大象传媒

This account has been transcribed from a diary kept during the Second World War by Robert Gilbert Meadows and contributed to the People鈥檚 War by the 大象传媒 Learning Centre on behalf of Valerie Harvey, his daughter, with her permission.

Robert Gilbert Meadows joined the Royal Navy in 1916, and served
therein until 1945. He was awarded the Mentioned in Despatches medal for his work as Chief Radio Officer on board HMS Princess Beatrix during its service in the Mediterranean campaign.

From Lofoten to Italy - Part 3
OPERATION TORCH - NOV 7/8 1942

The invasion was to take place on three places viz. Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. Our attack was to be on the Oran sector. The troops we carried consisted of some Commandos, otherwise entirely American. (It was decided to use American troops in this area because of possible anti-British feeling over the attack by British Naval Forces on 3rd July 1940 when much damage
was sustained by French warships in the harbour.

(The reason for this attack was to prevent the French vessels falling into the hands of the Germans). Our force was to be known as the Central Naval Task Force (CNTF) and was under command of Comdre Trowbridge in
HMS LARGS. The composition of the Force consisted of 70 warships together with 34 merchant vessels. (The Naval force included the battleship Rodney, Aircraft
Carrier Furious, Escort vessels BITTER & DASHER, Cruisers JAMAICA, AURORA & DELPHI, plus 13 destroyers, 2 s/ms, with Minesweepers, Sloops, Corvettes, Trawlers, Motor Launches and 34 Transports. The
assault began in the early hours of 7th November.

Jan 18th 1943

Arrived Bone from Algiers 5pm. Trip good and uneventful, discharged troops on arrival.

Jan 19th

Attacked by Italian Savoia Torpedo Bomber which was brought down by LAMERTON. Five survivors from plane recovered from sea. Escorted after dusk by Night Fighters. Had a couple of spasms when enemy A/C reported in the vicinity but attach did not develop.

Jan 20th

Arrived Algiers about 2am. Embarked urther batch of troops after dinner and anchored in Bay after tea pending departure for Bone. Action Stations sounded off during super. Hostile place sneaked in and was
observed to drop either mine or torpedo close to the ship, fact being duly reported by look/out to Comdre. Algiers. About the same time sirens sounded and anti-
A/C guns opened up against high flying A/C. No bombs observed to drop. All clear sounded after about 2 hrs.

Jan 21st

Left Algiers for Bone shortly after midnight, in company with Queen Emma, Royal Scotsman & Royal Ulsterman, escorted by destroyers, LAFOREY, ZETLAND & LAMERTON. Weather very good and sea calm. No
incidents during voyage. Arrived Bone 6pm and disembarked troops.

Jan 22nd

Left Bone 8am for Algiers. Weather good. LIGHTING took the place of LAFOREY on the return trip otherwise escorts the same.

Jan 23rd

Arrived Algiers 2 am.

Jan 24th

Laying alongside CLAN MACBEAN who is busily engaged in discharging cargo which seems to include everything from a camp bed to armoured cars, motor lorries. Amazing what these ships can carry.

PM. Embarked 600 odd paratroops. These chaps have already seen some fighting in Tunis but so far have only made one jump and that from an American transport
plane. Heard the following story from one of them - during the fighting in Tunis they captured a German officer who it appears could speak fluent English. Whilst he was being escorted back to out lines he remarked that it seemed a great pity that England and Germany should be fighting each other, as together they could rule the world. On being asked what he thought of the Italians he said 'no good at all but
then you have the Yanks which levels things up'. Hard lines on the Yanks as probably their poor showing so far is due to insufficient training.

Jan 25th

Sailed to Bone 3 am in company with QUEEN EMMA and escorted by destroyers Wheatland and Wilton. Trip good and uneventful. Arrived Bone 5p, and disembarked troops.

Jan 26th

Left Bone for Algiers at 8am. Shortly before arrival attacked by Torpedo A/C and had two tinfish fired at us which luckily missed. Understand though we should
have been fair and squarely hit had not 'Joe' (Captain) who saw the torpedoes heading for us, altered course quickly. Opened fire on A/C but apparently missed. Arrived Algiers 9pm.

Jan 27th

A fairly heavy and sustained air attack from 1am to 5am. During the attack a mine or delayed action bomb exploded in water about 100 yards astern of us and gave us a violent shake up. For the moment we all
thought we had been hit by a bomb. Some minor damage to gyro occurred. Ships & guns ashore put up a violent anti-aircraft barrage but no report of any A/C
brought down. After a bomb had been dropped in the harbour, a violent explosion followed and a column of smoke rose some 300 feet in the air. This was
followed by a large fire but was soon got under
control, probably ammunition or petrol dump hit.
Entered inner harbour after breakfast and tied up to
the jetty.

Feb 1st

Embarked troops after tea and sailed for Bone shortly
after 11.30am - in company with QE., RU., R.S. and
Empire Pride. Escort destroyers LAMERTON, ZETLAND &
BICESTER.

