANCE

Later that morning, Leonard Cheshire, now flying a single-seater American Mustang in preference to the slower British Mosquito, led a formation of the squadron’s Lancasters armed with Tallboys to destroy the site, whatever it hid. Cheshire had first flown the Mustang operationally in a raid on a V-weapon site at Siracourt ten days earlier. Astonishingly the first time he had ever flown one was earlier that same day. Struggling with navigation over a blacked-out landscape, at night and often in bad weather, Bomber Command crews often got lost on their way to the target. Yet somehow Cheshire, sitting in the unfamiliar Mustang aircraft for only the second time, was capable not only of flying the aircraft at high speed and at low-level, but also navigated himself so precisely across the featureless Channel and the flatlands of Northern France that he arrived directly over the target, smack on time. The weather forecast for the Mimoyeques raid was for clear skies for takeoff and over the target and, unlike the long-range ops targeting Munich or munitions factories in the south of France, this was, said John Pryor ‘one of the raids that was over before you really got into it. We had taken off, arrived, and were on our journey home, all in about two and a half hours’.3

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Although battered by Main Force, the camouflaged site was still heavily defended by the remaining flak batteries but, ignoring the flak, Cheshire dived down in his Mustang and laid his red spot fire markers directly onto the target from an altitude of 800 feet. As Cheshire circled, calling in the raiders one by one, he saw one Tallboy score a direct hit, clipping the corner of the concrete slab, while nearmisses penetrated the earth around it. In all, eight Tallboys struck the earth close to the target at approaching the speed of sound, and drilled down deep below the ground before detonating. The craters they created on the surface were huge enough - between

11 tonnes of TNT and Torpex High Explosive. As well as the V-3 site at Mimoyeques, they also targeted the V-1 and V-2 sites at Watten, Wizernes and Siracourt, but the op was a shambolic failure. On 12 August 1944 the U.S. Navy attempted a further attack on Mimoyeques using a B-24 Liberator, but the aircraft exploded shortly after takeoff, killing the crew including pilot Lieutenant-General Joseph P Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Senator Joe Kennedy and brother of JFK. On 5 September 1944, any potential German threat from Mimoyecques was finally eliminated when it was over-run and occupied by advancing Canadian troops. Even then, the nature

25-35 metres in diameter and up to 15 metres deep - but most of the explosive power was confined below ground, where it had a devastating impact, caving in the vertical shafts and causing the subterranean tunnels to collapse, destroying the weapon but, in horrifying ‘collateral damage’, also burying alive the 300 slave labourers and their guards working below ground. Those who were lucky enough to have been above ground never returned to the site, which was abandoned on 26 July; another of Hitler’s doomsday weapons had been destroyed.4 A week later, unaware both of the extent of the destruction that 617 Squadron had already wrought and of the German decision to abandon the site, and still fearing its re-occupation, USAAF commanders authorised a raid using pilotless, radio-controlled USAAF ‘Flying Fortresses’, each loaded with

of the site and the Nazi ‘terror weapon’ it had housed were not conclusively established until after detailed inspections had been made by expert scientists and engineers in November and December of that year.

ATTACK ACHIEVEMENTS

The experts concluded that what 617 Squadron had destroyed were 50 subterranean ‘super-guns’ - the largest guns ever seen. Two banks of 25 firing tubes each 127 metres long and inclined upwards at an angle of 50 degrees, were sited 1000 metres apart. At the deepest level, 100 metres below ground, galleries gave access to the clusters of breech-blocks allowing shells, fitted with steel fins to aid accuracy, to be loaded. Unlike conventional cannons that were powered by a single explosive charge, each barrel of the super-gun was fitted with a series of explosive boosters at intervals along the bore,

TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron FAR LEFT: Today, the site at Eperlecques is preserved as a historic monument and open to the public as a museum.

(HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

LEFT: Massive disruption to the concrete structure caused by the earthquake bombs is still clearly in evidence.

(HISTORIC MILITARY

like a series of interconnected, inverted Ys, that would detonate in sequence to increase the speed of the projectile. Accelerating all the way up the barrel, each shell would burst from it at a speed of 1500 metres a second, striking London, 165 kilometres away, less than two minutes later. Like the First World War ‘Paris Gun’ fired at the French capital during spring 1918, the V-3 super-gun would have been too inaccurate to be usable against purely military targets and was specifically designed for terror attacks on civilian populations. It was capable of firing supersonic shells at a rate of almost 600 an hour, raining down almost 600 tons of high explosive a day on London. Although that daily total of high explosive was modest compared to the thousands of tons being dumped on Germany’s cities by Britain’s Main Force bombers and the USAAF, had the

V-3 been used to attack London, the psychological impact on a population still recovering from the Blitz would have been devastating. The Nazi forces were in headlong retreat on both Eastern and Western Fronts by December 1944 and the threat that they might ever use the super-gun had been eliminated, but Churchill still pressed for its complete destruction, fearing that a future enemy - a reborn Germany, France or the Soviet Union - might one day reinstate it and use it against London. The day after VE day, 8 May 1945, operating clandestinely to avoid alerting General De Gaulle’s provisional French government which had been resisting attempts to destroy the site, British Royal Engineers laid explosive charges inside the excavated and accessible parts of the Mimoyeques site. Five days later they laid further charges - a total of

36 tonnes of TNT in all - to complete the job, demolishing the upper levels and the concrete and steel carapace covering the site. Led by 617 Squadron, the 18-month bombing campaign on the Nazi V-weapon sites and the transport infrastructure surrounding them, had first reduced and then virtually eliminated the threat from Hitler’s terror weapons. Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris was able to claim that ‘instead of an average of 6,000 flying bombs, the enemy was only able to launch an average of 95 a day... judge what a bombardment more than 60 times as heavy would have been like!’5 

PRESS)

ABOVE: A Tallboy bomb shortly after release. (VIA ROBERT OWEN)

The damage to the massive concrete structures at the V-2 facility at Watten pictured shortly after capture by the Allies. The site is more commonly known today as Le Blockhaus d’Eperlecques. Compare the damage in this photograph taken in the autumn of 1944 to the photograph of the same location today (TOP LEFT). (WW2 IMAGES)

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TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron

TALLBOY The Tallboy, or ‘Bomb, Medium Capacity, 12,000lb’ was an earthquake bomb famously used against the German U-boat pens and the Tirpitz, amongst other targets. Designed to be dropped from high altitude and developed by the legendary creator of the Bouncing Bomb, Barnes Wallis, Tallboy proved effective against hardened targets which had otherwise had been impervious to smaller bombs. Unlike other late war bombs, which featured thin cases to maximise explosive content, Tallboy required a super strong casing to allow the bomb to penetrate a target without breaking apart. As a result the bomb was cast in one piece of high-tensile steel. Tallboy was also aerodynamically designed to allow it to reach a higher terminal velocity than other traditional designs. Additions to the design, such as fins, increased the bombs accuracy and when combined with the SABS bombsight accuracy could be relatively pinpoint. Special lightened Lancaster bombers had to be developed to get the bomb somewhere near the described 40,000ft drop height. BOTTOM LEFT: The scene at the Wizernes V-2 site after extensive bombing by RAF Bomber Command. It was taken from an altitude of around seventy feet by a photo reconnaissance Mosquito of 544 Squadron, flown by Flt Lt King and Flt Sgt Bowden on 6 July 1944. The site was already beyond any reasonable hope of use, but this was not evident from aerial reconnaissance. Thus, further attacks by 617 Sqn were ordered. (IWM) RIGHT: More damage at the Watten site.

The destruction of the Nazi V-3 super-gun was one of the last acts of that campaign and proved to be Leonard Cheshire’s last bow with 617 Squadron. He was compulsorily stood down from ops by Air Commodore Ralph Cochrane the next day. The normal tour of duty was 30 ops, and Cheshire had completed 100, many of which were the most perilous of all, at extreme low-level. He also spent longer than anyone over the target calling in each bomber in turn onto the markers he had laid. As testament to his courage, he was awarded the VC, the first ever to be awarded for a period of sustained bravery rather than an individual act. Cochrane also retired all three of 617’s Flight Commanders: the Australian Dave Shannon, New Zealander Les ‘Happy’ Munro, and the American ‘gentle giant’ Joe McCarthy. Despite his nickname, Munro was definitely not happy about it. He had flown 59 ops and was ‘really disappointed to be stood down. I would have preferred the round figure of 60 ops. I never thought it

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would have been pressing my luck to go on, I don’t think any of us did. We were all very close-knit and ran a very efficient operation during the Cheshire era. He exuded confidence in his own abilities, in flying, in operations and in running the squadron and that skill and professionalism filtered down to all of us.’

NEW LEADERSHIP

Cheshire and the three Flight Commanders were replaced by ‘Three Limeys and a Welshman’: Wing Commander James ‘Willie’ Tait took over as OC of the squadron, while Squadron Leaders Gerry Fawke, Tony Iveson and John Cockshott became Flight Commanders. ‘I hope this doesn’t sound conceited,’ Iveson said, ‘but although I was new to bombers, flying was second nature to me by then. It must have been very different for a young pilot going to a Main Force squadron and probably taking over a bunk which somebody had disappeared from the night before. A lot of those young guys were still trying to learn to fly - to cope with weather and icing, and the enemy of course - and their first trip might have been Berlin.’ After Iveson, a highly successful former fighter pilot, completed his training at the Lancaster Finishing

School, the Chief Flying Instructor asked him if he would like to apply to 617 Squadron. He didn’t need to be asked twice. ‘617 was something special,’ Iveson said. ‘It had a reputation as the premier squadron, though some said it was a suicide squadron because of the losses on the dams. It was a big thing to be chosen. I couldn’t believe it, I was very proud. The day I arrived at Scampton my flight commander looked me up and down and said, ‘Christ, a sprog like you, never done a bomb op in your life; they’ll have you for breakfast.’ ‘There was no messing about on 617,’ Iveson said. ‘Not like Main Force where they had to take care of COs and Flight Commanders. If there was an operation on 617, everyone went. We had the advantage over the Army of not seeing people being shot, mutilated, blown to bits alongside us, coughing their guts out. So someone being missing was not too dissimilar to someone being posted. You’d come back from leave and find that two crews had been posted or you’d get back from a trip to find your friend had “bought it”. We didn’t talk about it, we’d just say, “poor old Joe got the chop” or “another one’s gone for a burton”. We certainly didn’t do what they did in the film

TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron

The Siracourt V-1 launching site after Allied bombing. (HISTORIC

MILITARY PRESS)

MAIN TARGETS Blockhaus D’éperlecques (Watten)

A lunar landscape has been created by heavy bombing of a V1 launch site in the Pas-de-Calais, with this photograph having been taken on 22 June 1944. For the most part, these impacts would have been from standard 500 lb or 1,000 lb bombs. (WW2 IMAGES)

Battle of Britain - put a wreath in front of the mess table - there was none of that sentimental nonsense. It was accepted as part of life at the time. To go on a series of operations and not expect anyone to get into any kind of trouble would have been stupid.’ On ops, Iveson tried to keep his focus solely on the task in hand. ‘On the bombing run, I would always put the seat down and concentrate on the instruments and let other people look out. I was watching my six instruments and that little extra one we had for the SABS bomb-sight which gave us our direction. I was trying to ignore what was going on outside and get on with the job. I felt that I had a responsibility to myself and the squadron to do as good a job as possible, but as the skipper, I also had a responsibility for the crew: to get them there and back safely. You expected flak over a target and it was much preferable to fighters. You knew you had to fly through it and there was nothing you could do - you couldn’t take avoiding action if you were going to do a good bombing run so it was pointless worrying about it.’ When off duty they used to go out together as a crew and Iveson remembered an Army Colonel being ‘very surprised’ when his sergeant used

his first name to ask ‘Would you like another pint, Tony?’ Iveson said to the colonel, ‘We’re a crew. We fly together, we know each other and we depend on each other. On the station and in the air it’s different - more formal - but here we’re off duty.’

THE WATTEN ASSAULT

617 Squadron continued to target the V-weapon sites, including the enormous concrete blockhouse and tunnel at Watten, where V-2s were to be assembled and stored. The world’s first ICBMs, V-2s were liquid-fuelled and, travelling at four times the speed of sound, would climb to a height of 75 miles before plunging down onto London and the south east at supersonic speed. Even New York was thought to be within the V-2’s potential range. Unlike the V-1 ‘Doodle-Bugs’ there was no audible warning of a V-2 strike at all, as they flashed down from the skies much faster than sound could travel. The first, launched on 8 September 1944, killed three people in Chiswick: an elderly lady, a three year old girl and a Sapper on leave from the Royal Engineers. Between then and 27 March 1945, when the last V-2 struck London, they were to kill 2,751 people in London alone. 

Blockhaus d’Éperlecques is a bunker located in the northern part of the Pas-de-Calais region of France – near Saint-Omer. The enormous structure was constructed between March 1943 and July 1944 and was designed as a launch site for the V-2, with the capacity to store 100 V-2s, launch 36 a day, and incorporating its own fuel production facility and a bomb-proof railway station. The success of the Allied bombing campaign against the V-weapons meant Blockhaus d’Éperlecques would never be completed or used for its intended purpose. The site was captured by the Allies on September 4 1944 and has now been preserved as part of a private museum which focuses on the V-weapons programme. The museum is open every day between March and November and more information can be found at http://www.leblockhaus.com/en

La Coupole (Wizernes)

La Coupole, or The Dome, is a complex of bunkers found about 8 miles south east of Blockhaus d’Éperlecques. The Dome was constructed into the side of a disused quarry, and consisted of network of tunnels where accommodation, storage, fuel production and launch facilities for the V-2 and crews were protected under the distinctive, 16ft thick, 230ft wide, concrete dome. The structure was designed to prepare and launch V-2s at London and the South East in rapid succession but was heavily damaged by repeated bombing missions and never completed. The formidable structure was ordered to be partly demolished after its capture in September 1944. La Coupole is now a museum dedicated to the V-weapons, Germany's occupation of France and space exploration. The museum is open every day (with the exception of a small period in mid-January) and more information can be found here: http://www.lacoupole-france.co.uk/

Fortress of Mimoyecques

The Fortress of Mimoyecques was another underground complex built between 1943 and 1944 and was located around 12 miles from Boulogne-sur-Mer – some 100 miles from London. The workforce was mostly German, recruited from those experienced with large scale mining and engineering projects. The site was designed to house V-3 superguns, all aimed at London, with a combined rate of fire of 600 rounds an hour. The Allies were unaware of the sites true purpose until after its capture, but they identified the fortress as a potential threat and were able to halt construction with heavy bombing. The site was fully abandoned days before its capture on September 5 1944. More bombs were dropped on Mimoyecques than on any other V-weapons site and Churchill ordered the Fortress of Mimoyecques demolished. Today, it is now managed by the organisation which manages La Coupole. More details can be found at http://www.lacoupole-france. co.uk/history-centre/the-mimoyecques-fortress.html

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TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron

GRAND SLAM The Grand Slam, officially known as ‘Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000lb’ and nicknamed ‘Ten ton Tess’, was another design from Barnes Wallis. The bomb was designed after the success of Tallboy was proven, and was essentially a scaled up version of Tallboy and much closer to the earthquake bomb originally envisaged by Wallis. Like Tallboy, the bomb had a thicker casing than more traditional bombs and was filled by pouring in molten Torpex explosive which took a month to set. Consequently, the high cost and low production speed of the bomb meant that aircrews were encouraged to land with unspent bombs rather than jettison them. As with Tallboy, a modified Lancaster was required to drop the gigantic bomb, which once dropped reached near supersonic speeds in its descent. RIGHT: The Gnome Le-Rhone aero engine factory, photographed on 9 February 1944 the day after it was attacked by 617 Squadron. (WW2 IMAGES)

BELOW: A Drawing of the Wizernes site by Col T R B Sanders who led the ‘Sanders Mission’ in November 1944 to inspect and report on the V-2 facility. (COL. T R B SANDERS)

Don Cheney, who was on leave, had a ringside seat as one of the first ones landed near the train on which he was travelling. ‘There was a terrific explosion,’ he says, ‘and you could feel the shock wave pulse over the area. I didn’t see it, but I could certainly feel it!’ One of the most horrific ‘V2’ attacks came on 25 November 1944 when a rocket hit a crowded Woolworth’s store in South East London. Witnesses described the store bulging outwards and then imploding in a blinding flash of light and an enormous roar. People several hundred yards away felt the heat of blast on their faces. The Co-Op Store next door also collapsed killing more customers inside. The bodies of passers-by were flung great distances, and an army lorry overturned killing its occupants. A double decker bus was spun round causing more death and injuries; the passengers could be seen still sitting in their seats covered in dust. Only piles of masonry and pieces of bodies remained where Woolworths’ had once stood. It was to take 3 days to clear the debris and

retrieve all the bodies. In the carnage 168 people had been killed and 121 seriously injured.6 The Watten V-2 site also housed a huge reinforced concrete-built factory for producing liquid oxygen, almost five tons of which was needed to launch each rocket. Although the Watten site, protected by a 16-foot concrete roof, was not completely destroyed, repeated attacks on the site itself by 617 Squadron using Tallboys, and on

the surrounding road and rail tracks by USAAF bombers with conventional bombs, so disrupted production and threatened a catastrophic explosion of the liquid oxygen compressors and tanks, that they forced the Germans to abandon the site for another V-2 assembly and launch bunker in a disused quarry outside the village of Wizernes, near St Omer.

THE WIZERNES CHALLENGE

Set into the quarry-face, the site was capable of handling rockets of up to twice the V-2’s 50-foot length. Air reconnaissance had first detected construction at Wizernes as far back as August 1943 and by January 1944 an elaborate system of camouflage had been installed on the hilltop in an attempt to conceal the site and its underground facilities. The Wizernes site was protected by a huge concrete dome. The concrete cupola was 16 feet thick, 230 feet in diameter, and weighed 5,500 tons. A bomb-proof ferroconcrete ‘skirt’ supported by a series of buttresses, extended beyond the dome, giving added protection, while dispersal tunnels protected by enormous blastproof doors, led to a series of concealed launching sites, each about the size of a tennis court, scattered through the surrounding countryside. 30 www.britainatwar.com

TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron

“If it is worth the enemy’s while to go to all the trouble of building them, it would seem worth ours to destroy them” Lord Cherwell, Scientific Adviser to Winston Churchill. TOP: A Grand Slam is released against the Arnsberg Viaduct on 15 March 1945. The viaduct was destroyed, as was the Bielefeld Viaduct the day before. At Bielefeld, one witness standing two miles away described the flash, the blast of wind and the vibrating soil beneath his feet. Then, the viaduct simply disappeared.

In March 1944 Wizernes had been added to the list of targets for Operation Crossbow - the bombing campaign targeting all V-weapon sites - and over the following three months the USAAF and RAF carried out a series of raids, dropping 4,000 tons of bombs without causing any significant damage to the complex, though the constant air raid warnings did stop construction over 200 times in May 1944 alone. The Germans believed that no bomb could destroy the concrete dome but Barnes Wallis had other ideas. He conceded that hitting the dome directly would have required an almost impossible degree of accuracy, and even Tallboys could simply bounce off the domed surface. However, Wallis had already argued persuasively that a near-miss with a Tallboy could be as damaging, perhaps more damaging, than a direct hit, and if there were nearmisses at Wizernes, the subterranean earthquake effect of the bombs would be enough to collapse the dome and block or destroy the underground tunnels, galleries and chambers. Such was the secrecy involved in planning the attacks - coupled with the lack of knowledge about what the sites actually were - that most of the crews had no real idea that they were targeting V-weapon sites. On their first attack at Watten, the target was described as a

‘power station’ and ‘certainly no one told us it was a V-2 site,’ John Bell says. ‘I don’t remember ever being told any target described as a V-2 site, it was just another target. We’d head in towards them and just attack the relevant markers.’ 617 had been given the task of destroying the Wizernes complex using Wallis’s ground-penetrating Tallboys dropped from 17,500 feet to obtain maximum terminal velocity. Bombing from that height called for a very high degree of skill. Even with the Stabilised Automatic Bomb Sight

to assist accuracy, it was ‘like putting a bomb in a barrel.’7 Three previous raids had been unsuccessful, largely because of poor visibility over the target. On one daylight raid on 20 June there was so much dust and haze in the air that the results of the raid were inconclusive, though as they were returning to base, pilot John Pryor came up with the idea of the ‘Gaggle’ system. It was a fairly compact formation but with each bomber at a different height and relative position to its neighbours, making them a more difficult target for flak batteries, giving all the aircrews the freedom to bomb without interference from those around them and also allowing each aircraft to make a direct run over the target without being buffeted by the slipstream from the one ahead of it. The gaggle formation was used on all subsequent 617 ops.8 

ABOVE: The aftermath of 617 Squadron’s Tallboy attack on the V-3 site at Mimoyecques on 6 July 1944. The huge craters caused by the earthquake bombs can be clearly seen adjacent to the rectangular openings for the underground launches of the projectiles. The damage caused, and the rapid Allied occupation of France, meant the V-3 could never be put into operational use. ABOVE LEFT: Grand Slam damage at the Farge U-Boat factory. (VIA ROBERT OWEN)

LEFT: Inside the Watten (Eperlecques) site this full-size representation of a V-2 gives scale to the truly massive structure that had been built by the Germans.

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TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron

BELOW: Flt Sgt John Bell was one of the 617 Squadron bomb aimers who took part in an attack on the Wizernes site on 17 July 1944. In 2013 John Bell visited the massive concrete dome at Wizernes and, at 90 years of age, climbed to the top with author John Nichol. Bell had placed one of his Tallboy bombs adjacent to the huge structure, the combined effects of multiple near impacts having caused massive damage. Although one crew member thought he had seen his bomb actually penetrate the dome, none ever did.

‘Now I’m standing on that same spot. What an experience! I could never have imagined back then, that 70 years later I’d stand in the same place! It really is one of the best moments of my life.’ JOHN BELL MIDDLE: Also in 2013, John Bell re-acquainted himself with his old bomb-aimer’s ‘office’ inside the nose of a Lancaster.

The squadron returned to Wizernes in a night raid on 22 June, but thick cloud obscured the target completely and they were ordered back to base without dropping their bombs. On 24 June they tried again. Aerial reconnaissance had reported light cloud over the target area earlier in the day, so take off was delayed until late afternoon.

TAIT TAKES OVER

Although a number of near-misses were recorded during the raid, causing damage to the railway lines and buildings around the site, and one pilot claimed to have seen a bomb penetrating the dome, Wizernes had

AFTER THE FLOOD:

WHAT THE DAMBUSTERS DID NEXT Uniquely famous for their daring attacks on the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe Dams, 617 Squadron continued to carry out precision attacks on special targets like the V-Weapon sites, railway viaducts, U-Boat Pens and the Tirpitz. John Nichol, a former RAF Flight Lieutenant whose Tornado was shot down during the first Gulf War, tells the story of what 617 ‘The Dambusters’ Squadron did after the Dams Raid in a fascinating account drawing on the compelling testimonies of those who took part. Published by William Collins, ISBN 978 0 00 810031 5, RRP: £20.00

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again escaped fatal damage and the squadron was sent back to finish the job on 17 July 1944, the first op under the leadership of Wing Commander James ‘Willie’ Tait, who had taken over command of 617 Squadron five days earlier, on 12 July 1944. Tait was actually called James and didn’t like the name ‘Willie’ at all, but the nickname had stuck to such an extent that a request to meet ‘James Tait’ would have been met with blank looks from most of his squadron. Ruddy-faced and still only twenty-six, Tait was not a gregarious character like his predecessor. Whatever his social graces, in the place that really mattered - in the air - there was general agreement that he led from the front and was a worthy successor to the great Leonard Cheshire. Tait was, said one aircrewman, ‘a great CO, courteous, not frightening. He welcomed me to the squadron, but after that you didn’t really have any dealings with him on day to day squadron life. He was always leading from the front, an impressive man who we readily followed and looked up to.9 His rear-gunner added that Tait was ‘a dream to fly with and this is especially noticeable in the rear turret, the best place to judge a pilot’s skill, believe me, where his feather touch three-pointers hardly made the turret shudder’.

When he joined 617, he had already flown almost 100 ops, plus ‘many others not recorded’ and had a DSO and Bar, and a DFC to his name. By the time he left the squadron, he had added another two Bars to his DSO and a Bar to his DFC. His reputation as a brave and brilliant pilot extended far beyond 617 Squadron. ‘He had so many DSOs and DFCs,’ Australian pilot Bruce Buckham of 463 Squadron said, ‘that it’s a wonder to me that they didn’t give him a VC to go with them’. Tait, flying the Mustang Cheshire had used, and Gerry Fawke in a Mosquito, were to mark the target at the V-2 site at Wizernes for a force of 16 Lancasters carrying Tallboys, while another Mosquito would film and photograph the aftermath of the bombing. It was a short flight to the Pas de Calais on a beautiful day and ‘the view was amazing,’ Nicky Knilans recalls. ‘We’d had a couple of aborted trips because of cloud and now it was totally clear’. Just 59 minutes after take-off, Tait swooped down to 500 feet to mark the target through ‘a heavy hail of light flak and machine gun bullets’.10 Fawke added two more markers 90 seconds later. Flying with 500 foot height separations, the Lancasters had all been ‘flying in a circle until the markers went in, then we all turned in together.’ As Flt Sgt John Bell squinted down through the bombsight, he could see

TALLBOY TAKES ON THE TERROR WEAPONS 617 Squadron

that the surrounding area was pockmarked with craters from previous attacks by 617 and Main Force. Bell could see the quarry, vehicles and railway lines and then ‘a small dot… this dome at the end. On the ground, it is massive, but of course from 18,000 feet it was just the tiniest of pimples on the earth.’ The target was visible at all only because the grey concrete dome stood out clearly against the dusty white of the surrounding chalk. Bob Knights made a good level run in and when Bell released his bomb, he felt the aircraft lift as the device dropped away. ‘I watched it fall all the way,’ he says, ‘and of course, as it neared the ground, it still had a lot of forward motion so it actually looked like it was “flying” across the countryside, racing along.’ As he saw it explode right beside the dome, he shouted “Bullseye!” elated with the achievement of seeing it strike right on target. When they got back on the ground at Woodhall Spa, Bob Knights’ crew were all ‘still on a high’ says Bell. ‘It was full circle: all that training, all that preparation, a great crew, great aircraft, an accurate bomb and bombsight, all coming together

officer in charge of the site also reported to his superiors that ‘Persistent air attack with heavy and super-heavy bombs so battered the rock all around that in the spring of 1944, landslides made further work impossible.’12

‘BOMB ON ME!’

The Wizernes site had been put beyond repair and was abandoned without a single V-2 rocket ever being launched from it. However, the destruction was deep underground and at surface level the site looked little altered, leading 5 Group commander, Ralph Cochrane, to order another attack three days later, on 20 July. This time Tait marked the target with two smoke markers, but cloud and ground haze were drifting over the target and Nick Knilans told Tait that from 18,000 feet, he could not distinguish the markers’ twin plumes of smoke from the general cloud and haze. In an action that was supremely brave or suicidally foolhardy, while bullets and flak fragments continued to bombard his aircraft, Tait then began to fly his Mustang in a tight circle around the target, calling ‘Bomb on me!’ over the radio.

