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The fountains of Trafalgar Square were a natural- ..fr LATE on the night of span from many hundreds of locus for the rejoicing crowds on May 8. iwu

May 7 1945 more than smaller ships - escorts,.e i.

-se r - minesweepers. landing craft document which would bring steam for victory. It wasa toy.eight hours after er and coastal patrol vessels, peace to Europe.

otis moment a sate momentman General Alfred JodI Casualties in the war On the dawn of May 8 The - but everyone knew that thesigned his country's against Germany and her Daily Mirror kept its promise celebrations, while sweet,surrender document European allies included more 10 completely disrobe its nor- would have to be short-

Ire4 S .. . k,' thethan 47.000 RN personnel mally scantily-clad cartoon Britain and her allies hadthe British ig..ters killed missing, with almost

-theroine uane without.

still to resolve a cruel conflict-$ Avondale Park and Sne- 29.000 members of the Met- seems, any fear of prosecu- on the other side of the lobeland were torpedoed by chant Service sharing their lion.--- where the fighting and suffer-

--

U-2336 within sight of fate.Hundreds of thousands oflng were continuing. They

home __________i-people gathered in central braced themselves for whatat "s'

uy London. splashed otrttheir joy all expected to be thean Li.Theywere the last vic- in the fountains, waved flags bloodiest bathes yettims of the U-boat war. The Anton Hanney King."

theThere wasmuch left to do in

$

theynext day the people ofthronged outside Buckingham Europe. too - a Europe$ v_k London and of cities the Many had died in major Palace to cheer George VI devastated by the most say-

- -, $ length and breadth of the actions and were mourned by and Prime Minister Winston

agewar in history andby mur-I I $ - " country were dancing in the whole nation - as in the Churchill.

darous tyranny. In the midst of- ,thestreets. sinking of the battlecruiser - - that chaos, would all the Ger.

$ 1*- - - -: HMS H-nod in which more than 'Your mans surrender as ordered-

-- - , --The circumstances of the 1,400 perished in a cataclys-$

S

orwould fanatical elements of- -- - - .--4 - loss of Avondale Park and mic explosion: there were "This is your victory, Chur- their land, sea and air forcesp A Sneland typified the despe-others who ware casualties of chill told them. "In all our long put up alast'ditch resistance?

fl - ,- rate nature of the struggle to smaller actions, in smaller history we have never seen a

No one knew for certain."ip "qyç j keep Britain*& sea lanes open ships whose passing amid the greater day than this. The first U-boat to sun-en-

-I- - - a war of survival that had news of bigger events else- The reveries continued

derat Portland on May 10 wasebbed and flowed for five where made no headlines, through a night strangely illu- followed by a steady stream- -[ $ -- years, nine months, five days, The destruction of Avondale minated after years of black- of enemy submarines giving13 hours and one minute. Park and Sneland, one mile out. With the darkness sud-

themselves up tamely. With aIt was a conflict that had off the Isle of May in the Firth denly a memory, bonfires, mixture of relief and wariness,

resulted in the destruction of of Forth, were two such floodlights and searchlights,

the Royal Navy's escort shipsA whimsical vision of victory winch appeared on the front more than 20,000 Allied mu- losses that went virtually blazed and danced. And in all kept their guns loaded andcover of the June 1945 issue of the naval magazine "The chant vessels and more than unnoticed. All attention was the ports in all the land, ships'

-Oiiiybox". a forerunner of Navy News. 250 major warships, quite focused on the drying ink of a sirens hooted, letting off " Turn to next page.

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Options'Y N EVS Vl Sl. PPl.ltiI NI 1495

!ti1l 4

Cheers, tearsand then a

riot of light!a.

t-aJ.p1..................

.

ON VE DAY the nationwent wild. HaroldONcill had just arrivedat London Bridge stationand was swept along by atremendous crowd ofpeople,With him was his wife

and some of his shipmates.dripping wet alter celebrat-ing by playing fire hose's oneach other at Queenbor-ough station on the ThamesEstuary.

After the announcement thatmorning that the European s

WAS over thcy had been given aday's leave from their motorminesweepers. O"Ncill hadcalled for hs wife who loved in

Queenborough and they had allheaded lot central London

'teryonc danced, sang.huged each other," he recalls"1 he feeling of relief was

crwticlniing"

Pails of beer

Crowds gather around N*lsOn, column to hair Churchillspeech relayed over loudspeakers.

Thcs tried to make iheirop SPial'tcshur Avenue hutwere presented by a mass ut

people tring to dance to themusic of' an American armsband on the balcon of theRainbow Club iticyrevellers going h) equippedwith pails of beer, replenishingtheir giasse's from the bucketsas thc went

"Eventually we ended upon the Ousen Victoriamonument in frontof Buck-lnghem Palace 'wt*n meRoyal Family with WinstonChurchill appeared on thebalcony. The crowdcheered themselveshoarse."

Hugh pentlcv was also inthe crowd alter hating ab-sconded from the RN Hospital(Iillingtiant where he A.1% licifir.trettcd I Ic p'otted (lturchill\

'The unconditional surrender of ourenemies was the signal for the great-est outburst of joy in the history ofMankind,' - Sir Winston Churchill.

car inching its was through thecrowds towards the palace. Asthe car passed close by he

stepped on to the runningboard and clasped the PrimeMinister's hand before a policeho.c edged him genus 4s1dr.

Mnc Derek Allen was up alamppost watching tens ofthousands of strangers dancing.5jfling. hugging. kissing andcrying with joy. In lisde Parkhe withessd American soldiersstoking huge bonfires with thedoor., thcs had ripped fromtheir hotel rooms

In Plrmouth the celebrationswent with a swing until at 9.30pm the beer ran out in the na-val barracks. What followedwas reported by the- Daily Es'press the nest mornng.

