大象传媒

On the 11th of November 1940 my Uncle Alec was serving as an 18-year-old steward on board the Blue Funnel ship SS Automedon. The ship was destined for Singapore and sailing up the Indian Ocean. At around 11 am the German surface raider Atlantis sighted her. A shot was fired across Automedon鈥檚 bows but she did not stop. Atlantis then fired at the bridge because Automedon was transmitting an SOS. The whole of the bridge was blown up and all the officers were killed including the captain W.B. Ewan.

Uncle Alec had been situated on deck below and to the rear of the bridge when the shelling occurred and he was severely wounded in his upper body and head. Automedon was then boarded by the Germans who searched the ship for important documents and parts of the cargo that could be useful to them. They were certainly delighted to find large amounts of whisky and cigarettes in the holds. The Germans transferred the crew to Atlantis and Uncle Alec and the rest of the wounded were put on stretchers and hauled across to the German ship.

Automedon had been carrying some highly confidential documents that affected the future war against Japan but that is another story or possible conspiracy? Uncle Alec certainly thinks they were set up!

Uncle Alec was taken into the hospital aboard Atlantis and the German surgeon operated on him and so saved his life. The Atlantis was in urgent need of repairs and a hull clean so sailed south to the Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Ocean. On entering the bay, they struck a rock and were badly holed. It took a long time to get the ship off the rock and then repair the hole in the hull. While they were at Kerguelen, a German seaman was killed whilst painting the funnel. The rope holding him gave way and he fell to his death. The Seaman was buried on the island. After repairs and replenishment of the fresh water had been carried out, Atlantis then returned to the Indian Ocean and sank two more ships.

Alec was on board throughout all of this but was eventually well enough to be transferred to the Tannenfells, a supply ship. He was eventually landed at Bordeaux and put in a POW camp just outside the town. Eventually he and other prisoners were sent by cattle truck to Stalag 10B in Germany. After some time spent there, many prisoners were sent to an old Luftwaffe camp at a small village named Westertimke where they set about building their own POW camp. This became the biggest camp in Germany housing prisoners from the Merchant navy, Milag Nord and prisoners from fighting navies Marlag Nord. The two camps were situated next to each other but the prisoners were kept separate.

Uncle Alec spent nearly four years at this camp mainly occupying himself by playing football or helping out with the camp theatre amongst other pursuits. Life was very frustrating especially as there were many youngsters in the camp. Quite a lot of boys were serving in the Merchant navy as they left school at 14 in those days and many entered the service at that age. On the other hand there were some men in their seventies who were also taken. In time some were repatriated due to their age but Alec was not one of these as he would have been eligible to return to service had he got home and the Germans knew that.

During his period of captivity, Alec became seriously ill with pneumonia probably as a result of his wounds. Luckily for him, they had a brilliant camp doctor by the name of Spurber. He was a Hungarian doctor who had come to England to escape the Nazi鈥檚 but the British authorities wouldn鈥檛 let him practice medicine so he took a position as purser in the Merchant navy and was captured. In the camp, he was allowed to administer to the injured and sick because there was no one else. He saved Alec from pneumonia by wrapping him in wet blankets like a mummy. Dr Spurber told Alec that it might seem a strange way of doing things but it would work. It did work thankfully.

As with most POW camps, the prisoners were kept informed of the wars progress by clandestine radios and Alec says they never had any doubt about the outcome of the war. Alec spent his 21st birthday in the camp and one of his friends had saved a Canadian biscuit from a Red Cross parcel to give him as a special treat. He never forgets that act of kindness.

Eventually the Guards Armoured Division overran the camps and the war was over for them. Alec and many others were taken by bus to Diepholz to be flown home by Dakota aircraft. Very few of the men had ever flown before and it was a novelty. Alec doesn鈥檛 remember or know where they landed but they were given a medical, equipment, travel warrant and in Alec鈥檚 case about ninety pounds in money owing to him. Not much for over four years captivity really!

Due to his wounds, Alec received a pension but suddenly this stopped in 1947. Evidently this was an error in administration and the pension that had been stopped was for his being in captivity. He should have received a pension for life but it was not until the early nineties that he was informed of this. When he applied for his pension back, he had to attend various medical tribunals and was examined and questioned by a number of doctors who were far too young to have even been alive in the war, never mind understand what he had been through. One of them stated 鈥測ou have something wrong with your x-rays!鈥� Alec replied 鈥淭here is nothing wrong with the x-rays, that is the shrapnel still in my body!鈥� For reasons known only to them, he was refused a pension. With help, he appealed and was awarded a small pension. As the years have progressed he has appealed and appealed and the pension has been increased slightly. The whole procedure is very stressful and he gets tongue-tied and cannot explain to these people exactly what they want to hear. Needless to say, the pension he should have got from 1947 to the 1990鈥檚 was never back paid and the attitude was one of tough luck.

Alec was just a young man who like many others went off to sea to keep our country supplied. Now in his 83rd year he still helps run a charity shop with my Aunt in order to help others. He still has a lot of pain with a lump of shrapnel in his lung. He still has nightmares about that day in the Indian Ocean when he saw some horrific things as the bridge was shelled. I think the authorities in this country should hang their heads in shame at the way they treat people like him. Alec is not an isolated incident and there are others just like him but of course as the years go by they get less and less.

The Atlantis was eventually sunk by HMS Devonshire in the Atlantic Ocean but not before she had sank 21 merchant ships in total. The Captain of Atlantis Bernhard Rogge was by all accounts a decent man treating his captives very fairly. He survived the war and became an Admiral in the peace time German navy.

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