Photographs: Operation TORCH, North Africa, Nov. 1942 (IWM 1)

British and American Troops Land Together East of Algiers

Operation TORCH, the U.S. Entry into the Mediterranean War.

American troops of the 34th Infantry Division landing on the beaches

at Surcouf, twenty miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942. NA 30 

Photo Credit - Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Introduction:

The Imperial War Museum, home to 11,000,000 photographs, amongst a few other WWII items, is something like a giant maze. For example, when I start to explore a certain photographer's records, i.e., Sgt. C. Bowman's from Salerno, Sicily, Tunisia (240 pictures in all), it's not long before I learn another name and another name and another name after that, followed by another set of photos and then another set... until I'm either lost in wonder or awe, or really close to it.

About 10 - 20 per cent of the total number of Canadian sailors (RCNVR) who volunteered for Combined Operations during WWII found themselves participating in Allied landings in North Africa less than one year after enlisting. My father - from Norwich, Ontario - landed American troops at Arzew, east of Oran, and his mate Buryl landed U.S. and U.K. at Surcouf, east of Algiers, both beginning November 9, 1942 (about 3 months after the Dieppe Raid).

My father, Doug Harrison (left) and Buryl McIntyre, at HMCS Stadacona,

a month or two before before heading to the U.K. for training aboard LCAs

and LCMs. Fall, 1941. Photo - from the collection of Doug Harrison

American troops manning their landing craft assault from a doorway in

the side of the liner REINA DEL PACIFICO. Two of the landing craft are 

numbered LCA 428 and LCA 447. Photographer - Lt. F.A. Hudson

Credit - Imperial War Museum (IWM) A12647

In this blog post I share between 2 and 3 dozen photographs that capture a small part of the action related to D-Day North Africa. The photographer was Sergeant C. Bowman, of No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit. Photo Credits - Imperial War Museum (IWM). And because of IWM's online structure I quickly was introduced to many more photos than 2 - 3 dozen, by photographers Stubbs, Wackett and West. So, more to follow I bet.

Heading: THE OPERATION TORCH, NOVEMBER 1942

NA 17 American troops of the 34th Infantry Division and RAF Regiment

personnel disembarking from landing craft at the beach at Surcouf,

20 miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 18 American troops of the 34th Infantry Division driving away in

Jeeps after landing at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers,

9 November 1942

Map re Operation TORCH as found at Wikipedia 

NA 19 American troops of the 34th Infantry Division after landing at the

beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942. Note a M3

Gun Motor Carriage tank destroyer with a 75 mm anti-tank gun

NA 22 American troops of the 34th Infantry Division awaiting orders under

cover of date palms after landing at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east of

Algiers, 9 November 1942. 

NA 26 First French prisoners being escorted by troops of the US 34th

Infantry Division after Allied landing at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles

east of Algiers, 9 November 1942.

NA 27 Men of the Royal Air Force Regiment marching inland to take

possession of Maison Blanche airfield after landing at the beach at

Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 28 American troops of the 34th Infantry Division disembarking from

a landing craft (serial number 556) at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east

of Algiers, 9 November 1942. 

NA 29 American troops of the 34th Infantry Division disembarking

from a landing craft at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers,

9 November 1942. 

For context, a great many details from The Winnipeg Tribune related directly and indirectly to Operation TORCH can be found on this site, at this location.

A wee Combined Operation can be seen above, i.e., U.S. troops disembark

from British landing craft manned by Canadian volunteer members of

RCNVR and Combined Ops.

Caption with the above photo, as found at Imperial War Museum:

American troops landing on the beach at Arzeu, near Oran, from a

landing craft assault (LCA 26), some of them are carrying boxes of

supplies. Photo Credit - RN Photographer F. A. Hudson 

Photos taken by Sergeant C. Bowman, of No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section continue:

NA 30 American troops of the 34th Infantry Division landing on the

beaches at Surcouf, twenty miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942.