Frustrated aulors smashedJ,rscs in the canteen and made

an unsuccessful rush to raid theruns locker, shattering windowsin the process.An officer who mcd to stop

them was jostled aside and amob ofabout 150 moved off tosh.ren the detention block in ahad to free the inmates. A jeepwas overturned and a light witharmed guards ensued, The Es'press reported that as a result4 sailors were hospitalised -

three basing received bayonetsounds and II suffering from';itnfl Injuries.

Fortunat.4y the celebra-tion. were nowhere nearas extreme everywhere.But after lOng years of war.of Sifikifigs arid bombings,sitocs arid on occasionofficers - were ready tolet go the end, sometimesin dramatic fashion,

ERA Robert Murph was

serving in a Canadian-built

Bangor-class minesweeperwhich on VI Day was bcnhedalongside the battleship HMSRamillies in Portsmouth har-hour.As he and his messmaucs

turned in for the night theywere disturbed by a lot ofshouting from Ranuillies quar-terdeck, Apparently a well-oiled Canadian lieutenant Efornthe sweeper had got on boardthe battleship and as an ad-miral came over the brow theofficer greeted bins with theshout: "hello you old basket'."He thumped the horrified flagofficer on the back and bel.lowed "We'vc done a -goodjob heiween us!'The Royal Marines sentries

shared the admiral's lack ofamusement and within twominutes the over-familiar offi-cer was under open arrest in thewardroom where apparenils heconsumed more gin, took a biteout f his glass, chewed up thefragments and swallowed them,

ready as they led their formerenemies into Captivity.Meanwhile, naval farces

bound for Copenhagen andGermany's Baltic bases

approached their task pre-pared for the possibility ofrenegade snacks. But herbwas no significant defiance ofthe surrender terms. Germanywas exhausted in body andsoul.

MinefieldsThere was one type of

enemy, however, which couldnot be ordered to yield. Theninefleids were still theta and*1111 potent, covering vastareas of sea and perpetuatingthe dangers along hundred.of miles of coastline that we.formerly part of Hitters

Thousands of mines, eachwith the power to sink a ship,lay in the path of Bt*lain'iliberating flotillas, The RoyalNavy warships anroute toDenmark were still in danger-ous waters and had to havetheir way cleared by mine-sweepers.Although the shooting war

l'ar away in the Admiralty ilands another black corned)'was being played out on boardthe cruiser IIMS Newfound.land. Lit John Arihur RNVRhad retired alter a pleasant eve-ning's celebration when shortlyafter midnight he was awokenby the cry "Man overboard!"An Australian rating who

had been in the sick bay hadbeen fed rum b his shipmates.He quickly became as cheerfulas a newt, eventually totteringoft' to the heads where the smellreminded him of the Sydneyfen.

Forgetful of his geographicalposition he leapt overboard inan attempt to see his girlfriendFortunately for him he was res-cued before he went Down Un-der in a way he never intended,

LostAcross the globe ,,atiors cele-

brated in traditional styleSouth Afncans in Scotland. andScott in South Africa. KenCampbell. a Rhodesian. waslost and alone in Glasgow The19-year-old had been separatedfrom his shipmates - but wasquickly befriended by a groupof dcgantls dressed people whocook him to their Kuihergienhome where he was rusatlstreated.

II recalls that his wealthyboils used their influence to gethim srs hours more shore leavefrom his ship. IIMSAS 7rans-vajl, which enabled him to stayovernight

KnucklesIn Durban Scottish sailor

Jimmy Brown of the convoyeseort llMS Le 1 igcr celebratedVE Day early -- on May 7 -with his shipmates at a funfair.ending the night in traditionalform and well into the smallhours.

In Belfast, PD Roy Emmung-ton remembers that it was"blood and knuckles" on VINight as he and the rest of themen from the four escortgroups in harbour outnum-bered the girls of the city sis toone-At IIMS James Cook, the na

vigation school at 'iigtina-hruaich in the Kyle.. of Hute,

was over in Europe, therewould still be losses amongthe mines. The, minesweeperHMS Prompt was irreparablydamaged on May 9; threedays liter a mutor gunboat onroute from Aberdeen to theBathe was mined. A motor tor-pedo boat was sunk by an ex-plosion off Norway on May 19.On June 25 a motor mine-

sweeper was destroyed inGenoa harbour. In July atrawler was blown up by amine probably laid by U-21$which had surrendered morethan Iwo months before.But there was no longer the

whoiesle destruction of wartno more wolf packs, no moredroning Doodt.buga or silentV2 rockets that brought massdeath ins~ and withoutwarning. There was still ra-tioning - and there would befor years to come - but theSkies were clear and the taskof reconstnactlon could begin.

Without the fear of bombsend starvation Bittain could,to use Churchill's words, in'duig. peacefully In its finestinvestment - putting milk intobabies.

Harold O'NinH ,,. 'the feel-ing of relief was over-whelmIng"

'VY SEWS VE SUPPLEMENT 1995 III

the commanding Iuiccr LOUHCIthat things didn go entirel) toplan when he invited some to-eels from the village for refresh.merit, and a tour of theestab-lishment.

Li Kenneth Scott RNVRremembers that in thecourse of the proceedingsspontaneousm.nt broke out with theships company Indulgingin unscheduled watersports and skylarlilng inboats on Loch Ridden.

Some of the guests joined inand a bonfire was hi assisted hgallons of petrol. The nest

morning the ('0. a strict teeto-taller, took his revenge by mak.ing the whole ship's company- officers included - under.take a vigorous PT session at0800.

