大象传媒

Recollections of the War.
'The day war broke out' to borrow a phrase from a leading comedian of the time, the much loved and late Rob Wilton, I was an eight year old boy living with my parents and two sisters in a small coastal village sited on the South East corner of Northumberland.
Our house, number 16 Sea Banks, stood on the sea front overlooking
the North Sea to the East, and a small beach known as King Edward's Bay at the foot of 150 feet high cliffs, falling in a steep drop from the coastal road which ran past the front of our house. The situation of our home afforded unrivalled views of the sea, and coast to the North also the ruins of monastic buildings dating from the mid 6th century perched high on a huge outcrop of rock known by its Saxon name of Beneblcrag, to the South East. This ancient crag overlooked the northern estuary of the industrial great river Tyne, It was garrisoned by a regular Army detachment, and formed the centre of a heavily fortified zone with a long range coastal defense battery of 15" guns, plus anti-aircraft and machine gun emplacements together with searchlight batteries and was supported by four associated light gun emplacements in the surrounding fields and promontories.
On that memorable Sunday morning of September 3rd 1939, following the speech of the Prime Minister, Mr. Chamber lain advising that a state of war now existed with Germany, the atmosphere was generally excited, with a hint of anxiety for the ensuing conflict. A barrage balloon was duly installed in the castle grounds where to the delight of the on looking villagers a test was carried out. The inflated balloon duly rose majestically above the battlements into the afternoon sky, followed by the end of the securing wire which had become detached from its anchor. The balloon continued to rise until it reached its maximum height whereupon it exploded and fell down onto the castle rocks, where it was quickly retrieved and cut up by locals for use as tarpaulins.
As a boy, initially I was not unduly concerned over being at war with Germany, we had the Royal Navy to guard our shores and sea lanes. The Empire and Commonwealth who could be relied upon as in the Great War of only twenty years before, and the general impression of the youth at that time was in my experience, complete confidence in the swift outcome of a fight with Hitler's Germany whom it was thought had bitten off more than they could chew, again.
The disruption of school, provided an unexpected bonus in the form of a long extra holiday from its tedium, and the issue of gas masks in their small cardboard boxes, after the initial novelty wore off, became a nuisance to carry.
Mobilisation of the Army Reservists followed by Conscription resulted in a large increase of service men and women in uniform, particularly Royal Navy personnel assigned to the capital ships anchored or under construction in the nearby dockyards and slipways of the River Tyne. My father who had served in the Army in the Great War and had secured a shore job in a shipyard in February 1939, after 20 years or so in the Merchant Marine in oil tankers, was now in a reserved occupation or would have returned to sea. As it was, it probably saved his life as most of his old ships were sunk as a result of enemy action, indeed some 25,000 Merchant Seamen were lost at sea from South Shields alone, a town across the River. He soon joined the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) the fore-runner of the Home Guard, in which he served throughout the War in addition to his work in Hawthorn Leslie's shipyard.
In December 1939, to great satisfaction of all, three light cruisers of the Royal Navy, Ajax, Achilles and Exeter intercepted and fought the German Pocket Battleship 'Graf Spec' in the South Atlantic. She suffered major damage and took refuge in the port of Montevideo, Uruguay, to carry out repairs, and from where under pressure from the authorities she was obliged to leave after a few days, whereupon she was scuttled by her Captain to avoid further bloodshed.
An action well fought and in the best traditions of the Royal Navy.
On the home front, apart from the visual movement of soldiers,
establishment of anti-aircraft and searchlight batteries, test firing of the shore defence heavy guns, convoys of Merchant ships assembled off the river mouth awaiting escort by the Navy to overseas destinations. Road blocks and machine gun nests were constructed at strategic road points and barrage balloons sited to protect sensitive areas. It was generally quiet as the Nation prepared for war, after Dunkirk. Food rationing commenced and petrol was placed on restricted supply. Foreign grown fruit such as bananas, oranges, grapes and similar, disappeared from fruiterers, supplies of sugar, butter and the like was rationed to 2 ounces per person per week, and eggs at 1 per person per week, when available.. Meat products also were in short supply, though rabbits were plentiful.. However, our mother was a good manager and we never really went short on vital food throughout the war, what we had was basic, though with limited variation, and we ended the war generally in better health than we entered. The nation was encouraged to grow its own food and this certainly made a difference through the allotment system which provided good quality home grown vegetables such as potato's, turnips, cabbages, sprouts, leeks etc. were grown on previous cultured lawns, and all land lying fallow was converted to crops.
As food became less plentiful, queues became the norm as stocks
declined and it became necessary to anticipate supplies being made available in the shops. That, with the newly imposed black-out, together with bad news from the front in France, life became rather difficult.
It was clear that the War was not going well and had turned against us. Belgium had capitulated at the first sign of German troops, Holland had been bombed into submission by the Luftwaffe, Norway, and Denmark were occupied, and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), together with the French had been outmaneuvered by Rommel and his Panzer divisions and were trapped at Dunkirk. From that port, some 385,000 British and French troops were evacuated to England by the Navy and a flotilla of small boats to avoid their surrender to German forces. It was a bad defeat, and no talk of 'miracles could mask the true facts. Shortly afterwards, France surrendered, an act which required the Navy to bombard and cripple the French Fleet at anchor when it refused to join with us, thereby preventing their warships to be captured by Germany and used against us.
My own first realisation that the War was in difficulties occurred when we, that is my sister Dorothy and myself including other school children, were hurriedly evacuated to the northern part of Northumberland away from the anticipated bombing of the Tyne and adjacent shipyards and industrial plants
Although the family with whom we were billeted were kind and
thoughtful it was obvious that we 'town children' were not truly welcome in the country situation, and the food though plain, was meagre in quantity and not what we were used to. After a short period, Mum took us home.
On returning home, Dorothy was stricken with a severe case of
Diphtheria and taken to an isolation hospital nearby. As it was a contagious disease, I duly followed suit and joined her in the same hospital, May 1940. It was here that we noticed wounded servicemen being stretchered into the adjoining ward corridors, apparently from the shores of Dunkirk. They were quickly dealt with and transferred out, the hospital was bombed shortly afterwards, it was however a sobering experience.
After leaving hospital after six weeks convalescence we returned home in time for the initial series of air-raids which developed into the 'Battle of Britain'.

