Britain at War 2014-04 - PDF Free Download (2024)

HEROES OF HILL 170: DARING BURMA VC

BRITAIN’S BEST SELLING MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY

Lieutenant George nd Knowla ndo, 1945 No.1 Comma

Battle of Britain

Chaos On The Ground

The Raid On Middle Wallop, 14 August 1940

MARCH TO FREEDOM

The true story of how Allied prisoners of war were forced from their camp in 1945

Dan Snow Reveals

Re-Discovered WW1 Trenches

HMS NATAL DISASTER

How one warship exploded whilst at anchor in the Cromarty Firth 1915

OPERATION RENDER SAFE: DANGEROUS WW2 LEGACY

APRIL 2014 ISSUE 84 £4.40

71 THE BATTLE OF LYME BAY

Little more than a month before the start of Operation Overlord, elements of the US forces that were to assault Utah Beach conducted a large-scale exercise which was intended to simulate as closely as possible the crossChannel invasion and landing. It was, writes Mark Khan, more realistic than anyone ever imagined.

Contents ISSUE 84 APRIL 2014

FEATURES

28 CHAOS ON THE GROUND

During the afternoon of Wednesday, 14 August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe struck at the RAF airfield at Middle Wallop.

35 WAR LORD

The 27th Earl of Crawford had been an MP and Chief Whip of the Conservative Party. When war broke out in 1914 a commission could have been his. Instead he joined up as a private.

43 ATTACK ON THIEPVAL

On 26 September 1916, as the Battle of the Somme wore on, the men of the 8th (Service) Battalion Suffolk Regiment formed part of a major attack on Thiepval.

50 THE HEROES OF HILL 170

Editor’s Choice

63 STIRLING PURSUIT

Andy Saunders tells the story of one of night fighter Ace Leutnant Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer’s 121 aerial victories.

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78 OPERATION RENDER SAFE

More than 200 personnel from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and the Solomon Islands recently completed an explosive ordnance disposal operation in the Solomon Islands.

82 LORD ASHCROFT’S “HERO OF THE MONTH” In the latest instalment in a series examining his “Hero of the Month”, Lord Ashcroft details the actions of Fusilier Derek Kinne GC whilst a PoW during the Korean War.

88 MARCH TO FREEDOM

In 1945 the Germans were determined to keep those held in PoW camps from being liberated. This meant moving the prisoners away from the advancing Allied armies.

95 RATING PILOT

Having begun his career as a boy seaman, Frederick Charles Rice, one of the Fleet Air Arm’s Rating Pilots, went on to become the first naval pilot of the war to sink a German U-boat.

106 THE NATAL DISASTER

The Warrior-class armoured cruiser HMS Natal was sunk by an explosion in December 1915 whilst at anchor in the Cromarty Firth. www.britainatwar.com

Notes from the Dugout

REGULARS 6 BRIEFING ROOM

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

24 FIELDPOST Your letters.

42 IMAGE OF WAR

22 May 1945: “No Escape” – an attack on Japanese shipping near the Nicobar Islands.

58 RAF ON THE AIR

Flight Lieutenant Reginald Burrage describes the rescue of the crew of an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley from the waters of the Atlantic.

68 DATES THAT SHAPED THE WAR

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

101 RECONNAISSANCE REPORT A look at new books and products.

114 WHAT I WOULD SAVE IN A FIRE

Colin Glover, a volunteer at the National Trust’s Clouds Hill in Dorset, reveals why he would save a pair of candlesticks presented to T.E. Lawrence.

ANY READERS will have seen the first airing of I Was There: The Great War Interviews, shown by the BBC just as this issue of the magazine was going to print. Today, we place great value on the personal recollections of those that fought in the conflicts of the past, so it seems remarkable that so many hours of these stirring and often graphic first-hand accounts were not used when they were initially recorded in the 1960s. Fortunately, as we explain on page 10, nearly all of the original interviews were retained by the BBC at the time and were duly deposited in the care of the Imperial War Museum. As a result, we can now hear more of the authentic voices of that heroic generation – a generation that is now as much a part of history as the events they describe. Some of the people featured in the “re-discovered” interviews will be known to Britain at War Magazine’s readers – individuals such as Cecil Arthur Lewis and Mabel Lethbridge (whose dramatic account of the explosion at No. 7 National Filling Factory at Hayes we have featured in the past). Others, however, indeed the majority, will not. The public airing of these testimonies therefore provides a valuable addition to the record of the events of the First World War.

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Martin Mace Editor

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www.britainatwar.com Should you wish to correspond with any of the ‘Britain at War’ team in particular, you can find them listed below: Editor: Martin Mace Assistant Editor: John Grehan Editorial Consultant: Mark Khan Editorial Correspondent: Geoff Simpson Australasia Correspondent: Ken Wright Design: Dan Jarman EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES: Britain at War Magazine, Green Arbor, Rectory Road, Storrington, West Sussex, RH20 4EF or email: [emailprotected]. ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES: For all aspects of advertising in ‘Britain at War’ Magazine please contact Alison Sanders, Advertisem*nt Sales Manager Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131 or email: [emailprotected]

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

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

Prague Memorial To Honour RAF Airmen PLANS HAVE been announced to unveil a memorial to those Czechoslovak airmen who served with the RAF in the Second World War. The memorial of a winged lion, created by British sculptor Colin Spofforth, is being donated by the local British community to the people of the present day Czech and Slovak republics, reports Geoff Simpson. Announcing the plans, Jan Thompson OBE, British Ambassador to the Czech Republic, said: “The bilateral relationship between the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom today is strong and broad … A defining point in the history of our relationship was forged during the Second World War, by Czechoslovaks fighting as part of the British armed forces. The part played by the airmen was particularly important at critical stages, not least of which was the Battle of Britain. I am delighted that

the thriving British community in the Czech Republic today has recognised this invaluable contribution, and wishes to record its thanks by presenting such a splendid statue to the Czech people.” The idea for the memorial, which will be unveiled in Prague on 17 June 2014, came from Euan Edworthy, a long standing British resident of the Czech Republic. It will depict a winged lion because the lion is an important heraldic symbol in both countries, with the wings representing airmen. The unveiling When finished, the winged lion will be a two-metre bronze statue.

ceremony will feature a Spitfire flypast and Beating Retreat by the RAF Central Band. Nearly 2,500 Czechoslovak personnel served with the RAF in the Second World War, including twenty-five members of the

Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Four wartime RAF squadrons were designated “Czechoslovak” – Nos. 310, 311, 312 and 313. Almost 500 Czechoslovak personnel were killed whilst serving as aircrew.

Security Service Records Released

THE THIRTIETH release of Security Service records by the National Archives contains a total of 110 files. It brings the total number of Security Service records available to researchers to 5,138. As with previous releases, the majority of the records are personal files which relate to individuals. The remainder are a combination of subject files and list files. The records cover a range

The Security Service file on Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE covers the period from 29 October 1940 through to 26 October 1961. During the early part of this period, Redgrave enlisted in the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman in July 1941, but was discharged on medical grounds in November the following year. This portrait of Sir Michael Redgrave was taken in 1978. (COURTESY OF ALLAN WARREN)

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of subjects and span the inter-war, Second World War and post-war eras. Included in this release is the file on the actor Michael Redgrave. He first came to the Security Service’s notice in 1940 when he signed the manifesto of the Communist-inspired “People’s Vigilance Committee”. This led to Mr Jardine Brown from the BBC writing a concerned letter in October 1940 to one Major S.C. Strong for advice on “whether or not it is wise for us to employ Michael Redgrave for broadcasting”. Strong thought Redgrave had ‘made a fool of himself’ but saw no objection to his continued employment. The file includes a list of twenty-one occasions on which Redgrave came to the attention of Special Branch between 1941 and 1949. One of the files reveals the wartime activities of Marita Perigoe, the pro-Nazi wife of an interned member of the British Union of Fascists. This case emerged from a plan formed in the early part of the war to establish the extent of pro-Nazi support among employees of Siemens (GB), a company previously known to have provided cover for German espionage. Papers in Perigoe’s file reveal how she was approached by an undercover MI5 agent, code-named Jack King, in the summer of 1940, with the aim of identifying individuals

whose fascist views might cause them to commit acts of sabotage and to supportthe enemy in the event of an invasion.Posing as the Gestapo’s representative in Britain, the agent was seen by Perigoe and her fellow fascists as their link to Germany. The agent was instructed not to encourage or foster acts of espionage, but was, nevertheless, presented with secret information linked to the war effort by individuals, including Perigoe herself, who wanted their information to reach Berlin. Examples included details of British research into jet propulsion and “Window”, an RAF radar countermeasure. The circle of reporting on pro-Nazi activity widened until the operation represented what was described in 1945 as the “most valuable single source of information” about subversive fascist intentions in Britain. One of the letters that Perigoe wrote to Jack King is reproduced from the file: “Why Germany and England must always be at loggerheads is beyond me ... You are quite right when you say you doubt the alleged ill-treatment of the Jews in Germany, for it was not as we were made to believe. What your German friend said about the leaders of Germany is quite right and if only common sense had prevailed here, this awful war would never have taken place. But there is not the slightest doubt this

war was made for the last stand of Jewish Capitalism. Sometimes I think that the British Empire is a pawn to the Jews. I know only too well how they exploited Germany to the utmost degree. There is so much I would like to say ...” That was how she ended the letter and MI5 was intrigued to learn just what else Marita Perigoe wanted to say and suggested a meeting, as they had not yet met face-to-face. The man who was Jack King had in fact no training in such situations, being only a desk-bound officer. So a trained agent had to take his place. The problem was that the first Jack King had sent hand-written letters. If, at any stage during their meeting, the new Jack King had to write something the subterfuge would be immediately spotted. So when he and Perigoe met, Jack King had to pretend that he had hurt his hand! After a couple of meetings it was decided that Marita Perigoe did not represent a serious threat to national security. However, she was placed on the ‘Invasion List’ to be kept under surveillance in the event of a German attack and landing, “because in those circ*mstances she would be only too pleased to assist the enemy in every possible way. She has, in fact, announced her intention of hoisting a Nazi flag on her house when the German troops get near.” www.britainatwar.com

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

A WW1 Sailor’s Letter Is Finally Delivered

IT WAS in 1980 that a letter was found behind a fireplace at a house in Bridge Street, Kirkwall, Orkney. It was handed to the staff of Orkney Library and Archive in 2013, who decided to launch an appeal asking for any leads which might help identify the man who wrote the letter or his family. The letter was dated 1916, written in Orkney and addressed to a Mr John Phillips in Carmathenshire in South Wales. The author of the letter was not known – it was just signed from “Your Blue Jacket Boy”. He was, however, known to be a sailor, and the letter was to his family. Eventually, a posting on the Orkney Library and Archive blog led to the sailor being identified. Lucy Gibbon, Assistant Archivist, said: “We posted it last year and asked our followers to help us find out the author’s real name, and if he had any descendants. We wanted to show the process of researching an enquiry to the public, and of course wanted to

see if we could get this letter to his family.” Through a series of researchers who picked up on the appeal, including a gentleman in Canada, it was discovered that “Blue Jacket Boy” was one David John Phillips – or Dai –from Llanelli in Wales. Phillips had enlisted in the Royal Navy on9 May 1916.He began his service as an Ordinary Seaman, being promoted to Able Seaman on 24 February 1917. He served on HMS Cyclops, this vessel being a fleet repair ship which was based in Scapa Flow for much of the First World War. Stationed in Orkney, Phillips had married an Orcadian, Catherine Isabella Coghill Johnston, on 11 April 1919. Catherine’s family lived in Bridge Street, Kirkwall. The couple moved back to Llanelli after the war, opening a greengrocers shop and starting a family.They lived there as an extended family with their grandchildren until their deaths. Dai’s granddaughter, Mary

Hodge, now lives in Chester. She is planning to visit Orkney in the near future to pick up the letter from her grandfather in person. Mary, who was contacted by one of the researchers who had seen the Orkney Library and Archive blog, said: “I’ve got shared ancestry with my friend in Canada. He’s interested in his family history so he keeps an eye on the Orkney Library and Archive’s blog. “I looked at the blog and knew instantly it was my grandfather – I recognised the name and address on the picture of the letter. It was a mixture of high emotion, shock and disbelief. I don’t live in Llanelli anymore so I’d totally missed the articles in the local paper. “I’m just so grateful to the Archive for their blog, to the lady who first handed in the letter, and to everyone who posted comments and tried to help track my family down.It’s overwhelming to have this letter after all this time.”

LEFT: The letter written by David John Phillips that has finally been delivered to his family. RIGHT: David John Phillips was serving on HMS Cyclops when this portrait was taken. (BOTH IMAGES COURTESY OF MARY HODGE)

Death of Battle of Britain Blenheim Pilot

A PILOT who served on Blenheims during the Battle of Britain, and later commanded 248 Squadron with Mosquitoes, has died aged 95, writes Geoff Simpson. Norman Henry Jackson Smith was born on 15 April 1918, in Bebington, Cheshire and joined the RAF on a short service commission in 1939. Pilot Officer Smith was posted to 235 Squadron at Manston on 25 January 1940. The squadron was one of the Coastal Command units attached to Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. Smith was credited with destroying a Heinkel He III on 15 August 1940, the Luftwaffe’s “Black Thursday”. Having been promoted to Flying Officer, he was awarded the DFC on 27 May 1941. Later he served in the Middle East.

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Norman Smith pictured in 1941, shortly after he had been awarded the DFC.

In late 1944 Norman Smith rejoined 235 Squadron, by now equipped with Mosquitoes and part of the Banff Strike Wing. He led numerous strikes

against shipping in Norwegian waters and other targets. He was appointed CO of 248 Squadron at Banff in March 1945, commanding the squadron until October that year. Smith left the RAF after the war, but rejoined in 1950. He flew helicopters and served in Malaya and Australia. He retired from the RAF on 29 March 1958 as a Flight Lieutenant, retaining the rank of Wing Commander. He later adopted the name of Jackson-Smith. Two years after leaving the RAF Norman Jackson-Smith joined the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits. He worked in various communities of the Society and was living in a Jesuit retirement community in Bournemouth when he died on 1 February 2014.

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BULLETIN BOARD

ONE OF the most decorated soldiers of the First World War has been recognised with a blue plaque at the former steelworks site where he worked. John Henry “Jack” Williams was awarded the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal and Bar, for his bravery during the war. The plaque was unveiled in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, on 8 March 2014 – Williams had worked there as a colliery blacksmith. Serving in the 10th Battalion, South Wales Borderers, Company Sergeant Major John Williams was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on the night of 7/8 October 1918: “Observing that his company was suffering heavy casualties from an enemy machine gun, he ordered a Lewis Gun to engage it, and went forward, under heavy fire, to the flank of the enemy post which he rushed single handed, capturing fifteen of the enemy. These prisoners, realising that Williams was alone, turned on him and one of them gripped his rifle. He succeeded in breaking away and bayonetting five enemy, whereupon the remainder again surrendered. By this gallant action and total disregard of personal danger, he was the means of enabling not only his own company but also those on the flanks to advance.” CSM Williams received all four awards – VC, DCM, MM and Bar – from King George V in 1919. It was the first time that the King had decorated the same man four times in one day. At the time of the investiture Williams had not recovered from his severe wounds, and during the presentation the wound in his arm opened up with the result that medical attention had to be given before he could leave the palace. CSM Williams remains the most decorated Welsh noncommissioned officer of all time. PLANNING PERMISSION has been granted for the proposed statue of Sir Archibald McIndoe in East Grinstead, West Sussex. It has also been announced that the statue will be unveiled outside Sackville College in the town on 9 June 2014. Jacquie Pinney, Chief Executive of the Blond McIndoe Research Foundation, told Britain at War Magazine that fund raising was still continuing, so that the full cost of the seven-foot-high work could be met and donations were still welcome. Sir Archibald, who died in 1960, was the leader and inspiration of the plastic surgery team that treated many disfigured airmen during the Second World War.

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BULLETIN BOARD

THE WOODLAND Trust has announced that it is going to create four new woodlands across the United Kingdom as part of a £12m project to mark the centenary of the First World War. The “centenary woods” – one each in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – will be formed by volunteers planting trees and plants. The woods are expected to span more than 1,000 acres collectively. Three million free trees will also be available to schools and community groups to plant. ROADS ON a new residential estate under construction in Middleton Cheney, Banbury will be given names associated with the First World War. The parish council and village historical society is currently choosing between a list of appropriate names in recognition of the contribution made in various ways by almost every family in the parish. The names under consideration range from Centenary Road to Poppy Field Way. A SECOND World War sea mine was destroyed in a controlled explosion after being discovered by two surfers near Dale, Pembrokeshire, on Saturday, 15 February 2014. A spokesman for the coastguard stated that the detonated device is thought to have been a British Mark XIX anti-ship mine. ON SATURDAY, 12 April 2014, the Branch Chairman of the Western Front Association’s Scotland (North) Branch will give a talk entitled, “Louis Strange: The Most Famous Pilot You’’ve Never Heard Of?” Held in Elgin, the talk tells the story of a pioneer pilot who few have heard of but who had an extraordinary career in both world wars. He flew his first operational sortie in August 1914, but was in a Dakota flying airborne troops to Normandy in June 1944! The tactical importance of Neuve Chapelle will be the subject of a talk by Major (Retd.) Ian Riley TD, which, hosted by the Durham Branch, will take place on 14 April 2014. Meanwhile, the Tyneside Branch will be hosting historian Rob Langham on 21 April 2014. Rob will speaking on the role of the North Eastern Railway in the First World War. The Essex Branch’s event on 25 April will cover the bombardment of Scarborough on 16 December 1914, whilst Americans killed serving with the RFC will be the subject of the Merseyside Branch’s talk on 1 May 2014. For full details of each event, and the many others arranged by the various branches of the WFA, please visit: www.westernfrontassociation.com/ great-war-current-events

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

WW1 Service Records Examined in Gallantry Survey THE ONLINE genealogy resource Ancestry.co.uk has recently examined British Army First World War service records in an attempt to establish the “UK’s bravest professions”. Using information contained in the service records, researchers recorded the pre-war employment of hundreds of men who were awarded one or more of the following gallantry awards: Victoria Cross, Distinguished Conduct Medal, Military Cross and Meritorious Service Medal. This data was then cross-referenced with the total number of males employed in the same professions in the 1911 Census. Whilst the majority of medal winners were miners or agricultural labourers, by comparing the occupations of medal recipients with the site’s 1911 Census data, researchers were able to establish the roles that factored most highly in proportion to the total surveyed. It was found that teachers, window cleaners and cotton workers –those employed in cotton mills –came out on top. Those already serving in the military or in education prior to enlistment were omitted from these results. Such findings, of course, cannot in any way be considered a reflection of the courage or otherwise of individuals or groups of individuals, or of the number of people from each profession involved. It must also be born in mind that only a few awards in a numerically small group would distort the figures. Nevertheless, the survey’s findings do make interesting reading. After the professions of teachers, window cleaners and cotton workers, fishermen and doctors came in at

ABOVE: Chief Skipper Joseph Watt VC, RNR and Alfred Robert Wilkinson VC.

numbers four and five whilst servants ranked at number six. Barbers and merchants also made the top ten bravest professions (ranked seventh and eighth respectively), followed closely by policemen and finally bankers. Amongst the individuals highlighted by Ancestry.co.uk’s researchers is Frederick Youens VC, who was a student teacherfromHigh Wycombe before the war. Youens was a Second Lieutenant in ‘C’ Company, 13th (Service) Battalion the Durham Light Infantry at Ypres when he carried out the actions for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. It was whilst trying to protect a Lewis gun team from enemy bomb attack that he was fatally injured. Born in Leigh in Lancashire, Private Alfred Robert Wilkinson was awarded the Victoria Cross after delivering a message to a supporting company, even though his journey involved exposure to heavy machine-gun and shell fire. Before the war, Wilkinson,

Second Lieutenant Frederick Youens VC was buried in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm). (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

serving in the 1/5th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment at the time of the action, had worked in a cotton mill as a piecer, repairing broken threads in spinning machines. A fisherman in Aberdeenshire pre-war, Joseph Watt, who was born in Scotland, was awarded the Victoria Cross following a naval engagement in the Strait of Otranto in May 1917. After his vessel, HM Drifter Gowanlea, was fired on by the enemy, Watt came to the aid of a number of seamen whose ships had been sunk. As well as those employed in the listed “top ten” professions, the researchers noted that some of the men who received gallantry awards had pre-war jobs that were slightly more unusual. These included William Angus VC who was recognised for his actions when, as a Lance-Corporal in the 8th Royal Scots, he left his trench under heavy enemy fire to rescue an injured officer. Despite receiving no less than forty serious wounds, Angus survived. Pre-war, he had been a professional footballer, including at Celtic FC. Born in Leeds, Private Jack White had worked as a waterproofer before enlisting in 1914. He was awarded the Victoria Cross “for most conspicuous bravery and resource” in Mesopotamia. Ancestry.co.uk’s Senior Content Manager Miriam Silverman said: “While teachers, doctors or policemen may have had skills or leadership qualities that could have prepared them better for the frontline, what this data really tells us is that itwas the ordinary men with everyday professions that made some of the most extraordinaryheroes.”

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Great Railway Journeys F_P.indd 1

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NEWS FEATURE |

Previously Unseen Great War Interviews Are Broadcast

Previously Unseen Great War Interviews Are Broadcast AS THIS issue of Britain at War Magazine closed for press, the BBC began airing a series of programmes entitled I Was There: The Great War Interviews. Representing a valuable source of first-hand testimony, these interviews were originally recorded in the early 1960s for The Great War television series but did not get shown at that time. In August 1963, the BBC resolved to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War with a major television project. The series was the first to feature veterans, many of whom were still relatively fit individuals in their late sixties or early seventies, speaking of their experiences. This landmark approach of archival footage intercut with interviews remained the “standard format” for years to come. To locate enough veterans to film, a public appeal for veterans was published in the national press. In due course, thousands of men and women responded to the adverts. The result was a massive bank of original interviews, shot on 16mm film, with former First World War airmen, seamen and soldiers of all ranks and nationalities, as well as civilians and munitions workers. In total, around seventy hours of interviews were filmed, of which fifty-five hours survive, having been deposited at the Imperial War Museum. About 85 per cent of those in the new

series have not been seen before. The remainder did appear in the original series. Filmmaker Detlef Siebert explained how he approached the subject of selecting and compiling the interviews: “Since The Great War series concentrated much more on the big picture and grand strategies of the war, the majority of these emotional testimonies were never broadcast. “The greatest challenge was to find the film material for the selected pieces of dialogue. The Great War series was produced on 35mm but because 35mm reels allowed only four minutes of recording, the interviews were shot on 16mm, which allowed a longer recording time of ten minutes per reel – an essential requirement for in-depth interviews. However, the costs of blowing up all the recorded 16mm footage to 35mm was prohibitive, so selected parts of the interviews were assembled in separate section reels for transfer to 35mm. As a result, each interview was spread over several reels. “I grouped the selected interviews thematically, following the timeline of a soldier’s experience, from enlistment to death or survival. There was to be no presenter and no narration, just music and captions to introduce each thematic block – I wanted the interviews to tell their own story. “The IWM had digital audio files of the interviews and I went through all 280 recordings

CHARLES CARRINGTON

Charles served as a Lieutenant and Acting Captain with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the battle of Arras in 1917. Unlike many other war memoirs, his account of his experiences in A Subaltern’s War did not portray the war as senseless butchery. (COURTESY OF THE BBC)

(more than fifty hours) looking for testimonies that were about the personal experience of the war rather than purely descriptive accounts. I didn’t want to make a film about the military or political history of the war. I wanted to make a film about the human experience of the war,

MAIN PICTURE: Canadian troops pictured on the Western Front, more specifically Vimy Ridge, in the kind of conditions recalled by many of those who were filmed in the 1960s for The Great War. The original series was created in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (HMP)

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Previously Unseen Great War Interviews Are Broadcast

| NEWS FEATURE

were shaking and I was quite frankly ashamed of myself. How I would have liked him to have raised his hands. I would have shaken his hand and we would have been the best of friends.” As the interview continues, Stefan became quite reflective: “What was it that we soldiers stabbed each other, strangled each other, went for each other like mad dogs? What was it that we who had nothing against them personally fought with them to the very end in death. We were civilised people after all.” Westmann lived to see the Armistice. Following the Nazi Party’s rise to power, he emigrated to Britain and ran a successful gynaecological practice on Harley Street. 

KATIE MORTER

ABOVE: The 1960’s series title sequence was based around a montage of three images; the first showing a British soldier standing over the grave of a comrade, the second depicted a uniformed, skeletal corpse by the entrance to a dugout and the last a seated British soldier looking directly at the camera. The latter individual appears in this image taken during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. (HMP)

about individual responses to extreme situations.” An example of the evocative nature of the interviews is that of John Palmer, a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery who, serving as a signaller on the Western Front, was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Despite his obvious courage he admitted that he had tried to throw himself in front a horse-drawn ammunition wagon, to try and get a “Blighty” wound that would take him out of the war. “I began to ease my way out and eventually the first wagon reached me. And do you know, I never even had the guts to do that. I found myself wishing to do it. But hadn’t got the guts to do it.” In 1917, he was severely wounded in the back and shoulders during German shelling, and when a friend came to help him, he sent him away. “I said to him, ‘don’t touch me. Leave me. I’ve had enough. Just leave me.’” John found himself sinking down in the mud, but for once he did not

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bother about the stinking morass: “I didn’t hate it any more. It seemed like a protective blanket covering me and I thought to myself, well if this is death, it isn’t so bad.” John recalled nothing else until he woke up on a stretcher. “I suddenly realised I wasn’t dead,” he said when interviewed.

Mill worker Katie married her sweetheart Percy in December 1913 when she was 19. Percy volunteered for the Army and he soon embarked for France. Shortly after finding out she was pregnant in 1916, she received the news that Percy, a Lance Corporal serving in the 9th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, had been killed in action on the Somme on 7 July 1916. Three months later, she gave birth to a son and named him after the father he never saw. Lance Corporal Percy Morter has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. (COURTESY OF THE BBC)

THE WAR SEEN FROM THE OTHER SIDE

The programmes also include interviews with German and Austrian soldiers. Amongst these was Stefan Westmann. A German medical student when he was called up for National Service in April 1914, Stefan went on to serve as a Corporal in the 29th Infantry Division and later as a Medical Officer. When filmed in the 1960s, he described killing a French corporal with his bayonet. “I was quicker than he was. I thrust his rifle away and I ran my bayonet through his chest,” he recalled. “I nearly vomited. My knees

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NEWS FEATURE |

Previously Unseen Great War Interviews Are Broadcast

SHELL SHOCK

In the interviews many of the veterans vividly recall and describe the never-ending artillery bombardments, some of which were so intense that some men were driven out of their minds. Benjamin Richards, a regular soldier and sapper in the Royal Engineers, said: “It was quite common to see people ... get up and run round in circles like sheep, and they ran round until they met shell fire which finally finished them.” Another interviewee recounted how comrades would run from the comparative safety of their shelters, no longer able to think properly, and that even the rats became “hysterical”. A few who either were unable to endure the conditions at the front any longer or who were persistent deserters were sentenced to death in front of a firing squad. Alan Bray, a Private with the 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, spoke of being detailed, in July 1915, to help form a firing squad that was to execute four men of the Worcestershire Regiment for desertion. However, Alan refused to take part, saying that, “I thought that I knew why these men had deserted ... I understood their feelings and what would make them desert.”

GOING OVER THE TOP

Drapery salesman Richard Tobin had enrolled with the Royal Naval Division in 1911 and served as a non-commissioned officer with the Hood Battalion at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. He was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre and Long Service Medal. In his recording, he describes just what it was like to leave the relative safety of the trenches: “As soon as you got over the top, fear has left you and it is terror. You don’t look, you see. You don’t hear, you listen. Your nose is filled with fumes and death. You taste the top of your mouth ... You’re hunted back to the jungle. The veneer of civilisation has dropped away.” Success, as much as defeat, was usually a costly affair as Edward W. Glendinning. He had

12 APRIL 2014

been a 17-year-old clerk when he enlisted in 1913, and by February 1915 found himself in France as a Private in the Sherwood Foresters (from 1916 he served in clerical positions, and was promoted to Acting Corporal). Following a withdrawal over ground captured from the enemy, Glendinning recalled the following: “It was just like a flock of sheep lying in the middle of a field. Quite a number of the men were still alive and they were crying out and begging for water. They plucked at our legs as we went by. One hefty chap did grab me round both legs and held me.” Edward was about to stop to help the man but he was told to move on by his comrades. “In the years that have passed, that man’s pleadings have haunted me.”

RALPH SILK

Ralph was an Observer with 6 Squadron Royal Flying Corps. During a flight on 23 October 1918, his aircraft was shot down. “I felt the machine lurch,” he recalled. “I turned my head over my shoulder and I saw that my pilot was sunk on the controls. There was a rasping sound and the engine had stopped and there was I, suspended in the air with a dead pilot, Huns, bullets, wings all round me and I looked up to the heavens and I said ‘Oh, God help me’.” “The next thing I remember was having a sledge hammer blow in my head and I put my hand to my helmet and I found it all jagged and torn, a certain amount of blood. Then I had a blackout, and I fell through the air, I think like a falling leaf or a wounded or injured bird. And I think it was the upward rush of the air that brought me to my senses. I had presence of mind to pull on the joy stick to break the fall and the machine staggered and stalled and fell on some trees.” Having crash landed behind enemy lines, it was not until January 1919 that Silk was repatriated. (COURTESY OF THE BBC) BELOW: It was not only Allied veterans that were filmed for the original series; German and Austrian soldiers were also included. (HMP)

REMARKABLE TESTIMONY

Amongst the others whose interviews will appear in the new series is Cecil Arthur Lewis. Best known for his war memoir, Sagittarius Rising, Lewis was a fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps who became one of the four founders of the BBC and had a long and celebrated career as a writer. He was also the last surviving British flying Ace of the First World War. In the months to come, the BBC has announced that it will also be transmitting two of the most important series ever made about the First World War One. As well as the original The Great War, the twenty-six episodes were first screened in 1964, this includes The First World War. Based on the work of Sir Hew Strachan, this series was first shown in 2003. Speaking of the airing of the previously unseen interviews, the BBC’s Controller World War One Centenary, Adrian van Klaveren, said: “This documentary gives a unique view of the archive content which exists for World War – allowing those who fought and those left at home to speak for themselves. We learn directly from them about their experience of war and how their lives were changed.”

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Visions of War F_P.indd 1

07/03/2014 10:00

NEWS FEATURE |

Royal Navy’s New Aircraft Carrier To Be Named By The Queen

Royal Navy’s New Aircraft Carrier to be Named by the Queen IT HAS been announced that Her Majesty The Queen will officially name the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, at a ceremony in Scotland this summer. The naming ceremony at Rosyth dockyard in Fife has been scheduled for Friday, 4 July 2014. It will mark the completion of the 65,000 tonne warship which will be the UK’s biggest ever aircraft carrier. During the ceremony, the ship will be given a traditional champagne christening and then, later that month, the dock will be flooded to allow HMS Queen Elizabeth (pennant number R08) to float for the first time. Following the announcement, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, First Sea Lord, said: “The Royal Navy is delighted that Her Majesty will name this great ship – the first of a class that will return fast jet carrier operations to our nation’s war fighting credibility. We have a great journey ahead, in close partnership with the Royal Air Force, to create and sustain the best that our shipbuilding, engineering, technology and people can deliver. And we are proud to have the chance to show what we can do.” The construction of the most complex warship ever built in the UK, work on which began in 2009, has sustained more than 7,000 jobs at more than

100 companies across the country. The carrier is being assembled at Rosyth Royal Dockyard from nine main sections built in six other UK shipyards. The end of the build phase means the ship can work towards beginning its sea trials in 2017, with flight trials with Lightning II aircraft

taking place in 2018. Unlike most large carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth, the second Royal Navy warship to carry the name (though there have been more than twenty ships named Elizabeth, the list of Battle Honours for which extends from the Armada in 1588 to Guadeloupe in 1810),

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Royal Navy’s New Aircraft Carrier To Be Named By The Queen On Tuesday, 25 February 2014, Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols became the first British pilot to undertake a short take-off and vertical landing in a F-35B Lightning II fighter jet. The milestone was reached at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where Squadron Leader Nichols is based as one of three UK pilots on a US Marine Corps exchange programme. Delivery of the operational British Lightning IIs is planned to start in 2015 followed by a two-year period of training in the US. The first land-based operational flights from the Main Operating Base at RAF Marham are expected in 2018. Flight trials onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth will also begin in 2018, in order to provide a carrier strike capability by 2020. (© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2014)

ABOVE: The Queen Elizabeth-class carriers have been designed with twin islands, which separates the running of the ship from the flying operations resulting in greater visibility of flying operations. (© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2014)

is not fitted with catapults and arrestor wires so she is restricted to operating vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft. It is believed that her air wing will typically consist of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighterbombers and AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin helicopters; both ships in the class are expected to be capable of carrying forty aircraft, a maximum of thirty-six F-35s and four helicopters.

HMS Queen Elizabeth will have increased survivability as a result of the separation and distribution of power generation machinery throughout the ship. At the same time, a newly-designed Highly Mechanised Weapon Handling System (HMWHS) enables a streamlined crew to operate a vessel much larger than the carrier which it replaces, meaning that each ship will have a total crew

ABOVE: An aerial view of HMS Queen Elizabeth under construction at Babco*ck Marine’s dockyard in Rosyth; the carrier is in No.1 Dock.

ABOVE: HMS Queen Elizabeth’s ramp and flight deck area pictured nearing completion towards the end of February 2014. (COURTESY OF THE

(COURTESY OF THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ALLIANCE)

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AIRCRAFT CARRIER ALLIANCE)

| NEWS FEATURE

THE QUEEN-ELIZABETH CLASS IN FACTS AND FIGURES • The ships will be 65,000 tonnes at full displacement – over three times the size of the previous Invincible-class aircraft carriers. • Each ship has two propellers which together will output some 80MW of power – enough to run 1,000 family cars or fifty high speed trains. • The height from the keel to the top of the masthead (once the after the long range radar has been installed) will be fifty-six metres which is four metres taller than Niagara Falls. • The power distribution network on board will manage enough energy to run 300,000 kettles or 5,500 family homes. • Each ship requires 1.5 million m2 of paintwork, which is 370 acres or slightly more than the acreage of Hyde Park. • Each ship’s two propellers will weigh thirtythree tonnes apiece – nearly two-and-a-half times as heavy as a double decker bus and one and half times as high. • Each of the two aircraft lifts can move a pair of Joint Strike Fighters from the hangar to the flight deck in sixty seconds. They are so powerful that together they could lift the entire ship’s crew. • Each anchor will be 3.1m high and weigh thirteen tonnes – almost as much as a double decker bus. • Each of the carriers will also have an eight-bed medical suite, operating theatre and dental surgery, which will be managed by eleven medical staff. • The carriers’ on-board water treatment plants will produce over 500 tonnes of fresh water daily. • The carriers will be capable of a top speed in excess of 25 knots and have a range of between 8,000 and 10,000 nautical miles. • A total of 80,000 tonnes of steel will be used in the construction of the two ships, three times that used in Wembley Stadium • Each carrier will have accommodation for 250 Royal Marines and the ability to support them with attack helicopters and troop transports. • Crew facilities on board both ships will include a cinema and fitness suites. • There will be four galleys on board each carrier, along with four large dining areas which will be manned by sixty-seven catering staff. The largest dining room has the capacity to serve 960 crew members in just one hour. • The Queen Elizabeth-class will be utilised by all three sectors of the United Kingdom’s armed forces and will provide eight acres of sovereign territory which can be deployed around the world.

of 679, only increasing to the full complement of 1,600 when the air elements are embarked. The HMWHS also aims to provide a sortie generation rate which is about six times quicker than any previous Royal Navy aircraft carrier. Through the HMWHS equipment, munitions will, for example, be moved on pallets by means of remotely controlled electric vehicles and lifts. Members of HMS Queen Elizabeth’s crew, and industry workers who have helped to build the vessel, will be among the thousands of people expected at the event on the shores of the Firth of Forth. Work is already underway on the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, which will start to be assembled in Rosyth dockyard towards the end of 2014. APRIL 2014 15

NEWS FEATURE |

A WW1 Identity Disc Unearthed in a Liverpool Park is Returned to Family

A WW1 Identity Disc Returned to Family THE FIRST World War metal identity disc of Private Leopard Wellington Cadman was found in Liverpool’s Sefton Park more than twenty years ago. Along with the disc was an engraved bullet. Both items were unearthed in 1991 whilst Thomas Evans was planting daffodil bulbs in the park’s Field of Hope. With the First World War currently receiving such prominence, Mr Evans, assisted by the Liverpool Echo, decided to mount a campaign to track down Leopold Cadman’s family. With the help of readers and genealogy enthusiasts on both sides of the Atlantic, it took just a week for the family of the late New Brunswick soldier to be found and contacted. Born on 5 May 1880 in Anderson Settlement, New Brunswick, Leopard Cadman’s service records indicate that he enlisted on 28 October 1915, at Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time he stated that his trade was “labourer”. Speaking from his home in Moncton, New Brunswick, Leopold’s grandson Jack Trueman, now aged 79, who himself served more than forty years in the Canadian armed forces, said: “It’s quite overwhelming, but so nice that this

Private 222940 Leopold Wellington Cadman.

(COURTESY OF THE CADMAN FAMILY VIA THE LIVERPOOL ECHO)

16 APRIL 2014

Thomas Evans holding the First World War Canadian identity disc he found in Sefton Park, Liverpool, back in 1991. (COURTESY OF COLIN LANE/LIVERPOOL ECHO)

has happened. Some years ago I applied for my grandfather’s war medals and also his medical records.” These documents also revealed that Private 222940 Cadman, who was serving in the 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (Nova Scotia Highlanders), was wounded at Lens on 26 June 1917. “He was shot in the ankle of his right leg and the bullet went right through,” continued Mr Trueman. “He was treated in the Canadian Military Hospital in Kirkdale, in Liverpool. His records show that part of his healing process was having massage on his leg and foot and that they sent him out to do walks and get it back in condition. He walked at least three miles on one occasion. It is still not known how the dog tag ended up in Sefton Park, although Private Cadman might possibly have been able to walk that far.” The wound, presumably caused by the engraved bullet found with the identity disc, appeared to have caused Cadman difficulties in the months and years that followed. One of the documents that forms his military medical records, dated 3 July 1918, suggests that he was again seeking treatment. The patient, states the Case History Sheet, “shows a healed bullet wound” on his right foot. This caused his foot to ache. Indeed, Cadman had cause to complain that his foot ached when he walked or stood around for a period of time. For some reason when the dad-of-three was discharged from the Canadian Army after the

Leopold Cadman’s grandson Jack Trueman.

