For the next ten weeks, The Daily Telegraph and Telegraph.co.uk will publish a weekly feature by leading historian Andrew Roberts on the key themes of the Second World War. The features will be illustrated by short videos with historic footage from the period.
Telegraph readers will be encouraged to share their memories of wartime experiences, home and abroad, either online or by writing to the Telegraph. Their memories will serve to create a database of memories that can be passed down to future generations.
An article from the Telegraph archive will be published each day online, showing the drumbeat to war. Britain at War can be found in full at www.telegraph.co.uk/war.
Marcus Warren, Editor, Telegraph.co.uk, said: "This is another very exciting project. Besides analysis from household names and content from our archive, video and readers' memories will be making a key contribution to our understanding of the past."
Comments
One of the original Rats of Tobruk, my father, Jack Senior of Rhiwbina, Cardiff, spent many years as a prisoner of war . During this time he promised himself that he would one day return to all the places where he had seen action. He has been back to Tobruk and Ben Ghazi and found his POW camps in Italy and East Germany \(where he went as soon as the Wall came down) Finally this summer, to mark his 90th birthday, he visited Norway where he was involved in the 1940 campaign to save the port of Narvik from falling into the hand of the Germans. ITN Wales recently interviewed him about his travels/recollections and the interview was broadcast last Saturday \(Sept 27th). His visit was also the subject of a 2 page article in the local paper in Narvik. I am sure my father will be delighted to take part in your series \(which promises to be fascinating reading) & I will ask him about this tonight. He cannot use a computer so I \(his younger daughter) will happily act as a go-between. My 88 year old mother \(they married in NOv 1940) will probably also be able to supply her recollections of working in the ROF in Cardiff, sending him Red Cross parcels, and so on. If there are any particular questions or angles you want me to discuss with them, please let me know.
Yours, Hilary Champion.
RICHARD EWING JOINED THE HOME GUARD AT 17 AND SERVED ON THE ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS AT PETTS WOOD, KENT. DURING THE DAY HE WORKED FOR THE MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION AND WAS TAKEN AROUND THE COUNTRY TO IDENTIFY SHOT DOWN GERMAN AIRCRAFT. ONE PLANE THAT WAS UN RECOGNISABLE AT FIRST WAS OFFICIALLY GIVEN THE NAME 'R.E.1' \(HIS INITIALS) UNTIL IT WAS IDENTIFIED. DEREK ALLEN.
ON SEPTEMBER 7th 1940 I ATTENDED A FAMILY WEDDING. DURING THE AFTERNOON THE SIRENS SOUNDED AND WE WATHED DOG-FIGHTS IN THE SKY AS THE EAST END WAS BEING BOMBED. ANOTHER RAID DURING THE NIGHT COVERED OTHER PARTS OF LODON AND BOTH MY GRANPARENTS WERE KILLED, SO IT FELL TO ME TO RUN THE FAMILY BUSINESS AT 16 ! FOUR MONTHS LATER, WHEN I WAS 17 I JOINED THE STRETCHER PARTY \(LATER BECOMING THE VOLUNTEER LIGHT RESCUE SERVICE) IN LONDON'S MOST HEAVILY BOMBED BOROUGH \(LEWISHAM). 18 WAS THE OFFICIAL JOINING AGE, BUT THEY WERE SHORT OF DRIVERS. ON DUTY THREE NIGHTS A WEEK DURING THE BLITZ AND DURING THE DAY IMOVED FURNITURE OUT OF BOMBED BUILDINGS WHICH WAS A BIT HAIRY DUE TO FALLING MASONRY AND UNEXPLODED BOMBS. AT 19 I JOINED THE ROYAL MARINES AT LYMPSTONE, BECAME A JUNIOR DRILL INSTRUCTOR, THEN ON TO LANDING CRAFT. I WAS VERY LUCKY TO BE ON LEAVE ON V.E AND V.J. NIGHTS, JOINING THE MULTITUDE IN LONDON FOR THE LARGEST AND HAPPIEST STREET PARTIES. DEREK ALLEN.