Meanwhile,, in the elegantPalm Court atmopherc of(flcnburn Hvdro, there was in

Lr - won a brightvictory at a Scottish hotel.

outbreak of civil d,bedicnccSurgeon Lt Eric Morton RNVRof the "Woolworth" carrierFIMS Battkr had gone ashorewith many of his shipmates to

[eyed the s4.cfle and demandedthat the tlsdro "Put that light

He was met bv deliriouslyhappy defiance. Undaunted, hetried 10 arrest the submariner- which proved a mistake.Surrounded by a determinedthrong of celebrants his whistlewas confiscated followed h hispeaked cap. lie was gcnth res-trained until he agreed to de-part peacefully."The memo,- of that VE

night remains clear to thisday," said Eric Morton. "It isthe sight of a circle of trium-phant. singing. cheering. uni-formed revellers dancing roundan unhappy. dishesetled. hat-less and thoroughly offendedspecial constabte who hadfailed, despite his best cndca-vour, to restore a totally un-necessary blackout in a fairly,remote hotel in a Europe nolonger at war. Victors was.Our"

March of triumphA Royal Navy contingent passes the rubble thatwas once Hitters Chancellery after taking part Inthe Allied victory parade in Berlin.

r' ig]

Rothea -- and headedstraight for the (ilenburn hotel.As the stately cocktail bar of

the Victorian edifice becamemore and more enlivened bynoisy, and happy Service menand women, hotel residentseither retreated to their roomsand locked themselves in orjoined the large, rowdy party.

BeaconAs the celebrations con-

tinued into the-nigh, a suddendecision wjs made to drawback the hcais curtains after ajovial submariner announcedthat as the war was oser theblackout was no longer neces"ssr. Eric Morton remembetsthat to resounding cheers the(ilenbum Fldro became a bcj-con of light shining over thetown and the Firth of Clyde.

This was too much for aspecial constable who, bent onrestoring the rule of law, en-

:

11 iiF Ii'.. -sass.

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OptionsAVY NEWS VE SUPPLEMENT I

u o officers nutit me white Ensign over the rMegsmafln, flag on board a German E-boat.She was one of the email vessels the German. operated In the Adriatic end which were taken intothe Italian port of Ancone after eurrendr.

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THE DANGERS of war did not end for all when peace broke out in Europe. Apartfrom the forces still facing a formidable task against the Japanese, there werethose in Europe, too, whose celebrations were muted as their ships operatedupon mine-filled seas In which U-boats still lurked.

In an emergency hospitalbed in Russia there was nocelebration for TelegraphistHarry Carter. Just over aweek before he had been se-riously wounded when hisship, HMS Goodall. be-carne the last British frigatedestroyed during the lastArctic convoy action of thewar.

More than two-thirds atCarter's shipmates had diedwhen Goodall was iorpedoc.Iby U-968 on April 29 off thelola Inlet. "The U-boats acrewaiting for us." said JimRaynes, a signalman in the fri-gate HMS Anguilb. "Ii wasvery nasty"

Ills shock at seeing (ksodall

engulfed in a mass of flameswas deepened by the fact thatjust two days earlier the twovessels had fielded footballteams to play in the Russiansnow.

CourageousAfter all (hove on board the

blazing frigate who could besaved Wrv rescued. Anguillaprovided the coup de grace tothe stricken ship. Carter andother survivors were picked uin a courageous action by HMHoneysuckle. "Without theirefforts the casualty List wouldhave been much higher." herecalls.

Suffering from burns andbroken limbs. Harry Carterspent May 8 flat on his back.being nourished via a feedingcup and having three-hourly in-jections of penicillin day andnight. Meanwhile, the Russiansaround him did not believe the

Jim Baynes ...one of the last tragedies ofthe European war at sea.

witnessed

war was over - they were notgiven the news officially, untiltwo days after the Britishpatients were told.

There was precious little cele-bration. either, for PO radarmechanic Roy Williams liewas disappointed to find hisship, the escort earner ElMSQueen, spending the day at sea,covering the naval forces ap-proaching Copenhagen.Days before. HMS Queen

had been one of Vice AdmiralMcGrigor's three escort car-riers which undertook one ofthe last Home Fleet actions ofthe war on May 4. In a raid onKilbotn near Narvik, aircraftfrom the earner group sank U-ill and a submarine depotship.Among the other ships which

had taken part in that raid werethose of she 17th Destroyerflotilla, including HMS Orwellwhich spent a dull VE Day ather buoy in Scapa Flow.

llct commanding officer, Ltdr John (lower. rememben

th4i she carried the sobriIlucllucky Orwell. having steamedI l).000 miles. without serious

daitage since she was commit-,inned in 1942,

Sshe had escorted no fewherthan 16 Arctic convoys and inI'43 took part in the Nor-

nandy invasion.

Because of uncertainty as toher the U-boats would sur-

render peaceably. merchant

ships were still sailing in con-and when HMS Queen

returned to Scapa no- therec.i %Iill no shore leave for RoyWilliams. The carrier wasordered so join the Il-strongescort for one of the fast Arcticconvoys comprising 26 mer-chantntcn

Missed partiesVt Day was "just another

day" to Signalman 'JohnStew-arc in the flower-class cor-vc(tc IIMS Bellwort. Des-patched from Gibraltar to Lis-bon to receive the surrender ofa U-boat, the crew's hopes ofshore leave in the Portuguesecapital came to nought.HMS Icarus, too, missed the

"party of the century" in Mil.ford Haven, Lt Cdt Amonr

(Wally) Hammond remembersthat the destroyer had to put into the Haven to refuel while cs-coning a coastal convoy up theIrish Sea to Liverpool and theClyde.About an hour before they

reached harbour the peace an-nouncement was made. At Mil.ford "ships' boozers were beingsounded continually and thenoise was deaftning- Other

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Not a group of lap Germans, but Royal Navy Coastal Forces ratings trying on Some enemy kit forsize. Ta, weapons and equipment were piled in Anon. after being Unloaded from SwTSndWjvesil" which the enemy had operated In the Adriatic,

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Awary Oertikon gunner keeps his weapon trained on U-1305 Ris aurrandera in Loch Eriboll on thenorth coast of Scotland.rwu

ships were tiring rockets and port to sound oil her siren as mess-deck fan.flares and in every case the her engines were shut down."Instead, to celebrate anddecks erccrowdedwith cheer- "Mself and some of ms relieve the boredom anopping sailors. mostly with a bottle matesrowed round the harbour played an imaginary trumpet.in hand." late at niht: for what reason I another wearing his ingate"

As lcanis took on her oil hercan't say.'

