大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War site by Storygatherer Lucy Thomas of Callington U3A on behalf of Douglas Mahoney. They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.

Extracts from DOUGLAS MANHONEY鈥橲 W.W.2 MEMORIES

Further attacks

Day four, Tuesday. During the night was the turn of the submarines to launch their attack. We lost one destroyer early and then another. Submarines were a hazard all morning; there was a pack of them between us and Malta as well as those around us. We retreated and advanced as fresh information about their whereabouts came in. Depth charges were going off constantly, some perilously close to us, much to the distress of our NLO, with all the volatile spirit we were carrying on his mind. He should have been worrying more about the hundredweights of shrapnel debris that had fallen on the decks in the past three days and the spark just one piece might have caused.

Although we all felt that we were going through a hard time, there were others having a harder time.

I occasionally listened to the German news and did so that morning. The news was probably exaggerated but it was to the effect that our Gibraltar convoy was taking a severe hammering. Our convoy was not mentioned.

Later in the day, two of us left the convoy, shepherded by some destroyers heading back to Port Said. We never got to know why our attempt was abandoned, possibly because enough of the Gib convoy got through or maybe because our route was so thoroughly blocked that it would have been suicide to continue. The others of our fleet headed for Alexandria.

So ended our brief brush with glory; frightening at the time but also oddly fulfilling. I felt that I had been doing something worthwhile for a change. So much so, that when we parted from our escorts and the NLO and his party left us, I felt a twinge of regret at it all being over. It was like the breaking up of a little family. The length of time we鈥檇 been together had been short but the intensity of the relationship great. This created the bond, the feeling of companionship, a common link. We were different from other people we had been members of the same team sharing its problems and its successes. Life felt a little empty and duller now that the team had split up.

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