IN AUGUST 1940 THREE SCOUTS WERE CYCLING FROM CROYDON BACK TO THEIR CAMP-SITE AT FRYLANDS WOODS, ADDINGTON IN SURREY, WHEN THE AIR RAID SIRENS SOUNDED. BOMBS WERE BEING DROPPED NOT TOO FAR AWAY, SO THEY DISMOUNTED AND SAT IN A DITCH AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. THEY DID NOT KNOW AT THE TIME THAT LOCAL AIRFIELDS SUCH AS BIGGIN HILL AND KENLEY WERE BEING BOMBED PRIOR TO THE BLITZ ON LONDON, SUDDENLY A GEMAN PLANE APPEARED AT ROOF TOP HEIGHT. THEY CLEARLY SAW THE PILOT WHO WAVED TO THEM. HE THEN MACHINE-GUNNED A DETACHMENT OF HOME GUARD IN THE NEXT ROAD, THEY FIRED BACK WITH THEIR RIFLES AND THE PLNE CRASH LANDED IN A FIELD. THE LOCAL PRESS REPORTED THAT THE HOME GUARD HAD SHOT DOWN A DORNIER, WHICH WAS GREAT FOR MORALE, BUT THE TRUTH WAS THAT IT HAD ALREADY BEEN HIT AND WAS ON IT'S WAY DOWN. ONE OF THE HOME GUARD WAS RUPERT MANCHIP FROM BROMLEY; HE LATER JOINED THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, BECAME A FLIGHT LIEUTENANT AND FLEW AS AN AIR GUNNER. AFTER THE WAR HE BACAME A SQUADRON LEADER IN THE ROYLA AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE AND WAS COMANDING OFFICER OF A CADET SQUADRON. BY SHEER COINCIDENCE A FLT/LT. IN THE SAME SQUADRON WAS ONE OF THE SCOUTS WHO SAW HIM WITH THE HOME GUARD UNIT THAT WAS ATTACKED AT LEAST TEN YEARS PREVIOUSLY.
DEREK ALLEN.
THE BLACKOUT WAS IGNORED WHEN A SCHOOL WAS BOMBED IN SOUTH EAST LONDON KILLING 38 CHILDREN AND SIX TEACHERS. THE SIRENS HAD NOT BEEN SOUNDED AS THE 'PLNE WAS FLYING LOW TO AVOID RADAR. ALL DAY THE POLICE AND RESCUE SERVICES WERE DIGGING WITH BARE HANDS IN THE RUBBLE, HOPING TO FIND SURVIVORS, BUT MOSTLY IT WAS BODIES. A POLICEMAN FOUND THE BODY OF HIS OWN CHILD. A LOCAL VICAR AND DOZENS OF CIVILIANS JOINED IN THE SEARCH WHICH WENT ON ALL NIGHT BY THE LIGHT OF ARC LAMPS WHICH COULD BE SEEN FOR MILES AROUND. IT WAS REPORTED THAT THE OFFENDING AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN BROUGHT DOWN IN BROMLEY, BUT IT LATER EMERGED THAT IT WAS CHASED AND SHOT DOWN AT SEA, THUS SAVING FURTHER DAMAGE AND LOSS OF LIFE.
ALL THE BODIES WERE BURIED IN A COMMUNAL GRAVE AT A LEWISHAM CEMETERY.
DEREK ALLEN.
I was a 16 year old schoolboy when war was declared. I well remember how my parents and I got to know that news. We were returning home from church, about a mile. There was a man a short way in front of us at one stage. A man on a bicycle came in the opposite direction. Without stopping he said in a thick Yorkshire accent, 'We's at it then, George.' The reply came, 'Aye, we's at it.'
My mother commented shortly after, 'It won't last long.' I said, 'I think it will, Mum, and I'll be in it.' 'No, you won't,' came her belief. Sadly she died in 1943 but she did see me in my RAF uniform but never knew I gained a commission and served as a Bomb Aimer in Lancasters doing 36 operational missions.
