Editor's Column: As Published in Norwich Gazette (8).

FAINT FOOTSTEPS, World War II.

Canadians (RCNVR, Combined Ops) with landing crafts at Portsmouth

Doug Harrison (centre) peeks out from behind his mates. circa 1942

Baptism of Fire on the Ennerdale.

In May, 1942 my father received a baptism of water. He was stranded offshore Irvine, Scotland - in cold, black waters - while his landing craft (British troops, Dad’s mates and Lieutenant Koyl aboard) participated in assault exercises under King George’s watchful eye. 

A few weeks later, the Canadians received a baptism of fire. En route to their first official action - Operation Rutter, a raid on Dieppe set for July 7 - they were attacked by German bombers hiding in the sky.

Rutter may be a relatively unknown entity today. The name was not even known to Canadian officers or sailors at the time. Lt. Koyl writes, “The first operational call received was in early June when we sailed away from our base to take part in some operation.” (As found in Combined Operations)

Though cancelled, and over-shadowed five weeks later by Operation Jubilee (the ‘battle of Dieppe’), events related to Operation Rutter - especially the bombings, sudden and frightening - were well-remembered.

The Canadians and well-worn landing barges left Scotland aboard the oil tanker Ennerdale in early June and sailed past Wales and Land’s End on their way to the Isle of Wight. Though one of the ship’s crew warned my father of what might come - “We got a bloody basinful last time!” - Dad recalls that early on “all was serene.”

The Ennerdale headed toward The Solent, the strait near Isle of Wight

Then on June 22, 1942 (“my mother’s birthday,” says Dad), after a bit of “reminiscing on deck... feeling a little homesick,” and after two Spitfires “waggled their wings and headed home,” my father and mates hit their hammocks.

They were barely settled in when chaos erupted - in a mad rush. 

“Eight German Junker JU 88s came from the east, took position in the sun and attacked us from the stern,” says my father.

The Ennerdale’s klaxon horn quickly blared out ‘action stations.’

“Everybody tried to dress and hit the deck,” Doug adds. “Being the largest ship, we knew we were in for it. I got my socks on, put my sweater on backwards and got suspenders on my pants caught on the oil valves. I was hurrying like hell and nearly strangled myself - scared to death. The bombs came, and close. They really bounced us around.”

Extra gunners were needed and Lloyd Campbell of London, Ontario was heard to say, “Let me at ‘em.” The gun crew on the Ennerdale’s forecastle was knocked clear off the gun by the concussion. The men fell hard but were only bruised. 

“The attack was short and sweet but it seemed an eternity,” says Doug. “A near miss had buckled our plates and we lost all our drinking water. I ventured out on deck (when skies were clear) and picked up bomb shrapnel as big as your fist for a souvenir.” 

The sturdy Ennerdale, its plates buckled and decks covered with mud from the sea bottom, arrived at Isle of Wight the next day “with everyone happy to be alive and still shaking.”

Though Lt. Koyl later reported that Operation Rutter “was cancelled and all were ordered to return to base,” sailors saw some details related to the operation before leaving England’s southern coast.

Lloyd Evans recalls a confusing scene. “A large flotilla of Landing Craft, loaded with soldiers and Commandos, set sail one evening - and we remained in port. The mystery deepened,” he says, “they returned a few hours later... they found out the Germans were waiting for them.” (My Naval Chronicles)

Perhaps that same evening my father saw “terrific activity. Motor launches by the dozen went to see what was going on, and it turned out to be the aborted attempt on Dieppe.” 

In his opinion, “The next one should have been aborted too.”

More columns to follow.

Please link to Editor's Column: As Published in Norwich Gazette (7).

Unattributed Photos GH

Photographs: Training on Landing Crafts (15).

Salutes, Saunders Camp and Sundaes in Canada

[Photo: A13216. Lord Louis Mountbatten taking the salute at the march

past by men of the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force.

Photo - RN Photographer S.J. Beadell. Imperial War Museum]

Introduction:

The first draft of Canadian members of RCNVR - who also volunteered for Combined Operations - trained on landing crafts at some of the camps mentioned in this entry. For example, in the top photo, Lord Mountbatten is 'taking the salute' at Camp RAF Dundonald, south of Irvine, Scotland, which was adjacent to Camp Auchengate, home to the Canadian Navy boys while they practised landing assault crafts on the broad beaches between Irvine and Troon (farther south by only a few miles).

