大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the peoples war website by Sarah Cooper at the AGC Museum on behalf of Gill Gutteridge. Gill Gutteridge fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

This account was written by Commander Gordon Gutteridge who served with Lieutenant George Goss.

Well before the invasion of Europe in 1944 the Admiralty created 鈥淧鈥� Parties of three officers and twenty divers for the specific purpose of finding and recovering or disposing of mines laid in the harbours of Western Europe. It was anticipated, and turned out to be fact, that the Germans would lay mines in harbours so as to deny their use to the allies.

There were seven of these parties, five British, one Dutch and one Norwegian. NP1571, the first of these, was commanded by Lieutenant George Goss. I [Gordon Gutteridge] was his second-in-command specifically appointed because of my considerable experience of Rendering Mines Safe (RMS).

At the end of the war in Europe NP1571 was in Bremen faced with locating and dealing with about sixty mines laid in the harbour and the river Wesser.

By VE day 8th May 1945 an 鈥渙yster鈥� mine had been located close to a dock wall; it couldn鈥檛 be blown up, it had to be rendered safe. It would be the first 鈥渙yster鈥� to be dealt with underwater where it could be expected to be 鈥渁ctive鈥�. Although it was my job to deal with mines found, George wanted to deal with this one. He was the boss and very capable. I instructed him in what I believed to be the correct procedure to be followed. On examination we believed it to be a pressure/magnetic or pressure/acoustic mine. So I sat in a dinghy above the mine along with a collection of non-magnetic tools and a 鈥渟tandby鈥� diver; George dived on the mine. Tools were passed back and forth; George surfaced and resurfaced to discuss progress. It was a brand new mine so all threads, nuts, bolts, and components were easy to deal with. George first removed the primer (the explosive charge between the detonator and the one ton main charge) then the detonator (involving cutting electrical leads in the right order) and finally, the hydrostat (a device which would explode the mine as it was brought to the surface). The mine was then brought to the surface and landed on the dockside where George and I very carefully completed the dismantling process since it was German practice to fit mechanical and light sensitive booby traps to discourage this activity.

The Bremen operation was a success in that all except one of the enemy mines were located and dealt with. The missing mine, if there was one, we didn鈥檛 actually know, exploded under an American tug, which sank but without blocking the harbour.

Lieutenant George Goss was deservedly awarded the George Cross for a hazardous job conducted fearlessly and with great competence.

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