Feb 2nd

Weather good and no incidents en route. Arrived Bone
5pm and disembarked troops. Signal received during
evening reporting new rate of Franc 200 to the 拢1
instead of 300.

Feb 3rd

Left Bone for Algiers at 7am. Same ships and escorts
in company. A bit of a scare at dusk when we opened
fire on an unknown A/C. Afterwards it proved to be
one or our own. No further incidents en route.

Feb 4th

Arrived Algiers 3 am. Embarked a further 600 old
troops pm. And sailed in the evening for
Phillippeville in company with Q.E. (Queen Emma) and
escorted by destroyer Wheatland. Arrived Algiers 3
am. Embarked a further 600 odd troops pm. And sailed
in the evening for Phillippeville in company with Q.E.
and escorted by destroyers WHEATLAND & ZETLAND

Feb 5th

Arrived Phillippeville and disembarked troops. Our
first visit to this place. Leave was given from 1pm
to 3.30pm. Went ashore to have a look around - a
small place but nicely laid out. In peace - time used
as a small holiday resort . At the present time it
seems, a big dump for army vehicles and stores.
During my short walk, passed many tangerine and lemon
trees loaded with fruit. Sailed for Algiers 5pm.

Feb 6th

Arrived Algiers 6am and proceeded alongside to oil.
Queen Emma carried on to Arzeu where we expect to
proceed on completion of fuelling.

Feb 11th

Left Algiers 8am for Araeu escorted by destroyer
Wheatland. No incidents on voyage and arrived at 8pm.
Secured alongside merchant ship busily engaged in
unloading cargo.

ARZEU

A small port some 30 miles east of Oran, now run as an
American Base. Several Liberty ships unloaded their
cargoes during our stay.

March 5th

Left Arzeu at 1.30pm for Oran to embark troops for
Phillipville (Excluding these troops we have now taken
10705 troops to Bone, Bougie & Phillipville). Arived
Oran 5pm and secured alongside Queen Emma for the
night.

March 6th

Embarked some 600 American troops. Sailed for
Phillippville 7pm in company with Queen Emma and
escorted by destroyer BLSKWICA (Polish) and TARTAR.

March 7th

Arrived Phillippville about 7pm and disembarked
troops. Left again at 10.30pm for Gibraltar.

March 8th

At sea en route for Gibraltar.

March 9th

Arrived Gibraltar 10.30am

March 30th

Sailed for Algiers escorted by Ashante at 7pm.
Weather fine and sea calm.

March 31st

Arrived in Algiers at 9.30pm and embarked 630 odd
troops together with a number of naval ratings.

April 1st










Left Algiers at 0400 for Bone escorted by
BADWORTH & EGGESFORD. No incidents on trip - 16.30
arrived Bone and disembarked troops. After landing
troops we embarked some 400 Italian prisoners of war.
They all seemed very dirty and unkempt but
nevertheless seemed well pleased to be out of the war.
Had a short yarn with a couple of these prisoners.
Apparently they were dive bombed by British fighters
and before they got over the shock they found
themselves surrounded by British Tommies. One of
these prisoners emphatically expressed his opinion of
'Musso' by drawing his fingers across his throat!
2200. - left Bone for Algiers. Sea fairly rough and
in consequence all our POWS went down with mal-de-mer.
Their mess deck smelt like the devil!

April 2nd

Arrived Algiers shortly before noon and got rid of
prisoners. 1600 - embarked a further batch of British
troops.

April 3rd

0600 - left Algiers for Bone. Sea fairly rough. Put
into Phillippville for the night as we could not make
Bone before dark.

April 4th

0700 - left Phillippville for Bone. 1030 - arrived
Bone and disembarked troops. 1700 - left Bone for
Algiers escorted by Badsworth & Wheatland.

April 5th

Arrived Algiers 0700.

April 17th

Embarked some 600 replacement troops pm and anchored
in bay.

April 18th

0100 sailed for Bone in company with Queen Emma
escorted by Badsworth and Wilton. Trip good and
uneventful. 1700 arrived Bone and disembarked troops
1800. Embarked 325 German prisoners. Queen Emma
embarked about the same number including a batch of
Italians. Germans looked healthy and well fed and
well clothed. Italians not in the same street and not
surprising: - the Germans have no time for them.
Several of the German prisoners wearing decorations
including a couple with Iron Crosses.

April 19th

0400 - Sailed on the return trip to Algiers. German
prisoners kept below decks throughout the trip except
that during the forenoon they were allowed for a half
an hour or so on the upper deck for some fresh air and exercise. 1900 arrived Algiers. Apparently the fact that we had had prisoners on board got around the town as quite a crowd of sightseers collected on the waterfront to witness the disembarkment. French guards in charge of prisoner's en passage but on arrival at Algiers a strong batch of British Tommies marched those prisoners away to captivity.

April 26th

PM. Embarked another batch of some 600 troops for
Bone.