Several photographs at the bottom of the entry deal with (camp) H.M.S. Saunders at Bitter lakes, Kabret, Egypt. Much Combined Operations training took place there and the Canadians, after circling Africa in the summer of 1943 with their landing crafts aboard troop transport ships, stayed at Saunders - as a stopover - on their way to Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily (July, 1943).

Most photos below and their informative captions are attributed to the Imperial War Museum (IWM). Explore their rich stock of photographs (11 million and rising) at Search Our Collection.

The following Heading appears with many of these photos at IWM:

LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN AT A COMBINED OPERATION CENTRE. DUNDONALD CAMP, 9 DECEMBER 1942.

By December 9, 1942 the first draft of Canadians in Combined Ops had gained experience in training at H.M.S. Northney on Hayling Island, H.M.S Quebec south of Inveraray and at Irvine. They wold also have participated in Operation Rutter (the cancelled raid on Dieppe), Operation Jubilee (the Dieppe raid) and Operation Torch, invasion of North Africa in November, 1942.

In December the Canadians were very likely on leave. (My father recalls spending Christmas with an aunt and uncle in London).

A13217. Lord Louis Mountbatten inspecting the WRNS personnel.

RN Photographer S.J. Beadell, Imperial War Museum

A13218. Lord Louis Mountbatten inspecting Naval Ratings.

RN Photographer S.J. Beadell, IWM.

A13219. Lord Louis Mountbatten inspecting Canadian soldiers.

RN Photographer S.J. Beadell, IWM.

A13220. Lord Louis Mountbatten chatting to a signal Rating.

RN Photographer S.J. Beadell, IWM.

A13221 Lord Louis Mountbatten inspecting Canadian soldiers.

RN Photographer S.J. Beadell, IWM.

Heading - LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN AT A COMBINED OPERATION CENTRE. DUNDONALD CAMP, 9 DECEMBER 1942.

A13226. Lord Louis Mountbatten shaking hands with Army officers.

Photo Credit - S.J. Beadell, Imperial War Museum.

Readers will notice that the Army officer third from the right is shorter than all others nearby, maybe about 5 ft. 2 in. That being said, he might be a tough one to deal with when returning to camp after enjoying a few pints at the Harbour Lights in Irvine.

My father recalls the following (while at H.M.S. Quebec near Inveraray) in memoirs:

Nearby was the H.M.S. Chamois camp (adjacent to Quebec). We moved there for a time and still used the same wet canteen.

O/D Kirby of Woodstock, a very young man (possibly 17 or 18 years old), got quite drunk and on his way back to camp was challenged to show his ID card. After he did so he went on to his barracks but then started to brood.

“No 5 ft. 2 in. English guard is going to challenge me for my ID card,” he said.

So, back he goes to pick a quarrel. Quite soon came an order: “You, you, and you. Take a stretcher down to the gate.”

Who should come back but young Kirby, quite unconscious. The guard just slammed him over the head with the butt of his rifle. Page 15, "Dad, Well Done"

D. Harrison (left), Al Kirby. Guard duty! circa 1942

A13344. On the range a seaman fires with live ammunition at a moving target.

Lt. L. Pelman, RN Official Photographer, IWM.

Heading as found at IWM. - Mobile DEMS Gunnery School. 7 to 11 December, 1942 Devonport.

A13346. The Officer instructor explains the principles of sighting on the blackboard.

Photo Credit - RN Photographer Lt. L. Pelman, Imperial War Museum

Heading - MOBILE D E M S GUNNERY SCHOOL. 7 TO 11 DECEMBER 1942, DEVONPORT. IN ADDITION TO THE REGULAR TRAINING ESTABLISHMENTS WHERE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE MERCHANT NAVY ARE TAUGHT HOW TO USE THEIR GUNS, THERE ARE NOW A NUMBER OF MOBILE SCHOOLS WHICH TOUR THE VARIOUS PORTS GIVING THREE DAY GUNNERY COURSES TO ANY MERCHANT NAVY PERSONNEL WHO WISH TO TAKE PART.

A13349. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Forbes, GCB, DSO, inspects divisions

at HMS FOLIOT I AND HMS FOLIOT III of Naval officers and ratings lately

returned from operations in North Africa. Photo - Lt. L. Pelman, IWM.

