大象传媒

Dawn broke on the 24th May 1941 and looking out towards the north east it seemed like a golden orange light rising from the horizon and fusing into the dark blue of the night which was now fast disappearing as the light of dawn swept away every shadow in its path,it was one of the most beautiful sights i have ever seen and its grandeur remains imprinted in my memory to this day,i shall never forget it,i was suddenly roused from my thoughts by a faint call from the lookouts posted high above the bridge "enemy in sight",i was later to discover thet the call was from a seventeen year old boy seaman,no bearing of the sighting was given ,but every pair of eyes were fixed on the horizon ahead into the fast rising dawn,at the limits of the horizon could be seen two upright blurs,which gradually showed themselves to be top masts of fighting ships coming into view over the curvature of the earth {Bismark and Prinz Eugen} the bugles rang out with the sound of action stations followed by the voice of the ships chaplin offering prayers for our victory,the battle pennant streamed out from our masthead,i gazed out into the distance,soon clear to the naked eye were two complete silhouettes of two capital fighting warships the orange glow behind them,our ship {Prince of Wales and the Hood} were closed up for action,i agzed at the warships steaming towards each other main turrets moving into postion,guns bieng elevated ready for the command to fire,what a fine sight HMS Hood presented on our port side,signals flying from halyards,giving instruction to Prince of Wales,Hood was the senior ship and would advise plan of action for the coming battle,make no mistake we all knew some one would die today but it would be someone else not ones self,without warning the German ships erupted in dark orange flashes and disapper into the smoke as their main armamant opened up with their first salvos,Hood on our port bow replied in an eruption of fire and smoke as her guns returned the compliment,beneath me our "A" and "B" turrets began to fire,the thunderous sound of shells screaming over head and the huge waterspouts where they had dropped and exploded,the noise was deafening,in my foolish youth iwas excited by the battle.The Bismark and Prinz Eugen were now 10 miles distant,news flahed that POW had registered a hit on the bow of the Bismark,true enough to all who observed here she was out of true line her bows deflected downwrds,her stern slightly higher,neverthe less she continued to fire,what happend next is part of history,on our port bow where Hood was stationed there was a terrible explosion and a blinding flash of light followed by a pall of acrid smoke,we watched the scene with horror as the bow section drifted forward out of the smoke half a ship from midships to bow,settled in the water,up ended and slid out of view all that remained was a huge pall of smoke where a few moments earlier the pride of the Royal Navy had been,i stepped back ten yards and started up the ladder to the compass platform,two thirds of my upper body were through the hatch,suddenly there was a flash in front of my eyes and i felt the searing heat,i heard no explosion and everything appeared in slow motion,i was sucked up and seemed to float across the bridge area i finally came to rest on the deck amongst a shambles of torn metal and human bodies ,i heard a voice say"hang on doc i think we have been hit" i recall giggling at the silliness of such a remark,i got to my feet the first wounded man i got to was Leading seaman Tuker he was lying under a pile of debirs i remember he told me to leave him as he did not feel to bad,ipulled back the debris and saw his left leg was hanging on by a thin strip of flesh his femoral artery spurting like a fountain,i quickly tourniquet his leg.injected morphia and organised his removal,other casaulties were dealt with as i came across them,losing count of how many,there was Lt Esmond Knight a well known actor in his pre- war days,blood pouring from his face around his eyes,i treated him woundering what his future would hold ,i remember boy signalman Johnson,recognizable only by the crossed flags on his arm and later by his paybook,the navigator with a hole in his ceek and so it went on,for how long i can not recall,the bridge and compass platform were a complr=ete shambles,i looked up the POW had laid a smoke screen all gunfire had now ceased.After the bridge had been cleared of casualties i sat down to reflect on what had happened,iwas covered in dirt and blood,my head was throbbing like mad,my uniform was in tatters and one of my shoes was missing,i reported to the Surgeon Commander and was told remain at my action station.The naxt day we buried our dead comrades ta sea off Cape Farewell,South Greenland,it was a very moving ceremony,POW then proceeded to sea and made for Rosyth during the journey news was received thr Bismark had been sunk cheers rang through the ship.In December 1941 i received the D.S.M at Buckingham Palace from the King and i was also present at the Atlantic charter meeting between the Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the American President Roosevelt in August 1941,i had boarded the Battleship HMS Prince of Wales as a Leading Sick Berth Attendant and taken part in one of the most famouse battle in history,i shall never,never forget the experience.

Written by Martin Ashton on behalf of my very proud and brave Grandfather,taken from his own account of the events of that day in May 1941.

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