hat marched round and round

ship's company were lookingOn the Patrol vessel 11MS the table, and I stood on it tak-

forward to joining in the cete- Scabcilc sailor Ron (,ibbcns ing his salute in an otherwise

bration. Then came the signaland his shipmates felt forgo,- deserted reading room.

from the AdmiraIt which toldten. They had been transferred CP'O John Hinton also

them that ncoss would con-from 11MS Danac to man theloft forgotten in Colombo,

tinuc to be escorted until Seabetle. a yacht converted for Ceylon. "Off duly in the

further notte, They turned patrol in the Persian Gulf.messthere was a celebra'around glumly and passed the For two .cars from March tory bottle of beer,

festive merchant chips to returnji44 they endured the heal.

doubling the weekly ratIon.

to their consos. privation and boredomof chose we sat listening to newswaters. Fresh waler was for bulletins of the cilebrahand-washing only arid drink. tions at horns and couldFrustrationung. Men showered in salt not help feeling they were

Meanwhile in Liverpool.water. Drinking water wassomewhatprematureIIMS Mermaid wjs "duiv dc-c- obtained by ecalrdlofl in

The men of mineswceppntroyer". her chip's company, giant terracotta carafe kept on

flotillas could be 1oriscn ifmarooned at anchor while Mci- the upper deck. there was no

they shared that sentiment Inseyside celebrated After a d- refrigerator for the ralinga, no

HMS TCnbS' of the Ninth M/Sconsolate hill sing-songon the soft drinks, no fresh milk, and

flotilla ce'lbralions on MaySIo'cslc. the sailors turned in vers' little fresh food, most ofwere subdued They were in

below. But their rest was to be their supplies being canned.Norwegian waters to begun the

brief.

miracle sweepofthousands ofmines-'A petty officer woke us mall a sobering prospect in itself -

to tell us that we were going to There was no encerlainmenl. and the day before they hadsea, said Len "hlphick. an AB and Ron Gibbens remembers lost a shipmate in a boat accu-in the- Mermaid. "A German receiving only one food parcel dent at night.sub had been sighted off the a cake. which was sharedsouth coast of Ireland and e Action stationswere being sent io find her. "r

The flotilla had been ordered"We steamed off intoOccurred and we each recciscu

to cross the still hostile Norththe remainder of Cm night,

two small bottles of beer. 551Sea on May I in reparation

thinking of the run esisore wonder how the, came 10 reachfor the liberation orsor'iay.

we might have had and all us so quickly irom seeminglyReaching the mouth of the

those lovely girls waiting."there was no splicing of the rd that leads to Bergen. the

Faraway in Aiesandria there mainbrace either at the naval ship prepared to s to

wasfrustration, too, in the des- airfield of liStS Garuda in the Cit. Suddenly (

troyer HMS R'icests-r. One of Southern India. Tony Snitterjib who wasbelow

her Afls. Allan Halfpenny. it- recalls that "there were no gutsdecks beard a ship's klaxon cal-

0:that h was on duty on to dance with, no streets worthina handsto action stations.

board :ind Flieecier imild ns speaking of to thncr in, and no am ering to %he upper

" Turn to rrrf page

N t,V NlVS Is' V SI tl}tFMEN F I S V

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UGerman E-boats surrender at HMS Hornet, Gosport.

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KapiLan Kruger 01 the Kriegsrnanne points out the disposition of German rninetieids end coastdef"nc.s in Norway to a British naval officer while a Wren acts as interpreter . The German navaldo~~ arrived in Scotland by air to meat BrItish end Norwegian officers on board the battle-cruiser HMS Renown, iwu

Navy had its work cut out in a sea of dangers

I

i%ll",

OptionsAVY NEWS VE SJt'I'IEMENi 19

My U-boat men. - Six years of U-boat warlie behind us. You have fought like lions. Acrushing material superiority has forced usinto a narrow area. A continuation of ourfight from the remaining bases is no longerpossible. - Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz in anorder of May 4. 1945

a ...:-- -

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U1OO9 file. the bacli flag.. sh bscon*s the f*rst U-beat to .nt.i a BøThsl'u .ntho4ag. after Germany's surrender. She a enthe chars of the ft~ HMS yion.

lair

Not all Qrmar subm.nrsss surrendered in the (J., Here. suUOn U-bOalmn dssmbarti at WiIhelmhaven watched by a

Royal Mann.. s.ntvy. On. of thslr ~era stands on the casthg (left) as they begin their journey to an Allied prisoncamp.

THE SIJKRLNDER or the U-

boats was final confirmationthat the convoy battles, which When thEhad cost so many lives in theAtlantic. the Arctic and else- liwhere. were over. It had been a came inlosing campaign for the (icr-mans for at least two years.32,000 of their submarinersperishing in the attempt to

11strangle Britain. .

On May 8 the surviving boats

remaining at sea were ordered, un-der the terms of surrender, to pro-ceed on the surface, report their

pennant number and position to

Allied radio stations, fly a largeblack flag. show lights at night and

dispose of all ammunition.

They were inatnicted to proceed toremote Loch Enboll on the north coastof Scotland. where the ships of the 1stFicon Group would be waiting for

The bloc deIVIWWthem - -

First to yieldat Lochalsh where they were decommisWflICd.' be taid

In fact, the first I-tiuat it) fall into One of the Byron ratings sent toBritish hands Following I)ocnit,'s order hoard U-1009 was ho John Cuts-was (J-249. boarded b AIMS Amethyst ningham. At the time there was a heavy20 miles off the Lizard on May 9 and swell and going alongside the submanneescorted into Portland harbour Late the in a motor boat was tricky.neat rnornin. The boarding parity was ordered to

But it was ti-l009. which had surren- jump for it by the coz'n. Curtain~dried to the Captain-class frigate AIMS obeyed - and found he was the onlyByron. that was the first to enter a Rn- one of the party on the U-boat.

-

tishanchor7

- almost three hours looked towards the conning towerberthed, where I saw several men in leather suits,

Alan Hope. serving in the Byron. well one wearing a white cap 1 later disco-remembers the tattered black flag flut- vered he was the captain (Lt

lering from L3-1009's mast as a ap- HidO,Jpro~ Loch Enboll that morning.