David Crowhurst
I was 6 years old when war was declared. The year previously we had two evacuees from London to stay. As children we watched the Battle of Britain in the Skies above Sussex. In July 1943 the Town of East Grinstead was bombed and many people lost their lives in a cinema. Two children from my Road and three from my class at school. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth came to the town and as children we waved flags as they passed.Some of us were evacuated to Wales and when we came back we found further damage in the Town centre where a V1 had landed and exploded. The Queen Victoria Hospital was on the outskirts of the Town where airmen were treated by Sir archibald McIndoe. The Guinea Pig Club was formed, members being pilots who had suffered injuries. Before the D Day invasion the Town was a gathering place for American and Canadian troops.
MEIWYN \(ROBBIE) ROBERTS. ON SUNDAY 3rd SEPT 1939 I LISTENED,WITH A PAL OF MINE TO P.M. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN STATING THT WE WERE AT WAR WITH GERMANY, AND WE DISCUSSED WHAT WE WERE GOING TO DO. i DIDN'T SEE HIM AGAIN UNTIL 1950 WHEN I SAW HIS PHOTOGRAPH IN THE WINDOW OF HEPWORTHS WERE HE WAS MANGER. IT TURNED OUT HE HAD COMPLETED THREE TOURS AS A REAR-GUNNER \(TAIL-END CHARLIE). IN LATE 1939 I ATTENDED WIRELESS COLLEDGE IN LIVERPOOL, AND JOINED MY FIRST SHIP, ""SOUTHERN PRINCESS" IN JUNE 1940 AS JUNIOR RADIO OFFICER' AND WHEN SAILING DOWN THE MERSEY PASSED A SHIP COMMING IN THAT LOOKED LIKE US. IT WAS ANOTHER WHALING FACTORY SHIP "SOUTHERN EMPRESS",AND SHE OBVIOUSLY HAD HAD A POUNDING, WITH SPLINTERED LIFEBOATS AND HOLES EVERYWHERE. I LEARNT SHE HAD BEEN SENT TO EVACUATE A CARGO OF WHALE OIL FROM THAMES HAVEN' BUT HAD BEEN FORCED YO RETURN, AND THAT WE WERE GOING INSTEAD OF HER. IT WAS THE FIRST WAR DAMAGE I HAD SEEN AND IT MADE ME WONDER WHETHER THE SO CALLED "PHONY" WAR WAS PERHAPS RATHER MORE SERIOUS. WHEN WE LOADED THIS CARGO.IT WAS DECIDED THAT IT WAS TOO RISKY TO RETURN THROUGH THE CHANNEL, AND WE WERE ROUTED AROUND THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND. HALF WAY UP THE EAST COAST' ON A LOVELY SUMMER AFTERNOON, SAILING ALONE \(AS CONVOYS UP THE EAST COAST HAD NOT BEEN SET- UP') A GERMAN DIVE-BOMBER SCREAMED DOWN AT US, BUT i THINK HE WAS PUT OFF BY THE SUDDEN APPEARENCE OF A SPITFIRE WHO FIRED THREE SHORT BURSTS AND HE SPIRRALLED DOWN IN FLAMES. THE BOMB SPLASH WAS A GOOD HUNDRED YARDS AWAY, AND THE SPITFIRE FLEW OVER US, WAGGLED HIS WINGS IN A SALUTE AND FLEW OFF. i HAVE TRIED MANY TIMES TO TRACK DOWN ANY RAF REPORT OF THIS INCIDENT BUT TO NO AVAIL. FOLLOWING THIS SHORT FIRST TRIP, I SPENT A YEAR ON A CARGO SHIP, AND A YEAR ON A COUPLE OF TANKERS. I THEN WENT ON A H/F D/F COURSE AND SPENT THE REST OF THE WAR ON CONVOY RESCUE SHIPS LISTENING TO, AND TAKING BEARINGS ON U-BOATS.