(COURTESY OF THE CADMAN FAMILY VIA THE LIVERPOOL ECHO)

Armistice, he never went back to live with his wife and children and he was rarely mentioned in the family. Leopold Cadman moved to the United States in 1925, where he worked as an automechanic in Boston. He died in 1936. “My mother and grandmother wouldn’t talk about him,” added Mr Trueman, a former honorary colonel. “They wouldn’t have a picture in the house. But, when my mother passed away in 2001, I was going through her paperwork and came across a picture of him sitting on a park bench.” His grandfather’s identity disc is already on its way back to Canada a century after it was lost. www.britainatwar.com

NEWS FEATURE |

WW1 Practice Battlefield Re-Discovered

Lost WW1 Practice Battlefield Re-Discovered THE REMAINS of a First World War practice battlefield have been re-discovered on heathland in Gosport, Hampshire, reports Mark Khan. The battlefield, described as being the size of nearly seventeen football pitches, incorporated two sets of opposing trench systems and a No Man’s Land between. Overgrown and forgotten, this century-old site was lost to history until a few months ago when Rob Harper, a Conservation Officer at Gosport Council, spotted what he recognised as trench systems on a 1950s aerial photograph and went to investigate. “I found myself walking along a ditch and realised it was part of an elaborate trench system, hidden for all these years by bracken and gorse,” said Rob Harper. “I looked around and there were trenches everywhere! It’s Ministry of Defence land but open to the public. Local people picnic here and are aware of the lumps and bumps but their origin has been a mystery until now. “Gosport was a departure point for thousands of soldiers setting off to the trenches of Europe many of whom may well have trained here. But we haven’t yet found any records of who they were, what they did or what happened to them afterwards.” David Hopkins, Hampshire County Archaeologist, said: “It is well-known that troops were stationed at nearby Browndown Camp but to date no historical records have emerged noting the practice trenches. We need to use archaeological methods to investigate and

Rifleman Stuart Gray (4 Rifles), Richard Osgood (MoD Archaeologist) and Lance Corporal Robert Walters (4 Rifles) in the trench system at Gosport. Richard Osgood is responsible for starting a project known as Operation Nightingale. This aims to provide valuable recovery and learning opportunities for soldiers returning from operations by utilizing heritage and archaeological practice. Both Rifleman Gray and Lance Corporal Walters have previously participated in Operation Nightingale projects. (© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2014)

increase our understanding of this site and the hugely important period in our history it illuminates.” Consequently, as part of the new “Home Front Legacy” campaign, volunteers from the armed forces are working with the Council for

A 1951-dated aerial photograph of the heathland near Gosport which shows the First World War trenches. (ENGLISH HERITAGE)

18 APRIL 2014

British Archaeology (CBA), English Heritage and partners across the UK to map and record the practice battlefield and other similar sites. To mark the campaign’s launch, the trench system was revealed to the public in an event attended by the historian, and president of the CBA, Dan Snow. “Our aim,” he said, “is to record and preserve vulnerable sites, buildings and structures – camps, drill halls, factories and observation posts for example, before they and the stories they bear witness to are lost forever. Our volunteers will be scouring the nation’s towns, villages, countryside and beaches to track down local First World War places that are just not in the records. They’ll upload observations on what they find to a specially designed app and their finds will appear on an online map to open up the impact of the war on our landscape for everyone.” English Heritage’s First World War expert, Wayne Cocroft, said: “English Heritage is exploring old documents and aerial photographs, many of which haven’t seen the light of day since put away after the war. We’re identifying former drill halls, requisitioned factories and farm buildings, pill boxes, secret listening stations, acoustic mirrors, prisoner-ofwar camps and gun emplacements.” Amongst the other sites being investigated by the Home Front Legacy 1914-18 project is a First World War accommodation hut at www.britainatwar.com

WW1 Practice Battlefield Re-Discovered

Historian Dan Snow pictured with serving soldiers at the public announcement of the re-discovery of the First World War trenches in Gosport, Hampshire. (MARK KHAN)

| NEWS FEATURE

Now a Conservation Area of privately-owned houses, Well Hall Estate in Woolwich, London, was built in late 1914 specifically to house some of the Royal Arsenal’s 73,000 munitions workers. It was designed by the architect Frank Baines at the Office of Works, who had previously been responsible for the restoration of many abbeys and castles. Laid out to pre-war garden city principles, the estate was conceived as an “old English village” with weather-boarded housing and rough-cast finishes, set on winding roads around a green. Baines later went on to design a number of munitions factories. (ENGLISH HERITAGE)

During the First World War there were fifty-two Zeppelin and airship raids on England that, between them, led to the deaths of 556 people; a further 1,357 were injured. On 13 October 1915, a single airship inflicted damage across the centre of the City of London, including at Lincoln’s Inn where scars from the bombs can still be seen in the stonework. (ENGLISH HERITAGE)

Amongst the other sites being investigated by Home Front Legacy 1914-18 is another series of training trenches at Rothbury, North Yorkshire. These particular practice trenches were dug by the Northumberland Fusiliers. (ENGLISH HERITAGE)

Along the Yorkshire coast an English Heritagefunded survey has discovered and recorded a number of First World War pillboxes, or blockhouses, often mistakenly thought to date from the Second World War. This particular example is located at Spurn Point, East Riding.

(ENGLISH HERITAGE)

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Southam in Warwickshire. This hut is believed to be the only surviving accessible example in England that housed First World War soldiers. To begin with the huts were prefabricated timber frames clad in corrugated iron with asbestos sheet linings. Later, because of steel and zinc shortages, wooden huts were commonly used. This particular hut was used in Belgium, but after the war was returned to the United Kingdom where it was subsequently bought by the people of Southam as a recreation hall for returning servicemen. An acoustic mirror can still be found at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. This was once part of a system of acoustic sound mirrors built to provide early warning of German airships and aircraft. These concave dishes focussed the sound of approaching aero-engines on a

receiver at its centre which was attached to a stethoscope - similar to one used by a doctor to magnify the sound. It is well known that some country houses were requisitioned for the war wounded and that the owners of some volunteered them as convalescent homes, but English Heritage is investigating how many houses and which ones were used in the war effort. Amongst these is Wrest Park in Bedfordshire which is now under the care of English Heritage. Wrest Park served as a base hospital receiving wounded men straight from the front by train. In all 1,600 men passed through the wards there, but the hospital was forced to close in September 1916 after the house was badly damaged by fire. For more information on the Home Front Legacy 1914-18 campaign, including how to be involved, visit: www.homefrontlegacy.org.uk APRIL 2014 19

NEWS FEATURE |

Canadian Lancaster to Visit the UK

Canadian Lancaster to Visit the UK THE LAST two Avro Lancasters still flying will come together in a series of events during the summer of 2014, providing a spectacle that is unlikely to be seen again. The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire will welcome the arrival of a special guest during August 2014 when the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (CWHM) flies its

LANCASTER PA474 THE Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Lancaster, PA474, rolled oﬀ the production line at the Vickers Armstrong Broughton factory at Hawarden Airﬁeld, Chester on 31 May 1945. As the ﬁghting in Europe had just come to an end, PA474 was prepared for use against the Japanese as part of “Tiger Force”, being converted to a Mk.VII FE (Far East). However, the war in the Far East also ended before she was deployed and she did not take part in hostilities. PA474’s current “identity” is that of a 617 Squadron Lancaster – B1, DV385 – which was nicknamed Thumper Mk.III by its crew. This aircraft was one of the brand-new standard Lancasters issued to the squadron as replacements after the Dams Raid, Operation Chastise, in May 1943.

Avro Lancaster, Mk.X FM231, to the UK for a month-long visit. The current plans state that FM231 will depart from Hamilton, Ontario, on 4 August 2014, the intention being to arrive in the UK four days later. The North Atlantic crossing will include en-route stops at Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada, Narsarsuaq, Greenland, and Keflavik, Iceland. Shortly after arriving, the CWHM’s Lancaster will undergo a scheduled maintenance inspection. The CWHM crews will then complete a short training program with the BBMF in preparation to participate in several air displays and flypasts with the BBMF’s Lancaster, PA474, and fighters, this period of training starting on 14 August. Whilst in Britain, it has been announced that the CWHM Lancaster will also conduct a limited number of passenger flights for members of the public from Humberside Airport. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s President and CEO, Squadron Leader (Ret.) David G. Rohrer CD, who is a current Lancaster pilot, stated that this trans-Atlantic crossing and visit is a unique event. He also added: “A rare window of opportunity was identified [in 2014] to bring the

LANCASTER FM231 THE CWHM’S Lancaster Mk.X, FM231, was built at Victory Aircraft, Malton, in July 1945 and was later converted to a RCAF 10MR conﬁguration. In 1952, it suﬀered a serious accident and received a replacement wing centre section from a Lancaster that had ﬂown in combat over Germany. It served as a maritime patrol aircraft, with 405 Squadron RCAF and No.107 Rescue Unit, for many years before it was retired from the RCAF in late 1963. This Lancaster is currently painted in the colours of KB726 (coded VR-A). This was the 419 (Moose) Squadron RCAF aircraft ﬂown by Pilot Oﬃcer Andrew Mynarski when he undertook the actions on 13 June 1944, for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

last two flying Lancasters in the world together as a special salute to all the veterans of Bomber Command, many of whom are in their late 80s or older.” Officer Commanding the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Squadron Leader Duncan Mason said: “To see these two aircraft flying at events together will be a unique sight and also the opportunity to truly commemorate those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.”

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s PA474 pictured warming up its engines prior to taking off. (© CROWN COPYRIGHT, 2014)

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First World War Unit War Diaries Go Online

| NEWS FEATURE

Second Batch of WW1 War Diaries Go Online ON 13 March 2013, the National Archives announced that it had made the second batch of 3,987 digitised First World War unit war diaries from France and Flanders available online. This second batch contains records relating to the last of the Cavalry regiments and those British infantry divisions which, numbered 8 to 33, had been deployed to the Western Front. They cover the entire period of the units’ involvement in France and Belgium, from their arrival at the front to their departure at the end of the war. William Spencer, a military records specialist at The National Archives, said: “This second batch of unit war diaries provides detailed

accounts of the actions of the next troops to arrive on the Western Front. They show the advances in technology that made it the world’s first industrialised war with many mounted troops going into battle at first with swords on horseback and ending the war with machine guns and tanks. They also reveal the troops’ experiences and responses to new military technology as it developed throughout the war.”

“CHINESE” ATTACKS

Amongst the more unusual offerings in this batch of war diaries is correspondence regarding the subject of dummy attacks. Serving with the Northern Special Works Park RE, Captain L.B.  ABOVE: Captain L.B. Kenny’s letter to the headquarters of VIII Corps dated 21 February 1918. TOP and BELOW: Two images relating to the report written by Captain L.B. Kenny relating to the “method of fixing and operating [a] Chinese attack”. (ALL IMAGES © CROWN COPYRIGHT, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

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APRIL 2014 21

NEWS FEATURE |

First World War Unit War Diaries Go Online

Kenny wrote to the headquarters of VIII Corps in February 1918 noting that considerable success had been achieved the previous year with dummy attacks and suggesting that such tactics should be tried again. By dummy attacks, Kenny did not mean feint or diversionary attacks, as one might imagine, he meant attacks with dummies! Made to look like British soldiers charging, the dummies had been used successfully on the flanks of a real attack to confuse the enemy, and were referred to as “Chinese” attacks. The two-dimensional dummies were laid flat until the attack was delivered, they would then be pulled upright. Three men could operate nineteen dummy figures. Kenny also states that he could make dummy machine-gun posts if required.

STUPID SOLDIERS

On 12 July 1915, an intelligence report was received at the headquarters of the 12th (Eastern) Division. It related to an incident in which a brown paper kite was recovered by men of the 36th Brigade on the night of the 8/9th July to which was attached a message written in German. When translates, parts of it read as follows: “You can fill your trenches with devils – we Germans fear nothing in the world, and we Germans await victory, which has already been long evident. Englishmen how badly you shoot! You will be served as the Russians – the Russians are defeated – soon you will be. ... “We Germans can hold out longer, as with our German Army there are no rabble who surrender and desert like the English soldier ... we have wine, sausage, and meat ... Englishmen are hungry and thirsty. You will yet comprehend who will be victorious; we Germans must be victors – if you still wish to fight it will go with you as with the Russians.”

the diary of the 35th Infantry Brigade, “report sounds of heavy hammering, also movement of horse traffic behind German front lines about 11.30 p.m. last night ... Sharp whistles have been heard on several occasions coming from the German lines; they seem to be signals to stand down and stand to, judging by the hours at which they are heard.”

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Among the wide variety of events, actions and individuals that feature in this batch of war diaries is a report on the German attack at Hooge on 30 July 1915, an attack which saw the first use of flamethrowers: “2nd line trench saw a sheet of flame go up rapidly behind the stables … The Germans were using liquid fire … The fire ran down G4 & G5 trenches as fast as a man could run, the flames appearing about 10ft high.” The records of the 4th Cavalry Division include an account of an Indian cavalry action on the Western Front. Entitled, “Report on Operations carried out by Mhow Cavalry on 1 December 1917”, this document states: “Patrol galloped up to the trench and crossed it, pretending not to see the Germans, who let them go by. They then turned about and galloped back under heavy machine gun fire … Too much cannot be said of the spirit and conduct of all ranks of the Central India Horse throughout the day.” The same account also includes a detailed description of the attack by men of the 2nd Lancers and Inniskilling Dragoons on Kildare Trench near the villages of Pieziere and Ephey: “The two leading squadrons galloped KILDARE Trench, some horses passing through a gap in the wire, others actually jumping it. This was a narrow belt of wire put up the night

After calling the British troops “stupid” the message ends: “The writing on this has been done by 2 German soldiers, which we are.”

TOP BRASS

The opposing trenches on the Western Front were, in many cases, very close to each other. An indication of this was given in an Intelligence Summary produced by the 12th (Eastern) Division. “4 German officers were seen ... they wore grey overcoats, forage caps with black shining peaks, and gold braid on collars of overcoats. They seemed to be discussing something in the direction of the forward observing station, as one pointed towards it, and appeared to be taking angles with his fist.” With both sides able to see each other with such clarity, it is a wonder that “surprise” attacks were ever achieved. Similarly, the close proximity of the enemy meant that they could be heard as well as seen: “Listening patrols,” declared one entry in

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Fascinating snippets from just one page of the War Diary of the 12th Division.

ABOVE: There is also a document in the latest releases offering advice to operational units on dealing with gas attacks. These instructions state that when “meeting” a gas attack, no words of command should be given, instead messages should be written down and transmitted by hand. This, it is presumed, was to avoid panic if everyone started shouting “Gas!” or to prevent unnecessary inhalation of air.

before by the Germans. A few men led by Lieut. BROADWAY crossed KILDARE Trench, got through the wire on the other side and following in pursuit of the hostile Garrison who had started to retire as the leading squadron reached the wire. “Lieut. BROADWAY had already killed two Germans with the sword when he was treacherously killed by a revolver shot by a German officer who raised one hand in token of surrender keeping the other behind his back. This German officer was immediately killed by a lance thrust from a man following Lieut. Broadway.” Lieutenant N.H. Broadway, 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse), has no known grave and

he is commemorated on the Neuve-Chapelle Memorial. These documents, and many others, have been made available via the National Archives’ “First World War 100” portal. This new digital platform has been created to guide people through the vast collection of historic records, letters, wills, maps, photographs, illustrations and artworks held by The National Archives. For more information, please visit: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk www.britainatwar.com

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LETTER OF THE MONTH

A Boer War Victoria Cross

SIR – In last month’s magazine, Lord Ashcroft mentioned Sergeant Horace Martineau as being one of three men that received the VC for their actions during the siege of Mafeking, though it was not explained why Martineau was awarded his medal. An extract from The London Gazette of 6 July 1900, records the following: “On the 26th December, 1899, during the fight at Game Tree, near Mafeking, when the order to retire had been given, Sergeant Martineau stopped and picked up Corporal Le Camp, who had been struck down about 10 yards from the Boer trenches, and half dragged, half carried, him towards a bush about 150 yards from the trenches. “In doing this Sergeant Martineau was wounded in the side, but paid no attention to it, and proceeded to stanch and bandage the wounds of his comrade, whom he, afterwards, assisted to retire. The firing while they were retiring was very heavy and Sergeant

Martineau was again wounded. When shot the second time he was absolutely exhausted from supporting his comrade, and sank down unable to proceed further. He received three wounds, one of which necessitated the amputation of his arm near the shoulder.” Martineau saw no further action in the Boer War and he later worked for the government in Cape Town. Despite only having one arm, he served in the Durban Militia Reserve reaching the rank of captain. He was in New Zealand when war broke out in 1914 and he immediately joined up as a territorial officer in the 14th (South Otago) Regiment. Having enlisted as Lieutenant Martineau VC, he served as a Battalion Transport Officer in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. In this role he went with the Anzacs to Gallipoli where he became ill and was transferred to Alexandria. It is said that on 17 September 1915, he had an argument with a certain Captain

Hunt in a cafe called the Pallotta Court. During the argument, Martineau used “insubordinate” language. The captain reported the incident and Martineau could have faced a court martial but because he was the holder of the Victoria Cross and obviously a onearmed hero, the camp commander recommended that he should simply be dismissed from the service and sent back home. Martineau fell sick again and was shipped back to New Zealand. When he reached there he learnt that he had been dismissed from the Army. Three months after he arrived back in New Zealand he died of his illness on 7 April 1916. Even though Martineau was no longer in the armed forces when he died, because his death was the result of an illness contracted whilst he was serving, he was included in the roll of honour listing New Zealand’s war dead. Stephen Hocking. By email.

ABOVE: Sergeant Horace Robert Martineau, Protectorate Regiment (North West Cape Colony), South African Forces. BELOW: The husband of Mrs. A.E. Martineau, whose address was the Training Ship Mars, Lieutenant Horace Martineau VC was buried in Dunedin (Anderson’s Bay) Cemetery, Dunedin, New Zealand. (COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

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The Charge at Élouges

The Amiens Raid

SIR – Having in the past undertaken a lot of research and collected a mass of data I was interested to read the article on Amiens raid and the late Percy Pickard. It was said that the reason he was not awarded the Victoria Cross was thatBasil Embry would not sign the recommendation. The procedure is that as it goes up the chain of command, each CO has to sign; if he does not then the recommendation does not go through to the King. On the 30 October 1944 Lord Londonderry wrote to Winston Churchill concerning the non-award of the VC to Pickard. He noted that Pickard had completed 105 operations, been awarded three DSOs, a DFC and the Czechoslovak Military Cross, and went on to ask that Churchill consider Pickard fora posthumous VC. The Secretary of State for Air Sir Archibald Sinclair had also written on the 7 November to Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coninghamthe C-in-C of the Second Tactical Air Force. In his reply, on the 11 November, Coningham said he had discussed the matter with AVM Basil Embry, Group Commander of 2 Group.Pickard had

said in the past to Embry that he felt he was over-decorated; although he considered Pickard most gallant, Embry felt his death was really a case of bad luck. Embry ended by saying that he felt the recommendation for the VC was not justified. Percy Pickard had joined the RAF on the 16 November 1937 and served with a number of bomber units, including Nos. 7, 214, 99, 311,and 9 squadrons, and, later, as Commanding Officer 51 Squadron.In 1942 he joined 161 (Special Duties) Squadron as its CO, with the rank of Wing Commander. In his time with 161 Pickard had undertaken a number of SOE operations into Occupied Europe. The saddest part of this whole matterof seventy years ago was that for somereason the French had inscribed VC after his name onthe cross over his grave which later had to be removed. Attached is aphotograph of the Amiens Prison wall courtesy of Ron Winton. This clearly shows the exact part of the wall that was repaired after the attack. Alan Cooper. By email.

SIR –We noted with interest the correspondencesparked by your piece “A Fatal Mistake” in Issue 82regardingthe surviving gun of ‘L’ Battery RHA and Intelligence Corps officer Second Lieutenant Julian Martin Sayers. Readers maybe interested to know that amongst those who, according to French records,took part in the British charge at Audregnies, near Élouges, was alsoa French officer, Maréchal des Logis Louis Jules Jean-Baptiste Quilico, of the 6th Régiment de Chasseurs, who was acting as liaison officerto the4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. Born on 11 October 1880 in Ahuy in the Côte-d’Or département in Bourgogne in eastern France, Quilico was of Italian descent, his parents having emigrated to France in the year of his birth. Officially his manner of death was given as, “killed by the enemy during a charge, bullet beneath the nose”.Quilico is featured in the Audregnies battlefield section of our forthcomingwalking, cycling, and driving Battle Lines guidebook,The Retreat from Mons1914 North– Casteau to Le Cateau (Pen & Sword)and lies buried today in Élouges Communal Cemetery, just off the village square behind the church. Quilico wasin fact one of two French liaison officers attached to the 4th Royal Irish DragoonGuards for the Audregniesbattle. The other was Lieutenant TheVicomte Henri Robert Abel Pottinde Vauvineux,born Strasbourg,4

May1866whoisburied in Audregnies cemetery – the white cross just in front of and to the right of the graves in the British plot. In this context, we have found a story of Vauvineux’s fatal charge with the 2nd Cavalry Brigade and the subsequent retreat to Compiègne: “On Monday morning, August 24, after chafing at the long delay, the 2nd British Cavalry Brigade let loose at the enemy’s guns. The 9th Lancers went into action singing and shouting like schoolboys. “For a time all seemed well; few saddles were emptied, and the leaders had charged almost within reach of the enemy’s guns when suddenly the Germans opened a murderous fire from at least twenty concealed machine guns at a range of 150 yards. “The result was shattering, and the Lancers caught the full force of the storm, Vicomte Vauvineux, a French cavalry officer who rode with the brigade as interpreter, was killed instantly. Captain Letourey, who was the French master of a school [Blundell’s] in Devon, was riding by the side of Vauvineux, and had a narrow escape, as his horse was shot from under him. [He knew another who had lost his stirrups and escaped without a scratch. Captain Porter escaped in the same way.] Other officers also fell.” It is heart-warming to read of Les Allies fighting together in common cause. Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland. By email.

Operation Exodus: The PoWs Return

It was not until I had read Mark Hillier’s article in the March issue that I fully appreciated the scale of Operation Exodus. After reading it, I remembered having seen the subject mentioned in the Operations Record Book for Ford airfield. Having dug out the copy buried in my files, I see that the ORB notes: “The organisation … having been well established, the reception of repatriated Prisoners of War commenced on April 9th 1945 on which date we received five officers and twelve other ranks of various www.britainatwar.com

services. From this date until the end of the month … we have intermittent parties, which although insufficient in number to keep all the staff as busy as they would wish, have proved large enough to test in every way the organisation, which has stood up well to the test.” By the end of April 1945, Ford had received nine officers and 648 other ranks. The following month, however, was an altogether different proposition, with no less than 11,700 former PoWs flown in. “The condition of the ex-Prisoners,” continues the ORB, “showed a

marked improvement physically on those received in April due no doubt to the greater interval between their release and their arrival in the country. In addition their morale appeared to be of a very high standard. The Station arrangements and Red Cross helpers continue to work well.” The summary of the PoWs that arrived at Ford in May 1945 reveals a fascinating mixture of nationalities and units. In the section for Army PoWs, for example, the ORB notes that men from the following armies

were flown in to the West Sussex airfield: British (by far the biggest contingent), Canadian, Australian, South African, Indian (second largest contingent), New Zealand, United States, Polish, Norwegian, Palestinian, Cypriot, Maltese, Mauritian, Czech, and Belgian. A similar list details the air force PoWs returned, added to which were merchant seaman of various nationalities (including Chinese) and Royal Marine and Royal Navy personnel. Martin Mace, Editor. APRIL 2014 25

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Cardboard Droptanks and a P-51 Mustang SIR – Regarding the article in the March edition of Britain at War “Every Problem Has a Solution”, I think that it might interest you to know that remains of one of the P-51 Mustangs that took part in the raid on Berlin on the 4th March 1944 still exists. North American P-51c Mustang42-103007 crashed on the 7 June 1944 while flying with the fighter training group at Goxhill, Lincolnshire. Sections of its wreckage were recovered by the Lincolnshire Aircraft Recovery group in September 2011, along with the remains of the pilot 2nd Lieutenant Charles “Butch” Moritz. Having

A portrait of 2nd Lieutenant Charles “Butch” Moritz.

been missing for sixty-seven years, he was returned to his home town of Effingham, Illinois USA, and buried beside his parents on the 5th May 2012. Mustang42-103007 started life with the 357th Fighter Group at Leiston in Suffolk, firstly named Swoose and then, in February 1944, Joan. It took part in the raid on Berlin on the 4th March when Mustangs appeared over the German city for the first time. The 357th shot down two Bf 109s on this mission. One was the first victory for Chuck Yeager and the other fell to the guns of Lieutenant Robert Wallen, who was flying at the controls of 42-103007. Wallen then lost his canopy whilst diving down following the disintegrating Bf 109 and was forced to fly home at low level with an open co*ckpit – but he still managed to shoot up a train in the process. This P51c Mustang was transferred to the fighter training group at Goxhill after being damaged in a taxiing accident at Leiston. The remains of the aircraft are being reassembled at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby and will be put on display this year. John Marshall-East. By email.

The Late Arrivals Club of the parties was captured by the SIR – In the January Germans, but the others were picked edition you have a up by an Eighth Army patrol after story about the Late 22 days in the desert. The men are Arrivals Club, and one of Sergeant A.E.O. Barras RAAF, Sergeant the photographs shows four men who returned to their J. Shirra, Sergeant A.I. Jones, and Flight Sergeant C.R. Warwick. squadron [included here]. The caption states that “it has not been possible to establish their identity.” Dr Alun Granfield. By email. The photograph comes from the booklet published by HMSO in 1943, entitled RAF Middle East, the Official Story of Air Operations, and is included in my book Bombers Over Sand and Snow, published by Pen and Sword in 2011. They were, in fact, four members of the crew of Vickers Wellington HF833 of No.37 Squadron which crash-landed 48km from Tobruk on the night of 30th/31st July 1942. The four members of the Late Arrivals The crew walked for nine days, and Club, all of whom would have been then split into parties of two. One entitled to the Winged Boot badge. (HMP)

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The remains of Mustang 42-103007 being reconstructed at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby.

The excavation of the crash site of P-51c Mustang42-103007 underway.

A Presentation Spitfire

SIR – The photograph of Spitfire IIa RF-J (P8085) on page 44 of the February Britain at War is worth an in-depth look as it is clearly a presentation aircraft, one of some 1,500 purchased by various means for the RAF between 1940 and 1942. This particular machine was the seventh of eight paid for by Garfield Weston, a Canadian food manufacturer and MP for Macclesfield who donated a staggering £100,000 to replace sixteen RAF fighters lost in one day. The aircraft is clearly marked “GARFIELD WESTON SVII”, with the Polish 303 Squadron badge shown below the windscreen. The warplane was allotted to the unit in March 1941 and in late

May, after repairs for damage caused by a night landing, it passed to 452 (RAAF) Squadron. Just after 1am on 5 July 1941, Sergeant Gordon Costello was landing at North Coates, Lincolnshire when he was shot down bya Junkers Ju 88 intruder from NG 2. Much of the information in this email comes from my late lamented friend Henry Boot, a fellow Cestrefeldian, whose book Gifts of War (Air Britain 2005) details every presentation Spitfire which flew in World War Two. His monumental research has added much to our knowledge of these generous benefactions. Barry M. Marsden. By email.

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CHAOS ON THE GROUND Raid on Middle Wallop

Chaos On The Ground The Luftwaffe had launched its Eagle Day on 13 August 1940, but, hampered by poor weather, had failed to break Fighter Command. Early the following morning the skies over southern England were still laden with heavy cloud. Then, writes Chris Goss, as the morning drew on, the cloud began to lift and the German bombers formed up over Calais. One of the targets was Middle Wallop.

ABOVE: Members of 609 (West Riding) Squadron’s groundcrew seek shelter during the attack on 14 August 1940. TOP MIDDLE: Junkers Ju 88s of Lehrgeschwader 1 pictured en route to a target in the summer of 1940. (ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

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T WAS at 11.30 hours on Wednesday, 14 August 1940, that a large formation of German aircraft was detected by the Dover and Pevensey Chain Home radar stations. Air Vice Marshal Keith Park brought four squadrons of his 11 Group to readiness. As the German formation headed north over the Channel it aimed to cross the British coast to the north of Dover. Soon the Hornchurchbased 65 Squadron was diving in to attack the massed Junkers Ju 87s and their Messerschmitt Bf 109 escorts, quickly followed by Nos. 32, 615 and 610 squadrons. Whilst the fighters and divebombers duelled over Dover, Schnellkampfgeschwader 210, operating Bf 110s in a fighter-bomber role, appeared over RAF Manston. There, accurate bombing destroyed four hangars as well as three Bristol Blenheims of 600 Squadron. A number of dispersal huts were also hit and the airfield cratered. Over to the west it was not until 16.30 hours that aerial activity manifested itself when a few small contacts were picked up heading towards Southampton. Air ViceMarshal Christopher Brand’s 10 Group immediately sent up Blenheims of 604 Squadron based at Middle Wallop as these aircraft were notoriously slow to scramble. Once they were airborne, part of 234 Squadron and ‘A’ Flight of 609 (West Riding) Squadron, also from Middle Wallop, were then despatched. Ten minutes later 234 Squadron’s ‘B’ Flight, led by Flight Lieutenant Pat Hughes, was also scrambled.

THE BOMBERS ATTACK Hidden by cloud, the approaching German aircraft were not located by the patrolling fighters even though the enemy aircraft were in fact aiming directly for Middle Wallop. Aircraft of

Lehrgeschwader 1, led by Staffelkapitän Hauptman Wilhelm Kern, had identified this previously unknown airfield on the 13th, and was determined to strike a blow that would add to his reputation. The unit’s Junkers Ju 88s reached Middle Wallop unchallenged; whereupon Kern dived down to deliver three 250kg high-explosive, one 250kg incendiary and five 50kg fragmentation bombs upon the exposed airfield. The first bomb detonated ahead of No.3 Hangar, whilst the second and third bombs fell directly between Nos. 4 and 5 Hangars, blowing out their windows and damaging the crash and fire tenders. The other bombs fell to the right and exploded harmlessly on open ground. The bombs of the second Ju 88 fell even further to the right. The third aircraft, flown by Oberleutnant Wilhelm Heinrici, saw what had happened to the bombs of his comrades and he took his Junkers down to less than 2,000 feet before releasing his. Pilot Officer David Crook was one of those underneath the bombs. “After lunch the air-raid warning sounded,” he later recalled, “and we dashed out of the mess and went down to the point where our Spitfires were. There were no orders for us to take off … so we sat in our aircraft and waited. “A few minutes later we heard the unmistakable ‘oom-ooma’ of a German bomber above the clouds. I immediately signalled to my ground crew to stand by, as I did not intend to sit on the ground and be bombed. I kept my finger on the engine starter button and waited expectantly.  www.britainatwar.com

ABOVE: The shell of Middle Wallop’s No.5 Hangar. The large steel door that caused three of the deaths during the attack on 14 August 1940, can be seen lying on the ground. MAIN PICTURE: By the aviation artist Mark Postlethwaite GAvA, this painting shows the Heinkel He 111 of Oberst Alois Stöckl, the Geschwaderkommodore of KG 55, being shot down by Spitfires of 609 (West Riding) Squadron following the Luftwaffe’s attack on RAF Middle Wallop on the afternoon of 14 August 1940 (though Stöckl’s aircraft had been tasked to attack the airfield at Upavon). The Heinkel, coded G1+AA, crashed in the grounds of the Royal Navy Arms Depot at Dean Hill, near East Dean in Hampshire. The equivalent to an RAF Group Captain, Stöckl was the second high ranking Luftwaffe officer to be lost in forty-eight hours, his death following that of Oberst Dr Johann-Volkmar Fisser, Kommodore of KG 51 who was killed in action two days before.

(COURTESY OF MARK POSTLETHWAITE; WWW.POSART.COM)

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APRIL 2014 29

CHAOS ON THE GROUND Raid on Middle Wallop

ABOVE: The 609 Squadron Operations Record entry for 14 August 1940, includes the following: “Middle Wallop Station was raided by three twin-engined enemy bombers, who scored hits on our hangar, and made a shambles of the Offices”. The damage seen here was to the airfield’s Orderly Room. ABOVE RIGHT: Looking out from No.5 Hangar at the large steel door that had been blown from its runners by a direct hit on the structure. A few days after the devastating attack, on 23 August 1940, Middle Wallop was visited by H.R.H. the Duke of Kent.

“Almost immediately the enemy bomber, a Junkers 88, broke out of the cloud to the north of the aerodrome, turned slightly to get on his course and then dived at high speed towards the hangars. At about 1,500 feet he let go four bombs – we could see them very distinctly as they plunged down, and a second later there was an earthshaking ‘whoom’ and four great clouds of dust arose. “All this happened in a matter of seconds only, but by this time everybody had got their engines started and we all roared helter-skelter across the aerodrome. Why there were no collisions I don’t know, but we got safely into the air and turned round to chase the enemy.”1 Walking over to the mess hall as the enemy appeared overhead were two other pilots of 609 Squadron – Flying Officer Alexander Edge and Pilot Officer Eugene “Red” Tobin (an American who had only joined the squadron six days earlier). All around them airmen were throwing

themselves to the ground. Edge started to run for cover, at which point Tobin called to him and they ran together, flinging themselves to the ground just as a Ju 88 released its deadly cargo. “My head was spinning,” recalled Tobin, and “it felt as though I had a permanent ringing in my ears. I felt the blast go over me as I lay there flattened on the ground. I got up and my instinct was to run towards the hangar. It was carnage, I saw one overalled person with his foot and half a leg blown off, another had a great red patch on his chest with a load of mess hanging from it, another was rolling in agony with one of his arms missing. “The door of the hangar was only half closed and just inside I could see the bodies of four overalled men on the ground with one seemingly splattered against the edge of the door. I felt sick, I almost threw up there and then, but as other air force personnel came into the hangar, they just seemed to go about their business in a respectable and calm manner with no sign of panic. Then

I remembered what I was told about the British, ‘no matter how bad the situation, they will always keep that stiff upper lip’.”2 There was chaos on the ground. Middle Wallop’s pitifully inadequate ground defences opened fire on the attackers but to no avail. Bombs exploded around the hangars with one stick of bombs, presumably from the last attacker, responsible for most of the damage. One of the bombs struck the corner of No.4 Hangar whilst another landed directly on No.5 Hangar, blowing it, quite literally, to pieces. A maintenance party made up from 609 Squadron’s groundcrew had been trying to close the massive steel doors of No.5 Hangar to minimise any blast damage. “Ignoring the flying glass and sheets of orange flame,” wrote the historian Hugh Trivett, “the members continued to crank shut the hangar doors in a desperate attempt to save the stranded aircraft from the lateral blasts. But this valiant action came to an abrupt end as the direct hit blew

A brave cameraman captured this photograph of the moment that one of the German bombs exploded as the raid on Middle Wallop got underway on 14 August 1940.

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the heavy steel-plated doors off the upper runners, sending them crashing, in a ninety-degree arc, down onto the working party. “They tried to save themselves but [Leading Aircraftman] Henry Thorley and [Leading Aircraftman] Ken Wilson had hardly moved before the massive doors smashed their bodies into the ground. Corporal Bob Smith also died instantly as the leading edge of the door caught him on the shoulder with such violence it severed his arm from his body and almost cut him in two. Corporal F.H. Appleby was severely wounded, losing an eye, and the whole area was awash with blood and gore. “Eddie Gray had been tossed in the air by the force of the explosions, but as soon as the all-clear sounded he sprinted to No. 5 Hangar to see how he could help. By the time he arrived on the scene some of the blood-splattered survivors were already fighting to jack up the doors in a vain attempt to save the lives of the crushed airmen but Eddie could see that it was hopeless. A limp, mangled

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arm sticking out from the side of the doors was enough to convince him that no one could have survived the force of such an impact.”3 Another of the bombs had hit a shelter packed with Irish civilian workers who had been employed by a contractor; three were killed, one “moderately wounded” and one slightly wounded. Another fell close to the Station Headquarters and the Operations Room. Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone later wrote of the bombing at Middle Wallop. His 602 Squadron had arrived at Westhampnett on 13 August. Desperately short of spares for his Spitfires, he had managed to track some down – the only problem was that they were located at the Hampshire airfield. “We were jolly busy and I couldn’t spare an officer,” he recalled, “so I picked a young corporal, Murphy by name, a tough little Glasgow Keelie, and three other chaps, and sent them over, with Murphy in charge ... I gave them strict instructions. They were not to dally. They were to get there, make themselves

known, get as much spares as they could and come straight back. “They were two miles short of the airfield at Middle Wallop when it came under attack. They suddenly saw the German aircraft diving on the field. Murphy stopped the lorry and got all his chaps out and into a ditch … “By this time, the raid was over, but Middle Wallop was in an awful mess. Hangars were on fire. People were running about. They drove to the guardroom. All they found was one young and very frightened airman who’d been left in charge when everyone else had gone off to help with the fires and the damage. But a sergeant appeared … and told our fellows how to get to the equipment station. “They drove off with fires going on all around them, backed up to the stores section and, just as at

ABOVE LEFT: The pitiful remains of a 609 Squadron Spitfire after 14 August 1940. ABOVE RIGHT: One of Middle Wallop’s damaged hangars. The airborne interception aerials are just about visible on the wing of the 604 Squadron Blenheim.

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CHAOS ON THE GROUND Raid on Middle Wallop RIGHT: One of 609 Squadron’s Spitfires failed to return during the actions on 14 August 1940 – that flown by Flying Officer Henry “Mac” Goodwin (seen here). Nothing more was heard from or seen of Goodwin after he had taken off. However, at 18.14 hours an RAF fighter was seen to crash into the sea two miles south of Boscombe Pier in Dorset. The pilot was observed to have baled out, but although a lifeboat was despatched the subsequent search failed to find him. Some ten days later, Goodwin’s body was washed ashore on the Isle of Wight. TOP RIGHT: Some of 609 Squadron’s groundcrew about to start work clearing up the damage at Middle Wallop in the aftermath of Lehrgeschwader 1’s attack. BELOW: A large crater marks a near miss for one of the hangars at Middle Wallop.