Heading - COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF EASTERN APPROACHES, MEETS NAVAL OFFICERS AND RATINGS WHO TOOK PART IN THE NORTH AFRICA OPERATIONS. 13 DECEMBER 1942, IN THE PLYMOUTH AREA.

Here are a few lines from one of my father's lengthy newspaper columns written for his hometown paper, the Norwich Gazette (Ontario). It was published in the 1990s and recounts a Christmas dinner in London England while on leave after the invasion of N. Africa.

Down Memory Lane

Upon returning to England from the invasion of North Africa by Allied Forces in November, 1942, I was stationed in barracks at H.M.S. Foliot near Portsmouth.

As a boy, I had read and re-read history books about Admiral Horatio Nelson, my hero, and while waiting for a leave over Christmas I journeyed to Portsmouth to see Nelson's ship, H.M.S. Victory, which to me was a bonus. I never dreamed I would one day actually lay hands on those famous last words: "England expects every man will do his duty."

Christmas came ever nearer and parcels began arriving from family and friends in Canada. I hadn't received mail for some time and along with Christmas parcels came cartons of Sweet Caporal cigarettes from the Women's War League in Norwich.

There were perhaps 250 Canadian sailors at H.M.S. Foliot and everyone got Christmas and New year's leave. I don't remember exactly how many parcels I received but I piled all my earthly belongings neatly in my locker, and when all the necessities for a great Christmas for myself and relatives in London were stowed away in my kit bag, I just managed to tie it and put on a padlock.

The padlock was such that it acted as a hand grip and I lugged Christmas goodies on buses, trains and tube trains all over London. I had arranged the Christmas cakes in my metal hat box, and it was right on top....

A13350. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Forbes, GCB, DSO, inspects divisions

at HMS FOLIOT I AND HMS FOLIOT III of Naval officers and ratings lately

returned from operations in North Africa. Photo Credit - Lt. L. Pelman, IWM.

*  *  *  *  *

E4594. Camouflaged troops in an assault landing craft during combined

operations training in the canal zone, Egypt, 2 August 1941.

Major Geoffrey Keating, No. 1 Army F and P Unit, IWM.

E8172. A Matilda tank comes ashore from a landing craft during combined

operations training involving 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade at Ras Sudr

in Egypt, 9 February 1942. Photo - No. 1 Army Film and Photo Unit, IWM.

Two Art Works - Herbert Hastings McWilliams, HMS Saunders, Kabret, Egypt, 1945

For more details about HMS Saunders, please link to Combined Operations Command.

Canadians members of RCNVR in Combined Operations, aboard H.M.S. Keren,

on their way around Africa to Port Said, Egypt and Operation Torch, 1943

"H.M.S. Keren/43. Atlantic." With names of Canadians in Combined Ops.

Note: D. Westbrook, Hamilton. Dad was his best man in December, 1943

Canadians in Combined Ops at H.M.S. Saunders. Tents barely seen in background.

Note - Don Westbrook, back row, 4th from left. Likely has dysentery!

Canadians in Combined Ops, aboard Aquitania bound for Canada, Dec. 1943

Note: Don Westbrook in 'Group of Seven', centre. Father in group, far right.

My father enjoys a sundae back in Canada with a member of CWAC. Dec. '43
In January, Canadians journeyed to a Comb. Ops camp on Vancouver Island. 

Please link to Photographs: Training on Landing Crafts (14).

Unattributed Photos GH

Photographs: Training on Landing Crafts (14).

Training on Crafts in Inveraray, and More

[Photo: H9078. A Matilda tank leaving a landing craft during combined

operations training at Inverary in Scotland, 22 April 1941.

Photo - Capt. D’Eynecourt Tennyson, War Office Photog.

Imperial War Museum (IWM).]

Introduction -

The first draft of Canadian members of RCNVR - who also volunteered for Combined Operations - arrived in the U.K. in late January, 1942. After a training session on Hayling Island (HMS Northney), where they learned for the first time they would be handling landing crafts of various types, they were sent to HMS Quebec (Combined Operations No. 1 Training centre) for many demanding activities in preparation for an upcoming summer raid (at Dieppe) and invasion (N. Africa) in the fall.

One photograph below is of a practice exercise taking place under PM Winston Churchill's watchful eye. Another - of men training aboard landing crafts in Inveraray, dated Nov. 17, 1942 - was taken while the Canadians in C.O. were returning from the successful Allied landings in North Africa.