Operation Torch signalled the American entry into the Mediterranean

War. 1942-11-09 

NA 32 American troops of the US 34th Infantry Division manhandling

their artillery guns off the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, after

disembarking from a landing craft, 9 November 1942. One of the guns is

named "Slim's Deadly Poison". 

NA 33 One of the guns of the US 34th Infantry Division, named "Slim's

Deadly Poison", after disembarking at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east

of Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 34 American troops of the US 34th Infantry Division setting off

inland after disembarking at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east of

Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 36 Troops of a Royal Air Force regiment waiting to unload a truck

from the LCM 543 landing craft after disembarking at the beach at

Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942 

NA 37 Troops of the Royal Air Force Regiment waiting to unload a

truck from the LCM 543 landing craft after disembarking at the beach

at Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 46 Landing craft conveying American troops of the US 34th Infantry

Division and RAF personnel arriving at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles

east of Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 47 American troops of the US 34th Infantry Division guiding

approaching landing craft with a signalling device at the beach

at Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 48 A bulldozer assisting a 75 mm Gun Motor Carriage M3 tank

destroyer of the US 34th Infantry Division over the sand after landing

at the beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 49 A reconnaissance party of the Royal Air Force Regiment, led by

Captain P. R. Prior, questioning a local shepherd after landing at the

beach at Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, 9 November 1942 

NA 51 Troops of the RAF Regiment after landing at the beach at

Surcouf, 20 miles east of Algiers, early morning of 9 November 1942

NA 53 Arab boys watching American troops of the US 34th Infantry

Division disembarking from landing craft at the beach at Surcouf,

20 miles east of Algiers, early morning of 9 November 1942

NA 56 Sentry of the British 78th Infantry Division on duty at cross-

roads near Maison Blanche Aerodrome, Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 58 Troops of the RAF Regiment marching to Maison Blanche

Aerodrome, Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 61 Despatch riders of the British 78th Infantry Division with 

their BSA motorcycles in captured Algiers, 9 November 1942 

NA 63 Humber armoured cars of the British 78th Infantry Division

in the captured Algiers docks, 9 November 1942

NA 66 A Royal Navy troopship docking at captured Algiers, 9 Nov. 1942

NA 67 Troops of the US 34th Infantry Division disembarking from a

Royal Navy troopship docked at captured Algiers, 9 November 1942.

Note gunners of the British 78th Infantry Division setting up their

Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun in the foreground.

NA 68 A Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun of the British 78th Infantry

Division at the docks in captured Algiers, 9 November 1942

NA 69 Troops of the British 78th Infantry Division unloading supplies

and equipment from a troopship at the docks in captured Algiers,

9 November 1942

While accessing Sgt. C. Bowman's photos at IWM I found the process of collecting was getting easier by the minute (or half hour!). That being said, life for the photographer during WWII was not as easy. 

The last photo in this group is filed under the following heading - THE ALLIED OCCUPATION OF FRENCH NORTH AFRICA, 1942-1945

NA 166 A 250 kg bomb landed here, failed to explode and broke in half

during the enemy air raid in Allied-occupied Algiers, 21 Nov. 1942. One

of the halves landed alongside two British Army photographers, Sergeants

who were lying flat in the roadway; a remarkable escape for them.

Please click here to view an earlier post entitled Photographs re Combined Operations re the invasion of North Africa.

Unattributed Photos GH

Editor's Column: FAINT FOOTSTEPS, World War II (14)

The 'Queen of the Pacific', HMS Reina Del Pacifico

Favourite Ship of Many Tired Sailors During WWII

'HMS Reina Del Pacifico' transported U.S. troops to North Africa, 1942.

Four landing craft can be seen hanging from davits. Another is in the water

near the stern of the ship, alongside an open door - for exitting troops. Photo

by J. Hall at Gourock, Scotland. FL18191, Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Introduction:

In July, 2018, I received news that my columns would no longer be needed by The Norwich Gazette, my father's hometown weekly newspaper. It was closing its doors. I was very disappointed, I didn't think my columns were that bad!!

Now it is common knowledge that small- to medium-sized newspapers across the land are under threat from other forms of news media and that problem is not all my fault. So, I'm going to continue my series of short stories related to my father's Navy memoirs and the several submissions he made to The Gazette and a few other interested parties.

