大象传媒

HELL FIRE CORNER

A few days ago I tuned in to our TV History Channel. It is usually very good and when talking about WW2 uses mostly films from the archives. This programme was about big guns and how they were used in WW2. Imagine my surprise and I must say consternation when a team of young archeologists appeared walking on the cliffs of Dover in search of the sites where the big guns were mounted to assist in repelling any German invasion.

I couldn't believe my ears when they talked about excavating the sites and then proceeded to bring in diggers and bull-dozers to carry out the task. Am I that old, I asked myself. Surely documentation exists on the exact location of the guns and how the sites were constructed. This is in living memory, certainly in mine.

Sure enough, during the commentary and the digging, films taken during the war were shown both from the air and at the site as the guns were fired. I was baffled at this totally unnecessary and costly exercise. As the documentary proceeded the audience was informed of the size and nature of the guns and the anti-aircraft guns that surrounded them for protection.

The implication given was that the guns were in response to the guns at Cape Gris Nez. As small shell cases were uncovered, obviously from the anti-aircraft guns they were examined like artifacts from some Egyptian tomb. The local farmer appeared on the scene with a couple of polished brass cases given to him by the crew when he was eight years old. These brought forward ooh's and aah's of delight from the crew. I was totally baffled and I still am as to who conceived an archeological dig when even eye witnesses still were around to enlighten anyone who asked. This plus the films from the archives could have given the total picture without stepping out of the studio.

Why I feel disturbed at this is, despite all the rigmarole they still either distorted the truth or altered it to suit their purpose. This is happening so much these days that people like myself, who were there, begin to wonder if what they actually experienced was a bad dream to be subsequently corrected by a bunch of young archeologists.

In August 1940 I was in a destroyer escorting a small convoy through the channel. A beautiful cloudless day and so far uninterrupted by the dive bombers who made our lives a living hell. We knew that night time would bring the E boats with their murderous torpedoes and small arms fire. Suddenly there was the familiar scream of bombs dropped from a great height and all around the convoy huge water spouts erupted and as we ducked for cover the shrapnel peppered the safety masts and the upper deck .No one was hit or hurt . The convoy was slow, seven and a half knots and the salvoes kept landing until finally the last ship moved out of range.

We tried but in the cloudless sky we could not detect any aircraft. Suddenly a light blinked from the cliffs and a message came from the Vice Admiral at Dover telling us we were being shelled by the German guns at Cap Gris Nez. We had the dubious honour of being the first target of these long range guns. Our schedule was changed and in future we passed through the area at night. It didn't help much as the reconnaissance aircraft plotted our course and speed during the day and the guns knew when we would be in that narrow part of the channel. Later the guns included Dover as part of their target but did surprisingly little damage. The constant dive bomber attacks plus the high level bombing, the E boat attacks and now the long range guns made us Christen this area as "Hell Fire Corner". I went through many many times but never became used to it. The long range guns at Dover were put in much later and gave as good as they got.

Little or nothing was mentioned about this on the programme and, according to the archeologists, the name "Hell Fire Corner" was given to the area after the Dover guns were installed. Maybe I expect too much but, to me, a little more research into the whole picture would have paid off far better than their useless expenditure on bulldozers.

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