Due to the strategic location of our village, we lay in direct bombing path for the Tyne, with its concentration of shipping and associated repair facilities. As such we were targeted by the German Luftflotte 6, stationed across the North Sea in Norway, for whom it was a relatively short and direct flight across open sea. The raids, which commenced with a sole Heinkel observation plane flying inshore at some 8,000 feet, which was duly shot down by a flight of Hurricanes, soon became more business like, when daylight squadrons of up to fifty or more bombers flew in over the North Sea to attack Royal Naval ships in the Tyne and convoys assembling offshore by the river mouth.
Following the defeat of the Luftwaffe's attempt to gain command of the skies in September 1940, their attention shifted to carpet bombing techniques generally carried out during the hours of darkness and intensified with fleets of bombers being used. These raids became known as 'blitzes' after Blitz krieg (lightning war). Whole areas were obliterated by high explosive and incendiary bombs raining down on domestic targets as well as shipyards, factories, slipyards, shipping and the like. Mines also were parachuted on the entrance of the river, which they often missed, landing on houses.
A blitz usually started with the distinctive sound of German bombers approaching from the East, at around 15,000 feet. To be followed by the searchlights criss-crossing the skies and picking out individual planes for the anti-aircraft batteries to shoot at. Next came the bombs, the explosions increasing in intensity as they came over us the dying away as they bombed Newcastle and the yards to the West. Then of course the bombers returned to fly back to their aerodromes in Norway the way they came. This was the most dangerous time as it was their habit of dropping unused bombs before crossing the North Sea. Being the last bit of England before Norway, we invariably received their final blessing in the form of mines, and high explosives left over as a parting shot.
The noise of a blitz was indescribable, and after to 'All Clear' had sounded we left our cold and damp shelters, chilled, tired and stressed out to view the damage and fires still burning. However life had to go on, and we duly trooped off to school over broken glass, smashed buildings and the streets strewn with debris, often with speeding ambulances with bells tinkling carrying dead and wounded to hospital. Being boys, we took the opportunity to look for shrapnel on the way.
At assembly, Mr. Grant our headmaster would talk to us concerning the events of the previous night. He would also mention the name or names of old boys, missing in action or reported dead, and for whom we said prayers.. These were sad occasions which moved him, considerably.
The war at sea was entering a difficult phase with U boats, E boats and German destroyers raiding the East coast and sinking our ships inshore and further out at sea in the Atlantic in ever increasing numbers, I have a vivid recollection of a late afternoon in the winter of 1941 gazing out of our front room window over a grey rough southerly running sea. Drifting in on the tide I saw a raft with a rag tied to the pole in the centre. It was empty and awash with waves surging over it until it eventually beached on the sands below. Other flotsam came ashore that day following a heavy blitz and an attack on an outgoing convoy the day before, sailors caps, a well used tobacco pipe and other personal affects were a stark reminder of the price paid for a gallon of petrol.
"No roses grow on a seaman's grave".
Burning and shattered ships were a common sight off, and inside the Tyne estuary, and I remember distinctly watching the destroyer HMS 'Kelly' with Mountbatten commanding, limping into the river badly damaged with her decks awash and 27 dead still on board in the wreckage below.