OTHER NOTABLE TARGETS 8 JUNE 1944, SAUMUR RAIL TUNNEL: First operational use of the Tallboy, 617 Squadron drop their bombs through the hillside and collapse the tunnel. 15 JUNE 1944, BOULOGNE HARBOUR: 297 aircraft, 22 armed with Tallboy, successfully attack Boulogne harbour and destroy the E-boat pens. 4 JULY 1944, SAINT-LEU-D’ESSERENT: 17 Tallboys used to collapse limestone roofs of caves used as storage depots. 5 AUGUST 1944, BREST: 617 Squadron attack the U-boat pens at Brest, scoring 6 hits with Tallboy. German attempts to ‘bombproof’ other pens divert much needed resources. 7 OCTOBER 1944, BASLE/KEMBS DAM: The dam’s lock gates are destroyed, releasing the stored water which otherwise could have been used to flood ahead of a US advance. 12 NOVEMBER 1944, TROMSÖ: In the third attempt to sink her, the Tirpitz is hit by 2 Tallboy bombs and capsizes in shallow water. 14 MARCH 1945, BIELEFELD: 617 Squadron drop the first Grand Slam bomb in combat, destroying more than 100 yards of the important Bielefeld viaduct. 22 MARCH 1945, NIENBURG: Six Grand Slam bombs are used on the railway bridge at Nienburg, an important bridge between Bremen and Hanover. The bridge was completely destroyed by 5 direct hits. 27 MARCH 1945, FARGE: Two Grand Slam hits render the brand new Valentin submarine pens useless. The bombs penetrated at least 14 feet of concrete. 16 APRIL 1945, PIAST CANAL: The pocket battleship Lützow is sunk by a near miss from a Tallboy bomb. 25 APRIL 1945, BERCHTESGADEN: Hitler’s home, the Berghof, is accurately bombed with 617 Squadron’s last Tallboys.

NOTES

1. Nick Knilans, A Yank in the RCAF 2. IWM Archive - http://archive.iwm.org.uk/upload/ package/4/dday/pdfs/ VWeaponsCampaign.pdf 3. John Pryor, Mimoyecques V3 July 6 1944 4. Mimoyecque statistics from Yves le Maner, Mimoyecques 5. Quoted in Tony Iveson, Lancaster: The Biography 6. http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/ storeys_summary.html 7. G H Hobbs – personal account and interview with the author 8. John Pryor, Wizernes July 17 and 20 1944 9. Frank Tilley, Interview with the author 10. Knilans 11. Malcolm Lennox Hamilton IWM Sound 8264 12. V-2 Factory fact sheets - Wizernes: La Coupole 13. This story is told in different ways by those who were there – it is likely that Tait was simply indicating the point to target rather than the notion of actually bombing his own aircraft.

perfectly at the right moment.’ Several of the other bombs dropped on the V2 site had also detonated virtually simultaneously, multiplying the earthquake effect. ‘All we saw was this huge mushroom cloud over what had been the target.’11 The near misses penetrated the ground caused massive underground damage, along with blowing out a huge section of the old quarry face. Barnes Wallis’s theory that a near-miss could be more damaging than a direct hit had been proved. German reports stated that: ‘the whole area around has been so churned up that it is unapproachable and the bunker is jeopardised from underneath’. The

Fearing that his bomb might hit Tait’s aircraft, Knilans told his bomb-aimer, who could ‘just barely’ see the Mustang, ‘I don’t like this, don’t bomb.’ He radioed to Tait, ‘We can’t see you. Unable to bomb.’ So did the rest of the squadron. ‘Maybe they were as appalled as I was at the act of bombing Willie and his Mustang,’ Knilans later said. ‘No one ever talked about it. We just turned around and took our Tallboys home again.’13 The dome at Wizernes, like a giant concrete mushroom, still stands, and in 2013, John Bell returned to the site almost 70 years after the raid. At the age of 90, he braved the blazing sun to climb the steep, bramble strewn slope

BELOW: Flt Sgt John Bell pictured in 1943.

of the dome to see exactly where his 12,000 pound Tallboy bomb had struck. ‘I watched this point through my bomb sight 70 years ago,’ he said. ‘Now I’m standing on that same spot. What an experience! I could never have imagined back then, that 70 years later I’d stand in the same place! It really is one of the best moments of my life.’  www.britainatwar.com 33

DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES The Sinking of HMS Majestic MAIN IMAGE: HMS Majestic pictured off Gabe Tepe immediately after being hit by a torpedo fired by U-21. Within nine minutes of the explosion the battleship would have capsized. (ALL

IMAGES HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

S

HE WAS the largest battleship in the Royal Navy when, on 31 January 1895, HMS Majestic was launched at Portsmouth Dockyard. The lead ship of her class, Majestic boasted an impressive array of weaponry. Her main armament was four breech-loading 12-inch guns in twin turrets fore and aft, in addition to which she mounted twelve quick-firing 6-inch guns, plus sixteen 12-pounders and twelve 3-pounders. Majestic also carried five torpedo tubes, four of which were below the waterline. She was also well armoured, with a nine-inch thick belt and up to four-and-a-half inches thick on her decks. Majestic formed part of the 7th Battle Squadron and helped to cover the passage of the British Expeditionary

Force to France in September 1914. Her first action of the war was alongside HMS Revenge in bombarding German coastal artillery from the waters off Nieuport, Belgium, on 15 December 1914. In February the following year she was assigned to the operations in the Dardanelles against Turkey, the objective being to force the Strait and sail up to Constantinople and bombard the Turkish capital into surrender. The first shots in that campaign were fired at 09.51 hours on 10 February 1915, when the battleship HMS Cornwallis shelled the outermost Turkish fort on the Anatolian shore of the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait at a range of 9,500 yards. Shortly afterwards HMS Triumph’s first shells were directed at the corresponding

fort at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Two other entrance forts on the Anatolia shore were attacked by the French battleship Sufren. There was no reply from the forts but spotter aircraft from the converted seaplane carrier, HMS Ark Royal, saw that the Turkish guns were still in place. The bombardment continued until 17.30 hours and although the forts had been heavily shelled the Turkish guns were still able to fire. Carden renewed the attack on 25 February and by the end of the day the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles were put out of action. However, the Turks had sown mines across the narrow waters further up the Strait and these had to be dealt with before the battleships could attempt to steam up to Constantinople.

The Allied fleet was sent to force the Dardanelles with the aim of bombarding Constantinople and bringing Turkey to its knees. One by one the British and French battleships were lost to mines and shore batteries. Then a German submarine entered the fray.

Dardan 34 www.britainatwar.com

DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES The Sinking of HMS Majestic

On 26 February a flotilla of minesweeping trawlers attempted to penetrate into the Strait, supported by destroyers. Covering fire was to be provided by the battleships Triumph, Vengeance, Albion and the recentlyarrived Majestic. The primary target for Albion and Majestic was a modern battery at Dardanos on the Anatolian side of the Dardanelles. At midday they opened fire with their 12-inch guns at a range of approximately 11,000 yards. After repeatedly hitting the target the two battleships turned to retreat out of the Strait when a mobile battery of howitzers began to fire upon them. Majestic was hit on the port side by shrapnel but suffered no major damage.

THE LANDINGS

Despite repeated efforts by Carden and his successor, Vice-Admiral John de Robeck, it had become apparent that warships alone could not force the Dardanelles. Therefore, on 25 April British, Commonwealth and French troops landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, supported by the guns of the fleet, including those of HMS Majestic. The battleships continued to assist operations ashore over the following weeks, shelling various Turkish positions. Despite the pounding from the ships the Turks were still able to respond, particularly from mobile batteries which the warships could not accurately locate. During these operations HMS Majestic was hit again, as The Cornishman and Cornish Telegraph reported: “Mr Nicholas T. Humphrys … had enjoyed a wash, and was in the act of drying himself, when something came through the side of the ship, crashing through two decks below, severing a cable on its way. The [bath] tub was overturned and all its contents were splashed over Mr Humphrys, the bottom hoop and part of the tub also being wrenched away. It was later discovered to be a 5-inch shell, which failed to explode. The ship’s company congratulated Mr Humphrys on his miraculous escape.” 

ABOVE: The predreadnought battleship HMS Cornwallis firing at Turkish positions on the Dardanelles, 19 February 1915.

Disaster In The

anelles www.britainatwar.com 35

DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES The Sinking of HMS Majestic RIGHT: Some of the crew of HMS Goliath pictured prior to the warship’s loss on 12 May 1915. (COURTESY OF DR STEVE MORRIS)

TOP RIGHT (FAR PAGE): A painting by the German artist Willy Stöwer depicting an earlier victory for U-21 – the sinking of the steamer Linda Blanche on 30 January 1915. En route from Manchester to Belfast, Linda Blanche was sunk eighteen miles northwest of the Liverpool Bar. BELOW: A pre-war postcard of HMS Majestic. The Official History of War described Majestic as “the famous ship, the pride of the old Channel fleet, in whose design the whole thought and experience of the Victorian era had culminated”.

It was not just the shore guns that the Allied ships had to be wary of – sea mines were also a very real threat. HMS Irresistible and HMS Ocean were both sunk by mines. The French battleship Bouvet had been sunk earlier in the bombardment of the forts and HMS Goliath had gone down on 13 May, the victim of a Turkish torpedo boat destroyer. Goliath was the fourth Allied pre-dreadnought battleship to be sunk in the Dardanelles. Following these losses, the new Super-Dreadnought HMS Queen Elizabeth was sent back to the UK, away from the dangerous Turkish waters. As well as mines, another danger also came from under the waves in the form of the German the submarine U-21, which took advantage of the unprecedented opportunity presented by a comparatively static gathering of large warships to sink HMS Triumph,, a Swiftsure-class battleship on 25 May. This left just HMS Majestic as the only British capital ship afloat able to support the troops ashore and two days later, on the morning of Thursday, 27 May, Majestic was ordered to stand off Cape Helles to defend the boats taking troop reinforcements to the beach. This activity was spotted by Kapitänleutnant Otto Hersing, the captain of U-21, who observed Majestic a mere 500 yards off-shore. The battleship was surrounded by an almost impenetrable mass of small boats of all kinds. Not only did this array of boats make approaching the battleship hazardous, it also meant that with these boats moving around in

the current as the water flowed down into the Mediterranean and travelling to and from the shore, any one of them might cut across the path of an approaching torpedo. Hersing crept as close to the battleship as he could, hoping that the boats would open a gap long enough for him to line up an attack. He manoeuvred U-21 to within 600 or 700 yards of Majestic and decided that he could not safely get any nearer. He waited for an opportunity to strike and then, at 05.38 hours, he saw his chance. He fired one torpedo between two boats at an angle of 120 degrees.

‘A DEEP THUD’

One of those on board HMS Majestic was the War Correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. He had only joined

Majestic on 25 May after the loss of HMS Triumph. “It was 6.40 when I was aroused by men rushing by me, and someone trod on, or stumbled against, my chest,” he recalled. “This awoke me, and I called out, ‘What’s the matter?’ A voice replied from somewhere, ‘There’s a torpedo coming’.”1 The U-boat had been spotted rounding the bows of a troopship off Majestic’s port beam by one of the crew who immediately called to the captain. “Yes,” replied the captain, “here comes the torpedo.” The torpedo travelled rapidly through the water and at 06:33 hours it struck the Majestic just by the sea gangway. “The poor old ship shook terribly,” recalled one witness, and “a huge plume of water shot up to port, some 200 feet in the air.”2 Ashmead-Bartlett barely had time

"I could tell at once that she had been mortally wounded somewhere in her vitals, and felt instinctively she would not long stay afloat.”

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DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES The Sinking of HMS Majestic

to scramble to his feet when he heard “a dull heavy explosion about fifteen feet forward of the shelter deck on the port side”. He went on to write: “The hit must have been low down, as there was no shock from it felt on deck. The old Majestic immediately gave a jerk towards port, and remained with a heavy list; then there came a sound as if the contents of every pantry in the world had fallen at the same moment, a clattering such as I had never heard, as everything loose in her tumbled about. I could tell at once that she had been mortally wounded somewhere in her vitals, and felt instinctively she would not long stay afloat.” Having previously considered the steps he would take in such a situation, Ashmead-Bartlett put his plans into

action. The first part of which was to don his lifebelt only to find that it had deflated. So it was then simply a case of getting on deck as quickly as he could. “I was swept down the ladder to the main deck by the crowd rushing by me, and from there made my way aft to the quarter-deck, which was crowded with men, some wearing lifebelts, some without, who were climbing up the side and jumping into the sea, determined to get clear before she went down.” John Cargill, was on a boat forty yards ahead of Majestic: “We heard a report just like a twelve or fourteen pounder, and looking in her direction – she was the only big craft there, the others all being destroyers – we saw that she had been torpedoed, for in three minutes her big ram rose majestically like her name out of the water. Part of the crew went ahead first from the forecastle head just as if they had piped hands to bathe.”

Another sailor, a member of Majestic’s crew, gave his account to the Portsmouth News “I took a farewell glace Evening News: of the dear old ship’s deck, just a silent wish of goodbye, and I dived overboard. I swam to a French tug boat, got aboard, and ran forward to render assistance to other men. I was the means of saving seven of my comrades.” Some men were actually in the water before Majestic was struck. The men of the Hood Battalion of the Royal Naval Division had gone down to ‘W’ Beach at Cape Helles before breakfast and had been told that they could have an hour in the water before starting their duties for the day. About a dozen men decided that they would swim over to Majestic with the intention of “scrounging” something to eat. Joseph Murray was in the lead and hoped to reach the battleship first. 

LEFT: Ships crowd round the stricken battleship in an effort to rescue the survivors. BELOW: The Allied naval bombardment of Turkish positions in the Dardanelles continues as a battleship fires her 12-inch guns. Naval efforts were predominantly conducted by the Royal Navy with substantial French support and minor contributions from Russia and Australia.

www.britainatwar.com 37

DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES The Sinking of HMS Majestic

TOP LEFT: HMS Majestic pictured astern of HMS London on 24 April 1915. In the foreground HMS London’s padre is leading a church service on the quarterdeck for the ship’s company and men of ‘A’ and ‘C’ companies of the 11th Battalion AIF whilst en route from Lemnos to Gallipoli. (COURTESY OF

THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; A02466)

“I had about a five-yard lead and was swimming strongly when I heard a deep thud and the water seemed to vibrate violently,” Murray wrote in his diary the following day. “I got a lovely mouthful and, half choked, struck out frantically. I thought I had struck the wash from a trawler. I had lost sight of the Majestic and no wonder, for I had been turned completely round and was swimming away from her. “Puzzled for the moment, I suddenly realised that she was heeling over. Her torpedo nets were out and hundreds of men were lining her deck. Many dived, some jumped and others scrambled over on to her side as she slowly heeled over. How amazingly cool everyone seemed to be. Those that jumped took their time; they ambled to a suitable spot and took the plunge, quite unconcernedly so it seemed.”3

A SEA FULL OF MEN

Appearances can be deceptive for the situation on board Majestic was far from being as calm as Joseph Murray believed: “The explosion was followed by a cloud of black smoke which down in my throat and in my eyes, so that all the time I seemed to be in semidarkness,” recalled Ashmead-Bartlett. “I looked over the side, and saw that I was clear of the torpedo-nets, and then climbed over, intending to slide down a stanchion into the water and swim clear. But … just as I had both legs over the rail, there came a rush from behind, and I was pushed over the side, falling with considerable force on to the netshelf, where the nets are stored when not out. “I made no long stay on the net-shelf, but at once rebounded into the sea and went under. I came up at once still BELOW: HMS Majestic and other destroyers photographed from the deck of HMS London as the fleet departs Lemnos for the Gallipoli landing at Anzac Cove. (COURTESY OF

THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; A02470)

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holding my useless belt, and, having got some of the water out of my eyes, took a look around. The sea was crowded with men swimming about and calling for assistance.” It was evident, from the calls of distress, that many of the sailors could not swim. “A few yards from me I saw a boat, towards which everyone in the water seemed to be making,” added Ashmead-Bartlett. “She was already packed with men while others were hanging on to her gunwale. I swam towards her, mixed up with a struggling crowd, and managed to get both hands firmly on her, but found it impossible to drag myself on board.” Ashmead-Bartlett was acutely conscious that, being so close to the great battleship, the little boat would be dragged under if Majestic toppled over and went down. Nevertheless, with his limp lifebelt totally ineffective, he was not going to let go of the boat. “It is very tiring work hanging on with both hands with your feet trailing in the water in a strong current, and I was beginning to think whether it would be wiser to let go

DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES The Sinking of HMS Majestic

and swim away.” Fortunately for the War Correspondent his foot caught in a small slit in the keel and he was able to support his weight. A few moments later a sailor grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him into the boat, scraping the skin off his legs and arms, though this was of little immediate concern. Ashmead-Bartlett was, for now, safe and was able to look around the boat: “The boat was absolutely packed with men. She was a small cutter intended to carry at the most thirty, and eventually ninety-four were taken off her. We were sitting on one another, others were standing up, and many were still clinging to the gunwale begging to be taken on board, which was now out of the question.” The sailor who had helped seven of his comrades described how others were rescued: “Some of the crew landed on the beach, some were in minesweepers, tugs, steam-boats and torpedodestroyers.” One of those he had pulled on board, a stoker, died just after he had been hauled out of the water. Another man, a young wireless boy who was a

sea was full of men, some swimming towards neighbouring ships, others apparently having their work cut out to keep themselves afloat.” All the vessels in the area were lowering boats and steam launches which were sent hurrying to the scene. These boats began picking up survivors but they were wary of getting too close to the stricken, 16,000-ton battleship in case she suddenly went down. “All this time the small boats were at it tooth and nail, even trawlers and tramp steamers,” continued John Cargill in his account which was published in the Dundee Courier. “Then she slowly turned turtle, giving her men time to scramble down and up her starboard side on to her bottom, and sending up two big fountains of water aft from her air circulators.” Joseph Murray was also still watching the drama unfold. “In a matter of minutes only the keel was showing above the water like a huge whale. The only visible sign of urgency was a solitary figure,

carrying what appeared to be a small bundle, hurrying along the keel to avoid getting his feet wet as the stern became awash. The bow of the keel remained above the water and there sat the solitary sailor on his bundle.”

TOP RIGHT: HMS Majestic in action off Cape Helles during May 1915.

SAVED FROM THE SEA

WAR MEMORIAL;

Ashmead-Bartlett also described the battleship’s final moments: “The Majestic rolled right over to port and sank bottom upwards like a great stone, without any further warning. There came a dull, rumbling sound, a swirl of water and steam, for a moment her green bottom was exposed to view, and then the old battleship disappeared for ever, except for a small piece of her ram, which remained above water as her bows were lying on a shallow sand-bank.” The lone sailor mentioned by Joseph Murray was also visible to AshmeadBartlett and the men on his boat: “As she turned over and sank, a sailor ran the whole length of her keel and 

(COURTESY OF

THE AUSTRALIAN H00208)

MIDDLE: Some of the survivors from HM ships Goliath, Triumph, and Majestic aboard HMS Lord Nelson. Two of the sailors have bandaged heads, while a smiling boy is at front right. (COURTESY OF

THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; G00198)

BELOW: Survivors from Majestic arrive at Mudros aboard a French warship.

strong swimmer, was last seen going to the rescue of a man who could was floundering and clearly unable to swim. It was the last that was ever seen of him. “The Majestic presented an extraordinary spectacle,” AshmeadBartlett continued. “She was lying over on her side, having such a list that it was no longer possible to stand on her deck. About one-third of the crew still seemed to be hanging on to the rails, or clinging to her side, as if hesitating to jump into the water. All around the www.britainatwar.com 39

DISASTER IN THE DARDANELLES The Sinking of HMS Majestic NEAR RIGHT: One of the panels on the Helles Memorial commemorating Royal Navy warships which participated in the Gallipoli Campaign. FAR RIGHT: An Allied aircraft took this picture of the upturned hull of HMS Majestic soon after she capsized. BOTTOM: Looking out from the grounds of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Helles Memorial, at the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, over the waters in which HMS Majestic was sunk. The memorial, which takes the form of an obelisk over thirty metres high and that can be seen by ships passing through the Dardanelles, serves the dual function of Commonwealth battle memorial for the whole Gallipoli campaign and place of commemoration for many of those Commonwealth servicemen who died there and have no known grave.

finally sat astride the ram, where he was subsequently taken off without even getting a wetting. The final plunge was so inspiring that for a few seconds I forgot about the large number of officers and men who were still clinging to her like limpets when she went down.” Many of the men ashore also witnessed Majestic’s end. Private Edward Atkinson of the 29th Division’s Cycle Company was one of them. He made the following entry in his diary: “6.30 am see the most pathetic sight of my life, see explosion and gun fire at a torpedo, but missed and the Majestic, a beautiful battleship, done good work in the ’Nelles heels over … the propeller seemed to be still moving and pumps till going … it makes one sad and as though we are going to lose the game.” It was not only Allied troops who had watched the spectacle. “I am told,” noted AshmeadBartlett, “that the Turks in their trenches were loud in their applause”. It took just nine minutes for the great warship to capsize in sixteen metres of water. Forty of her crew of 700 lost

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their lives (though the exact number does vary in some accounts). Amongst those lost was a Mr Frederick Upward, a former coastguard from Mullion in Cornwall. When he was in the water he was dragged under the surface four times and was suffering severely from cold and from shock before being rescued by another Mullion coastguard, a Mr Nelson. Unfortunately, when Nelson finally made his way to shore he was shot and killed.4 “In six minutes she was resting on the bottom, showing her forepart almost to amidships,” ended John Cargill’s account. “Ten minutes later and you would never have known anything had happened only that great ‘hump’ stuck out of the water – all that was left of a good old ship.” Majestic’s masts hit the mud of the sea floor, and that great ‘hump’, her upturned hull, remained visible for many months until it was

finally submerged when her foremast collapsed during a storm. The loss of two of the Royal Navy’s battleships in just three days had a serious impact on the Gallipoli campaign, reducing the amount of support the navy could offer the army. For his part, however, Hersing returned to Germany a hero, immediately being awarded the Pour le Mérite (which is informally known as the Blue Max). He came to be known as the ‘Zerstörer der Schlachtschiffe’, the ‘Destroyer of Battleships’. 

NOTES

1. Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, The Uncensored Dardanelles (Hutchinson, London, 1920), pp.113-17. 2. Evening Despatch, Thursday, 24 June 1915. 3. Joseph Murray, Gallipoli As I Saw It (William Kimber, London, 1965), p.77. 4. West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Thursday 24 June 1915.

THE RELUCTANT HERO Lewis Pugh Evans VC

HERO THE RELUCTANT

He was a fledgling military aviator feted as one of Britain’s bravest front-line soldiers, but Lewis Evans always insisted he was not a hero. Steve Snelling relates the extraordinary story of the most highly decorated Welsh officer of the First World War. TOP IMAGE: Fledgling Flying Corps: men and aircraft of No 3 Squadron during the early autumn of 1914. Evans joined the squadron as an observer in September and took part in a number of hazardous sorties over the German lines until his transfer back to the Black Watch in January 1915. MAIN PICTURE: Lewis Pugh Evans VC (1881-1962).

L

EWIS EVANS was indignant. Contrary to the reports and rumours emanating from ‘the front’, which he dismissed as exaggerated nonsense, he insisted there was no likelihood of his actions amid the swamps around Ypres being recognised by the award of the Victoria Cross. From his hospital bed, where he lay recovering from wounds, he scribbled a testy note to his ‘dearest’ fiancée back home in Wales in a vain attempt to quell his family’s mounting excitement. ‘I don’t expect to get it for I did nothing deserving of it so the less said about it the better,’ he declared bluntly. The letter continued in a tone of irritated bemusement. ‘I am sure I don’t know what they can have said I did, certainly nothing

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I consider deserving of it, in fact I am the reverse of proud of myself for having come away with the wounds I had. “In fact the feeling I had about the whole business was that every dog has its day but this one had certainly not been mine…’ His conclusion was emphatic: ‘Your would-be husband is no hero and you had better know the truth.’ Martial valour was something Lewis Evans knew a lot about. Descended from the ‘Second Royal Tribe of Wales’, the Etoneducated Welshman who was commissioned into a Scottish regiment boasted two Victoria Cross recipients as uncles. However, the verdict of history and of his peers on his performance

near the shell-withered remains of Polygon Wood on 4 October 1917 would fly in the face of his own judgment and help elevate him to the status of Wales’ most highly decorated officer of the First World War.

NO THIRST FOR WAR

For all his distinguished heritage, such a prospect had seemed an unlikely one even three years’ earlier. After 14 years’ service in the Black Watch, during which he had suffered the indignity of being taken prisoner by Boers during the South African War and come perilously close to death from enteric fever in India, his military career had been thrown off course just as the moment opportunity beckoned. 

THE RELUCTANT HERO Lewis Pugh Evans VC

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THE RELUCTANT HERO Lewis Pugh Evans VC

TOP LEFT: Evans, the curly fair hair that gave him his army nickname much in evidence, poses with his mother, brothers and sisters at Lovesgrove, their estate in Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth, before the First World War. TOP RIGHT: Lewis Evans, fifth from left at the back, in a picture thought to have been taken either at Eton or Sandhurst. BELOW: Under fire: a shell burst close to British positions during the Third Ypres Offensive’s autumn fighting.

In a way, he only had himself to blame. To the consternation of his family back home in Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth, ‘Curly’ Evans, as he was known throughout his regiment on account of his wavy fair hair, had developed a passion for flying. While at the Staff College in Camberley, he took private lessons and, on 20 August 1913, at Brooklands aerodrome, 32-year-old Captain Lewis Pugh Evans, flying a Bristol biplane, went solo to pass his pilot’s test ‘in excellent fashion’ earning Royal Aero Club Certificate 595. Much to his chagrin he found himself a reluctant member of the Royal Flying Corps and was posted to Netheravon where, in August 1914, his newly-acquired organisational skills were employed in helping transfer the country’s nascent air force overseas. Evans, by his own admission, had ‘no thirst for war… only a desire to be there if it must take place’. Being there, however, did not in his imagination involve desk duties in Wiltshire.

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Frustrated in attempts to re-join his regiment, or to join one of the RFC’s squadrons on active service, he began lobbying, to no avail, for a role in helping to train one of the volunteer battalions being raised as part of Kitchener’s New Army. Six weeks of frustration and no little boredom eventually ended in mid-September when, as a result of a shortage of trained observers, Evans found himself suddenly posted to 3 Squadron, whose commanding officer was Major Jack (later Air Chief Marshal Sir John) Salmond and whose mechanics included a certain James McCudden, destined to become one of the greatest aces of the war.

A BIT OF LUCK

The next three months were crammed with incident as the German advance on Paris was halted and the squadron’s motley collection of BE2s, BE8s, Henri

Farmans and Bleriot two-seaters joined the ‘Race for the Sea’ as the British Expeditionary Force moved steadily northwards into Flanders. Reconnaissance work was a staple for 3 Sqn and Evans played his part to the full. Often flown in bad weather, the sorties were yet more hazardous through constant risk of mechanical defects. One brush with disaster came in October while flying as observer to Sergeant Reggie Carr, who had been chief mechanic to the distinguished pioneer aviator Claude GrahameWhite pre-war. ‘We had a bit of luck yesterday’ he wrote to his future wife, Dorothea Pryse-Rice. “We were just coming home… after being out 2½ hours, coming up to the German lines when the engine stopped. ‘Fortunately we were about 5,000 feet up and had the wind behind us and we fetched up just inside the French lines. I was not certain

THE RELUCTANT HERO Lewis Pugh Evans VC

whether we had made it or no, though I knew we were clear of the German trenches, and we made for a wood. I was just off to question a ploughman when up came some French infantry, which was a great relief… The Frenchmen very kindly insisted on pulling the machine under cover for they said we were within sight of the German guns, and so no doubt we would have been on a clear day, but it was misty and they did not see us. Sgt Carr got his engine right in no time and we got off home… I returned to camp, had an excellent lunch on curried bullied beef [and] slept under the lee of a gorse bush for an hour and a half. It is extraordinary how sleepy three hours of constant watching at a speed of 60 miles an hour makes you.’ Shortly afterwards, Evans and Carr were attached to 5th Division for

artillery observation work from a remote landing ground near Festubert. Heavy fighting was in progress as the Germans made repeated attempts to break through the British lines. For nearly a week, they averaged six or seven hours’ flying a day with Evans communicating with the gunners on the ground by light signals. In a letter to Dorothea, Evans gave some insight into the primitive nature of aerial combat: ‘We all carry rifles and, most of us, a revolver as well’ he wrote. ‘We… exchange shots with a German machine from time to time but the prospects of either of us hitting the other are slight’ Such skirmishes were few, and ‘really determined encounters’ fewer still. This may well have reinforced his determination to return to ‘proper’ soldiering.