MEIWYN \(ROBBIE)ROBERTS. BEING RATHER SORRY TO SEE HOW SPARSE THE REPLIES HAVE BEEN TO THIS POTENTIALLY INTERESTING SITE i DETERMIND TO TRY ONCE MORE TO TEMPT MORE PEOPLE INTO PRINT. JOINING MY 2ND SHIP "CITY OF NEWCASTLE" WE SAILED FROM LIVEROOLCARRYING THE CONVOY COMMODORE AND HIS STAFF.IN A ONVOY OF SOME 35 SHIPS WITH AN ESCORT OF ONE ELDERLY DESTROYER, AND A CONVERTED STEAM-YAUGHT. AFTER LESS THAN 72 HOURS THE ESCORT RETURNED AND U99 THEN TORPEDOED FOUR SHIPS. LONG AFTER THE WAR I RESEARCHED U-BOAT NET AND FOUND THAT U99 WAS COMMANDED BY OTTO KRETCHMER THE TOP ACE U-BOAT COMMANDER WHO SANK SOME 48 SHIPS TOTALING 312,389 TONS.
THE LAST SHIP HE SANK THAT NIGHT WAS IMMEDIATLY ASTERN OF US IN THE CONVOY CALLED "ALEXIA" SHE LATER CALLED US UP, AND IN PLAIN ENGLISH SAID "TELL DESTOYERS ALEXIA BEING SHELLED BY SUBMARINE" AS SHE KNEW AS WELL AS WE DID THAT NO SUCH DESTROYERS WERE ANYWHERE NEAR WE PRESUMED THIS WAS A VAQUE HOPE THAT THE U-BOAT WOULDLEAVE HER ALONE. ABOUT TEN DAYS LATER WE SAILED FROM HALIAX NOVA SCOTIA, AND TO OUR DELIGHT "ALEXIA" LIMPED INTO PORT LOOKING VERY BATTERED, BUT AFLOAT.
sHE AS AGAIN TORPEDOED IN 1942, AND AGAIN DID NOT SINK. tHIS TIME SHE WAS CONVERTED INTO A MAC SHIP \(MERCHANT AIRCRAFT CARRIER) IN 1944 WHEN ON A CONVOY RESCUE SHIP WE SAILED IN CLOSE COMPANY TO HER WHEN SHE WAS FLYING OFF OR LANDING ANY OF THE FOUR SWORDFISH THEY CARRIED, SO WE WERE IN A POSITION TO FISH THE CREW OUT OF THE WATER SHOULD THE PLANE BOUNCH OFF THE SHORT LANDING DECK.- A MUCH MORE RELAXED CLOSE-UP THAN THE LAST TIME i WASW THAT CLOSE TO HER
Comments
Hilary Champion - 29/09/2008
One of the original Rats of Tobruk, my father, Jack Senior of Rhiwbina, Cardiff, spent many years as a prisoner of war . During this time he promised himself that he would one day return to all the places where he had seen action. He has been back to Tobruk and Ben Ghazi and found his POW camps in Italy and East Germany \(where he went as soon as the Wall came down) Finally this summer, to mark his 90th birthday, he visited Norway where he was involved in the 1940 campaign to save the port of Narvik from falling into the hand of the Germans. ITN Wales recently interviewed him about his travels/recollections and the interview was broadcast last Saturday \(Sept 27th). His visit was also the subject of a 2 page article in the local paper in Narvik. I am sure my father will be delighted to take part in your series \(which promises to be fascinating reading) & I will ask him about this tonight. He cannot use a computer so I \(his younger daughter) will happily act as a go-between. My 88 year old mother \(they married in NOv 1940) will probably also be able to supply her recollections of working in the ROF in Cardiff, sending him Red Cross parcels, and so on. If there are any particular questions or angles you want me to discuss with them, please let me know. Yours, Hilary Champion.
DEREK ALLEN - 30/09/2008
RICHARD EWING JOINED THE HOME GUARD AT 17 AND SERVED ON THE ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS AT PETTS WOOD, KENT. DURING THE DAY HE WORKED FOR THE MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION AND WAS TAKEN AROUND THE COUNTRY TO IDENTIFY SHOT DOWN GERMAN AIRCRAFT. ONE PLANE THAT WAS UN RECOGNISABLE AT FIRST WAS OFFICIALLY GIVEN THE NAME 'R.E.1' \(HIS INITIALS) UNTIL IT WAS IDENTIFIED. DEREK ALLEN.