Besides revealing Canadian sailors training at HMS Quebec, photos appear that also reveal that Canadian army troops had to familiarize themselves with getting on and off landing crafts as well.

All photos and their informative captions are attributed to the Imperial War Museum. Explore their rich stock of photographs (11 million and rising) at Search Our Collection.

H11177. A landing craft containing a Valentine tank being launched down the

slipway of a landing ship during combined operations training on Loch Fyne

in Scotland, 27 June 1941. Photo - Major W.G. Horton, War Office, IWM.

The 'landing ship' above may very well be the Princess Iris or Daffodil, train ferries adapted for use with various landing crafts. PM Churchill is visible on the left side of the chute. Churchill and other dignitaries (e.g., Commanders Keyes and Mountbatten, King George VI) visited the C.O. camps throughout the U.K. on various occasions.

C.O. Comm. Keyes and PM W. Churchill. (Same location, same day?)

Photo as found in The Watery Maze, Page 97.  

A photograph from a book by Canadian veterans of RCNVR and Combined Ops features the following poor-grade photo and caption:

Photo as found in St. Nazaire to Singapore: Canadian Amphibious War

Not all practice sessions - driving a landing craft into or out of the train ferry's chute - were as successful as the one at which Keyes and Churchill were present in June, 1941. My father recalls the following event that took place the following year near Camps Dundonald and Auchengate, south of Irvine:

Soon after, my group was sent up the Loch to Irvine and I shall always remember that town.

We practiced running our ALC up the stern of the Iris and Daffodil, i.e., train ferries in peace time that carried whole trains across the channel between England and France. They were later to be used as ALC transports. Their sterns were nearly completely open, but with waves and a stiff wind blowing it was difficult to hit the opening.

We practiced and practiced, and once in, winches were used and helped get barges onto tracks. One day I just could not make it. I had a Seaman named Jake Jacobs and he said, “Let me see her. I’ll put her in there.” He pulled the ALC back, poured the coal to her and crashed right into the stern of the Iris. There was Hell to pay. Pages 15 - 16, "Dad, Well Done".

H11185. Troops rushing ashore from a landing craft during combined operations

training by 29th Infantry Brigade Group at Loch Fyne, Argyllshire.

War Office Official Photographer Major W.G. Horton. IWM.

H13625. Watched by an audience of local children, Canadian troops practice rowing 

in ships boats at Inveraray in Scotland, prior to the raid on the Norwegian island

of Spitzbergen, 18 August 1941. Photo - Capt. D’Eynecourt Tennyson, IWM.

When the first draft of Canadians in Combined Operations returned to Canada in December, 1943 they were soon involved in other wartime activities. My father and close mates volunteered for 'General Service' with Combined Operations and were posted to a Combined Ops training camp on Vancouver Island where they remained until discharge in September, 1945. I am reminded of one of my father's duties there by the photograph of Canadian troops on navy cutters, above.

About some of his activities at Givenchy III, the Canadian Navy base at Comox, he writes the following:

In (January) 1944 I was stationed in barracks on a piece of land called “The Spit” at Comox on Vancouver Island, B.C. About a half mile of water separated the spit from Comox and to get ashore we had to be inspected and travel to Comox on a real Liberty boat....

I acted as Coxswain on large navy cutters as soldiers worked the oars. The cutters were 27 feet long and wide enough (except at the bows) to seat four men, two men to an oar. This was fun, getting the proper stroke amongst 18 green oarsmen.

If the rhythm was wrong and an oar caught a crab (got stuck in the water), the effect was that nearly every thwart was cleared of oarsmen and bedlam prevailed. “Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!” I hollered, bursting from laughter.

The oars are about 12 feet long and are they ever heavy. To give the soldiers a well-earned rest I would give the order “Rest oars.” Then the oars would be pulled in, rested on each side of the cutter, and the soldiers could rest their weary arms on the looms for awhile.

“I enjoyed giving the order to toss oars” at The Spit, Comox BC

Photo Credit - As found in Sailor Remember by W.H. Pugsley

I enjoyed giving the order to ‘toss oars’. With this the huge oars were brought from the water and as quickly as possible tossed up in the air, and of course the water came pouring down from the blades in a regular storm for a minute and everyone got soaked to the hide, including me, but on a hot day it was refreshing. I was longing for a swim anyway.