'The object of the surrender opera- them as the ml of his party managed toThe Ger.the secondboardlion was to board and disarm the boatsas they arrived in readiness for their attempt.on

man crew were ordered below by thecniual pas.agc south to an anchorage hoarding ofTicr SI txlir. u.hik

I p

I -

Admiral Sir Max NO~, C-In-C Western Approaches, inspects U-532 which entereroute ft~ Japan. On. of the largest of the U-boats, shi was loaded with a cargo cAdmiral ~on is the submarine'* commanding officer.

Iswoeopingup..._"__-

From pop V

4-09

Roy Tapping took part inago~d sweap.

tie, k hi' st i Ittitish 1-siti'scr

passing at lull specli iih gullsmoving to a finng position.ready to engage a German war-

ship advancing on the flotilla.

However, the Germanproved to have no vtoleni in-tentions and the Tcnb pro-ceeded safely to a berth in Ret-gm where cheering crowdsgreeted her Shore leave wasgranted on the lint day andBarlow and his shipmates wereamazed to see, after the surren-der, armed German soldierscontrolling traffic.

Both George Barlow and his

shipniatc Kr.' t .ipjinytrmernhc, iih pride the flotil-la's marathon sweep that l'ol-lowed - hailed at the time as arecord- Working non-stop for7$ hours 52 minutes, the shipsof the Ninth - Sidmouth,

Blackpool. Bangor. Romney.Re and Tenby - covered 607mules at an average speed ofover seven knots. In all the flo-tilla swept almost 1.000 mines.George Barlow recalls the'grcat sport" of sinking sweptmines by rifle fire. "Wc musthave used thousands of roundsof ammunition.' he said.

At one point, recalls Roy

I appin I enhs and }langorWere about to IVt&i"CI theitsweeps when they found them-selves in the middle of anunknown minefield. By a sharpturn to the east the shipsemerged safely. cutting fourmines in the process.Although the war was over.

Tenbs's sadness was rim. Afterthe siip returned to the UK.eight of her sailors were lost inanother boat accident in Ply.mouth harbour. "That I thinkwas our wont day." said RoyTapping. After that they wenton to clear mine-fields laid inthe Bristol ('hannel.

1-he vast task of s e,.iny h.detritus of war Irom t urtipe-ailwale-ri would continue foryears. The Germans were be-lieved to have laid 126,001)mines and more than 32.(Xg)obstructions in North-West

Europe as well as 100.00(1mines in - the MediterraneanThe British laid a total of225.000.As most kuropcan nations

lacked the trained menandves-

sels to carry out clearance uper-at Ions, the enormous task fell

Largely to the Royal Navy. Thevictory was going to be hardwork l'or the small ships - -

HMS Tanby ... triumph andSadness at the atid of the war.

--.5.-- .

NAVY NEWS VI SUPPLEMENT 1)? VII

wolveske lambs

LJVrpV i y 9 4,

Cunningham and another rating shack.led a chain to an upper-deck stanchionand lowered it through the hatches tothe control room so that the Germanscould make no sudden dive

Food luxuries"As we got under way and they start-

ed the diesel engines I couldn't believethe noise"He wasamazed when at meal time on

the way to Loch~ the Germans liftedup the bilge plates and brought outevery conceivable pstrononhic luxury- things that Cunningham hadn't seenfor years. "It had been impressed on usnot to accept r r them and wehad taken with t hoses of fieldratio--corned beer. hitcuiis and tins of lea.

f

'-

\

*1 Liver~ after surrendering while antin, quW**. wolfram and nibber. With

I

,hat the (.ermans were citing it didn'Ltake much of an invitation to jointhem."Nest morning the U~1 arrived atLA~ where she was taken alongsidea depot ship. Htlgcndorf read ato his crew telling them that l=111kaheir boil, andCunningham no-j.,%%! there were a few tears amongthe GcnnansHe andAlan Hope made several such

journeys - and conducted searches ofthe U-boats for log books and otherdocuments Some souvenirs found theirway on board the frigates. ion. Therewere yey kaiher suits ---some awfulcip.n and writing paper decoratedwith the German eagle and awaslika -with an exhortation to the writer to pro-duct cheerful letters for the folks athome.

'Morale Intact'Alan hope remembers his crstwhik

enemies as "sailors much like ourselses- well disciplined, responsive to theorders of their officers. itill motivatedto work their ships and with their mis-rak intact."

Between the morning of May 10 andthe evening of the 19th. 33 U-boatsarrived at the F.nbohl anchorage fromwhere they were escorted to Lochalshunder the White Ensign. On May 22four of them were escorted by the 21 SIEG to Loch Foyle in Northern Irelandfor the ceremonial surrender to the U-"n(' Western Approaches. kdm.ral SitMas Horton.

It was the last 4.t nI lh- r

.;,

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L IFor

AOVE Q.mii .aiora Nne u on thi a.lng ol the fba* U-boil siaisndsr U-249. WithP N. guerde on bosid th subm.Iln.N.s .tongsld. a BrItIsh, ,,Jtlp in Wsymouth B.y.

LIFT:The rnsu sun*~gay. many ON psrsoNsal ththr rIrsi chance to gel a v*w from theothir side - Mi this case in the torpedo room of a vessel which surrendered at WM. nv_

..:

AWhite Ensign Ibis from the mast of a U-boil which surren-diced at Loch Ev*botI and r*gb1) 52 U-boils mustered at Lies.haMy, Northern Br~. II was in the ProvInce thet the fonnalceremOny of surrender was h*d.

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Theday

freedom

m

0

sailed in

'To bind up the broken hearted, to proclaimliberty to the captives, and the operting ofthe prison to them that are bound' - IsaiahChapter 61.