April 27th

0230 - sailed for Bone with Queen Emma and escorted by
Bicester & Zetland. Trip good and without incident.
1800 arrived Bone and disembarked troops. 2000 -
embarked 300 German prisoners. During embarkment we
had an air raid which made things a bit awkward.
German prisoners let go some cheering and started to
sing. Raid was not severe and after an hour all clear
was sounded.

April 28th

Left Bone for Algiers at 0100, escorted by some
destroyers. 2000 arrived Algiers and disembarked
prisoners.

May 3rd

0100 - left Algiers after for DJIDELLI. 1030 arrived
Djidelli and landed ALC's for three weeks training.
On completion of training sailed for Algiers arriving
2000.

May 31st

0400 left Algiers after having embarked some 125
miscellaneous naval ratings. 1500 arrived Djidelli and re-embarked boats' crews (all as brown as berries after their three weeks' specialised training ashore). 1700 left Djedelli for SFAX. Weather hot and sea calm throughout trip.

June 12th

Passed Bizerta about noon and shortly after passed
ZEMBRA Isle. After fall of Tunis the commander of the
garrison of this small island finding himself without
water and his position hopeless signalled to a naval
ship 'I surrender I have no water. I hope you are a gentleman!' Passed SOUSSE about 2100. Shortly after our passing this port it was raided by German A/C and we had a grandstand view of the heavy flak being fired from the port.

Arrived SFAX 0700 and tied up alongside a jetty which
the Germans had tried hard to put out of action by
demolitions. Port badly damaged and seemed a place of
the dead. Leave given during the afternoon. Did not
go ashore but heard from chaps who did that the town
itself is badly knocked about and practically
deserted. Only things purchasable were tomatoes,
cucumber, apricots & almonds. Wine very scarce and an exorbitant price demanded for a bottle.

June 3rd

1800. Left SFAX in company with Royal Ulsterman,
and escorted by Waddon for exercises, later joined
AlDENHAM.

June 4th

Arrived off Sousse 0700. Exercises at 0800. Queen
Emma, LARGS, and numerous LCI's TLCs etc taking part
in landing exercises. Choppy sea making going
difficult. Exercise completed 1500.

June 5th

Arrived SFAX from exercises.

June 10th

Embarked troop's approx 700 in number. Sailed for
operation CORKSCREW and the capture of PANTELLARIA.

June 11th

Arrived BIZERTA just after dawn, and here we were
formed up. Beside the three main assault ships, Q.E.,
P.B. & R.U. there was a fairly large number of
L.C.I.s, L.C.T.s and some L.C.F.s. After ships had
gotten into position, the happy band of pilgrims
turned towards Pantellaria some 40 miles to the
eastward. Our escort consisted of 13 Destroyers and 4
Cruisers; Newfoundland, Penelope, Orion and Aurora.
Whilst we were making steady progress towards the
objective, waves of bombers escorted by Fighters were
passing overhead on the way to drop their loads in the
already much bombed land. At about 0900 we caught out
first glimpse of the island - a grey, misty lump. At
1000 the troops KSLIs - embarked in their boats and
shortly afterwards left the ship to form up with other
craft before proceeding inshore. At approximately 1100
am Cruisers opened up a heavy bombardment on the
island, to which there was no reply. Shortly before
noon - zero hour for the attack - a wave of about 132
Flying Fortresses passed overhead - a fine sight - to
give the island a final devastating blast before the
assault. As they dropped their bombs, huge columns of
smoke and dust rose into the air and as a result the
island was obliterated from view for close on to 20
minutes. Before troops actually landed we intercepted
a message broadcast from the Malta which read "From
Admiral VARESS Pantellaria - Beg of surrender, lack of
water".
During the afternoon a few German A/C appeared and
dropped a few bombs but no ships were hit, although a
couple had a near miss. Sailed from Pantellaria at
1500 and arrived at Sousse at 2100, anchored outside
harbour for the night.

June 12th

Sailed for Sfax am.

June 13th
Received orders to turn around and proceed to DJIJELLI

June 14th

Received further orders not to enter Djijelli, but
instead to proceed to Bougie. Arrived Bougie 1400,
proceeded alongside and took in oil fuel.

June 16th to June 22nd

Exercising off Djijelli

June 23rd

2330 left Bougie for Algiers

June 24th

Arrived Algiers 0700 and embarked 500 American Negro
Soldiers and sailed at noon for Bizerta in company
with Queen Emma and escorted by Puckeridge, Calpi and Liddesdale. At dusk Largs, Royal Scotsman and Royal Ulsterman joined company.

June 25th

Arrived Bizerta 1100 and proceeded up harbour to
disembark troops. Saw plenty of evidence of Allied
bombing and German demolition. Several ships sunk in
channel and buildings on each side badly knocked
about. Soon after disembarking we left for Malta.
Shortly after leaving Bizerta we passed a huge convoy
of all types of American invasion craft - a fine sight
and a bad headache for Mussolini in the very near
future.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.