There were several cutters with soldiers and with experience we began to have races. The competition was a good thing and a real esprit de corp developed within the teams. The races were close, the blisters were soon forgotten and the training became enjoyable as some fun was injected into it. Page 126, "Dad, Well Done"

H14572. Troops charge ashore from landing craft during combined operations

training in the presence of the King at Inverary in Scotland, 9 October 1941.

Photo - Capt. W.T. Lockeyear, Imperial War Museum (IWM)

H14592. Valentine tanks being offloaded from a landing craft during combined

operations training at Inveraray in Scotland, 9 October 1941.

Photo - War Office Photogr. Capt. W.T. Lockeyear, IWM.

H14596. Troops exit landing craft and scale a wall on the shore of Loch Fyne

during combined operations training in the presence of the King at Inverary

in Scotland, 9 October 1941. Photo - Capt. W.T. Lockeyear, IWM.

The next photo is one much-used. Though it reveals a training exercise near Inveraray (circa 1941 or 1942), it was used (as just one example) by a London (Ontario, Canada) newspaper in a news article about the WW2 experiences of two Norwich boys (one was my father), published in The Free Press on February 5, 1944.

The lengthy article begins as follows:

NORWICH BOYS IN THICK OF TWO INVASIONS BY ALLIES

LS. BURYL MCINTYRE AND LS. DOUGLAS HARRISON 

WITH “BIGGEST ARMADA OF ALL TIME”

“I saw my lieutenant, the flotilla officer, ‘get it’ because he did not know the meaning of fear. I saw ship’s gunners being strafed and standing to their guns. I can remember a Bren gunner standing in plain view of wicked cross fire, pouring all he had into the Jerries to cover his mates’ landing.” LS. Buryl McIntyre (right, in photo), home on leave in Norwich with his friend LS. Douglas Harrison (left) told what he remembered of Dieppe where he was mentioned in dispatches for his work as coxswain of a landing barge.

“It was a dark night in August when we crossed the Channel toward Dieppe. Just at dawn we could discern the coast of France. Out of the dark sky and into the light outlining the coast came a plane diving on gun positions on shore, the guns in his wings and cannon in the nose twinkling much like a ‘Hallowe’en sparkler’. Then as he was just below treetop height, so it seemed, he pulled out and let his bombs go. He zoomed up and set off for home, ‘a job well done’...”

Please link to the full story at Articles re Combined Ops, "Norwich Boys in Two Invasions"

H14597. Troops coming ashore from a landing craft under a smoke screen

during Combined Operations training at Inveraray, Scotland. "Mad Jack"

Churchill can be seen holding a sword. Capt. W.T. Lockeyear, IWM.

H20202. Troops wade ashore from a tank landing craft during a combined

operations exercise at Thorness Bay on the Isle of Wight, 27 May 1942.

Photo Credit - Capt. W.T. Lockeyear, Imperial War Museum

H21363. Canadian troops in an assault landing craft (LCA) during a

combined operations exercise, July 1942. Photo Credit - Lts. Tanner

and Lockeyear, War Office Official Photographers, IWM.

H25389. Men of the 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

wade ashore from landing craft during combined operations training in

Scotland, 17 November 1942. Photo - Capt. W.T. Lockeyear, IWM.

Though the sailor at the front of the landing craft (below) reminds me of my father, he would be on his way back to the U.K. from the successful Allied landings in North Africa on the date provided with the photo.

H25391. Men of 6th Battalion, the Black Watch crouch down in a landing craft

as it approaches the shore, during combined operations training in Scotland,

17 November 1942. Photo Credit - Capt. W.T. Lockeyear, IWM.

H25395. A 40mm Bofors gun of 91st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment is hauled

into a landing craft during combined operations training in Scotland,

17 November 1942. Photo - Capt. W.T. Lockeyear, IWM.

High in the hills behind HMS Quebec, and about two miles south of Inveraray, another type of training was taking place during the war years. If we returned to the hills today, would we find bamboo and palm plants that were planted there in the early 1940s to simulate SE Asian conditions?

A30144. A trainee taking part in fighting through marshland at the naval training

establishment HMS QUEBEC, Inverary, Scotland. Here Marine landing parties are

being trained in jungle-craft by Royal Marine staff under the guidance of the Royal

Marines Eastern Warfare School, Brockenhurst, Hampshire. Thickly wooded hills,

with some live palms and bamboos, gave a good imitation jungle in which tropical

bridging work, bivouacking, patrolling, sniping and booby-trap lessons could be learnt.