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the guardroom, found that all the senior people had gone off to help. They had left the place in charge of a couple of inexperienced airmen who didn’t know our fellows weren’t from their station. When they heard they’d come for Spitfires spares, they began bundling the stuff out. We got enough stuff almost to build two new Spitfires, including wings and everything. We were delighted.”4 When Johnstone called Middle Wallop to thank them, they were not even aware that his men had been there. Regarding the large quantity of spares, he was told: “That’s all right. We’ll write it off against the bombing raid.”

BLACK CROSSES ON THE WINGS As Kern’s aircraft headed back towards the coast, a pall of smoke already starting to form over Middle Wallop, they had to pass through the patrolling Spitfires of 609 Squadron. Indeed, notes

the 609 Squadron Operations Record Book, “the Luftwaffe did not harry us with impunities”. “I was Yellow 1,” wrote Flying Officer John Dundas of ‘A’ Flight, in his Combat Report, at this point unaware of the carnage below. “Yellow Section were [sic] ordered to patrol Boscombe Down at 15,000 ft. 5 minutes after reporting in position I saw a twin engine A/C approaching us head on from the south. Thought it was probably a Blenheim until passing directly underneath saw its crosses when I took it to be a ME 110. Wheeled round and managed to get in 1 burst of 1 second and one of about 4 seconds. E/A evaded by diving through tops of clouds. E/A went straight into thick cloud and I lost him. Estimated range of bursts 400-300 yards.” Sergeant Alan Feary, 609’s only noncommissioned pilot, was alongside Dundas as Yellow 2 and he identified the raider more accurately: “As it passed over I noticed black crosses and identified as Ju. 88 wheeling round. Yellow 1 gave it a burst as it went into a cloud. I dived through cloud hoping

to intercept E/A in the first clear layer but eventually came down to 8,000 ft and saw to starboard a Ju 88 which was bombing Middle Wallop.”5 It was Heinrici’s aircraft that Alan Feary had seen. After releasing his bombs, Heinrici pulled out of his dive and headed towards what hoped would be the safety of cloud. But he could not escape Alan Feary. “I gave chase and closed to 250 yards astern and gave long burst (10 secs) (intermittently) and saw E/A commence to dive steeply,” continued Feary. “I closed up again and gave further burst which finished my ammunition. I followed the E/A down and saw it crash and burst into flames.” Two of the crew survived the crash, though Gefreiter Friedrich Ahrens died the following day. Only Gefreiter Eugen Sauer lived to face captivity.6 John Dundas, meanwhile, had refuelled and was up again at 17.40 hours. Once airborne he received a radio report of two enemy aircraft approaching Salisbury at 15,000 feet. “Climbed to 17,000 ft above cloud by myself and found 4 DO.17 or 215s in a box formation flying south. Got within 800 yds.” Dundas once more mis-identified the aircraft as these were again Ju 88s. “Got within 800 yards of starboard beam of formation and 500ft. Above and in front and from this position made 2 beam to quarter attacks aiming at leader and saw my shots pass slightly in from off his nose. On third attack broke away too steeply into cloud and blacked out. When I came round had some difficulty in locating E/A but found them still on course. “Over coast saw 1 Spitfire make a short attack from vertically beneath formation and disappear in cloud. I then selected the fourth box number of formation and did a good ¼ attack on him firing approx. 6 seconds burst. I attempted to follow him from 17,000 ft. through 10,000 ft of cloud but lost him.” The Spitfire Dundas saw was that of his partner Alan Feary who had www.britainatwar.com

also gone down to re-arm and re-fuel, taking off again at the same time as John Dundas. “I took off and climbed to 6,000 ft. and saw 6 Spitfires chasing a Ju.88 so continued to 11,000 ft. above cloud. After scouting I sighted 4 Ju.88s in diamond formation proceeding S.W. at 16,000 ft. I climbed to 18,000 ft. and noted they turned East.” Feary was then informed of three more raiders over Salisbury. Twice he attacked but without noticeable effect. As Dundas was returning to Middle Wallop he spotted another enemy aircraft, three miles to the west of the aerodrome heading southwards. Dundas

wrote in his report that the enemy aircraft was already damaged and as he attacked he saw its undercarriage come down. This was the Heinkel He 111, G1+AA, flown by Oberst Alois Stöckl, the Geschwaderkommodore of KG 55 which had been attacked by David Crook. Dundas again identified the enemy aircraft incorrectly, this time claiming it was a Ju 88. “I gave him the rest of my ammunition at close range from dead astern, saw a black puff of smoke come from his starboard engine and saw him crash and break up on the munitions store about 5 miles S.W. of aerodrome.” This was possibly the most significant loss of the day for the Luftwaffe, as apart from losing Oberst Stöckl, on board his Heinkel was Oberst Walter Frank, Chief

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of Staff for V Fliegerkorps and Oberleutnant Bruno Brossler, KG 55’s navigation specialist.7

THE AFTERMATH The damage to Middle Wallop had been considerable and included the destruction of five aircraft on the ground. The following day the clean up continued, as Leading Aircraftman Ernie Barker recalled: “Ray Dunn and I had just finished our washing and shaving. We were in a barrack block, first floor ... I looked out of the window and noticed 3 army chaps, one

digging furiously with a pick, another one was shovelling all the soil away, and the third chap was just standing there. I called over to Ray to come and have a look and we decided that the three blokes were digging some sort of drain, perhaps to enhance our environment, perhaps not. However I remember both Ray and I shouting at them such phrases as ‘up your pipe’ and ‘get lost’ and other popular euphemisms of the day. “The soldier who we dubbed as the quiet one, because he didn’t appear to be doing any work, came striding towards us and stopped just below our window, and it was only then that we noticed his rank on his shoulder tabs … a major! ‘Oh

hell, this is it,’ I thought, and before I could think anymore the major screamed at us, using such words that I had never heard before (but I did discover later on in life that I too could make myself better understood by using these words). From his verbal tirade of words and phrases I could just about make out that he was ordering us to come down to him immediately – if not before. “This we did of course, and for the next ten minutes he lectured us on the meaning of tannoy messages broadcast all over the station, including dispersal points, for all personnel. I muttered meekly that I had heard the tannoy mentioning something about evacuating all barrack blocks for that afternoon, but I thought ‘well, that didn’t really mean me’; how stupid we were at eighteen years old! “After more fuming on the major’s part, he told us to follow him to the spot where the other two army blokes were still digging and shovelling. I looked down into the pit they were digging, and my first thought was that they were digging a grave, but then I saw IT, an unexploded bomb! “The major told his men to come out of the pit for a rest, and somehow or other I thought this is going to be painful. I thought about doing a hasty retreat and run as fast as possible, but then I said to myself ‘You coward Ernie, what would Mr Churchill say!’ I was 

ABOVE: Once again a plume of smoke rises over RAF Middle Wallop as a German bomb explodes – though this time whilst bomb disposal personnel deal with one of the unexploded bombs left over from the attack on 14 August 1940. LEFT: The aircraft Flying Officer Henry “Mac” Goodwin took off in for the last time during the afternoon of 14 August 1940 – Mk.I N3024, coded PR-H.

BELOW: Another unexploded bomb is destroyed in a controlled explosion. Note the camouflage applied to many of the buildings.

APRIL 2014 33

CHAOS ON THE GROUND Raid on Middle Wallop

TOP LEFT: Sergeant Alan Feary being debriefed at Middle Wallop after a combat during the Battle of Britain. He was killed when he baled out of his Hurricane I (N3238) after combat with a Bf 109 over Yeovil at 16.30 hours on 7 October 1940. TOP RIGHT: Another of the many craters that the Ju 88s of Lehrgeschwader 1 left scattered across Middle Wallop on 14 August 1940.

brought back to reality by the piercing voice of the major, and looking me straight in the eye he ordered me to pick up a pick, get down in the trench, and start digging underneath the bomb. I nearly died of fright, but I did jump into the pit (or was I pushed!). “The pit was quite small, about 4 feet down and a couple of feet across. The bomb was lying at an angle of about 45 degrees and it was no easy task to get the pick directly underneath it without touching the damn thing. Well, I picked gingerly, about an inch at a time, and the major, being no fool, noticed that I was hardly working flat out. He tried to instil into me that there was a very strong possibility that the bomb could explode any second, indeed if I noticed a hissing noise then that would be the sign that an explosion was imminent, there would not even be time for all my past life to pass before me. The bomb was a 250lb one, and although the major repeated time and time

again that it was a delayed action type, I chose to repeat to myself a million times that he was lying and that it really was just a dud bomb. How I could think on those lines I will never know because at that time I knew very little about German bombs, in fact I knew absolutely nothing! “However, after doing my stint in the pit, the major ordered me out and it was then that I thought I heard the damn thing hissing. Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to come out because the major threw himself into the pit taking me with him. He put his arm underneath the bomb and told everybody to be absolutely still. I cannot describe my feelings at the time, I had already sweated profusely, but now sweat poured out of me, my legs started to dither and I could hardly breathe. This was it I thought, at least it will be all over rather quickly, wouldn’t feel a thing. “The quietness period ordered by the major lasted for hours, or so it seemed,

but in fact it only lasted for about 30 seconds. He jumped out of the pit, ordered me out, and then sent Ray in to do more digging. He was eventually ordered out, more unkind words from the major and we were dismissed. Ray and I casually ran back to the barrack block, but before entering we agreed that perhaps it would not be the correct thing to do, so we beat a hasty retreat over to dispersal. Nothing was reported about this incident, at least I don’t think it was. Ray and I both agreed that we had got off lightly.” The bomb was destroyed in a controlled explosion that evening.8 As the hours and days passed, Middle Wallop slowly returned to normality, the chaos of 14 August 1940, becoming just another statistic of the Battle of Britain. 

NOTES: 1.

2. 3. 4.

An airman poses with the wing section of the Junkers Ju 88 shot down by Sergeant Alan Feary during the attack on Middle Wallop. This aircraft, flown by Oberleutnant Wilhelm Heinrici, crashed at Turf Hill near North Charford in Hampshire, and burnt out. Such was the scale of the impact and subsequent blaze, that the RAF investigators noted that a black ‘H’ was the only identification letter decipherable.

34 APRIL 2014

5. 6. 7. 8.

David Crook, Spitfire Pilot (Grub Street, London, 2008), pp.116-7. Quoted on: www.battleofbritain1940.net Hugh Trivett, Achtung Spitfire (The History Press, Stroud, 2010), p.121. Norman Gelb, Scramble (Pan, London, 1986), p.159. Both Dundas’ and Feary’s Combat Reports are to be found in TNA AIR/50/171. Nigel Parker, Luftwaffe Crash Archive Volume 1 (Red Kite, Walton on Thames, 2013), p.127. Chris Goss, Brothers in Arms (Crécy, 1994), pp.54-5. Quoted with the kind permission of the 609 (West Riding) Squadron Archives website: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/609photos/index.htm

www.britainatwar.com

WAR LORD The 27th Earl of Crawford

AVID EDWARD Lindsay, the 27th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, Scotland’s leading earl, was under no illusion that the war would “be over by Christmas”. He knew Europe well and understood the enormous forces that were poised to be unleashed and he urged the government to tell the people the truth. “The bulk of the country does not realize the tremendous menace which confronts us,” he explained. Unlike so many men, when Crawford volunteered for the Army, he knew full well that what awaited him were “not the glories of war, but its horrors”.

THE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS At the age of forty-three Crawford was too old for the infantry so he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in April 1915 which he described as “a noble service where courage and charity are intertwined.” He chose not to take a commission but to join the ranks. His unit was No.12 Casualty Clearing Station, which was located at Hazebrouck in northern France. Here he soon encountered what he described as one of the Army’s greatest threats, www.britainatwar.com

which was infesting Hazebrouck: “The louse is a curious animal which deserves study. It is believed that he can burrow through a serge jacket, otherwise it is difficult to explain how a chance louse, picked up while carrying a patient or in an ambulance car, can get around – of necessity via neck or wrist, without being detected en route. Anyhow, he gets in and propagates his species with enthusiasm ... and as far as I can see he has no natural enemy. Mankind persecutes him, but only in self-defence and his power of resistance, owing to the fertility of the tribe, is great. Moreover, no ordinary squeeze of the fingers will slay him.” A few days later, on 3 December 1915, Crawford posed the question “How many new complaints have sprung from this vile war”? Of many conditions, he wrote, the treatments were still uncertain or tentative. Gassing, for example, was one of these: “For gassing also no satisfactory treatment has yet been devised – at any rate there is much variety in the methods of grappling with the dangerous symptoms.” He did note, however, that “a bad crossing in a hospital ship, producing violent nausea, has proved most salutary”! 

The 27th Earl of Crawford had been a Member of Parliament and Chief Whip of the Conservative Party until, in 1913, he inherited his father’s title and transferred to the House of Lords. When the war broke out the following year a commission could have been his. Instead he joined up as a private.

ABOVE: A group photograph of staff from No.12 Casualty Clearing Station; one unit to which David Edward Lindsay, the 27th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, was posted. Note how an officer in the front row has turned his head to speak to a nurse rather than face the camera. Some officers were, noted Crawford in his diary, “unwise in their zealous attentions towards the nurses”. (ALL

IMAGES COURTESY

OF PEN AND SWORD UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

LEFT: The 27th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, a leading figure in politics, industry and the arts. APRIL 2014 35

WAR LORD The 27th Earl of Crawford

ABOVE: Crawford soon discovered that operating theatres were often established in a variety of makeshift, even unsatisfactory, places. That said, he was proud of one that he helped set up in a former lace factory in Hazebrouck. He duly noted the following on 15 July 1915: “Spent much of the morning clearing the operating table for the new theatre and all the afternoon scrubbing its black marble floor – picturesque but unsuitable, since the floor is much worn and will collect pools of blood.” BELOW RIGHT: It was this building in Hazebrouck, the Petit Séminaire St François, which was requisitioned to serve as the main base of Crawford’s unit, No.12 Casualty Clearing Station, after its time in the former lace factory. “We must be a serious nuisance to them,” he wrote, “yet they have readily acquiesced in the way we have taken possession of their building”. This building was large enough to accommodate not only No.12 CCS, but also a French medical unit as well as providing education for priests. No.12 CCS was stationed in the Petit Séminaire St François until June 1917.

36 APRIL 2014

If Crawford had strong words to say on the subject of lice, they were nothing compared with his views of his former fellow MP, Winston Churchill. In his diary entry of Wednesday, 17 November 1915, he remarks on Churchill’s resignation following the Gallipoli debacle: “Churchill’s speech [in the House of Commons] fills me with amazement and horror. The speech of a traitor and a cad for he admits having resigned his place in the government because his personal ambition was thwarted, and his attack on Kitchener, a few days after, he has left and cannot reply, is bound to provoke embittered controversy, bound

therefore to weaken the prestige of the government and thus to impair the unity on which our fighting powers must rest.” He later described Churchill as “a wicked busybody”. His comments as a private soldier, viewing the political “shindies” as he called them, of his erstwhile colleagues, are truly illuminating: “These political manoeuvres puzzle and annoy the soldier. He hates and abominates war – fine fighter as he is – but he longs to be back in Blighty, passionate to be home again. It is not unnatural for him to assume that these House of Commons shindies, like the industrial strikes, weaken us over

here. Lloyd George has told us that Britain is not doing her utmost, and the betrayal eats into our souls.”

THE HOSPITAL CRISIS Lord Crawford’s strong views on politicians were matched by those of his on staff officers. Whilst the men at the front were freezing because the country could not afford the issue of suitable clothing, money was recklessly wasted: “Heaven knows what the cost must be of the joy rides of young staff officers who come here to spend the afternoon in grand cars.” The reason why the staff officers wanted to visit a hospital was the women nurses. On 26 September 1915, Crawford wrote the following: “Four officers aided by two nurses were engaged between 8.30 pm and 9.15 pm in a drunken sprawl on the staircase. At 4 am, we were called up to admit a patient and as we came downstairs a strange visitor furtively sneaked off the premises. This is the state of things in our CCS”. At 06.00 on Sunday, 31 October 1915, Crawford found a staff officer in bed in ward No.2. This was the climax of what Crawford called “The Crisis”. The officer had “misbehaved himself in a scandalous fashion”. When the colonel in charge of the CCS was informed he was shocked and surprised and reported, somewhat ominously, that “There will www.britainatwar.com

ABOVE: Crawford’s fascinating and illuminating diary was often written with limited time, light and space at his disposal. He would also find himself frequently interrupted by colleagues, the call of duty or even enemy action.

ABOVE: As the war continued there were numerous changes in the treatment of the wounded, as well as prevention of illnesses. On one occasion Crawford marvelled at how quick and accurate one particular mobile laboratory was at analysing blood and tracing infectious diseases: “There are … units in the RAMC which have only a single officer,” he wrote on 27 March 1916, “such as the mobile field laboratory. This unit is interesting – a smallish ambulance wagon with equipment for analysis and pathological research. All local examinations of blood for typhoid and so forth are promptly dealt with there – and, considering the small scale of their apartment, it is wonderful how quick and accurate they are.”

be developments”, and there were real fears of a public scandal. “We have long been living on the edge of a volcano. Drink, gambling, disregard of hospital rules, and other things as well.” Any vindictive person, Crawford perceived, could have reported the ‘goings on’ at the hospital to the press, and made the CCS “the centre of an ugly scandal”. Crawford had hoped that the new matron would have imposed a stricter regime but according to the earl “she has contented herself with changing un-essentials. Her mind turns to green flower pots, shining brass and beeswaxed floors. Of fundamentals, she is totally ignorant.” It was not just the matron that Crawford (a father of eight children) www.britainatwar.com

railed against, but the nurses in general. “There should be a clean sweep,” he argued. “I told the colonel today that, had it not been for the women, none of these scandals would have occurred – for there would have been no inducement for these nocturnal visits and we ourselves would have stopped the gambling and liquor. But this establishment is ruled by women and terrific had been their failure.” The nurses were also the target of Crawford’s continual complaints about waste. This was particularly with regards to the vast consumption of milk. In the month of August 1915 the hospital used 350 tins of milk and 250 litres of fresh milk and the colonel, after an investigation, issued a “smart” 

THE AMBULANCE TRAIN Amongst his many tasks whilst serving with No.12 CCS, Crawford was involved in the loading and unloading of Ambulance Trains, as his diary entry for Sunday, 16 January 1916, notes: “We now have to unload from the ambulance train on its return from Remy sidings. As the train doesn’t draw up to the platform we have to walk out along the rails – getting patients out is difficult, and with stretcher cases decidedly dangerous – for when it is dark one stumbles over points, wires and so forth and trains pass us, jamb us up and generally make the job burdensome to all concerned.”

APRIL 2014 37

ABOVE RIGHT: “The handling of the wounded has been revolutionised by the advent of motor ambulances,” Crawford noted on 30 November 1915. “The old-fashioned horse ambulance is only used far up the line where cars can’t go owing to the roughness of the ground.” (COURTESY OF MARK KHAN)

ABOVE: Another of the unusual vehicles encountered by Crawford was Captain Lang’s X-Ray machine which had been provided by the ladies of Cheltenham College. He wrote of one occasion on which he was “jammed into the engine room for 20 minutes … and got fearfully hot”.

reprimand. “We are all glad,” wrote Crawford, “for the ridiculous waste of milk and eggs, while experimenting in cake and biscuit making (the afternoon amusem*nt of the nurses), is fast becoming a scandal ... The nurses make themselves an infernal nuisance to the cooks.” “The waste they cause is unbelievable. Bicarbonate of soda is drawn from the dispensary to bake buns, iodine and permanganate of potash are used for staining chairs and tables, triangular bandages and lint for polishing furniture, ether for cleaning table cloths – there is no limit to their folly and bad temper.”

OFFICERS Crawford had little time for officers, though later he accepted a commission. Whilst he saw the RAMC officers as “a thoroughly good lot”, he considered those from the other regiments as ‘swankers’. He also referred to “the disparity between the treatment of officers and men based on the old theory that one officer is worth twenty men”. Yet, when these fine gentlemen found themselves in hospital their conduct was far from that which might be expected, compared with that of the ordinary soldiers. “How disagreeable some officers are,” Crawford wrote. “Their nerves are

awry but as a rule the effect of shock, worry and apprehension upon the rank and file is to produce a somnolent reaction on entering hospital; the man becomes quiescent and relieved, the officer snappish. The man is grateful for attention, the officer vexed because he doesn’t get more of it. Why?” Continuing the theme, on Wednesday, 1 September 1915, he wrote: “A sick officer came in with the diagnosis – GOK – otherwise God Only Knows, the name for malingering.” The souvenir “craze” was rampant amongst the troops, but some officers took it too far. “The ordinary soldier collects badges, buttons, numerals and every other kind of oddment,” observed Crawford, whilst by contrast an officer took as his souvenir a very large church bell! Another staff officer, Major Roberts RFA, became notable as possessing the largest amount of kit, totalling around a quarter of a ton. He even carried his own stove to the front for his personal cook to prepare his special meals. “He departed from us a stretcher case – but on the railway platform he changed his mind and walked briskly to the ambulance train, glancing from time to time check

the immaculate crease in his trousers.” “English soldiers, bons,” say the French, mused Crawford. “English officers, no bons”. One of the many areas touched on by Crawford in his writing was that of collaboration between the local population and the Germans, as he explains: “The sniper is often victualed by the Franco-Belgian peasant. It has been repeatedly proved that communication with the enemy proceeds from natives living within our lines. Case after case has been established and summary executions are the result. Yet this espionage continues unabated, likewise sheltering of German sharp shooters, communications by signals, movement by dogs and pigeons, by telephone, by speaking tube and actually by wireless. “What surprises our men is the method adopted by the Germans of getting in touch with these traitors. Were relations opened before the war? It seems almost impossible that these elaborate arrangements, which extend from one end of the line to the other, can all have been contrived since trench warfare began. We have nothing to compare with it, and suffer proportionately.”

“There must be thousands of motor ambulance cars now – well equipped and skilfully handled by ASC men – doing magnificent work.” (COURTESY OF ROYAL LOGISTIC CORPS MUSEUM)

38 APRIL 2014

www.britainatwar.com

WAR LORD The 27th Earl of Crawford

A RETURN TO POLITICS One of the last photographs ever taken of Lord Kitchener. At 12.55 hours on 5 June 1916, whilst at Scapa Flow, he boarded the battleship HMS Iron Duke before proceeding to HMS Hampshire. Seen here on HMS Iron Duke, Kitchener is bade farewell by Admiral Jellicoe – with whom he is shaking hands. Jellicoe is facing the camera in the very centre of the picture; to his left is Kitchener, on his right Mr. J.H. O’Beirne of the Diplomatic Service. Within hours of this image being taken, Kitchener was dead, killed when HMS Hampshire struck a mine and sank. News of Kitchener’s death, recalled Crawford, “caused us stupefaction”. The ensuing cabinet reconstruction, however, also led to the end of his military career when he was persuaded to return to London to serve as the Minister of Agriculture. (HMP)

“THE MESSENGER OF FREEDOM” The Battle of Loos opened in September 1915 and resulted in some 60,000 British casualties. Such was the pressure heaped upon the medical services that Crawford reported in his diary that there was operation after operation with no time even to swab the floor before the next patient was placed on the operating table. “Great convoys have been rolling in to one hospital or another at all hours of the day – heavily loaded trains pass constantly up the line. And all the men are so happy and cheerful – one actually hears the wounded men croaking out choruses ... And to these men the relief of leaving the front honourably wounded is inconceivable after months and months of killing, anxiety and fatigue ... A wound, even when severe, is www.britainatwar.com

the messenger of freedom.” On Wednesday, 29 September 1915, Crawford found himself in theatre all day: “Attended eleven operations, nearly all shrapnel and gunshot wounds. In one case a piece of shrapnel which had caused serious trouble, turned out to be a piece of cartridge clip! And in another case a bullet, when extracted, looked suspiciously like one of our own.” Though we hear of many stories of youngsters giving a false age in order to be able to enlist, but the same sometimes occurred with older men. Crawford recalled one particular soldier who attended the CCS on 5 October 1915: “Today an elderly looking Private, Brookes, badly crippled with rheumatism. The sergeant major greeted him with, ‘Well my son, what is the matter with you?’ He told his ailment, and in the course of the examination for our records announced that his age was 61; today in fact his birthday. Our paternal SM (aged about 38) congratulated him, asked him how long he had been in the army – the man is in the special navvy battalion of the RE. Well, he has been in the army one month. ‘I have three sons at the front and I thought it my duty to come out and help them. When I enlisted I dyed my hair and moustache and gave my age as 47. They took me on for the special battalion and I think that in a week or two I should be ready to do my bit again.’ Courageous as the ‘average’ soldier is I doubt if such indomitable pluck and determination is to be found very often – such a gallant old fellow, so modest and unaffected, almost apologising for his advanced age, while

we stood round in genuine admiration.” The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres was delighted when he was made a Lance Corporal in April 1916, having earned his new rank through his diligent work not because of his aristocratic credentials. He was also amused when he held the horse of an officer who had not the slightest idea who the middle-aged horse-holder was, as when the officer returned he gave the earl a fifty centimes (half a franc) tip! Though he eventually decided to accept a position as an Intelligence Officer, in June 1916, he thought very little of “the flabby, easy going temperament of young men brought up in affluence, with never a struggle or effort to their credit – men for whom everything has been done in the past and consequently find themselves helpless to act in the modern conditions of war ... The men themselves are splendid. They take very little advantage of their ignorant and childish officers.” Success, Crawford asked himself in February 1916, “where is it to be found? The more I think of it, the more emphatic my opinion that our danger lies in [our] officers”. They were, seemingly, even more dangerous to the men than the lice. 

ABOVE: Crawford wrote of how Indian troops endured many casualties and much illness whilst serving on the Western Front. “How they shiver, these Indian troops in the bleak winter of Northern France … the constant exposure to wet causes them much suffering.” LEFT: During his time in the army, Crawford was able to take stock of the many branches of care available to the average British soldier. Dentistry, he noted, was “the pariah of medical science in the BEF in France. The ownership of teeth is apparently looked upon as a luxury in the British Army.”

PRIVATE LORD CRAWFORD’S GREAT WAR DIARIES

From Medical Orderly to Cabinet Minister A gifted author and diarist, Crawford’s daily entries provide a fascinating insight into life at or near the front for the fourteen months that he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Indeed, as the only Cabinet-level politician to serve “in the ranks” during the First World War, his account, edited by Christopher Arnander, is without parallel. Published by Pen and Sword books, for more information or to order a copy, please visit: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

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WAR

“NO ESCAPE ESCAPE” 22 May 1945

IN LATE 1943, 203 Squadron, a long-serving Middle East-based unit, had moved to India and re-equipped with Vickers Wellingtons for patrol duties over the Bay of Bengal. By October 1944 it had been deployed to Madura, in southern India, where, the following month, it started converting to the Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR VI, becoming operational before the end of the year. In February 1945 the squadron moved again, this time to Kankesanturai, Ceylon, where it soon commenced operations in the anti-shipping role. The first sortie of this type, mounted over huge distances, was that flown on 20 March 1945. It resulted in a coaster being sunk. Early in May, reports were received by 203 Squadron that a Japanese Myōkō-class heavy cruiser had been seen heading for the Nicobar Islands. Despite extensive patrols, nothing was seen. However there then came reports of numerous small cargo ships, code-named Sugar Dogs, conducting resupply around the islands and an attack on these craft was planned. Consequently, on Tuesday, 22 May 1945, Squadron Leader Percy Waddy and his crew in Liberator KH289/B, named Peggy II, lifted off from Kankesanturai at 07.13 hours. Before he had joined 203 Squadron, Waddy, a Canadian, had competed a successful tour in 160 Squadron and, on 5 May 1945, been promoted to become a flight commander. Peggy II was followed by three more aircraft – namely those skippered by Flight Lieutenant Aldcroft (KH955), Flight Lieutenant Fletcher (KG849) and Flying Officer Law (KH307). All four of the Liberator crews had been instructed to conduct a parallel track anti-shipping sweep east of Great Nicobar, the largest of the Nicobar Islands north of Sumatra. Three of the aircraft were carrying 250lb bombs fitted with eleven-second delay fuzes, whilst the fourth, KG849, by way of an experiment, carried depth charges. Flying at an altitude of just fifty feet, the Liberators arrived at their allotted

IMAGE OF

WAR

42 APRIL 2014

patrol area at 14.00 hours. It was not long before Fletcher’s crew sighted two coasters of approximately 120 feet and 90 feet respectively. Immediately attacking, he straddled the smaller vessel with his depth charges. The ship appeared to be literally blown out of the water and disintegrated under the force of the explosion, sinking almost immediately leaving much debris in the water. The Liberator did not escape unscathed, as return fire had hit the aircraft wounding the navigator, Flying Officer Partridge. Meanwhile, Flight Lieutenant Aldcroft commenced an attack on the larger vessel, only for his bombs to hang up. Next it was the turn of Flying Officer Law, though his attempt also failed when the bombs were released prematurely in error. By this time Percy Waddy had swung Peggy II in to attack. As he did so, the nose gunner, Sergeant Sawyer opened fire on the coaster. The photograph seen here was taken during Waddy’s run in – it shows the Japanese vessel being hit by fire from the nose turret guns just moments before the bombs were released. Waddy accurately dropped eight bombs, a number of which were direct hits. Almost immediately the target burst into flames following an explosion amidships. Flying as a Wireless Operator/Mechanic in Waddy’s crew was Flight Sergeant Stan Wheeler. He later recalled the attack: “When we arrived the convoy was under attack. We saw Law’s aircraft do his run but his bombs dropped early, not just short. We dived in and dropped ours and our camera showed our bombs actually going in.” As Peggy II circled, its crew taking further photographs, the coaster continued to burn, emitting thick clouds of black smoke. Some of the images taken during the attack subsequently revealed that the ship’s cargo included a number of oil drums. After the coaster had sunk a number of survivors were seen in the water, but no rafts or ships’ boats were spotted. (COURTESY OF S.A. WHEELER)

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THIEPVAL ATTACK Seizing the Schwaben Redoubt

Thiepval Attack:

Seizing the Schwaben Redoubt

HE 8th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was formed at Bury St. Edmunds on 9 September 1914, in the wake of the euphoria created by Britain’s declaration of war on Germany. The volunteers came mostly from the counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with others from Norfolk, Essex and London. These men comprised a cross-section of trades; agricultural labourers, grooms, gardeners from the large estates, saddlers, blacksmiths, and fishermen from ports such as Lowestoft. One of those who originated from the urban centres included an engine driver from Willesden in North London. The officers and men of the 8th Suffolks, like the other battalions of the 18th (Eastern) Division, were fortunate indeed. Their commander, General Sir Ivor Maxse, was a gifted, innovative leader, who believed in thorough training and preparation. He considered that

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“without proper preparation the bravest troops fail and their heroism is wasted”. As part of the Second New Army, also referred to as K2, the 18th Division was also fortunate in receiving young capable Regular Army officers to command its brigades and battalions, none more so than Lieutenant Colonel G.V.W Hill. Appointed on 7 February 1916, Hill was a recipient of the DSO and 2 Bars – one of only seventy-one such men in the British Army in the First World War – and Mentioned in Despatches no less than six times.

TO THE SOMME After training, the 18th (Eastern) Division arrived on the Somme in July 1915. They participated in the 1 July 1916 fighting, in the only sector where the British Army was successful. Maxse was obviously satisfied with the efforts of his men, for just before midnight that day he sent the following message to the 

Located a few hundred yards to the north of the village of Thiepval, the mass of machine-gun emplacements, trenches and dug-outs that formed the German defences of the Schwaben Redoubt had still to be taken. With the Battle of the Somme still being fought, the redoubt’s capture was, writes Tony Taylor-Neale, a task to which the men of the 8th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment were assigned.

BELOW: A month before Christmas 1916, the battle of the Somme had drawn to a conclusion. It was the end of the bloodiest period of fighting that the British Army had ever experienced. With the prospect of some respite before the next offensive an unusual Christmas present was received by one British battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel G.V.W. Hill of the 8th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment – a drawing entitled “The Thiepval Sketch”. Seen here, it depicts the capture of Joseph Trench, part of the German defences in and around the Schwaben Redoubt, by his men on 26 September 1916. The drawing was sent by the Commanding Officer of the 18th (Eastern) Division, General Sir Ivor Maxse. (SUFFOLK REGIMENT MUSEUM)

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RIGHT: One artist’s depiction of an early attack on Schwaben Redoubt – possibly that made on 1 July 1916, by the men of the 109th Brigade. Today the site of the Schwaben Redoubt lies between the Thiepval Memorial and the Ulster Tower. (HMP) BELOW RIGHT: Officers of the 8th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment involved in the fighting at Thiepval in September 1916. On the left is Captain Card (the battalion’s adjutant), whilst in the middle is Lieutenant Colonel G.V.W Hill (the CO), with Lieutenant Sanctuary to his right. Sanctuary died on 15 November 1916, from wounds received late in the day on 26 September. (COURTESY OF TAFF GILLINGHAM)

BELOW: British artillery pictured bombarding German positions at the Schwaben Redoubt on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916. Construction of the Schwaben Redoubt began in early 1915 on high ground several hundred metres to the north of Thiepval.

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various units in the division: “Well done; it’s what I expected. Now hold on to what you have gained so splendidly.” For their part, the 8th Suffolks played only a minor role that day, relieving the battalions that had carried out the initial attack. Their “Hardest Day” of the entire war so far came on 19 July 1916. On this day the Suffolks, together with the other Battalions of the 53rd Brigade – the 8th (Service) Battalion Norfolk Regiment, the 10th (Service) Battalion Essex Regiment, and 6th (Service) Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment – were tasked with retaking the village of Longueval and the surrounding wood. In the fighting that followed, the Suffolks retook much of the village, while the rest of the Brigade retook 300 yards of the southern end of Delville Wood. By early September 1916, the advance on the southern flank of the battlefield had reached the Thiepval plateau,

some 500 feet above sea level. This was where the 36th (Ulster) Division had made its attack on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The plateau now formed a salient in the German line. The old front line was on a north-south axis and contained

144 deep dug-outs running down to the Leipzig Redoubt, where the line turned east. Around the base of the plateau the line then headed north-east along Nab or Blighty Valley towards Mouquet Farm (the fighting for which had started back on 5 August 1916). The fortified farm had resisted all attempts by both the Australians and Canadians during early September; indeed, it was not captured until 26 September. Across the salient at Thiepval were four lines of trenches. On highest points of the plateau were the Zollern and Schwaben redoubts. The most formidable of the pair, the Schwaben Redoubt (or Schwabenfeste to the Germans), was the key to Thiepval Ridge with observation over the entire Ancre valley.

THE ATTACK ON THIEPVAL The bombardment for a major attack on Thiepval began on 23 September 1916. In all 600,000 rounds of field artillery and 45,000 rounds of heavy artillery were fired. On the afternoon of 24 September a detachment of the Special Brigade fired 500 gas (lachrymatory) shells into Thiepval, which eventually silenced the German trench mortars. Also on the 24th, the 8th Suffolks made their way into Hohenzollern trench, now part of the British front line. The task of assaulting the salient had been given to the 11th (Northern) and 18th (Eastern) divisions. The planning for the attack was thorough. Lectures were given to brigade and battalion commanders, who also, along with company commanders, made a thorough reconnaissance of the ground involved. In addition, the 8th Suffolks rehearsed the entire attack over a specially prepared training area. www.britainatwar.com

THIEPVAL ATTACK Seizing the Schwaben Redoubt

The 53rd Brigade’s plan called for the 8th Suffolks, on the right, and 10th Essex, on the left, to attack the ridge to the east of Thiepval. They were to be followed up by platoons of the 8th Norfolks, who were in support, whose task was to clear dug-outs and “mop up” any remaining German resistance. The 6th Berkshires would be held in reserve. Finally, the brigade would be accompanied by two of the six tanks available to support the assault. There was little doubt about what was to come, as General Maxse’s message to his men on the evening of 25 September asserted: “The 180th Württemberg Regiment have withstood attacks on Thiepval for two years, but the 18th Division will take it tomorrow.”  BELOW: A photograph of a German MG08 machine-gun crew “in action”. Machine-guns such as these caused many casualties and difficulties during the 8th Suffolks’ attack at Thiepval. The construction of this particular Schützengraben (or trench position) is typical of those built by German troops – the Schwaben Redoubt included – being sturdy and well-appointed with numerous storage compartments built into the revetments. (COURTESY OF BRETT BUTTERWORTH)

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LEFT: BrigadierGeneral H.W. Higginson DSO, the Commander of the 53rd Brigade. Following the events of September 1916, Higginson later wrote to the CO of the 8th Suffolks, Lieutenant Colonel G.V.W Hill: “It is hardly necessary for me to tell you how highly I rate the fighting qualities and marching powers of your Battalion, which are second to none even in the 18th Division.” (AUTHOR) FAR LEFT: This aerial photograph of the German trenches north of Thiepval was taken in May 1916 as part of the preparations for the Somme Offensive. The enemy firing-line and supporting trenches are at the lower left. They are connected by four communications trenches – Fiennes Street, unnamed, Price Street and Market Trench – to the third-line trench and the Schwaben Redoubt, the latter can be seen upper right. (IWM HU91107)

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ABOVE: Taken on 25 September 1916, this image shows shells from the British artillery bombardment falling on the German positions around Thiepval in preparation for the attack on 26 September 1916. (IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM; Q63740)

TOP RIGHT: A contemporary drawing entitled “Storming the Schwaben Redoubt”. Consisting of a mass of machinegun emplacements, trenches and dugouts, this position resisted several British assaults during the Battle of the Somme. (HMP)

BELOW: This is the ground over which the 8th Suffolks advanced during their attack on the Schwaben Redoubt – which was located roughly in the centre of the horizon. (AUTHOR)

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OVER THE TOP It was decided that the 8th Suffolks initial attack on 26 September was to be made in six waves composed of sections and platoons from ‘A’ Company, under Captain Angier, and ‘D’ Company, under Captain Keats. ‘B’ Company, commanded by Captain Usher, was to operate in support of these two, whilst ‘C’ Company, under Captain Sanctuary, would be held in reserve. Within the ranks of the assaulting men was Private Sydney Fuller. Part of the 4th wave, Fuller kept a diary: “Each man carried on his back, affixed to his haversack, a lozenge shaped piece of bright tin (cut from a biscuit tin) about 8 x 6 inches. These were worn so that our artillery observers could accurately observe the extent of our advance.” As Zero Hour – which was set for 12.35 hours – approached, the tension began to build. “Our watch was a very interesting object to us,” Fuller continued, “especially as 12.35 drew near. A few minutes before that time the order was passed along the trench – ‘Fix your bayonets’. Then at what was, according to our watch, half a minute or more to 12.35 p.m., four 18 pounder guns fired – one, two, three, four, and [in] a few seconds all the hundreds of guns behind us were firing.” This was the signal that the Suffolks had been waiting for; the men started climbing over the parapet of the trenches and headed out into No Man’s

Land. Advancing up the gentle slope, the Suffolks crossed the 250 yards of No Man’s Land before the barrage lifted. One tank had already ditched before going into action. “The barrage dropped just in front of us,” wrote Fuller. “So close that 18 pounder shells seemed to only just skim our trench, and for a few minutes I found it difficult not to keep ducking. Away we went, at a steady walk, carrying our rifles at the ‘high port’ – bayonet point upwards and to the left – so as to avoid accidentally ‘spiking’ one of our own men. I saw men stop, light a cigarette, and walk on again as if walking down a street. There did not seem to be many bullets flying about us, but no doubt the noise of the guns prevented us from hearing them. “We had not gone far when a huge shell or ‘minenwerfer’ burst about 15 yards behind us and to the right. I did not hear it coming owing to the noise of our guns, although it must have been about 11 inch calibre. We were almost knocked down by the explosion, but were unhurt. “A man just in front of me was hit by one of the splinters, which entered his right side, and stopped just under the skin in the centre of his chest, making a big lump there just like a boil. Pausing in a shell-hole to bandage him up, as well as we could, in the same shell hole was another man who had been shot through the calf of his leg – a nice “cushy” one.”