WHEN the Germanssigned the final surren-der document on May 7their forces in centralEurope were broken andin tatters. But elsewhere.in countries and islandson the rim of Itiller'sshattered empire. signifil-cant units remained vir-tually inlact.Norway was still occu-

pied and in Denmark theremains of the German sur-face fitti - including theheavy cruiser Prini Eugen- were seaworthy andarmed.

In Prague desperate rem-nants of Army Group (jenticcontinued fighting "C I',,-resislancir and the Rul., .11~lit M 11. Later that day Ger.man li~Ire" occupying island.,in the Aq"n Sea *err the lastto la). down their arms.The Channel Islands -- the

only part of Britain to be cap.tured by the enemy - gate anexultant welcomc to icatx)rncforce-s from the UK on May 9~On May 12 the fait minelay-

er 11MS Apollo took Prince101af of Norway back to (-hlo.members of the %htgi'% companyh3vin? been recalled from Ica%cn V.0

Day.Arms dump

On the island of in theAcifean. Frank flaworth inMotor Launch 837 watched thefirst meeting between the Bri-tish repr~niaiii.e and the Ger-man commander.

How~ was amazed bythe htW*~ of Geirmanarms and equipment onthe island, the dumpstretching bait a mile Mo%the )~In licilland Alex SirAchan

was a 19-"ar-old leading writ.er on the -.mall staff of. llicNrihetlands, Naval LiaisonOfficer -- a Dutchman. In thew.vcyir winler of 1944-45 ificGermans - acting in regalia-lion again-.1 a general strike --had cut off fuel and fcxxi stip-rilin

go the large area of 11(11-and the), still occupied. Et hadresulted in a tragic farnincwhich t.l.kLnii:(1 thousand.. ot

Dutch lite% within month.. ofliberation.The NLO's. staff there given

the task of idenfifying landingplaces for ships to take lifir-say-ing supplies to %be starve

.rig

people. Although a standstillwas imposed on movementacrow the lincs until May 10.the urgency of the naval party'srnission sent thern travellingacross flolland within ~4llotjr%

~x Stirmhen ... humani.tarian mission in TheNtd~nds.*'We could not make directly

for Rotterdam or The llook asthe bridges over the Nlaas weredown. so we had to make aI";thy detour via Ntjmcgcn.**said Alen Strachan.-h was an odd experience

passing through towns and viblages guarded by the Wchr-machl. At some checkpoint$they tuned out lhe ~uard andsaluted. while at other% theywere sulicn and k)hltfuctit.o. de-manding documentation whichwe did not have.---By evening thereached the

(;crnun naval 11 at 7cisI amRhein. It ~ sit] guarded bythe German army. but therewas a small adt,3nec rt of

WtheBrilish soldiers nearby inNLO group managed toscrounge a, meal from %bent.

As. a result oftherart),.

s, en.suing -oik the relic )Pcration

rm under way quickly. On May0 Tcfcncr Gull -- an All Oft

one of 36 13W landing craftibat ferried thousand., of tonsof emergency suppli" into Rot-ierdam. They were 1he firstRoyal Navy vewls to enterEurope's largeil purl since thewar began.

That task completed. Gull*scraft was one of lbow. used 101

Capi Herberl Williarns of HMS Birmingham fires at a floatingmine during the forcing a! the German minefields in theSkeggerak.

A Royal Marines sentry makes some Danish friends on thejelly at Copenhagen and (right) Danish sailors chat withinembera of the Resistance In the city. Wino.,, 01 the sun-en.TIered Germans accounts lot the fact that almost everyone in* picture is armed. cc~, CA u an'

rio.

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Dane. greet their liberators o. board HMS Birmingham.

ferry German's former occu-

Woreesacruss the Zuider

Lek to'their own countrIn some other parts of

Europe the political ambitionsof the victors made the processof liberation far more complex.In the border city, of Ineste.occupation by Tito's Yugoi.lavpartisans had preceded the en-

try of FIMS Orion. the cruisersent there from Ancona.John Smith. a tick bay P0 in

Orion, recalls that she was de-layed by mine barrages on herpassage through the Adriatic,not arriving at Triesic untilMay 12.

In HMS Rosaflo of the19th ~sweeping Flotil-la, Stoker Albert Jonesquickly realised that thesituation ashore wastense, with the Communistsartisiani teetering on thebrink of an armed confron-tation with the BritishIorces."The ensuing negotiations

came to a head very soon withthe Yugoslav commandant is-suing a 48-hour ultimatum tothe riiish commander. de-

manding our withdrawal - orelse"The response w5 swift and

decisive to the effect that theYugoiJavs were told where theycould shove their ultimatum -

and we all stood last andwaited.The deadline passed and

"thing happened. "To empha-site our resolve a big parade

through the town was organisedby our Army and includedevery man who could be sparedfront our two minesweepersand cruiser - including yourstruly

"After further negotiationsthe shoe was on the other lootand it was the partisans whowithdrew to a point outside thecity...

CopenhagenA much larger group of Roy-

al Navy ships was despatchedto Copenhagen to secure thesurrender of the German navalforces there and to link.up withthe small numbers of Britishparatroops who had beendropped as a liberating force.The task group left Britain on

May 6 and comprised the cniis.-era HMS Birmingham andDido accompanied by the des.

troycTs Zealous. Zephyr. Zestand Zodiac.

Substantial minesweepingforces were assigned to thegroup which was covered to theeast by three escort carriers, thecruiser HMS Norfolk and fivedestroyers.On May K the main force was

passing through the Skaggerakwith the sweepers ahead andthe sun shining on a millpondsea, recalls Anhut Rose, a ('P0Gunner) Instructor at the time.The gun crews were closed

up. wary in the knowledge thatthe Germans could still mountan attack. Their minds were

NAVY NEWS VE SUPPLEMENT 1995 IX

r7 .,. .

'" - -

This picture, taken from HMS Birmingham. shows HMS Dido andthe tow escorting destroyers making thetr way slowly throughthe mined Skaggecak to reach Copenhagen.