DEREK ALLEN - 30/09/2008
ON SEPTEMBER 7th 1940 I ATTENDED A FAMILY WEDDING. DURING THE AFTERNOON THE SIRENS SOUNDED AND WE WATHED DOG-FIGHTS IN THE SKY AS THE EAST END WAS BEING BOMBED. ANOTHER RAID DURING THE NIGHT COVERED OTHER PARTS OF LODON AND BOTH MY GRANPARENTS WERE KILLED, SO IT FELL TO ME TO RUN THE FAMILY BUSINESS AT 16 ! FOUR MONTHS LATER, WHEN I WAS 17 I JOINED THE STRETCHER PARTY \(LATER BECOMING THE VOLUNTEER LIGHT RESCUE SERVICE) IN LONDON'S MOST HEAVILY BOMBED BOROUGH \(LEWISHAM). 18 WAS THE OFFICIAL JOINING AGE, BUT THEY WERE SHORT OF DRIVERS. ON DUTY THREE NIGHTS A WEEK DURING THE BLITZ AND DURING THE DAY IMOVED FURNITURE OUT OF BOMBED BUILDINGS WHICH WAS A BIT HAIRY DUE TO FALLING MASONRY AND UNEXPLODED BOMBS. AT 19 I JOINED THE ROYAL MARINES AT LYMPSTONE, BECAME A JUNIOR DRILL INSTRUCTOR, THEN ON TO LANDING CRAFT. I WAS VERY LUCKY TO BE ON LEAVE ON V.E AND V.J. NIGHTS, JOINING THE MULTITUDE IN LONDON FOR THE LARGEST AND HAPPIEST STREET PARTIES. DEREK ALLEN.
DEREK ALLEN - 30/09/2008
IN AUGUST 1940 THREE SCOUTS WERE CYCLING FROM CROYDON BACK TO THEIR CAMP-SITE AT FRYLANDS WOODS, ADDINGTON IN SURREY, WHEN THE AIR RAID SIRENS SOUNDED. BOMBS WERE BEING DROPPED NOT TOO FAR AWAY, SO THEY DISMOUNTED AND SAT IN A DITCH AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. THEY DID NOT KNOW AT THE TIME THAT LOCAL AIRFIELDS SUCH AS BIGGIN HILL AND KENLEY WERE BEING BOMBED PRIOR TO THE BLITZ ON LONDON, SUDDENLY A GEMAN PLANE APPEARED AT ROOF TOP HEIGHT. THEY CLEARLY SAW THE PILOT WHO WAVED TO THEM. HE THEN MACHINE-GUNNED A DETACHMENT OF HOME GUARD IN THE NEXT ROAD, THEY FIRED BACK WITH THEIR RIFLES AND THE PLNE CRASH LANDED IN A FIELD. THE LOCAL PRESS REPORTED THAT THE HOME GUARD HAD SHOT DOWN A DORNIER, WHICH WAS GREAT FOR MORALE, BUT THE TRUTH WAS THAT IT HAD ALREADY BEEN HIT AND WAS ON IT'S WAY DOWN. ONE OF THE HOME GUARD WAS RUPERT MANCHIP FROM BROMLEY; HE LATER JOINED THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, BECAME A FLIGHT LIEUTENANT AND FLEW AS AN AIR GUNNER. AFTER THE WAR HE BACAME A SQUADRON LEADER IN THE ROYLA AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE AND WAS COMANDING OFFICER OF A CADET SQUADRON. BY SHEER COINCIDENCE A FLT/LT. IN THE SAME SQUADRON WAS ONE OF THE SCOUTS WHO SAW HIM WITH THE HOME GUARD UNIT THAT WAS ATTACKED AT LEAST TEN YEARS PREVIOUSLY. DEREK ALLEN.