THE GERMAN TRENCHES Within twelve minutes the Suffolks reached Schwaben Trench, their first objective. Many Germans were seen streaming out of a nearby trench, as the following account states: “In the midst of desperate fighting one batch of Germans in Joseph Trench suddenly ran through our artillery barrage, and the leading waves of the 8th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, to surrender and save their lives before we could assault them. They were shouting in terror, half dressed, unarmed, holding their hands in the air, they passed to the rear, and became prisoners while the Suffolk’s moved steadily forward and captured their objective on the right of the Division.” Whilst the Suffolks continued their advance, it was discovered that the remaining tank had ditched in the Schwaben Trench. It was also at this point that a few Germans changed their minds and began to run back to their trenches, only to be fired upon and brought down. “We went on again, over the enemy front line, which we had taken easily, (‘first’ objective),” recalled Fuller. “The explosions of the bombs in the dugouts could be ‘felt’ rather than ‘heard’ – we felt the shock of the explosion, but the sound was deadened by the depth of the dugout. One little German popped up, wearing his steel helmet, holding both hands above his head, and crying

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THIEPVAL ATTACK Seizing the Schwaben Redoubt

‘Mercy mercy!’ He was shot at once, and dropped like an empty sack.” The Suffolks remained “glued to the barrage”, remaining at a distance of only thirty yards behind the exploding shells. Despite this they experienced stiff resistance from Schwaben, Bulgar and Zollern Trenches. General Maxse paid tribute to the “discipline, steadiness, and fighting qualities of the Suffolks. They moved and fought with a precision which greatly impressed artillery and other close observers.” Miraculously, in spite of the German shelling of the forward British trenches, the reserve ‘C’ Company arrived without a single casualty. Brigadier Higginson’s order that the assembly trenches were to remain unoccupied was vindicated by the lack of casualties in the reserve units.

SURRENDER In the other brigade sector of the 18th (Eastern) Division, the 12th Middlesex and 11th Royal Fusiliers experienced considerable success. In hard fighting, the 12th Middlesex took the highest number of casualties, and gained two Victoria Crosses. “We could see our men swarming over the ruins of the village, and they seemed to be going well,” recorded Fuller. “On our right, I saw a long line of men running towards the rear, and for a moment I thought it was the beginning of another repulse. Then I saw that they were holding their hands above their

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head – Germans. They had surrendered, and left their trenches like one man.” By 13.15 hours on 26 September, the 10th Essex and the 8th Suffolks had taken Zollern Trench, their second objective. The latter had also linked up with Sherwood Foresters from the 33rd Brigade on their right flank. Running ahead of the artillery timetable the Suffolks were then forced to wait until the barrage on their final objective commenced. This was the only hitch experienced by the battalion in the entire engagement. At 14.14 hours the Suffolks advance resumed, the men covering some 250 yards before being checked at Midway Line, their third objective. The 10th Essex, meanwhile, had also reached the sunken road that ran between Pozières and St Pierre Divion – their objective – without serious loss. There they found a number of German soldiers from 8.Thüringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 153, and Reserve Infanterie-Regiment Nr.77 ready to surrender. Fuller described such scenes in his diary: “On reaching the Thiepval Pozieres road we stopped for a rest in one of the huge shell-holes. Our ‘moppers-up’ were busily bombing the many dugouts in and around the ruins of the village, shooting most of the occupants as they came out. I saw one German rush out, in his shirt-sleeves, with his hands full of watches and other things collected from his comrades. He

offered them first to one of our men, then to another, but no one touched the things, they were too busy with more serious business.”

ABOVE LEFT: A typical German fighting trench constructed on the Western Front.(COURTESY

A STANDSTILL

OF BRETT

By 14.30 hours the other brigade in the attack had secured its objective north of Thiepval village on the right flank (the other flank was secured by 15.20 hours). At this time the rapid progress of the Suffolks had been brought to a standstill short of their final objective of the day – Schwaben Redoubt itself. Any further advance was found to be impossible due to sustained enemy machine-gun and rifle fire from Midway trench, which was in the 11th Division’s sector. In addition, not all of Thiepval village had been cleared and there was a danger of enfilade fire from there. As a result, the majority of the 8th Suffolks were forced to seek shelter in shell holes. There were exceptions; a small party under Second Lieutenant S.H. Mason had advanced well forward of the rest of the battalion, and had dug in as best it could. There they sustained casualties from machine-gun and rifle fire from Midway and Bulgar trenches, including Mason who was killed. The 10th Essex could do no better under fire from Bulgar Trench and Martin’s Lane, though attempts were made to clear the positions with bombs. By 16.20 hours Brigadier Higginson of the 53rd Brigade realised that 

BUTTERWORTH)

ABOVE RIGHT: Men of 8.Thüringisches InfanterieRegiment Nr. 153, one of the units that held the Schwaben Redoubt in the face of the 8th Suffolks attack.

(COURTESY OF BRETT BUTTERWORTH)

BELOW: The German view of Thiepval, as seen from what would have been the Schwaben Redoubt, and the line of advance of the 8th Suffolks. Note the Thiepval memorial in the middle of the wood. (AUTHOR)

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THIEPVAL ATTACK Seizing the Schwaben Redoubt RIGHT: The monument to the men of the 18th (Eastern) Division, which can be seen at Thiepval overlooking the location of the Schwaben Redoubt. (AUTHOR) MIDDLE RIGHT: The letter General Maxse wrote to accompany “The Thiepval Sketch”. In it he wrote: “Please accept this little sketch representing an incident during your Battalions fine attack on Thiepval, on which occasion the 8th Suffolk Regt so greatly distinguished themselves.” (SUFFOLK REGIMENT MUSEUM)

BELOW: Major General F.I. Maxse, CB, CVO, DSO. He paid tribute to the “discipline, steadiness, and fighting qualities of the Suffolks. They moved and fought with a precision which greatly impressed Artillery and other close observers.”

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no further advance was possible, and, at 17.00 hours, the Suffolks received the order to consolidate what they had won. The battalion’s losses for the day were one officer killed and two wounded (one fatally), with eighteen other ranks killed and eighty-six wounded. In total across the salient the Germans had four officers and 606 men captured from four separate regiments; their killed and wounded were estimated to be 3,000 men. The day’s action, though, was still not over, as, at 18.30 hours, the remains of Mason’s small party finally withdrew into Zollern Trench. German bombing parties kept the 53rd Brigade’s position active but no serious counter-attack was mounted. This vindicated Maxse’s decision to start late and so provide the Germans with little time in daylight to conduct a strong counter-attack. Before midnight the Zollern Trench had been turned into a defensible position and several strongpoints selected.

THE ATTACK RESUMES On 27 September, the 10th Essex captured a further fifty yards of Bulgar Trench, and the attack to take the Schwaben Redoubt was ordered to continue. The 54th Brigade had fought through Thiepval village which was now clear of the enemy, suffering heavy losses in the process, and their units were

mixed up to an extent that they were no longer a cohesive attacking force. The Suffolks were still strong, having taken relatively fewer casualties. As a result, they were available to continue the assault on Schwaben Redoubt. Zero Hour on 28 September was set for 13.00 hours. In the vanguard of the 53rd Brigade’s assault on Schwaben Redoubt were the men of the 7th Queens (attached from 55th Brigade), who were on the left, and the 8th Suffolks on the right. This time, the latter’s ‘B’ and ‘C’ Companies were spread over six waves in the initial assault. The task of moppingup was assigned to the 8th Norfolks. The other two Suffolk companies were left to hold Zollern Trench. Despite the difficulties experienced in forming up in daylight – no forming up trenches had been dug – the assault units crossed the 1,000 yards of open ground quickly. The first objective, Bulgar Trench, and Martin Trench were easily seized with prisoners taken. However, the Germans in Mouquet Switch Trench (Midway Line) fought stubbornly, heavy rifle and machinegun fire coming from the south side of Schwaben Redoubt.

It was nearly ninety minutes before the Suffolks at last gained all their objectives, the eastern end of Schwaben Redoubt. It was only at 17.00 hours, as dusk fell, that they also made contact with the 7th Queens. At this time 54th Brigade had also taken and was holding strongpoints on the western end of the redoubt. As darkness fell on the 28th, the German troops had been pushed back to such an extent that they only had a hold on the rear, northern, section of the redoubt. The following day, the Suffolks were relieved and moved back to billets by bus – except for ‘B’ Company which was ordered to carry out burial detail. In the second round of the battle the Suffolks had suffered more than 200 casualties. As for the Schwaben Redoubt, it did not finally fall until 14 October 1916, when it was captured by the 118th Brigade of the 39th Division, the German garrison having been routed in bitter hand-to-hand fighting. 

SOURCES

TNA WO95/2039, War Diary of the 8th Suffolks. George Herbert Fosdike Nichols, The 18th Division in the Great War (Blackwood, 1922). C.C.R. Murphy, The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 (London,1928). Chris McCarthy, The Somme: The Day by Day Account (Arms and Armour, London, 1993). Peter Barton, “The Somme: A New Panoramic Perspective” (extracts from Sydney Fuller’s diary) The British Army Review, No.142, 2007, pp.103-104. Jack Sheldon, The Germans at Thiepval (Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2006).

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Western Front F_P.indd 1

28/02/2014 12:37

THE HEROES OF HILL 170 The Burma Campaign

THE HEROES OF

HILL 170 50 APRIL 2014

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Out-gunned and out-numbered by odds of more than fifteen to one, a small force of Commandos fought one of the most heroic defensive battles of the Burma campaign under the inspiring leadership of a 22-yearold officer commanding a platoon in action for the first time. Steve Snelling tells the story of the heroes of Hill 170. MAIN PICTURE BELOW: Men of the 3rd Commando Brigade make the long wade ashore on the Myebon peninsula on 12 January 1945. It was there, two days later, that Lieutenant George Knowland joined 1 Commando as a replacement officer. (ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR) RIGHT: Lieutenant George Arthur Knowland. The slouch hats were issued to all ranks of 3 Commando Brigade but for the Kangaw operation green berets were worn.

HE SHELLING began in the pre-dawn darkness, setting frayed nerves on edge all over again. For days on end, the Burmese hill turned commando bastion had been subjected to regular bombardments that shredded trees and shook trenches in which men sought shelter from the cloudbursts of shells. At first, Colonel Peter Young, the rumbustious and much-decorated deputy commander of 3rd Commando Brigade, was inclined to ignore it. Safe in his dug-out, burrowed deep beside one of the countless craters pocking the slopes, he dismissed the barrage as “no great novelty”.1 Like everyone on Hill 170, he had grown accustomed to the twice-daily Japanese “stonks”. During ten days in the Kangaw bridgehead as many as 800 shells a day were recorded as having fallen in the brigade lines, 164 being registered in one particularly vicious half-hour spell. It soon became clear, however, that the bombardment which erupted at 05.45 hours on 31 January 1945 was different to the rest. Heavier than any other, it was also more concentrated and was www.britainatwar.com

followed some twenty minutes later by the unmistakeable rattle of small arms fire carrying from the northern end of the hill. The “musketry”, as Young put it, signalled the opening shots in an epic action destined to be remembered as the fiercest battle fought by Commando troops during the Second World War and the single-most decisive engagement of the entire Third Arakan campaign. Young could not have known it then, but the leading role in the unfolding drama would be performed by a 22-year-old former comrade-inarms fighting his first battle as a newlycommissioned officer.

left with a glowing testimonial as “an extremely well-behaved boy who intends to get on”. And get on, he did. Determined and ever-willing to shoulder responsibility, he took easily to soldiering and his rise through the ranks was rapid. Volunteering for “special service” from the Royal Norfolk Regiment in September 1942, he was a sergeant by the age of 20. 

BELOW: Assault landing craft moving up the chaung towards Kangaw, the preliminary move before No.1 Commando’s seizure of Hill 170.

COMMANDO SPIRIT George Arthur Knowland was a boyish looking veteran of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy where he had served as a sergeant under Young in No.3 Commando. Ambitious and intelligent, he was a product of the school of “hard knocks”. The early death of his mother had led to spells in a children’s home and an establishment for “working boys”. He APRIL 2014 51

THE HEROES OF HILL 170 The Burma Campaign RIGHT: The boy who grew up to be a hero. George Knowland was born in Catford, south-east London, the eldest son of Arthur and Mary Knowland. His family later moved to Croydon where he attended Elmwood Road School and won a scholarship for the Technical School. MIDDLE RIGHT: George Knowland, aged 16, in August 1938. Following his mother’s death, he spent time in the Mayday Children’s Home and later the Rossie House Home for Working Boys in Camberwell. FAR TOP RIGHT: George Knowland, aged 19, as a private in the Royal Norfolk Regiment in January 1941.

BELOW: First promotion. Knowland, seated third from the right on the third row, as a lance-corporal in 5 Troop, No.3 Commando at Wyke Regis.

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Recommended for officer training, Knowland returned to the UK in January 1944. However, while Young and his Commando comrades were holding the eastern flank of the Normandy bridgehead, he was busy studying and courting 18-year-old NAAFI canteen worker Ruby Weston who he married in September. Two months later, Lieutenant George Knowland embarked with a draft of replacements, bound for the Far East. He left in high spirits, his confidence bolstered by his experience of fighting in the Mediterranean. In one letter home, following Italy’s surrender, he had written: “The Italian soldier is not, I am afraid, all ‘Il Duce’ said he was. In fact, I think the Germans will be glad that we have been more or less saddled with them.”2 The Japanese, as he would soon discover, were an altogether different proposition.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES Knowland’s arrival in Burma in January 1945 coincided with an intensification of Commando activity as part of XV

Corps’ offensive to rid the Arakan of Japanese troops. The 3rd Commando Brigade, comprising two army (Nos. 1 and 5) and two Royal Marine (42 and 44) Commando units, under the command of Brigadier Campbell Hardy DSO, were engaged in capturing the swamp and jungle-infested Myebon peninsula. It was in the course of the fighting there that 4 Troop, No.1 Commando lost its senior officer, badly wounded, resulting in a reorganisation that saw Lieutenant Roy Semple elevated to Troop commander and the newlyarrived George Knowland sent forward to take charge of 1 Platoon. A week later, having had little time to either acclimatise or get to know his men, Knowland found himself in the van of a new operation in an advance along the western coast of Burma. No.1 Commando, as the brigade’s most experienced unit, was tasked with spearheading an amphibious landing deep behind the enemy lines. With the Japanese 54th Division being driven back by the mainly West African units of 82nd Division, the plan was for 3rd

Commando Brigade, supported by 51st Indian Brigade and a squadron of Sherman tanks belonging to 19th (King George V’s Own) Lancers, to block the enemy’s only “motorable” escape route along the Myobaung-Tamandu road. The spot selected was near a village called Kangaw, where the main track swung east from the plains into the hills. Despite the scantiest of intelligence and a potentially hazardous five-mile approach in landing craft along the 100-yards-wide Daingbon Chaung, the first stage of the operation was accomplished with speed and little loss. Within a day of going ashore, No.1 Commando had splashed through the inundated paddy fields, seized the nearest prominence overlooking the beach-head, Hill 170, and beaten off a series of night counter-attacks, some of them at extreme close quarters. In the days that followed, while other units extended the bridgehead into Kangaw and its neighbouring hills, Lieutenant Colonel Ken Trevor’s No.1 Commando consolidated the brigade’s main position on Hill 170 which they came to share with the marines of 42 Commando, headquarters staff and gunnery observation teams together with a small, newly-landed armoured force. The scrub and tree-covered eminence, code-named Brighton, was the area’s key feature. Whoever held it controlled the water-borne supply line and with it the entire bridgehead. Rising steeply above the muddy plain, it was roughly 700 yards long and consisted of five linked plateaux, the highest one in the centre reaching up to 170 feet. The most vulnerable point was at the northern tip which faced towards two Japanese-occupied heights dubbed West and East Fingers. Seperated from the rest of the hill and the main body of the brigade by a saddle, this sector was exposed to enemy machine-gun www.britainatwar.com

LEFT: A commando assault landing craft noses along one of the jungle-fringed chaungs that gave the Third Arakan campaign its special character. Lieutenant General Sir Philip Christison’s XV Corps carried out a series of amphibious operations from late 1944 into early 1945 designed to keep the pressure on the retreating Japanese 54th Division. The journey to Kangaw along the Daingbon Chaung was potentially hazardous. Had the Japanese had posts along the banks, Colonel Peter Young reckoned they would have wreaked havoc on the crowded boats.

and sniper fire as well as the worst of the shelling which became a regular feature of life in the beach-head. It was to this unhealthy spot that 4 Troop moved on the morning of 23 January 1945, Knowland’s platoon taking up the most advanced position above the forward slopes.

“NASTY AND SCARY” Over the course of the next eight days, the twenty-four men of Knowland’s platoon hunkered down amid a tangle of bushes and tree roots. A series of two and three-man slit trenches were dug to form a box defence around the edge of the northern plateau and, in the face of the enemy’s ritualistic early morning and sun-down bombardments, these grew in scale. As the brigade historian later stated, they quickly learnt “to dig deep, to dig fast, and to stay down”.3 “The shelling was nasty and scary,” recalled Private Malcolm “Mac” Thompson. “They knew where we were and they had the position pinpointed. The deeper you dug the better off you were, but there wasn’t much you could

do about it apart from hope a shell didn’t land on your hole.”4 Some men took the added precaution of covering their trenches with logs while the slopes were laced with an intricate web of trip wires and signal ropes. “There was hardly any verbal communication at all, especially during any shelling,” recalled Corporal Arthur Chapman. “Orders came via the rope, two tugs for ‘stand-to’ and one tug for ‘stand down’.”5 Given the prolonged nature of the shelling, casualties were remarkably light; No.1 Commando suffered only five men killed or wounded in a week of bombardments from Japanese 75mm guns. Thankfully for the men of 4 Troop, a number of the shells proved to be duds and, of the others, many passed over their heads to hit the main part of the hill. Even so, the shelling still took a toll of men’s nerves. “It wasn’t only the shelling that was bad,” said Private Frank Hide. “They also had a medium machine-gun position which they fired across at us and then, at night, they’d try and rattle us with noise and shouts. It was all done to frighten you into shooting back and giving away your position. Day after day of that was enough to make you a bundle of nerves.”6 It was in these conditions that George Knowland sought to better acquaint himself with the men he was commanding in action for the first time. Despite the enemy fire, Knowland paid regular visits to all his posts, carrying out weapon inspections and generally checking on the men’s combat readiness. Sergeant Arthur “Happy” Jackson was in a slit trench just in front of his CO’s position: “We never really had long enough to get to know him, nor him us, but in the short time we had with him he made a good impression. The first thing he did was to come around us all and try to make friends.”7 

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ABOVE AND LEFT: George Knowland pictured whilst a member of No.3 Commando but still wearing the cap badge of his parent unit, the Royal Norfolk Regiment. His commando service began on 20 September 1942. Knowland served as a member of No.3 Commando in Sicily and Italy in 1943, rising to the rank of sergeant and acquiring the nickname “Nobby”. LEFT: The Kangaw bridgehead. No.1 Commando led the operation intended to cut the Japanese line of retreat. This aerial shot shows the landing point in the days after the position had been captured and become a supply base. APRIL 2014 53

THE HEROES OF HILL 170 The Burma Campaign RIGHT: Corporal Arthur Chapman. He volunteered for the commandos from the 4th Suffolks in 1940 and saw active service with No.1 Commando in North Africa before being posted to Burma in 1944. Chapman, who boxed for his unit, described the fight for Hill 170 as “a bloodbath”. BELOW: Fighting to the last. Lieutenant George Knowland is portrayed holding back the Japanese attack with a sub machinegun in Colonel Gerald Hare’s painting which graphically illustrates the close-quarter nature of the fighting. One Commando officer reckoned that almost all the action took place at ranges of between five and fifteen yards. In a letter to Knowland’s father, he described it as “some of the bloodiest fighting I ever want to see”.

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ARAKAN COMMANDOS Word reached No.1 Commando that it was to be relieved on 1 February. However, as things turned out that would be too late for Knowland and many of his fellow Commandos.

SUICIDE ATTACK The shelling before dawn on 31 January had scarcely subsided when, at about 06.40 hours, Colonel Young heard a loud explosion from the west of the saddle at the foot of 4 Troop’s position. The blast was felt across the hill. As flames flared in the darkness “a great lump of body” narrowly missed Sergeant Ted Ridley’s head and landed on a neighbouring trench occupied by men of 42 Commando. A Japanese suicide squad had crept unnoticed around the northern tip of Hill 170 and burst in among the tanks and vehicles of the 19th Lancers’. The next few confused minutes were full of fire and fury.

A group of 4 Troop Commandos in the autumn of 1944. The officer in the slouch hat on the left is Lieutenant William Halse-Hearne who was killed in an ambush near Maungdaw on 11 November 1944. Many of the men pictured here took part in the capture and defence of Hill 170. They include: Corporal “Chuck” Hayes, fourth from left standing; Corporal Bert Baker, fifth from the left standing (killed on the hill); Private Malcolm Thompson, sixth left standing; Sergeant Les Dunnett, seventh from the left standing (seriously wounded); Private James “Ginger” Boyce, far right standing (killed on the hill); Sergeant Arthur “Happy” Jackson, third from the left on second row from back (wounded); Fusilier Bill King, fifth from left on second row from back; Private Mick Williams, fourth from left seated near the front (wounded); Private Frank Hide, centre of front row with slouch hat.

“Grenades were whizzing through the air from both sides,” wrote Captain Bill Merriam, second in command of ‘A’ Squadron, whose three Shermans represented the Commandos’ only armoured support. “Bing Wilson started the ball rolling by shooting the leader of the suicide squad in the face with his Sten, but there were many more fanatics behind him and they, after overrunning our forward position, planted some large type of explosive onto the truck. There was a terrific green flash and a tremendous bang which drove most people back to their trenches.”8 Using charges attached to bamboo poles, the suicide bombers managed

to destroy two trucks and one tank along with its crew. A second tank was set ablaze and Ridley recalled it being driven “in flames all over the top of HQ’s positions on the slope of the hill” until the fire was extinguished. The Japanese were all wiped out, at least one of them by the premature blast of his own explosive device, but their desperate action had reduced the Commandos’ armoured force by two thirds in one fell swoop. As a pall of smoke and flames rose above the saddle, the focus of the struggle shifted to the hill’s northern crest where Knowland’s platoon suddenly found itself under attack. Private Mick Williams was the first to spot the danger from a slit trench on the left he shared with Corporal “Ticky” Tye. Through a “rare gap” in the undergrowth, he saw “long lines of Japs crawling across the paddy fields towards us from the north-west”. “We borrowed the sub-section Bren gun from the next slit trench,” Williams later wrote, “estimated the range at 600 yards and gave them a few bursts”.9 No.4 Troop's contribution to the defence of Hill 170 neither deflected nor deterred the Japanese who were now pouring across the wooded lower slopes. The enemy was soon close enough for the Commandos to hear them. “They made no attempt to creep up on us,” recalled Sergeant Jackson. “You could hear them muttering away almost from the other side of the river.”10 Showing extraordinary restraint, the Commandos held their fire until the first wave burst from cover. Yelling like banshees, they scrambled up to face a hail of fire from a range of barely ten yards. “They came in www.britainatwar.com

wee droves,” said Jackson. “You couldn’t see them until they were almost on you and they kept on coming, all the time making a heck of a noise.”

“IT WAS MAD” There was nothing subtle about the Japanese tactics. They relied simply on fanatical courage and sheer weight of numbers to swamp the defence. As quickly as one charge was beaten back another was launched. The commandos

lost count of the number of attacks. “It was mad,” recalled Private Frank Hide. “No matter how many you killed, they just wouldn’t stop. They didn’t seem to know the meaning of fear.” But the Commandos didn’t have it all their own way. Casualties, particularly among the troops manning the more exposed forward trenches, quickly mounted. Corporal Bert Baker was sniped and killed early on as he lifted his head above the parapet. Not far

A NATURALIST AT WAR MAJOR AUBREY Buxton, later Lord Buxton of Alsa and creator of the groundbreaking TV nature programme Survival, was an artillery liaison officer serving with 3rd Commando Brigade at Kangaw. As an amateur naturalist, he collaborated with the GOC XV Corps and fellow ornithologist General Sir Philip Christison on a book about the birds of the Arakan. As a soldier, he earned a Military Cross for his courage in supporting an infantry attack in the West Mayu in April 1943. In a series of diary-like essays written from Burma and published in his local newspaper, he chronicled his experiences. During a lull in the fighting, he looked back on the epic struggle for Hill 170: “All about is a wonderful stillness, a lazy atmosphere of quiet and comfort, which seems strange after the week of noise and explosion at the now famous bridgehead. The Japanese used their guns, from vast bunkers hidden in the jungle gorges, on a scale unusual for them, and after a few days the constant whine and explosion of shells gave one at the least a hearty desire for a place such as this, a quiet corner in the shade, the afternoon peace only broken by the distant drone of aircraft. “The Creator could have had no fixed plan when he made our bridgehead; a miserable place without one feature to commend it. From the water you flounder through a stinking belt of mangrove. From there you must squelch your way without any chance of concealment across a brackish swamp a mile wide before you reach Hill 170, the scene of the most savage and intense strife. The ground does not improve until you approach the main road, which winds along the foot of steep hills, from where the ‘master race’, those animal-minded sons of Nippon, could watch you undetected, and let loose a hail of unwelcome missiles. “The heroism and guts of the men who repelled every night, at fearful cost to the enemy, his frantic charges, is beyond praise; and here, if ever, the British soldier proved conclusively his superiority over the so-called ‘jungle wizard’ of 1942. “The most interesting comment on the operation was made to me by a Commando Colonel [Peter Young] with a great record in Europe and the Mediterranean. He said, ‘It was fantastic. Such a scene could never take place against the Germans or Italians. Both sides locked together in a hand-to-hand grip on the same ground, in the same trenches even, for 24 hours without one lull; charge after charge by the Japs, over the same approach where their dead lay piled. It’s medieval.’ “Fantastic it was. The determination of those Japanese to capture 170 by such crude methods cannot be admired. It is inhuman. They swarmed up the hill in countless waves and started digging among our men even as they were mown down. “Perhaps the most harrowing experience of all was that of our Bombardier Morris who lay badly wounded on top of two killed. A dead Jap fell across him, and then the enemy used his trench and its contents as a platform, for a whole day and a night, until they were finally exterminated next day. Morris is back and will soon recover. “Probably no Jap escaped. A wide creek flowed across their path of retreat, and the marsh was strewn with the remnants of the force caught by our guns. Bodies counted number over 1000, probably a small proportion of their loss.”

away, an artillery observation officer was fatally wounded by a burst of fire that wounded his bombardier beside him. In a neighbouring trench, Sergeant Les Dunnett was hit by a bullet and temporarily paralysed. Others such as Frank Hide enjoyed marvellous escapes. “As soon as I put my head up,” he recalled, “I had a bullet go straight through my beret without touching me.”11 Mingled with the hail of enemy fire were showers of grenades some of which were returned before they could explode. The Commandos, meanwhile, had their own supply which they quickly exhausted along with the rest of their ammunition. “We were firing non-stop,” continued Jackson. “Some of the barrels were red hot. That’s how we beat them back. We had Brens and fast-firing American Garand rifles which were like semi-Brens. It meant while they were re-loading their guns we were able to shoot them, but there were too many. There seemed to be thousands of them.” From his post at the leading edge of the platoon position Jackson shouted back for more ammunition. His plea was answered by Mick Williams who grabbed a box of grenades and sprang forward. He later wrote: “As I passed Lieutenant Knowland’s trench he shouted ‘Run like hell’ which I was already doing and the next moment I was down with a bullet in my chest and my right arm useless.” The box 

FAR LEFT: The northern tip of Hill 170, codenamed Brighton, which was held by Lieutenant George Knowland’s two sections from 4 Troop. The ferocity of the fighting has stripped much of the undergrowth from the lower slopes which the Japanese briefly occupied and from where they launched their assault on the Commando positions lining the heights. A note added by one of the men who fought in the battle shows where Knowland died. TOP RIGHT: Men of 4 Troop in light-hearted pose. They include Lieutenant Halse-Hearne, front right, and Corporal Bert Baker, centre left, who died during the defence of Hill 170. ABOVE LEFT: Lieutenant Colonel Ken Trevor (1914-2003), commanding officer of No.1 Commando, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership during the fighting at Kangaw. Commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment in 1934, he subsequently volunteered for “special service” in 1941. He soldiered on after the war and eventually retired as a brigadier. APRIL 2014 55

STOLEN HONOUR THE STORY of George Knowland’s Victoria Cross is a poignant one. It was presented to his young widow, Ruby, by King George VI in April 1946. In the aftermath of the war, Ruby met and married an American army officer and as a GI bride made a new life for herself in the United States. Before leaving for Pennsylvania as Ruby Boyer she passed George’s VC to his father. “I had talked it over with my parents,” she said, “and having remarried I felt as though I was starting something new”. He took great pride in the award. His intention was that the honour would, on his death, be presented to his son’s original unit, the Royal Norfolk Regiment. But the gift was never made. In February 1958, while he was working behind the bar of his pub, The Spreadeagle Inn in Finsbury, London, thieves broke into his private quarters and stole personal possessions including his son’s VC. The break-in made headlines in the national press as Mr Knowland appealed for the return of “the only thing he had to remember his gallant son by”. Sadly, it drew no response and, since then, all efforts to trace the missing VC have been in vain. Almost half a century after the theft, an attempt to have an official replacement medal issued for presentation by Knowland’s widow to the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum was ruled out. Ruby Boyer, however, was not to be defeated. With the help of her family, she had a specially commissioned replica made and, in 2004, aged 79, travelled to the UK to make good the promise of her husband’s father. “We just felt it was the right thing to do,” she said. “It’s very sad and very upsetting what happened to George’s medal. I just hope that one day it will be found and given to the regiment.” ABOVE RIGHT: Widows and next of kin of men killed while serving with No.1 Commando gather for a roof garden tea party in London in July 1945. Included among them is Ruby Knowland, ninth from the right in the second row from the back.

of grenades tumbled down into some bushes and came to rest on a wounded Commando. More ammunition and reinforcements, particularly Bren gun teams, were rushed forward from 4 Troop’s second platoon. They included a young Scot, Private Andy Pllu, who volunteered to go on account of his best friend who was in Knowland’s platoon, and Bren gunner Private Jimmy Fitzsimmons who was almost immediately killed. His place was taken by his No.2, Private Jim co*ker. RIGHT: A view of Taukkyan Three men sent to assist him were killed one after the other, but he kept firing Cemetery – the largest of the until his gun was put out of action. three CWGC Undaunted, he quickly found another cemeteries in and started up again.12 Myanmar. It was Such resolution was not unique. At the begun in 1951 height of the battle, Jackson saw one of for the reception of graves from his men, Private James “Ginger” Boyce, four battlefield coolly taking his Bren gun to pieces in cemeteries at order to clear a jam before resuming Akyab, Mandalay, the fight. In another slit trench, it was Meiktila and reckoned that ten men in a row were Sahmaw which killed or wounded trying to keep their were difficult to access and machine-gun in action. could not be During nearly two hours of furious maintained. The fighting the hill was a bedlam of noise graves have been and frenetic activity. “There were grouped together bullets flying everywhere,” recalled at Taukkyan to preserve the Corporal Arthur Chapman, whose slit individuality of trench was a little further back from these battlefield Knowland’s position. “The Japs were cemeteries. screaming and shouting and, above it all, (COURTESY OF THE you could hear people bawling out for COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION) ammunition.”13 Most in 2 Platoon were 56 APRIL 2014

too busy either keeping their heads down or watching out for an attack on their position to notice much about 1 Platoon’s plight, but Mac Thompson remembered being struck by the sight of one man who seemed to be forever on the move across the bullet-swept hill. Firing all manner of weapons and hurling grenades as he ran, he seemed to be indestructible. It was, thought Thompson, “terrific” and unbelievable all at once. The man he saw was George Knowland.

“KEEP AT IT” From the moment the Japanese launched their first attack on his position around 06.30 hours, Knowland had been the inspirational soul of the Commandos’ defiance. He seemed to be everywhere; shouting encouragement, replenishing dwindling supplies of ammunition, taking over machineguns from men who had been killed or wounded with no apparent concern for his own safety. “Happy” Jackson was near enough to hear him, above the din of battle, calling out: “Keep at it, boys. Keep your heads down.” At one point, Jackson saw him standing in the open, bullets

chewing the ground around him, firing a rifle until all his ammunition had been exhausted. Another time, when two men manning a Bren were wounded, Knowland ran forward, grabbed the machine-gun and stood on top of the trench, firing from the hip into the hordes of Japanese less than ten yards away while a medic dressed the men’s wounds and brought them safely away. His courage seemed inexhaustible. Not long after, Jackson was astonished to see him in full view of the Japanese in dead ground beneath them, holding a two-inch mortar which also fired “from the hip”. It was hardly textbook stuff. In fact, many would have dismissed it as well-nigh impossible were it not for the fact there were witnesses. “He was pointing the mortar straight at them, horizontally,” added Jackson. Unbelievably, his unorthodox tactic worked, at least for a time. The first bomb killed six enemy soldiers. More followed. “It was incredible,” continued Jackson. “It stopped them in their tracks until he ran out of bombs.” Undaunted, Knowland darted back for more and, according to an official account, repeated the exercise with similar results. As long as his supply of

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THE HEROES OF HILL 170 The Burma Campaign

bombs lasted, the Commandos, despite the huge disparity in numbers, were able to hold the Japanese at bay. Soon, however, nearly every one of the original twenty-four-strong platoon sited on the northern tip of Hill 170 was a casualty, along with many of those sent forward to help. They included the gallant Ginger Boyce, killed firing his Bren, and Andy Pllu, bayoneted to death after going forward to help his mate. Among the growing number of injured was Happy Jackson, hit by a bullet that tore through his lip. Inevitably, George Knowland’s luck ran out too. As the Japanese tidal wave lapped within a few feet of his position, he met them head-on, first with a rifle and then, when his ammunition ran out, a sub-machine-gun which he snatched from the ground where it had been dropped by a casualty. He was still on his feet, still firing, when he was felled, some say by a burst of machine-gun fire, others a single shot to the head.

A DECISIVE BATTLE Survivors from Knowland’s embattled platoon had little option but to pull back. On orders from their Troop commander, all those who could abandoned the most advanced posts. Happy Jackson, his face bloodied, was among them. Those left behind were either bayoneted or, like Frank Hide, forced to spend an uncomfortable day feigning death in trenches occupied by the Japanese. All told, six posts were overrun, but the remainder of 4 Troop’s position, steadily reinforced throughout a day of continuous fighting, proved an irresistible barrier. For the rest of the day and night, the Japanese stubbornly held on to their hard-won gains in the face of air attack, bombardment by artillery and mortars and no fewer than five counter-attacks in which two of the Commando forces suffered fifty per cent casualties. Eventually, however, they were forced to bow to the inevitable and the next day a patrol found them gone. www.britainatwar.com

The battle for Hill 170 was over and the Japanese comprehensively defeated at a cost of forty-five Commandos killed and almost 100 wounded, roughly half of them in No.1 Commando. Never again would the Japanese attempt to break through the “road block” established by 3 Commando Brigade and their Indian allies. Instead, harried from the air and on the ground, they were forced to abandon their transport, split up and take to the jungle in an effort to avoid total destruction. In a Special Order of the Day, the action at Kangaw was described as “the decisive battle of the whole Arakan campaign”. It was a victory which owed much to the extraordinary courage displayed by a single platoon commanded by a young lieutenant fighting his first battle as a newlycommissioned officer. Against all the odds and for two terrible hours, twentyfour men together with fewer than twenty reinforcements had held back an enemy force reckoned to be more than 600 strong. Even more remarkably, much of the fighting had taken place, according to one officer, at a range of between “five but never more than fifteen yards”.14 Not surprisingly, the long list of awards which followed was headed by a posthumous Victoria Cross for George Arthur Knowland. It was widely welcomed. As one member of 4 Troop put it, “he had earned it 10 times over”. In a letter to Knowland’s father, an officer from No.1 Commando wrote: “I cannot describe … just how wonderful he was … He had no fear and showed nothing but scorn to the Japs.” In addition, three Military Medals were awarded to members of Knowland’s platoon, a tally which hardly did justice to an all-round display of heroism. Visiting the position which had been so hard to hold on the morning after the battle, Colonel Young found a scene of absolute carnage. The ground was a sea of enemy bodies: “I could hardly move a step without treading on a dead Jap”.