These sailors were buried in the Hebburn cemetary close-by to where
their ship docked, for the last time before being sunk whilst on patrol in the Mediterranean sea, off Crete, some months later.
Other ships sank in the fairway of the river and had to be blown up to clear a passage, whilst ships on fire were towed to shallow water outside the piers to burn themselves out.
The Tyne and Tees area of Northumberland and Durham suffered heavy blitzes during 1940 - 1942 and conditions deteriorated. Rations were reduced as supplies of food were regularly lost at sea to the "U" Boats and the constant bombing raids did not help. However, General Montgomery was appointed to command the 8th Army in North Africa, and managed to halt Rommel at El Alemain, this turn in our fortunes cheered us all. Italy had entered the war on Germany's side thank God, whilst America sat on the fence making huge profits from supplying armaments and offering inducements to take over the Royal Navy fleets should Britain be defeated.
Later in 1941 Hitler, disregarding the peace treaty which existed
between the two countries, attacked and invaded the Soviet Union and Japan attacked the American Fleet at Pearl Harbour, they also at the same time invaded British territories in the Far East. The War now developed global characteristics, and we were fighting on three fronts. Rommel had been defeated in North Africa and the threat to the Middle East oil fields removed.
The War outlook improved from this time and the blitzes declined in severity and frequency, in 1942, later in the year I was engaged as an errand boy for the princely sum of 5 shillings and sixpence, four evenings and all day Saturday. My employer was a local fruiterer and fishmonger. Mr. Tommy Willits a very kindly man, domineered by his sister, Miss Willits. He was an artist in the cutting and preparation of fish and fowl, and from whom in the three years I worked for him, I learned much. In retrospect, this was a happy time as I could at last contribute to the income of the family and it felt good.
In 1945, at the age of fourteen years and two months I left school and began a two year pre-apprenticeship in electrical engineering, including three nights per week at night school, my wages now increased to nine shillings and three pence per week.
Finishing my apprenticeship in 1952 I joined the Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation Company, 'P&O' as a junior Engineer Officer, and for me the sea was not a 'Cruel Sea'.

Finally, it is easy to view the events of sixty five years ago with an amount of detachment, particularly as the War turned out in the way it did. It is clear however that but for the bravery and sacrifice of countless men and women both here and abroad, there were times when it was a close run affair. Mr. Churchill was a fine leader who inspired the population to resist, despite the odds. We could have had one of the current bunch of politicians and lost the War.
The War was not glamorous, nor funny, and I was one of the lucky ones who survived with our family complete for which I am eternally grateful.2

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