DEREK ALLEN - 30/09/2008
THE BLACKOUT WAS IGNORED WHEN A SCHOOL WAS BOMBED IN SOUTH EAST LONDON KILLING 38 CHILDREN AND SIX TEACHERS. THE SIRENS HAD NOT BEEN SOUNDED AS THE 'PLNE WAS FLYING LOW TO AVOID RADAR. ALL DAY THE POLICE AND RESCUE SERVICES WERE DIGGING WITH BARE HANDS IN THE RUBBLE, HOPING TO FIND SURVIVORS, BUT MOSTLY IT WAS BODIES. A POLICEMAN FOUND THE BODY OF HIS OWN CHILD. A LOCAL VICAR AND DOZENS OF CIVILIANS JOINED IN THE SEARCH WHICH WENT ON ALL NIGHT BY THE LIGHT OF ARC LAMPS WHICH COULD BE SEEN FOR MILES AROUND. IT WAS REPORTED THAT THE OFFENDING AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN BROUGHT DOWN IN BROMLEY, BUT IT LATER EMERGED THAT IT WAS CHASED AND SHOT DOWN AT SEA, THUS SAVING FURTHER DAMAGE AND LOSS OF LIFE. ALL THE BODIES WERE BURIED IN A COMMUNAL GRAVE AT A LEWISHAM CEMETERY. DEREK ALLEN.
William Spence - 01/10/2008
I was a 16 year old schoolboy when war was declared. I well remember how my parents and I got to know that news. We were returning home from church, about a mile. There was a man a short way in front of us at one stage. A man on a bicycle came in the opposite direction. Without stopping he said in a thick Yorkshire accent, 'We's at it then, George.' The reply came, 'Aye, we's at it.' My mother commented shortly after, 'It won't last long.' I said, 'I think it will, Mum, and I'll be in it.' 'No, you won't,' came her belief. Sadly she died in 1943 but she did see me in my RAF uniform but never knew I gained a commission and served as a Bomb Aimer in Lancasters doing 36 operational missions.
David Crowhurst - 01/10/2008
David Crowhurst I was 6 years old when war was declared. The year previously we had two evacuees from London to stay. As children we watched the Battle of Britain in the Skies above Sussex. In July 1943 the Town of East Grinstead was bombed and many people lost their lives in a cinema. Two children from my Road and three from my class at school. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth came to the town and as children we waved flags as they passed.Some of us were evacuated to Wales and when we came back we found further damage in the Town centre where a V1 had landed and exploded. The Queen Victoria Hospital was on the outskirts of the Town where airmen were treated by Sir archibald McIndoe. The Guinea Pig Club was formed, members being pilots who had suffered injuries. Before the D Day invasion the Town was a gathering place for American and Canadian troops.
Meiwyn Roberts - 12/10/2008
MEIWYN \(ROBBIE) ROBERTS. ON SUNDAY 3rd SEPT 1939 I LISTENED,WITH A PAL OF MINE TO P.M. