大象传媒

Brotherhood of Veterans of the Greek Campaign. 1940-41.

President Mr. E. Horlington. MBE. (01255 677178).

鈥� Operation Demon 鈥�. H.M.S. Hero.

By Leading Torpedo Operator, A. L. Ward.

Long after receiving my demob suit in 1947 I was still occasionally awakened at night following dreams of the events at Kalmata in the Peloponnese. No other episode or incident such as dive bombing by Stukas, action at Narvick, night action in the Mediterranean. Or involvement in the relief of Tobruk and the later evacuation of Crete, affected me as did the retrieving of Troops from the beaches of Kalamata.

The cries of obviously exhausted men, making valiant attempts to swim from the shore, pleading for help, still echoes in my ears. 鈥淐an you see me鈥� some called out and, peering into the inky night blackness, we would, with an effort of untruthful reassurance answer 鈥淵es, a few more strokes and you have made it鈥�; a cry, a gurgle and then silence, absolute silence and nothing that we waiting on the ship could do. We knew he hadn鈥檛 made it. Again someone called, again untruthful reassurance and again the same silence stretching out across the water.

So it went on for what seemed hours yet, in reality, only a matter of some forty minutes or so. One or two were fished out shivering and half drowned, wrapped in a blanket and rushed below but these were the lucky ones whose guardian angels had worked overtime to save them, perhaps to fight and die in some other theatre of war or, like me, live to a ripe old age.

With the advancing years my memory does not serve me well with details of the operation and as for the most part, we were not told much about where we were going and what for, ours was not to reason why etc. Knowledge of what was going on overall was guesswork or rumour with, generally, confirmation coming after the event. Some recollections are crystal clear, others incomplete or hazy and it is not always possible to place events in chronological order, but a few incidents remain fixed in mind though not entirely clear in detail. However these local events I can recall vividly and I know I will always carry with me the terrible memories of the happenings on those tragic nights.

Having escorted a convoy of evacuated soldiers from Greece and survivors from the bombed troopship 鈥淐osta Rica鈥� to Suda Bay in Crete, we sailed on or about the 28th of April with other Destroyers and two Cruisers, heading in a northerly direction. Hero was detached and ordered to investigate the situation at Kalamata. As we approached to within a few miles we could se what seemed to be huge fires burning and, as we closed, tracer bullets could be seen flying from it seemed all directions. I heard later that a morse- light signal had been received from shore indicating that German troops were in the town. Our first Lieutenant, called 鈥淛immy the one鈥�, dressed in very large belt and gaiters and wearing a huge revolver, looking somewhat apprehensive, went ashore with a signalman and an armed guard in the motor boat to investigate the situation.

Later, both Seaboats (whalers) were lowered and, because the regular crews were closed up on the guns, manned by a motley crew, in fact anyone who could use an oar and was willing to have a go. The boats returned with many defiant, angry, worn out tired and hungry troops. At about 2215 hours, the boats were hoisted aboard and we steamed south much to the protests of the troops, they said there were many more on the beach waiting to be picked up. Apparently a signal had been received that enemy naval forces had arrived in the area but, after a search lasting about an hour, we returned to Kalamata and continued with the arduous task of bringing off more troops. To speed up the process, guard rails were removed and scrambling nets and slings lowered to assist the troops in boarding. Mess tables were used as stretchers for the wounded and all hands, regardless of rank or service took parting in emptying the boats as quickly as possible.

Under the control of the Chief Coxswain and Chief Buffer the senior ratings organised the distribution of our passengers around the ship, using every conceivable nook or space on the upper deck, even on the Corticene under the torpedo tubes for the walking fit. Down below on the mess decks went the not so well, exhausted, injured and wounded who were attended to by our sick bay staff. Every conceivable space was utilised on that ship with the exception of the bridge where only those senior survivors, who may have vital information of use to our captain, Commander H.W.Biggs RN .