A STIFF 36 HOURS

A request to re-join his regiment was finally granted and in January ‘Curly’ Evans exchanged the sky’s open spaces for the confinement of trench warfare as a company commander, 1st Black Watch, in a comfortless duty far-removed from life in the RFC. In the front-line there was ‘very little’ opportunity for rest, let alone sleep. ‘It is a rough life’ he wrote, ‘for one is in a constant state of filth and seldom dry.’ He had no regrets, although his posting called for all the courage and skill acquired in more than a decade of service. By May, 1915, he was promoted to the staff of a brigade commanded by his brother-in-law, Brigadier General Colin Ballard, but still managed to find his way into the front-line, most notably on 16 June at the height of the Battle of Hooge. A small-scale British attack in the Ypres Salient, it went the way of so many that year with early success ending in chaos and carnage. Evans, said Ballard, ‘was

quite the hero of the day’. While acting as the link between the front-line and brigade headquarters, he took charge of a large number of men who had become mixed up in the confusion of the assault, reorganised them and led them on. At least half a dozen times, he ventured off, ‘…carrying orders and bringing back reports’ from the entire length of the firing line. ‘From 11am to midnight,’ wrote Ballard, ‘he never stopped and as a question of physical endurance I cannot understand how he did it… Besides that, he was under appalling fire the whole time. Every time he went out it seemed impossible that he could return unhurt. It was nothing but the goodness of God that he had not a scratch on him.’ Evans was characteristically modest about the affair. Describing it as ‘a stiff 36 hours’ that left him exhausted he was more concerned with the merits of such actions. ‘These attacks, I suppose, have to go on if we are to wear these Germans 

TOP RIGHT: Blockhouse battle: an artist’s impression of British troops storming a pill-box during the advance at Broodseinde on October 4, 1917. It depicts the kind of struggle faced by faced by Lewis Evans and the men of the 1st Lincolnshires after the leading waves had moved on. MIDDLE LEFT: Off to war: Lewis Evans as an 18-year-old subaltern in the Black Watch preparing to head out to the Boer War in late 1899. He joined the 2nd Battalion in South Africa in February 1900. Promoted lieutenant the following year, he was among about 60 men briefly held prisoner by the Boers after an anti-guerrilla operation went awry. ABOVE LEFT: Evans’ Victoria Cross exploit was featured on the front and back covers of The Victor in the edition of June 6, 1970.

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THE RELUCTANT HERO Lewis Pugh Evans VC

It speaks volumes for the slow progress in what Evans called ‘this wearisome war’ that the battalion’s assembly point on the splintered fringes of the wood was barely three miles from the scene of his courageous intervention near Hooge two years earlier. The attack was preceded by a bombardment targeting known strong-points, followed by a hurricane creeping barrage at zero hour, 0600 hours. The impact was more destructive than intended.

A contemporary artist’s impression of a pill-box surrender with the garrison being led away. Such positions often fought hard right up to the moment they were surrounded and it was not uncommon for their attempts to capitulate to be disregarded. Accounts of the fighting offer many instances of pill-box crews being massacred out of hand. MIDDLE: Evans’ letter to his fiancée dated October 31, 1917, sent from The Ellerman Hospital in London where he was recovering from wounds in which he dismissed rumours suggesting he would be awarded the Victoria Cross for his courageous leadership at Broodseinde almost four weeks’ earlier.

BELOW: An artist’s impression of British troops pushing forward across a desolate no-man’s-land during the 1917 fighting east of Ypres.

out,’ he wrote, ‘but looking at each one of them alone, one always feels that the few hundred yards gained and the few hundred prisoners captured have been paid for over-heavily.’ Recognition of his own contribution came with a DSO and, in September, further promotion. In all, he spent nearly two years engaged on staff duties before being offered his first battalion command, as acting lieutenant colonel, in March 1917, with the 1st Lincolnshire Regiment, part of the 62nd Bde, 21st Division.

ZERO HOUR

The Third Battle of Ypres had been raging for seven weeks by the time the Lincolns joined the fray, with a

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few days spent digging trenches and dodging shells before they began a move forward on the night of 3 October in readiness for a major assault the next morning. Officially the Battle of Broodseinde, it was the latest in a series of ‘bite and hold’ attacks in a ‘stepping stone offensive’ orchestrated by the commander of the British Second Army, General Sir Hubert Plumer. The assault was to take place on a seven-mile front directed towards the ridge east of Zonnebeke and spearheaded by the I and II Anzac Corps. The Lincolnshires were operating near the south-western corner of Polygon wood, just north of the Menin Road.

THE RELUCTANT HERO Lewis Pugh Evans VC

Unbeknown to Plumer, the Germans had been planning their own attack the same morning and their forward positions were crowded with troops, increasing the number of casualties. Evans, meanwhile, had a surprise of his own to contend with. After a four-mile hike along a narrow duckboard trail snaking across a pitted wasteland and a hazardous ‘recce’ of the ‘jumping off’ position, he discovered, just an hour

before ‘zero’, that the plan of attack had been altered. Instead of being held in reserve, the 1st Lincolns were to take the second objective. Unfazed, Evans briefed his officers and reorganised so that the battalion was in position with five minutes to spare. As the bombardment exploded in front of them, the 1st Lincolns moved forward en-masse. Machine guns and ‘shorts’ from the creeping barrage inflicted some casualties and, on reaching the first strongpoint, Evans noted gaps developing in the leading wave. Responding quickly, he ordered C and D Companies to push forward in pursuit of the barrage while A and B Companies followed them on to the first objective which was successfully captured at about 0640. The companies were in the process of reorganising when an enemy pill-box which had been bypassed

by the leading waves suddenly burst ‘drawing his pistol’ and, with his into life and threatened to stop the men pinned down, approaching attack dead in its tracks. the blind side of the pill-box where he signalled more men to join COLOSSAL BLUFF him. Then, men from a battalion According to the Lincolns’ war moving up on the right ‘were able diary, the concrete strong-point to shoot down the party working had been left ‘burning’ from it’. By then, Evans had already been the initial onslaught and had wounded, apparently by a bullet offered no resistance. However, a which struck him in the shoulder compartment on its northern side and bowled him over. had escaped detection and from He was, however, far from here its defiant crew opened fire finished. ‘I got this tied up,’ he inflicting casualties. wrote, ‘and was moving on… What followed is subject to some when I encountered a trench with confusion, but according to the anything from 20 to 40 Boche in Lincolns’ war diary the strong-point it, holding up the right company. fell to a bold solo attack carried I was just on their flank, looking out by the battalion commander in down along their line and they did which he ‘silenced it by firing his not notice me.’ revolver through the loophole’. Evans, who had been in This is contradicted by the the process of organising the regimental history which has Evans next stage of the advance, had being assisted by an officer of the inadvertently blundered into an Machine-Gun Corps and several of enemy position some way in front his own men who attacked the pillof his own troops.  box from two directions with Evans delivering the coup de grace. ‘Curly’ Evans, meanwhile, gave an altogether different account. In a letter written to Dorothea he spoke of the attack being thrown into confusion by enemy troops ‘holding out in a pill-box and a trench between us and the barrage’, but insisted his role in the action had been more as organiser than participant. He wrote: ‘I organised and pushed off an attack on the pillbox which I did not lead; the men took it on their own.’ Later, in another account supplied to his brothers, he admitted

TOP RIGHT: Bloody struggle: a contemporary artist’s graphic portrayal of a pill-box struggle during the Third Battle of Ypres in the autumn of 1917. BELOW RIGHT: Wounded British troops milling about in a wayside dressing station established in ruined farm buildings near Broodseinde. Lewis Evans, who was twice wounded on October 4, 1917, walked back unaided to report before receiving treatment for his injuries.

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THE RELUCTANT HERO Lewis Pugh Evans VC

ABOVE: Evans, fourth left, was among veterans of the 1914 Royal Flying Corps invited to a special reunion dinner at Netheravon in 1959. It was there, as a staff officer, that his war began 45 years earlier. TOP RIGHT: A pass issued to all recipients for the 1929 VC reunion. BELOW: Evans’ extraordinary collection of orders and decorations headed by the Victoria Cross.

(ALISTER WILLIAMS)

Turning to his orderly, who was the only man with him, he told him to shoot only to discover that he was lying prone on the ground and unable to see the enemy let alone open fire on them. Thinking quickly, Evans opted for brazen trickery. ‘Throw down your rifles!’ he shouted in the desperate hope that his commanding direction would create an illusion of strength. Fortunately, his colossal bluff worked. The nearest German promptly obeyed and his capitulation was repeated all down the line until about 40 men had ‘grounded arms’. Evans promptly motioned them towards his own lines and they sprinted across, attracting some fire from other British troops who mistook their run for a charge. His ruse had ‘cleared our troubles, and enabled us to get ahead’ but his own luck soon ran out. Pressing forward, he was hit again by a bullet that grazed his ribs. He continued without medical assistance,

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although strength was fading due to blood loss. Eventually, with his battalion pushing on towards the second objective some 1,000 yards away, he ordered the reserve company forward to reinforce the attack before relinquishing command. Then, rejecting a stretcher and fortified by ‘a strong dose of whisky’, he proceeded to walk back across the battlefield, reporting to the nearest headquarters before seeking treatment.

NOT THE LEAST BIT PROUD

Evans’ part in the battle was over, but his battalion battled on in the face of heavy casualties in order to secure its goal and consolidate the position. Of nearly 600 men who launched the attack around 230 were killed, wounded or missing and command had devolved to a captain. Private D J Sweeney, a pre-war regular, returned from leave in time to see the remnants of the unit withdraw. Most of the losses, he noted, had been sustained ‘in the bog’ and wrote: ‘Poor kids, they did look done up… The day they made the attack the rain started and they were wet to the skin and coated with mud.’ The men’s stoicism had been remarkable. The war diarist reckoning that ‘the staunchness and dogged courage displayed by all ranks in the battle have never been surpassed in the whole campaign’. Evans had no quibble with the men’s behaviour, only with his own. ‘Instead of going on with them, as I ought to have done, I came back,’ he wrote, adding: ‘I am not the least bit proud of the performance.’ The announcement of his Victoria Cross seven weeks later did little to alter

his opinion. The citation praised his courageous leadership which ‘stimulated in all ranks the highest valour and determination to win’. But he retorted: ‘It certainly reads very nicely. I don’t know that I quite recognise myself.’ Still in hospital, he declined any fanfare and contemplated refusing to accept the award, but with his injuries healed Evans hurried back to the front where he was given command of the 1st Battalion of his own regiment, the Black Watch. He led them with distinction during the German Spring offensive, earning a Bar to his DSO for leadership during a desperate defensive battle near Givenchy. Further honours and promotion followed for one of the British army’s most modest heroes. By the Armistice, Lewis Evans was a brigadier general with the Belgian Order of Leopold, the French Croix de Guerre and no fewer than seven mentions in despatches added to his VC, DSO and Bar along with a CMG (Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George) in recognition of distinguished war service. All in all, it was not a bad record for a soldier with ‘no thirst for war’. Evans soldiered on into a second world war, made a Companion of the Bath and lived to the ripe old age of 81 before succumbing to a heart attack in 1962. To the end, the man feted as one of Wales’ greatest heroes remained embarrassed about his highest honour for which he considered himself ‘unworthy’. His steadfast conviction was summed up by his grandson, Christopher, who observed: ‘He felt there had been many others more deserving of the award who had not got it.’ 

• • • • •

Daily standard tours available within the Ypres salient Bespoke tours Tours to the Somme, Notre Dame de Lorette and Vimy Ridge upon request Guides also available for coach and walking tours on request All prices include entrance to museums used on our routes

To book or view our daily standard tours visit www.ypres-fbt.be or contact us via email [email protected] CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS: “We would like to thank you for making our trip to Ieper so memorable and interesting. We could not have had a better guide your depth of knowledge was truly amazing. However knowledge alone is not enough - it was the manner in which you, put it over - quite wonderful.” “We were guided in an exemplary way, with huge knowledge, a lot of information and also a taste of the famous British Humor. Without your guide’s explanations, for sure we wouldn’t have found the places we were interested in and it would have been much more difficult to understand what happened. We can recommend this tour and especially our guide to every visitor of Ieper, also in the hope that more German visitors will come to the battlefields. The information was without any partiality, and we could feel that there was respect for the soldiers of both sides. There was nothing to be made better, in our opinion, it was just perfect and shouldn’t be changed.” Contact:

Genevra Charsley & Jacques Ryckebosch, Boeschepestraat 29, B-8970 Poperinge, Belgium Telephone: 00 32 (0) 57 360 460

‘A PLUCKY CHAP’

1915 German Officer Honoured

E

VERY YEAR thousands of people visit the battlefields and cemeteries of the Great War to pay their respects at the graves of the fallen, and to see the places where their ancestors fought and died. One of those cemeteries – one of the many hundreds cared for today by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission – is known as Hyde Park Corner. During the First World War, Hyde Park Corner was a road junction in the Ypres Salient, just to the north of Ploegsteert Wood. Nearby were the ‘Catacombs’ - deep shelters that were cut into the slopes of the ridge here in 1916, capable of holding two battalions out of sight of the Germans. Hyde Park Corner Cemetery was established in April 1915 by the 1st/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment and was used until November 1917. It contains 83 Commonwealth burials and four German war graves. One of those German graves contains the remains of Leutnant Maximilian Seller of the 5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. When visiting the cemetery the unusual position of his stone becomes obvious. It has not been singled out and it hasn’t been grouped together with the other German casualties resting there. It has been placed immediately adjacent to a row of Commonwealth headstones; Leutnant Seller rests as an equal, beside his former enemies. But, other than idle passers-by, no one ever visits Sellers grave. People do not leave flowers there, and sometimes it looks a little isolated, scruffy even. It seems that the only people interested in it are photographers and battlefieldtourists taking pictures of the

unusual German-style CWGC headstone. Who was Max Seller? How did he die? And how did he come to find his final resting place next to a row of his fallen enemies?

COMPULSORY SERVICE

Maximilian Seller was born on November 25, 1890 in the town of Gunzenhausen, situated about 50 miles south of Nuremberg in Bavaria. It was there that he, his brothers Ludwig and Oskar and his sisters Elsa and Emmy were raised by their mother, Martha Seller after their father, a well-to-do merchant, had died in 1907. The Sellers were a Jewish family. Jews had been living in Gunzenhausen since the 14th century and, over the ensuing centuries, a flourishing Jewish community developed to include a synagogue (1583), a Jewish cemetery, a shochet (kosher butcher) and a rabbi. In the late 16th century an Israelite school was founded, and in the mid-19th century the Jewish community school was built. In 1910 the town had approximately 5200 inhabitants, of which 291 were of the Jewish faith. After finishing grammar school Max found work as a salesman for a textile merchant in Bayreuth. Like every German male between the age of 17 and 45, Max was liable for compulsory military service which, within the German Empire, was divided into four phases. After a period of active service (aktiver Dienst) a conscript passed in turn to the Reserve, the Landwehr, and the Ersatz-Reserve (supplementary reserve) amounting to a total twenty-two years of service. Active service in the army (Heer) meant two years in the infantry or a nonmounted artillery unit. 

British soldiers, impressed by the bravery of one German Officer, buried him alongside their own fallen comrades. Now, a century on, his Jewish faith has been recognised and will be appropriately marked on his headstone in a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery following intervention by Robin Schäfer who tells the poignant story.

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‘A PLUCKY CHAP’

1915 German Officer Honoured MAIN PICTURE: A German Infantry trench raiding party posing before ‘going over the top’. It was a raiding party such as this that Max Seller was leading when he was killed.

Chap’

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‘A PLUCKY CHAP’

1915 German Officer Honoured MIDDLE: Death notification of Ludwig Seller, from the Altmühl Bote newspaper, 1917: ‘From the field I received the shocking news that now my youngest has become the second victim of my children; our beloved darling, my brave and hopeful son and our kindhearted brother Ludwig, Gefreiter in the 13th Bavarian Infantry Regiment who in faithfulness to his duty remained on the field of honour in the youthful age of 18 1/2. He succumbed in a field hospital due to wounds received on the 9th of August. Gunzenhausen, 16 August 1917 His long suffering mother, Martha Seller’.

Three years were demanded by cavalry and mounted artillery. Personnel discharged from active service passed into the Reserve for a period of 4-5 years during which Reservists had to take part in regular training courses and army maneoeuvres spanning up to eight weeks a year. A transfer to the Landwehr followed. Service in the Landwehr typically lasted for another five years (for infantry, for example);

SELLER'S STORY The events which took place in Germany following the First World War, in the years leading up to the Second World War, and then during that war itself, have all but eradicated any trace of the Seller Family. Sadly, no images of Max Seller are known to exist. Ordinarily, the absence of images featuring the subject of articles such as this would perhaps militate against inclusion in Britain at War magazine. In this instance, and given the circumstances behind such a sad and moving case, it perhaps gives greater cause for the inclusion of Seller’s story – photo or no photo. TOP LEFT & NEAR RIGHT: Prussian Infantry in scenes typical of the period that would have been familiar to Max Seller. Note the 20 round 'Trench' magazine designed to fit Mauser rifles after modification. Intended to increase fire rate, they were unsuccessful as the materials used were not robust enough.

but was reduced to three years where the original active service had also demanded three years. Landwehrmänner were required to participate in two manoeuvres amounting to four weeks in a year. Personnel surplus to requirements (Restanten) were transferred into the Ersatz-Reserve (Replacement Reserve), which acted as a ready manpower pool for active units. Finally there was the Landsturm, comprising men aged between 17 and 45 who did not qualify for one of the service groups mentioned above. During this time a reservist could be called upon at any point to take up arms for the Kaiser. Although everyone was legally obliged to complete a stint of military service, for young men of suitable social class and education there were ways to shorten the active service period. Those who had earned a so-called One Year Certificate in a Gymnasium (grammar school) could chose to serve just one year of their compulsory military service on active duty in order to avoid delaying their university education or other employment. It was this path that Max opted to take.

A ‘ONE YEAR VOLUNTEER’ To earn his One Year Certificate Max would have been required to pass a final examination, which included tests in German, two foreign languages, geography, history, literature, physics and chemistry.

Achieving this, he would have signed on for service as a ‘One Year Volunteer’ (Einjährig Freiwilliger). Having done so, Max was free choose the unit he wished to be attached to, but was expected to equip, feed and house himself from his own pocket. In an infantry unit this amounted to between 1750 and 2200 marks - a substantial sum of money, roughly equivalent to the financial outlay required to fund a year at university. The fact that Max was in a position to gather this huge sum is perhaps indicative of the affluence of the Seller family, a situation shared by many German Jewish families at this time. In 1913 almost 46% of Jewish

soldiers in the German army were ‘one year volunteers’ which, when compared with the mere 2% of Protestant and 1.5% of Catholic soldiers, is convincing evidence of the higher social standing of Jewish families - a situation that created a great deal of resentment within the ranks of the army. On absolving their primary recruit training and shorter military service term, those One Year Volunteers aspiring to become Reserve-Officers would have to qualify and achieve suitability for

“As a German I went to war to defend my hardpressed fatherland. As a Jew I went to war to fight for the equal status of my brothers in the faith” Last will and testament of Leutnant Josef Zürndorfer (1915)

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‘A PLUCKY CHAP’

1915 German Officer Honoured LEFT: German casualty list 18 October 1915, Leutnant der Reserve Maximilian Seller, was missing – Killed in action.

promotion to the rank of Gefreiter and then would continue to receive further specialized instruction until the end of their one-year term, usually attaining and leaving as surplus NCOs (überzählige Unteroffiziere), with the opportunity to advance further as reservists. Enlistees who did not aspire to officer grade would leave at the end of their one-year term as Gemeiner (Ordinary soldier) for example as Musketier or Schütze.

BAVARIAN INFANTRY REGIMENT

Max commenced his service with the 5th Bavarian Infantry Regiment ‘Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hessen’, on 1 October, 1910. He would have been grouped together with the other ‘One Year Volunteers’ who were separately trained as supernumeraries, not as part of the establishment. His social status, along with the fact that his chances of promotion and the probability of his being commissioned were much higher, would probably have made Seller stand out from the ‘ordinary’ enlisted men, and it seems he passed his training and all courses with flying colours when, in December 1911, Max left

the army as an Unteroffizier of the Reserve. On 5 August 1914, Max, still as an Unteroffizier, joined the 7th Bavarian Infantry Regiment “Prince Leopold” on mobilization. The regiment was transferred to the western front and saw its first action at Lorraine on 20 August.

WOUNDED

On the night of 2 September the regiment ordered a reconnaissance in strength towards the farmstead of St. Libaire. In the fighting that followed the farmstead was taken, but Max was wounded by a rifle bullet through his left arm. The wound was not severe, though Max was out of action for nearly two months as a result, spending the time convalescing at a military hospital at Arracourt. On November 4 he rejoined the regiment’s reserve battalion in the area of Apremont-la-Foret (Bois Brules), narrowly missing a royal visit as Prince Leopold of Bavaria had inspected the regiment only a week earlier. After arrival Max took over command of a squad in 12th company. By this date the 7th Bavarian Infantry regiment had already suffered heavy losses: since the beginning of

the war eight officers and 255 men had been killed, 12 officers and 1,056 men had been wounded and 250 had contracted various illnesses and diseases. At this time it spent most of its energy fortifying its positions on the heights of the Meuse. This was a valuable task and a number of French attacks were repelled during this period, though even on ‘quiet days’ the regiment was losing an average of two men a day to French artillery fire.

PROMOTION AS OFFICER

On 27 January 1915 Max was promoted to the rank Leutnant der Reserve and, shortly afterwards, in February 1915, constant French attacks against the Bois le Pretre forced high command to form an army reserve. 3rd Battalion was moved 

BOTH ABOVE: Prince Leopold of Bavaria visiting the 7th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment at Apremontla-Foret in November 1914. Max Seller had missed this inspection parade after being wounded in the arm just a week earlier. LEFT: Bavarian M1891 pattern ‘Pickelhaube’ helmet for One Year Volunteers.

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‘A PLUCKY CHAP’

1915 German Officer Honoured

TOP: British prisoners are marched into captivity by Bavarian Infantry soldiers in Flanders during 1915. In the trench warfare of the period there was generally a degree of mutual respect for the enemy who were suffering the same privations, the same misery and equal measures of death, injury and destruction.

towards Thiaucourt, and, on 27 February, eight young officers (including Maximilian Seller) were temporarily detached to the 2nd Bavarian Reserve Corps. It is at this point that things become a bit unclear in Max’s story but shortly after his transfer he had been detached to the 5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, possibly a result of the regiment being short of officers. However, as Seller was on temporary regimental strength only, the muster rolls of the regiment housed in the Munich State Archive do not list him. What is clear, though, is that he unfortunately met his death near Ploegsteert (Flanders) on 24 June 1915, still fighting in his new regiment.

RIGHT: Page from the muster roll of 7th Bavarian Infantry Regiment with the first entry relating to Max Seller.

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BAYONET THRUST

No doubt waiting nervously for news at home in the first days of August the Seller family would have known that something terrible had happened. They may have received a telegram from the War Department, and possibly a letter from one of his commanding officers prior to that. However, we can be quite sure that the family would definitely have known of their son’s tragic death by no later than 8 August, as by then the Verlustlisten (lists of losses which were published on a daily basis), had announced that Max was missing in action. The uncertainty of the next weeks must have been terrible for them: what had happened to their beloved son and brother? Had he be taken prisoner? Was he dead? On the 26 August 1915 a German Jewish weekly newspaper Der Israelit published a short article which

BELOW: “Watch out Englishman! I’ll shoot you with my stein!” – Bavarian dialect on German propaganda postcard (1914).

shed light on Max’s fate. He had fallen whilst leading an assault of about 50 German soldiers on a section of trench held by the British. During the course of this attack Max had been killed by a bayonet thrust. Interestingly, this article had been a direct translation of one that had been published in a British newspaper. In fact, it was thanks to the British soldier who had overseen Max’s burial that the family got to know the facts.

IMPRESSIVE BRAVERY AND CONDUCT

A British Sergeant-Major, named Victor Rathbone, had been so impressed by Seller’s bravery and conduct that he ordered him to be buried alongside his former enemies.

‘A PLUCKY CHAP’

1915 German Officer Honoured

THE SELLER FAMILY

Shortly before burial he had noticed that Seller was a Jew and Rathbone requested the chaplain to change the burial service accordingly. Having overseen Seller’s burial, Rathbone then sent a letter to his brother in London asking him to have the story published in the Jewish Chronicle in the hope that it might be picked up in Germany. And so it was.

MASS OF TRAGIC TALES Sergeant Victor Rathbone had been born in Leeds in 1885 and he, like Max, was also a Jew with his

family having migrated to England from Gombien, Poland, in 1871. As Squadron Sergeant-Major,(later Lieutenant MC), in the King Edward’s Horse (KEH), Victor Rathbone was a senior NCO in a cavalry regiment that had been raised as part of the Imperial Yeomanry to fight in the Boer War in November 1901. Originally, the 4th County of London Imperial Yeomanry (King’s Colonials) the KEH had been composed of four squadrons of colonial volunteers resident in London. In 1914, it was one of the more ‘exclusive’ Yeomanry regiments, and, in common with all regiments of the Territorial Force, had volunteered for overseas service. The story of Rathbone and Seller stands out from a great mass of tragic tales from the Great War. It is

distinct because it marks the respect of one soldier for another, and displays a last service by a fellow Jew to his former enemy. And it was because of this British soldier’s gallant act that the Seller family came to know about the fate of their son and brother.

THE PATRIOTIC CAUSE

In August 1914 the leading institutions of the German-Jewish community had endorsed the patriotic cause. Jewish men all over Germany were hurrying to the colours to prove they were worthy citizens. A Berlin orthodox synagogue introduced a special prayer imploring God to ‘Help our king, our people, and our fatherland’. In the ensuing conflict 100,000 German Jews enlisted, of which 12,000 were killed in combat. Yet, as conditions deteriorated, anti-semitism began to flourish. Jews were accused of profiteering, of avoiding military service, even of spying. In response, in October 1916 the German War Minister Adolf Wild von Hohenborn, even commissioned a census of Jewish soldiers, the so-called “Judenzählung” (Jewish Count) to determine just how many were serving at the front. It was, perhaps, a sinister portent of things that were to come later in Germany. The ZVD (Zionist Organisation for Germany), however, rightly considered this initiative ‘a flagrant abuse of the honour and the civic equality of German Jewry’. The end of hostilities brought little relief and many Germans held Jews responsible for both defeat and revolution.

Ludwig Seller joined the 13th Bavarian Infantry Regiment in November 1916. After an accident on August 8, 1917, both his feet were severely wounded by an exploding hand grenade and he died a few hours later in a field dressing station. He was 19 years old. Ludwig Seller is buried in the military cemetery of St.Laurent-Blangy (Block 2, Grave 925). Oskar Seller joined the 8th Bavarian Field-Artillery Regiment in August 1915. He died from Pneumonia in a field hospital in July 26, 1918. He was 25 years old. He is buried in the German military cemetery at Menen (Block 1, Grave 2793) Emmy Seller died from cancer on April 4, 1932. She was 40 years old. Elsa Seller, the last remaining child of the Seller’s, was arrested by the Gestapo in August 1937 for “racial defilement” after having a relationship with an Aryan citizen of Gunzenhausen. After her arrest she committed suicide in her prison cell on the 23 August 1937. Her lover hanged himself in November 1941. Martha Seller left Gunzenhausen in the early 1940s. It is unknown what became of her. There is no further trace of the family.