Questions, comments and related information re the 900 - 1,000 Canadian sailors that volunteered for Combined Operations (many manned landing crafts during the Dieppe Raid and Operations Torch, Husky, Baytown, Avalanche, and D-Day France) can be sent to Gord H. @ gordh7700@gmail.com

North Africa PT 3: A Big Tot of Rum on the 'Reina Del Pacifico'

("Getting There was Half the Fun")

American troops manning their landing craft assault from a doorway in the side of

HMS Reina Del Pacifico during Operation 'Torch', the Allied landings in N. Africa,

November 1942. Two of the landing craft are numbered LCA 428 and LCA 447.

Photo Credit: RN Photographer Lt. F. A. Hudson, A12647, Imperial War Museum

*I believe that my father is helping get his LCA (Landing Craft, Assault) into position to take on U.S. troops. It was work, work, and more work for the first four days (without rest) during his 11 days serving near Z Beach and Arzew.

* * * * *

"TORCH was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to begin their fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on a limited scale." Operation Torch, Wikipedia

* * * * *

"The six Flotillas of Canadian Landing Craft included in the forces which made the landings at Oran and Arzew (sic) had an easier time than expected; and their heaviest casualties occurred after all resistance was over, when the ships returning to England were torpedoed... The Canadian Landing Craft ferried in American and British troops almost without incident, although they were occasionally under sporadic fire from French ships and shore batteries. After the nervous initial stage was over, the men were inclined to make a picnic of the work. Nevertheless, at the conclusion of the landings it was reported that it had actually been difficult to get the men out of their craft to be relieved." Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, London, Canada. Page 69

* * * * *

My father, Doug Harrison, unloaded U.S. troops and their supplies at

Arzew, Z Beach, upper right. Map - Combined Operations, pg. 66

Arzeu and Z Beach are in the upper right side of the above map as well.

As found in The Campaign for North Africa by Jack Coggins

"Getting There was Half the Fun"

My father, Doug Harrison, writes about some of the difficulties associated with getting "the men out of their craft to be relieved" in his Navy memoirs (excerpts below from ("Dad, Well Done", pages 25 - 26):

"I worked 92 hours straight and I ate nothing except for some grapefruit juice I stole..." 

After the 92 hours my officer said, "Well done. An excellent job, Harrison. Go to Reina Del Pacifico and rest."

Such kind-hearted words must have been greatly appreciated, but before my father could gratefully comply a few "snipers in a train station" had to be eliminated. It was recorded that American gunners in a half-track flattened the station "to the ground level." Shortly thereafter (perhaps with the smell of fresh cordite still hanging in the air above Beach Z), my father made his way by landing craft - likely with all aboard feeling somewhat safer and more secure - to the side of the Reina Del. It was a very popular liner as far as some very tired Canadian sailors were concerned, and was stationed about a mile or two off shore. 

Once the small landing craft was positioned beside the resting hulk of the liner my father reached for a single fat rope dangling from far up over his head.

"I then had to climb hand over hand up a large hawser (braided rope) to reach the hand rail of Reina Del Pacifico and here my weakness showed itself. I got to the hand rail completely exhausted and couldn't let one hand go to grab the rail or I would have fallen forty feet into an LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanised) bobbing below."

Braided rope, aka hawser, found in front window of a lovely

building (below) at a Canadian Navy base. Photo GH

"Lovely building" on the grounds of CFB Esquimalt, British Columbia

Various types of braided ropes are still made inside. Photo GH

Are these called "fenders for large ships?" Made inside that

same building at Esquimalt, BC. Photo GH

Photographs found in England's Imperial War Museum reveal that U.S. troops exitted the Reina Del through an open door - with help from a rope ladder - situated no more than 8 - 9 feet  above a waiting LCA. No such short cut to the upper deck was available to Doug, but fortunately, an angel smiled in his direction when he reached the end of his rope. 