In a battle of almost medieval savagery they had left behind 340 corpses to be bulldozed into mass graves. “I was deeply impressed by the murderous assault,” Young added, “and the almost incredible staunchness of the 40 men who had held a battalion at bay.”15 Had the northern tip of Hill 170 fallen, the bridgehead would have been gravely endangered with potentially disastrous consequences. At the very least, Young believed, it would have necessitated “a major operation to re-take it”. “Above anything,” he added, “it was the long stubborn resistance of 4 Troop, 1 Cdo and the heroism of the officer commanding its forward platoon that prevented this.” Picking his way through the human debris, he found some Commandos lying where they fell, surrounded by their enemies. Almost the first he came across was a young officer he recognised from their service together in 3 Commando. George Knowland, his first and last battle as an officer won, was “lying on his back, one knee slightly raised, with a peaceful smiling look on his face”. 

FAR LEFT: George Knowland’s sister, Brenda, visiting the prefab-lined road in Norwich named in honour of her gallant brother. In the aftermath of the conflict, the city commemorated the Royal Norfolk Regiment’s five Second World War Victoria Cross recipients by naming roads on a new housing estate after them. ABOVE LEFT: Ruby Boyer with the replica VC she travelled from America with to present to the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum in 2004. ABOVE RIGHT: Lieutenant George Knowland VC’s grave in Taukkyan Cemetery. The inscription reads: “’Greater love hath no man’ Ever remembered with love and pride by his family.”

NOTES: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Colonel (later Brigadier) Peter Young, DSO, MC, Report on the Battle for ‘170’, 11 February 1945. George Knowland, letter dated 15 October 1943. Major I.V. Carrel (Editor), The Third Jungle Book, 3 Commando Brigade, Souvenir Number (South China Morning Post, 1946). Author interview. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Brigadier J.G. Poco*ck, The Spirit of a Regiment: The History of the 19th King George V’s Own Lancers 1921-1947 (Gale & Polden, Aldershot, 1962). Letter to the author, 21 August 1987. Author interview. Ibid. co*ker was awarded a Military Medal for his actions. Author interview. Letter from H. Sergeant, No 1 Commando, 28 September 1945. Peter Young, Storm from the Sea (William Kimber, London, 1958).

APRIL 2014 57

THE RAF ON THE AIR Flight Lieutenant Reginald Burrage

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   I

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

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T WAS at 07.25 hours on the morning of Wednesday, 22 October 1941, that Pilot Officer D.H. Limbrey took off from St Eval at the controls of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley T4329 (WL-U). He and his 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron crew had been tasked with carrying out an anti-submarine patrol. After an uneventful patrol Limbrey turned for home. It was soon after that disaster struck. Returning from the Bay of Biscay, and having suffered starboard engine failure, Limbrey was faced with no option but to ditch his aircraft – a feat which he safely achieved at a spot seventy-five miles south-west of the Scilly Isles. It was 10.55 hours. The problems for the Whitley crew mounted when the large dinghy carried in their aircraft failed to operate correctly. All six men were forced to squeeze themselves into the remaining, smaller, two-man dinghy. For three hours they remained in this state until spotted by a searching Coastal Command Lockheed Hudson.

At the same time that the Whitley ditched, a Short Sunderland from 10 Squadron RAAF took off from Pembroke Dock on, as the squadron Operations Record Book (ORB) notes, a “special flight to locate and escort a Whitley aircraft which was returning to base with engine trouble”. The flying boat, W3986, was captained by Flight Lieutenant Reginald Burrage. The account in the 10 Squadron ORB reveals a little of what followed for the Sunderland crew: “At 1149 hours course was altered to fly along the estimated track of the Whitley aircraft. A square search was commenced at 1243 hours. At 1352 hours a creeping line ahead search twelve miles either side of the main line of advance, at ten miles intervals, was commenced. At 1515 hours the Wireless Operator intercepted the following message from a Hudson aircraft which was co-operating in the search – ‘Am over dinghy in position ……., contains five [sic] aircrew’.” Twenty minutes later Burrage’s crew received a message from Pembroke Dock to proceed to the Hudson’s location.

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  His instructions were “not to attempt a landing unless conditions permit”. “Course was altered for the new position,” continues the account in the ORB. “A special equipment [radar] indication was observed and it was found on investigation to be a Hudson aircraft eight miles distant on the port side. The Captain, thinking this Hudson aircraft was in position over the dinghy, altered course in its direction. As the Hudson continued on a steady course the chase was abandoned and our aircraft circled endeavouring to establish special equipment contact. “At 1645 hours a special equipment indication was observed and on investigation it was found to be two Hudson aircraft circling steeply. As our aircraft approached, a dinghy containing six men was observed on the water. One sea marker and several smoke floats were dropped and all bombs and depth charges were jettisoned. After making several dummy runs over the dinghy in order to gauge the state of the sea, the Captain decided to attempt an alighting.”

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Moments later, at 17.25 hours, Burrage skilfully put the Sunderland down approximately one mile away from the dinghy, which he immediately headed towards. By 18.01 hours he was airborne again, all six men from T4329 safely onboard. The final part of the rescue had not been without its problems, as Burrage himself later recounted in his talk on the BBC: “It was my flying-boat which picked up the Whitley boys from the Atlantic, but we only came in at the end of the job. If it hadn’t been for a spot of good navigation by the Whitley crew themselves, and then by the Hudsons, these lads would never have been found at all.

“The Whitley crew sent out their position so exactly when they came down, and the Hudson navigators worked so well, that the leading Hudson was over the dinghy, dropping a bag of comforts, only fifty-nine minutes after taking off. In the comforts bag that was dropped were food, brandy and cigarettes. That’s one way to get a smoke these days. “We in the Sunderland were flying towards the last-known position of the dinghy. Then my wireless operator intercepted a message from one of the Hudsons: ‘Am over dinghy, in position so-and-so.’ “We altered course for the new position, and at last came upon two Hudsons circling round in steep turns. Soon we got close enough to see the dinghy on the water. It was a dinghy made for only two men, but there were six in it. They gave us a cheer as we went over. 

6 PART

MAIN PICTURE: A sister aircraft to Flight Lieutenant Reginald Burrage’s 10 Squadron RAAF Short Sunderland pictured taxiing on calm water. This is Mk.I P9604, coded RB-J. (WW2IMAGES) FAR LEFT: Personnel from 10 Squadron RAAF pictured relaxing in the crew-room at Pembroke Dock. Flight Lieutenant Reginald Burrage is the individual holding the newspaper. (COURTESY OF

THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; SUK15066)

APRIL 2014 59

THE RAF ON THE AIR Flight Lieutenant Reginald Burrage RIGHT: After several hours afloat in the small two-man dinghy, the sixstrong crew from T4329 clamber into Burrage’s Short Sunderland. (HMP)

BOTTOM RIGHT: Flight Lieutenant Reginald Burrage, on the left, chats to Pilot Officer D.H. Limbrey at Pembroke Dock after the rescue of the latter and his crew on 22 October 1941. (COURTESY OF

THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; SUK15098)

BOTTOM: Taken from Flight Lieutenant Reginald Burrage’s Short Sunderland, this grainy image shows Pilot Officer D.H. Limbrey and crew bobbing on the waters of the Atlantic in their two-man dinghy. (COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; 044840)

We cracked off a signal to base that we were over them, and then I began to wonder about getting down to pick them up. It’s a tricky business putting a big flying-boat down on a roughish sea in the Atlantic. A heavy wave can easily smash the wing-tip floats, or even knock out an engine as you touch down. “We flew around, talking it over, and looking very hard at the sea. It wasn’t too promising. The waves were about eight feet from trough to crest. But there was one good point – the wind was blowing along the swell, and not across it. “We soon decided to have a try, and I picked out a comparatively smooth piece of water, about a mile from the dinghy. We landed all right. It was a bit bumpy, but it was all right. “The next problem was to get the boys out of the dinghy and into the flyingboat. We taxied near to them. Two of my crew clambered into one of our own dinghies, at the end of a rope, and tried to paddle across to the Whitley dinghy. But the rope was too short. “We tied another piece of rope on the end. It was still too short, even then. One of my crew then climbed out on the Sunderland’s wing and fastened the end of the rope to the wing-tip. But by that time the Whitley dinghy had drifted away, out of reach. “Then I thought we would tow our dinghy up to the Whitley’s dinghy. We started up the engines, and moved off slowly, pulling our own dinghy along behind us. I’m afraid the lads in my dinghy got a bit wet. “After a few minutes we brought both the dinghies together. They floated alongside the Sunderland itself. The Whitley dinghy seemed to be very crowded. When I took the crew aboard, I learned that their big dinghy had failed. So all of them had had to cram into the smaller one, which is designed to hold only two men.

“We pulled them aboard through the after-hatch of the Sunderland – and just about time, too. Their dinghy was gradually filling with water, and I doubt whether it would have lived through the night. It was only half an hour before dusk when we picked them up. 60 APRIL 2014

“They were quite all right, though. Just a bit tired. We gave them some hot tea and some food, and they turned in for a sleep on the way home. We did get one bit of amusem*nt before we got back to base ... About thirty miles off the coast we saw beneath us one of the high-speed rescue launches, haring out towards the position where we had picked up the crew. “We flashed a signal to the launch: ‘Have picked up six air crew from dinghy in position so-and-so.’ The launch flashed back only one word – ‘Blast!’ – and turned round and headed for home. Just one other point strikes me about this rescue incident. It had a fine international flavour. “The British crew in the dinghy included one New Zealander. They were located by Lockheed Hudson aircraft built in California. And they were picked up by a flying-boat manned entirely by Australians. There seems to be a nice touch of co-operation about that.”  www.britainatwar.com

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STIRLING PURSUIT Luftwaffe Night Fighter Ace

Stirling Pursuit During Bomber Command’s Battle of the Ruhr in the summer of 1943 there was a rising star in the Luftwaffe night fighter force; Leutnant Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer. He was later to become the highest scoring night fighter pilot in the entire history of warfare. Here, Andy Saunders tells the story of just one of Schnaufer’s astonishing 121 aerial victories.

N SATURDAY, 14 February 1942, an Air Ministry directive was passed on to Air Marshal Arthur Harris, the Commander-inChief of Bomber Command. The directive, numbered S.46368/DCAS, stated that Bomber Command was “to focus attacks on the morale of the enemy civil population, and, in particular, of the industrial workers”. This was to be achieved by destroying, mainly by incendiary attacks, firstly, four large cities in the Ruhr area and, then, as opportunity offered, fourteen other industrial cities in northern, central and southern Germany.

The objectives of such attacks on German towns and cities were defined by an Air Staff paper which had been compiled on 23 September the previous year: “The ultimate aim of the attack on a town area is to break the morale of the population which occupies it. To ensure this we must achieve two things; first, we must make the town physically uninhabitable and, secondly, we must make the people conscious of constant personal danger. The immediate aim is,

therefore, twofold, namely, to produce (i) destruction, and (ii) the fear of death.” This, of course, chimed with Harris’ well-known views on the conduct of the war and he saw little difficulty in interpreting these instructions. “My primary authorised task was therefore clear beyond doubt; to inflict the most severe material damage on German industrial cities,” he wrote. The Ruhr was to be targeted first as it was, and still is, the largest urban 

ABOVE: HeinzWolfgang Schnaufer pictured, in the centre, with two other members of Luftwaffe aircrew. He achieved his first night victory on 2 June 1942. (COURTESY OF CHRIS GOSS)

A Short Stirling of 218 Squadron, coded HA-D, pictured running up its starboard outer engine at RAF Marham, Norfolk. (WW2IMAGES)

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APRIL 2014 63

RIGHT: A plot which shows the course taken by Pilot Officer Shillinglaw’s Stirling during the pursuit by Leutnant Schnaufer’s and Leutnant Baro’s Messerschmitt Bf 110 in the early hours of 22 June 1943. The path of the British bomber is indicated by the red line, which charts its flight path between 01.26 hours to 01.33 hours, whilst the blue line is that of the Luftwaffe night fighter. (AUTHOR)

area in Germany and the centre of its industrial might. During the 1940s the factories in the Ruhr included co*ke plants, steelworks, and ten synthetic oil installations. The method Harris adopted was to select a target and then send every available aircraft against that target until the place was utterly destroyed, before concentrating on the next city. It was with this philosophy in mind that the so-called Battle of the Ruhr opened in March 1943. The first attack, by a force of 442 bombers, was against Essen. This was followed by heavy attacks upon the chemical plants and iron and steel works at Duisburg. As per Harris’ plan, these two cities were the subject of repeated attacks as was Düsseldorf, the great inland port with its complex of industrial satellite towns, which became the next object of Bomber Command’s attention. The last of the four main targets in the Ruhr to be attacked was Dortmund, the region’s largest city. By 1943 other places in the Ruhr were being targeted and on the night of 21/22 June 1943, Bomber Command’s main ABOVE: Schnaufer is seen here wearing his Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with oakleaves, swords and diamonds. (CHRIS GOSS)

RIGHT: Schnaufer, third from right, pictured during an inspection of Luftwaffe night fighter crews by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring. (AUTHOR)

64 APRIL 2014

effort was against Krefeld. Situated to the north-west of Düsseldorf and just a short distance from the Rhine, the town was notable for its steel works. The attack that night might be described as “averagely typical” in terms of the numbers of aircraft committed by Bomber Command and the resulting attrition rate. In total, a force of 705 aircraft had been despatched. Of this total, 262 Lancasters, 209 Halifaxes, 117 Stirlings, 105 Wellingtons and 12 Mosquitoes were all sent against the target area. Here, good visibility and almost perfect ground-marking by the Oboe-equipped Mosquitoes resulted in no less than 619 aircraft out of the total force committed bombing successfully on the markers and more than three quarters of these had bomb-falls recorded within three miles of the city centre of Krefeld. It was there, though, that terrible devastation was wreaked by the raiders. Huge fires were started which raged out of control for several hours, resulting in the whole centre of the city, comprising around 47% of the built-up area, to be totally destroyed. The bombing led to 1,056 people being killed and 4,500 injured; a further 72,000 residents and workers lost their homes. Against this devastating tally, though, RAF Bomber Command lost fortyfour aircraft; some 6.2% of the force committed that night. Extrapolating that figure, and placing it into some kind of context, the number of Bomber Command crew members lost stood at around 450 killed, missing or becoming prisoners of war in that single operation. For the crews of 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron operating out of RAF Downham Market in Norfolk, the operation against Krefeld was getting on for routine as the bombers got airborne at around midnight. It was a routine, though, that would see the loss of two of the squadron’s Short Stirling Mk.III aircraft that night, resulting in the www.britainatwar.com

deaths of eleven crew members with another four being captured. Once over Belgium the bomber stream was tracked and plotted by the Luftwaffe’s efficient night fighter control system, which was itself part of a fully integrated air defence network. The system had been devised by Generalleutnant Josef Kammhuber and was set up in what became known as the Kammhuber Line. In effect the Kammhuber Line consisted of a series of overlapping control sectors equipped with radar and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector had an over-seeing fighter-controller, or Jagerleitoffizier, who directed the night fighters by radio to a point of interception from where the pilots could pick up their targets, either illuminated by the system’s searchlights, by their own radar, or simply just visually. The whole apparatus of this system was known as Himmelbett, or “canopy bed”, implying a safe canopy over German territory.

INTO ENEMY AIRSPACE Additionally, the Luftwaffe also came to rely increasingly on airborne radar, and apart from the greatly feared night fighters the bombers also had to pass through areas heavily defended by flak, the anti-aircraft guns also being integrated into the system. It was into this veritable spider’s web of the German air defence organisation that Bomber Command regularly committed its aircrew as its bombers penetrated deep into enemy airspace. Amongst those despatched on the night of 21/22 June 1943, was the crew of Pilot Officer W.G. Shillinglaw in Stirling BK712, coded HA-D. As Shillinglaw crossed the coast into Belgium he was already in the spider’s web. On the ground the Luftwaffe’s ever-watchful signals units tracked the bomber streams by sound, visually  www.britainatwar.com

ABOVE: A vital part in the German air defence system – a plotting room used to control night fighters. A Jägerleitoffizier (fighter direction officer) and his assistants are busy plotting courses and directing their assigned aircraft to potential targets. (BUNDESARCHIV; BILD 101I-680-8274A-15A/ FAUPEL/CC-BY-SA)

LEFT: A typical Messerschmitt Bf 110 night fighter, as flown by Leutnant Schnaufer in his pursuit of BK722. (COURTESY OF CHRIS GOSS)

APRIL 2014 65

NO NORMAL BATTLE Longstop Hill

110G-4 of Stab.II/NJG 1, with Leutnant Dr Baro as his radio/radar operator, had been given a course to steer by his Jagerleitoffizier, Leutnant Kuhnel. The German system worked, and at around 01.27 hours Schnaufer had crossed behind the Stirling. ABOVE: The first page of Leutnant Schnaufer’s and Leutnant Baro’s Abschussmeldung, or combat report, relating to the shooting down of Short Stirling BK722. (AUTHOR) ABOVE RIGHT: The wreckage of BK722 pictured where it fell near the village of Langdorp, just east of the town of Aarschot.

(AUTHOR)

and by radar as they crossed Occupied Europe heading towards Germany. On this night, area “Meise” of the system (centred roughly on the Belgian town of Mechelen) had drawn Shillinglaw and his crew into their particular web. Under the control of Leutnant Rieder, the men of 13./Ln.Rgt 211 (13th Section of Luftwaffe Signals Regiment No.211) carefully plotted the course of BK712 as it entered their sector at around 01.20 hours (CET) on what was, generally, an east-south-east heading. At first, as the bomber headed inexorably towards its intended target it took a relatively unwavering course, but already Leutnant Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer in his Messerschmitt Bf

ABOVE: The telegram received at the Luftwaffe base at St Trond which details the names of three of the men killed when BK722 was shot down, one of whom, the individual listed as “Turton”, is incorrect. (AUTHOR)

66 APRIL 2014

IN FOR THE KILL Almost at once, the Stirling’s track wavered – had Shillinglaw’s crew spotted the threat and the bomber adopted a meandering and corkscrewing track as it attempted to shake off its pursuer? All the while, 13,/Ln.Rgt tracked the courses of both aircraft, relative to each other, with the trace of both plots later recorded as an appendix to Schnaufer’s subsequent combat report. For the next few minutes, however, a cat-and-mouse game was played in the skies over Occupied Europe as Schnaufer shadowed his quarry and gradually closed for the kill. That moment seemingly came at around 01.31 hours as the German pilot finally fastened onto the tail of the Stirling to deliver his short coup-de-grace. The detail of the engagement was recorded in very matter-of-fact tones by Schnaufer in his combat report, or Abschussmeldung: “At 01.20 hrs in-bound enemy aircraft were detected in ‘Raum Meise’ at an altitude of 4,300 metres. From about 500 metres I recognised [my target] as a Short Striling [sic] and at 01.30 hrs I managed to get onto the furiously swerving enemy aircraft which I attacked. “The hits went into the fuselage which immediately burst into a fierce fire. For a while the aircraft carried on burning before going into a vertical dive to the ground at 01.33 hrs. I followed the burning aircraft to locate its position 3 km to the north east of Aerschott [also spelt Aarschot] where the wreck has now been located.” Schnaufer’s combat report went on to confirm that all of the Stirling’s crew

had been found dead in the wreckage. The completed pro-forma questions on the report also reveal how Schnaufer had approached from behind and below, only opening fire when he and Baro had closed to a range of just fifty to eighty metres. Shillinglaw’s crew had stood little chance as 280 rounds of 7.92mm MG17 machine-gun ammunition and 120 rounds of 15mm ammunition from the MG151 cannon had raked the Stirling at near point-blank range. Unteroffizier Schellenberg of 13./Ln.Regt 211 also testified that he had observed two bursts of fire from the night fighter, after which the Stirling dived, burning, into the ground at the Luftwaffe grid reference NK 31 b. In addition to the loss of BK712, 218 Squadron also lost Stirling BK722/G, that night; it had been shot down near Maarheze, to the south east of Eindhoven, by Oberleutant EckartWilhelm von Bonin of 6./NJG1 but with claims for its destruction being also made, apparently, by anti-aircraft batteries 3./591 and 4./591. Of BK722’s crew, three were killed and four survived to become prisoners of war.

A MYSTERIOUS CASUALTY None of Shillinglaw’s crew was able to abandon their stricken aircraft before it hit the ground. A telegram subsequently received at Schnaufer’s St Trond base revealed that after the bomber’s wreckage had been located and examined, three of the crew had been identified by name. According to Schnaufer’s report, these men were “Sgt Hart (1314586)”, “M Lunn (1167033)” and an “M Turton (1438341)”. In fact, the full crew of Stirling BK712 comprised eight men. They were: Pilot Officer W.G. Shillinglaw (RAAF); Flying Officer Arne Helvard (Danish pilot); Sergeant Raymond Goward (Flight Engineer); Sergeant Patrick McArdle (Navigator); Sergeant Thomas Lunn (Bomb Aimer); Flight Sergeant Douglas www.britainatwar.com

Ashby-Peckham (RNZAF and a W.Op./ Air Gunner); Sergeant Arthur Gurney (Air Gunner); and Sergeant Edgar Hart (Air Gunner). Quite apart from the fact that the Luftwaffe only reported seven casualties amongst the wreckage of Schnaufer’s victim near Aarschot, there had been, as this list shows, eight men aboard BK712. All were buried in a collective grave in the churhyard in the village of Langdorp, Belgium. A mystery surrounds the airman named by the Germans as M. Turton and who had the service number 1438341. As can be seen, no one of that surname was in Shillinglaw’s crew, and none of the men had a service number even remotely similar to that recorded for Turton. Possibly a piece of equipment had been found amongst the wreckage that had previously belonged to a man with that name and number and which had been marked accordingly? Perhaps one of Shillinglaw’s crew was wearing a borrowed piece of clothing? So far as can be established, the crew was initially buried with only the names of Hart, Lunn and Turton recorded by the Germans. The post-war investigations by the RAF’s Missing Research & Enquiry Units established the correct names of the other men buried with them as they all still lie in Langdorp. Unfortunately for Shillinglaw and his men, having been caught in the “spider’s web” theirs was the fourth Stirling to have been shot down by Schnaufer, representing his thirteenth kill. They would not be the last; another 108 Allied aircraft would fall to his guns before the end of the war. 

Schnaufer’s Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4/U 8 was brought to the United Kingdom after the war, being, at one point, displayed in London’s Hyde Park. The port-side vertical stabliliser from this aircraft was salvaged when it was scrapped and, carrying emblems for all of his 121 victories (including BK722), is today in the care of the Imperial War Museum. The other fin from this aircraft, with the same markings, is held by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

NIGHT FIGHTER ACE

ABOVE: Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer points out a victory marking on the tail of his Bf 110. Following his release from captivity after the war, Schnaufer returned to his home town of Calw where he took over the family wine business. During a wine buying trip to Bordeaux he was involved in a road traffic accident on 13 July 1950, dying from his injuries on 15 July. (COURTESY OF CHRIS GOSS)

www.britainatwar.com

MAJOR HEINZ-WOLFGANG SCHNAUFER was the top-scoring night fighter pilot of the Second World War. He was credited with 121 aerial victories claimed in just 164 combat missions. As his victory total includes 114 RAF four-engine bombers, Schnaufer arguably accounted for more RAF casualties than any other Luftwaffe fighter pilot, although he was the third highest German claimant against the Western Allied Air Forces. On 25 May 1944, Schnaufer downed five Lancasters within fourteen minutes, and by the end of that year he was the highest scoring Luftwaffe night fighter pilot with 106 victories. However, Schnaufer’s most successful run of victories came on 21 February 1945, when he is credited with having shot down nine RAF four-engine bombers in the course of one day: two in the early hours of the morning (victories 108 and 109) and a further seven, in just nineteen minutes, that evening (victories 110 to 116). Even then, post-war research suggests that, in fact, his total that day was ten, one claim not having been acknowledged. Schnaufer was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds during his night-fighting career. On 7 March, Schnaufer shot down three RAF four-engine bombers to record his last victories of the Second World War. His flight book details some 2,300 take-offs and a total of 1,133 flying hours. Schnaufer was taken prisoner by the British at Eggebek in Schleswig-Holstein in May 1945.

APRIL 2014 67

DATES THAT SHAPED T 5

A force of 144 Avro Lancasters of 5 Group was despatched to bomb an aircraft factory at Toulouse. The marking for the attack, however, had not been carried out by a Pathfinder aircraft, but a de Havilland Mosquito flown by Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire – the first low-level Mosquito marking mission of the war.

The siege of Kohima by Japanese troops began. The 2,500-strong Allied garrison was eventually besieged in a triangular area some 700 yards by 900 yards by 1,700 yards, constantly under shell and mortar fire. During the siege, all supplies for the defenders were air-dropped by the RAF and the USAAF.

Following successful trials in 1940 and 1941, the Pay-As-YouEarn (PAYE) tax system was introduced in the UK for 12,000,000 taxpayers. In place of annual or twice-yearly collections, tax was now deducted by employers from wages on a weekly or monthly basis, and an employee leaving work was given a P45, recording his or her code number, pay to date and tax paid to date, to pass on to a new employer. In the Inland Revenue’s first exercise in public relations, staff had visited work places to discuss the system with employers and employees.

 CONVOY JW-58

Despite one of the most powerful combined attacks of the war by German aircraft and submarines the ships of Convoy JW-58 arrived safely in Russian waters, without the loss of a single vessel, on Tuesday, 4 April 1944. Consisting of fortyseven merchant ships, JW-58 had sailed from Loch Ewe on 27 March 1944 with a strong naval escort which included the cruiser USS Milwaukee which was being transferred to the Soviet Navy. With the safe arrival of so many ships, and the destruction of three U-boats, plus a fourth incidental kill, and six shadowing aircraft, JW-58 was one of the most successful Arctic convoys. It was also one of the last for many months, the series being temporarily discontinued to allow naval assets to be deployed for Operation Neptune, the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. Here a U-boat shadowing JW-58 is pictured under attack by a Fleet Air Arm Grumman TBF Avenger of 846 Naval Air Squadron, operating from HMS Tracker, on 3 April 1944. Machine-gun fire from the attacking aircraft can be seen straddling the U-boat near the conning tower. In the course of this attack, and others by Swordfish from 819 Naval Air Squadron (HMS Activity) and Wildcats (also 846 NAS on HMS Tracker), the U-boat, the Type VIIC U-288 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Willy Meyer, was sunk, with the loss of all hands, in the Barents Sea south-east of Bear Island.

OPERATION co*ckPIT

At 05.30 hours on the morning of Wednesday, 19 April 1944, a force of seventeen Fairey Barrcudas and thirteen Chance Vought F4U Corsairs took off from HMS Illustrious, along with twenty-nine Douglas SBD Dauntless and Grumman TBF Avengers, escorted by twenty-four Grumman F6F Hellcats, from USS Saratoga. The targets, as part of Operation co*ckpit, which was intended to divert attention from the start of US landings at Hollandia in New Guinea, were Japanese ships and positions at Sabang, off the northern tip of Sumatra. The attack was a success. Sabang harbour and the nearby airfield were bombed, whilst two merchant ships, a pair of destroyers and an escort ship were hit. Thirty Japanese aircraft were destroyed on the airfield and a large oil tank set on fire. The power-station, barracks and a wireless station were badly damaged. The two aircraft carriers were part of a naval force that also included warships from Australia, Free France, the Netherlands and New Zealand. co*ckpit was the first joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean.

The Secretary of State for War was asked in Parliament “how many German prisoners interned in this country have at any time escaped; and how many of them have been recaptured”. In reply it was stated: “Sixty-two German prisoners have escaped in the course of this war. All but two who were drowned while escaping have been recaptured.”

The Japanese “March on Delhi” has been stopped on the plains of Imphal, forty miles inside India. The battle here, says the British commander, General Slim, will decide India’s fate.

Following a request by the Dutch Resistance, six Mosquito FB VIs of 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron made a pinpoint attack at rooftop height on the Kunstzaal Kleizkamp Art Gallery in The Hague, Netherlands, which was being used by the Gestapo to store records of the Dutch Central Population Registry. The bombs, a mixture of high explosive and incendiary, were dropped on the target, destroying the building and the records within. A number of people in the building were killed.

Allied strategic bombing forces in the northwest European theatre were placed under the control of the Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, for operations in support of the invasion of Operation Overlord.

(IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM; A22859)

68 APRIL 2014

www.britainatwar.com

D THE WAR

APRIL 1944

Key Moments and Events that aﬀected Britain in WW2

 SINK THE TIRPITZ

Having sailed from UK waters on 11 April 1944, under tow from HMS Sceptre, the X-craft X-24 entered Bergen Harbour with the intention of attacking the Laksevåg floating dock. The original intention had been for X-22 to undertake the mission, but she had been accidentally rammed during training and sunk with all hands on 7 February 1944. Commanded by Lieutenant Max Sheen, X-24’s crew successfully laid their charges which duly detonated. It was only later that it was discovered that the charges had in fact been laid under the 7,500 ton merchant-vessel Bärenfels which, having been lying almost alongside the dock, was sunk; the dock itself was only slightly damaged.

An order made under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Acts of 1939 and 1940 made the act of inciting a strike in the UK a criminal offence.

Overnight, RAF aircraft carried out 1,125 sorties on targets including Rouen, Juvisy, Noisy-le-Sec and Tergnier – a new record for Bomber Command. It is also stated that the biggest bomb load of the war to date was dropped during the night.

The German battleship Tirpitz had been badly damaged by X-craft midget submarines on 23 September 1943, as she lay in Kåfjord in northern Norway. Since that time the Germans had been working hard to repair the great warship so that towards the end of 1943 plans were laid to put Tirpitz permanently out of action. A large naval force left Scapa Flow on 30 March and in the early hours of Monday, 3 April 1944, the Fleet Air Arm launched two Wings of Barracuda from HMS Victorious and HMS Furious. These torpedo-bombers were escorted by a force of eighty Corsairs, Hellcats and Wildcats. Flying at just fifty feet above the waves to keep below the German radar, the aircraft reached the Norwegian coast and rose up to pass over the hills to the south of the fjord. The fighters flew into Kåfjord first to strafe Tirpitz’s antiaircraft gun positions and those placed on the shore around the ship. Then the first wave of twenty-one Barracudas of Nos. 827 and 830 Naval Air Squadrons (NAS) unleashed their armour-piercing bombs, ten of which struck Tirpitz. The second wave of Barracudas, from Nos. 829 and 831 NAS, followed, again led by fighters. This time the German battleship was hit with five bombs in the space of a minute. The official historian of the Royal Navy, Stephen Roskill, stated that the strikes were “beautifully co-ordinated and fearlessly executed”. While two bombs that exploded in the water near Tirpitz opened holes in her hull and caused flooding, none of the other bombs that struck the battleship penetrated her main deck armour belt. Nevertheless, Tirpitz was not badly damaged and was considered repairable, though the crew suffered “heavy” casualties. More raids upon the warship would be mounted in the months to come.

After a day’s heavy fighting, troops of the 1st Battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment, finally broke through Japanese lines and started to relieve the beleaguered Kohima garrison. By this time, Kohima resembled a First World War battlefield, “with smashed trees, ruined buildings and the ground covered in craters”.

In the face of mounting pressure from the Allied nations, Turkey introduced a ban on the export of chrome ore to the Axis.

TOP LEFT: Fleet Air Arm crews in their flying gear being briefed onboard HMS Furious, by Commander S.T.C. Harrison of the carrier’s air staff, prior to the attack on Tirpitz on 3 April 1944. Note the relief map of the target area. (WW2IMAGES) MAIN PICTURE: Barracudas on their way at low level to attack Tirpitz on 3 April 1944. (WW2IMAGES)

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11/03/2014 09:59

THE BATTLE OF LYME BAY Training for D-Day

N WEDNESDAY, 19 April 1944, Colonel W.R. Pierce issued the instruction order for Exercise Tiger from Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. The objective of the exercise was to train US troops who would assault Utah Beach on D-Day. The exercise was to last from 22 April until 30 April 1944, and covered all aspects of the forth-coming invasion, culminating in a landing on the beach at Slapton Sands in south Devon. “Exercise Tiger will involve the concentration, marshalling and embarkation of troops in the Torbay-Plymouth area, and a short movement by sea under the control of the US Navy,” noted Colonel Pierce’s instructions. The exercise was broken down into four phases. Phase 1 (26 April 1944)

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consisted of the movement to the troops’ concentration areas, before processing through these locations and the marshalling areas to embarkation on the landing craft. Phase II (27 April) consisted of the movement by sea, disembarkation, and the assault on the beach defences up to the establishment of the initial beach defence line, whilst Phase III (28 April) consisted of the consolidation and extension of the beach head. Phase IV (29 April) would conclude the exercise and involved the completion of unloading and the continued operation of the various beach maintenance areas. The troops involved in Exercise Tiger were from what was designated as Force ‘U’ for Operation Overlord. This consisted of some 25,000 men and 2,750 

Little more than a month before the start of Operation Overlord, elements of the US forces that were to assault Utah Beach on 6 June 1944, conducted a large-scale exercise which was intended to simulate as closely as possible the cross-Channel invasion and landing. It was, writes Mark Khan, more realistic than anyone ever imagined. BELOW: A diver examines the wreck of LST 531, one of the two LSTs sunk during Exercise Tiger on 28 April 1944. LST 507 was hit first, her stern sank but the bow section remained afloat until the following day (this was sunk the following morning by HMS Onslow). LST 531, meanwhile, sank within seven minutes of being hit. Note the ammunition and wheels from a DUKW or lorry. The tank deck on LST 507, for example, held twenty-two DUKWs, whilst jeeps and trucks had been loaded topside, all chained to the deck and fully fuelled. (COURTESY OF GARETH LOCK)

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THE BATTLE OF LYME BAY Training for D-Day

ABOVE: A scene that could be mistaken for either Utah or Omaha beaches on 6 June 1944, though this picture was in fact taken at Slapton Sands. (CONSEIL RÉGIONAL DE

BASSE-NORMANDIE/ US NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

ABOVE RIGHT: A few short weeks after this photograph was taken, many of the men seen here would be disembarking on to a similar beach on the opposite side of the Channel in the face of the guns of the enemy. (US NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

vehicles of the US VII Corps, including principally the 4th Infantry Division, the 1st US Engineer Special Brigade along with elements of the US 82nd and 101st airborne divisions. Preceding the disembarkation at Slapton Sands medium bombers and fighter-bombers were to attack targets inland and along the beach. Likewise, naval vessels were to fire upon beach obstacles. The initial landings would receive covering fire from the sea, and, towards the end of the bombardment, smoke shells would be fired to conceal the disembarkation. Because the aircraft necessary to duplicate the D-Day operation were not available for Tiger, and due to locally-imposed restrictions on dropping airborne troops, the employment of the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions was to be on a limited scale. Four hours before H-Hour troops of the 101st Airborne Division were to arrive to the rear of Slapton Sands area by vehicle and simulate an airborne landing. They were to arrive east of Kingsbridge and seize the high ground west of the beach. Troops of the 82nd Airborne Division were to perform a simulated landing

at dawn to the west on D+1 to prevent “enemy” re-enforcements advancing towards the beachhead.

IN THE EVENT OF ENEMY ACTION The exercise, which was under the command of the US Navy’s Rear Admiral Don P. Moon, began with the troops being moved to the marshalling areas on 22 April. Tiger would be the first occasion where the troops involved would experience something approaching the full-scale crossing of the Channel before then undertaking an assault landing. This meant that the ships and landing craft would be at sea for a number of hours. There would be dangers associated with this – and, as Operating order No.2-44 of 18 April had highlighted, these were fully appreciated: “Attack by enemy aircraft, submarines, and E-boats may be expected en route to and in exercise area.” As a result, a naval force consisting of four Tribal-class destroyers as well as coastal forces from Plymouth Command was provided for Tiger. So great was the possibility of intervention by German forces a

press statement was prepared on 27 April relating to ongoing training. This memorandum, more specifically aimed at Exercise Fabius, contained two statements to be given to the press should the enemy intervene. In the case of German naval action, the following was to be stated: “It is announced by Supreme Headquarters that elements of Allied Naval Forces engaged in exercises, encountered enemy units (appropriate details)”. The second statement was to be given to the press in the case of action by the Luftwaffe: “It is announced by Supreme Headquarters that elements of Allied air, ground and sea forces engaged in exercises, encountered hostile opposition in the shape of (give concise details).” Examples of the details that were to be given were also included in the memorandum. These included: “Barge concentrations and port installations on the South Coast were attacked last night by enemy E-boats in lightning ‘hit and run’ raids. These forces were intercepted and engaged by our light naval craft and the attackers dispersed. XX [number to be inserted here] E-boats were sunk or damaged in these operations. These

The early assault stage of Exercise Tiger – defined as Phase II in the instructions issued by Colonel W.R. Pierce – underway at Slapton Sands on the morning of 27 April 1944. (US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

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FAR LEFT: As Exercise Tiger continues, troops disembark on to the beach at Slapton Sands from a Landing Craft Infantry, in this case LCI 84. A veteran of the Salerno landings, LCI 84 was deployed during D-Day before heading to the Far East.

(CONSEIL RÉGIONAL DE BASSE-NORMANDIE/US NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

attacks appear to be incited by an amphibious exercise taking place in the area.” There were similar examples in the event of attacks by enemy aircraft.1 Little would the author of these statements have realised just how prophetic his words would be.

EXERCISE TIGER BEGINS The convoy set off on the evening of 26 April and arrived off Slapton Sands in the early hours of the 27th. By 15.30 hours the beachhead was considered secure. Meanwhile Convoy T4, with some of the follow up force consisting of men and vehicles of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade, had set off from Plymouth. The convoy, consisting of four LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks) 515, 496, 511, 531, and 58 in that order, was led by the corvette HMS Azalea. The First World War-vintage destroyer HMS Scimitar was the main escort for the convoy but during the night before the start of Tiger she had been accidently rammed by a landing craft and had been holed on the port side. Though the damage was above the waterline, the decision was taken not to risk taking her to sea until she had been repaired.

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Repairs could not even start at Plymouth until the 28th so a replacement was needed. Unfortunately, the signal stating that Scimitar would be unable to participate in Tiger did not go out until 20.15 hours on the 27th, and then it went to the wrong person. Instead of it being sent to the commander of Force ‘U’ at Plymouth, it went to the Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. It was not until after midnight in the morning of the 28th, that the situation was resolved and a signal was sent to the Senior Officer Escorts on HMS Tanatside who immediately ordered the destroyer HMS Saladin to join Convoy T-4 at sea. Saladin left Start Bay at 01.37 hours on the 28th. By the time Saladin reached the convoy, however, the Battle of Lyme Bay was over.

