大象传媒

That was the dilemma, on one hand jeopardizing the early warning that was absolutely vital if the German Battleships were to be dealt with effectively and on the other hand taking away the very men that could guarantee that early warning and placing them in such hazardous operating conditions as could cause failure to the, North Front undertaking.
By now other Hudson aircraft were arriving at St Eval, 224 Squadron to be exact, and these planes began taking over and merging into the flight pattern set up by 233 Squadron. to deal with the Brest patrols.
It is of course very clear on looking back that a good deal of preparation work must have been going on although at the time it was very necessary for absolute secrecy to be observed. Apart from rumours that were circulating within the squadron and changed attitudes towards the Brest commitment little was known and everybody was working as normal.
Consider for a moment the sort of problem that would present itself concerning having enough highly skilled ground tradesmen at North Front. How were these airmen to be transported to Gibraltar in time?
The minimum requirements to keep ten Hudson鈥檚 highly active would be at least 40-50 men of all trades which would have to include engine and airframe fitters, Electricians, Armourers, Instrument fitter and the all, important A.S.V. (Radar) technicians. In view of the hazards involved it was out of the question to fly these men to Gibraltar. A sea voyage by conventional means at the end of 1941 was taking up to fourteen days which was far too slow for if this Gibraltar venture was to succeed it was vital to have these Hudson aircraft in operation not later than the beginning of December.

These then were the problems and the dilemmas that our High Command must have spent many hours deliberating upon. All must have agreed that the priority was to keep Gibraltar free at all cost. It was now nearing the end of November and quite soon the decision would have to be made and by the morning of the 28th. Churchill had given his blessing and from then on things started to move fast.

At this point then it must be concluded that any real interest over the outcome of the German Battleships at Brest was purely superficial. It could not be expected of any air force squadron, however experienced, to take over the patrol duties under the peculiar operating conditions existing at St Eval at that time and immediately to perform with one hundred per cent proficiency which was then necessary if a break out was to be dealt with effectively considering all the sophisticated preparations the Germans had by then laid on for the escape.
The navy were fully aware of the position since it was they that were insisting on the air cover at Gibraltar. and yet it was surprising in view of subsequent events, how callously they allowed Joubert and his command to be dealt with.

Joubert was now left in the same position as a football team manager who had played a winning team all the season but is only allowed to play his reserve team in the cup match.
The break up of 233 Squadron began very quietly about mid morning on the 28th November when just over thirty skilled ground, trades airmen were told to report back to their living quarters at Morgan Porth to pack their kits and be ready to move off. We were not informed as to our destination and as there were so few of us we were inclined to discount the rumour about a trip to Gibraltar.
Our large kit bags were then taken from us which meant we would be travelling very light with only a small side pack we then got aboard a coach to be transported to Newquay railway station to await a train.

It was early afternoon when we boarded a train, which we soon discovered was bound for Bristol and by the time the train arrived there it was almost dark. While we were hanging about on Bristol station waiting for another train word was passed along that we were after all on our way to Gibraltar. And could if we wished do something about informing relatives etc as to our destination.

It was difficult on Bristol station at that time of night and in war time but a big effort was made by all to do something to let various people know were we were off to. Of course it was purposely done this way to maintain the' secrecy necessary if we were to arrive at Gibraltar safely.
Eventually a train arrived and we all got on board and according to the guard it was a special to take us to Milford Haven in South Wares. It was obvious then, that our transport to Gibraltar was going to be by sea but what sort of vessel could get us out there quick enough we could only wait and see. When we arrived at Milford Haven station it must have been sometime about midnight and of course everything was in complete darkness due to the wartime blackout regulations.

We made our way through the narrow cobbled streets of this small naval town unaware that we were passing through one of the largest Atlantic seaports in the country. The narrow streets fell away steeply down to the quay and not a soul was to be seen although no doubt some curtains were pulled aside to watch what must have seemed to those that looked an unusual eerie sight thirty or more airman in this part of the world disappearing into the night.
Our naval guide led us down to and along the quayside until we reached a narrow wooden landing stage along which we slowly groped our way and as we made our way so we became aware of the noise of powerful engines running at the ready and an air of much activity although still not a light was showing any where. Quickly then we were clambering aboard naval vessels there were three in all each taking about ten airmen on through a door and another and suddenly there we were in the fully lit interior of one of His Majesty鈥檚 Destroyers.