Photo Credit - Royal Navy Official Photographer LT. E.A. Zimmerman, IWM.

A30145. Tropical hygiene lessons are put into practice in the selection of the bivouac

area, one man is always on the alert, anti-malarial precautions have to be taken and

cooking and washing arrangements made to cover a period of three nights. Men are

seen here building a "basha" shelter at the naval training establishment HMS QUEBEC,

Inverary, Scotland. Here Marine landing parties are being trained in jungle-craft by

Royal Marine staff under the guidance of the Royal Marines Eastern Warfare School,

Brockenhurst, Hampshire. Photo - LT. E.A. Zimmerman, IWM.

More photographs related to landing crafts and training camps will follow.

Please link to Photographs: Training on Landing Crafts (13).

Unattributed Photos GH

Editor's Column: As Published in Norwich Gazette (7).

FAINT FOOTSTEPS, World War II

PM Winston Churchill and other dignitaries in Scotland during landing

craft training exercises. Photo Credit - Imperial War Museum, 1941

An Important Training Exercise Goes Awry

“There was Hell to pay,” Dad said, when recording details about a landing craft that smashed into a train ferry near Irvine, Scotland in spring, 1942. Nonetheless, he added with fondness, “I will always remember that town.”

In memoirs, he recalls the rigours of Combined Operations training when he had to survive on a small allowance, short rations (“chocolate, hard tack, compost tea”), and sleep aboard a landing craft. He also remembers kindnesses offered by citizens living near the harbour where the crafts were often parked.

After one lengthy stint of deprivations (“without much food, money, bathing, etc.”) he took leave in Irvine, and boldly asked two sisters - Jean and Francis Cricksmere - where he “could get a shave and a bath.”

They linked arms with him and said, “Come with us, Canada.” They marched him to a nearby house to meet their mother and older brother.

“I bathed, shaved, was fed (I know they fed me their rations, even eggs), and given a bed for many nights,” Dad says. “Mrs. Cricksmere reminded me of my own mother (and) I corresponded with them after the war.”

Other sailors were also treated hospitably, and before leaving Irvine for Operation Rutter (re Dieppe) - ‘small allowance’ or not - they took up a solid collection, “a hatful, and gave it to townspeople to do as they chose.”

Before the sailors exited, however, their Commander Louis Mountbatten entered - to observe a significant landing craft exercise (Schuyt 1). With him was Prime Minister Churchill. And King George VI.

No pressure there! What could go wrong?

The late-night exercise started under ink black skies. Landing crafts loaded with English soldiers motored toward an offshore rendezvous before assaulting ‘hostile shore defences.’

My father, among a Navy crew of four, reports that their landing craft ran aground on a sand bar before the rendezvous. “We tried rocking the craft in conjunction with the motors. No luck. Officer Koyl ordered Bailey and I overboard with him to look for deeper water.”

Dad obliged by finding deep water, helped rock the craft free, but before he could scramble onboard, Koyl (Fuming! “We’re going to be late!”) ordered ‘full steam ahead.’

Dad says, “They drove off, leaving me alone in the water. I was scared, but I felt I knew Mr. Koyl.”

He discarded all his clothing except uniform pants, found a sandbar and waited it out while wondering, “How is he going to find me? This is unbelievable!”

He thrashed his arms and swam on his back for short stints to maintain circulation. And “after an eternity (he) saw a blinking lamp.”

“Motors were cut, then revved up, then cut,” he says. “Koyl had a fair idea where to locate me, but I don’t know how he knew. Eventually our voices came closer together (and) I was rescued after two hours waiting. I felt all in.”

Lord Louis Mountbatten, Commander of Combined Operations in Irvine, 1942

Soldiers train on shore while landing crafts deal with heavy wash. IWM

The beaches between Irvine and Troon, 2014. GH

All’s well that ends well.

Once the exercise was finished, Lt. Koyl, Bailey and Doug fell into a local pub where they were revived with hot porridge and warm blankets, dry clothes and rum.

Dad says he was a lucky fellow. Black skies would have made him seem but a speck on the sea. Nonetheless, he was found, the exercise a success.

My father couldn’t recall the pub’s name (“Royal Sovereign? King George?”), but he left behind a wee clue - the owner’s name... Skinner. And in 2014, during my first trip to lovely Irvine, I found Mr. Skinner’s pub.