A few swimmers did survive and these were, after a hot shower, given a variety of clothing from volunteers whilst their clothes were being dried out in the boiler room. Our petty officer cook, known as 鈥渢wo ton鈥� because of his size and his much thinner assistant 鈥渙ne Ton鈥� somehow found food and hot drinks for them all, distributed by willing hands who were off duty at the time. Throughout the operation half of the gun crews were closed up ay gun stations and, although my torpedo tubes crew were called to assist, I had to remain at my action station. Being limited in observation from my post in the waists around the tubes, much of my information came as rumour or conjecture. It seemed to me that no difference was made between ranks, all received the same help and treatment and all expressed their pleasure at being guests of the Royal Navy with the added expression of confidence that they knew we would not let them down.

In order to avoid as much as possible the dawn air raid attacks, it was imperative that we got away to in the early hours and this meant that many had to be left on the beaches. However, with the aid of three other 鈥淜鈥� boat destroyers, the 鈥淜ingston鈥�, 鈥淜andahar鈥� and 鈥淜imberley鈥�, we had rescued over 400 Troops; a small part of some 4,000 who had been saved but sadly, around 10,000 men were left on the beach to end up in a POW camp. We took our survivors to Suda Bay Crete and then, as Kalamata was believe to be completely in German hands, we searched the inlets and harbours around Cape Trakmyla, Finnistere and the island of Kathera finding some 50 OR鈥檚 and 5 Officers. We searched the area of Kalamata again without success before sailing off to Suda bay and hence to Port Said.

My memory concerning actual dates Is far from clear but I am quite certain that, through the 大象传媒, Churchill announced that the evacuation of Greece had been successfully completed, making it sound like a victorious defeat. At the time of the announcement, we were preparing to go back again to Kalamata where, despite his words, and under the noses of the Germans occupying the town who seemed reluctant to interfere, we took off another 250 troops. These were Australian and New Zealand soldiers who had fought their way down the coast to the beach, and a right lot they were too. They were noisy, boisterous, unwashed, seemingly lacking in discipline (by our standards) and apparently, with little or no faith in their Officers, had appointed their own leaders to take over the Officer鈥檚 duties. However they were a great bunch, finding humour in almost every situation and to a man, still in possession of their rifles and equipment, played an important part in assisting our Ack-Ack fighting off an attacking plane. I have often wondered if that single Aircraft was not one of ours but our Captain, having once been caught out by friendly Blenhiems, which had been captured by the enemy and used to attack us, had decreed that, at sea, there was no such thing as a friendly aircraft. At Alexandria our passengers were whisked away in waiting 5 ton trucks but, to our surprise, they returned later with official permission to take the ship鈥檚 company out on a binge. They took us out in two halves and what a celebration that was.

For us it certainly was not all over; within what seemed like only days, we were back at Crete and repeated almost the same evacuation procedure for the forces which had fought the German Paratroop landings. They were defeated by a vastly superior overwhelming force and our task, to get the troops away, was made much more difficult by continuous enemy air attacks when a number of our ships were damaged or sunk. We came through unscathed despite several very near misses; indeed the tail fin of a bomb, delivered by a Stuka, damaged a hand and scraped the side of the ship as it passed down into the water. Fortunately it did not explode until we had sailed on for a further 50 yards and therefore did no damage; I remember thinking as I watched the bomb descend how similar it looked, end on, to a GPO red pillar box. Despite further attacks on the way, we delivered our cargo to Alexandria where we had hoped to spend a few days in dock, but this was not to be. After painting over the scratch on the ship鈥檚 side, taking on fuel oil, stores and ammunition, we were off on another caper.
The apt description of 鈥漺ork horses of the fleet鈥� was often given to the Destroyers and there were times when it seemed that everything descended on us. But, since reading the numerous accounts of what others did in WW2, I realise how insignificant was the part we actually played; but tell them, we too were there.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning . . . . . .

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