As soon as we were all on board and with hardly a sound except for the drum of the engines the three destroyers moved off in line astern for the open sea.
The Harvester, H.M.S Arrow and the Blankney were the names of the three destroyers and their briefing was to stand by to pick up a crack R.A.F Squadron and to move them as quick as possible to Gibraltar.
This was the Navy's answer to the big question of how enough skilled ground tradesmen could be taken to North Front in time for the very necessary air operations to begin. The three destroyers moved slowly out and away from land and on making open sea took up a line abreast position and were soon travelling at a speed of around thirty knots.

It was necessary to maintain the speed of thirty knots as much for safety鈥檚 sake as the time factor in getting to our destination and at that speed the two older ships H.M.S Arrow and Blankney were just about at maximum output while the newer H.M.S. Harvester was capable of more.

The sort of situation prevailing by the end of 1941 was that Gibraltar had come to be the last piece of land that was left to us in Europe outside of England and it was becoming increasingly very difficult and quite hazardous to get to. Now however the emergency that I and thirty other airmen had become part of was so great that the risk of sending three destroyers across the Bay of Biscay and straight down the French and Portuguese coastline just had to be taken. This must have been one of the most secret emergency operations of the whole war but of course it was the only way to get us there in time. Had Jerry known exactly what was moving down this coastline he would no doubt have shown far more interest than he did?
As land lubbers we didn't take too kindly to being rushed through the sea at thirty knots in a destroyer not quite the way we had envisaged getting our sea legs so of course most of us were soon feeling somewhat under the weather with a sort of couldn't care less attitude and one or two simply climbed into a hammock and were not seen for the rest of the trip.
I myself fought hard to remain an alert looking airman but I do remember the offer of a large corn beef sandwich from one of the ships crew when I was hanging over the rails on one occasion an offer I had to refuse.
With ten extra body's on board a small ship, such as a destroyer must have made things very difficult for the crew at times especially when one considers the fact that action station bells were sounding regularly throughout the trip. Where as the crewmembers knew exactly where and what to do when the bells sounded we on the other hand seemed to be hanging around just getting in the way.

To have surplus blokes hanging about in hammocks when shells were needed to be passed up through the mess deck to the guns must have made the crew swear a bit. They kept their cool though and we remained on good terms throughout the trip. We shared their food, their rum ration, their canteen and their music. The music bit only happened on one occasion but I remember it very well probably because of the peculiar conditions under which we came to be listening to a very popular song of the day. It was during the first night out or early evening to be precise when we had about twenty hours sailing time behind us and must have now been crossing the Bay of Biscay.

Some of the Blankney's crew had a bit of radio equipment down on the mess deck with which they were endeavouring to get tuned in to a home station. All sorts of noises Were coming across the air when suddenly they found it the Vera Lyne band show and we all listened in silence as through a background of atmospherics鈥� and fading volume Vera sung the hit song of the day "Yours".
Almost before Vera had finished the song the program was once again engulfed in the jungle of atmospheric noise and, of course, we had listened to the last radio broadcast we were likely to hear for some time.
Crossing the Bay of Biscay was certainly the roughest part of the whole trip or so it seemed to us land lubbers aboard H.M.S. Blankney but we were assured by the ships crew that on this occasion the Bay was not as rough as usual. Even so, up on deck it was bad enough to make it almost impossible to pass from one end of the ship to the other for fear of being washed overboard.
Already the indications were that this just wasn't going to be a nice little sea cruise out to Gibraltar as by the time daylight had faded on the first day out the bells had already sounded three times for action stations and when these destroyer crews went into action stations they really got ready for business far better not to be on the receiving end. Enemy aircraft had been active during two of the alert periods and were thought to be shadowing the destroyers with one plane coming in close enough for the gunners to have a go at.