It has a fitting name. Our three sailors, though rushed off their feet during an important exercise - made serious by the King’s watchful presence - at the end of it fell into the King’s Arms (Hotel).

More to follow.

Please link to Editor's Column: As Published in Norwich Gazette (6)

Unattributed Photos GH

Articles: Italy, Oct. 7-11, 1943 - Pt 12.

Allies Gain Ground in Italy, But...

[Photo: NA6560. Reggio, 3 September 1943 (Operation Baytown): A Sherman tank and infantry advance north from Reggio. Although the Eighth Army encountered little active resistance during their advance, the natural obstructions of the terrain, combined with German demolition's resulted in very slow progress and prevented the Army from intervening in the fighting at Salerno until after the Germans had started to withdraw. Photo Credit - Lt. Whicker, No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Imperial War Museum (IWM)]

Introduction:

Allies will continue to gain ground in Italy, but it will be slowly, from October 1943 until June, 1944 (for the control of Rome), and even later (for the control of Italy).

As the above photograph from IWM reveals, the slow gains were initially caused by geographical obstructions and enemy demolitions, and not much changed for almost 9 months.

Allied troops will continue their offensive measures while Canadians in Combined Operations travel slowly toward North Africa, then Gibraltar, then back to the United Kingdom. Then, for many (because two years of service in Europe nears its end) there will be a trip back to Canada for 'decision time'*.

[*What to do next? Volunteer again for more assignments related to Combined Operations? (For many the answer was 'yes'.]

My father, Doug Harrison (RCNVR and Combined Ops) recalls a few details about those final days in Europe:

After our work from Sicily to Italy was done and our armies were advancing we returned to Malta. We stayed but a few days, then took MT boats to Bougie in Algiers, and were soon after loaded onto a Dutch ship, the Queen Emma. The ship had been bombed and strafed, her propellor shaft was bent and we could only make eight knots an hour under very rough conditions. Her super structure was easily half inch steel, and in various places where shrapnel had struck I could see holes that looked like a hole punched in butter with a hot poker, like it had just melted.

We arrived at Niobe barracks in Scotland and in true navy style were put on a train and sent to Lowestoft in England, not too far from Norwich, England (my hometown’s namesake or visa versa) on or near the east coast.

Backing up a bit. While on the Queen Emma we had an attack of boils break out and we were taking exams to become Acting Leading Seamen. It was my fortune to not get boils at first, and I teased everyone aboard. But my turn came. I got three beauts close together on my neck. I went to sick bay, and what did they put me on? You guessed it - mercurochrome. I said, I won’t be back, same as when I broke my toe, and I didn’t. I passed my exam, got my book and carried the boils clear to Lowestoft.

I heard mess deck buzz. We were getting a lot of money and going on leave. The stipulated time for ratings is twenty-four months overseas and we were closing in. No more raids. Thanks God, for pulling me through. The mess deck buzz proved to be correct, they gave us all a pile of money (pound notes), and I thought it was too many for me because I made a big allotment to my mother. How they ever kept track of the pay I’ll never know, and to my dying day I will believe they gypped me right up to here.

Editor's Notes: The COPRA staff "kept track of the pay" at a camp in Largs, Scotland.

A29950. Wrens hutted camp at HMS COPRA, Largs.

Photo - Lt. E.A. Zimmerman, Imperial War Museum 

A29953. Pay Wrens at work at HMS COPRA, Largs.

Photo Credit - Lt. E.A. Zimmerman, IWM.

(Heading found with above photographs - COMBINED OPERATION BASES IN SCOTLAND. JULY 1945, VARIOUS COMBINED OPERATIONS BASES IN SCOTLAND SHOWING LAY-OUTS OF THE CAMPS.)

My father's memoirs continue:

Before going on leave I went to Stoker Katanna and I said, pinch out these boils. “I’ll lean on the top bunk and no matter how it hurts, pinch them out.” I never felt a thing because they were as ripe as cherries. I slopped on a big bandaid and away I went on leave, never bothering to answer a ton of mail. I also received eight hundred cigarettes.

We were due for a do and we did it up brown. You couldn’t possibly lose me in London, England even when I was three sheets to the wind. No way.

About leave. When I was in southern England I put in for Glasgow and received two extra days for travelling time. But I never really saw Glasgow. I went, paid off a grudge, and immediately put in for the return trip to London.

Do I have a reason for such odd behaviour? Yes.