THE S-BOATS At 22.00 hours on the 27th, nine S-boats (more commonly known as E-boats) of the 5th and 9th Schnellboote flotillas put to sea from Cherbourg. Travelling at thirty-six knots, with their directionfinding equipment switched off and maintaining strict radio silence, the German vessels managed to slip through the screen of three Royal Navy MTBs

watching the French harbour. There were four other patrols covering Convoy T-4 as it steamed round to simulate the cross-Channel voyage that would have to be taken on D-Day. These consisted of three more MTBs, two MGBs and forty other boats which were stationed in a line from Portland Bill extending across Lyme Bay. The S-boats were spotted by one of the picket boats shortly after midnight, and a report was transmitted to HMS Azalea. However, because of a typographical error in orders, the US LSTs were on a different radio frequency from the corvette and the British naval headquarters ashore. Assuming the US vessels had received the same report, the captain of Azalea did not see the need to alert the LSTs himself. The convoy by this time was west of Tor Bay heading in a north-north-west direction before commencing a large turn, first in an easterly direction and then southerly, for the final westerly approach to Slapton Sands. It was travelling at just four knots. The convoy was due to rendezvous with four more landing craft that had sailed from Brixham before the run to the beach. 

LEFT: Following the events of Exercise Tiger, LST 289 was towed into Dartmouth harbour on the morning of 28 April 1944. There the casualties were brought ashore to a fleet of ambulances waiting on North Embankment. The extent of the damage to her stern also became abundantly clear. (US

NATIONAL

ARCHIVES)

BELOW: The destination of Convoy T-4 – Slapton Sands in South Devon. (COURTESY OF JIM LINWOOD)

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ABOVE: Another view of LST 289 in Dartmouth harbour. Having been repaired, LST 289 was used during operations in Normandy before being transferred to the Royal Navy on 30 November 1944. (US NATIONAL

The convoy was picked up on radar located on the French coast and Kapitän zur See Rudolf Petersen, radioed its position through to the S-boats. At 23.17 hours the S-boats split into pairs as they moved into attack. The Germans made visual contact with the convoy shortly after midnight, with Formation 3, consisting of S-136 and S-138 of the 5th Flotilla, seeing what they thought were two destroyers. ARCHIVES) Selecting one ship apiece, the S-Boats fired a salvo of two torpedoes each at a range of 2,000 metres. One of S-138’s torpedoes struck the BELOW: A colour rearmost ship and both of those from image of LST 289 anchored S-136 detonated shortly afterwards in Dartmouth when they struck the second ship. That harbour. Note that first “destroyer” to be hit was in fact LST the Britannia Royal 507, on board which were elements Naval College can of the 557th Quartermaster Railhead be seen in the background on the Company. A subsequent report recorded left. (CRITICAL PAST) what happened:

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“At about 01.30 a shaking of the LST was observed but no alarm was given at this time. At about 0145 the general alarm was given and all military was ordered to the top deck. In about ten minutes a torpedo hit amidships on the starboard side. Fire fighting equipment was brought forward but was unusable to any extent. A few minutes later another torpedo struck again on the starboard side. Medical attention was given [to] as many men as possible aboard ship.”2

A BLAZING INFERNO The situation on 507 soon became desperate. Lieutenant Eugene E. Eckstam was a medical officer on board: “General Quarters rudely aroused us about 0130. I remember hearing gunfire and saying they had better watch where they were shooting or someone would get hurt. At 02.03 I was stupidly

trying to go topside to see what was going on and suddenly ‘BOOM!’ “There was a horrendous noise accompanied by the sound of crunching metal and dust everywhere. The lights went out and I was thrust violently in the air to land on the steel deck on my knees, which became very sore immediately thereafter. Now I knew how getting torpedoed felt. But I was lucky. “The torpedo hit amidships starboard in the auxiliary engine room, knocking out all electric and water power. We sat and burned. A few casualties came into the wardroom for care and, since there was ample help, I checked below decks aft to be sure no one required medical attention there. All men in accessible areas had gone topside. “The tank deck was a different matter. As I opened the hatch, I found myself looking into a raging inferno which pushed me back. It was impossible to enter. The screams and cries of those many Army troops in there still haunt me. Navy regulations call for dogging the hatches to preserve the integrity of the ship, and that’s what I did. “Until the fire got so hot we were forced to leave the ship at 0230, we watched the most spectacular fireworks ever. Gas cans and ammunition exploding and the enormous fire blazing only a few yards away are sights forever etched in my memory.”3 Steve Sadlon was a radio operator aboard LST 507. “It was an inferno,” he recalled after the war. “The fire was circling the ship. It was terrible. Guys were burning to death and screaming. Even to this day I remember it. Every time I go to bed, it pops into my head. I can’t forget it.” 4 www.britainatwar.com

THE BATTLE OF LYME BAY Training for D-Day Sadlon ended up spending about four hours in the frigid English Channel before he was finally hauled aboard an American landing craft. Unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, he was initially mistaken for dead, but he recovered sufficiently by 5 June to take part in Operation Overlord. He was one of the lucky ones. “The whole end was knocked off the one that I was on,” recalled Sergeant Ewell B. Lunsford of the 5th Medical Battalion, 12th Division – this may have been LST 289. “I was down in the hold with the vehicles, gasoline and ammunition just packed in there. I heard one torpedo come sliding down

red tracers to their north, Formation 1, comprising S-100 and S-143, proceeded to the area and noted what they described as a “tanker” was on fire. Both boats fired two torpedoes at a target of around 1,500 tons. After seventy-six seconds an explosion was observed. The E-boats of the 9th Flotilla – S-130, S-145 and S-150 – also headed straight for the scene of the fighting. S-150 and S-130 then engaged in a concentrated torpedo attack against a single ship while S-145 broke off to attack “small armed escorts”, most likely lowered landing craft. The Germans were eventually driven off by gunfire from the LSTs. Trapped below decks on the LSTs hundreds of soldiers and sailors went down with their ships. There was little time to launch lifeboats and some of the lifeboats were jammed. Many leapt into the sea; soon many drowned, some weighed down by the waterlogged coats and others who had wrongly put on their life belts around their 

the side of the hull, but it didn’t explode. Then the next one caught the stern end and tore off about thirty feet all the way across to the end. It was like there was a big door back there, but we didn’t sink. “I managed to get up on top. The tracer bullets were thick as hair on a dog’s back. I saw one of those little old E-Boats in the moonlight. The guys were firing on it and I saw it hit.”5 Formation 2 comprising S-140 and S-142 then moved in and both opened fire with both of their torpedo tubes at 1,400 metres. When no explosions were heard Oberleutnant zur See Goetschke correctly concluded that the ships were shallow draft landing craft. Alerted to the unfolding battle by www.britainatwar.com

ABOVE: Fully loaded in preparation for Exercise Tiger, this is LST 507 pictured in Dartmouth Harbour on 27 April 1944. Barely twenty-four hours would pass before 507 was sunk in Lyme Bay. (US NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

LEFT: One of the LSTs involved in the disaster in Lyme Bay, LST 515, can be seen here in the background unloading whilst beached, though the date and location is unknown. Following its participation in the D-Day landings, LST 515 was transferred to the Pacific, where it remained until 1955. Returned to the United States, the ship was decommissioned later that year, only to eventually be brought back into service for the Vietnam War. (US

NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

LEFT: The crew of a passing launch examine the damage to the bows of LST 289. To many who served on LSTs, the initials came to represent “Long Slow Target”. (US

NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

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THE BATTLE OF LYME BAY Training for D-Day

ABOVE: An instrument panel that can be seen on the wreck of LST 531. This was photographed through a break in the wreck in the area of what is believed to be the auxiliary engine room. (COURTESY OF

GARETH LOCK)

TOP: A propeller on one of the LCVPs carried on LST 531. (COURTESY OF

GARETH LOCK)

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waists rather than under their armpits. Others succumbed to hypothermia in the cold water. “[The] ship’s company wore life jackets, but the medics and Army personnel had been issued inflatable belts,” continued Lieutenant Eckstam. “We were told only to release the snaps and squeeze the handles to inflate. Climbing down a cargo net, I settled into the 42 degree F. water, gradually getting lower as the life belt rose up to my arm pits. The soldiers that jumped or dove in with full packs did not do well. Most were found with their heads in the water and their feet in the air, top heavy from not putting the belts around their chests before inflating them. Instructions in their correct use had never been given.

“I recall only brief moments of hearing motors, of putting a knee on a small boat ramp, and then ‘awakening’ half way up a Jacobs ladder. I was on the only American ship, LST 515, to rescue survivors. This was at dawn, about 0600. I had been in the water over 2 hours fully dressed and insulated. Those that had stripped to swim, only God knows where they died. Drowning and hypothermia were the two major causes of death.”6 There was immense confusion following the attack and this has led to much speculation concerning the actual course of events that night in Lyme Bay. Kapitänleutnant Freiherr von Mirbach investigated the battle and, following an evaluation of the torpedo-firing documentation, he awarded the sinking

of one 4,600-ton LST jointly to S-150 and S-130, another of 3,000 tons to S-150 and awarded a landing craft to S-145.7 In actual fact LST 507 and LST 531 both sank. LST 289 was set on fire but this was controlled and the ship made its way back to port. LST 511 was damaged by friendly fire. In all 749 American soldiers and sailors died that night. This included ten officers who had clearance above Top Secret and knew the plans for Operation Overlord. Such individuals were placed on what was called the Bigot list and consequently they were known as “Bigots”. Only this highly selective group had access to the most sensitive documents and the most secret places. On one occasion King George VI was turned away from the intelligence centre on USS Ancon because the guard said the King was not on the Bigot list! If any of these men had fallen into the hands of the Germans alive, the invasion of Normandy might have been compromised, but fortunately the bodies of all ten were recovered in the aftermath. As for HMS Saladin, she only arrived in time to help pick up survivors. 

NOTES: 1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

TNA WO 219/184. Quoted in E. Dale Rodman with Richard T. Bass, D-Day Sacrifice (Menin House, Brighton, 2013), p.31. “The Tragedy of Exercise Tiger”, Navy Medicine 85, No. 3 (May-Jun 1994), pp.5-7. Quoted on the NBC News website; www.nbcnews.com. Russell Miller, Nothing Less Than Victory (Penguin, London, 1993), pp.55-6. “The Tragedy of Exercise Tiger”, ibid. “The Other D-Days”, After the Battle No.44, p.20.

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Hornby Hobbies F_P.indd 1

07/03/2014 10:04

OPERATION

RENDER SAFE MAIN PICTURE: The Balikpapanclass heavy landing craft HMAS Tarakan beached in West Bay on the Russell Islands during Operation Render Safe 2013. (ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE)

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YING TO the east of Papua New Guinea, the formerly British-administered, and now independent (self-government was achieved in 1976) Solomon Islands saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War. Indeed, the country’s capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. The Japanese occupation of the islands, which cover a land area of 11,000squaremiles, began during the first six months of 1942. The Allies, in order to defend their communication and supply lines in the South Pacific, quickly counter-attacked the Japanese in the Solomons with landings on Guadalcanal and a number of neighboring islands on 7 August 1942. This, the first major offensive launched

by the Allies against Japan, resulted in some of the bitterest fighting of the war. The campaign lasted until 9 February 1943, when the last enemy troops evacuated their positions on Guadalcanal. The fighting in the Solomons is generally regarded as the turning point in the Pacific – after Guadalcanal the Japanese were on the defensive in the region. Some of the fiercest fighting

of the war took place in and around Honiara, and names like Bloody Ridge, Red Beach, Skyline Ridge and Henderson Field will live long in the memories of those who fought there. The fighting, however, left its mark and a great deal of unexploded ordnance still litters many of the islands to this day. The Australian Defence Force

More than 200 personnel from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and the Solomon Islands recently completed an explosive ordnance disposal operation in the Solomon Islands.

(ADF) has long supported its regional neighbours in the removal of unexploded ordnance and munitions left over from the Second World War. Indeed, bi-annual deployments under the general name Operation Render Safe represent Australia’s commitment to improving the safety and the livelihood of communities across the Pacific region. Although the Australian Defence Force has historically conducted explosive ordnance disposal in the South Pacific, including on Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, in 2011 Operation Render Safe provided explosive ordnance disposal assistance to Papua New Guinea, including along the Kokoda Track. At the end of 2013, the operation centred its efforts on the Solomon Islands.

OPERATION RENDER SAFE Ordnance Disposal Operation LEFT: Sergeant Adrian Mills from 1 Security Force Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight hands Police Constable Barnabas Talo from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force a length of primer cord as they prepare a charge to destroy a pile of unexploded ordnance in a coconut plantation at Yandina, Russell Islands. Local knowledge proved vital in the hunt for unexploded ordnance scattered throughout the islands. Spread throughout farms and plantations, large numbers of munitions have, over the course of several years, caused serious injury and death. BELOW: Corporal Christopher Charlton from the 20th Explosives Ordnance Squadron, 6th Engineer Support Regiment ADF, prepares equipment to remotely render safe a projectile found in the jungle at Hell’s Point, Honiara.

“These remnants of war are an enduring and unpredictable threat to the safety of the locals,” observed Australia’s Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Ash Power, at the time. “We are pleased to be able to play an active role in making the Solomon Islands area safer for all.” The operation ran from 29 October 2013 to 7 December 2013, and involved the identification, assessment and disposal of any unexploded ordnance that the team uncovered. Though it was Australian-led, the personnel involved in Operation Render Safe 2013, known as Combined Joint Task Force 663, comprised nearly 200 explosive ordnance disposal specialists and support staff from the ADF, New Zealand Defence Force, Canadian armed forces, the United States Navy and the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force. In the first week of clearance operations a total of 2,671 individual pieces of ordnance, with a combined explosive weight of nearly 1,500 kilograms of TNT, were located. By the end of Render Safe three weeks later, some 12,000 items had been dealt with by the Task Force. These items

ranged from 1,000lb bombs down to individual hand and rifle grenades. While the ordnance was predominantly US and Japanese in origin, a range of other material was found, including some items of British and French manufacture. These items were “rendered safe”, usually by a controlled explosion, in situ or at the Solomon Islands’ main explosive ordnance disposal site at Hell’s Point near Honiara. “Our Task Force members have no shortage of battlefield experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor, Bosnia, Burundi, Somalia, Sudan and a multitude of other conflict zones across most continents, but the sheer volume of items in such a short period of time has certainly provided a challenge,” explained Commander Doug Griffiths, CO of Combined Joint Task Force 663. “Our teams were finding high explosive shells with pristine fuzes still in their packaging so the threat of injury or death to the locals if they accidently set one of these off was, and still is, real.” Commander Griffiths added that the results of the 2013 operation had exceeded all expectations: “I understand that the local Police deal with around 10,000 items per year, so for us to locate 12,000 in three weeks is a real credit, not just to us but also the partnership we have had with the local Police and communities. These extraordinary numbers are also a reflection of the high contamination of some parts of Solomons with unexploded ordnance – we are working here with global experts who estimate that some areas in the Solomons have among the worst explosive ordnance contamination in the world – even more contaminated with unexploded ordnance than Laos or Cambodia.” Past deployments have shown that Operation Render Safe is most effective when there is significant engagement with the local population, not least as this is the easiest and simplest method of identifying locations that require the removal of unexploded ordnance. “Given that 

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ABOVE: Unexploded ordnance on the seabed off Ufaon Island is identified by Royal Australian Navy clearance divers during Operation Render Safe 2013. LEFT: Able Seaman Clearance Diver Luke Woodcroft and Able Seaman Clearance Diver Daniel Bird from HMAS Diamantina prepare explosives to destroy unexploded ordnance left on the sea floor near the Russell Islands. APRIL 2014 79

OPERATION RENDER SAFE Ordnance Disposal Operation

ABOVE: A stock of wartime US M63 37mm High Explosive rounds found near Henderson Airfield by personnel from the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.

ABOVE: Unexploded ordnance and munitions ready for disposal at the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force’s facility at Hell’s Point. BELOW: Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy Clearance Divers work together to gather 40mm projectiles found on the seabed around the Russell Islands.

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ABOVE: A controlled detonation conducted by the Operational Dive Team of the Royal New Zealand Defence Force off the coast of Guadalcanal Beach Resort.

these items have been here for around seventy years,” continued Commander Griffiths, “the assistance we have had from local villages and communities in finding them has been critical.” “For instance … we had a Canadian team working in the mountains more than two kilometres away from the nearest logging track while at the same time we had an Australian team working a few metres from the edge of Henderson Field airport in the capital of Honiara. In both cases it was information gained from the local community that led us to these sites.” These items were found near villages, airport runways, beaches, and community vegetable gardens. The removal of these items has allowed these areas to be safely returned to community use.

In addition to the land-based operation ships and clearance divers surveyed more than twenty-five square-kilometres of seabed, including eight kilometres of beachfront near Honiara and numerous channels in the Russell Islands just to the north of Guadalcanal. They were surveyed by remotely-operated underwater vehicles deployed by the Huon-class minehunter HMAS Diamantina. Despite the success of Combined Joint Task Force 663, there is still much work to be done in the region. At the request of the autonomous Bougainville Government, Operation Render Safe 2014, again led by the ADF, will take place in the area of Torokina, a coastal village on the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. 

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LORD ASHCROFT’S “HERO OF THE MONTH” Fusilier Derek Kinne GC

Fusilier Derek Kinne GC BELOW: Men of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, who fought to the right of the Gloucestershire Regiment during their eightyhour battle with the Chinese on 23-25 April 1951, are shown here moving up to their positions near the Imjin River in Korea just prior to the attack. (IMPERIAL

WAR MUSEUM; BF10119)

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S A Prisoner of War, Derek Kinne was subjected to twenty-eight months of savage treatment at the hands of the enemy after being captured during the Korean War. His defiance in the face of brutal and prolonged torture was legendary and he became known as “the man North Korea could not break”. After his release, he was awarded the George Cross (GC), the United Kingdom’s and the Commonwealth’s most prestigious award for gallantry that is not in the face of the enemy. Derek Godfrey Kinne, the son of a joiner, was born on 11 January 1931 in Nottingham. After growing up largely in Leeds, West Yorkshire, he did his

National Service and then went to work in a hotel. From an early age, he was close to his older and younger brothers, Raymond and Valentine, and they had three rings inscribed for themselves: Kinne I, II and III. In 1947, when they bought the rings in a shop in Leeds, the brothers made a solemn pact. The agreement was that if the eldest died, the middle brother would take his place and if the middle brother died the youngest would do the same. So when Raymond Kinne was killed serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1950, Derek Kinne honoured the pact and put his name forward for the “Korean Volunteers Scheme”. At the time Kinne

Jon Enoch/eyevine

Derek Kinne went to serve in the Korean War because of a childhood pledge made with his two brothers. As Lord Ashcroft recounts in the latest of his “Hero of the Month” series, fulfilling the pact resulted in him experiencing an almost unimaginable ordeal.

Lord Ashcroft’s

“Hero of the Month” also hoped that he would find his elder brother’s grave. The Korean War had broken out in June 1950 between the Chinese and Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Western and United Nations-backed Republic of Korea.

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For refusing to inform on his comrades – and also for striking a Chinese officer who had assaulted him – he was beaten and tied up for periods of twelve and twenty-four hours. During this time, he was made to stand on tiptoe with a noose around his neck so that, had he relaxed, he would have been throttled. In June 1952, Kinne escaped a second time but was recaptured two days later. He was again severely beaten and this time placed in handcuffs, which were often tightened to restrict his circulation and which were kept on him for eighty-one days.

Fusilier Kinne, who was serving with the 1st Battalion, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, was captured by Chinese communist forces in Korea on 25 April 1951 on the last day of the Battle of Imjin River. From the moment of his capture, Kinne had two priorities: to escape so that he could continue to fight the enemy and, while he was in captivity, to raise the morale of his fellow prisoners through showing his contempt for his captors and their brutality. Kinne first escaped within twenty-four hours but was recaptured within days as he tried to rejoin British forces. He was then put in with a large group of prisoners being marched north to prison camps. During a harsh onemonth march, Kinne emerged as a man of outstanding leadership, who inspired his fellow prisoners. Kinne’s treatment during his time as a prisoner was even worse than it might have been because of his determination to defy his cruel captors. At times, he taunted them so much that they beat

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LEFT: The armistice agreement that halted the Korean War was signed between UN forces, the North Korean Army, and the Chinese Army on 27 July 1953. It immediately led to the start of numerous exchanges of prisoners of war, one of which saw Fusilier Kinne start out on the road home. Here, two US military policemen at the Panmunjom prisoners of war exchange centre observe as Communist troops construct a large arch with lettering which reads “Welcome Back”, on 11 October 1953. (PRESS

ASSOCIATION IMAGES)

him with such ferocity that he was left close to death. By the middle of 1951, three months after his capture, he was well known to his captors and he was accused of being non-cooperative. He was also brutally interrogated about other PoWs who had similar “uncooperative” views.

During this time, he was accused of “insincerity”, a hostile attitude to the Chinese, the sabotage of compulsory political study, escape and of being a reactionary. From 1 July to 20 August 1952, Kinne was kept in a tiny box cell, where he was made to sit to attention all day and denied any washing facilities. At intervals, Kinne was beaten, prodded with bayonets, kicked and spat upon by his guards. On 20 August, after complaining of being beaten by a Chinese guard, he was forced to stand to attention for nearly seven hours. When he complained, he was beaten by a Chinese guard commander with the butt of a sub-machine gun, which went off and killed his assailant. For this accident, he was beaten senseless with belts and bayonets, stripped of his clothes and thrown into a rat-infested hole until 19 September. Next Kinne was tried – on 16 October – by a Chinese military court. His “crimes" were trying to escape and of being a reactionary. Initially, he was sentenced to a year in solitary confinement but this was increased to 

LEFT: A picture of Derek Kinne GC, wearing his medals, at a function of the VC & GC Association. (COURTESY OF

TONY GLEDHILL GC)

LEFT: Another image of men from the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers moving up to their positions before the Battle of the Imjin River. (IMPERIAL WAR

MUSEUM; BF10121)

APRIL 2014 83

LORD ASHCROFT’S “HERO OF THE MONTH” Fusilier Derek Kinne GC

AN EXAMPLE OF THE HIGHEST GALLANTRY FUSILIER KINNE’S George Cross was not the only such award to be made as a consequence of the Battle of Imjin River. Serving with the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own), Lieutenant Terence Waters was attached to the 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment during the fighting. The announcement of the award of Waters’ George Cross was published in The London Gazette on 9 April 1954. It states: “Lieutenant Waters was captured subsequent to the Battle of the Imjin River, 22-25 April 1951. By this time he had sustained a serious wound in the top of the head and yet another most painful wound in the arm as a result of this action. “On the journey to Pyongyang with other captives, he set a magnificent example of courage and fortitude in remaining with wounded other ranks on the march, whom he felt it his duty to care for to the best of his ability. “Subsequently, after a journey of immense hardship and privation, the party arrived at an area west of Pyongyang adjacent to P.W. Camp 12 and known generally as ‘The Caves’ in which they were held captive. They found themselves imprisoned in a tunnel driven into the side of a hill through which a stream of water flowed continuously, flooding a great deal of the floor in which were packed a great number of South Korean and European prisoners-of-war in rags, filthy, crawling with lice. In this cavern a number died daily from wounds, sickness or merely malnutrition: they fed on two small meals of boiled maize daily. Of medical attention there was none. BELOW RIGHT: One of the main bridges used for the exchange of prisoners of war following the armistice in July 1953. This particular structure, known as “The Bridge of No Return”, crosses the Military Demarcation Line between North and South Korea near Panmunjom. It was last used for PoW exchanges in 1968. Operation Big Switch began in August 1953 and lasted until December. During the period 75,823 Communist prisoners (70,183 North Koreans and 5,640 Chinese) and 12,773 UN prisoners (7,862 South Koreans, 3,597 Americans, and 946 British) were returned. (AMY

eighteen months when he complained at his trial that he had been denied medical treatment for a severe double hernia that he had sustained in June 1952, while training for his second escape attempt. On 5 December 1952, Kinne was transferred to a special penal company. His final period of solitary confinement began on 2 June 1953, when he was sentenced for defying Chinese orders and for provocatively wearing a rosette in celebration of Coronation Day. After an armistice was signed between the two warring sides in July 1953, Kinne prepared for his release as part of

“Lieutenant Waters appreciated that few, if any, of his numbers would survive these conditions, in view of their weakness and the absolute lack of attention for their wounds. After a visit from a North Korean Political Officer, who attempted to persuade them to volunteer to join a prisonerof-war group known as ‘Peace Fighters’ (that is, active participants in the propaganda movement against their own side) with a promise of better food, of medical treatment and other amenities as a reward for such activity - an offer that was refused unanimously – he decided to order his men to pretend to accede to the offer in an effort to save their lives. This he did, giving the necessary instructions to the senior other rank with the party, Sergeant Hoper, that the men would go upon his order without fail. “Whilst realising that this act would save the lives of his party, he refused to go himself, aware that the task of maintaining British prestige was vested in him. “Realising that they had failed to subvert an officer with the British party, the North Koreans now made a series of concerted efforts to persuade Lieutenant Waters to save himself by joining the camp. This he steadfastly refused to do. He died a short time after. “He was a young, inexperienced officer, comparatively recently commissioned from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, yet he set an example of the highest gallantry.”

a prisoner exchange due on 10 August. On both 8 and 9 August, his release was nearly called off after he demanded an interview with the International Red Cross representatives who were visiting PoW camps to check on conditions. However, on 10 August 1953, after twenty-eight months in captivity, Kinne was freed. He was awarded the George Cross on 9 April 1954. His lengthy citation ended: “Fusilier Kinne was during the course of his periods of solitary confinement kept in no less than seven different places of imprisonment, including a security

police gaol, under conditions of the most extreme degradation and increasing brutality. Every possible method both physical and mental was employed by his captors to break his spirit, a task which proved utterly beyond their powers. “Latterly he must have been fully aware that every time he flaunted his captors and showed openly his detestation of themselves and their methods he was risking his life. He was in fact several times threatened with death or non-repatriation. Nevertheless he was always determined to show that he was prepared neither to be intimidated nor cowed

NICHOLE HARRIS/ SHUTTERSTOCK)

84 APRIL 2014

www.britainatwar.com

by brutal treatment at the hands of a barbarous enemy. “His powers of resistance and his determination to oppose and fight the enemy to the maximum were beyond praise. His example was an inspiration to all ranks who came into contact with him.” The George Cross was presented to Kinne by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 6 July 1954. As well as his Korean War Medal, he received the United Nations’ Service Medal for his actions in Korea. Kinne wrote his autobiography, The Wooden Boxes, which was published in 1955. In his book he describes being brutally beaten by four men in jail after he had struck out – in self-defence – against his interrogator. He wrote: “I expected a beating and I got it. With my legs bound together, my hands tied behind my back, the musclemen took their revenge

me from his home in the USA, written in 2010 as I was researching my book George Cross Heroes, he harrowingly described how, in September 1952, after yet another beating, he woke up and decided to take his own life on what he knew was his sister’s wedding anniversary. He wrote: “They had really given me their best shots. When I awoke, I was gagging: I was choking on my own blood. I could not scream. I was in one hell of a mess. It hurts me to say it but I could endure no more. I decided to finish it all. There was a bloody big nail in the post. I was banging my feet against the mud wall. I bent my head down and rammed it into the nail. All hell broke loose; it must have been one hell of a mess and the wall was knocked down. I had woken the officer who was sleeping next door. I was covered in blood. The doctor looked at ABOVE: The George Cross was also posthumously awarded to Horace “Slim” Madden, also known as Bill Madden, for actions in the Korean War similar to those undertaken by Derek Kinne. A Private in the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, Madden, seen here, was captured by Chinese Communist Forces on 24 April 1951. The announcement of his award of the GC states: “Private Madden was held prisoner by the enemy until about 6th November, 1951, when he died of malnutrition and the result of ill-treatment. During this period he openly resisted all enemy efforts to force him to collaborate, to such a degree that his name and example were widely known through the various groups of prisoners … Despite repeated beatings and many other forms of ill-treatment inflicted because of his defiance to his captors, Private Madden remained cheerful and optimistic … It would have been apparent to Private Madden that to pursue this course must eventually result in his death. This did not deter him.”

(COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; P02580.001)

GEORGE CROSS HEROES on me. I was kicked round the room while one of them had a go at me with a leather belt.” Kinne also described how he was kept in a wooden box five feet nine inches long by four feet six inches high and two feet six inches in width. He wrote: “On the 1st, 3rd, 13th and 16th September, I was beaten until I longed for death.” Kinne moved from the UK to North America in 1957 and married his wife, Anne, also British, in Ottawa, Canada, on 10 July 1959. The couple arrived in Arizona in 1961, bought a house and set up a framing and laminating business in Tucson. Kinne, who has a grown -up son and a daughter, along with grandchildren, retired in 2005. Kinne has been left with vivid memories of his ordeal. In an email to

www.britainatwar.com

me and told them I was dying. So they [his captors] figured out what I had done, that I’d had enough.” After that, he said, his treatment improved. Kinne, who is now eighty-three, went back to Korea in the spring of 2010 with two of his grandchildren, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. In the summer of 2012, he had been due to be a guest of the Queen at a lunch held to mark her Diamond Jubilee celebrations. However, while he and his wife, Anne, were on their way to Denver airport to catch a ’plane to London their vehicle, a friend’s truck, was struck by a driver who had been texting on his mobile phone. Kinne and his wife were hospitalised by their injuries, which included cracked ribs, and missed their flight to London. In a message

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

to friends sent after the couple were released from hospital, Kinne told how they were lucky to be alive following the high-speed accident. However, typically, though still in pain, he retained his sense of humour when describing the male driver who had crashed into them from behind. “It was not a fair fight,” he wrote. 

ABOVE LEFT: Relatives and friends line the quayside as former prisoners of war arrive home at Southampton from Korea.

(S&G BARRATTS/

EMPICS ARCHIVE)

APRIL 2014 85

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The Flying Legends 2014 sixteen-month calendar features legendary World War II warbirds from around the world, captured in flight by award-winning photographer John M. Dibbs. Mr. Dibbs’ Flying Legends books and calendars are longtime bestsellers. Razorsharp, unretouched air-to-air photography brings these old warbirds to life-you can almost hear the roar of their piston engines as they fly past the photographer.

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Mega Airport Helsinki Vantaa, the premier work of the new developer team A-Flight in breathtaking quality for FSX and Prepar3D. Enjoy this accurate and high detailed rendering of the major airport of Finland and the main hub of Finnair. Day-and night textures as well as textures for all seasons including snow banks in winter reveal the special Nordic atmosphere. 336 pages, paperback

The Bristol Blenheim was originally built as a civilian plane, sponsored by the Daily Mail who wanted something to get their reporters to these scenes of breaking news first. When it was found to outperform existing fighters. Running time 68 minutes. Region 2 (PAL) DVD – Please check that your player is compatible before ordering.

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Avro Lancaster Book Comprehensively illustrated throughout with a stunning collection of black and white and colour photographs, presented in a large, landscape format, this book is an entertaining read not only for aviation enthusiasts, but for all who know the legend of the Lancaster bomber in Britain’s wartime history. Hardback, 128 pages.

Escape to Freedom Book Tony Johnson was shot down in his Wellington bomber on his third operational mission. Captured shortly after he was interrogated in Dulag Luft before being sent to Stalag Luft 1 on the Baltic where he stayed from April to September 1944. As the noose tightened on Germany, Tony and his fellow kriegies were kept on the move. Softback, 208 pages.

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Clean Sweep book The story of Air Marshal Sir Ivor Broom who completed three full tours of operations over enemy territory, including 31 low-level attacks from his operations base in Malta. After the war, he went on to set a new speed record while flying from Canada to the UK, and was one of the early squadron commanders of the Red Arrows display team. Paperback, 288 pages.

Supermarine Spitfire book Thought by many to have saved Britain from almost certain German invasion, the Spitfire is a British legend. This striking book is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest symbols of British success and victory. Hardback, 128 pages.

As a young RAF pilot Anthony Leicester’s wartime service took him to Canada, the Middle East, India and Burma as well as Europe. He survived a midair collision in Canada, then, at nineteen, as the Captain of a Wellington II, lost an engine over the Atlas mountains during the African campaign An illuminating insight into the experiences and emotions of wartime RAF service. Paperback, 248 pages

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The true story of a bombing raid which played a pivotal role in the Allied effort in World War II. Fascinating archive footage and new material produced by former Tomorrow’s World presenter William Woollard. As seen on the Discovery Channel. Please note: This DVD is PAL format, please check that your player is compatible before ordering. Running time 60 minutes.

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THE MARCH TO FREEDOM Evacuating PoW Camps

THE MARCH T

MAIN PICTURE: The march underway as prisoners of war from one of the Oflag IX A columns are pictured passing through woodland during their journey. It is possible that this picture was taken near the village of Keula on 4 April 1945, in which case these men are part of the sub-camp group. Countryside such as this was occasionally seized upon the PoWs, either individually or in small groups, to escape by slipping away from the column. Note the guard on the left. (ALL IMAGES COURTESY

OF PETER GREEN, VIA SPELLMOUNT, UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE)

The Allies had crossed the Rhine and were pushing eastwards into Germany. The Third Reich was on the point of collapse. Yet the Germans were determined to keep those held in the various prisoner of war camps from being liberated. This meant moving them away from the advancing Allied armies.

HE FIRST World War had left an indelible mark on the German psyche. Its armed forces, many Germans maintained, had not been beaten – they had been forced to capitulate by corrupt, weak, or selfserving politicians. It would not happen again. Despite the fact that the tide was turning in the Second World War, the German armed forces would fight on. As part of this, Allied prisoners of war would not be released however hopeless the situation might appear. So, with the Allied armies driving relentlessly into Germany from both east and west, the plans for evacuating the various PoW camps, which had already been prepared, were put into motion. Amongst these was Offizierslager (Oflag) IX A/H which was a camp for senior

ABOVE: The home of the main camp of Oflag IX A/H; Schloss Spangenberg. Oflag IX A was established as early as October 1939 to house RAF and Armée de l’Air prisoners. It closed a number of times during the war, mainly due to escapes, though was reopened soon after each occasion. Somewhat confusingly, the main camp was itself divided into an Upper Camp, in the Schloss, and the Lower Camp which was located in the former manor of Elbersdorf, a village of the edge of Spangenberg. Along with the sub-camp at Rotenburg an der Fulda the three sites housed 900 British and Commonwealth prisoners, along with a number of Polish soldiers captured whilst serving in the British Army. (COURTESY OF INGMAR RUNGE)

88 APRIL 2014

British Army officers with was situated in the Schloss Spangenberg near Kassel in the north-east of the German region of Hesse. The suffix H in its title was an abbreviation for Hauptlager, or main camp. A few miles further south at Rotenburg an der Fulda, was Oflag IX A/Z, with Z indicating that it was the Zweiglager, or sub-camp. With the rapid approach of the Allied armies, the decision was made to evacuate both overcrowded camps to Bavaria in the southeast of Germany. The announcement was met with an understandable degree of concern by the prisoners, not least because PoWs from other camps in the east, which had already begun their move, began arriving at Spangenberg armed with stories of atrocious weather, the brutality of some guards and a lack of food. For some, though, the biggest fear was fitness. “Such a march could be tough, possibly too tough, for men whose muscles were weak and limbs lax after months of under-nourishment and years of sedentary existence,” recalled one PoW, Terence Prittie. Indeed, Terence was so concerned at what lay ahead that he decided that when Oflag IX A’s www.britainatwar.com

TO FREEDOM ABOVE: Part of the guard detachment that escorted the column of PoWs from Oflag IX A/Z during their march. The guards for both columns were provided by Landesschützen-Bataillone 631, a territorial army unit with its headquarters in the former castle of the Princes of Hesse at Rotenburg an der Fulda. According to the senior British camp medical officer, Captain Kennedy RAMC, eighty officers and men formed the guard on the camp’s evacuation.

evacuation began he would leave the column at the earliest opportunity to avoid the ordeal of a long journey on foot.

THE MARCH BEGINS The move began on Thursday, 29 March 1945, with a march directly eastwards to the city of Mühlhausen. In preparation for the camp’s evacuation, some of the men made crude rucksacks from shirts or coats sewn along the bottom and with the arms adapted as straps, or from kitbags with trouser braces sewn on as straps. Items that could not be carried were left in storage in the hope that they could be recovered after the war. Some of the Rotenburg prisoners also cut up white bed sheets to form the letters “PW” which they would spread out on the ground if they heard aircraft approaching. The prisoners at both of Oflag IX A’s camps were paired in a “buddy system” to provide support for each other, especially if an opportunity to escape presented itself. The men set off with many wearing their best uniforms. They did not know where they were being taken to or how long they would have to march. Generally speaking, the would-be escapers such as www.britainatwar.com

Terence Prittie were in a minority, as most prisoners saw little point in taking the risk of leaving the column with the war so near to its conclusion. Those that did try and escape found little difficulty in doing so. Only a handful escaped on the first night of the march, but the ease with which they got away, and the reaction of the guards – who appeared to make little attempt at shooting or trying to stop

the escapees – tempted others to try. This was reinforced by the fact that on the march they had found the civilians of the towns they walked through to be “friendly, tired of their government and the war, and very disposed to barter for soap and cigarettes”. It was near the village of Rockensüß that the men from the sub-camp stopped just before midnight for their first meal of the march – ersatz coffee, sausages 

BELOW LEFT: The building that was home to Oflag IX A/Z as it appears today. Originally a teacher training school, the site became a prisoner of war camp in the autumn of 1939. It was from one of the lower windows in the sloping roof that Hauptmann Prosper Heyl, a First World War veteran who was one of the guards on the march in 1945, fired a warning shot as prisoners cheered Allied aircraft attacking trains on the railway line on the other side of the Fulda river. These actions led to one of the two war crimes trials that he was subject of in 1946. (COURTESY OF OLIVER ABELS)

APRIL 2014 89

ABOVE: This drawing depicts a German guard looking on as PoWs rest during the long winter march from Stalag Luft III at Sagan (now part of Poland) to another camp further west at Tarmstedt bei Bremen. (COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; ART34781.029)

RIGHT: A blurred image that shows one of the two dog handlers that were part of the guard of Oflag IX A/Z’s column – either Obergefreiter Martin Erhard or Alois Schleicher.

and marched and marched, knowing that only a few miles separated us from the liberating forces ... Then there was the day when artillery fire rocked the German village in which we halted. The burgomaster gave the ‘panzer alarm’ and I saw the whole population evacuating to the hills within ten minutes. I found myself alone with our supplies – and a German guard who promptly surrendered to me. Alas it was a false alarm and I was a prisoner once again. “There were the days when Thunderbolts and Mustangs, flying at zero feet, darted at us and we could see the gunners with their eyes on the gunsights. Would they ‘get us’? Anxious moments passed until they wagged their tails as a sign of recognition and and bread. It had taken this body of PoWs some ten hours to cover just eleven miles. It was also at Rockensüß that a number of men opted to escape by hiding in a barn whilst the column departed without them the next morning. It was a decision that had disastrous consequences.

