大象传媒

My father, Dennis Bentley Taylor, volunteered for the Royal Navy at the start of WW2. He was commissioned in to the RNVR as a Lieutenant, and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander.
For the first part of the war he was in a trawler patrolling the channel on the look-out for German invasion forces. The trawler was based at Milford Haven in Wales. I remember him telling of a German attack from the air when the boat was in harbour, but not much more.
He must then have been trained by the Navy for Harbour Master duties, as his next significant posting was as Harbour Master at Taranto on the East coast of Italy after it had been liberated by allied forces.
Probably his most important posting, and his most dangerous, was for D Day. He, and a small party composed, I think, of RN and Free French personnel, were landed on the beach close to Ouistreham 5 hours before the time for the full D Day landing. Ouistreham is the town on the north-west coast of France where the canal from Caen comes in to the sea, so it must have been regarded by the authorities as a vital part of the overall invasion strategy that it be captured intact if at all possible. If it were, the canal could be used for taking vital supplies inland.
My father spoke about his experiences very little, but from what he did say it seems that the small party, after being landed, decided first of all that, if the invasion was not a success, they would not find a rescue party looking for them, and so they should take their own precautions. So, on their way to the lock gates, they took control of the fastest and most sea-worthy boat they could find.
When they got to the lock gates they found that, as expected, the gates had mines attached to them, which could be exploded from the German block-house overlooking the gates. The first task, of dismantling the mines under the noses of the enemy was, fortunately, achieved.
The party then settled down to wait for the main invasion to happen, and for the invasion forces to capture the docks and locks. My father told of how he walked round a block house full of enemy troops, and of how he was in a field with an enemy tank on the other side of it. These events must have happened during the hours immediately before and during the D Day invasion.
As the history books tell, the invasion was successful, and my father was able to fulfil his job of being the Harbour Master at Ouistreham.
To conclude my father's ww2 story, he was then appointed Harbour Master of Calais. He dealt with all the shipping that went in and out of the harbour there, and, when peace was signed, took the surrender of various enemy naval craft, including of U-Boats.
We as a family revisited the places he had been posted to in about 1949. I remember him being recognised by harbour people in Calais, and him pointing out bullet scars on buildings in Ouistreham.
My father was awarded the OBE for his war services. He died in 1963 at the age of 59.

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