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN STATING THT WE WERE AT WAR WITH GERMANY, AND WE DISCUSSED WHAT WE WERE GOING TO DO. i DIDN'T SEE HIM AGAIN UNTIL 1950 WHEN I SAW HIS PHOTOGRAPH IN THE WINDOW OF HEPWORTHS WERE HE WAS MANGER. IT TURNED OUT HE HAD COMPLETED THREE TOURS AS A REAR-GUNNER \(TAIL-END CHARLIE). IN LATE 1939 I ATTENDED WIRELESS COLLEDGE IN LIVERPOOL, AND JOINED MY FIRST SHIP, ""SOUTHERN PRINCESS" IN JUNE 1940 AS JUNIOR RADIO OFFICER' AND WHEN SAILING DOWN THE MERSEY PASSED A SHIP COMMING IN THAT LOOKED LIKE US. IT WAS ANOTHER WHALING FACTORY SHIP "SOUTHERN EMPRESS",AND SHE OBVIOUSLY HAD HAD A POUNDING, WITH SPLINTERED LIFEBOATS AND HOLES EVERYWHERE. I LEARNT SHE HAD BEEN SENT TO EVACUATE A CARGO OF WHALE OIL FROM THAMES HAVEN' BUT HAD BEEN FORCED YO RETURN, AND THAT WE WERE GOING INSTEAD OF HER. IT WAS THE FIRST WAR DAMAGE I HAD SEEN AND IT MADE ME WONDER WHETHER THE SO CALLED "PHONY" WAR WAS PERHAPS RATHER MORE SERIOUS. WHEN WE LOADED THIS CARGO.IT WAS DECIDED THAT IT WAS TOO RISKY TO RETURN THROUGH THE CHANNEL, AND WE WERE ROUTED AROUND THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND. HALF WAY UP THE EAST COAST' ON A LOVELY SUMMER AFTERNOON, SAILING ALONE \(AS CONVOYS UP THE EAST COAST HAD NOT BEEN SET- UP') A GERMAN DIVE-BOMBER SCREAMED DOWN AT US, BUT i THINK HE WAS PUT OFF BY THE SUDDEN APPEARENCE OF A SPITFIRE WHO FIRED THREE SHORT BURSTS AND HE SPIRRALLED DOWN IN FLAMES. THE BOMB SPLASH WAS A GOOD HUNDRED YARDS AWAY, AND THE SPITFIRE FLEW OVER US, WAGGLED HIS WINGS IN A SALUTE AND FLEW OFF. i HAVE TRIED MANY TIMES TO TRACK DOWN ANY RAF REPORT OF THIS INCIDENT BUT TO NO AVAIL. FOLLOWING THIS SHORT FIRST TRIP, I SPENT A YEAR ON A CARGO SHIP, AND A YEAR ON A COUPLE OF TANKERS. I THEN WENT ON A H/F D/F COURSE AND SPENT THE REST OF THE WAR ON CONVOY RESCUE SHIPS LISTENING TO, AND TAKING BEARINGS ON U-BOATS.
Meiwyn Roberts - 19/10/2008
MEIWYN \(ROBBIE)ROBERTS. BEING RATHER SORRY TO SEE HOW SPARSE THE REPLIES HAVE BEEN TO THIS POTENTIALLY INTERESTING SITE i DETERMIND TO TRY ONCE MORE TO TEMPT MORE PEOPLE INTO PRINT. JOINING MY 2ND SHIP "CITY OF NEWCASTLE" WE SAILED FROM LIVEROOLCARRYING THE CONVOY COMMODORE AND HIS STAFF.IN A ONVOY OF SOME 35 SHIPS WITH AN ESCORT OF ONE ELDERLY DESTROYER, AND A CONVERTED STEAM-YAUGHT. AFTER LESS THAN 72 HOURS THE ESCORT RETURNED AND U99 THEN TORPEDOED FOUR SHIPS. LONG AFTER THE WAR I RESEARCHED U-BOAT NET AND FOUND THAT U99 WAS COMMANDED BY OTTO KRETCHMER THE TOP ACE U-BOAT COMMANDER WHO SANK SOME 48 SHIPS TOTALING 312,389 TONS. THE LAST SHIP HE SANK THAT NIGHT WAS IMMEDIATLY ASTERN OF US IN THE CONVOY CALLED "ALEXIA" SHE LATER CALLED US UP, AND IN PLAIN ENGLISH SAID "TELL DESTOYERS ALEXIA BEING SHELLED BY SUBMARINE" AS SHE KNEW AS WELL AS WE DID THAT NO SUCH DESTROYERS WERE ANYWHERE NEAR WE PRESUMED THIS WAS A VAQUE HOPE THAT THE U-BOAT WOULDLEAVE HER ALONE. ABOUT TEN DAYS LATER WE SAILED FROM HALIAX NOVA SCOTIA, AND TO OUR DELIGHT "ALEXIA" LIMPED INTO PORT LOOKING VERY BATTERED, BUT AFLOAT. sHE AS AGAIN TORPEDOED IN 1942, AND AGAIN DID NOT SINK. tHIS TIME SHE WAS CONVERTED INTO A MAC SHIP \(MERCHANT AIRCRAFT CARRIER) IN 1944 WHEN ON A CONVOY RESCUE SHIP WE SAILED IN CLOSE COMPANY TO HER WHEN SHE WAS FLYING OFF OR LANDING ANY OF THE FOUR SWORDFISH THEY CARRIED, SO WE WERE IN A POSITION TO FISH THE CREW OUT OF THE WATER SHOULD THE PLANE BOUNCH OFF THE SHORT LANDING DECK.- A MUCH MORE RELAXED CLOSE-UP THAN THE LAST TIME i WASW THAT CLOSE TO HER