THE ‘STAB IN THE BACK’

The fact that some of the revolutionary leaders were Jewish, notably Kurt Eisner and Rosa Luxemburg, encouraged some commentators to contend that the German army had not been defeated, but had been undermined from within (the myth of the ‘stab in the back’ or Dolchstoss Legende). ‘All Jews are shirkers’ was a recurrent motif in the years following the Great War and The Völkischer Beobachter newspaper offered a thousand marks to anyone who could name a Jewish mother who had had three sons at the front for more than three weeks. Of course, one such mother was Martha Seller who not only had had all three sons at the front but she had also lost all three of them in the service of their country. In 1919, in similar vein to the Völkischer Beobachter, Otto Armin published what he claimed to be the results of the Judenzählung. According to Armin the census showed that, for every Jewish soldier who had died, over 300 non-Jewish Germans had been killed. ‘The notion of the selfless devotion to the people and the fatherland has no place among them [the Jews]’, he concluded. Rejecting this slur, Jacob Segall (former head of the Central relief office of the German Jewry) refuted the allegations, pointing out that 12,000 German-Jewish soldiers had died during the war. And the RJF (Association of Jewish Frontline 

BOTTOM: Victor Rathbone MC which appeared with notification of his death in 1947. He died in Montivideo where he is buried in the British Cemetery.

ABOVE: The regimental cap badge of King Edward's Horse.

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‘A PLUCKY CHAP’

1915 German Officer Honoured

RIGHT: Against this background, Seller’s headstone at Hyde Park Corner lacks a Star of David inscription and, up to now, there is no outward sign that he was of the Jewish faith – despite the fact that documents stored with the CWGC clearly recognize that he was a Jew, with a Grave Registration Report Form dating from 1920 even stating that he was to get a ‘Jewish memorial’ distinct from the crosses marking Christian burials. Amongst those who campaigned for a Jewish inscription on the stone was Genevra Charsley of Flanders Battlefield Tours, Ypres.

RIGHT: ‘In noble enthusiasm there died a hero’s death for his beloved fatherland, my kind-hearted, hopeful son, our unforgotten brother Mr. Max Seller. Leutnant der Reserve in the 5th Bavarian Reserve-InfantryRegiment. Recommended for the Iron Cross 1st Class and holder of the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Gunzenhausen, in August 1915 In unspeakable pain, Martha Seller and children.’

Soldiers), also took up the banner to highlight the military contribution of Jewish men in the war.

conferred any protection for German Jews who now faced the dreadful prospect of the impending Holocaust.

HITLER UNCHECKED

OBLIGATION TO REMEMBER

It was all to no avail, with opinion in Germany now being swayed by widespread anti-semitic statements. In October 1933 the Kyffhäuserbund, an ex-serviceman’s association aligned with the National Socialists, duly removed Jewish veterans from its membership list. In the same year the Reichstag passed a Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service that called for the immediate dismissal of all Jewish civil servants at the Reich, Land, and Municipal levels. Chancellor Paul von Hindenburg opposed this bill, believing that anyone ‘good enough to fight and to die for

RIGHT: Sellers name on the Jewish War Memorial at Gunzenhausen, his home town. Both the First World War, and later the Holocaust, have all but eradicated any trace of the Seller family.

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Germany’ should be exempted. He was anxious to exclude from the bill all Jewish First World War veterans, together with Jewish men who served in the civil service during the war, and even those Jewish civil servants whose fathers were veterans. Responding to Hindenburg, Hitler amended the bill to meet his objections by bringing in the Frontkämpferprivileg or Frontline Fighters Privilege. Hindenburg also insisted that a new war medal (Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges) be awarded in July 1934 to all ex-servicemen or their surviving relatives with no racial or religious exceptions. But the death of the revered old soldier in August 1934 all but terminated any protection of Jewish war veterans and in 1935, with Hitler now unchecked, Jewish men were summarily dismissed from public service and excluded from German citizenship. Veteran status no longer

In the last two years the author of this article and a number of interested parties from the UK, Germany and Belgium, have fought hard to have this situation rectified and early this year the CWGC and the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge have agreed to replace the headstone of Maximilian Seller with an appropriately inscribed Jewish grave marker. Looking at the ultimate fate of the German Jewish soldiers and the sacrifices they made for the country they loved, a country that ultimately betrayed and murdered them, it is the right thing to do. Seller’s faith needs to be recognized, just as it was in 1915 when Sergeant-Major Rathbone made sure that Max was given a Jewish burial ceremony. Because of the Shoa there is virtually no one left to remember or to mourn the German Jews of the Kaiser’s Army. Their war was as much a fight against the enemies of their country as it was against intolerance and exclusion from within it. For this, we have an obligation to remember them – and a duty to remember the life of a brave soldier who died for his country. 

FIRST WORLD WAR DIARY THIS MONTH sees further bloody battles at Gallipoli as British forces land at Suvla Bay in an attempt to outflank the Turkish forces. On the Western Front no major attacks are made as preparations continue for the offensives planned for September 1915. The war at sea results in both significant losses and successes, one of which, Commander Charles Humphrey Kingsman Edmonds DSO successfully sinks a Turkish steamer in the first ever attack with an air-launched torpedo. Further operations in Persia, and in India on the North West Frontier, continue. The widening conflict highlights the global nature of the First World War.

HOME FRONT

15 August The new Registration Act became law in Great Britain in July 1915, requiring all men and women between 15 and 65 to register at their residential location. 16 August Lowca and Harrington, near Whitehaven, shelled by German submarine U 24. -The target of this attack was the Harrington Coke works near the small village of Lowca. The factory located here produced Toluene, an essential constituent in the manufacture of the high explosive TNT. The hour long bombardment resulted in damage to the coke plant with the only casualty being a local dog.

WAR AT SEA

19 August The British liner SS Arabic sunk by German submarine U 24 resulting in 44 people losing their lives. Amongst the dead are 3 US citizens causing war protests to mount in the United States.

WESTERN FRONT

4 August Germans arrest British born nurse Edith Cavell. Nurse Cavell is implicated in aiding more than 200 prisoners of war to escape. 9 August Action of Hooge - The British attack in July at Hooge had resulted in its loss after fierce counterattacks by the Germans. Hooge was retaken by the British on 9 August.

WAR AT SEA

13 August HMT Royal Edward sunk by German submarine. - On 28 July 1915, HMT Royal Edward embarked 1,367 officers and men at Avonmouth. The majority were reinforcements for the British 29th Infantry Division, but also included were members of the Royal Army Medical Corps. All of the men were destined for Gallipoli. On the morning of 13 August the ship was torpedoed by the German submarine UB 14 whilst 6 nautical miles off the Greek Island of Kandeloussa. 864 men were lost.

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PERSIA

12 August The Destruction of Dilwar, a British expedition carried out a punitive attack against tribal insurgents at Dilwar in South Persia.

AUGUST 1915 WORLD MAP WAR AT SEA

19 August HMS Baralong (Special Service Ship or Q-Ship) destroys German submarine U 27 in the Atlantic.

WAR AT SEA

19 August German battle cruiser Moltke torpedoed by British submarine E l in Gulf of Riga.

GALLIPOLI

6 August Landings at Suvla Bay - In an attempt to break the deadlock at Gallipoli, the British launch an amphibious attack on Suvla Bay on the north of the peninsula adjacent to the original landing beaches. The aim is to outflank the Turks. The landing was unopposed. In conjunction with the landings at Suvla, and in the south of the peninsula, a diversionary attack was also made at Krithia. The British IX Corps were also ordered to break through the Turkish positions above Anzac Cove and make a quick advance to capture Chunuk Bair on the Sari Bair Ridge which dominated Anzac Cove. 8 August Turkish battleship Barbaros Hayreddin sunk by British submarine E 11 - As the British landing was underway at Suvla, E11 torpedoed the Turkish pre-dreadnought battleship off Bulair at the northern entrance to the Dardanelles. The ship sank with the loss of 21 officers and 237 men. 10 August Battle of Sari Bair ends 12 August First ship sunk by torpedo from British seaplane - Just off the turkish island of Xeros, on the morning of Thursday, 12 August 1915 a Short Type 184 torpedo bomber took off from the seaplane carrier HMS Benmy-Chree . The aircraft was flown by Commander Charles Humphrey Kingsman Edmonds DSO. Just to the west of Injeh Burnu he found a 5,000-ton Turkish supply ship which had been immobilised four days earlier by the submarine HMS E 14. Edmonds attacked and hit the ship with the single 14-inch torpedo carried by the aircraft, causing the ship to sink. This was the first time a ship had been sunk by an aerial-released torpedo. 13 August Operations of the landing at Suvla Bay come to an end.

INDIA

17 August Operations against the Mohmand, Bunerwals and Swatis Tribesman begin. The Operations against insurgent tribesmen in the Peshwar district commence. 26 August Operation against Dissident Tribesmen on the North West Frontier. Fresh tribal gatherings were reported and British and Indian forces were dispatched to deal with them. Over the period 27, 28 31 August operations against these tribsemen resulted in the destruction of villages with significant casualties being caused among the insurgents.

21 August The Attack on Hill 60 - Australian and New Zealand forces, supported by British units, attacked Hill 60, a low knoll situated between the northern edge of the hills that overlook Anzac Cove and the southern heights above Suvla Bay. The attack was delivered in the late afternoon of 21 August. Some gains were made that day but at a terrible cost. One battalion alone, the 5th Battalion Connaught Rangers, losing 157 officers and men. The Turks bombed the Australians out of most of the trenches they had taken and Hill 60 remained firmly in enemy hands. Of the 3,985 Allied troops that had attacked the hill over the course of the first two days, 1,302 were dead, wounded or missing.

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‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis

V

ITAL TO Britain’s war effort was the delivery of coal from collieries in the north of England to every point around the British Isles, although with road and rail infrastructure inadequate and unable to cope with distribution from the pits to where the fuel was needed the only way was by sea. Indeed, delivery to all ports north, east, south and west had long been conducted by colliers that relentlessly plied established coastal routes. The outbreak of war, however, suddenly placed these little ships at risk of attack from sea and from the air, and by the time the Battle of Britain had got underway in July 1940 the risk to shipping in the English Channel was considerable. 

MAIN PICTURE: HMS Borealis silhouetted against the dusk sky with her balloon close-hauled. (ALL IMAGES

1940 MEDIA LTD)

Protecting coastal convoys from air attack during 1940 was vital. Here, Andy Saunders tells the story of a failed defensive measure: towed barrage balloons.

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‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis

BELOW: Hotchkiss antiaircraft guns like this one were mounted on the wheelhouse of HMS Borealis although none of the crew had any idea how to operate them.

MIDDLE RIGHT: Loading up a 250 kg bomb onto a Stukageschwader 77 aircraft. The two crew members supervise the operation. BELOW: Lt Arthur Hague.

Now, the Germans had fast E-Boats operating from French ports and Luftwaffe attack aircraft having all parts of the Channel within range. Somehow, the ships carrying coal and other vital goods still needed to get through and in order to give some measure of protection they were organised into Royal Navy escorted convoys. By day, they were also given air cover by the RAF. Designated either CE (Channel Eastbound) or CW (Channel Westbound), the convoys were numbered consecutively and given an individual codename by the RAF. Additionally, and in order to protect the merchantmen from divebombing attack, an idea was conceived to form a waterborne barrage balloon force to simply tow balloons along with the merchant ships and form

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a protective curtain around the convoy. The thinking was that if balloons could be stationed around the processions of ships it would be impossible for dive bombers to attack, or for low flying enemy aircraft in level flight to approach the vessels for bombing and strafing. That, at least, was the theory and as early as 17 April 1940 plans for the establishment of waterborne balloon units were in hand, with a signal from the Air Ministry to the Admiralty setting out initial arrangements for twelve units to be set up.

INCREASING CHANNEL ATTACKS

First, it was necessary to assemble and convert suitable ships for the task and although it did not take the Admiralty very long to select a number of potentially usable vessels it took rather longer to put plans into effect. Initially, the craft were assembled at Grimsby but it took another three months to move plans forward. Among the craft earmarked were a variety of tugs, including French vessels, a railway steamer and Belgian pilot cutters. The French and Belgian ships had come across to Britain to assist with the Dunkirk evacuations and had ended up

impressed into Admiralty service. Quite likely, it was the Luftwaffe’s increasing Channel attacks during July that accelerated arrangements to bring waterborne barrage balloons into service. Among the motley selection of converted vessels were His Majesty’s Ships Rene De Besnerais, Gatinais, Elan II, Pingouin, Astral, Mamouth, Fratton, Pintade, Sioux and Borealis. The Borealis was the command of Lt Arthur Hague RN, who fondly recalled the little ship that would be his command for just four days: ‘She had been an Antwerp pilot vessel, and was a beautiful little diesel-engine craft of 451 tons, built in 1930. When I first became acquainted with her at the very end of July she was being converted

‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis

for her barrage balloon duties at Portsmouth where she was being fitted with the balloon winch and towing gear with its protective wire cage. Her sister ship, another Antwerp pilot ship, was Astral. Mounted above the bridge were two Hotchkiss machine guns for anti-aircraft defence, although I should add that none of us had any idea at all how to use them! Of the crew, sixteen sailors from the Royal Navy Patrol Service made up the ships complement although, in addition, we had three RAF airmen to handle the balloons. Oh…and I shouldn’t forget ‘Malo’ the ships dog. ‘Malo’ was already on board when we all joined, and was a flea-ridden black and white terrier of indeterminate parentage. He had joined the ship with escaping British troops at Malo-les-Bains, a suburb of Dunkirk (hence ‘Malo’), and had stayed on board ever since. This, then, was HMS Borealis.”

MOBILE BALLOON BARRAGE

Waterborne barrage balloons were first employed in an eastbound Channel convoy (CE8) that sailed from Falmouth on 31 July and Arthur Hague sailed from Portsmouth with the Barrage Balloon Flotilla (officially the Mobile Balloon Barrage) to join the convoy on Sunday 4 August. That morning, the cavalcade of converted ships set out down Southampton Water to pick up the convoy off the Isle of Wight and thus provide the first waterborne barrage balloon cover for a Channel convoy, heading eastwards through the most dangerous part of the passage. In the lead was the flotilla commander (Senior Officer Mobile Balloon Barrage - SOMBB) Lt.Cdr. G H F Owles, sailing in HMS Astral which was the other converted Antwerp pilot ship. Lt Cdr Owles’s men had gleefully pointed out that his sobriquet SOMBB

was an anagram of bombs, although doubtless they would be less inclined to find that so amusing before very long. The other ships of the Mobile Balloon Barrage that day were HMS Elan II, Rene Le Besnerais, Pingouin, Sioux and Gatinais. Heading on eastwards, that day the convoy encountered no untoward incidents although Hague and his crew were able to get the feel of their new ship without having to contend with interference from the enemy. It was vitally important, too, for the RAF balloon handlers on board to get used to their new operating procedures and strange new environment. Whilst all of them were experienced balloon crews, flying a balloon from a ship instead of flying it tethered to a fixed spot on land was something entirely different. There had, of course, been no adequate training and this was going to be very much a case of finding out how it 

FAR LEFT: To counter the threat of air attack against coastal convoys a flotilla of small vessel towing barrage balloons was established during the summer of 1940. Here, a balloon is readied for sea on one of the Mobile Balloon Barrage ships. BELOW: The calm before the storm. Looking back down the convoy column from the deck of HMS Borealis during the late afternoon of 7 August 1940. The Commodore’s ship, the SS Empire Crusader, is immediately astern. As a precautionary measure, one of the lifeboats on Borealis has been swung out on its davits.

BELOW: HMS Borealis.

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‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis

CORPORAL WILLIAM WILL Of the Borealis crew, Arthur Hague and two of his men would be recognised for their meritorious service that day and were Mentioned in Dispatches. In addition to Hague, Second Hand Cyril White and Engineman Joseph Dell Taylor (Both of the Royal Naval Patrol Service) were also rewarded with MID’s. Additionally, the RAF’s Corporal William Will was awarded the BEM for his service at sea with the RAF water-borne barrage balloon units. His 1941 citation stated: ‘This airman has been continuously employed as a barrage balloon operator on the Channel convoy from Sheerness to Southampton and return. He has made fourteen return trips during which there has been considerable activity by shelling from the French coast, dive bombing and E-Boat attacks. When balloons have been destroyed he has helped the naval ratings with the operation of the various was , RAF , ABOVE: Cpl William Will guns and assisted in on HMS in charge of the balloon every possible way in here ed aph togr pho is He Borealis. a co-operative effort a was who llis, Phy with his bride, between the RAF and r. WAAF balloon operato Royal Navy.’ BELOW THREE: On 8 August 1940 Messerschmitt 109s attacked and shot down all of the barrage balloons being flown above Convoy CW9 PEEWIT, clearing the way for an attack by Junkers 87 Stuka divebombers. Filled with hydrogen, the volatile balloons were easily ignited by gunfire from the German fighters and fell, flaming, into the sea. On the right a Channel convoy comes under attack, 1940.

respectively; Southend-on-Sea. It was to Sheerness, then, that Borealis headed on 5 August after completing the CE8 escort and to ready herself for the next assignment, two days later, with CW9. Convoy Westbound Number 9 was also given the RAF codename PEEWIT, thus becoming CW9 PEEWIT. Early on the morning of 7 August Borealis and the rest of her flotilla slipped out of Sheerness and set sail down the Thames Estuary on the morning tide to meet the assembling convoy off North Foreland. Bobbing and nodding above the decks sat the squat silver balloons, close-hauled and secure, straining at their cables to be free. Around them, the RAF crews were busy with final preparations; checking and re-checking cables and ropes, checking the envelopes of the balloons and topping-up with hydrogen from the long cylinders stowed on the aft-deck. Despite the east-bound passage completed just over twenty four hours earlier many of the airmen were still struggling to find their sea legs and trying to cope with queasiness brought on by sea-sickness and nervous apprehension.

worked while on-the-job. Challenging when some of the airmen had not even been to sea before, let alone flown a barrage balloon from a moving ship!

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On board the Barrage Balloon Flotilla Commanders ship, Astral, sailed the Convoy Balloon Officer, Flt Lt A M Puckle, and as the small vessels finally joined the convoy of twenty-five coasters and nine Royal Navy escort ships by the Nore Light Vessel at around 09.00 Puckle gave the order ‘Balloon’s up!’ With Borealis at the head of the port column, and leading the Convoy Commodore’s ship SS Empire Crusader, with Astral sailing at the head of the starboard column and the other balloon vessels spread out down the flank and to the rear, the collection of six balloons rose in unison as the convoy took on its shape. On board Borealis Cpl William Will supervised his balloon crew, LAC Wardley and AC Warnes, their winch clattering as it paid out nearly three thousand feet of steel cable. The cable whistled and whined off its drum until the tethered silver monsters were at their operational convoy ceiling. At just below three thousand feet Cpl Will ordered “Stop winch!” and the cable drum was locked. The same procedure, repeated on board the other balloon vessels, gave

"They dived through broken cloud directly above the convoy and at 12.20 a single bomb scored a direct hit on Borealis."

CONVOY PEEWIT

The marine barrage balloon unit of the RAF was a Flight of 952 (Barrage Balloon) Squadron, commanded by Sqn Ldr R H Berryman and a component of No.1 Balloon Centre at RAF Kidbrooke. 952 Squadron though was based at Sheerness, Kent. Here, a total of forty balloons were held, thirtytwo of them allocated as ‘waterborne’, although of that thirty-two there would very shortly be significantly fewer on the unit’s inventory. Sheerness, not far from the mouth of the Thames, was an advantageous location for 952 Squadron’s balloons, being situated conveniently close to the beginning and end point of the CW and CE convoys

‘BALLOONS UP!’

ABOVE: A formation of Junkers 87 Stuka aircraft head towards their objective.

‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis

a curtain of taught steel cable at strategic positions around the ships. ‘That’ll stop those bloody Stukas’ commented the master of one of the merchant vessels in convoy, the SS Rye, to his First Officer as he eyed the barrage silently rise into position around them. Having been on the receiving end of recent Junkers 87 Stuka attacks, this to him seemed to be the answer. As the balloons rode above the ships, slightly head-down, the effect on the passage of the towing vessels could clearly be felt and as Borealis rode the crest of each successive wave the pull of the balloon was discernible as she descended rather more gently into the trough of the wave than would otherwise be the case. The additional drag caused by the monsters on these small ships also required careful adjustment of engine speed to compensate and maintain station. There was rather more to this operation than simply towing a balloon; the behaviour of the balloon having a direct impact upon the sailing of the ship and vice-versa.

the Luftwaffe were leaving them alone because of the balloons. After all, it had been the same story on the previous CE convoy. Then, as the convoy neared the narrower parts of the Dover Straits, Puckle ordered his balloons down and secured. It was a pre-arranged plan. The idea being that the visibility of the convoy would be increased from the French coast if the balloons could be seen above the white cliffs. No doubt some of the convoy crews felt concerned to see their reassuring new form of protection taken away just as they sailed into what was the most dangerous part of the passage. Wasn’t this where attack by Stuka was usually most likely? However, the visibility was limited and on board Astral Flt Lt Puckle discussed the tactic with Lt Cdr Owles. After all, if the Germans had seen the balloons on the previous convoy (CE8) they had probably decided that aerial attack was no longer an option. There was reason enough to suppose that was exactly why they hadn’t been attacked. And if they had seen the balloons

TOP RIGHT: Hptm Waldemar Plewig of Stab.II/StG77 was one of the pilots who took part in the late afternoon dive-bombing attack against shipping associated with CW9 PEEWIT. He was, however, shot down south of the Isle of Wight and taken POW. His gunner, Fw Kurt Schauer, was missing. RIGHT: Hit by a single 50 kg bomb, the devastation caused on board Borealis is clearly evident in a series of remarkable pictures taken shortly after the attack, which includes the wrecked wheelhouse with its smashed glass and dislodged switchgear.

STUKA ALLEY

Rounding North Foreland, the procession of ships was now very much into ‘Stuka Alley’ but there was a notable absence of any aerial activity save for circling RAF fighters on Convoy Patrol and no hint of any Luftwaffe interference. Already, confidence was growing among the balloon crews and those on board the merchant vessels that

flying above CW9 earlier in the day they may have ruled out an air attack. Not only that, but even if the Germans had realised the balloons were down through the Straits it would have simply been impossible for them to organise an air attack quickly enough to hit the convoy there. By the time they could organise any attack the balloons would be raised again, anyway.  www.britainatwar.com 65

‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis

RIGHT: A tin-hatted Lt Hague steadies himself among the debris having just lashed a replacement White Ensign to the stern. BELOW: The carnage wrought among the merchant ships of Convoy CW9 PEEWIT in the English Channel by E-Boat and Stuka attack on 7/8 August 1940 was considerable. Typical of the scenes in the Channel that day, a Spitfire circles a sinking British coaster with its stern blown off.

All in all, this barrage balloon idea seemed a resounding success. So far.

TERRIFYING ORDEAL

With the balloons raised past Folkestone, and with the convoy rounding Dungeness towards the setting sun, it may well have been that the balloons themselves rather than the convoy’s smoke attracted the enemy’s attention from Wissant. Either way, the six black blobs riding clearly and proudly 3,000ft above the background of Dungeness provided a perfect silhouette against the bright evening sky as they were viewed through powerful German binoculars – just the form of ‘advertisement’ that Flt Lt

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Puckle had tried to avoid above the white cliffs of Dover. Now, they had helped give the game away, if not being entirely responsible for announcing the convoy’s presence. Now, the enemy laid his plans; a night-time attack by E-Boat followed by daylight air assaults. The trap was set. As dusk fell so did the balloons which settled above their respective decks for the night and were made fast. On board Borealis Cpl Will and his men carried out routine checks and completed daily maintenance chores. Thus far on CW9, and previously on CE8, the balloon crews had been lulled into a false sense of security but were unwittingly sailing straight into a terrifying ordeal of many hours duration. Very soon the airmen might well regret the sense of adventure that had led them to volunteer for the slightly more exciting and interesting-sounding Seaborne Barrage Balloon Unit.

THE FIRST TORPEDOS HIT By 02.00 hours the convoy was just off Beachy Head. Arthur Hague takes up the story: ‘Some time in the middle watch I became aware of the powerful throb of engines and at first assumed this to come from enemy bombers crossing the Channel on a night raid. Suddenly, a loud explosion lit up the sky and I saw that the coaster immediately astern of Borealis had fallen out of line and was listing. Instantly, I realised that the throbbing noise

came from E-Boats which must have been lying in wait to launch a torpedo attack from the inshore side of our convoy.’ When the convoy had sailed into the E-Boat ambush during the early hours of 8 August Borealis was at the very head of the port column and, as such, she was in one of the most dangerous places of all. As the first torpedoes hit, and the sky was lit up by gunfire and flares, Arthur Hague ordered ‘Hard to port!’ and watched as the head of his ship swung oh-so-slowly around. His plan was simply to minimise the profile Borealis presented to the attackers who were clearly approaching from the beam, but as the ship swung around Hague watched astonished as the wake

‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis

ABOVE: During the late afternoon attack this Junkers 87 Stuka of 4/StG77 was shot down by Plt Off Peter ‘Polly’ Parrott in a Hurricane of 145 Squadron. It crash landed at St Lawrence on the Isle of Wight, its pilot POW and its gunner dead.

of a torpedo sped past from under his starboard counter and vanished off to port. Had he maintained his original course then there was no doubting the torpedo would have struck them squarely amidships. An explosion from the barrage balloon and its stored cylinders of hydrogen, along with the ship’s fuel oil, would have most likely blown Hague’s little ship out of the water. Luck, for the moment at least, was on their side.

‘THE CONVOY MUST RE-FORM’

For a while, things were relatively uneventful. The convoy tried to sort itself out and re-form once the E-Boats had broken off their engagement, with the barrage raised in the early morning just as the first rays of sun through broken cloud glinted off the silvergrey bulk of the balloons. Meanwhile, Empire Crusader attempted to marshal the remaining ships back into some semblance of order. Overnight, some had simply vanished. Others were trailing too far behind to be able to make enough headway to catch up, and at least one had limped into another port although the SS Holme Force, SS Fife Coast and SS Ouse had all been sunk. Ironically, the Ouse had gone down just off Newhaven close-by the estuary of

the river after which she was named. Despite the mayhem, however, the Commodore was emphatic; the convoy must reform into its established pattern and the surviving ships take up their designated stations. With journey’s end almost in sight the worst was surely over. Or so they thought. For other ships, the ordeal was only just beginning.

UNWITTING DECOYS

The E-Boat attack during the night had slowed the convoy to such an extent that it was now some way behind its time schedule and, as result, another six vessels that had sailed out from The Solent to join the expected convoy could see no sign of it when they rounded the eastern end of the island. Unfortunately for them, however, a Dornier 17 had earlier sighted the main convoy off Selsey Bill at 06.20 hours and a force of Junkers 87 Stuka divebombers despatched to deal with the battered remnants of CW9. Instead of finding the convoy, however, the Ju 87s spotted the six ships who were themselves looking for CW9. Unwittingly, the potential ‘joiners’

now became decoys for the convoy and the Stukas pounced mercilessly, sinking the SS Ajax and SS Coquetdale. The returning attack force, though, could only report that some ships had survived but a number of others had been seen in the vicinity. As a result, another attack was planned with the assembled might of the Stukas of I. and III./St.G.2 being ordered to finish the job.

DIRECT HIT

Forty-nine dive-bombers from the two units were loaded up with no less than two hundred and forty five high-explosive bombs. Taking-off around 11.45 hrs, Ventnor Chain Home Radar Station picked up the trace of a large enemy formation, at least one hundred strong with their fighter escort, about twenty miles north of Cherbourg and headed on a course directly towards CW9. By now, the convoy was between St Catherine’s Point and The Needles Having survived the ordeal of the E-Boat attack, Lt. Hague was sailing at the head of the port column with HMS Astral off to starboard. On board Astral, Flt Lt Puckle ordered down his balloon to engage in seaborne inflation trials when, at 12.19 exactly, Hague spotted enemy aircraft diving down on them. Suddenly, the Me 109’s of 9/ JG 27 shot up Hague’s balloon (just below a bank of cloud at 4,000ft) which immediately erupted in flames and descended to the sea. Around them, the other four balloons fell, wreathed 

ABOVE: Plt Off Peter Parrott pictured later in the war. MIDDLE LEFT: ‘Malo’ the dog gets a bath from Arthur Hague’s wife after his Channel rescue. MIDDLE LEFT: The Scotty Dog emblem of I/St.G 2, one of the units that took part in the attack on Convoy CW9 PEEWIT. LEFT: Arthur Hague’s Mention in Despatches Certificate, awarded after the episode.