A WAR CRIME The absence of the men that had left the column was soon detected by Oberstleutnant Rudolf Brix, the German commander, who called out the local Volkssturm to help a few of his men round them up. What happened next was later the subject of a war crimes trial. The Volkssturm duly arrived and began to search for the missing prisoners. It was stated that they used pitchforks to stab into the hay where

FRIENDLY FIRE THE REVEREND Gunnar Celander, who helped the prisoners of Oflag IX A so determinedly during the march, was wounded in an incident on 9 April 1945. This was reported in Illustrated magazine on 12 May 1945, as follows: “Swedish Red Cross officials, Rev. Celander, Capt. Baigent, went with the column; provided use of car and truck; were shot up by Germans as they went to contact representatives of Protecting Powers to try and get food and help for prisoners.” This, though, was not the case. Celander and Niels Jörgensen had set off in their YMCA vehicle for Lübeck at 19.00 hours. To help share the driving they took with them two prisoners, Lieutenant Lestock Baigent and Lance Corporal W.A. Brown RAMC. Another PoW, Edward Baxter, described what happened: “Not long after they left us a fighter came down to have a look at them. Both Celander and his driver got out of the car and waved to the ’plane. The car had the Swedish Flag painted on the top and side; Celander was wearing civilian clothes and the New Zealander [Baigent] was in khaki. After circling round a bit the fighter gave them a burst of machine-gun fire.” Celander’s vehicle immediately returned to the Oflag IX A column. The Swede had been hit in his right arm. Though no bones had been broken, he was in extreme pain and suffering from shock. Baigent, meanwhile, had suffered a flesh wound to his groin.” In his post-war report, Celander describes the attacker having one of a trio of USAAF Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. Such were the dangers that the men faced during the march.

90 APRIL 2014

the escapers were hiding. This forced eight of them out into the open. All of the prisoners’ subsequent accounts describe them being thrown to the lower levels of the barn and then being beaten with heavy sticks. One of the men, Captain Quass-Cohen of No.9 Commando, understood German and remembers hearing the “mob being incited to further violence”; all of the would-be escapees feared that they were about to be shot. Though some of the PoWs were badly beaten – in particular Quass-Cohen, who was discovered to be Jewish, and a Polish officer, Lieutenant Rynkiewiez, who had been tied to a chair – the situation was prevented from deteriorating further by the arrival of two of the camp’s guards. Meanwhile, for the remainder of the two columns of Oflag IX A’s PoWs the march continued. It was a journey that was not without its dangers. “We slept in barns; we fed in fields,” wrote one of the prisoners, LanceCorporal, later Lieutenant, Leighton “Lee” Hill, “all the time we marched

we watched them flying off in pursuit of truly German targets. We saw the havoc of destruction which they left behind wherever they went – burning railway engines, shot-up lorries, villages wiped out. Grand fellows, these! “Once a shout went up: ‘Our airborne boys are here!’ But it was only an observation ’plane which we had mistaken for a glider. Then we knew that critical hours were ahead. We ‘Kriegies’ sensed that the Germans were afraid. From now on we only moved at night.”

TOO WEAK TO CONTINUE Accompanying the Rotenburg sub-camp men was the YMCA representative for Hesse and Thuringia, a Swede called the Reverend Gunnar Celander. His job was to alleviate suffering, whether it was that of the German civilians under Allied bombing, or that of the prisoners of war. As the Allied bombing campaign was stepped up, and his office was destroyed, he decided that the safest place from which he could operate was www.britainatwar.com

THE MARCH TO FREEDOM Evacuating PoW Camps

next to a PoW camp, and so he had built a house near the Rotenburg camp, helped by volunteers from Oflag IX A/Z. Gunnar Celander would later prove an inspiration to those around him. As the column approached Mühlhausen reports that the US 4th Armoured Division closing in on the city prompted Oberst Kurt Schrader, the overall commander of both of Oflag IX A’s camps, to adopt a change of plan. He would skirt round Mühlhausen to Ebeleben, a railhead fifteen miles northeast of the city. When he was made aware of the new plan, on the evening of 2 April whilst still at Lengenfeld, the senior British officer, Colonel Rupert Holland, handed a memorandum to the Germans in which he stated that: “1. There is no object in sending us further. We should remain in some

village off the main route. “2. All officers are physically and nervously exhausted. They are unfit to march, unfit to move by M.T. or rail in the existing conditions of air danger, congested traffic, etc. “3. I am not prepared to move by M.T. by day or by rail at any time without previous reference to the Protecting Power, as such action is against the Geneva Convention. “4. I have been left without orders of any sort all day. Officers cannot rest properly under these conditions ... “5. To sum up, I consider that justice and humanity should dictate that we remain at Lengenfeld till the end.” His appeal, however, fell on deaf ears. The march continued, the men being moved on the next day, though Holland was informed that they would

be allowed to rest for two or three days at Ebeleben before continuing by rail. Those too weak to continue, some thirty or forty in total (including at least one PoW who used his acting skills to feign illness), were allowed to remain at Lengenfeld under guard. Holland persisted in his protests and eventually it was accepted that the Oflag IX A/H was too weak to walk to Ebeleben and would have to be taken there by motor transport. This would inevitably cause some delay, and with the Americans just a few miles away, hopes of being liberated were high. Oflag IX A/Z, however, was forced to march on. German hopes of being provided with motor vehicles, whilst their armies were being beaten back, were overly optimistic and no lorries came – but the Americans did. At “4pm on the 4th of the 4th”, having been on the move for several days, the column from the main camp was finally liberated. “At about 16.00 hours,” Colonel Holland recorded, “I was standing outside the post office when a British officer reported that the Americans had been contacted at the south end of the village. I hurried up the road and met two American 2nd Lieutenants, Mark H. Schwarz and John D. Frawley of 2nd Bn. 261st Infantry Regiment of the 65th Division of the US Army. These officers had come forward alone.” Five minutes later the Burgomaster surrendered the village and the German guards peacefully changed roles, becoming PoWs. 

“There were the days when Thunderbolts and Mustangs, flying at zero feet, darted at us and we could see the gunners with their eyes on the gunsights."

www.britainatwar.com

LEFT: Prisoners of war from Stalag VIII-B at Lamsdorf, Silesia (now Lambowice in Poland), pictured resting at the roadside during another of the enforced marches of early 1945. This particular evacuation has become known as “The Lamsdorf Death March” due the number of casualties that resulted. (COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL; P10548.009)

BELOW: The column of PoWs from Oflag IX A/Z pictured as it nears the village of Windeberg on 3 April 1945. In the foreground a German officer can be seen pushing his bicycle. The German standing orders for the various PoW marches stated that the guard had bicycles to be used by messengers if the telephone system was damaged or unserviceable. When they arrived in Windeberg, the prisoners were given quantities of freshly baked bread by a German field bakery which then promptly departed in the face of a reported presence of American troops.

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BLAME FOR THE MARCHES According to one report by the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs, almost 3,500 US, British and Commonwealth PoWs died as a result of the marches in 1945. The man that was subsequently held to be responsible was SS Generalleutnant Gottlob Berger. Having been put in charge of Germany’s prisoner of war camps in 1944, Berger was arrested at the end of the fighting in Europe and duly put on trial in the so-called Ministries Trial, the eleventh of the twelve war crimes trials conducted by the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany. During the hearings, prosecutors alleged that Berger was to blame for the marches. His indictment read: “Between September 1944 and May 1945, hundreds of thousands of American and Allied prisoners of war were compelled to undertake forced marches in severe weather without adequate rest, shelter, food, clothing and medical supplies; and that such forced marches, conducted under the authority of the defendant Berger, chief of Prisoner-ofWar Affairs, resulted in great privation and deaths to many thousands of prisoners.” Berger was acquitted of this charge, though he was subsequently found guilty on others. This picture shows the defendants in the so-called Ministries Trial sit in the dock at Nuremberg in 1947. Gottlob Berger is sitting on the second row, second from left.

MARCHING ON After eight days walking and having covered seventy miles, some of the older prisoners of Oflag IX A/Z were finding the going tough. Many were only able to continue thanks to the untiring efforts of the Reverend Celander, as LanceCorporal Hill explained: “We set out on a march which lasted fifteen days and took us on a zig-zag route across 230 kilometres. It was a march none of us will ever forget. We could not have survived it but for the help of the Rev. Celander, who put his car and tender and a three-ton truck at our disposal. “If our men wearied and faltered under the strain, if they could no longer carry their haversacks, if they fell by the roadside, exhausted, unable to

continue the march, the Rev. Celander and his Danish driver performed miracles. They drove backwards and forwards, moved the provisions, gave lifts to the weak, cared for the wounded. They saved many lives.” Interestingly, the prisoners found that their exchangeable goods were highly regarded by the local Germans and that the German guards had difficulty obtaining food: “All this business was a very bitter pill for our guards, who suffered considerably by our competition,” remembered Lieutenant Edward Baxter. “Normally they would have had the first choice and the best of everything. But who wanted German marks which in a few days time might be only waste paper for the Americans

(UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM)

Prisoners from the Oflag IX A/Z column pictured resting on the roadside near Rottleberode (which can be seen in the background). The individual in the centre reaching for the coat held by another prisoner is Lieutenant Kenneth White RA.

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www.britainatwar.com

THE MARCH TO FREEDOM Evacuating PoW Camps FAR LEFT: PoWs rest in what is believed to be the village of Rottleberode on 9 April 1945. One of the prisoners later described the “bomb-damaged trees that appear to have been lopped”. The contented man with his pipe sat against the tree in the left foreground has been identified as Lieutenant Gerald Frost RAOC. LEFT: The moment that the last of Oflag IX A’s PoWs, the men of the column from Rotenburg an der Fulda, are liberated. Taken just after the first US tanks had appeared outside the village of Wimmelburg, this picture captures more vividly than any words the almost unbearable excitement of that liberation, as the vehicle is surrounded by men all wanting to shake hands with two of their liberators.

and when opulent British officers were offering delicious cocoa, rare and luxurious English soap and good English cigarettes, all scarce and precious things in Germany.”

THE GAME WAS UP On the afternoon of Wednesday, 11 April 1945, the prisoners in the sub-camp party received the unwelcome news that they were to be moved by lorry that night. The destination was Wimmelburg, some twenty miles to the east of their current position. They were being snatched away from the liberating forces again. When the German Army was fighting for its last breath, motor vehicles were being diverted from other purposes to carry prisoners. Berlin had stated before the invasion of Germany that the evacuation of prisoners was given priority over that of civilians and when the village folk saw the lorries arriving to take away the prisoners they realised that the Allies would soon appear. Many left for the safety of the woods. The lorries staved off the liberation of the prisoners for possibly twentyfour hours, judging by the speed of the American advance. It all seemed so pointless. “The Kommondant, impatient with our slow progress – so happily delayed by the RAF activities – made arrangements for us to be moved south by rail,” recorded Lee Hill. “This would have been the end of us.” Rumour abounded. All that seemed to be known was that they were to march to the railhead at Eisleben to the east of Wimmelburg. The trains though had stopped running some days before and the track running south had been cut by Allied air attacks. The military and civilian leaders in Eisleben had decided that the town should be surrendered to the Americans. www.britainatwar.com

Eisleben was crammed with sick and wounded in improvised hospitals established in restaurants and schools. Any fighting in the town would have been disastrous. On 12 April 1945, the Eisleben’s military commander and the burgomaster both agreed to surrender the town.

OVER AT LAST At Wimmelburg, however, American artillery could be heard shelling German anti-aircraft batteries at Beyernaumburg and Blankenheim five miles to the east. This prompted Oberstleutnant Brix to order the PoWs to march. This time, however, Lieutenant Colonel Basil Clay was not going to budge. He told Brix that it was getting dark and there were retreating German troops everywhere. Brix had a duty of care for his prisoners and to move at such a confused time would put the entire party, guards as well as prisoners, at great risk. “No, he could no longer order us to obey the Germans,” wrote one of those men. “Not a step farther!” Brix countered by saying that the countryside was full of dangerous groups of stray SS, Volkssturm and Hitler Youth. The prisoners, he argued would be far safer if they moved to Eisleben. Clay, knowing that the Americans were so close, rejected Brix’s arguments. “The result was surprising,” recalled one of the excited and astonished prisoners. “The Nazi Kommondant knew that the game was up. He announced that he would leave us and withdraw his guards.” At 21.00 hours on Thursday, 12 April 1945, the German guards paraded before their leader. Oberstleutnant Brix saluted the prisoners and then marched off at the head of most of his men towards the east. They were attempting to reach Torgau on the River Elbe in the hope of joining a fighting unit.

The men of Oflag IX A/Z, and some of the guards that had chosen to remain with them, waited on the turn of events. The next morning American jeeps and Sherman tanks rolled into Wimmelburg. It was a moment that some of the PoWs were emotional. “First sight of tanks broke me up,” wrote Captain Frederick Müller MC, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. “Nearly cried.” The US troops had been warned to expect the PoWs. “They wandered among our tanks and shook our hands, graciously accepting our cigarettes and generally looking us over as though we were divinities from another planet,” recalled Gunner John Irwin of the US 33rd Armored Regiment. For the final prisoners of Oflag IX A, their march to freedom was over. 

ABOVE: Prisoners holding their “PW” signs, one of the improvised methods of warning Allied aircraft of their identity, during the march. These men, from the Rotenburg an der Fulda contingent, are pictured at Hain on Saturday, 7 April 1945. The column had stopped for lunch there in an orchard at the back of the village. Judging by the headgear, at least one of the PoWs is a New Zealander.

THE MARCH EAST 1945

The Final Days of Oflag IX A/H and A/Z The full story of the prisoners of Oflag IX A during their enforced march east is told by Peter Green in The March East 1945. In this account, the author draws on official and eyewitness accounts, as well as over thirty diaries and memoirs, as well as over 120 photographs and illustrations taken and drawn by the PoWs themselves, to tell the full story of the events of March and April 1945. Published by Spellmount, for more information or to order a copy please visit: www.thehistorypress.co.uk

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RATING PILOT Frederick Charles Rice

RATING PILOT I

N 1912 a sub-committee of the Government’s Imperial Defence Committee was formed at the request of the Prime Minister who wanted to create an effective air service. With the threat of war with Germany a distinct possibility, the need to decide on a suitable scheme was critical. The First Lord of the Admiralty at the time was Winston Churchill, who suggested that Leading Ratings, Petty Officers serving in the Royal Navy and NCOs from the Army could be trained as pilot NCOs.

They would, of course, have to be trained with officers from both services. Such a proposal was not greeted with much enthusiasm by several service chiefs, some of whom felt that it would be preferable to recruit men from civilian life, men who already had some flying experience and who were of the right social class to be commissioned. It was felt that such recruits could mess and socialize together, which was not seen as possible if a mixed ranks scheme was adopted. 

Until the Fleet Air Arm decided to promote from within, allowing ordinary ratings to undergo pilot training, flying had been the preserve of the officer class. As Tony Moor describes, amongst those ratings who took to the skies in the Second World War was Frederick Charles Rice who became the first naval pilot of the war to sink a German U-boat.

ABOVE: Petty Officer Frederick Charles Rice, in the front row second from right, awaits his turn to attempt a deck landing on HMS Courageous during 1939. This he successfully did, thereby becoming the first Rating Pilot to land on an aircraft carrier. (AUTHOR) LEFT: One account published in 1939 gave this account of the training for Rating Pilots: “Since the Admiralty took over complete control of the Fleet Air Arm, naval ratings have been eligible to qualify as air pilots. They are selected mainly from the seaman, signal and telegraphist branches of the Service, and must be between the ages of 21 and 24. They are given a thorough training ashore for a year, followed by eight weeks in a training aircraft carrier, during which time able seamen are rated as acting leading seamen. As soon as the full period of training has been successfully completed, they are advanced to the rating of petty officer.” (HMP) www.britainatwar.com

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RATING PILOT Frederick Charles Rice RIGHT: Swordfish L9697 pictured on HMS Warspite’s catapult. This was the aircraft in which Petty Officer Airman Ben Rice, accompanied by LieutenantCommander W.L.M. “Bruno” Brown (Observer) and Leading Aircraftman M.A. Pacey (Telegraphist AirGunner), attacked and sank U-64.

(AUTHOR)

Despite these views, the Royal Navy pressed ahead with the proposal. Consequently, volunteers such as skilled Artificers were considered for pilot training as it was thought that, with their practical background, they would have an appreciation of aircraft engines and airframes. Torpedo Coxswains, it was felt, could also be trained as pilots. By the time war broke out, a number of Rating Pilots had been trained. These men piloted the aircraft of the day, allowing Officer Pilots to undertake what was then considered to be the more important role of observer. The scheme to train Rating Pilots, however, did not last long as the Admiralty had

races, shows and Alan Cobham’s drive to make Britain air minded, it was not long before he developed an interest in aircraft. Rice duly persuaded his parents that this was the life for him, especially when he was fortunate to qualify as an Engineering Apprentice with the Redwing Aircraft Company at Ardleigh in Essex. In 1931 the Redwing was sold, and Rice, thinking of his future, joined the Royal Navy the following year. He began his service with the rank of Boy Seaman. Eventually, Leading Seaman Rice joined the crew of HMS York in the West Indies and later HMS Brilliant during rescue operations in the Spanish again. Relieved to be on the ground at last, Rice was invited to the RAF officers’ mess and given a beer, though the duty officer was puzzled when Rice took off his flying suit to expose plain clothes. When a call to Netheravon revealed that Rice was only the equivalent of a corporal, he was asked to leave. Next morning he was charged with flying one of His Majesty’s aircraft in plain clothes; but as his good airmanship was pleaded in mitigation the case was dismissed. Rice’s last training flight, in Hawker Hart K4941, took place on 18 December 1938. Rating Pilot Frederick Rice duly passed out from No.1 FTS Advanced Training Squadron’s ‘E’ Flight as a “pilot of average ability”.

ABOVE: A Fairey Swordfish float plane is hoisted in board following its return its base ship, in this case a sister ship of HMS Warspite, the Queen Elizabethclass battleship HMS Malaya, following a patrol in October 1941. (IMPERIAL WAR

MUSEUM; A5694)

RIGHT: An early shot of a Fairey Swordfish floatplane, in this case K4190, pictured picking up speed over the water in preparation for taking-off. (WW2IMAGES)

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little time to select and train sufficient numbers of such recruits in wartime. Instead they had to turn to civilians, who were recruited as pilots and commissioned. With the formation of the RAF in April 1918 Rating Pilots ceased to exist. When the war clouds gathered again in the late 1930s, the demand for trained pilots led to many First World War Rating Pilots being re-called, their experience considered of great value in training the latest raw recruits. At the same time, mirroring the events of the earlier conflict the Royal Navy urged ordinary seamen to volunteer for pilot training. One of those who put his name forward for selection was Frederick Charles Rice. Born in Ipswich on 17 March 1916, “Ben” as Rice later became called, was educated at Colchester Technical College. At a time when aviation was fast becoming popular, with many air

Civil War. It was about this time that he, still a Leading Seaman, volunteered for flying training. Following his selection, he was posted to the first Rating Pilots’ course, No.41, at RAF Leuchars, Fife. There, at No.1 Flying Training School, Rice took to the air on 10 May 1938, in Avro Tutor K3225. Just seventeen days later the novice pilot flew solo for the first time.

BREECH OF ETIQUETTE During his pilot training, Rice was flying a Hawker Hart, without a radio, from RAF Netheravon on a night navigation exercise, when fog closed in. There were no lights to be seen at any airfields, and he was considering baling out at 5,000 feet when he saw Southampton’s civil airfield in the distance. As he was coming in to land, Rice suddenly remembered that Southampton was 500 feet below Netheravon, and had to go round www.britainatwar.com

LEFT: The Queen Elizabeth-class battleship HMS Warspite pictured just before the Second World War. In March 1935 Warspite was taken in hand for reconstruction at Portsmouth and was the first of her class to undergo an extensive modernization programme. Work done included the fitting of two hangars which enabled the battleship to be equipped with as many as four aircraft – including those flown by Ben Rice. The catapult was positioned aft of the ship’s funnel. (AUTHOR)

THE FIRST RATING PILOT TO MAKE A CARRIER LANDING At the beginning of 1939, Rice was posted to the Fleet Air Arm’s 811 Naval Air Squadron where he learnt to fly the ubiquitous Fairy Swordfish – his first solo flight took place on 9 January in L2759. It was whilst with 811 NAS, undergoing a Deck Landing Course, that he distinguished himself by becoming the first Rating Pilot to land on an aircraft carrier, in this case HMS Courageous. This he did on 1 February 1939, flying Swordfish K8440. In fact, just to be sure, on the same day he made six successful landings. Two days later, whilst flying L2759, Rice made seven deck landings, though his second attempt nearly ended in disaster when his tail hook broke and the aircraft bolted over the side of the aircraft carrier. Maintaining control, Rice managed to land safely on his third attempt, using only brakes.

www.britainatwar.com

After a period learning to fly the Supermarine Walrus, Rice returned to Swordfish, practising bombing techniques and catapult launches. He was with 771 NAS, operating from Royal Naval Air Stations Evanton and Donibristle, when the UK went to war against Germany once more. Rice and fellow Rating Pilots were immediately tasked with carrying out submarine patrols, searching for mines and practising bombing attacks. The first month of war ended with 771 NAS being based at RNAS Hatston, Orkney. On 24 October 1939, Rice, Lieutenant Kellet and N.A. Wright took off in Swordfish P4213 to assist in the search for the German battleship Deutschland. In bad weather conditions the German warship escaped.

A STORM OF ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE After being assigned to 701 NAS, Rice joined the Queen Elizabeth-class

battleship HMS Warspite on 4 January 1940. For the next three months he and his fellow flying crew would develop their skills, being catapulting from Warspite in Swordfish float-planes and practising attacking ships. These skills would soon be put to good use during the Second Battle of Narvik. On 13 April 1940, under the command of Rear-Admiral Whitworth, it was decided to take the enormous risk of sending HMS Warspite, escorted by nine destroyers, many miles up the narrow Ofotfjord to Narvik where eight German destroyers still remained following the First Battle of Narvik three days earlier. Though the enemy 

ABOVE: Narvik Harbour showing the wrecks of German ships sunk or left derelict after the engagements of 13 April 1940. This photograph was almost certainly taken by Rice’s crew from Swordfish L9767. (IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM; A42)

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RATING PILOT Frederick Charles Rice RIGHT: HMS Warspite seen in the distance in action with the Narvik shore batteries during the second British naval action off Narvik; smoke from her guns can be seen hanging above the battleship. One of the British destroyers is seen on the left. Once again, this photograph was probably taken by Rice’s crew who also spotted the fall of shot for HMS Warspite’s 15-inch guns during this action. (IMPERIAL

WAR MUSEUM; A38)

TOP MIDDLE: Pictured from Rice’s Swordfish floatplane, L9767, this is the German destroyer Z19 Hermann Kühne beached at Hepjangs Fjord and burning furiously during the second British naval action at Narvik, 13 April 1940. (AUTHOR)

BELOW: This de Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide, X7332, was flown by Ben Rice, in May and June 1955, during his time on Communication Flights whilst based at RNAS Lossiemouth. (AUTHOR)

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destroyers presented no danger to the British battleship, in the confined waters of the fjord the threat from German submarines was very real indeed. So, as Warspite entered the fjord, its catapultlaunched Swordfish was launched and ordered to scout ahead. Catapulted off Warspite at about midday at the controls of Swordfish L9767, Petty Officer Airman Rice’s crew consisted of Commander W.L.M “Bruno” Brown as Observer and Leading Aircraftman M.A. Pacey as Telegraphist Air-Gunner. Flying between steep cliffs and under low cloud, the three men soon sighted, and reported, the destroyer Erich Koellner lurking in a small bay. The Swordfish, however, was greeted by a storm of anti-aircraft fire. Erich Koellner was immediately engaged and sunk by the British destroyers. Skimming over Narvik, Rice and his crew sighted another German destroyer, before flying up the Herjangsfjord to the north. “We got up the top of the fiord and my Observer said that we may as well turn around,” Rice later recalled, adding that he then replied, “Hang on, there’s a U-boat”. What Rice had spotted was U-64 moving away from a jetty at the small settlement of Bjerkvik. He immediately

put the Swordfish into a dive. “With floats on a Swordfish you couldn’t carry a torpedo,” Rice explained. “What we carried was 250lb armour piercing bombs, two 100lb bombs and an antisubmarine bomb. I decided to use the two armour-piercing bombs.” As Rice released his bombs, the Germans directed their 37mm antiaircraft gun mounted on the submarine’s conning tower. The German fire struck the Swordfish’s tailplane, only for the enemy gunners to be immediately suppressed by Pacey’s Lewis gun. The subsequent combat report by the crew of Swordfish L9767 reads: “Carried out dive bombing attack with two A/S bombs. Direction of attack-north: height of release 300ft. (Stick bomb could not be used owing to the assortment of bombs carried). First bomb hit the bows. Second bomb was either a hit or near miss, the exact point of impact could not be observed owing to the explosion of the first bomb. Air Gunner hit the conning tower with a burst from the rear gun. “Meanwhile submarine had opened fire and hit the tail plane. This made the aircraft sluggish on the controls and, as the full extent of the damage could not be seen, it thereafter appeared prudent to fly slowly and manoeuvre gently.

Submarine sank within half a minute of being hit.” One of the bombs hit the bow of the U-boat, tearing open a large gash in the hull; U-64 sank almost instantly in 114 feet of water. Kapitänleutnant GeorgWilhelm Schulz and twelve of his crew were topside and were blown into the sea. Some thirty other seamen escaped but eight died.

THE FIRST VICTORY After the attack, L9767 flew on across the head of the fjord. “Requested permission from Admiral to bomb railway,” continued the combat report. “Not approved. Ordered to bomb any destoyer in Rombaks Fjord. Released remaining bombs on the destroyer aground at the southern corner as, in the prevailing flying conditions, the destroyers at Rombakbotn were not in reach. Bombs fell short.”

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Rice and his crew then spotted the fall of shot for HMS Warspite’s devastating 15-inch guns until the remaining seven German destroyers were scuttled or sunk. The Swordfish dropped its final two bombs on a beached German destroyer before returning to HMS Warspite after more than three hours in the air. The official report of the action written by Admiral Whitworth stated that: “It was doubtful if a shipborne aircraft had ever before been used to such good purpose.” For this action Ben Rice was awarded the DSM, Brown the DSC, and Pacey was Mentioned in Despatches. The sinking of the Type IXB U-boat U-64 was confirmed by naval divers the following week. This was the first German U-boat to be sunk by British naval aircraft in the Second World War and the first to be sunk by a Rating Pilot.

POSTED TO THE MEDITERRANEAN HMS Warspite remained at Narvik until the end of April 1940 when she left for the Mediterranean becoming Admiral Andrew Cunningham’s flagship. On 27 March 1941, news was received that Italian heavy ships were at large, threatening an Allied convoy. Admiral Cunningham put to sea with his fleet in hot pursuit, although the fleet’s efforts were not helped by various confusing reports on the location of the Italian ships. Once again Rice was catapulted from Warspite to locate the enemy. Now in Swordfish K8445, he set off at midday with Leading Aircraftman Pacey and the new fleet observer, LieutenantCommander “Ben” Bolt, to try and locate www.britainatwar.com

the Italian vessels. Their first sortie lasted five hours and was fruitless. HMS Warspite and the other warships were struggling to close the range on the modern Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto and to recover the floatplane by the usual method of turning sharply to form a calm slick, to land on, would have caused further unacceptable delay. So Rice landed the Swordfish in front of Warspite and matched her speed by taxiing along until she swept by at eighteen knots and he caught the hook of her crane. Refuelled, the trio was launched again; this time they found the Italians. Lieutenant-Commander Bolt was finally able to report the disposition, course and speed of the enemy. “We had spotted the Italian fleet from about 5,000 feet up,” remembered Rice. “They didn’t even bother opening fire at us. We made our report then [HMS] Formidable launched the Albacores to carry out an attack. It was like watching 5 November.” Cunningham was fully aware of the part played by Rice: “By 0630 hrs,” he subsequently remarked, “we had the first of a series of reports from this highly trained and experienced officer, which quickly told us what we needed.”

In what became known as the Battle of Matapan, Cunningham’s aircraft and ships sank three Italian heavy cruisers and two destroyers. Rice was forced to land at Suda Bay in the dark – having prudently brought along a few floating flares so that he could establish where the water’s surface was – and then taxi some five miles to get into harbour. He had been airborne for more than eight hours. Bolt received a bar to his DSC and Rice a Mention in Despatches. By April 1942 the now Warrant Officer Rice was serving with 782 NAS at RNAS Donibristle, flying mostly communication, photographic flights and patrols to Bell Rock. It was while on communication flights that he was assigned to fly ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) parties to various locations, with passengers such as John Mills and Arthur Askey. At the beginning of July 1942, he had returned to 782 NAS at RNAS Donibristle, remaining with the unit until the end of May 1947. When he retired in 1967 as a Lieutenant-Commander, after a remarkable thirty-five years’ service, Rice had flown more than 3,000 hours in dozens of types of aircraft, from venerable “Stringbags” to modern jets. 

ABOVE: This photo was taken from L9697 following an attack on German destroyers during the second Narvik campaign and the successful sinking of U-64. Note the damage to L9767’s tailplane. (AUTHOR)

BELOW: Flown by LieutenantCommander Frederick Rice of 750 Naval Air Squadron based at Hal Far, Malta, the Percival Sea Prince seen here on the left is pictured landing during a Fleet Air Arm Flying Display in 1963. (AUTHOR)

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

THE SMALL Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) was formed in February 1942 by Major Gus March-Phillips with the support of the Special Operations Executive. Equipped with a specially adapted motor torpedo boat, the SSRF immediately started planning for operations. This included Operation Frodesley, a scheme to sink the battleship Tirpitz. On 1 March that year, Admiral John Godfrey circulated a memo asking for ideas on how to sink the German warship which was sheltering in the Norwegian fjords, seemingly well protected. Just two days later SOE put forward its proposition: “SOE is in fact at present working on the construction of a one-man submarine to be propelled like a bicycle by pedalling. The submarine would tow a special delayed action explosive charge of, say 600 pounds of suitable explosive, using the magnetic principle to make this charge adhere to the bottom of the ship.” The peddle-along submarine would be able to dive below the booms which protected Tirpitz. It was suggested the submarine could be attached to the bottom of a fishing boat which would sail up the fjord until it was near Tirpitz, when the submarine would detach itself and carry out the raid. SOE followed this memo up with a detailed operational plan. After the attack the operator of the submarine would make for land, scuttle the boat and then, with the help of the Norwegian Resistance, escape to safety.

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The scheme received Admiralty support but, as it transpired, during the time that was taken to develop the submarine the SSRF moved on to other operations. The principle of attacking Tirpitz by midget submarine was carried through by X-craft and, as is well-known, proved a success. The first of the operations conducted by the SSRF was a reconnaissance raid on the French coast north-west of Pointe de Saire on the Cherbourg Peninsula. At this spot there was a German anti-aircraft battery. The eleven-man team was to capture or kill the gun crew. The SSRF was taken across the Channel by MTB 344 (which became labelled as “The Little Pisser”) to within a mile of the coast. They then would drop into smaller Goatley boats and paddle quietly to the shore. In the dark and because of a strong current, they landed at the wrong spot. Nevertheless, they came upon a German defence post and MarchPhillips decided to attack that instead. Unfortunately they were detected by a sentry and a fire-fight broke out. Half-adozen Germans were killed or wounded, but all surprise had been lost. All that March-Phillips and his men could do was escape back to Little Pisser. Operation Barricade, as it was codenamed, though not a success, formed the template for further raids against German-held coastal areas. Though by their very nature they were small operations, such raids caused the Germans to be extra vigilant. No longer

| RECONNAISSANCE REPORT

able to relax, the Germans had to be constantly on guard, and their morale suffered accordingly. The SSRF’s next target was the Casquets Lighthouse in the Channel Islands. The object was to take prisoners and seize codebooks and any other useful documents. This time the raid was a complete success. Seven Germans were taken prisoner and the lighthouse’s wireless set smashed. The next raid by the SSRF, Operation Aquatint, was nothing short of disastrous. This was a raid upon an enemy post and small group of houses on the French coast at Saint Honorine des Pertes, to the west of Port-enBessin in Normandy. This would later become well-known as part of Omaha Beach on D-Day. On this occasion, the landing party of eleven reached the French coast just after midnight on 13 September 1942. The party was spotted and in the ensuing battle three of the men were killed, including March-Phillips. Six were captured, one of whom was later executed; the fate of the other two members of the party was never established. Despite this failure it was thought that the SSRF was worth retaining and the force was even expanded. More raids followed. This latest book by Brian Lett covers the entire history of the Small Scale Raiding Force. It also contains individual chapters on some of the key men that served with this daring and adventurous force.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

THE SMALL SCALE RAIDING FORCE Brian Lett

Publisher: Pen & Sword www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78159-394-3 Hardback. 216 pages RRP: £19.99 Illustrations  Appendices 

References/Notes Index 



REVIEWED BY ALEXANDER NICOL.

APRIL 2014 101

RECONNAISSANCE REPORT |

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

THE AUSCHWITZ GOALKEEPER

In The Words of the Anzacs in the Middle East 1916-19

A Prisoner of War’s True Story

Terry Kinloch

Ron Jones with Joe Lovejoy



horses in Egypt after

from the South Wales

Gallipoli, the Anzac

Borderers to the 1st Battalion the

mounted riflemen and

Welch Regiment in Egypt following

light horsem*n were initially charged with

the heavy losses the latter had

the defence of the Suez Canal, then with

suffered in the evacuation from

the clearance of the Sinai peninsula, and

Crete in May 1941. Taking part in

finally with the destruction of the Turkish

Operation Crusader, the battalion

armies in Palestine and Syria. At last they

was overrun when the Afrika

could pursue the style of warfare for which

Korps returned to the offensive

they had been trained: on horseback.

and Lance Corporal Ron Jones was

Drawing on original letters and diaries

taken prisoner.

After being held in Stalag V111B,

wherever possible, in this recommended

Ron was taken to Auschwitz to work

cites a receipt from IG to the camp

could prepare you for arriving at

150 women ... Will keep you informed

in an IG Farben factory. “Nothing

what was hell on earth. The shock

knocked us sideways, we were just

stunned,” recalled Ron. “We hadn’t

heard anything about the Germans’ persecution of the Jews, we’d never heard of gas chamber, but it didn’t take us long to find out what was

going on. It was horribly ironic that while fighting in the war I had not

seen a single person die, but from

the so-called safety of a POW camp I was witness to plenty – death by

beating, gassing, burning, hanging

and all forms of brutality, as well as shooting.”

Ron arrived at Auschwitz in October

commandant: “Received the order for of the development regarding the

experiments.” A subsequent letter stated: “The experiments were

performed. All test persons died. We

discipline on those under their charge, or encourage them to work.

“Moreover, the English prisoners of

war are showered with gifts [he was

referring to food parcels]. They hand

out chocolate and cigarettes to Poles, inmates and probably the guards as well. They take on a quarrelsome stance, and though there are so

many of them their output is quite below average.”

At the time IG Farben was the

largest company in Europe and the

fourth largest in the world and it badly needed workers. They also wanted

human guinea pigs to test new drugs manufactured by IG Farben’s Bayer pharmaceutical division. Lovejoy

102 APRIL 2014

and skirmish against the Turks. Publisher: Exisle Publishing; www.exislepublishing.com ISBN: 978-0-908988-94-5 Hardback. 406 pages

Royal Fusiliers, the “Stockbrokers’ Battalion”, can claim to be the first of the many Pals battalions of the First World War only serves to illustrate how long

the battalion was formed in London in

from the Blitz in the

August 1914. The battalion served in

Second World War was

France from July 1915 until March 1919;

the spontaneous and community driven

this is its story, told, where possible, in

use of many Underground stations

the words of those who filled its ranks. Publisher: Pen & Sword; www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78303-637-0 Hardback. 272 pages RRP: £25.00

to speak to them individually “they couldn’t believe what was going

on either”. The SS present in the

camp, on the other hand, were “Evil

bastards”, who would beat or shoot a Jew without provocation.

Though the British prisoners worked

rather than lie in bed pretending to be bodies active.

weave into Ron’s narrative some facts

is. Initially recruiting men from the

as a safe refuge during the air raids. Needless to say, that is one of the many subjects covered by Nick Cooper in this examination of London Underground in the war. Other chapters also detail the

Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I N1671

 IT WAS on 17 September 1940, that was received by 307 (Polish) Squadron,

to the trials of the senior Germans

who were arrested for their crimes. “I

followed all the trials closely and have continued to keep up to date with

everything to do with the camp,” Ron

said. “I can’t comprehend why more of the sad*sts and killers weren’t caught

and punished after the war. A hell of a lot of them got away with it which is

scandalous.” That was the final insult to those that had suffered under the shocking regime at Auschwitz.

REVIEWED BY ROBERT MITCHELL.