PC5r5 D eO%w,r 04 M A C.iv.l

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suddenly concentrated by theappearance of Luftwaffe air-craft and all the guns of the taskgroup were trained skyward.The planes departed peace-

abLy, but soon after. Roscsconfidence was jotted by an in-tercom warning from B maga-sine beneath him thaI "some-thin was bumping under theship'.Almost simultaneously the

tannoy from the bridge orderedB turret crew to rig the ship'sstarboard paravane derrick torecover the starboard paravane.

But when Rose looked overthe starboard side there was noparavane to be seen. Unknownto him it had contacted a mine.but instead of the mine wirebeing cut it had remained in-tact and had pulled the para-vane under the ship.

"I looked over the port,.ide where I saw, to mypetrification, not our pare-van, but a barnacle-en-crusted, wickedly hornedmine gently thumpingagainst the .hlp. .16.."

An officer appeared andhanded Rose a r(ovcrv pole.ordering him to be suspendedbud-first over the side to keepthe mine away. "I was after-wards told that my expletives atthe time were in accord withthe best naval traditions."Grasped at each ankle by an

AR, Rose duly dangled over the

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IIMS Birmingham moves slowly astern, away from a mine (Snowed) which snared her paravaneequipment and bumped down the side at the hull, It was the mine that Arthur Rosa (set) had justattempted to clearby tending it oft with a pole whiledangling over~ 116P'cnia, br 041k Ro

With Royal Marines drawn up in the foreground, Capt B. F. :Elkln 01 HMS Dido needs the terms ofhandover of the German warships in Copenhagen to Krfegsmartne officers assembled on thequarterdeck of the heavy cruiser PTInZ Eugen.

ftWM DY C01~ of k a

THE

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Patron: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

Unity, Loyalty, Patriotism, Comradeship

82 Chelsea Old Manor Street, London 5W3 50J. Tel: 0171-352 6754Reg.Char. 266982

THE SENIOR SERVICE CONNECTION

Believing firmly that "welfare is not only money", The Royal NavyAssociation offers a broad range of support to people with a Royal Navyconnection. They help the disabled, look after the needy, cheer up thedistressed, maintain naval traditions, support the Royal Navy, enjoysocial activities, reunite shipniates and stand together in unity.

The Association assists King George's Fund for Sailors in raising moneytowards the Fund's caring work for all seafarers and co-operates closelywith The Royal Naval Benevolent Trust in being aware of who needs

help and ensuring it reaches them. They also take time out to remember,

with affection and respect, Royal Naval personnel who have given theirlives in the defence of their country throughout the long history of the

'Senior Service.'

On the side of youth. the Association supports Naval Cadet Forces. someof whose members will go on to become the leaders of the modern 'hightech' navy.

X NAVY NEWS VE SUPPLEMENT 1995

pr.7,

'

The end of anightmare

Ai.

This pencil portrait of Bill Hallett. by one of his fellow prisonersof war, was pasted into his journal and captioned "MandolineBill waiting for VE Day". The text below was written on a Christ-mas greeting postcard he sent home to his relatives in 1942.

And a the sun sinks in the west,

There's thot9s of thosel love the bestTo them, and all, I sincer4y sendChristmas GreeTin,gs, and append,The hope, That nineteen fory-ihree,

AHappj,Good New Year, will be.

FOR THE many thou-sands of prisoners of warin German hands, thelast act in the conflict

brought not only thehope of release, but newthreats to their survival.

Allied bombers and strikeaircraft roamed at will overwhat remained of Germany,strafing anything and any-one on the roads wholooked vaguely military.Some of the personnel at-

tacked were not Germans, but

Shattered remnants of theWehrmacht were streamingpast the castle in retreat. Mean-while, the Navy officersphoned Mitterfelds, a townabout 12 miles away, and totheir excitement found them-selves speaking to anAmerican.

The castle was beingused to hold senior Armyofficer., and fearing thatthe German Army wouldtake them as hostages, thenaval trio asked for imme-diate help.They were told to lay out

bedlinen in an agreed patternn the roof to facilitate identifi-

.tte'r that 'sas

done a US recce aircraft ap-peared overhead.

"Things then happened veryfast. A jeep plus a couple oftanks and some lorries cameploughing through the retreat-ing Germans and put up a de-fensive line around the base ofthe castle hill." The troops. of aUS Coloured unit. providedfresh bread from their fieldkitchens and turned over provi-sions to the liberated Rows -"the likes of which we had notseen for years".On May 8, STD Ken Royle

was with an RN and RM group- Naval Party. 1 734 - flowninto Hamburg via Ostend. Theclt was in ruins. "I do not

man

re

tered ('uxhaven. He remembersbeing intrigued by the spectacleof a U-boat depot ship, itsdecks crowded with girls cheer-ing and asing tic afterwards!e.t: ned that thc had bee-n

The N ut;icall ChubHh,'ininghani

Why 1101 let us organ ise dyour Reunion in Birmingham?

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"The Mount batten Festival of Music 1995"

I he ,ih,s.crd Bond' 1 /I,'r .t!ojeis .' RoI ,tfrine.c. u,i.derdirection of Li Cul Waterer, LRI%M, RM

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(Inclusive of P&P in UK only. overseas add 20%)Please make chcqucs/POs payable to the

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Blue Band Magazine, RMSM Deal, Kent CT14 7EH

prisoners of war being movedby their captors away frontcamps that were being overrunTragically many prisoners diedin the camps or on the roads asthe chaos of war rolled acrosscentral Europe to the heart ofthe Reich.

CastleThousands of Royal Nas

and Merchant Navy prisonerswere held in a camp at Wester-timke, between Bremen andHamburg, named Marlag undMilag Nord. It was from therenear the end of the war, thatCdt Roy Price-Fox and i'other RN officers were ira::ferred to a camp in a castleSchloss Steinberg aboutmiles north-east of Municha hill overlooking the sourcethe Danube."We were getting inforr'

tion on the progress of Gen.'Blood-and-Guts' Pattonhis Second US Army conup from the south." he rcc.t"'Once our guards disappc.rwe barricaded ourselves in thecastle and kept in touch siththe outside world h means ofthe telephone

LIBERATION .From~1x

side, the' teak heading of the'deck edge cutting into his shins.Eventually, much to his relief.the commanding officer. ('aptHerbert Williams. ordered theship to go slowly astern so thatthe paravane and mine couldbe cut away. the delicate opera-tion being performed by P()Jumper Collins and the shtp.wright armed with handcutters.

