大象传媒

This story was written by my mother, Jane Manners, widow of Sherard, and she asked me to post it for her. I have a greatly expanded version, with Sherard's account of his experiences.

HMS 'Bedouin' in the Mediterranean

"In June 1942, 22-year old Sherard Manners was 1st Lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Bedouin (Captain Brian Scurfield). They were trying to get a convoy through the Mediterranean to relieve the siege of Malta (as part of Operation Harpoon).

On 14 June, they had a battle with the Italian fleet, and were left stopped and damaged, though not sinking.

They made successful repairs, and were just getting under way the next day, partly being towed by HMS 'Partridge', another destroyer, when they saw the Italian cruisers returning. 'Partridge' had to cast the tow-rope and return to the convoy, and 'Bedouin' waited for the Italians to come into range. Surprisingly, the Italians turned away and returned to their base, but an Italian airman, Martino Aichner, appeared in his aeroplane, and dropped a torpedo.

Everyone crowded to the side to see where they were going to be hit when Captain Scurfield shouted to Sherard "Don't just stand there! Shoot him down."

Lewis gun at hand

There was a stripped Lewis gun lying on the deck, so Sherard picked it up and fired at the aeroplane, which by this time was overhead. He managed to hit the aircraft in the petrol tank, and though it didn鈥檛 come down at once, it did soon after.

Martino and his navigator inflated their life-raft, but then found they could not get it out of the plane, so they had to deflate it, get it (and themselves) out of the cockpit, and then re-inflate it. By the time they got back to base and announced that they had sunk 'Bedouin', their authorities replied 鈥淣o, the Admiral sank her.鈥�

Martino disputed this, and was told 鈥淗e鈥檚 an admiral, you鈥檙e a lieutenant. He says he sunk her, so he did.鈥�

Sinking ship

Back on board with 'Bedouin' sinking, Sherard rushed round below decks to see if everyone was out. He found a sailor, who had been badly wounded in the thigh, beginning to come round from the anaesthetic after his operation, so he and the Chief Stoker tied two lifejackets on him, picked him up, counted to three, and heaved him over the side into the water. He eventually made a good recovery, and lived another 15 to 20 years.

In the water

The crew kept together and swam about expecting rescue, and after about six hours an Italian hospital ship came out and picked them up. They spent the rest of the war 'in the bag', first in Italy, and then in Germany. At the end of the war they were being marched across Germany when a Canadian plane came over, swooped down, and started machine-gunning them, killing Captain Scurfield, which was a great loss for the Navy and his family as he was a truly remarkable man.

Friends over a book

When the Italian Admiral, who had been credited with the sinking of the 'Bedouin', finally died, Martino wrote a book about his adventures and also wrote to the Admiralty in London, asking to be put in touch with the senior surviving officer of 'Bedouin'. When the book came out later that year, Sherard and I were invited to Milan to the book-launch party. Sherard was able to ask Martino why he had flown over the ship, because, if he had not, they would not have been able to shoot at him, and he said he had just wanted to see where he had hit them.

After this both families became great friends, and visited each other. Martino eventually had his medal, the Medaglio d鈥橝rgente, updated to the Medaglio d鈥橭ro in recognition of his successful sinking of the ship. Apart from the prestige and glory, the Medaglio d鈥橭ro gives free access to all the autostrada of Italy."

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