大象传媒

The following story by Terence Robertson is out of copyright and appears courtesy of and with thanks to Mike Kemble, and Captain Frederic John Walker.

After this episode the enemy threw in his hand and the rest of the night passed peaceably enough, marred only by a series of false alarms that left everyone weary and numb with strain when dawn broke on the 16th and brought the prospect of respite. During the morning a Catalina flying boat arrived as their air escort for the day. At noon, Walker gave a striking demonstration of his contempt for the enemy by calling Convolvulus alongside him and, while both ships stopped, Stork鈥檚 motor-boat was lowered and began transferring depth charges from the corvette to replenish her empty racks. The wind had dropped and the seas had calmed down. The motor-boat made six trips carrying two depth charges each time, before Walker decided the convoy had drawn far enough ahead and, to the audible relief of both crews who expected to be torpedoed at any moment, had the boat hoisted inboard. Both ships had rejoined the convoy by the afternoon when a Whitley bomber came out to assist the Catalina. With these reinforcements, Walker felt he could keep the U-boats submerged for the rest of the day, and he turned the convoy on a course that would take them the shortest way home. That night they waited expectantly for the enemy to attack, but nothing happened and for the first time in three days they began to hope for a rest. But Doenitz had not yet finished with HG 84. He had another weapon ready for just such an emergency. Meanwhile, Stork had broken down with a painful disease known in naval circles as 鈥渃ondenseritis鈥�, a mechanical complaint which put one engine out of action until the trouble could be found and cured. She was reduced to a maximum speed of about nine knots, thereby joining Gardenia as a mere token escort. It was hardly surprising. For the last few days and nights the sloop had been flogged mercilessly, performing the duties of close escort and hunter until she had been driven, in Walker鈥檚 own words, 鈥渂eyond the endurance of such a gallant thoroughbred鈥�.
All day, the engine-room staff worked in an effort to find the fault while Stork and Gardenia could just keep pace with the convoy. This was the moment Doenitz chose to launch his next attack. At 9.30 that evening, the destroyer Wild Swan, steaming some fifty miles to the eastwards, sighted nine enemy bombers flying towards the convoy. She signalled a general warning and, being in the path of their flight, engaged them with her anti-aircraft armament. The action was one of the fiercest air-sea battles involving a single surface unit ever fought in the war. The bombers attacked Wild Swan in waves of three. She was hit badly by the first wave, missed by the second and hit again by the third. But her vicious, determined fire broke up the formations and the aircraft returned singly. In the next ten minutes, Wild Swan, sinking by the stern, shot down six bombers before the remaining three broke off the action and flew out of sight. Only then did Wild Swan send out the news that she was sinking rapidly. One old destroyer, veteran of the first world war, had broken up Doenitz鈥檚 last attack on HG 84. (Wild Swan鈥檚 captain, Commander C. E. Slater, RN, survived the fury of this battle to receive the Distinguished Service Order).
The next two days, the convoy struggled northwards with fifty per cent of the escort limping in its wake but, on the afternoon of the 19th Stork鈥檚 engineer officer reported to the bridge that the patient had been cured. Walker increased speed on both engines and the little ship surged forward. They were just in time to greet an enemy aircraft which put in an appearance at the unprecedented time of 10.30 pm, an hour at which all good Focke-Wulfs should be asleep. Delightedly, the guns crews went into action to enjoy a practice shoot they had not been able for months to wheedle from the authorities. In what must have been a deadly reminder of his danger, the enemy pilot sheered away and scurried home with tiny puffs of black smoke threatening to burn his tail. This was the last skirmish. The following day the convoy dispersed off the Clyde and Walker led his battered, tired little Group home to Liverpool. Statistically, Convoy HG 84 was not particularly successful. On the balance sheet were five valuable merchant ships and a Hurricane fighter lost for two probable 鈥渒ills鈥濃�攆or while Walker claimed Gardenia鈥檚 and his own attack the following night as two U-boats destroyed, they had not yet been confirmed. When the Reports of Proceedings of the Group had been handed in at Liverpool, Walker fully expected to be called to account for his offensive tactics with such a small force. He was ready to acknowledge that the 鈥渟afe and timely arrival鈥� of the convoy had at times hung by a thread, due to an entirely inadequate escort screen which on at least one occasion had consisted of only one ship, the corvette Convolvulus. He knew there were higher authorities who disapproved of his tactics and might use the debit balance sheet to relieve him of his command. In his own Report, he had awarded credit and accepted blame for any mistakes someone, probably less experienced in the U-boat war, might consider he had made. Privately, he was proud of his Group and satisfied at their performance. If nothing else, the 3 Escort Group had proved itself a team, thoroughly disciplined to his methods. 鈥淚 am proud,鈥� he said, 鈥渙f the offensive spirit, initiative and sheer guts displayed by these corvettes. Convolvulus, my deputy during my absences from the convoy, never put a foot wrong. Gardenia displayed great tenacity despite her damage by remaining sixteen hours to witness the death of her U-boat. Marigold did some fine rescue work and lunged hard against shadowing U-boats when they came near to attacking Copeland who was carrying out her work of mercy. As for Stork, it is inspiring to command such a magnificent body of men, on their toes spoiling for a fight. I adopted an offensive policy in the belief that the best defence is to go out for kills.鈥� He had nothing to fear. Neither the Commander-in-Chief nor the Director of Anti-Submarine Warfare assessed Battle Reports by the state of the balance sheet. They related Walker鈥檚 actions to the weight of the enemy attack and the result was gratifying even to the most pessimistic. A deliberately planned massacre of Convoy HG 84 had been averted. Instead of the almost total destruction hoped for by the enemy, the convoy had got through with only a twenty-two per cent loss. Messages of congratulations were sent to Stork, but Walker shrugged them off. Far more important was the decisive fact that his unorthodox methods had stood up to vigorous analysis. He was impatient for the Group to carry out repairs. As soon as Stork could lead four of them to sea again, he would report ready for duty. However, Sir Percy Noble had other plans for Commander Walker.

Continued.....
'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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