Eventually all the shipsarrived safely at Copenhagenon the 9th. a Royal Marinesband playing on the Birming-ham's quarterdeck and the ves-sels dressed overall,

CheeringAs the ships entered thc

passed the silent guns of thePrinz Eugen and the cruiserNuernberg. With the biggerships the Germans had threedestroyers, two torpedo boats.ten minesweepers. 13 flakships, 19 armed trawlers andtwo armed merchant ships.On the jetties and docksidcs

were thousands of cheeringDanes. waving flags and chant-ing "Welcome, welcome".On board the Zodiac it

seemed incongruous to AB EricCollins that their lines werebeing taken and secured byarmed German troops. Despitethe apparent tameness of thesurrendered enemy. Davy New-ell. a leading seaman on boardZest, recalls that the Navy weretaking no chances. "Wewere tobe armed going ashore andboats' crews had small depthcharges against frogmen."

1

I

member seeing an buildingsuntouched by the ravages ofwar. The people were poppinup out of holes in the grounwhere they were living in cel-lars and basements with all thebricks and debris aroundthem."

Waving girlsOn board British Yard Mine-

sweeper 2188. Bill 1)avies wasgetting his lirst sight of Ger-many as his BYMS flotilla en-

'i 1.;

Danes crowd the jetty soon after f-IMS Birmingham (foreground), HMS Dido and four destroyersbecame th. first Allied ships into Copenhagen.I he welcome by the 1)anes. David Brunton. a sub lieuten-the sailors' three-week sojourn

occupied for four years, was ant in Dido. "However, the un-in a peaceful capital whoseoverwhelming. For three weeks derstandably bad atmospherepeople treated them as say-the ships remained while the between them and the Danestours, was a time that few whoGerman vessels' ammunition was such that a British sailorexperienced it would forget.was destored.had to be placed in each lori'vManyofthem will be returning

"It was unloaded and taken to prevent the Germans fallingthis year with proud affectionby German personnel in lorries victim to snipers."tomark their role in Europe'sto a hunting lodge inland," saidAtthe end ofa bitter conflict, liberation.

Using their ingenuity, prisoners were able to stage dramatic productions such as this, "The DesertSong', produced in Milag Nord PoWcamp in 1943. That year alone, the naval PoWcamp averagedmore than one show a fortnight, Most popular was "Bandwagon" (five performances) while othersincluded "HMS Pinafore", "Hobson's Choice" and "The Return of Fu Manchu".

mustered to provide a warm thing which they knewwelcome for a U-boat expected expose them to Alliedto return from a !ong patrol. of the roads, as well

aDaviesand his shipmates other uncertaintieswhweremildly surprised not to see accompanying the

colanyblack-booted storm- the Rcich.troopers. ---All we saw were Helped by

membersailors,much like ourselves - Merchant Navy held

youn4 lads who had mothers. camp. almost 600 RNpsweetheartsand wives exceptescaped the round-up b

[CAughwas - -

na _hisnfl

rou-

Don Bowra ... a hoiwithing he didn't expect

Ii ng'La- in root spaces underthe boards of thc huts, inont. the ground, in lockersing vised cellars and ever

pipes. The Germans.5O no longer had the timthe manpower to make aster bus search.me- Meanwhile the R.i

"

1I - V I "

German Occupation.

-.

Legion PoppyAppeal. registered charity No. 2/9279.

1 -the

I YES Please send me______l000pc. Jigsaw Puzzle/sthe balcony of the Pomme £595 "PsewdPadig (U K LI SO. OsSuis P0k) P. 2$ y$ totdswury-dOr Hotel - the former

Krlegsmar*ne HO in Jersey.3 I osidOou*UoiduI £ m pyi to S Ctoi

St Aubin -Amen9 the first vessels to

" s-- - . reach

islands was the-

'tank landing ship LST 238, -----------------------------------------------------

- ---

which sailed from Southamp-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

tononVEDaytoreachStAu-bin on the 9th.-

This month the islands will Post ibis coupon to- Sbi.C.ilons Lid Box 536, woav,rh.m4on WV2 4UTbe celebrating the 50th anni-

---versaryof liberation withCREDIT CARD HCTLINE O-' "

rds are laid on the wet sand of St Aubin beach to aid unloading from LST 238. several major events span-PIC*INS by Iz95Sy o Mt. A. Milot

ning five weeks.

UDuckbo.

I

fiteeingof theChannelIslands---OUR dear ChannelIslands are also to be

freed today," Churchilltold the VE crowds

mass-ingin Trafalgar Square.For five years, Jersey,Guernsey, Alderney andSark had been the only

9 OMamphibious liberation

forces reached #m islands,

hoisting #m Union Flag from

the

their

0 Shortly after giving hisaccount to Navy News, DonBowre died a~ 77. The

diar-istBill Hallet died in 1966.

cab

Post Owm~t~ to~C~Lid.PO Box S%.~~WV24UT

ICK Lid

P~ d,-99 nw

PO.

2'3-3

Mill

'YNEWS VE SUPPLEMENT 1995Options

Hrw.

E1ECAkti!5E1M111::1T

V :YINlit 40 130&Ft~E5i

vt(1r4~ssThe Royal British Legion exists for one single purpose. To answer the calls for help that we receive

from over 100,000 ex-servicemen and women every year. People who, It seems, have served their country

better than it has served them. We can provide convalescent homes, resettlement and retraining

courses, counselling and rehabilitation facilities, pension and legal advice, and even small business

loans. But if you don't need our help, we still need yours. You can help by joining the Legion, by helping

collect donations from others, or even by making one yourself. For more details, call 0800 1939 45

IF C. CRANEIT "by,,I7,.