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‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis BOTTOM: During a dive on the site in 2011 the damaged hydrogen bottles remained on the deck of HMS Borealis. TOP LEFT (OPPOSITE PAGE): One of the portholes from HMS Borealis, its glass broken by bomb splinters or bullets. BELOW RIGHT: Many pilots expressed a great fear of barrage balloons, especially at night, as colliding with tethering cables was a real risk. This threat could make things considerably more difficult for pilots. BELOW: The Captain’s tea cup? A Royal Navy marked broken China teacup found in the wreckage of the wheel-house on HMS Borealis.

in flame and black smoke and as the charred remains fell hissing into the water the Ju 87’s of Stuka Geschwader 2 followed them down and commenced an attack. They dived through broken cloud directly above the convoy and at 12.20 a single bomb scored a direct hit on Borealis.

HAVOC ON THE BRIDGE

The 50kg bomb struck the foremast, bringing it down over the starboard side of the bridge, before piercing about half way between the bridge and stem and finally exploding below decks. Here, the blast blew a hole in the starboard bow just on the waterline causing an in-rush of water, flooding the forward compartment. The explosion caused havoc on the bridge and totally destroyed the gun positions on top of the wheelhouse. Of the chart table, charts and convoy orders there was no trace and the principal steering position had been demolished along with the improvised concrete protection around the wheelhouse itself. On the bridge, all electrical switching gear was destroyed and every window broken along with the portholes in the ship’s hull which were holed by bullets or splinters. Behind the wheelhouse, the gravity diesel feed had ruptured and fuel oil spewed out on a deck liberally strewn with assorted debris; wood, glass, metal splinters, bits of smouldering balloon fabric and wrecked equipment. Incredibly, there were only six casualties and only three were serious. That there were not

68 www.britainatwar.com

more injuries or any fatalities was nothing short of unbelievable. Still intact on the after deck were the big hydrogen cylinders with not a mark or scratch on them, although all else was peppered with holes. Trailing behind Borealis for over 3,000ft was the now impotent balloon cable, dragging on the sea bed like an anchor before Cpl Will managed to chop it free. In a moment, Arthur Hague’s tidy little ship had been reduced to a wreck and he noticed that the ensign mast had been carried away by the falling balloon cable. This would never do, and with the attack still in progress he went off to the flag locker to get another White Ensign. Finding what he wanted, Hague scrambled over the mass of debris and lashed the replacement to the after rigging. After all, naval tradition had to be upheld come what may. As she fell out of line, Borealis was at least still afloat. Meanwhile, the dive-bombers had also hit and sunk the SS Empire Crusader and damaged the SS Tres,

SS Patersonian and SS John M. It was mayhem.

ABANDON SHIP

After the attack, Hague’s little ship limped bravely on with the intention of reaching port. No longer effective, and barely afloat, Hague was determined to save her if he possibly could. Unfortunately, the Luftwaffe had other ideas. Hague takes up the story from the point when he had stopped his engine and fallen out of line after Borealis had been hit: “With my chief engineman I inspected the collision bulkhead which was holding well and then put the ship into hand steering from aft – the bridge steering gear being no longer effective. The Chief Engineman, J D Taylor, with great difficulty had caulked the fuel supply tank sufficiently to keep the main engine supplied and it was found that the ship would still work. At this time HMS Astral came to my assistance and ordered HMS

‘BALLOONS UP!’ HMS Borealis

Elan II to take me in tow and for me to send all hands not required to work the ship over to HMS Astral. I had already transferred my three serious casualties to HMS Greenly and I retained my two officers and seven ratings. HMS Elan II took me in tow with three hawsers stern first because of the pressure on the collision bulkhead. It was found impossible to steer Borealis, however, so Elan II cast off and came alongside with her bow to my stern and was secured. Owing to the rising westerly wind and sea this method was also found to be impracticable and likely to cause too much damage to Elan II. In the meantime, HMS Renee had arrived to stand by and an attempt made to tow Borealis stern first by Elan II while Renee made fast forwards and steered her. This method proved highly satisfactory and the three vessels proceeded towards Portsmouth. At about 17.00 [sic. In fact, nearer 16.15 hrs.] a further enemy dive bomber attack was made, and with the ship unmanageable and it being impossible to make any effective defence, I abandoned her with my remaining hands in the only boat that was left and lay off until the bombers had been driven off by our fighters. We then pulled back to the ship with the intention of securing her again as bomb splinters had severed the

tow ropes. Unfortunately, we found her listing heavily to port apparently having suffered a further direct hit or near miss which had started her bulkhead. There was a sound of escaping gas which suggested that the hydrogen bottles on her after deck had been hit. I therefore considered it unwise to board the vessel again and we were picked up by the Renee.’

WHITE ENSIGN PROUDLY FLYING

To say that they were ‘safely aboard’ might be overstating the case given the ongoing attentions of the Luftwaffe, but as they stood on the deck of Renee the crew of Borealis, and their little dog ‘Malo’,watched as a list to port steadily worsened and she gradually sank lower into the water. Finally, the end came at about 17.20 and she slid beneath the waves, bow first, at a position fifteen miles south-east of The Needles and 5.5 miles south of St Catherine’s Point, precisely at: 50° 29.050’ north, 001° 42.166’ west. As she went, the White Ensign lashed up by Hague still flew proudly from the rigging. Suddenly, as Borealis slipped under the water, the master of Renee bellowed loudly from the bridge to one of his crew: ‘Sailor! Take off your hat, man. Show a mark of respect for one of His Majesty’s ships.’ Corporal Will, erstwhile NCO

in charge of Borealis’s balloon, truthfully admitted he was less concerned about His Majesty’s Ship than he was about his uniform tunic that was still on board. In its breast pocket sat thirty shillings and a wrist watch. Will reasoned that His Majesty certainly had plenty more ships. He, meanwhile, had only thirty shillings and one watch! The passage of Convoy CW9 PEEWIT down the English Channel on 8 August 1940 had shown conclusively that there could be no reliance on barrage balloons for protection from air attack against coastal shipping like this. Despite losses to balloons and ships, however, the scheme continued for some months to come. It also continued to be an entirely futile exercise. 

ABOVE: Protector and protector re-united. Arthur Hague (left) meets Peter Parrott at Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. TOP: Map showing the passage of Convoy CW9 PEEWIT on 7/8 August 1940.

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WIN!

Fantastic prizes in our 100th issue competition! e our friends at To celebrate the 100th issue of Britain at War magazin win a Limited Edition Bachmann are offering one lucky reader the chance to

9 Dambusters’ 70th Anniversary Set worth £249.9

These highly collectible pieces are limited to just 750 units. Also on offer are signed copies of John Nichol’s superb ‘After The Flood’ book, which retraces the path of 617 Squadron’s most dangerous sorties as their reputation called them into action again and again. Runners-up prizes include a bumper DVD selection and bundles of military-themed special magazines.

1st prize: Bachmann Limited Edition Dambusters’ 70th Anniversary Set 2nd prize: 1 of 10 signed copies of ‘After the Flood’ by John Nichol 3rd prize: Over £100 worth of military DVDs

Includes: World War II Day-by Day Box set, War Diaries 1939-45, D-Day Beaches, The Last Bomb, The Battle of London, The Battle of Britain, Prelude to War, Storm Clouds Gather, Victory in Europe, Britain in World War II – Winning the Peace and more! 5 runners-up prizes: A selection of special magazines A selection of military-themed special magazines including Waterloo, D-Day, Arnhem, 1915 and more!

HOW TO WIN For your chance to win one of these superb prizes, simply send us a photo of a copy of Britain at War magazine in the most interesting location with a military history connection that you can find. From the Imperial War Museum Duxford to the battlegrounds and beaches of Normandy - the only limit is your imagination! The Editor will select his favourites to win prizes and we will then print the winning image(s) in a future issue of Britain at War.

HOW TO ENTER

Your image should be sent as a high resolution jpeg attachment to the following email address: [email protected].  [email protected] Please mark the subject box as ‘BAW 100th issue competition’.  Please send only one picture per email. The winner will be selected by Britain at War editorial staff.  The panel’s decision will be final. By entering, you give permission for your image, should you be lucky enough to win, to be reproduced in Britain at War magazine in all formats and on our relevant social media pages. So get snapping!

If you would prefer to enter by post, please send your submissions to: Britain at War 100th issue Competition, Key Publishing, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 1XQ. Please note: Any postal entries cannot be returned. Scanned images are acceptable. Closing date for entries is Wednesday September 30th, 2015 at 12:00 GMT and winners will be notified no later than Monday October 5th, 2015. There is no cash prize alternative and the Editor’s decision is final.

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

TO AN extent, the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo has perhaps rather eclipsed an equally important and more enduring legacy to the British Army; the Gurkhas. This wonderful book by Major General Lawrence redresses the balance somewhat and is a fitting tribute to the men of the Gurkha regiments who have now given 200 years of service to The Crown. At first sight, this might well appear to be a ‘coffee table book’, but don’t let initial appearances deceive. Whilst its format may well lend itself to the initial impression that this is of the ‘coffee table’ genre then even a mere glance inside the covers will tell a different story. Here, in one volume, is as concise a history of the Gurkhas as one could hope to find in a book that covers their history right up-todate. In fact, there could probably be no person better qualified to write this book than the author, the current Colonel of The Royal Gurkha Rifles. With a Foreword written by HRH The Prince of Wales, and an introduction by the Gurkha’s ‘champion’ Joanna Lumley OBE (Vice Patron of The Gurkha Welfare Trust), the concise detail of the Gurkha’s history is set out across nine chapters covering the very early history, through fighting on the British Empire’s various frontiers, across the First World War and into the Second and then via various conflicts up to the present day. The selfless devotion to

duty and service of the Gurkha soldier shines out from every illustration across the 244 pages of this book, and with the majority of those illustrations being in colour then the impact is both powerful and striking. Indeed, there is also a greater significance to those images given that there are, very deliberately, exactly 200 of them; one in recognition of each year within the Gurkhas' two centuries of service. Of course, their most recent engagement was during the operations in Afghanistan when no less than sixteen of their number were killed and a further fifty-one wounded since operations began there in 2001. Not surprisingly, there were also further acts of exceptional gallantry with, for example, the Military Cross being awarded to Lance Corporal Tuljung Gurung. The citation for his award exemplifies what might be regarded as typical Ghurka Courage:

‘Exposed to possible further insurgent firing positions, he aggressively and tenaciously continued to fight with his kukri. The two insurgents, defeated, turned and fled. Gurung then quickly climbed back into the sangar by which time the Quick Reaction Force had arrived. Gurung reported the incident calmly and bemoaned the fact that he had not been able to prevent the two insurgents from escaping.’ Certainly, the collective courage of the Brigade of Gurkhas remains as exceptional as it ever was. Quite apart from the detail of each chapter there are also seven special interest sections which cover such things as the Gurkhas famous fighting knife, the iconic Kukri, recruiting for the Gurkhas and Victoria Cross recipients. Of the latter, twenty six men of the Brigade of Gurkhas have been awarded this, the supreme recognition for gallantry. Three of these were during the First World War, with another twelve being awarded during the Second World War and another, in 1965, awarded to Lance Corporal (later Captain) Rambahadur Limbu during the Borneo Confrontation. The first VC of the First World War went to Rifleman Kulbir Thapa of 2/3rd Gurkhas

during the Battle of Loos on 25/26 September 1915 when he saved three soldiers, two of them Gurkhas, who were wounded and left stranded in no-man’s land. In the Second World War one of the more notable recipients of the Victoria

THE GURKHAS

Cross was Rifleman Ganju Lama who was awarded the medal for his actions against the Japanese near Imphal on 12 June 1944 having already been awarded the Military Medal for his earlier actions in the Burma campaign. Born in Sikkim (then an independent Kingdom in India) in 1924, Ganju survived the war and eventually retired from the Indian Army with the honourary rank of Captain. Interestingly, when he retired he was also appointed as Honourary Aide de Camp to the President of India for life. Quite apart from the quality of content it should be mentioned that the production quality is of the very highest standard. The print, paper and image reproduction standards are second to none, making this a truly worthy tribute. Other components of the book include valuable appendices that cover Battle Honours, the current Brigade of Gurkhas and details of the Gurkha museum. The Gurkha Welfare Trust (who will benefit from all royalties from sales of the book) are also detailed. Quite an expensive book at £40.00, the fact that the Gurkha Welfare Trust will benefit from sales makes this book all the more worth buying. Highly recommended. REVIEWED BY ANDY SAUNDERS

Publisher: Uniform Press www.uniformpress.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-910500-02-6 Hardback: 244 pages RRP: £40.00

200 Years of Service to the Crown Major General J C Lawrence CBE

BOO OF T K MON HE TH

Illustrations  References/Notes Appendices  Index 

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

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

1944: THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN PHOTOGRAPHS:

NELL AND THE GIRLS

The true story of a British girl and her family in Occupied France, 1940-1944

Liberation & Vengeance

John Christopher and Campbell Mccutcheon

Jeanne Gask



IN A story that is quick to immerse the reader into the chaos that war and an advancing enemy wreak on a civilian population, Nell and the Girls is the touching story of a family quickly caught up in invasion and occupation of France by Germany in the Second World War. The last British soldiers are on the verge of leaving, if they have not left or been captured already, but it would not only be captured comrades and the fallen they left behind. A British girl and her family, who moved to France in the pursuit of work, would also be stranded there. As if the situation was not dire enough, things move from bad to worse when Tom, the father, is arrested and interned by France’s new occupying force, and it is up to the staunchly British mother, Nell, to provide for her family and try to bring some ‘normal’ back into her family trapped in an otherwise abnormal circumstance. This astonishing true account of a British family trapped in occupied Europe is all stylishly recalled by Jeanne, the youngest of Nell’s girls and the author of this title. The invasion of France and the sudden, trying, separation of the girl’s father from the rest of the family was always going to be a somewhat upsetting event, but it is only reinforced by the lack of understanding when considered from the point of view of the eight year old Jeanne. The tale of the family’s hardship in occupied France and the four years of struggle to do what in peacetime would have been among the simplest things, such as putting good food on the table, is also remarkable, as is the kindness and generosity of those around them willing to aid the family. It seems hard to comprehend today, but stories of the occasional dealings (sometimes without too much choice!) with the resistance, and the trips to the cinema so heavily disrupted by German soldiers on the hunt for members of the resistance or for fresh conscripts for some of

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the massive scale building projects undertaken by the German military. These events are told in the same manner as events from school, homework, or about local boys. The way these total extremes are described with the same significance despite the vastly different consequences really says something about how the family had to adapt to the wartime situation forced upon them. The story of the father, Tom, is not neglected either, and the fantastic accounts of the activities of him and those interned with him in the internment camps are revealing, and sometimes hilarious. Some of these goings on would not be out of place in the highest security facilities for the most notorious Allied Prisoners of War come escape artists. Rumours of, and then the fortunes (both good and bad) of actual liberation by the Allies are also detailed. It is easy to pick up the excitement, but it also makes the misfortune experienced by some of the people the family knew all the more sad. The eventual reunion of the family is exceptionally heart-warming and a great high note to end the family’s tale of their war on. All in all, the events experienced by this family separated from their father and forced to muddle through the war with little help is all tackled in a highly engaging style. A title well worth picking up! REVIEWED BY JOHN ASH

Publisher: Myrmidon www.myrmidonbooks.com ISBN: 978 1 910183 11 3 Paperback. 240 pages RRP: £7.99 Illustrations  Appendices 

References/Notes Index 



 A FRESH and exciting publication, this title has proven to be an insightful and interesting acquisition which whilst devoting appropriate content toward it, remembers that more happened in 1944 than just the wellknown operations surrounding D-Day and Arnhem. The title pays homage and gives picture/page space to other engagements across multiple theatres including Leningrad, Monte Cassino and numerous other battles, events, and occasions including training and the war from home and in the Pacific. It is good that it has been possible to amass such a broad and varied range of images, especially considering increased rarity and those in colour. Publisher: Amberley Publishing www.amberley-books.com ISBN: 978 1 4456 2214 9 Paperback. 176 pages RRP: £14.99

RAF BIGGIN HILL 1939-1940

The aerodrome’s role from the outbreak of WW2, the Battle of France, Dunkirk & Battle of Britain Richard C. Smith

 A PASSIONATE new book exploring the early war story of the fabled Kentish RAF base at Biggin Hill which includes a range of interviews with pilots and ground crews have been used to bring a firsthand perspective to the aerodromes story, as has a wide range of primary sources from the archives – including combat reports. The story begins in 1916, with a few pages on the bases establishment and development throughout the interwar period and in the increasing threat of a new Germany, before delving into the role of the aerodrome and its squadrons throughout those important early battles of the war. This enthralling read brings to life the story of RAF Biggin Hill, and will no doubt achieve the author’s aim to help further the legacy of those who served there. Publisher: Mitor Publications www.mitorpublications.co.uk ISBN: 978 0 9557180 5 2 Paperback. 175 pages RRP: £12.00

THE BATTLE FOR BRITAIN

Interservice rivalry between the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, 1909-40 Anthony J. Cumming

 A THOUGHT provoking title, if not a little contentious and divisive, this new book centres on a large debate regarding effectiveness of and rivalry between the RAF and Royal Navy and the competition for resources in a cash strapped period. Cumming is critical of the principles of independent airpower, and challenges the perception that the RAF won decisive early war victories by air power alone. Instead, the author suggests that the Royal Navy had an equally important part to play in the defence of Britain and that contemporary strategists can learn much from the overconfidence placed in solely independent air power. While he does not take away the RAF’s merits, Cumming does suggest that the heroic force was the beneficiary of generous propaganda in its journey to iconic status in the eyes of the British people. Cumming offers a reinterpretation of the Royal Navy’s role in the war, focusing largely on the early Mediterranean conflict, and points out that in important victories such as Calabria and Taranto, Mers El Kebir and the Battle of the Atlantic, it was the Navy and Fleet Air Arm that shouldered much of, if not all of, the responsibility and carried the day – despite their development being stymied by the perceived importance of the RAF. This argument may not entirely persuade some, but the blurring of the boundaries between the two services continues today and just as 40 years ago long range strike aircraft severely threatened the carrier, today the flexibility of naval aviation and their carriers over land based allies is certainly a leading element in modern war, diplomacy, and politics – just a quick look at the F-35 variant chosen for both for the Royal Navy and RAF highlights the applicability of the debate presented by Cumming today. Considering its continuing relevance in various white papers throughout the Cold War and the strategic defence reviews of today, an insight into the early origins of this very British defence question is certainly interesting, if not always palatable! Publisher: Naval Institute Press ISBN: 978 1 61251 834 3 Hardback. 240 pages RRP: £20.00 www.britainatwar.com

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CUPID'S WAR

SEPTEMBER 2015 ISSUE

The true story of a horse that went to war

ON SALE FROM 27 AUGUST 2015

Martin Laurie



AS AN addition to the ‘War Horse’ genre Cupid’s War relates a good solid story from 100 years ago. This is a book with a split personality, though. The jacket tells us that we are being offered ‘The True Story of a Horse That Went to War’ but immediately inside we learn that ‘This book is a work of fiction’. So we are also in the genre of the ‘non-fiction novel’. The background is of true events, but the emotions and reactions of horses are chronicled with the supposed thoughts of the equine creature being a central theme.‘Cupid longed for the time spent at the beach’, for instance. The author writes in his introduction: ‘I am not a historian and have no pretence of being one; I have therefore tried to tell the story from Cupid’s point of view. It is a true story told with a certain amount of artistic licence ....’ Laurie is the grandson of Vernon, the young man who owned the horse Cupid and who went to war with her. Family papers, photographs and letters have helped the author compile his work. He also pays tribute to the inspiration provided by a book given to him 40 years ago. He notes, ‘That book was called Romford to Beirut and it was compiled by Edwin Blackwell and Edwin C Axe and published by R W Humphris, Clacton-on-Sea, on behalf of the old ‘B’ Battery, 271st Brigade RFA.’ Martin Laurie’s grandfather had served in ‘C’ Battery. Cupid and her master saw service on the Western Front and then travelled to Egypt and Palestine. Laurie tells the story at a gentle and undemanding pace. Perhaps the major opportunity presented by the fictional approach has been lost, however. He could have got away with a few more vivid passages. As it is, in this account, France doesn’t feel very different to Palestine and a day of being shelled doesn’t come across as much different to a day of not being shelled. There is quite a collection of clichés too, We learn, for example, that the Egyptian desert is hot and sandy. I have been there and it is, but there is possibly more to it than that.

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Where the book perhaps offers the most to the military historian or enthusiast is in brief quotations from letters written by Vernon and his father. These are, of course, that valuable commodity: first-hand accounts of the great events and mundane inconveniences of being soldiers at war. From Palestine in 1917 Vernon’s father wrote: ‘After our two Battles here we ran short of medical stores like bandages, etc and one realised what an enormous consumption there is, especially when ship loads of everything get sunk. When the Turk shells my line I retaliate 10 fold immediately, he knows just what to expect each time he opens on us. We have air photographs to show us where he lives etc & and then we pump them into him. It is no good making war with kid gloves.’ A letter from Vernon offered a mixed view of the opposition: ‘The Turk is a very hard and stubborn fighter and has stood up well against superior numbers and equipment. They seem short of personal equipment as they rob our dead and even the wounded of almost everything they possess.’ I am glad that Martin Laurie recorded his family’s involvement in the Great War. For me, however, the letters were the most interesting part. Other readers might well gain much from the account of Cupid, though.

SPECIAL ISSUE

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

To mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain we take a look at the little English Churchyard in the village of Tangmere where a number of Battle of Britain pilots, British and German, lie buried side-by-side. Adjacent to the famous fighter airfield RAF Tangmere the stories of each of the casualties who lie there are told in our free supplement.

REVIEWED BY PHILIP CURTIS

UNLIKELY HEROES

Publisher: Mereo Books www.memoirspublishing.com ISBN: 978-1-86151-262-8 Paperback, 132 pages RRP: £12.99 Illustrations  Appendices 

References/Notes Index 



Attempts by the Royal Navy to block Ostend harbour in the spring of 1918 were an abject failure redeemed only by the magnificent courage displayed by the volunteer crews involved. Steve Snelling charts the story of two of the most unlikely heroes of Operation VS. Britain’s many merchant shipping losses.

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INSIDE THE

AVALANCHE The men of the 16th Durham Light Infantry were at the heart of the action when the Allies landed at Salerno in September 1943. In riveting first-hand interviews given in the late 1980s to Peter Hart of the Imperial War Museum Oral History Project, they describe what happened.

78 www.britainatwar.com

T

HE SALERNO landings, code named Operation Avalanche, were to be carried out by the US Fifth Army, commanded by General Mark Clark, on 9 September 1943. Salerno not only had beaches suitable for landings, but was relatively near the vital port of Naples and under the umbrella of Allied air cover flying from Sicily. British Eighth Army commanded by General Bernard Montgomery had already landed on 3 September at Reggio at the ‘toe’ of Italy.

The new Salerno landings had been conceived against the backdrop of negotiations between Eisenhower and the government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio established after the fall of Mussolini. The Italians kept up the fiction of remaining with the Axis Powers to avoid more German troops pouring into Italy, but were nevertheless intent on signing an armistice. After much diplomatic wrangling it was agreed Italy would surrender on the very eve of the Salerno landings.

The US Fifth Army consisted of the British X Corps (46th and 56th Divisions) and the US VI Corps. X Corps (commanded by Major General Sir Richard McCreery) was to land on the northern section of the Salerno beach, whilst the 36th Division of the US VI Corps landed south of the River Sele at Paestum. Once the beachheads were secure, the main force was to move inland to form a perimeter in the hills surrounding the beaches. The plan was predicated on establishing total naval and aerial superiority in the Salerno area. 

BOTTOM LEFT: Landing on Salerno beach, 9 September 1943. (IWM NA 6630)

TOP LEFT: Walking along Salerno beach, Generals Harold Alexander, Mark Clark and Richard McCreery, 15 September 1943. (IWM NA 6822)

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INSIDE THE AVALANCHE Voices From The Front

style came, ‘Hear me, hear me!’ and the voice of the captain told us that he had been commanded to inform all that the Italian government had surrendered and all Italian troops had been ordered to lay down their arms. A cheer rang through the ship. - Private Kenneth Lovell, D Company. To the sweating troops packed below decks it seemed for a fleeting moment

ABOVE: 46th (West Riding) Infantry Division vehicles waiting to be embarked at Bizerta docks, 3 September 1943. (IWM NA 6354)

RIGHT: Men of D Company, 16th DLI, at Blida, July 1943. BELOW: 46th Infantry Division vehicles embarking aboard LSTs at Bizerta docks, 3 September 1943. (IWM NA 6351)

The 46th Division (commanded by Major General John Hawkesworth) was ordered to secure the beachhead between the River Picento and River Asa some 3-4 miles south of the city of Salerno. The 128 Brigade, (2nd, 1/4th, 5th Hampshire Regiment), were to be first to storm Red and Green Beaches on 9 September. They would be followed ashore by the second wave composed of elements of the 139 Brigade (16th Durham Light Infantry, 2/5th Leicestershire Regiment and 5th Sherwood Foresters) and the 138 Brigade (6th Lincolnshire Regiment, 2/4th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and 6th York and Lancaster Regiment). These units would be responsible for enlarging and consolidating the bridgehead. Then the 46th Division would as a whole swing left to secure the high ground behind Salerno.

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The rifle companies of the 16th DLI embarked on three Infantry Landing Ships (LSI) and set off on 5 September. At first rough seas and seasickness had the virtue of distracting the men, at least for a while, from what lay before them. As they recovered, news came of a breathtaking development as the Italians finally showed their hand. The night before the invasion we were having an inspection when over the tannoy in the American-

that their prayers had been answered. We thought, ‘Brilliant, landing at Naples, at a harbour and it’ll be all over - just a matter of occupying Italy!’ We were wrong! Sergeant Threadgold said, ‘Don’t you believe it, make sure your weapons are clean!’ He was right! - Lance Corporal William Virr, B Company. Herded below decks, the mood became subdued as they approached the beaches.

INSIDE THE AVALANCHE

Voices From The Front

A lot of us were going into action for the first time, I certainly became a little more pensive than I was normally. A lot of men became rather quieter; some became much more chatty. I wondered what it was going to be like, what my reaction would be, whether I’d be able to stand up to it, worried lest I might turn coward. I prayed that if anything happened to me I’d rather be killed rather than losing my limbs or sight: death was preferable to being maimed for life. I wondered what it would be like to have people shooting real bullets at me. - Private Kenneth Lovell, D Company. As they sailed into the Bay of Naples the men were called up on deck. Peering around they became aware of the vast fleet that surrounded them. As the first wave approached in the dim moonlight, the rocket ships opened up for a final blistering bombardment. On Red Beach everything went well, the l/4th Hampshires moved inland and occupied the low lying hills ahead of them. Unfortunately the 2nd Hampshires intended for Green Beach were landed on the wrong side of the River Asa, and faced German positions relatively untroubled by the bombardment. Under heavy fire they crossed the Asa and moved inland as originally intended. However the delays meant Green Beach was unsecured. Behind the Hampshires came A and C Companies of the 16th DLI. Major Arthur Vizard found a challenging situation still faced the second wave. They had 88mm Tiger tanks hulldown on the sand dunes and they

were banging away. The 128 Brigade were about a 1,000 yards inland, they’d had a lot of trouble - and a good deal of the trouble was still there, because they’d over-run some of it. These Tiger tanks were still banging away at us and bits were flying off the LCI. We started to get off and I said to the skipper, ‘Well don’t hang around!’ ‘Oh!’ he said, ‘I’m stopping here till you’re all ashore!’ And he did. I was the lead man off, there were two ramps. Tom Logan took one and I took the other. Then we had two subalterns, they were standing behind and we organised ourselves into three platoons. No. 1 Platoon moved off to its right, rushed up the beach, No. 2 rushed off moving to the centre and No. 3 to the left. We all got ashore and ran like hell up the sand. Major Arthur Vizard, A Company. There was a considerable amount of German fire directed at the beach. Nonetheless, the Durhams moved forward and took up defensive positions a quarter of a mile inland. Overall the landing had been successful. By the evening of 9 September the Allies had established a bridgehead some 30 miles long, although it was shallow in depth and the Germans still overlooked them. The German commander, Albrecht Kesselring, reacted swiftly. The German divisions facing Eighth

Army were ordered to harry and delay Montgomery’s advance, while the rest of Kesselring’s forces were massed for a counter-attack at Salerno. At around noon on 10 September. the 16th DLI moved forward to occupy defensive positions. Around them were grim reminders of the fighting. We moved up and it was on my way I came across my first dead German. I climbed over a wall and just in front there was a bush. Suddenly a huge cloud of flies came up and there was a terrible stink. A sweet sickly smell, something I had never smelt before. There was a German half-track that had received a direct hit from a shell. The whole lot, nine or ten men had been killed, all sprawled in grotesque attitudes, many of them black from burns. I spewed my heart up, it really made me sick, the smell, the stench and the sight of seeing men so violently killed. Private Kenneth Lovell, D Company. On 11 September, the 16th DLI were ordered to relieve the 6th York and Lancs on the hills below a sanatorium or Hospital Hill as it would be known. Here they would be one of the last lines of defence protecting Salerno's port from counter-attack. D Company took up positions just left of the hospital and on a slightly higher promontory known as ‘The Pimple’, with C Company on a similar feature just to their left. 

