大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War site by CSV Storygatherer Meg Bassett of Callington U3A on behalf of Godfrey Wycisk They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.

MY PART IN HITLER鈥橲 DOWNFALL Part 1

In October 1942 I was a simple Sapper in a Dock Operating Co Royal Engineers (Transportation) and had, on 13 October 1942, embarked on a troopship the former Orient Liner SS Otranto. We had sailed from Liverpool, up to Loch Fyne, which is where the then newly formed Commandos had a training base at Inverary. Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten was then Director of Combined Operations and he came on board to deliver a little pep talk, in the course of which he said 鈥淵ou chaps are going to be in on the turning point of the war鈥� and this did in fact prove to be the case. But we were still left completely in the dark about our eventual destination.

The unit to which I had been posted after completing basic training was billeted in Laird Street School, Coatbridge Lanarkshire. As soon as I arrived I was detailed to take over the duties of Section Clerk from Alf Ellis, a real Cockney whose working life had been spent on London Docks with William Cory, Shipowners, Clearing and Forwarding etc. This post meant I could sleep in the tiny office and make my bed on the table and I missed all the drills, weapons training etc which the rest of the lads were subjected to, just to keep them busy. I made friends with the Section Corporal, Harry Green, formerly leading a shipboard stevedoring gang, Liverpool Docks. Towards the end of Sept. 1942 Harry got posted to a secret destination and on 12 October 1942 the rest of us entrained 鈥� we knew not whither. Arrived Liverpool Lime Street p.m. in the blackout and were, by means of a fleet of tramcars taken to the docks and embarked on the Otranto. I noted, with some misgivings, slung from our davits, instead of lifeboats, Assault Landing craft, also that many of the other troops on board were Commandos or U.S. Rangers, their commando equivalent. So it looked like we were bound for some offensive expedition. Set off from the Clyde 24 October in a big convoy which included many peace-time passenger liners like Reina de Pacifico and Viceroy of India (sunk on her way back home). All a bit like a pleasure cruise really though much time was spent on lifeboat drills, waiting for meals queuing up for the canteen etc. Mostly we just lazed around sunbathing and watching the Americans doing their 鈥榗allisthenics鈥�, We were also supposed to be doing P.T., but luckily, there was never any room available for our unit.

We were encouraged to do a bit of practise on getting up and down scrambling nets and ropw ladders in full equipment and the Commandos had been kept busy all through the trip doing this sort of thing 鈥� taking up their positions in the assault craft, finding their way to their disembarkation points, blindfolded etc. Once we had got through the Straits of Gibraltar, the whole scheme of our particular operation against Algiers was made public and any one of us was free to pore over any maps, plans etc that we wanted to. Large relief models of the various beaches we were to take weere on view and the lectures were given on precise plans. We were told we would be ferried over to a cargo ship, the City of Worcester, which it was our task to unload. I was delighted to find on board that ship my old Coatbridge pal 鈥� Cpl. Green His secret destination, on leaving Coatbridge, had been Shandon on the Gareloch, a secret military port where he had been required to observe the loading of the City of Worcester so that he could advise us who would have to do the cargo discharging. On 6 November we were awakened by the Action Stations alarm but before we had time to take up our positions, the All Clear was sounded. I was still in my hammock and stayed there but others who had gone on deck came back with the story that the Thomas Stone, an American transport, which had had her convoy station about 200 yards from us, had been torpedoed, damaged in the stern, and had turned back to Gibraltar. The seaplane which had dropped the torpedo had been shot down by one of the planes from an escort carrier. We learnt later that the U.S. troops on board the Thomas Stone, not wishing to miss their hour of glory in the invasion, had been put into the landing craft with the aim of completing the Voyage. It didn鈥檛 work out and they all had to be rescued by a British destroyer. The Thomas Stone eventually made it to Algiers where she anchored in the bay and spent the rest of the war acting as a bakery for the U.S. Army. Precisely at 2200 hours 7 November we dropped anchor, 10 miles off shore and over the Tannoy came the order 鈥楴o 1 Commando 鈥� man your boats鈥�. We were expecting to have to do the same thing at 0600 hours to go over to the City of Worcester. When we did go, the sea seemed quite rough, it felt even rougher being in a flat-bottomed landing craft. We all got thoroughly soaked and it was a nerve-wracking experience getting up the rope ladder. The first cargo to be put ashore comprised tins of water and of petrol, and boxes of rations. Worked all day and all night and next day -9 November 鈥� after breakfast, were told to take a rest as we would be discharging the rest in Algiers Docks, the port having been taken. We berthed at about 1700 hours right at the head of the Quai de Calais. First task was to re-rig the ship鈥檚 derricks. We were now port side alongside but previously had been unloading over the starboard side. Just as it was getting dark, a number of enemy aircraft came over, flying very high. We were, of course, expected to carry on working but could not do much as our hatch was right in the way of the ship鈥檚 defensive armament. What was quite remarkable was the way the mainly Chinese crew appeared on deck, carrying their suitcases, all ready to make a quick exit if the shores should happen. Don鈥檛 blame them really. I think many of us tend to forget the fact that so many of our Merchant Navy ships had native crews, like Lascars and Chinese, who all played a great part in bringing much needed goods to our shores. By Thursday 12 November the ship had been fully discharged and ready to sail. Then we had to make ourselves comfortable in dockside transit sheds while getting on with more discharging duties. After about three weeks living on the docks we moved to new billets in a former girls鈥� school about two miles from the docks and at the top of a long flight of steps 鈥� the rue Gambetta 鈥� which form one of the boundaries of the Casbah. And so began my tour of duty in Algiers, which was a happy time really and almost a civilian existence.

MY PART IN HITLER鈥橲 DOWNFALL Part 2

At the end of November 1943 I set out for Italy, sailing from Phillipville in the Ville d鈥橭ran to Taranto (thence Bari) via Malta. But that鈥檚 another story.

Bari, our destination, was one of the principal entry points for materials for the Italian campaign and its port was jammed full of shipping. We arrived there in the middle of an air raid which, from the tactical point of view, was one of the most successful ever carried out by one of the combatants. Among the many ships which the Luftwaffe sent to the bottom was one with a cargo of mustard gas and many deaths resulted before the medical authorities realised what the problem was. But my time in Italy, as a 鈥楧 Day dodger鈥� must be the subject of another memoir.

Two points about the TORCH operation stick in my pacifist mind:

a. The men of Vichy, with whom we tried to do a deal, were obsessed with the idea that the dignity and honour of the French nation needed to be upheld. Fuller fo-operation from them could have saved many lives.

b. The initiation of the invasion plan 25 July 1942 to D Day 7 November 1942 must have involved superhuman efforts, logistics planning-wise. This shows what can be achieved when what is at stake is winning a war. We could do with more of the same in tackling peace-time problems.

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