Publisher: Gomer Press www.gomer.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-84851-736-3 Hardback. 248 pages RRP: £14.99 References/Notes Index 

excellent series of battalion histories

the Mk.I Boulton Paul Defiant N1671

continues the story beyond the war

Illustrations  Appendices 

overdue this addition to Pen & Swords’

THE AVIATION ARCHIVE, CORGI

Whilst this book is in no way a

and figures about the camp and he

reason they are unable to impose any

10th (Service) Battalion

Stock Exchange and various city firms,

Farben’s chief engineer, Maximillian

extent lacking in moral fibre, for which

 THE FACT that the

campaign Kinloch describes every battle

images that emerged

front line, and that when he was able

history of Auschwitz, Joe Lovejoy does

are too few in number, and to some

David Carter

 ONE OF the enduring

January 1945. The efforts of the British

Faust: “The guards at our disposal

A History of the 10th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers

generally older men unfit for the

sick. The work kept their minds and

prisoners were poor, according to IG

THE STOCKBROKERS’ BATTALION IN THE GREAT WAR

examination of an often overlooked

Nick Cooper

Ron remarks that the guards were

was 1,150 at the end of that year.

down to 574 by the final roll call on 20

Underground and “the Thames problem”. Publisher: Amberley; www.amberley-books.com ISBN: 978-1-4456-2201-9 Softback. 160 pages RRP: £12.99

shipment.”

only slowly, the men preferred to work

Transfers to other camps took that total

The two appendices include a helpful

LONDON UNDERGROUND AT WAR

will contact you shortly about a new

1943. The highest number of British

PoWs engaged in factory work there

after the Blitz and major incidents. list of civilian fatalities linked to the

 REUNITED WITH their

RON JONES was transferred

subject of deep defence, the events

which had formed at Kirton-in-Lindsey twelve days earlier. One of four aircraft delivered to the Poles that day, N1671 was painted in camouflage colours for daytime operations, though N1671’s first operational flight did not take place until

became part of 153 Squadron, which was

12 December, this being a daytime patrol

the final Defiant night fighter unit to form.

that lasted for 1 hour 35 minutes. Soon after this the decision was made to convert the squadron to night fighting.

fully intact example of its kind. It is

On 26 March 1941, it was transferred to

also the subject of another magnificent

RAF Colerne in Wiltshire to start its night-

1:72nd scale replica from Corgi’s

fighter operations. N1671’s first combat

excellent Aviation Archive. As one of

took place on 15 April 1941 when an

a limited edition, nothing could bring

enemy aircraft was spotted at 12,000

to life those dark nights of early 1941

feet. The intruder fired at the Defiant but

better than this perfectly detailed, and

before Sergeant Wisthal could attack he

accurately portrayed, model. Permission

was blinded by searchlight beams and

to let your imagination fly is granted.

contact with the enemy was lost.



Fully restored, N1671 now sits proudly at the RAF Museum Hendon as the only

In October 1941 307 Squadron converted to Beaufighters and N1671

For more information on the aircraft in Corgi's Aviation Archive, please visit: www.corgi.co.uk

www.britainatwar.com

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

THE KAISER’S PIRATES

GREAT WAR

The Countdown to Global Conflict

Hunting Germany’s Raiding Cruisers 1914-1915

Ian Welch



| RECONNAISSANCE REPORT

SCORES OF books on the First

healing the injured. This book includes

months, most of which

its overseas colonies and “showing the flag” of its new Imperial Navy. After war broke out on 4 August 1914, there was

nations of Europe went

no hope that all of these warships could

to war in 1914. Few,

reach home. Instead, they were ordered

though, step back in

to attack Britain’s vital trade routes for

time to the early days

as long as possible. Under the leadership

of the twentieth century to reveal the gradual

of a few brilliant, audacious men,

increase in tensions around

flights of an Army “dirigible war

conflict.

1908.

Europe that eventually led to Starting in 1904, Ian Welch selects

balloon” made the news in August The Balkan crisis features

excerpts from the archives of The

prominently in the newspaper as

of the time. In December of 1904, for

and Bulgarian armies is discussed

Daily Mirror to bring alive the stories

example, an article in the newspaper posed the question “The Future

Empire of the World: Will it be Anglo-

early as 1908. The size of the Turkish and even how long it would take for the opposing sides to mobilise.

Fears of war closer to home were

Saxon or Russian?” In it the writer

also prominent in The Daily Mirror,

great struggle of the future would be

the United Kingdom was not from the

looks forward and concludes that the between Slavs and Saxons. Whilst

the writer was clearly incorrect, what is interesting is that he did foresee a great conflict in Europe between the major Powers.

Anticipating the future nature of

warfare, The Daily Mirror of 9 March 1906, announced the Secretary for War, Richard Haldane’s reforms of the British Army, which led to the permanent establishment of the

British Expeditionary Force. It was also announced that Germany’s military expenditure had risen

in the previous eleven years by

25% to £31,000,000, compared to

Britain’s £30,000,000 and France’s £29,000,000.

The First World War is often

described as the first major conflict of the industrialised era. This

included the adoption of many new technologies amongst which was

wireless communication. As a result

with claims that the biggest threat to German Navy but from her airships. “Germany could construct 50,000 flying machines for £50,000,000” it was stated by Councillor Rudolf Martin, “and starting from Calais, could land 100,000 men on the

Kentish coast within half an hour”. As the newspaper points out, this

statement “presupposes violation of Belgian neutrality or the conquest of northern France in the case of

war with England”. This was on 10 December 1908.

It was also said that the airships

would help the German fleet

combat the British fleet, so that

Britain’s naval advantage would be nullified. Even so, in March

1908, a comparison in the rate

of the building of Dreadnoughts

extrapolated that by July 1911, the

Germans would have more of these battleships than the Royal Navy. This, then, is the real story of

they unleashed a series of raids that threatened the UK’s war effort and for a few months challenged the power and prestige of the Royal Navy. Publisher: Pen & Sword; www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-84884-77306 Hardback. 238 pages RRP: £19.99

ROAD TO VICTORY 1918 VCs of the First World War

London. Many well-informed people,

the article reads, were of the opinion that the Government would regret

the sale of the birds, as no system of telegraphy was immune from

“tapping”. These new technologies also included aircraft, and the first

www.britainatwar.com

An easy to read and interesting book. REVIEWED BY ROBERT MITCHELL.

Publisher: Haynes; www.haynes.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-85733-205-9 Hardback. 208 pages RRP: £25.00

Rick Atkinson

 TOLD PREDOMINANTLY from the American viewpoint this is a comprehensive account of the fighting in Western Europe from Normandy to Berlin. As one would expect, great attention is paid to the main battles, D-Day, Market Garden, the bridge at

the leading figures during the last

Press’ well-known

twelve months of the Second World

series on First World

War. The sheer size of the book allows

War Victoria Cross

Rick Atkinson to explore every aspect

actions and holders

of these final months in detail. Publisher: Little, Brown; www.littlebrown.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-349-14009-4 Paperback. 877 pages RRP: £19.99

covers the fifty days of the Allied advance from 8 August to 26 September 1918. Arranged chronologically, it tells the story of the sixty-four VC actions during this period. The recipients came from many countries, including Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; some never lived to know that they had been awarded for their extraordinary bravery, while others returned home to face an uncertain future. This is their story. Publisher: The History Press; www.thehistorypress.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-7509-5361-0 Paperback. 302 pages RRP: £9.99

WAR WOUNDS

Ashley Ekins and Elizabeth Stewart

of conflict, and was fully expecting it.

The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

issues and reveals the characters of

“sleepwalking into war”, the nation

to the public, being auctioned off in

THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT

from The History

lofts at Gibraltar and Sheerness. On

was fully informed of the likelihood

wounds and reconstructive surgery. Publisher: Exisle Publishing; www.exislepublishing.com ISBN: 978-1-9214-97-87-2 Hardback. 240 pages RRP: £19.95

 THIS VOLUME

Medicine and the Trauma of Conflict

25 May 1908, 500 birds were sold

chapters on shell shock, self-inflicted

Remegen, and the drive into Germany,

how Europe was positioned before the war, and that rather than

approaches to evacuating, treating and

Gerald Gliddon

the Admiralty decided to dispose of its carrier pigeons from the naval

and control of disease and infection, as

 BY 1914 Germany scattered across the globe, protecting

explanation of why the

agents and more effective prevention well as the development of radical new

had warships and sailors

give the usual brief

management, the use of antibacterial

Nick Hewitt

World War have been published in recent

in treatments for wounds and pain

but the author also deals with political

MAD MITCH’S TRIBAL LAW Aden and the End of Empire Aaron Edwards

 THIS IS the story of the end of the UK’s presence in Aden, one of the last of its colonies to gain independence. There was much at stake in these final days as the government sought to keep up its appearance of strength whilst actually withdrawing its armed forces – the Arab fighters could not be seen to have driven the British and the UK-backed Federation government out. This book

 THE HISTORY of warfare and

examines the political, socio-economic

the history of medicine are closely

and military dimensions of events in

intertwined. The

Aden, as well as examining the actions

major wars of the

of one of the key individuals, Lieutenant

last hundred years –

Colonel Colin Mitchell. Publisher: Mainstream Publishing; www.transworldbooks.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-78057-628-2 Hardback. 336 pages RRP: £20.00

from the First World War to more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – have driven advances

APRIL 2014 103

RECONNAISSANCE REPORT | THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPLETE WORLD WAR II The Coverage from the Battlefields to the Home Front

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

“Terrible fortune has befallen me,” he wrote in a letter to his parents. “I got my interview and medical right away but was found to be 16 pounds underweight. So they told and come back in two weeks. Since then

 THIS MAMMOTH book

meal ... given up smoking and all forms of

pages) attempts to encapsulate every aspect of the Second World War as reported in the pages of The New York Times. The result is a collection not just of headlines and news reports but also of genuine in-depth articles from the newspaper’s correspondents. This makes for some fascinating reading. There is, for instance, an article of 6 September 1942, by Edwin L. James, which considers the opening of the much discussed “second front” that the Soviets were repeatedly demanding: “There has been talk of an invasion of Norway, one has heard of plans for using the shortest water route to the French coast opposite the south coast of England, one has heard of the advantages offered by the Finisterre Peninsula. It has been argued that the coast around Bordeaux is not so strongly held by the Germans as the coastline farther north. There has been talk of a project for the invasion of the Continent through Spain.” Normandy is not mentioned at all. There can be no doubt that Axis agents read the Allied press and many people would discuss the news. Such discussions in The New York Times must have played a not-inconsiderable part in deceiving Hitler. The book reproduces more than 500 articles and this is supplemented by a DVD-ROM containing an additional 90,000 articles. Together, the book and the disc provide as comprehensive coverage of the Second World War as is ever likely to be produced in one publication. Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers www.blackdogandleventhal.com ISBN: 978-1-57912-944-6 Hardback. 611 pages RRP: £26.95

HIGH FLIGHT

The Life and Poetry of Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee Roger Cole

 PILOT OFFICER John Magee was known as the “pilot poet” for his inspirational poem High Flight. Yet this was far from being the only poem that he wrote and he was also an eloquent letter writer. The son of an English mother and an American father, he was living in the USA when war broke out in 1939. One of his letters concerns his efforts to join the Canadian Air Force in October 1940.

104 APRIL 2014

ON SALE FROM 24 APRIL 2014

me to go away and put on some weight

Richard Overy (Editor)

(larger than A4 and amounting to 612

MAY 2014 ISSUE

I have been eating myself sick at every exercise and sleeping 10 or 11 hours at night.” Two weeks later he returned to be weighed again. He had increased his weight from 137 pounds to 152 pounds. It was just enough to allow him into His Majesty’s Royal Canadian Air Force. John Magee never got the chance to fight the Germans as he so desperately hoped. He died in a training exercise on the day that President Roosevelt declared war on Germany, 11 December 1941. Though he had died so prematurely at the age of nineteen, his words would live on to inspire many others. John Magee privately published a book of his poems in 1939 and these, plus other unpublished poems are reproduced in Roger Cole’s book. They occupy the last fifty-seven pages of the book. Publisher: Fighting High www.fightinghigh.com ISBN: 978-0-95711-636-8 Hardback. 175 pages RRP: £19.95

BOOKLET LISTS BATTLE OF BRITAIN DEATHS  A BOOKLET just published by the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust lists aircrew killed in the Battle or who were fatally injured and died later. Wing Commander Andy Simpson, the Memorial Trust trustee who took the lead in compiling the booklet, commented: “We believe that it is vital that all of ‘The Few’ are remembered, whether they destroyed a large number of enemy aircraft or were lost in their first day or two in action. “There arefive hundred and thirty four names in the booklet, and it is interesting that this varies from the figure of five hundred and forty four which is often quoted. This demonstrates the need for continuing research into the Battle of Britain and The Few. Indeed, we still cannot be sure how many Allied aircrew took part, despite the various figures put forward from time to time.” Copies of Aircrew Casualties of the Battle of Britain, 1940, illustrated with colour photographs of graves and memorials, can be obtained for £6.50 from the visitor centre at the National Memorial to The Few at Capel-le-Ferne. If ordered through the post please add £2 for P&P and write to: Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, New Dover Road, Capel-leFerne, Folkestone, Kent, CT18 7JJ.

D-DAY 70

132-PAGE SPECIAL ISSUE

Operation Overlord was the largest combined military operation ever conducted. The planning and preparation for this vast endeavour took not months but years. Hundreds of thousands of men had to be trained, a huge armada of vessels assembled, and specialist equipment tested and built – and evidence of this unparalleled enterprise can still be seen across the United Kingdom. Few would credit that part of Hitler’s coastal defences could have been built in Scotland. Yet on moorland at Sherrifmuir, north of Stirling, a replica of a section of Hitler’s much-vaunted Atlantic Wall was used to train soldiers for D-Day. It survives to this day. A walk through the sand dunes at Braunton Burrows in North Devon will lead to a row of concrete landing craft used by American troops to practise landing on Utah and Omaha beaches. Here the soldiers would dash from the landing craft and assault defences intended to replicate the German strongpoints they would encounter on D-Day. Meanwhile, the lightship Juno, which helped guide the assault craft to the Normandy beaches, sits on a mud berth on the banks of the River Neath – just another of the myriad remnants of Overlord still to be investigated or explored. To mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day, we examine some of the locations and objects in the UK that are connected with the events of June 1944 and those involved.

SNIPER SCHOOL

“For a time the Hun was top dog,” observed Major F.M. Crum of the 8th King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1915, “and, being newcomers, many casualties, as many as nine in a day, took place among our men from sniping”. So concerned was Crum, he decided to start a Sniping School. His teachings probably saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives.

CATTLE RUSTLERS OF THE AEGEAN

Today, the Aegean coast of Turkey is a popular destination for British tourists, with beautiful coastlines, clear waters and warm weather. But most tourists do not realise that they are also visiting a First World War battlefield where, Stuart Hadaway recounts, some of the Royal Navy’s strangest actions were fought.

www.britainatwar.com

JeepF_P.indd 1

11/02/2014 09:10

THE NATAL DISASTER The Loss of HMS Natal, 1915

THE NATAL

The Warrior-class armoured cruiser HMS Natal was sunk in December 1915 whilst at anchor in the Cromarty Firth. Surrounded by other warships of the Grand Fleet, her loss, along with the lives of around 400 men and women, was the cause of great concern to the Admiralty, and prompted an urgent investigation.

ALNESS

INVERGORDON Cromarty Firth

EVANTON

CROMARTY North Sea

DINGWALL CONON BRIDGE

FORTROSE AVOCH Moray Firth

Beauly Firth

Map showing the location of the sinking of HMS Natal – indicated by the red dot. The location of the wreck lies seven miles east of Invergordon and in the centre of the Firth to the north of Udale Bay. It is noted as a wreck in a charted depth of 10.9 metres; the surrounding seabed is described as mixed sand and mud.

106 APRIL 2014

MS NATAL arrived in Cromarty Firth on Friday, 17 December 1915, and anchored in No.8 Berth. On 20 December Natal put to sea for firing practice, returning to her berth that same day. She took on board coal from a collier the following day, remaining at anchor until Thursday, 30 December 1915. That day a number of officers’ wives and at least one small boy had been invited on board, as well as three nursing sisters from RNHS Drina. They were being entertained after lunch in the Ward Room with the ship’s band playing for them just outside. “On the afternoon of the 30th, I was Commanding Officer of this ship,” Lieutenant Commander E.R.D. Long of HMS Achilles told the Officer Commanding the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, Vice Admiral A. Calthorpe. “At about 3.24p.m. whilst in the Ward Room, I

heard a heavy dull explosion (in the nature of a roar). On looking out of the port [hole] large flames could be seen issuing from the after part of H.M.S. ‘Natal’. I immediately went on deck and saw that there was a very large explosion apparently from the after Cross Passage Magazines or After Centre Line Magazine. Flames were coming up around the foot on the mainmast, the searchlight covers on the mainmast were burning and also parts of the rigging. There was also dense brown cordite smoke.” A terrible disaster had overwhelmed the Warrior-class armoured cruiser, but exactly what had happened to the 13,550-ton warship? “My first thought,” continued Lieutenant Commander Long, “was whether or not it was caused by a torpedo, but I saw no water thrown up or any black smoke or any signs of an external explosion.” www.britainatwar.com

DI SASTER DISASTER MAIN PICTURE: The Warrior-class armoured cruiser HMS Natal pictured with other warships prior to the First World War. She was laid down on 6 January 1904, launched on 30 September 1905 and completed in 1907, being commissioned at Chatham on 5 April that year. Jane’s notes that “these ships are singularly successful sea boats, and are held by all who have served in them to be the best cruisers ever turned out”. (WW2IMAGES.COM)

BELOW: A pair of First World War postcards relating to HMS Natal. Coal-fired, but with an emergency oil supply, she is seen by many as the last “conventional” cruiser to be built for the Royal Navy. (HMP)

Laid down in January 1904 at the Vickers, Sons & Maxim yard at Barrowin-Furness, HMS Natal was one of four armoured cruisers in her class. She was completed on 5 March 1907, and following the outbreak of the First World War had joined the Grand Fleet. HMS Natal spent most of 1915 patrolling the North Sea. After a re-fit at Birkenhead’s Cammell Laird shipyard in November of that year, on 5 December Natal had re-joined the 2nd Cruiser Squadron at Scapa Flow. Twelve days later the squadron had sailed into Cromarty Firth.

THE QUARTER DECK WAS ABLAZE The disaster on 30 December 1915 was also witnessed by Yeoman of Signals Frank W. Foster. “I had the afternoon watch and at the time of the explosion was looking towards the entrance [of www.britainatwar.com

the Firth]. ‘Natal’ had some flags hoisted, and, as I was raising my glass to see what it was, I saw a large column of yellow smoke rise from ‘Natal’ appearing to come from her quarterdeck.” Like Lieutenant Commander Long, Yeoman Foster did not see any water shoot up, suggesting that the explosion was internal rather than external. “I immediately reported an explosion (the sound of the explosion was very dull) and saw ‘Natal’ on fire aft,” added Foster. “A second explosion occurred immediately afterwards smaller than the first, and then two smaller ones bursting from her sides.” Long had also witnessed a second explosion: “About thirty seconds after the first explosion a second explosion occurred which blew out the starboard side about abreast the mainmast, sending out a large cloud of cordite smoke.”  APRIL 2014 107

THE NATAL D ABOVE: Royal Navy warships and supply vessels “at rest on the Cromarty Firth”. The Firth forms one of the safest and most commodious anchorages in the north of Scotland and it was, at one time, a major base for the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet. (HMP) BELOW RIGHT: A dramatic photograph taken as HMS Natal, smoke billowing from stern, settles in the Cromarty Firth on 30 December 1915. (NATIONAL

ON BOARD HMS NATAL Lieutenant Denis Quinton Fildes was the officer of the afternoon watch on Natal. “At 3.20 p.m. I was walking from the port battery door to the port gangway i.e. the foremost end of the Quarter Deck,” he later reported, “when an explosion took place. The first thing that I knew was that I found myself lying on my back on the Quarter Deck and I remained there during the period of the explosions. Separate explosions could be distinctly heard and felt: they lasted for 4 seconds. I was quite conscious all the time being fully aware

of all that was happening. “The impression left upon me was that everything was on fire including the atmosphere. I was conscious of suffocating fumes while the explosion was actually taking place, but these fumes were not noticeable when the explosions ceased.” As soon as the explosions had stopped and Lieutenant Fildes was able to get onto his feet, he ran across to the starboard side just ahead of the after turret. “I saw one or two men lying about: the clothes of one of these men were burning but there was sufficient

water on the starboard side of the quarter deck to souse his clothes and extinguish the flames.” Interestingly, Fildes also stated that the water had not been there earlier and so must have been thrown onto the quarter deck by the force of the explosion.

BELOW DECK Down in HMS Natal’s Engineer’s Workshop, Engine Room Artificer (ERA) Stanley R. Mattock was writing a letter: “I saw a blinding flash of flame come down from the marines’ mess

ARCHIVES)

A TWIST OF FATE HMS Natal was the first Royal Navy ship of that name, a reference to the British colony of Natal which largely paid for her construction. The people of Natal always maintained close links with the ship. “Natal” is the Portuguese word for “Christmas, Xmas, Noel, Yule; nativity”, which, in a strange twist of fate, was the very time of year in which the armoured cruiser was lost.

“I ﬁrst heard an explosion and then ﬂame and brown smoke came through the ventilation on top, which set the oﬃce alight.” 108 APRIL 2014

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DISASTER THE NATAL DISASTER The Loss of HMS Natal, 1915

LEFT: Issued with new clothing, survivors from HMS Natal are pictured here being landed in the aftermath of the loss of their ship. There was one unusual survivor – the ship’s cat which was saved by Leading Stoker Thomas Robinson. (HMP) BELOW: Another picture taken as the Natal disaster unfolds in the Cromarty Firth; here the Warrior-class armoured cruiser has rolled over onto its side. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

deck into the workshop. There was no distinct concussion, but I heard a long drawn rumbling noise at the same time that I saw the flash, and the ship’s lights went out. I had the impression that an electrical cut-out had blown.” Believing that it was just an electrical problem, Mattock remained in the workshop. But then, after a few moments, the temperature in the workshop began to rise and he decided to make his way up to the mess deck to see what was going on. When he reached the mess deck, it “seemed to be on fire everywhere,” so he immediately headed to the nearest ladder to try and escape, along with the marines who were also trying to get to the upper deck.

PULLED TO SAFTEY Chief Petty Officer William J. Chandler was in the Armaments Office on the after starboard side when the explosion shook the cruiser. “I first heard an explosion and then flame and brown smoke came through the ventilation on top, which set the office alight. The first part of the explosion finished and the door fell. I then came out [of the] starboard side [to the] hatchways amidships where I found a lot of boys crowding one another. I pulled them off the ladder and gave them a fresh start up. I then went to [the] Ward room galley with the idea of getting up through the hatchway. This was too hot. “I then went through [the] bulkhead to the main top mess deck and experienced www.britainatwar.com

a great deal of fire coming from the Police Office. I then saw the light of the main top hatchway, the ladder being unshipped, and I was pulled up by P.O. Manley, A.B. McDade, Ord. Sea. Dreyson and others. They laid me down and then came and shook me, and I walked forward between A1 and X1 turrets.

RAN AND JUMPED OVERBOARD Boy, 1st Class, Alexander McNiven Sked had just entered the Boys’ Mess deck when the explosion occurred. “I heard a rumbling sound, and I turned round, and the flames dashed into my face, and

smoke, and drove me right into the Mess. Then I ran through the bulkhead door and got up by the maintop hatch, and ran forward onto the fore shelter deck. I jumped onto the port glacis, and then jumped overboard.”

FIRE PARTY ERA Mattock, meanwhile, had managed to climb to the upper deck , though his hands were badly burnt. When he reached there he saw Lieutenant Fildes trying to organise a fire party in a bid to contain the flames. At that time the ship was still on an even keel, though slightly down at the stern. “It was soon evident that the ship was doomed as she started to sink rapidly aft,” he recalled. “The Officer of the Watch [Fildes] knocked off the fire party and ordered [all] hands to unleash portable woodwork. Owing to the state of my hands during this time I was standing by in the Starboard Battery. The ship took a violent list to port, partially submerging the funnels: I grasped the rails and climbed over onto the ship’s side and slipped down till I reached the bilge keel. There I remained for some time with a number of others. “I then noticed a few floating spars aft, so I walked along the bilge keel as far as it reached, took a header and swam to them, a distance of about 10 yards. There I remained until I was picked up by ‘Achilles’ steamboat and taken to ‘Drina’.” 

LEFT: The Iron Duke-class battleship HMS Emperor of India pictured passing the upturned hull of HMS Natal soon after the devastating explosion of 30 December 1915. At the time of the disaster, Emperor of India was also anchored in Cromarty Firth; in fact she was next in line to the west. To the east of Natal were HMS Achilles and HMS Shannon. (WW2IMAGES.COM)

LEFT: One of the many killed in the loss of HMS Natal was 19-year-old Officer’s Steward 3rd Class Arthur Wright. The son of John and Mary Wright, of 49, Marlborough Road, Oxford, his body was never recovered or identified and he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial. (COURTESY

OF CLIVE BROWNING)

ABOVE: A Christmas card from HMS Natal which was sent by Arthur Wright to his sister in the days and weeks before the warship was devastated by the explosion at the end of December 1915. It was the last communication Arthur had with his sibling. (COURTESY OF

CLIVE BROWNING)

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THE NATAL THE NATAL DISASTER The Loss of HMS Natal, 1915 BELOW: After various attempts, much of HMS Natal’s wreck was eventually salvaged. The remainder was blown up and disrupted in the 1970s so that it would not present a hazard to shipping. This is one of her nineteen Yarrow water-tube boilers pictured during one of the salvage operations. (COURTESY OF COLIN MILLER)

Stanley Mattock’s hands were so badly damaged by the fire that he could only give his statement at the subsequent inquiry verbally and was unable to sign it.

SINKING Lieutenant Fildes’ hands were also so badly burnt that he, like Mattock, could not write or sign his statement. Indeed, the Fleet Surgeon wrote in one report that Fildes was so “incapacitated” that he could not even mark a cross on the paper. Returning to the disaster onboard HMS Natal, after putting out the burning clothes of one of the men at the aft turret, Fildes had gone to No.2 Turret where he saw men climbing over the rail to jump into the sea. He instructed them to stop as there was no certainty that they would be picked up from the cold Scottish waters.

HMS “SEA HEARSE” Throughout her operational career, HMS Natal had a strong association with service to members of the Royal Family and other dignitaries. In April 1908, for example, she provided the escort to the Royal Yacht on the occasion of the visit of the King and Queen of Sweden. In 1911 HMS Natal accompanied the P&O liner Medina to India when it transported the recently-crowned King George V and Queen Mary for the Delhi Durbar. In December 1912, HMS Natal undertook the duty of returning the body of the American ambassador, Mr. Whitelaw-Reid, after his death in the UK on the 15th of that month. It was after she had fulfilled this role, during which she had sustained significant heavy weather damage, that her crew reputedly nicknamed her “HMS Sea Hearse”. 110 APRIL 2014

ABOVE: The wreck of HMS Natal marked by two buoys which were placed in position on 23 December 1920. Whilst her hull was still visible at low water it was Royal Navy tradition for every warship entering and leaving the Cromarty Firth, right up to the Second World War, to sound “Still”, and for officers and men to come to attention as they passed the wreck. (HMP)

Fildes then ordered a signal to be made to the cruiser HMS Shannon, which was anchored nearby, for it to send assistance. “I then turned round and looked aft when I saw that the quarter deck was under water and that the ship appeared to be sinking by the stern. I estimate that this was about one minute from the explosion ... The possibility of the ship sinking now occurred to me for the first time so I despatched parties to the Mess Deck to get up mess stools, tables, anything that would float: wooden fenders on the upper deck were cast loose. The ship by this time had gathered a list of fifteen degrees to port i.e. 2 minutes after the explosion. Before any mess stools could be brought up from the mess deck I ordered everyone up from below. “The ship was now heeling rapidly over to port: it was suddenly realised by everyone that the ship was fast sinking and that all work must stop forthwith as it was obvious that there was only time to get clear of the ship. At the moment of realisation I was near the starboard rails and not having time to divest myself of boots or sword belt I clambered over the starboard side and slid down on to the bilge keel. The great majority went over the port side.”

Fildes then jumped into the water and was picked up after about five minutes by a boat from HMS Achilles. After he had been rescued Fildes saw that Natal had turned completely on her side and that a small party of men were standing on her bottom.

SURVIVORS The survivors were picked up by the two steamboats of Natal, one of which was coaling on the port side of the cruiser at the time, as well as the boats from Achilles and the hospital ships Drina and Plassey. The total number of survivors was 397, of whom fourteen were officers. This figure included eleven officers and around 130 men who were ashore either on afternoon leave or on duty. Because of the civilians, no-one is entirely sure how many people were lost. Figures given are from 390 to 421.

THE INVESTIGATION An inquiry obviously had to be undertaken to discover exactly what had caused the tragic loss of HMS Natal. In due course a court martial was opened at Chatham on 17 January 1916, which lasted until 20 January. www.britainatwar.com

AL DISASTER LEFT: A sonar scan of the remains of HMS Natal. The black part in the middle of the image represents the blind spot immediately under the survey vessel created by the onboard scanners transmitting on either side.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleets provided a summary of the sinking for the court. “It appears that the first event that attracted attention to the ‘Natal’ at 3.20 p.m. was a puff of white smoke rising near, or immediately before, her mainmast as high as the tops of the funnels. Very shortly afterwards flames shot up abaft the mainmast to a great height with a rumbling noise not unlike rolling thunder or a prolonged salvo of guns. This was immediately followed by dense volumes of yellow brown smoke. “The ship at once settled by the stern, remaining upright until the quarter deck was awash when, at about 3.24 p.m., she commenced to heel steadily to port and went over to an angle of 60 or 70 degrees in which position she hung for about a minute. Her mainmast then

went over the side and she turned over and foundered.” The statements of some of those men who were still in hospital were then read to the court after which a number of survivors were called forward. Amongst these was Boy, First Class William Barker. He was asked to describe the explosion: “Well, like the report of a gun, Sir ... a heavy gun.” “And what followed the sound?” “Flames, Sir, and cordite fumes.” “What made you think they were cordite fumes?” “By the colour and taste,” replied Boy Barker. Ordinary Seaman Alfred Brown was in the Boys’ Mess deck when the explosion occurred. The first that he was aware that something was wrong was when he saw reddish flames. “They seemed to come up underneath me, followed by clouds of black smoke,” Brown explained. He was asked if he heard an explosion but all that Brown was conscious of was a very low rumbling noise. Everything that had been stated so far in the investigation seemed to point to an internal explosion rather than a torpedo. Perhaps the most telling www.britainatwar.com

(COURTESY

OF GORDON CAMPBELL, ASPECT LAND AND HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYS)

statement, and one that confirmed that the explosion originated from within the warship, came from the coxswain of the cruiser’s picket boat which was taking on coal on the port side of HMS Natal. Leading Seaman John Barkshire had gone onboard the cruiser to ask for a further five bags of coal. “I was walking forward to the boat again when the explosion occurred – on the upper deck. I was blown over the ship’s side,” Barkshire explained. He went on to add that, being on the upper deck, he was blown into the water from behind. “It was like a wind,” he told the court, “Yes, Sir, a gust; it seemed to take me of a sudden.” “Did you go clean over the rails?” “Clean over everything, Sir.”

THE REASON WHY All those involved in the investigations agreed that the initial explosion and the subsequent ones were internal and not caused by enemy action. Indeed, there was a party of men working on the anti-submarine boom at the entrance of the harbour and none of them reported any signs of submarine activity. Similarly, the crews of the trawlers patrolling along the boom did not report sighting a submarine. 

MAIN PICTURE: The buoy that marks the spot where HMS Natal sank. The wreck itself is designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. According to the website of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, “divers report that the wreckage is very corroded ... and much of it is buried in the sandy seabed. The wreck is free from kelp and fishing nets, although fishing lines are present.” (COURTESY OF SEAN

STARKE/COALITIONOF THESWILLING.NET)

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THE NATAL THE NATAL DISASTER The Loss of HMS Natal, 1915 RIGHT: There are a number of memorials to those who lost their lives in the Natal disaster – this one was erected in the Old Fort at Durban, South Africa, in 1927. Other examples can be seen in the Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury (commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral) and in the Officers’ Mess at HMS Excellent on Whale Island in Portsmouth, whilst there is a memorial garden (and plaque) at Invergordon. (COURTESY OF J. KNOBEL)

Immediately after the sinking, all the steamboats of the fleet were sent out to patrol around Cromarty and the Moray Firth. These were joined by every available craft, including eleven destroyers. The search continued for forty-eight hours after which it was concluded that there were not, nor had there been, any enemy submarines in the area. If a cruiser could be sunk so dramatically without the enemy being involved, the Admiralty was aware of just how important it was to establish what might have caused such a catastrophic event. Divers sent down to investigate the wreck discovered that the explosion had occurred in either Natal’s rear 9.2-inch shellroom or the 3-pounder and small arms magazine. The reason why the ship sank so quickly (it took only five minutes from the moment of the first explosion to her going down) was that the bottom of the cruiser beneath these magazines had been completely blown out.

The court was then read a statement from the captain of HMS Natal, Captain Eric Black: “A recent trial in [HMS] ‘Falmouth’ showed that dust swept up in the magazine was of a very inflammable nature. Samples of sweepings which were taken spluttered when ignited with a match; when thrown into a hot fire the sweepings flared brightly in the same way as loose powder would. “It is considered that owing to the constant handling of cordite charges, cordite dust and fine grain powder, dust may escape from the cartridges and become a danger to the ship if allowed to remain on the deck or the battens of the magazines. In order to prevent this and in view of the extraordinary precautions taken to prevent accumulation of cordite dust in the cartridge ships at the Royal Arsenal Woolwich, arrangements have been made for magazines and shell rooms to be swept constantly, and for all dust to be carefully removed.”

THE SPARK Whether the accumulation of inflammable dust on the floor of the magazine may have come from either old or unstable shells or from the constant handling of shells, a spark of some kind would have been needed. The court examined the maintenance of electrical circuits and found no safety issues. The court also looked at the cleaning routine of the magazines. It was found that the magazines were swept regularly but that the cleaners were unsupervised and, “as to whether knives or other steel implements or matches were taken into the magazines

... the sweepers were left to their own initiative in regard to this”. It was also found that Magazine Hand Lamps were supplied to Natal and that in some cases they were stowed in the magazines. “If one of these lamps got broken,” ran the wording of the Admiralty’s subsequent ‘Suggestions and Recommendations’, “from falling or otherwise and the liquid were thus released and came into contact with cordite, it would, no doubt, cause the cordite to catch fire”. The practice of stowing lamps in magazines ceased. The conclusion of the chairman of the investigation was that, “The general arrangements to guard against fire on board the ‘Natal’ were probably quite efficient and satisfactory, and I am quite in agreement with the finding of the Court that the ‘Natal’ was a well regulated and disciplined ship.” What caused that fatal spark was never ascertained. 

ABOVE and MAIN PICTURE: Some of those killed in the sinking of HMS Natal were buried onshore nearby in Cromarty Cemetery (above left) or Rosskeen Parish Churchyard (close to the north shore of Cromarty Firth between Invergordon and Alness). In both locations, at least one of the burials relates to an unidentified victim of the disaster. (BOTH IMAGES COURTESY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION)

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Save in a Fire What I Would

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

A PAIR OF CANDLESTICKS PRESENTED TO T.E. LAWRENCE Clouds Hill, King George V Road, Bovington, Dorset

CLOUDS HILL in Dorset is the former home of T.E. Lawrence, now in the care of the National Trust. Colin Glover, a volunteer at the property, explains the reasons for his choice of a pair of candlesticks as a treasure to save. “The exploits of Thomas Edward Lawrence during the First World War are well documented. However, what is a lot less well known is the career of Thomas Edward Shaw who rejoined the RAF in 1925 and served until February 1935 when he retired. Lawrence changed his name to Shaw in 1923 and subsequently made it legal by Deed Poll in 1927. “During his ten years of service he was based initially at Cranwell and later at Karachi and Miranshah in India (now Pakistan). On his return from India in 1929 he was posted to RAF Mount Batten, Plymouth where his CO was Wing Commander Sydney Smith. Lawrence and Smith became very friendly and shared ownership of an American-built speedboat they named Biscuit. They witnessed the crash of a seaplane in Plymouth Sound with casualties and Lawrence realised that there was a requirement for a much faster rescue launch. He already knew Flight Lieutenant W.E.G. BeauforteGreenwood, head of RAF Marine Equipment Branch, and together they worked with the British Power Boat Company to produce such a launch. “This resulted in the development of the RAF 200 Class seaplane tenders and Lawrence spent a

considerable amount of his last four years in the RAF working on these boats which were used as rescue launches and also as an armoured target vessel for bombing practice. He travelled round the country working on the maintenance of these launches and the training of the crews. In this he was assisted by Beauforte-Greenwood and Flight Lieutenant Norrington.” Lawrence had joined the Tank Corps as T.E. Shaw in 1923, being based at Bovington in Dorset (the title ‘Royal’ was officially given to the Corps on 18 October that year). He found a bolthole about a mile away from the camp in the form of a semi-derelict farm labourer’s cottage known as Clouds Hill. The cottage was very basic without running water or electricity but it suited his spartan lifestyle. Lawrence retired from the RAF in February 1935 and moved back to Clouds Hill. Running water had now been arranged from a nearby spring but there was still no electricity. On 24 April 1935, Lawrence attended a lunch with BeauforteGreenwood and Norrington during which they presented him with a pair of candlesticks. On 5 May Lawrence wrote a letter of thanks for the practical gift: “They look lovely … in exact keeping with their upper room (the Music Room). By day they sit on a brown oak mantel-shelf and a stainless steel fender. By night they move to my writing table or to my reading

A view of Clouds Hill. (COURTESY OF LORDHARRIS AT EN.WIKIPEDIA)

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A portrait of T.E. Lawrence taken in 1919. (HMP)

Pictured in situ, this is the pair of candlesticks that Colin Glover would save in the event of a disaster. (©NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/DENNIS GILBERT)

chair … I only wish that they had not been possible – in other words that our association had not ended.” “On the base of each candlestick,” continued Colin, “is inscribed, ‘A souvenir of a very happy partnership/1930-35/from B.G. and Norry.’ “Eight days after he wrote the letter Lawrence was riding his Brough Superior motorcycle when he had his fatal accident, dying on 19 May. “There are very few items of a personal nature relating to Lawrence. The only museum devoted to him is Clouds Hill. The candlesticks represent a relationship between three ordinary RAF types working together on a project that assumed great significance during the Second World War. “Lawrence valued these candlesticks as they were given to him by work colleagues and friends

who didn’t care about his fame and achievements but just liked him. This was important to him as he had never been interested in medals or awards for what he considered his failure and betrayal of the Arabs. They represent how ordinary this extraordinary and controversial character could be.” 

CLOUDS HILL: T.E. LAWRENCE'S RURAL RETREAT CLOUDS HILL is open until early November, Wednesday to Sunday, 11am-5pm. The National Trust’s website for the property states: “Because the cottage is much as Lawrence left it, there is no electric light and we keep light levels low to protect the original contents. This adds to the authentic experience at the cottage, but some visitors may wish to time their visit to take advantage of the longer, lighter days of summer.” For more information, please visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk.

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