TOP LEFT: Men of the DLI. Back row left to right: A Sacco, L Smith, Ronald Elliott. Front row: C Grey, D Jordan. taken in Cairo, March 1944. TOP RIGHT: British troops pass a road block while moving through Salerno, 10 September 1943. The Allies met growng resistance as German forces trickled in. Over the next few days the Allies fought to expand their foothold but progress was slow and a major counterattack, correctly predicted by General Alexander, was launched on September 13. (IWM NA 6785)

www.britainatwar.com 81

INSIDE THE AVALANCHE Voices From The Front RIGHT: German Panzer Grenadier in action with a MP40 sub machine gun in Italy. (IWM MH 196)

TOP LEFT (OPPOSITE): German troops at Salerno move up for a counter attack against the invaders. (IWM MH 235)

TOP RIGHT (OPPOSITE): A Universal Carrier passing through Salerno, 10 September 1943. This example is armed with a Vickers machine gun. BELOW RIGHT: Major Arthur Vizard, A Company, DLI. BOTTOM: Soldiers watch as the Allied invasion fleet enter the Bay of Naples early on 9 September 1943. (IWM NA

6575)

Further back A and B Companies were positioned in vineyards on either side of the secondary road leading back to Salerno. The 2/5th Sherwood Foresters were stationed to their right, astride the main Salerno-Avellino road, while to the DLI left lay rough country, with the nearest British troops, the Commandos, ensconced on Castle Hill. It was now the German mortars began to make their presence felt. The most distinctive was the Nebelwerfer. It was awful, really terrifying. We could hear them start off, because they used to be fired electrically from six barrelled mortars, we used to call them ‘Wurlitzers’. They had a note as the barrels fired in rotation. Then you knew you had about 20 seconds before the bombs arrived. Terrifying it was. You used to lie at

the bottom of this hole, looking at a beetle or something, wishing you were somewhere else. - Lieutenant Gerry Barnett, C Company. The screaming mortar shells crashed down around their trenches. I remember one young fellow started screaming and I had to guess how to handle it. I just gave him a good clout in the face and he stopped. I was – and am – a great fatalist and I have a very strong faith too. I’m not saying that I wasn’t frightened – I had the same sort of fears and apprehensions as anybody does, but I refused to let it worry me. I think it’s just sort of ingrained in me – my mother always used to say, ‘You can’t help being frightened but never show it!’ And I didn’t! - Lieutenant Ronnie Sherlaw, C Company. On the morning of 13 September, A Company, under Major Arthur Vizard, tried to infiltrate round to the left of the hospital. Vizard was not aware that the Germans were building up ready for counter-attacks all along the front. They soon ran into trouble. There was tremendous burst of Schmeisser machine pistol fire from

not more than 300 yards away on the right-hand side. Simultaneously, Sergeant Major ‘Nutty’ Wilson, I and Tom Logan jumped. Unfortunately, poor Tom, he jumped a bit too late. I landed on top of the Sergeant Major and Tom landed on top of me. But he’d been wounded badly through the stomach. We got him dressed as best we could, got him on a stretcher and evacuated him, but he died. Major Arthur Vizard, A Company. Vizard called up support fire from the Vickers machine guns and mortars, while deploying all his own Bren guns, until he was able to resume the advance. Still the German mortar shells crashed down around them. We began to sustain quite a lot of casualties. The stretcher bearers were at work - it was mostly shrapnel splinters, I don’t remember anyone getting a direct hit, but it still did a lot of harm. It was quite clear that they had switched from the flank - they were now coming over the hospital. The poor old nuns inside must have had a rotten time of it! Major Arthur Vizard, A Company. They struggled on another 200 yards further up Hospital Hill. Then Vizard’s own luck ran out. I was crouched and one of these mortar bombs landed to the right of me and a splinter zipped through and got me at the bottom of the back. It wasn’t particularly painful at first, it was very largely a flesh wound, but it had damaged the spine a bit. It was difficult to walk. I got patched up and continued moving forward. But the medical sergeant who was with me said, ‘You ought to jack it in, you’re losing blood!’ I said, ‘Well, no, it’s all right!’ So we pressed on and in the end he was right because I passed out from loss of blood. Nothing I could do about it. - Major Arthur Vizard, A Company.

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

In the late 1980s the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive selected the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) to be the subject of a major oral history project, recording as many of the veterans as possible for a series of detailed interviews that averaged over 8 hours in length. These focused on many of the key British battles of the Second World War, because the DLI had an almost unrivalled involvement around the globe. As a result we can examine the nature of the Salerno campaign landing from the detailed criss-crossing memories of 16th DLI veterans. Sadly most are now dead but their voices live on at the IWM.

82 www.britainatwar.com

INSIDE THE AVALANCHE

Voices From The Front

Vizard was stretchered back to a dressing station. I got 96 stitches in the back and I got clips put in which halted most of the bleeding. The trouble was the spine was chipped. All regimental aid posts and dressing stations were very gory places. Like a butcher’s abattoir. It was shocking! Fellows covered in blood from head to foot. All over their hair and faces and everything else. Blokes coming in and they only had a matter of minutes to save a life. Amputations were carried out with incredible speed. I saw one fellow have his leg taken off and it didn’t take more than a minute and a half. Away it went. - Major Arthur Vizard, A Company. German counter-attacks were raging all along the line, but at Hospital Hill the main thrust came as night fell on 15 September. Infiltrators from the Panzer Grenadiers of the 16th Panzer Division swept over the positions of D Company on their ‘Pimple’. Jerry got right up on top of the hill. The first thing we knew he was starting to fire down. I put my hand out along the slit trench to get a hold of my rifle and the bullets smashed it - the butt was blown to bits! There was no question of getting the rifle it was just a matter of trying to keep down. We had a couple of grenades and we lobbed them back. What saved the day was somebody wired down and

the mortar platoon started firing up there. - Private Robert Ellison, D Company. Amongst the mortar teams was Sergeant John Henderson who described his role in a letter home. Two 3-inch mortars which I had in position to meet such a situation opened up and fired 150 bombs in ten minutes, thereby demoralizing the Germans who were ‘easy meat’ for the boys who went into them with the bayonet. - Sergeant John Henderson, Mortar Platoon, HQ Company. Further up the hill, Ken Lovell had just stripped down his Bren gun when he received the grim order. Suddenly Lieutenant Woodlands came galloping up and said, ‘Right, fix bayonets, we’re going to go into a bayonet charge!’ He led us, at the

front, up the hill, over the slope and into the Germans. We really ran as fast as we could: Woodlands called out, ‘CHARGE!’ and we charged! Now the Germans were virtually amongst the positions of 16 and 18 Platoons. We got stuck into the Germans. I hadn’t got my Bren gun because it was still in pieces, but I’d got a Tommy gun. 

ABOVE: General Hawkesworth, 46th Infantry Division's commander, known as the ‘the little man with the big stick’. (IWM NA 6847)

LEFT: A battery of notorious German sixbarrelled mortars, known as Nebelwerfers, with the rocket projectiles caught on camera. (IWM STT 5572)

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INSIDE THE AVALANCHE Voices From The Front Thanks to Tom Tunney and for more information see his website: http://16dli. awardspace.com/ index.html

RIGHT: Private Kenneth Lovell, D Company, DLI, taken in 1944. BELOW: Landing ships offload British troops and equipment, in this example, 25 Pounder guns and their gun tractors, at Salerno beach on the first day of Operation Avalance, 9 September 1943. The Allies faced some strong resistance, but by the end of the first day, they had advanced between 5 and 7 miles inland. (IWM NA 6631)

As we were going I was firing from the hip. I suddenly saw a German lying down behind a machine gun. He looked at me and I looked at him - I pulled the trigger and nothing happened so I just swung the Tommy gun round, grabbed it by the barrel and smashed him over the head. I didn’t know whether I’d killed him or whether he was unconscious. I went on. I think they were taken by surprise. There’s a lot of stories that the Germans don’t like cold steel, but I don’t think anybody does come to that! I think if some bugger had come at me with a bloody bayonet I might have done a side-step or something! The Germans fled into a box barrage that our mortars had put down behind them. We took quite a number of prisoners, killed quite a few. I went back and saw this German that I’d slammed. I don’t think it was the fact that his head was stove in, but rather the idea of having killed another human being. All right, he’d have killed me if he’d got the chance, but nevertheless I was physically sick, I vomited. Private Kenneth Lovell, D Company. The German counter-attacks had undoubtedly caught the Durhams by surprise – but nowhere more so than in the C Company sector under the command of Major George Jobey. George Jobey had his company headquarters on the rear slope in a tiny hut, used by the Italians no doubt in the vineyards. It was on one of the terraces where there were these few vines. At dusk he sent for us, the three platoon commanders for an ‘O’ Group. We all gathered in this tiny hut, but

Peter Hart is the author of a 'Voices from The Front' book detailing the 16th Durham Light Infantry in Italy, 1943 - 45. Published by Pen & Sword Books, ISBN 184884401-8, RRP £12.99 it is available from bookstores, Amazon or via the publisher at: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk 84 www.britainatwar.com

we never got round to getting the orders, because there were sounds of firing. Someone flung open the door and said, ‘We’re under attack!’ Sure enough the Germans were coming down the terraces, throwing grenades and firing with Schmeissers. They were right through our positions. - Lieutenant Gerry Barnett, C Company. The situation was critical - they were all that remained between the Germans and a dangerous breakthrough. There was a box of grenades in George’s hut so we all grabbed a handful of grenades and ran out. Of course there was no sort of orders or directions, we just started attacking back up the hill. It’s just an instinct really – when you see Germans in the flesh to attack – there’s nothing else you can do, you can’t run away, we didn’t know how to, it never occurred to us. Sort of unwilling but duty bound. - Lieutenant Gerry Barnett, C Company. The situation was horribly confused as the light rapidly faded on Hospital Hill. Lt Ronnie Sherlaw was close by Gerry Barnett. I was going forward with a .38 pistol in my hand, which is a useless implement. As I crawled up a sort of slit trench I put my head over it and a German helmet came up! I immediately pulled the trigger and I shot him – not very straight! I had a horrible feeling, that was the first time I’d ever been face to face. It was fortunate I had shot him because he’d have shot me! Lieutenant Ronnie Sherlaw, C Company.

Perhaps the sheer desperation of their attack caught the Germans by surprise as C Company fought their way up to a little saddle below the ‘Pimple’. By that time it was night, but moonlight lit the scene. It was at this point that Sherlaw made an error of judgement that could quite easily have cost him his life, as witnessed by Gerry Barnett. I could hear the Germans talking in loud voices as they seemed to be digging in while they used a machine gun to fire at us. Ronnie for some reason thought they were some other company’s troops, ours, and he stood up in bright moonlight and shouted, ‘Stop firing, you bloody fools, this is C Company!’ I said, ‘It’s the Boches, Ronnie!’ On which he dropped down smartly under cover! - Lieutenant Gerry Barnett, C Company.

INSIDE THE AVALANCHE

Voices From The Front

It was obvious that the Germans were still up on the Pimple. We could see the flashes coming from their Schmeissers as they fired at us. There were about five of us. We were firing at them and throwing our grenades; they were firing back and throwing grenades. I was lying down between bursts of fire, then kneeling up so I could see just over the crown of the hill, see their flashes and then firing back with my Tommy gun – when it worked. The first time when I got up there I pressed the trigger and there was just a rough grating noise as the bolt slid forward because the dust was slowing the action. So I got back, lay down again, pulled the oil bottle out of the butt, oiled the bolt and like a good soldier put the oil bottle back in the butt. I got up and it worked, fortunately, it fired then. Then I heard a little noise to my left and glanced – just as a grenade went off about two feet away. I

carried on firing and then I noticed that my Tommy gun was getting very slippy. I could feel the warm blood coming onto the weapon, felt around and found that it was coming from my chin, I had a flap hanging down, an artery had gone and it was spurting out. I bandaged myself up, put my chin back on and wrapped my field dressing round it because I’d heard it said that if you put the flesh back it seals. Wrapped my field dressing round my head and put my tin hat back on to hold it on. I carried on and the action finished very shortly after that. We captured two prisoners, one wounded, the rest had gone. I said to Ronnie, ‘Well I’ll take these down because I’ll have to go and get this chin sealed up - I can’t stop it bleeding!’ It was dripping you see. Lieutenant Gerry Barnett, C Company. The confusion can be illustrated by what befell Sergeant John Henderson whilst organising the resupply of ammunition for the Mortar Platoon. I found myself preparing a load with a lance corporal as sentry, it was dark, about 9 pm. Suddenly he calls me and says there are four men going up alongside the wall to our left. I chew him up for not halting them and, drawing my revolver, go to investigate. It is only some boys from another company. Following the same route I had taken I return to the ammunition, but when I get to within 20 yards, Bang! Looking back on this I cannot help but laugh. Actually what had happened was that the lance corporal had got the jitters. Being left entirely on his own, his nerve had gone and, when he saw me coming back, he

let go without asking any questions. When he knew what he had done he went into hysterics. Shouting, ‘I’ve shot the best friend I ever had!’ and crying and sobbing. Major Worrall, who helped put the field dressing on me, called out, ‘Take that man away for God’s sake!’ However, I asked him to allow me to talk to him. When he came I told him to shut up and listen to what I had to say. ‘You have done some good work for me these last few days. I couldn’t have done without you. Now I am going out for a while, you will be needed more than ever, so snap out of it and go help them up the hill.’ He quietened down, we shook hands and away he went up the hill. I understand he was taken prisoner five days later. So you see, I haven’t been contaminated by a German bullet or shrapnel - it was only a good old British .303 fired by a good lad with the best of intentions but, unfortunately, a little unbalanced by the trying circumstances. Sergeant John Henderson, Mortar Platoon, HQ Company. In the event, the German attack was beaten back all around the Salerno perimeter. The beachhead survived – and that allowed ever increasing quantities of artillery and armour to be safely ushered ashore, ready for a breakout towards Naples. A few days later the Germans withdrew north to their next line of defence along the River Volturno as they feared being trapped between Fifth Army and the advancing Eighth Army. The Italian campaign had only just begun – it would be a long hard slog for the men of the 16th DLI. 

TOP: A StuG III assault gun fires on British positions at Salerno. The very successful Sturmgeschütz III was the most produced German armoured fighting vehicle of the war. (IWM MH 6325)

LEFT: General Mark Clark greets General Bernard Law Montgomery on Salerno Bridge 24 September 1943. 'Monty' would lead Eighth Army until December 1943, when he was reassigned to command 21st Army Group. Montgomery was highly critical of the early campaign in Italy. (IWM NA 7108)

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A FEW NEAR MISSES One Man's War

A Few Nea

Aged 95, Eric Garland is one of only a few Britons alive to have served throughout the entire Second World War. In his first ever interview, given to mark the 70th anniversary of the war ending, he tells LORD ASHCROFT how he amassed three gallantry awards. MAIN IMAGE: Eric Garland's medal group, now in the Lord Ashcroft Collection.

“I

HAVE certainly had a few near misses,” says Eric Garland, with a mischievous chuckle after detailing one lifeor-death experience after another. With relentless modesty and understatement, he tells of six remarkable years of Second World War service that few, if any, men alive today can match. Garland was initially decorated with the Military Cross (MC) for rescuing three men during the retreat to Dunkirk in the spring of 1940. His courage was publicly recognised again, with a Bar to his MC, less than a year later for his part in the famous Litani River Raid, during which he fought a “duel” with a sniper and was the first man to cross the river. Not content with his efforts on land, he joined the RAF to satisfy his desire to be a fighter pilot,

88 www.britainatwar.com

but his Spitfire was shot down, with him narrowly escaping from his burning aircraft over enemycontrolled Italy in May 1944. For lesser men, being seriously wounded and a Prisoner of War (PoW) would have been a respectable end to their part in the war. Garland, however, simply saw it as a new challenge: he escaped from a hospital train bound for Germany, evaded capture for six months, fought with the Italian partisans and, eventually, returned to Allied lines in early 1945. For this gallantry, he was awarded the MBE.

FIRST INTERVIEW

To mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the 1939-45 conflict, Garland, now 95, agreed to provide his first – and he insists his last – public interview about his wartime experiences. Unsurprisingly, the

years have taken their toll and he speaks slowly, yet with great enthusiasm, about his exploits. Today his hair is grey, his pale skin is thin and his frail legs are swollen, making walking difficult. However, dressed in a purple check shirt, a light grey short-sleeved pullover and brown corduroy trousers, Garland gives regular sighs of delight as he recalls one “scrape” after another during his service in the Army and RAF. The son of a businessman, Eric Francis Garland was born in south London on February 2, 1920. The middle of three children, he was educated at Whitgift School in South Croydon. After leaving school at 17, Garland worked as a trainee manager with Imperial Airways and also joined the Artists Rifles, a regiment of the Territorial Army.

A FEW NEAR MISSES One Man's War

ear Misses After the outbreak of the Second World War in early September 1939, he resigned from his job and trained with 163 Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU). In November 1939, Garland was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant into the 6th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment. He served with the regiment as part of the 138th Infantry Brigade, 46th Infantry Division, British Expeditionary Force in France.

LEFT: Commando and fighter pilot veteran, Eric Garland MBE, MC & Bar.

(CHRISTOPHER COX)

BUILDING ABLAZE

Garland, 6 ft tall with fair hair and blue eyes, was present during the retreat to Dunkirk and on May 27 1940 he distinguished himself at Wormhoudt, on the Dunkirk to Cassel road, and again at Watou the next day, when he rescued three men, all British military policemen, from a house that was being used as an ammunition store. The building was ablaze after it was struck during a raid by German Stuka dive bombers at around midday. Garland, just 20 years old,  www.britainatwar.com 89

A FEW NEAR MISSES One Man's War BELOW RIGHT: Medway Queen in civilian service. Now under restoration, Medway Queen picked up 7,000 men from Dunkirk, including Eric Garland. (IWM FL 15150)

TOP MIDDLE RIGHT: Remains of the Qasmiye Bridge. The target of No.11 Commando’s raid, the bridge was blown up by Vichy French forces. (AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL)

BELOW LEFT: Eric Garland as 2nd Lt in the York & Lancaster Regiment.

had been sheltering under a truck during the raid but ran to help the men once the building caught fire. “Ammunition was exploding but I thought I had better do something to try to get them out. I managed to help them out one by one even though the raid was still going on. One of the men was so badly wounded, and in dreadful agony, that I thought it would be humane to shoot him. I took his revolver out of his holster, and I was dithering about the ethics [of killing him], but fortunately he died. He was gone.” Garland’s MC for these two days of bravery was eventually announced on December 20 1940 and he later received his award from George VI during an investiture at Buckingham Palace.

HOLD AT ALL COSTS However, during his final three full days on French soil, before being evacuated, Garland showed still further courage. On May 31 1940, the 6th Battalion

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was tasked with holding three bridges over the Canal des Moëres at Téteghem and 2nd Lieutenants Garland, Nelson and Milne were each given a bridge to defend with the orders that they were to “be held at all costs”. Garland recalled: “We defended the bridge with Bren guns, rifles and grenades. I was given 40 men against a much larger German force. We dug ourselves in but we were mortared. We lost one man who was hit in the abdomen by the splinter from a mortar bomb. He shouted out ‘I am f***ing dead’ – and he was. He had a twin brother who was fighting with him.” Garland himself had a near miss too: “On the bridge, something hit my right hand side – I reached down gingerly and felt a wet, sticky mess. I thought I had been hit but in fact a splinter from a mortar had struck, and split,

rifles and other arms into the water because there was no room for them on board. And off we went.” Ever eager to embark on a new adventure, Garland volunteered for service with the newly formed No 11 (Scottish) Commando. This involved rigorous Special Forces training in the Scottish Highlands under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Dick Pedder who, Garland recalled, always urged his men to “train hard and fight easy”. It was while he was training in Scotland that he was informed that an enemy bomb had hit his family home, in Chipstead, Surrey, killing his only sister, Joan, aged 17, and the family’s pet dog. On May 31 1941, a year to the day after Garland had been in the thick of the fighting during the retreat to Dunkirk, Pedder received urgent orders to fly to Palestine to take part

a tin of stew that I had kept in my haversack as a last resort against real hunger. I was unhurt.” Garland and his men held their position until late into the evening of June 2, when their situation became hopeless and they were ordered to retreat. At this point, he and his men went to the Dunkirk beaches and Garland was one of the last soldiers to be evacuated on the Medway Queen, a paddle steamer, on June 3. In fact, one of her ship’s paddles broke during the voyage and it took fully seven hours to reach Ramsgate, Kent. “When we were on the beach, after we had been bombed and mortared and shot at, a cutter took us out to the Medway Queen which was very crowded. We had to throw our

in the invasion of Vichy-controlled Syria and Lebanon: No. 11 (Scottish) Commando formed up with the 21st Australian Infantry Brigade for this role. At this point, the enemy was known to be holding the line of the Litani River, which runs south through Lebanon before turning west into the Mediterranean. The Allies’ plan was for the Commandos, including Garland, to coordinate with the 21st Brigade’s attack on the river position by carrying out an amphibious assault landing from the sea near the mouth of the river. Once ashore, the Commandos were tasked with securing the north and south banks of the Litani, and then preventing the demolition of the Qasmiye Bridge that crossed it, thereby allowing the Australian

A FEW NEAR MISSES One Man's War

21st Infantry Brigade to advance towards Beirut, engaging the enemy in the process.

PINNED TO THE GROUND

The advancing forces were to be supported by gunfire from naval vessels offshore, as well as air support. On June 6, the Commando embarked from Cyprus on HMS Glengyle and set sail with an escort from Port Said the following day although, due to the adverse weather, the attack was postponed until June 9. The plan was for the Commando to land from the Glengyle and attack the enemy position from the flank. Three parties were formed to carry out the task: ‘X’ Party consisted of

the forward troops, comprising Nos 2, 3 (of which Garland was a member) and 9 Troops under the command of Major Geoffrey Keyes. The landing by ‘X’ Party was unopposed but, as the advanced troops reached the riverbank at about 5.10 am, the entire beach came under heavy and sustained fire from 75mm guns, mortars and heavy machine guns. In his book Litani River, Ian McHarg wrote: “As heavy fire rained down on the party they were pinned to the ground, and several casualties were taken, mainly by accurate sniper fire from a knoll on the opposite bank and from enemy positions to the north.”

KILL OR BE KILLED

In his diary, Keyes described a similar scene, adding that Garland and a fellow officer, Captain George Highland, were “as cool as cucumbers”. According to Ian McHarg, when Keyes eventually edged forward he found Garland “engaged in a high risk method of drawing the sniper’s fire, which was inflicting many casualties. Garland, exposing himself to the sniper, drew

his fire, and once located, shot him with his Bren gun.” With the sniper taken care of, Garland and some other men climbed into a boat that had been brought for them. Two men then ferried the Commandos across the river, which was approximately 30 to 40 yards wide and fast flowing, enabling Garland, six of his men and two Australians to get to the opposite bank at around 10am. Within three hours, Garland’s and Highland’s men had cleared the enemy position on the north side. In the process of seizing the redoubt, six enemy soldiers were killed and 35 prisoners were taken, but the efforts to capture the enemy position had resulted in considerable casualties for the attacking party too. Ironically, Pedder, who had 

TOP RIGHT: Eric Garland the Commando. LEFT: A note of congratulations on award of Bar to Garland's MC. BELOW: According their official histories, Australian forces at Litani River were shelled by the Guépard-class destroyers Guépard and Valmy. Kept at bay by 2/4th Field Regiment's 25-Pdr guns, the ships were seen off by British destroyers and the cruiser HMNZS Leander. (UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY)

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TOP LEFT: Major General Sir Robert Laycock as Chief of Combined Operations, 1943. In 1941 Laycock, then a lieutenantcolonel, formed the formation of commandos known as ‘Layforce’, which No. 11 (Scottish) Commando was part of. (IWM TR 1425)

TOP RIGHT: Eric Garland the fighter pilot. BELOW: HMS Glengyle. Glengyle was a fast cargo liner acquired by the Royal Navy soon after launch and commissioned as a Landing ship, infantry, (large) in 1940.

once told Garland that “officers should command not lead”, was killed in battle on June 9, aged 36, leading his men from the front. Garland said of the day’s fighting: “We had landed on the south side of the river not the north side so we had to cross this wide, fast-flowing river. We were taking heavy casualties from 75mm guns. We got stuck in dead ground and we couldn’t move because we were being shelled and shot at by snipers. I got tired of waiting and having my men killed. I got to the riverbank and I thought I would chance it. I exposed myself to the fire a few times so that I could locate one of the snipers. I could shoot fairly accurately. I located him nearly 200 yards away on the other side of the river, and I shot and killed him using a Bren gun – we found the sniper’s body later. It was quite a dangerous ‘game’ but by then I felt like a cornered cat: I was prepared to kill or be killed.

(IWM FL 22266)

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“Then I suggested to Keyes that I should take four or five men and cross the river. We crossed in a canvas assault boat and sent it back for more of our men but on the way back it was hit by machine gun fire and sunk. So we were stuck there on our own – myself and a small number of men. One of my men was shot dead almost immediately. We made a lot of noise and shouted and we bombed their trenches with hand-grenades. Eventually, Keyes and other men got across and, after some more fighting, the enemy surrendered.”

COOL COURAGE

After the Litani River Raid, the 11th (Scottish) Commando returned to Cyprus, arriving in Famagusta at 7am on June 15. Of the 456 men who had assembled on the same quay 11 days earlier, 130 had been killed or wounded in just over 29 hours of fighting. However, the Commando had achieved its overall objective of seizing and holding the

enemy position long enough for the Australian Brigade to cross the river. Garland’s Bar to his MC was announced on October 21 1941, after the recommendation for his decoration – originally intended as the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and written by Colonel Robert Laycock – stated: “Lieutenant Garland displayed throughout the action cool and clear-headed leadership and complete disregard for his own personal safety….” Both Keyes and Laycock asked Garland to stay on to take part in the proposed Rommel Raid which would cost Keyes his life and lead to the award of his posthumous VC. However, by then, Garland was determined to become a fighter pilot. He applied to join the RAF, and when his papers came through he transferred for training along with two other officers from the Commandos.

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I thought ‘I am dead’ - but a few moments later I woke up to find the undercarriage horn sounding and the dust subsiding.” Garland had survived yet another brush with death.