The guns on the Blankney seemed to be ready for firing almost as soon as the Bells sounded and while of course the crew took it all in their stride it seemed to the uninitiated that utter chaos had broken out with big balls of fire snapping at you should you happen to be up on deck and if you were down below electric light bulbs would come popping out of their sockets and in the toilets things started to happen with the urinal basins becoming disconnected. Just imagine the sort of mess things would be in any prolonged action it must have been a full time job keeping the thing together.

By morning of the second day out we had crossed the Bay of Biscay and had begun moving down the Spanish and Portuguese coastlines. It was necessary to maintain a constant alertness to the danger of the German u boat and this necessitated all sorts of anti u boat manoeuvring to be carried out with action station bells being sounded whenever loud bleeps were coming from the Radar.

Later in the day somewhere off the Portuguese coastline another vessel was visible on the horizon and was of course quickly investigated. The other vessel in fact turned out to be a very large liner and must have been all of thirty thousand tons flying the stars and stripes and no doubt on course for Lisbon. As America was so far not at war with anyone the Captain of the liner was very reluctant to do anything about a signal from the British destroyers to stop and it was found necessary to apply a little gentle persuasion. Faced with three destroyers circling his liner with all their guns pointing ominously in his direction the liner soon came to a standstill.

It was a sight to remember this huge American liner with these three little British destroyers circling. However a boarding party came away seemingly satisfied that all was in order and the liner was aloud to continue on its way and we also resumed our journey to Gibraltar
The following night during the very early morning hours many lights became visible some way ahead which at first looked like the lights of a small town but as we moved closer to them they turned out to be the lights of a whole fleet of small Portuguese fishing boats. Action stations had been sounded and ammunition had started to move and it looked as though we were preparing to sink the lot. It seemed that the destroyer Captains were a bit uneasy about the possibility that one of the fishing boats could be equipped with a radio transmitter capable of being able to alert 'u' boats further down the coast to be prepared for three British destroyers coming their way. There was no way of really making sure that such a thing couldn't happen as even if the lot were sunk it probably would have been too late to have prevented a message going out so after a lot of manoeuvring around the fishing boats and a good deal of loud hailing to one another the destroyers left them in peace hoping for the best.

Within a matter of hours now and with a bit of luck we should have arrived at our destination and as daylight broke the three destroyers plodded steadily on, their immediate task almost completed, and as they sailed down into the straits it wasn't long before the "Rock" could be seen gradually becoming larger out of the morning sunrise. What the future held for H.M.S. Blankney, Arrow and Harvester at that stage of the war was anybody's guess but one thing was sure any task they were asked to perform would no doubt be carried through to a successful conclusion. By the time we had almost reached the "Rock" the three destroyers had taken up the inline astern position and one by one entered Gibraltar harbour and tied up.
From Milford Haven to Gibraltar had taken almost three days which even by today鈥檚 standards would take some beating but if one stops to consider all the various war time diversions with which the three destroyers became involved then for those days it must have been something of a record.

Very little time was wasted in getting off the destroyers on to the quayside from whence we were quickly transported to North Front which in distance was only a short way but in time it seemed centuries away as from what could be seen first impressions lead one to think that it hadn't changed a lot since the time of the three year siege of 1797.
It was easy to picture those days of long ago when according to the time of year a truce would be called for, to enable the Garrison in the "Rock鈥� to come forth onto what would then have been neutral ground and to tend the vegetable gardens that supplied the inhabitants with their fresh vegetables. A very amicable arrangement of course there were no vegetable gardens in 1941 in fact the piece of neutral ground now had a high border fence running the full length of it and was now called North Front.
Supposedly then, between, this border fence and the huge north face of the 鈥渞ock鈥� was about to commence an anti "U" Boat campaign the like of which bore no precedent or would likely be seen again but if successful could only be classed as a bloody Miracle.
We looked around for something that resembled an airfield and found that by comparison to what we were used to, where the ends of runways would disappear from sight, this was just a small piece of waste ground that had been surfaced to deal with the odd Swordfish that might happen to land.

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