One day at Rosneath Camp in Scotland, we ratings were all fallen in ranks, when out comes black garters and he says, “Any one of you guys a fast runner?” I stepped one pace forward. “Okay, run over there,” says black garters, “get a wheel barrow, shovel, fork, hoe, and go with this man and clean up that big estate garden.” What a hell of a shock and what a hell of a job. It had been left for years. I made up my mind then that I would get back at black garters, and I connived to do it while on a leave, and I damn well did.

About Rosneath Camp. It was where many chaps came down with impetigo and they were put on Gentian violet, the colour of an elderberry stain. O/S Art Bradfield, of Bradfield Monuments in Simcoe, went to Dieppe in pajamas - under his uniform - the only man to go to Dieppe in pajamas, and he got out of bed in Rosneath to do it.

After my leave I went back to Lowestoft, then to Greenock, then was loaded on a ship back to Canada and 52 days leave. Mum waited at Brantford Station for every train for days and I never came. And when I did arrive she wasn’t there. But she sure made a big fuss when she saw me and we cried an ocean full of tears. It was nice to be home again, Mum. It was coming up to Christmas and quite a few times I thought we would never see another one. I thank God for his protection. (Page 37-38, "DAD, WELL DONE")

*   *   *   *   *

The following news clippings, cartoons, editorial notes, etc., are from The Winnipeg Tribune (digitized issues from Oct. 6 - 11, 1943).

People doing research about World War II will find significant news articles and photographs, some with a Canadian perspective, of course. Visit the University of Manitoba digital collection at this link - The Tribune.

Canadians who manned landing crafts and shunted troops, supplies and the occasional writer from Messina (Sicily) to Reggio on the toe of Italy's boot (a seven-mile journey) also had to locate their own accommodation, since their landing craft were not built to serve as a home away from home.

Sailors ended up in vacated, broken-down houses on the southern edge of Messina. My father recalls staying in the shell of a house with a lovely tiled floor - but no roof.

Besides looking for suitable living quarters, scrambling for food was also an occasional pastime. My father recalls how he helped a few officers acquire a filling chicken supper:

We weren’t too busy and the officers (who ate separately but had the same food as us) were growing tired of the diet, the same as we were, even though they had a Sicilian cook and we didn’t.

An officer by the name of (Andy) Wedd asked me if I knew where there were some chickens or something. I said, “Chickens, yes.”

When he said, “How be we put on some sneakers and gaffle them,” I said right then, “Okay by me. Tonight at dark we’ll go, but I get a portion for my part of the deal.”

He agreed and later we got every chicken in the coop, rung their necks, and then took them to the house and had the Sicilian cook prepare them. I got a couple of drum sticks out the window.

Next morning, the Sicilian cook came in as mad as hell. Someone had stolen his chickens. Little did he know at the time he cooked them that they were his own because his wife looked after them. (Page 36, "DAD, WELL DONE")

A photo of one of the Canadians who manned landing crafts at that time appears below. Please note the caption says Jack Trevor is "at present on loan to the British Navy", i.e., Combined Operations.

The next photo is also of Jack Trevor while in Sicily. It is part of a collection taken by Joe Spencer (RCNVR and Combined Operations) during WW2. Jack's pistols are very likely a recent purchase, made at an AMGOT depot in Italy.

Photo used with permission of Gary Spencer.

About AMGOT depots, my father writes the following in memoirs:

We had some days off and we travelled, did some sight seeing, e.g., visiting German graves. We met Sicilian prisoners walking home disconsolately, stopped them, and took sidearms from any officer. We saw oxen still being used as draft animals when we were there. Sometimes we went to Italy and to Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory depot (AMGOT). (They later changed that name because in Italian it meant shi-!)

While a couple of ratings kept the man in charge of all the revolvers busy, we picked out a lot of dandies. If he caught us we were ready. We had chits made out, i.e., “Please supply this rating with sidearms,” signed Captain P.T. Gear or Captain B.M. Lever, after the Breech Mechanism Lever on a large gun. (Page 36, "DAD, WELL DONE")

W. A. Fisher, the survivor mentioned above, was later sent to a Combined Operations training facility on Vancouver Island. After surviving two sinkings he was asked to help promote the purchase of Victory Bonds, like the sailor below.

More to follow from The Winnipeg Tribune.

Please link to Articles: Italy, Oct.2 - 6, 1943 - Pt 11.

Unattributed Photos GH