MONTE CASINO

FIGHTER PILOT

In March 1942, Garland was posted for pilot training to No 26 Elementary FTS (Flying Training School), Southern Rhodesia. At this time he trained with Ian Smith, who would later become the prime minister of Rhodesia, learning to fly in Tiger Moths. After undertaking further training, Garland gained his “wings” in August 1942. In February 1943, he was posted for conversion to Hurricanes to No 74 OTU (Operational Training Unit) in Aqir, Palestine. In April of the same year, he was posted for operational flying to 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron

(Hurricanes), which carried out operations over the Western Desert, primarily shipping patrols and interceptions. However, within the first week of flying, on April 12 1943, he had to carry out a forced landing in his Hurricane because of engine failure. “We were training over the biggest minefield in the desert. At 500 feet, I had engine failure – oil came back over the windscreen and I had no power and had to come down. I picked the roughest bit of ground I could see hoping it wouldn’t be mined and, without putting down my landing gear, I hit the ground, decelerated and my head hit the reflector sight.

Shortly afterwards, Garland was posted to 208 Squadron (Hurricanes) in Iraq in June of that year, where he flew on tactical reconnaissance sorties throughout the desert fighting. Garland was promoted to flight lieutenant in November 1943 and, two months later, 208 Squadron was re-equipped with Spitfires. In March 1944, he moved with it to Italy where, for two months, he carried out sweeps and tactical reconnaissances. However, on May 4 1944, when flying over Italy during the four-month Battle of Monte Cassino, Garland was shot down by enemy ground fire. 

ABOVE: In 1943 Eric Garland joined 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron as a Hurricane pilot. MIDDLE LEFT: Australian 7th Division commander Major General Arthur Allen (centre) stands with Lt. Colonel Murray Moten (centre right) and his men in Hammana, Lebanon, after a successful Syria-Lebanon campaign. (Frank Hurley)

BOTTOM RIGHT: 21st Brigade commander Jack Stawell Stevens. He directed the Australian contribution at the Litani River battle and was wounded. Awarded a DSO and mentioned in despatches, he recovered in time to lead his troops in the last Australian battle of the campaign, Damour. (AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL)

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A FEW NEAR MISSES One Man's War

ABOVE RIGHT: Letter from Garland's CO telling his father he was missing, along with the letter Garland eventually managed to get to his parents.

Garland said: “The weather was bad, the cloud base was low but finally we flew in early evening when it was still light. I was flying at about 3,000 feet when we – two Spitfires – encountered ground fire. There was a loud bang and an immediate fire. I was hit in the left leg, in the shin. Flames came into the cockpit and I had to get out very quickly. I disconnected my RT [radio] and oxygen mask, took off my harness by pulling out the pin, and turned my aircraft upside down and rolled out. This all took less than five seconds. Then I started to fall towards the ground, with my clothing scorched and all the skin had been burned off

BOTTOM LEFT: A Flakvierling 38 in Italy, a four barrelled 20mm antiaircraft gun developed to keep the 2cm Flak viable, a weapon not unlike this was responsible for downing Garland. The Flak 38 had a phenomenal fire rate, up to 1,800rpm, and proved effective against ground targets and aircraft up to 7000ft. (BUNDESARCHIV)

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my hands. It was all very painful. I wondered whether to pull my rip-cord or not. I thought about ending things because we were told we would probably get rough treatment on the ground. But I suppose I had a desire to live and so I pulled the rip-cord and dropped by parachute. I landed in a barley field near the village of Frosinone, close to Rome, and there were a group of German soldiers waiting for me. I had to make a one-legged landing. The German soldiers leapt on me, frisked me – one tried to take my watch but I resisted. I had a field dressing pack which I put on my shin and that brought some relief. Then I was carried to a

farmhouse – they did not mistreat me. They took me to where my Spitfire had crashed some distance away: it was just a tangled mass having exploded in an Italian farmyard, injuring the farmer who had burns similar to mine. He was crying – and one of the German soldiers and I grinned at each other over this rather weak behaviour.”

DUTY TO ESCAPE

Garland was taken to a German field dressing station where surgeons operated on his left leg – a broken tibia and fibia – and treated burns to his hands and face. When he woke up, his injured leg and both arms were all in splints. Despite Garland’s

A FEW NEAR MISSES One Man's War

serious injuries, he saw it as his duty to try to escape. Following three unsuccessful escape bids, including sliding down a laundry chute, he was deemed too much of a risk to remain at his poorlyguarded hospital and so his German captors decided to transfer him to a PoW camp in Germany. However, Garland jumped from a hospital train near Verona in June 1944 when he was being transferred. “I was in a carriage devoted to wounded prisoners where there were about 15 men on stretchers on each side. I was still limping but, at one point, our German guard went to sleep. I managed to climb out of one of the windows and on to a running board outside. The train was going too fast for me to jump. It was a wet and misty night and I couldn’t see very well. But when the guard woke up he sounded the alarm and, when the train started to would have been executed. I was British and I had no identification discs. And the Italians who were shielding me would have been killed too,” Garland said. At one point, he joined the partisans and took part in a major action at Vasto di Sotto in which 78 German soldiers were killed or captured, whereas the partisans had only three killed and two wounded.

DEATH PRESUMED

slow down, I stepped off and rolled over. I cut my hands and hit my chin on a sleeper but I rolled on to soft grass. I imagine the train was going at about 20 mph. Some shots were fired, lights were flashed, but they didn’t know when I had jumped or where to look for me and eventually the train set off again.” After walking for three nights and resting during the day, travelling from north to south along Lake Garda, he got close to Castelnuovo, where he knew many of the local inhabitants supported the Allies. Speaking reasonable Italian, he approached some locals, who gave him food and water and tended to his injuries. In August, he attempted

to get back to the Allied lines by walking from Lake Garda to Cremona, but the wound in his injured leg became infected and he had to abort the plan, again finding refuge with friendly Italians. At one point, he spent 60 days with the same family, hiding in a false wall at the end of a barn while his injuries started to get better.

PARTISAN ACTION

When numerous German soldiers moved to the area, Garland again moved on, sleeping rough for a time before linking up with more Italians and staying on another farm, near Cremona, for several months. “If I had been found, I

After Garland had been shot down in May 1944, his Commanding Officer wrote to his parents (depicted on previous page) which offered some reassurance amongst the uncertainty, "your son’s parachute opened successfully, and [he] was seen descending slowly, unfortunately behind enemy lines…" After the allotted period of time without hearing any information about Garland, the Air Ministry informed his father that he was to be declared dead. However, Garland himself had other ideas and penned a letter to his parents on August 9 1944 (depicted on previous page), explaining how he was downed, the extent of his injuries, and his numerous attempts to escape from his captors, "I was taken prisoner immediately. . . and spent 7 weeks in hospital . . . I made three unsuccessful attempts to escape . . . but finally managed to escape from the hospital train to Germany . . . by jumping out of the window at night, the sentry was dozing." 

ABOVE RIGHT: Garland ready for action in the cockpit of his Spitfire. ABOVE LEFT: A Caterpillar Club members card, awarded to those who successfully parachuted from a stricken aircraft. ABOVE LEFT: Ground crew working on the Merlin engine of one of No 237 (Rhodesian) Squadron’s Hurricanes in the Middle East, circa 1942. (IWM E 11720)

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A FEW NEAR MISSES One Man's War

ABOVE: Content retirement. Eric Garland reflects on a remarkable wartime career as soldier and fighter pilot (inset). (COLOUR IMAGE:

CHRISTOPHER COX)

Garland was sure to show gratitude to the Italians who risked all to help him, before signing off with a humourous statement that would surely only cause more worry! "If you don’t hear from me for some time don’t worry, I shall be giving the Jerries a pain in the neck wherever I am." Remarkably, this letter found its way into the hands of Captain J.H. Bevan, 8/22nd Battery, Royal Artillery, several months later, and he duly forwarded it to Garland’s parents. True to his word, Garland eventually reached American lines at Solarolo in January 1945. He spent time in Naples, Rome and Venice, before finally reporting back to his unit on May 2 1945, six days before VE-Day. His family was informed of his reappearance eight days later and soon afterwards Garland returned to the UK, where he received further

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. Lord Ashcroft’s VC and GC collection is on public display at Imperial War Museums, London. For more information visit www.iwm. org.uk/heroes. For more information on Lord Ashcroft’s VC collection visit www.lordashcroftmedals.com. For more information on Lord Ashcroft’s work and his five bravery books, including Special Ops Heroes, visit www. lordashcroft.com. Follow him on Twitter: @LordAshcroft

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hospital treatment for his injuries. After the war, he remained in the RAF for a further two years and his MBE was announced in the London Gazette on January 7 1947.

FOR KING & COUNTRY

After leaving the RAF, Garland moved to Kenya in 1948 where he was a farmer and was based there at the start of the Mau Mau Rebellion in 1952. During the uprising, Garland was co-opted into the Air Wing of the Police Force, flying Rapide, Messenger, Avro Anson and Bonanza aircraft on reconnaissance missions. He met his British wife, Nadine Snelling, an air stewardess, in Kenya, and the couple married in 1952, and later had a son, Robert. For many years, before returning to Britain in 1972, Garland worked as a pilot for East African Airways. Once back in Britain, Garland lived in, first, Aberdeen, and then the Isle of Man, eventually becoming a pilot for Manx Airlines before retiring in 1985, aged sixty-five. After his first wife’s death in 2003, Garland married Christine McBryde, a widow and who had been his late wife’s best friend, in 2005. Today,

Christine, who is 20 years younger than her husband, lives with him in their three-bedroom bungalow in Port Erin on the Isle of Man. As a collector of gallantry medals, I purchased Eric Garland’s medal group at auction in 2013 but I was unaware at the time that he was still alive. I was put in touch with him through Gareth Maiden, his Australian-based son-in-law, who contacted me after a short write-up on Garland’s exploits appeared in my book, Special Ops Heroes, published last year. My respect for Eric Garland and his bravery is immense: he has displayed unlimited amounts of what I call “cold”, or premeditated, courage. I feel privileged that he allowed me to interview him and to tell the full story of his wartime gallantry for the first time. Not once during our six-hour interview did Garland even hint that he had been brave. Instead, he felt he was simply doing his duty: “Once the war started, I decided that I was prepared to risk my life – perhaps die – for King and country. I only survived the war through sheer luck although I guess, in a way, I thrived on a challenge.” 

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PRISONERS AMONGST 'THE FEW' Battle of Britain 1940 MAIN PICTURE: Pilots of 234 Squadron pose at RAF St Eval in July 1940. The two pilots captured on 15 August 1940 are next to each other: third from right on the wing is Parker and fourth from right is Hardy. To Hardy’s right is Cecil Hight, killed in the same combat.

O

F THE 2,917 RAF fighter pilots who participated in the Battle of Britain an astonishing 179 of the total 544 casualties were posted as ‘missing in action’ with no trace of them ever being found. Without a doubt, the majority of those unaccounted-for casualties had come down over the English Channel or North Sea and it is a sad fact that the lack of any adequate RAF air sea rescue service at this point of the war in 1940, together with the provision of only the most rudimentary lifesaving equipment, had led to the loss of men who might otherwise have been saved. On the other hand, and although the Germans also lost

many men over the sea during the corresponding period, the Luftwaffe had quickly established a relatively efficient air sea rescue service. At least some RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain, and later on in 1940, would owe their lives to rescue by the Germans – albeit that captivity was an ultimate consequence of rescue. On the other hand, there were other RAF pilots who were in fighter engagements which strayed over the French coast and ended up being shot down and taken prisoner.

BADLY WOUNDED

The first recorded capture of a British fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain was not actually serving with the RAF but, instead, a Royal Navy pilot seconded to RAF Fighter Command. 24 year-old Sub-Lt Francis (Frank) Dawson Paul had joined the Fleet Air Arm almost a year before and trained with 758 Sqn at HMS Raven, Eastleigh, Hampshire. He then undertook a Fighter Course and was ‘loaned’ to the RAF and having converted to Spitfires with 7 Operational Training Unit at RAF Hawarden he joined 64 Sqn at RAF Kenley on 1 July 1940. Frank’s first

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Bofattle n FEW' Britai'THE PRISONERS AMONGST 75th ANNIVERSARY 1940-2015

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PRISONERS AMONGST 'THE FEW' Battle of Britain 1940

kill, a Dornier 17 which he shared with three other pilots, came that evening and, five days later, he shot down a Messerschmitt 109 near Rouen and damaged another off the English coast. After this engagement he forced-landed his Spitfire at RAF Hawkinge. His success continued until 25 July 1940 by which time he had been credited with six victories, with one shared destroyed and one damaged. However, his luck was about to run out. Despite being credited with the destruction of another Messerschmitt 109 that day, at about

1745 hrs, the Spitfires of 54 and 64 Sqns fought with Messerschmitt 109s off Dover. The German fighters were possibly from III Gruppe/Jagdgeschwader 26 (III/JG 26) led by Major Adolf Galland. He and four other pilots from 7/JG 26, Oberleutnant Georg Beyer (POW 28 August 1940) and Leutnants Josef Bürschgens (POW 1 September 1940), Gerhard Müller-Dühe (killed 18 August 1940) and Walter Blume (POW 18 August 1940), each claimed a Spitfire. 54 Sqn would lose three Spitfires in this battle although it would appear that

64 Sqn strayed closer to the French coast losing Fg Off Alistair Jeffrey (whose body would later be washed ashore in Holland) and Frank Paul who was shot down in Spitfire L1035. Badly wounded, the twentyfour year old naval fighter pilot was rescued from the sea by the Germans and taken to the military hospital at Hardinghen near Boulogne. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his wounds five days later.

SPITFIRE CAUGHT FIRE

15 August 1940 would be one of the hardest fought days in the Battle of Britain and from the British side it would be remembered not just 

It wasn't only Luftwaffe aircrew who were taken POW during the Battle of Britain. Several unlucky RAF fighter pilots were captured by the Germans during the battle. Chris Goss tells their story.

ONGST 'THE FEW'

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PRISONERS AMONGST 'THE FEW' Battle of Britain 1940

for the bitter fighting that took place the length and breadth of England but for the fact that three RAF fighter pilots were taken prisoner and two of their Spitfires captured by the Germans. After two attacks on north-east England in the morning, the scene of battle moved southwards and it was during an attack by Dornier 17s against the airfields at Rochester and Eastchurch that the first Spitfire and its pilot were captured. The escort for the German attack was made up from at least three different Me 109 Geschwadern, whilst II and III/ III/JG 26 carried out a fighter sweep. Major Adolf Galland was again leading III/ JG 26 and remembered clearly what happened: “The second aircraft I shot down on that day was at 1600 hrs east of

TOP LEFT: Gerhard MullerDuhe poses triumphantly alongside Robert’s Spitfire on 15 August 1940. Three days later he was dead, shot down and killed on the other side of the Channel at Chilham, Kent. RIGHT: Major Adolf Galland enjoys a game of table tennis on the Channel Coast in France during the summer of 1940. BELOW: Flying Officer Ralph Roberts’ Spitfire after recovery from the crash site and with its undercarriage lowered.

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Folkestone-Dover at an altitude of 6000 metres. Our mission was a fighter sweep west of Maidstone. When crossing the coast, we were bounced by 12 Spitfires coming from a higher altitude. Immediately, many individual dogfights started. I was able to get just behind one of the last Spitfires in this Squadron without being discovered. From a distance of 100m to 300m, I fired with my cannon and machine guns until the Spitfire caught fire and big parts of it were flying all around, forcing me to evade. The Spitfire dived away and took a considerable time before it crashed. “The third aircraft I shot down on that day was again a Spitfire only seven minutes later at an altitude of 3000 metres in the middle of the Channel. I had reformed the Gruppe again just off the French coast and when flying back towards the British coast, I met some Spitfires. I attacked

"It was a hard fight, and Roberts was a very brave and excellent pilot.”

PRISONERS AMONGST 'THE FEW' Battle of Britain 1940

one and was able to approach him from under the cover of his tail and shot directly into him from a distance of 100m. The aircraft made a half roll and remained on its back thus enabling me to keep on firing. Metal parts were suddenly all around and a thick grey-blue flame came out from the body and a white one from out of the wings. After I broke away, the Spitfire was again fired at by Oberleutnant Gerhard Schöpfel; he followed it down and saw it ditch.”

‘A BRAVE AND EXCELLENT PILOT’

In addition to the two shot down by Galland, another six were claimed by JG 26. Who exactly their opponents were cannot be ascertained, although once again 64 Sqn was involved. 23 year-old Fg Off Christopher Andreae was reported missing over the Channel and may well have been one of those

attacked by Galland or Bürschgens, although Fg Off Ralph Roberts was a little luckier as Leutnant Josef Bürschgens of 7/JG 26 remembered: “After the dogfight following the fighter sweep, Ralph Roberts from Sheffield was forced to land near the beach at Wissant. Walter Blume, Gerhard Müller-Dühe and I met him after we returned from the sweep over southern England. I was the first to run out of ammunition and was low on fuel and in the end it was Gerhard who was credited with Roberts. It was a hard fight, and Roberts was a very brave and excellent pilot.” What exactly happened is uncertain, but Roberts forced-landed his Spitfire in a beet field near to Calais where he was immediately captured. He was a great loss to his Squadron having flown Gloster Gladiators in France with 615 Sqn before being posted to 64 Sqn in July

1940. Two days before his capture he had shot down a Dornier 17 but this would be his first and last ‘kill’ and Roberts was destined to remain a POW until the end of the War.

INCARCERATED AT COLDITZ

About an hour later, attacks developed in the west when a synchronised and heavily escorted series of raids were carried out against airfields in Hampshire and Dorset. One of the RAF squadrons tasked to intercept was the Spitfire-equipped 234 Sqn based at RAF Middle Wallop and it would appear that they fought a running battle with the retreating German fighters. The only 234 Sqn pilot to lose his life in this battle was a 22 year-old New Zealander, Plt Off Cecil Hight, whose Spitfire crashed at Walsford Road, Meyrick Park, Bournemouth. 

ABOVE: Flying Officer Ralph Roberts’ 64 Squadron Spitfire shortly after being downed in France on 15 August 1940. BOTTOM LEFT: Pilot Officer Richard Hardy’s Spitfire stands guarded by a German soldier after its dramatic arrival in France on 15 August 1940. BOTTOM RIGHT: Oblt Georg Beyer and Lt Josef Burschgens of III./JG26 during the Battle of Britain.

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ABOVE: 'B’ Flight of 616 Squadron at RAF Leconfield in August 1940. Sgt Westmoreland extreme left (crouching) and Sgt Wareing on extreme right (standing). Descending on his parachute, Wareing saw another ‘chute coming down over the sea. He assumed this must have been Westmoreland, but no trace of him was ever found.

Two more pilots of the squadron were captured, however. Having strayed too close to the French coast whilst chasing a Messerschmitt 110 of II Gruppe/ Zerstörergeschwader 76 (II/ZG 76), it would appear that Australian Plt Off Vincent Parker fell victim to his intended victim. Unteroffizier Willy Lehner, radio operator/gunner to Leutnant Siegfried Hahn of Stab II/ZG 76 (Hahn was killed 3 January 1944) reported shooting down a Spitfire off Cherbourg before they themselves had to crash-land in their damaged fighter at Cherbourg-West. Parker crashed in the sea off Cherbourg where he was picked up by a German motor torpedo boat. He too would remain a POW

(VIA GRAHAM PITCHFORK)

RIGHT: Pilot Officer Richard Hardy’s Spitfire after landing in France on 15 August 1940, including a detail of the artwork on the cockpit door – a Churchillian ‘salute’ over a broken swastika.

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until the end of the war, finishing up incarcerated at Colditz Castle. Sadly, on 29 January 1946 and whilst serving with 56 Operational Training Unit at RAF Millfield, he was killed in a flying accident when his Hawker Tempest crashed at Felkington Farm, Duddo, near Berwick-on-Tweed.

LOW ON FUEL AND AMMUNITION

The fate of the final RAF POW on this day, Plt Off Richard Hardy, was recalled by Unteroffizier Werner Karl from 1/JG 53 (himself taken POW on 2 Sep 40) who was on the ground at Cherbourg-East/Theville airfield: “Somebody shouted “Spitfire!” and I looked up to see a Spitfire coming

over the airfield. The anti-aircraft guns opened fire and the Spitfire banked around and landed. Having got over the shock, we crowded around the Spitfire. The pilot got out and surrendered to Hauptmann Rolf Pingel, Staffel Kapitän of 2/JG 53” It is believed that Hardy had strayed even closer to the French coast, and low on fuel and ammunition and wounded (‘photos have shown a shirtsleeved Hardy with wounds to his shoulder probably caused by a cannon shell which hit his fuselage just behind his seat) was forced to land at Theville airfield; his demise has been credited to Oberleutnant Georg Claus of Stab III/JG 53 (killed 11 November 1940). Richard Hardy would also spend the

PRISONERS AMONGST 'THE FEW' Battle of Britain 1940

rest of the war as a prisoner of war. As the fighting continued over the English Channel during August, a considerable number of RAF pilots would lose their lives over the sea but ten days after the capture of Hardy and Parker another Spitfire pilot would be captured. 25 year-old Sgt Philip Wareing had been serving on 616 Sqn during July 1940 and moved with the Sqn from RAF Leconfield in Lincolnshire to Kenley in Surrey on 19 August 1940. Three days later he was credited with shooting down a Messerschmitt 109 which reportedly crashed close to the burning wreckage of a Spitfire of 616 Sqn which had been bounced shortly before, Plt Off Hugh Dundas baling out wounded. However, no Messerschmitt 109s are recorded as being lost over the UK that day. Three days later, on 25 August, 616 Sqn took off to intercept a raid by Dornier 17s during which they were bounced by escorting German fighters. The squadron’s Sgt Tom Westmoreland was shot down and killed, although Philip Wareing was seen chasing a Dornier 17 out to sea. Philip later recorded what happened: “My aircraft must have been hit in the radiator in an earlier melee because after I intercepted the four Germans

over the Channel, it started getting hot. The oil pressure and temperature went right off the clock. I didn’t realise it but I was now over France-it only took three minutes to fly across the Channel. I was beginning to slow down and another lot of Germans appeared and went for me. I was going slower and slower and then my engine caught fire. I side slipped and it went out. I was almost gliding by then. The Germans were using me for target practice. Their machine gun bullets on my armour plating sounded like one of those old alarm clocks going off.... “I looked at my poor Spitfire. It was a new one. I’d only had it a few days. Now there were holes all over it. I knew I’d have to get out. There was a lot of smoke. It seemed quiet again for a moment. I opened the cockpit, undid my straps and took off my helmet. I thought I’d remembered everything when I was hit again and then everything happened at once. The petrol tanks just in front of me went up in flames. I felt the heat coming up my legs. At the same time they blew my tail off and I was thrown clear of the ‘plane...” It is highly likely that the coup de grace was given by Oberleutnant Kurt Ruppert of 3/JG 26 (killed 13

June 1943) who claimed to have shot down a Spitfire south of Calais at the time Wareing was reported lost. Philip Wareing came down on land, and after capture was taken to a nearby fighter airfield where he was entertained by German pilots, one of whom would be captured over Britain shortly afterwards and was able to confirm to the RAF that Philip was a POW. However, and if his captors had announced: ‘For you, the war is over!’ they would ultimately be proved wrong. Wareing’s war didn’t end there, and on 16 December 1942 Philip escaped from Oflag XII near

LEFT: Pilot Officer Jim Caister is taken off to captivity in a Luftwaffe staff car after his landing at Guines.

Schubin, Poland, and managed to reach neutral Sweden the following month by stowing away on a ship at Danzig. His escape resulted in the award of a Distinguished Conduct Medal. Although he did not return to frontline operations he remained in RAF service as a flying instructor until late 1945. Philip Wareing passed away in May 1987.

ABOVE: Hptm Von Bonin, of I./JG54, who escorted Roberts in to land.

ENTERTAINED BY THE LUFTWAFFE

The sixth RAF pilot to be captured during the Battle of Britain was Plt Off Jim Caister of 603 Sqn. Caister was older than most of his contemporaries having been born in 1906 and after 

BOTTOM: Pilot Officer Jim Caister’s Spitfire after its arrival in France near Guines on 6 September 1940.

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PRISONERS AMONGST 'THE FEW' Battle of Britain 1940

HURRICANES DROPPED TO SEA LEVEL

NEAR RIGHT: Sgt ‘Jack’ Potter’s POW mug-shot. FAR RIGHT: Sgt Philip Wareing of 616 Squadron. BELOW: Dornier 17-Z that was shot down by the two 605 Squadron Hurricanes on 24 September 1940. BOTTOM RIGHT: A dazed, bloodied and bandaged Plt Off Witold Glowacki pictured with the wreck of his Hurricane in France on 24 September 1940. Less than 24 hours later he was dead.

serving as ground crew in the mid1920s had volunteered for pilot training. After gaining his ‘wings’ he flew as an NCO in the Middle East. At the start of the war Caister was posted to 603 Sqn and on 19 January 1940 he shared the destruction of a Heinkel 111. By 3 September 1940 he had two confirmed victories, plus four shared enemy aircraft destroyed and one shared damaged. For these achievements he would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal on 13 September 1940 after having been commissioned as Pilot Officer on 21 August 1940. His last ‘kill’ was a Messerschmitt 109 off Dunkirk on 3 September but three days after that his Spitfire was damaged in combat after he had strayed too close to the French coast. He was then escorted to crash-land near Guines by Hauptmann Hubertus Von Bonin, the Gruppen Kommandeur of I/JG 54 (killed 15 December 1943) although Von Bonin himself was not credited with the victory. After his capture, Caister was entertained by the pilots of I/JG 54 and he then remained a POW until the end of the war. He died in 1994. It would be another nine days before the Luftwaffe captured another

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Spitfire pilot, although Sgt John ‘Jack’ Potter of 19 Sqn had already been shot down when his Spitfire was damaged in combat with Messerschmitt 110s of I/ZG 1 over Dunkirk on 1 June 1940. With his oil cooler damaged, the engine began to overheat and so he ditched 15 miles off the English coast. He was quickly picked up by a French fishing boat which, to his consternation, then took him back towards Dunkirk. After an eventful few hours, he was landed at Dover and soon back with his Sqn. Unfortunately, when he was next shot down over the English Channel he would not be quite so lucky. Potter would claim two Messerschmitt 110s on 16 and 18 August 1940, but on the afternoon of 15 September 1940 was shot down mid-Channel, probably by Feldwebel Franz Lüders of 6/JG 26 (POW 21 June 1941). Baling out wounded in one foot he could see both a British and German patrol boat heading towards where he was expected to land; unfortunately for the twenty-five year old pilot, the German boat won and he spent the remainder of the war as a POW. ‘Jack’ Potter passed away in 1977.

234 Squadron would suffer a third pilot captured during the Battle of Britain when, on 23 September 1940, Fg Off Terry Kane was shot down off the French coast, probably by Hauptmann Wilhelm Balthasar, Gruppen Kommandeur of III/JG 3 (killed 3 July 1941). Terry had participated in the shooting down of a Junkers 88 on 22 September, only to be shot down the following morning, baling out at 6,000 feet over the English Channel from where he was rescued by the Germans. Terry claimed a Messerschmitt 109 before his demise, but as RAF pilots said they had accounted for nine destroyed, four probably destroyed and another four damaged, then his claim is hard to substantiate against actual Luftwaffe losses which were far short of the total claimed.

PRISONERS AMONGST 'THE FEW' Battle of Britain 1940

Late in the afternoon of 24 September 1940, Plt Offs Ian Muirhead and Witold Glowacki of 605 Sqn took off from RAF Croydon to patrol Beachy Head where they immediately spotted a Dornier 17 scudding in and out of cloud, headed eastwards. Giving chase they opened fire on the German bomber flown by Unteroffizier Hans Figge of 2/KG 76 who had been briefed to carry out a ‘nuisance’ attack on London using cloud for cover. After the second fighter attack, Figge dropped his bombs and headed back for France. The Hurricane pilots gave chase, noticing that the bomber was losing height and then stated it ‘crashed into

the sea five miles south-west of Cap Gris Nez’, although German records show the bomber to have forcedlanded 10 km north-east of Boulogne. It was then that the two Hurricanes were bounced by four Me109s of 3/ JG 51. Both Hurricanes dropped to sea level, crossing the French coast at Ambleteuse after which Ian Muirhead did not see Glowacki again. Over land, Muirhead hedgehopped east for nearly 20 miles before turning south-west, crossing the coast between Boulogne and Le Touquet where the German fighters finally broke off their attack. Claims for two Hurricanes were filed by Oberleutnant Michael Sonner (killed 4 April 1943) and Unteroffizier Adolf Benzinger (killed 27 November 1940), but only one Hurricane was lost. Glowacki had crash-landed his Hurricane near Ambleteuse, injuring himself in the process. In under 24 hours he was dead, either the result of shock or an allergic reaction to an antitetanus injection.

