大象传媒

I served in the Royal Navy during the war, on anti-submarine duties, working with the North Atlantic convoys. We operated in Escort groups, and patrolled along defined lines, ours being from the Isles of Scilly across to the Channel Islands.

In the build up to D-Day, we had been patrolling the coasts and channels. Admiral Doenitz had brought up submarines from a number of his other bases such as La Rochelle and Brest, and gave orders that the must break through whatever the cost. None made it through. No one seems to talk about this aspect of the war, but in some mall way, I feel that my bit helped the real heroes who landed on the beaches. If the U-Boats had been in the channel, the invasion fleet would have been decimated.

The most successful of the Escort Groups, was the 2nd, under the command of Captain Walker. His group sunk 23 submarines. I think the next best was about seven, off the American Solomon Islands.

I was privileged to be part of that group. The only submarine sinking I was directly involved in was the U333. She was in trouble anyway, having lost her snorkel. This meant she had to surface whenever the captain wanted to see what was around. She was spotted at about 5.30 on a Monday off the Scilly Isles. We picked her up at 120ft, and followed her to 390. One of the ships, the Loch Kilin, was fitted with the Squid. This fired depth charges forward, which exploded at set depths rather than on contact. The idea was to get some under, and others over the submarine, and so crush it with the pressure. I remember there were two lots of three explosions. It took a while for the wreckage to float up but we waited for it.

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