THE FINAL PRISONER

The final RAF fighter pilot taken POW in the Battle of Britain was Fg Off Don McHardy of 229 Sqn. On 26 October, whilst patrolling Croydon, the squadron sighted a number of Me 109s which they chased towards the French coast where they spotted a low flying airsea-rescue Heinkel 59 float plane. Blue Section, Fg Off Geoff Simpson, Sgt

Rupert Ommanney and Fg Off Don McHardy, dived to attack and after two bursts of fire from Ommaney, it landed on the sea off Boulogne. Then, the tables were turned. Suddenly, the Hurricanes were bounced by Me 109s whilst, at the same time, guns on the shore opened fire. Rupert Ommanney managed to get away, but the other two Hurricanes failed to return. Fg Off Geoff Simpson simply disappeared although Don McHardy was later reported a POW. Just one claim was submitted for a Hurricane in the vicinity of Cap Gris Nez by Feldwebel Otto Junge of 6/ JG 52 (POW 2 November 1940) albeit Leutnant Fritz Geisshardt of 1(Jagd)/ Lehrgeschwader 2 (killed 5 April 1943) and Oberleutnant Egon Troha of 9/JG 3 (himself POW three days later) each claimed a Hurricane west of Boulogne shortly after Junge’s kill. Don McHardy would remained POW until the end of the war but passed away in 1967. In addition to these ten pilots taken POW during the Battle of Britain, six RAF Fighter Command Blenheim aircrew (three from 248 Sqn on 20 October 1940 and three from the Fighter Interception Unit on 13 September 1940) were also captured. Overall, the total represents a very small percentage of those shot down during the battle. Only a few of ‘The Few’, they also played their part and their story deserves to be told. 

ABOVE: Hptm Balthasar (right) who most likely shot down Kane on 2 September 1940. Second from left is Egon Troha who probably shot down McHardy on 26 October 1940. MIDDLE: The victory marks on the tail of Balthasar’s Me 109, with Kane either his 32nd or 33rd ‘kill’.

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AUG/SEPT 1945

DATES THAT SHAPED THE SECOND WORLD WAR Key Moments and Events that affected Brit Britain

AUGUST 1945 7 14

The secret of Radio Direction Finding (RDF), now called radar, was revealed publically for the first time. At midnight, the unconditional surrender of Japan was announced by President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee.

Speaking to both houses in Parliament, the King made the following statement: “The surrender of Japan has brought to an end six years of warfare which have caused untold loss and misery to the world. In this hour of deliverance, it is fitting that we should give humble and solemn thanks to God by whose grace we have been brought to final victory. My Armed Forces from every part of My Commonwealth and Empire have fought with steady courage and endurance. To them as well as to all others who have borne their share in bringing about this great victory and to all our Allies our gratitude is due. We remember especially at this time those who have laid down their lives in the fight for freedom.”

15

A two-day national holiday was announced in the UK. Many people, having not heard the announcement made by Clement Attlee on the radio at midnight, had gone to work only to be sent home.

15

 THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

At noon on 15 AUGUST 1945, six days after the dropping of the second atomic bomb, Emperor Hirohito made a radio broadcast to his people announcing the Japanese acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. The war had effectively ended. The formal signing of the Instrument of Surrender, however, did not take place until Sunday, 2 September 1945. The ceremony, which took place on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, lasted twenty-three minutes and was broadcast throughout the world. The first person to sign was the Japanese foreign minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu, who was followed by the Chief of the Japanese Army’s General Staff, General Yoshijiro Umezu. The third signatory was General Douglas MacArthur – seen here signing in his capacity as the Supreme Allied Commander. Behind him are the two witnesses, Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright and Lieutenant General Arthur Percival (furthest from the camera). Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser was the sixth person to sign, representing the British people. (US NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

 FIRST ATOMIC WEAPON USED IN COMBAT

At 08.16 hours on MONDAY, 6 AUGUST 1945, a USAAF Boeing B-29 of the 509th Composite Group, that piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets and nicknamed Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The device produced an explosion equal to 15,000 tons of TNT and killed 75,000 people. Three days later, another B-29, Bockscar flown by Major Charles Sweeney, dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This picture, found in Honkawa Elementary School in 2013, is of the Hiroshima atom bomb cloud, and was believed to have been taken about thirty minutes after detonation from a location about six miles east of the hypo-center. (COURTESY OF HONKAWA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL)

The Japanese copy of the Instrument of Surrender which was signed on 2 September 1945. It is held by the Diplomatic Record Office of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (WORLD IMAGING)

A national service of remembrance and thanksgiving was held at 15.00 hours in St Paul’s Cathedral which was attended by the King and Queen.

19

It was announced in Parliament that the President of the United States had issued a directive exercising his powers under the Lend-Lease Act to order the cancellation of all outstanding Lend-Lease contracts and that stocks and deliveries procured under the Act were now required to be paid for either in cash or through credit arrangements to be negotiated.

24

25

British forces in Germany are re-designated the British Army of the Rhine.

Operations Birdcage and Mastiff began. Birdcage was the dropping of leaflets on prisoner of war and internment camps, detailing the actions to be taken by the inmates in the aftermath of the Japanese surrender. Operation Mastiff was the code-name given to the dropping of airborne medical teams to various camps.

26

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The Allied occupation of the main Japanese islands began when 150 US personnel were flown to the city of Atsugi.

DATES THAT SHAPED THE SECOND WORLD WAR Key Moments and Events that affected Britain

 SINGAPORE LIBERATED Though the Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945, it was some time before British personnel were in situ to formalise the liberation of Singapore. Indeed, the formal signing of the surrender instrument was held at City Hall on Wednesday, 12 September 1945, when Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, was present as General Seishiro Itagaki signed on behalf of General Hisaichi Terauchi. Also present were Admiral Power, Lieutenant-General Slim, Lieutenant-General Wheeler and Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park. The surrender was followed by a victory parade. A British military administration using surrendered Japanese troops as security forces was formed to govern the island until March 1946. (JAMES LUTO COLLECTION)

AUG/SEPT 1945

SEPTEMBER 1945 The last German unit surrendered. The personnel of Operation Haudegen, dropped off by U-307 in 1944 to establish a meteorological station on the island of Spitsbergen (now Svalbard), surrendered to the captain of a Norwegian vessel.

4

A de Havilland Mosquito PR34, RG241 of 540 Squadron, set a new record for the fastest east to west crossing of the Atlantic by flying from St. Mawgan in Cornwall to Gander, Newfoundland, in seven hours.

6

A formation of some 300 aircraft flew over London in the first Battle of Britain anniversary flypast. The formation was led by 247 Squadron in its new Vampire fighters, the first time the public had seen the aircraft. The honour of leading the flypast was given to Douglas Bader.

15

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GREAT WAR GALLANTRY

August 1915

GREAT WAR GALLANTRY AUGUST 1915

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 August 1915. i A contemporary artist’s depiction of the men of the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers landing on ‘W’ Beach, Gallipoli, on 25 April 1915. In the face of devastating Turkish fire the Fusiliers captured the beach, but at horrendous cost. Of the first 200 men who landed only twenty-one survived. A total of 600 men were killed or wounded. During the course of this action six Victoria Crosses – the famous “Six VCs Before Breakfast” – were won by the regiment. Three of these VCs, those of Captain Richard Raymond Willis, Sergeant Alfred Richards and Private William Keneally, were announced in August 1915. The medals of Wills and Richards are held by the Lord Ashcroft Collection. (HISTORIC

MILITARY PRESS)

T

HE LARGE number of awards announced in August 1915 again included many for actions relating to the events in Turkey, and more specifically on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The abortive Gallipoli campaign had, however, begun as a purely naval operation to sail warships through the Dardanelles and bombard Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, into surrender. One of these attempts began at 10.10 hours on the morning of Saturday, 18 March 1916, when destroyers fitted with minesweeps entered

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the Dardanelles. Behind them came the battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Agamemnon, HMS Lord Nelson and HMS Inflexible, whilst other battleships guarded the flanks of the armada. “It looked,” wrote one of those involved, “as if no human forces could withstand such [an] array of might and power”. The Turkish defenders had other ideas. The enemy’s shore-based artillery began to engage the Allied warships. For its part, the Invincible-class battlecruiser HMS Inflexible soon found itself under fire. In a letter dated 26 March 1915, Vice-Admiral de Robeck

wrote: “It was evident that some of these [Turkish] batteries were directing their fire on the control positions of the ships. In this way the ‘Inflexible’ lost two very fine officers who were in her fore control, viz., Commander Rudolf H.C. Verner and Lieutenant Arthur W. Blaker.” Before his death, Verner, Inflexible’s Gunnery Officer, had stated: “Fore-control out of action. We are all dead and dying up here. Send up some morphia … For God’s sake, put out the fire or we shall all be roasted … Tell my people that I played the game and stuck it out.”

GREAT WAR GALLANTRY August 1915

It was not only the enemy’s guns that were taking a toll of the Allied warships. A Turkish torpedo boat and two tugs were seen throwing mines overboard. Midshipman Denham on board HMS Agamemnon saw the deployment of the mines: “The water must have been thick with mines for we could see a Turkish torpedo boat, a merchantman and two tugs a long way past the Narrows and they must have been heaving mines overboard for all they were worth.” The mines soon began to take effect. At 15.45 hours HMS Inlexible, which had already began to list from the effects of a shell that had hit the water very close to her port side, struck one of these mines on her starboard bow whilst turning in Eren Keui Bay. Immediately the water rushed into her hull, killing thirty-nine men. She crept slowly back to the Greek island of

Tenedos where it was discovered that twenty compartments were flooded through a hole thirty feet by twenty-six feet wide. In his same letter, de Robeck concluded that “it reflects great credit on Captain Phillimore and his ship’s company that ‘Inflexible’ was able to reach shoal water off Tenedos”. Perhaps it is therefore unsurprising that a number of the gallantry awards detailed in The London Gazette in August 1915 were to members of HMS Inlexible’s crew in respect their actions that day. Lieutenant-Commander (Commander by the time of the announcement) the Hon. Patrick George Edward Cavendish Acheson and Acting Sub-Lieutenant Alfred Edward Boscawen Giles were both awarded the Distinguished Service Order. With two others, Chief Engine

Room Artificer 2nd Class Robert Snowdon and Stoker 1st Class Thomas Davidson, Acheson and Giles “went down into the fore magazine and shell room of HMS ‘Inflexible’ when the parties working in these places had been driven out by fumes, caused by the explosion of a mine under the ship; they closed valves and water-tight doors, lights being out, the shell room having two feet of water in it, rising quickly, and the magazine flooding slowly. The fumes were beginning to take effect on Acting Sub-Lieutenant Giles, but neither he nor the others left until ordered to do so by LieutenantCommander Acheson, who was the last to leave the shell room.” Whilst attempting to deal with the mines, Acting Sub-Lieutenant George Tothill Philip was in charge of one Inlexible’s picket boats. As noted in The London Gazette of 16 August, this 

o A pre-war picture of the Invincible-class battlecruiser HMS Inflexible. Its involvement in the Dardanelles Campaign led to a number of the gallantry awards announced in August 1915. (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

u Another victim of the Turkish mines on 18 March

1915, the Formidable-class pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Irresistible, pictured listing and sinking in the Dardanelles, 18 March 1915 – an image taken from the battleship HMS Lord Nelson. Having struck a mine at 16.16 hours, the badly-damaged Irresistible was left without power, causing her to drift within range of Turkish guns which laid down a heavy barrage on her. HMS Irresistible finally sank at about 19.30 hours, her crew suffering about 150 casualties. This warship’s loss led to a number of gallantry awards announced in August 1915. For example, Captain Christopher Powell Metcalfe “took HMS ‘Wear’ alongside her, and rescued nearly the whole of her crew under a very heavy fire, which caused several casualties – a very fine display of seamanship”, whilst Midshipman Hugh Dixon, “in command of ‘Queen Elizabeth’s’ picket boat … was responsible for saving several officers and men from ‘Irresistible’ while under heavy fire”. Metcalfe was awarded the DSO, Dixon the DSC. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

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GREAT WAR GALLANTRY

August 1915 p Captain Butler’s second VC action took place on 27 December 1914: “When on patrol duty, with a few men, he swam the Ekam River, which was held by the enemy, alone and in the face of a brisk fire, completed his reconnaissance on the further bank, and returned in safety. Two of his men were wounded while he was actually in the water.” Butler was killed in action at Motomba on 5 September 1916. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

o One award from 16 August 1915 was that of Lt. Colin George MacArthur, the Commanding Officer of HMS B6, seen here in the Solent. The announcement of his DSC stated: “[He] carried out two most enterprising reconnaissances … both under fire... his skilful handling saved his ship.” (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

“picket-boat was struck by a heavy shell. Acting Sub-Lieutenant Philip got her alongside ‘Inflexible,’ ordered his crew inboard, and, though his knee was injured, got into the engine-room, shut off steam and closed scuttle to stokehold before leaving his boat.” Five of Inflexible’s crew received the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, a total of nine of which were announced in August 1915 – a list which doubled the number awarded so far in the First World War. Of these five men, Able Seaman Walter Samuel Smedley, “though wounded himself, carried a wounded Petty Officer down from the fore top after it had been struck by a shell; he subsequently went aloft twice more, and started for a third attempt”. Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class Joseph

GALLANTRY AWARDS GAZETTED IN AUGUST 1915 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

16 43 33 23 420 9 129 673

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

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J. Fielding Runalls, meanwhile, “escaped up the trunk from the fore air compressor room with difficulty, helped up his stoker and closed the W.T. door of the trunk before he fell insensible”, whilst Chief Sick Berth Steward Henry A. Hamlin was recognised for his actions when, albeit “partially overcome by fumes, [he] assisted Surgeon Langford while the ‘Inflexible’ was proceeding to Tenedos”. The fraught journey to safety – HMS Inflexible had to be beached at Tenedos as she had taken in some 1,600 long tons of water – was marked by other acts on gallantry: “During the time Inflexible was steaming to Tenedos after having struck the mine, the engine-room being in semi-darkness and great heat, the ship in possible danger of sinking on passage, a high standard of discipline was called for in the Engineer Department, a call which was more than met. “Engineer-Commander Harry Lashmore, responsible for the discipline of the engine-room department, was in the starboard engine-room throughout the

passage, and set a fine example to his men. Engineer-LieutenantCommander Lester was in the port engine-room carrying out the same duties as EngineerCommander Lashmore did in the starboard engine-room. Engineer-Lieutenant Parry went twice through the thick fumes to the refrigerator flat to see if the doors and valves were closed; he also closed the escape hatch from the submerged flat, fumes and vapour coming up the trunk at the time. Surgeon Langford brought up the wounded from the fore distributing station in the dark. Fumes permeated the place, rendering five men unconscious. Surgeon Langford, though partially overcome by the fumes, continued his work.” These four men all received the Distinguished Service Order, forty-three of which were announced in August 1915. By this stage of the war, an increasing number of Bars were beginning to appear in the gallantry listings. Of the 420 Distinguished Conduct Medals announced in August 1915, five

GREAT WAR GALLANTRY August 1915

u Acting been damaged by a German mine he Corporal Issy made a hole into the enemy’s gallery Smith, 1st accidentally. He at once blocked it up Battalion with sandbags and laid a charge against Manchester it. Our mine was then successfully fired, Regiment, was awarded the VC destroying the enemy’s gallery and for his actions exploding the charge which they had near Ypres on laid.” In both cases, The London Gazette 26 April 1915: entries contain the additional comment “He left his that both men had “rendered valuable Company on his service previously in work of a similarly own initiative and went well dangerous nature”. 

were Bars. Of these, four were to infantrymen on the Western Front; the fifth to was to an engineer – more specifically a tunneller. Acting 2nd Corporal E. Dalton was serving with 170th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, at the time of both of his awards of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The first, gazetted on 23 June 1915, was for “conspicuous gallantry and good work under very dangerous conditions in charging and tamping mines within five feet of the enemy’s mine. On the 21st April, 1915, at Cuinchy, he crawled forward and surprised three Germans behind a sand bag barricade, driving them out and thus enabling a charge to be fired and the gallery destroyed.” With his unit still at Cuinchy, Dalton again displayed “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty” on the night of 21 June, “in going down a mine, and assisting in the rescue of four men under circumstances of great risk. On the morning of the 22nd June the enemy exploded a mine, entombing about nine of our men, and this Non-Commissioned Officer went down the mine time after time, with the greatest courage, and assisted

in bringing out all the men. He was badly affected by the poison fumes.” Such was the changing nature of warfare on the Western Front that Dalton was not the only member of the 170th Tunnelling Company to be honoured. Indeed, Lieutenant Reginald Graham Trower displayed “conspicuous gallantry, ability and resource when temporarily in command of the 170th Company, Royal Engineers, during two minor enterprises (which included mine explosions) on 24th and 29th June, 1915, at Cuinchy. The success of these enterprises is mainly due to the manner in which Lieutenant Trower organised the offensive mining operations.” Whilst Trower was awarded one of the twenty-three Military Crosses announced in August 1915, two other members of his unit, Sergeant G. Workman and Sapper T. Welsby, were, like Dalton, to receive the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Both Workman and Welsby were involved in the same incident at a location known as the Cock Shy, near Cuinchy, on 28 June 1915. Their citations contain almost identical wording, though in this instance we shall quote Workman’s: “Whilst clearing a gallery which had

o Captain Lanoe George Hawker DSO was the first British flying Ace of the Great War, and the third pilot to be awarded the VC, announced on 24 August 1915. The London Gazette states: “When flying alone [25 July 1915] he attacked three German aeroplanes... The first managed eventually to escape, the second was driven to ground damaged, and the third, which he attacked at a height of about 10,000 feet, was driven to earth in our lines, the pilot and observer being killed.” (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

forward towards the enemy’s position to assist a severely wounded man, whom he carried a distance of 250 yards into safety whilst exposed the whole time to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. Subsequently Corporal Smith displayed great gallantry, when the casualties were very heavy, in voluntarily assisting to bring in many more wounded men... attending to them with the greatest devotion to duty regardless of personal risk.” (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

RUNNING TOTAL OF

GALLANTRY AWARDS AS OF THE END OF AUGUST 1915 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

108 764 89 894 2663 18 398 4934

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LORD ASHCROFT'S "HERO OF THE MONTH"

Captain John Aidan Lidell VC, MC

CAPTAIN

JOHN AIDAN

LORD ASHCROFT'S "HERO OF THE MONTH"

LIDELL

VC, MC

Remarkable bravery on the ground and in the air earned Captain John Aidan Liddell both an MC and a VC

ENDURANCE J AGGRESSION • BOLDNESS INITIATIVE • LEADERSHIP SACRIFICE • SKILL

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. Captain John Aidan Liddell’s award is part of the collection and Lord Ashcroft feels that it falls within the category of endurance: “Endurance is the opposite of Aggression. It is all about ‘cold courage’, about knowing the cost and being prepared to pay it. It involves mental and physical resilience, not giving in and rising above the pain. It is almost infinite.”

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OHN AIDAN Liddell was born in Newcastle-uponTyne on 3 August 1888. The eldest of five children, he was educated at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, and, later, Balliol, Oxford. Known to his family and friends as “Aidan”, he earned the nickname of “Oozy” at school because he was always messing around with engines and chemicals. An early interest in astronomy meant that in 1906 he accompanied his father to Spain to witness a total solar eclipse. At Oxford, he took a degree in zoology, obtaining first class honours. In 1912, and “not wanting to be a slacker”, he joined the Special Reserve of Officers of the 3rd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The following year, Liddell took up flying, a pastime that was still in its infancy and was fraught with danger. He obtained his Aero Certificate in 1914 – as a private pilot. Liddell was promoted to lieutenant in July 1914 and captain the next month, when hostilities began. In early September, he was twice given the job of burying the dead, writing in a letter home that life was “nothing except noise and unpleasant smells and sights and jobs”. By mid-November, he was noting in his diary that he had gone a month without a bath and seven weeks without a change of socks in the wet trenches. Yet, Liddell was a dedicated and brave soldier: one comrade told how Liddell had saved his life by helping him when he was wounded. His battalion was finally relieved on 11 December after he had spent

forty-three consecutive days in the line. His efforts had been noted, though, as he was Mentioned in Dispatches. Two weeks later, he was present at the famous unofficial ceasefire on Christmas Day, writing to his old college: “Most of our men and officers, including myself, went out and met them half-way, where we exchanged smokes, newspapers, and various souvenirs for over an hour.” In January 1915, while on a week’s leave in England, Liddell learned he had been awarded the Military Cross for his bravery with the Machine-Gun Section. However, after re-joining the battalion, his frail health gave way and he was evacuated to England. After a period of recuperation, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Training at three British air bases followed, after which he left for France, on 23 July 1915, to join 7 Squadron at St Omer. Liddell flew his first sortie on 29 July and his second, with Second Lieutenant Richard Peck as his observer, two days later. The two men took off in a Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.5 aircraft on a

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LORD ASHCROFT'S "HERO OF THE MONTH" Captain John Aidan Lidell VC, MC reconnaissance mission shortly before midday and arrived over Ostend at 5,000 feet. Heading for Bruges, they were suddenly fired on from above by a German bi-plane. Peck returned fire with his Lewis gun, but then the R.E.5 lurched forward and rolled on to its back: one of the bursts of fire had ripped through the side of the rear cockpit. Worse still, a bullet had hit Liddell’s right thigh, exposing the bone, and the pilot had fallen unconscious with shock. The aircraft began to drop to the ground as all loose objects in the cockpit whistled past Peck’s head. When the aircraft had fallen 3,000 feet, Liddell regained consciousness and

righted it. However, the control wheel was half shot away and the throttle was shattered. Liddell, by now behind enemy lines, could either land and face inevitable imprisonment or try to make it back to the Allied lines. He chose the latter option and, for half an hour and in severe pain, Liddell flew his aircraft to safety, holding the

u Captain Liddle lies on a stretcher having been lifted from the cockpit of his aircraft. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

pu The medals of Captain John Aidan Liddell VC, MC. (LORD ASHCROFT COLLECTION)

pu

broken control wheel in one hand and operating the rudder cables with the other. When they reached La Panne airfield, Liddell made his approach on full engine power because of the broken throttle, then switched it off before touchdown. He made a perfect landing, then refused to allow a group of Belgian airmen to move him until a doctor arrived. While he was waiting, he tied a tourniquet to stem the flow of blood and made a makeshift splint, and when he was finally lifted from the battered aircraft he even managed a smile for a waiting photographer. Later, staff at La Panne hospital battled to save his injured leg. Liddell’s courageous deeds were well reported in Britain and he received many distinguished visitors while in hospital. On 3 August – his twenty-seventh birthday – he wrote a typically optimistic letter to his mother, saying he was being “pampered”. He also made light of plunging towards the ground in his ’plane: “I was waiting for the bump,

A highly stylized depiction of Captain Liddell flying over British lines after he was severely wounded, his thigh being broken, whilst flying a reconnaissance sortie over Ostend, Bruges and Ghent, on 31 July 1915.

when suddenly I thought it might be a good thing to straighten her out and try and recover flying position”. He quoted a letter he had received from a Major Hoare, praising his actions: “You have set a standard for pluck and determination which may be equalled, but certainly will not be surpassed, during this War.” (HISTORIC MILITARY Unfortunately, Liddell’s cheerful PRESS) optimism was misplaced. Blood poisoning (septicaemia) had spread and, p A photograph as his condition worsened, resulted in of John Aidan his leg being amputated. However, his Liddell (front) mother managed to see him shortly taken during his service with the before he died on 31 August 1915, just 3rd Battalion, eight days after the announcement Princess of his Victoria Cross. After his death, Louise’s (Argyll the Argylls issued a statement saying: and Sutherland “We all feel as if the light has gone Highlanders), on the Western out, the light of our Battalion.” More than a thousand people wrote letters of Front prior to his transfer condolence to his parents. to the Royal His VC was presented to his father by Flying Corps. George V at Buckingham Palace on 16 (LORD ASHCROFT November 1916. Today I feel privileged COLLECTION) to own this courageous man’s medal group, having purchased them at a Spink auction in London in 1997. 

VICTORIA CROSS HEROES i Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is a

businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. His book Victoria Cross Heroes is largely based on his VC collection and contains a write-up on Liddell’s bravery. For more information, please visit: www. victoriacrossheroes.com Lord Ashcroft’s VC and GC collection is on public display at Imperial War Museums, 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 www.britainatwar.com 113

The First W

rld War in Objects

GALLIPOLI NORDENFELT GUN NO.13

LOCATED WITHIN the grounds of the Tower of London is an unusual relic from the Gallipoli landings of 25 April 1915 – a four-barrelled Nordenfelt volley gun. This particular example was captured by the men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers on that fateful day. The battalion’s regimental historian, H.C. O’Neill OBE, provided the following account of the landings: “The landing place of the 2nd Battalion was a small natural amphitheatre with a narrow floor of sand about 200 yards long, lying on the north-west face of the peninsula. The cliff was some 100 feet high, rising somewhat steeply from the beach, and there was no natural way up. The boats were towed in by the pinnaces to about 100 yards from the beach, when, cast off, they had to look to themselves. Each boat had a midshipman and two bluejackets, who were to take them to the mine-sweeper when the first half of the battalion had landed. “The men rowed in as rapidly as possible until the boats grounded, when they jumped into the water, and waded ashore. In places the men were chest-deep in the sea; and, in any case, the thorough wetting would have been a very dangerous handicap where success and the cost of it depended on speed. But apparently no one thought of this handicap, and the men forced their way ashore and scrambled up the crumbling cliff. Up to this point the battalion had suffered hardly any casualties.” As an information panel overlooking X Beach today explains, when the Fusiliers clambered ashore at 06.15 hours there were just nine Turkish soldiers defending the seaward slopes. These men were from the Ottoman 2nd Battalion, 26th Regiment, 6th Division. They were soon reinforced by troops from the 7th Division who were diverted whilst heading southwards en route to V and W beaches. It was during the fighting at X Beach that this Nordenfelt volley gun was captured. It is believed that it had originally been positioned at Gully Beach, near the mouth of Gully Ravine, to the north of X Beach,

ABOVE: Looking north up X Beach today. It was in this area of the Gallipoli coastline that the Nordenfelt volley gun seen here was captured. (HISTORIC MILITARY PRESS)

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ABOVE: The captured 1-inch Nordenfelt volley gun that is on display at the Tower of London. This captured Nordenfelt volley gun is missing a number of parts, not least the distinctive hopper that would have been fitted above the breech and from which ammunition, sub-divided into separate columns for each barrel, was fed by gravity. (COURTESY OF ROBERT MITCHELL)

and was one of two moved southwards by the Turks as the landings commenced. It is uncertain at exactly what stage the transfer was made, though the historian Peter Hart notes in his book Gallipoli that as the landings began, HMS Implacable, commanded by Captain Hughes C. Lockyer, had opened fire from “close range to blast the cliff tops above X Beach to pieces”. The result of this bombardment, he adds, was that “the two four-barrelled Nordenfelts were put out of action”. The 1-inch Nordenfelt volley gun was an early rapid-firing light gun intended to defend larger warships against the new small fast-moving torpedo boats in the late 1870s to the early 1880s. A number were used by the Ottoman Navy and were subsequently adapted for land use. Writing in 1936, Captain Lockyer described the examples captured at X Beach as “four barrelled 1-inch Nordenfelts on timber mountings”. A little later he goes on to say that “these guns fired four half-pound steel projectiles at a time and 30 aimed rounds a minute”.

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