He writes, "I managed to nod my head at a cook in a Petty Officer's uniform and he hauled me in. My throat was so dry I only managed to say, Thanks, you saved my life."

Under the heading "getting there was half the fun," the better half of the fun associated with my father's journey to a ship he long-remembered* was about to begin. Though the Reina Del served in general as a troop ship from 1939 until 1946 as well as the floating HQ for a Senior Naval Officer of Landings in Sicily - less than a year after my father's visit (i.e., during Operation HUSKY beginning July, 1943) - it served up the best of hospitality for a particular worn-out young sailor.

Also in memoirs (written in the comfort of his own home during the early 1970's) my father recalls the following:

"The Reina was a ship purposely for fellows like me who were tired out, and I was fed everything good, given a big tot of rum and placed in a hammock. I slept the clock around twice - 24 hours - then went back to work."

(And after his work was completed...) "In seven days I went back aboard the Reina Del and headed for Gibraltar to regroup for the trip back to England." 

With a mind full of good memories about the Reina Del (good food, good rum, good hammocks) I bet my father was one the first to climb aboard whether by the side door or hawser.

More stories based on my father's 'Faint Footsteps' will soon follow.

*"long-remembered": Please click here to read a final article my father wrote in the 1990s - for his hometown newspaper - re Reina Del Pacifico, undoubtedly one of his favourite ships.

Please click here to read FAINT FOOTSTEPS, World War II, Part 13

Unattributed Photos GH

Remembrance Day: 80th Anniversary, Allied Invasion of North Africa (2)

Canadians Sailors Remember Operation TORCH, November 1942

Operation TORCH Attacked 'Soft Underbelly of Nazi Germany'

Seven Canadian sailors (RCNVR) who likely were all involved in the

invasion of N. Africa (Operation TORCH) beginning Nov. 8, 1942

Back row, L - R: Unknown, P. Bowers, Lloyd Evans*, Don Westbrook

Front L - R: Don Linder, Unknown, Doug Harrison w a smoke

[*From the collection of Lloyd Evans]

Introduction:

On Remembrance Day 2022 I am sharing information about Operation TORCH, the Allied invasion of North Africa, which involved the formation of largest armada of ships in history (to that date) upon the  Mediterranean Sea, with landings taking place in three locations (see map in Part 1), most taking place on November 8th and 11th at or near Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. 

Approximately 100 - 200 Canadian sailors, members of RCNVR and the Combined Operations organization, were sprinkled among crews of chiefly British flotillas of landing crafts at or near Oran and Algiers, my father and mates (as seen above) included.

It was my good fortune to meet Lloyd when he lived in Markham, Ontario, about two hours by car from my home in London. We exchanged printed copies of memoirs (his and my father's, both well written in my opinion) and WWII photographs in our possession (his outnumbered mine). A few paragraphs re my father's time in North Africa appear in Part 1 with more to follow, and two pages from Lloyd Evans' memoirs appear below:

North Africa - Algiers

Around November 1942, we went aboard the RFA Derwentdale, an oil tanker anchored off Gourock on the Clyde. With purpose built gantries, she could carry a dozen or more MLCs loaded with heavy equipment and launch them at a speed of about ten knots. My craft carried a large American Army truck and two American soldiers. We spent a day or more loading thousands of 5-gallon cans of high-octane aviation fuel into one of the ship's holds. This was hard, gruelling, smelly and monotonous work. We secured a rope around the cans, lowered them into the hold, removed the rope and stored the cans away. We could only spend a short time in the hold, because of the fumes. Surprisingly, feelings of nausea struck only when we climbed back onto the deck. The fresh air often made us throw up. When we reached our destination, the aviation fuel was to be transferred into the landing craft and taken ashore. It was to last until a port was captured with proper unloading facilities.

After inspection by several high-ranking officers, we set sail with a large convoy. The accommodation on board was totally inadequate, as the ship was not designed to handle all the landing craft crews and the American soldiers. All services were hard pressed to handle the extra people and, near the end of the trip, only half of the bread was useable after the blue mould was cut off! We always ate better during an invasion, as we took all the food ashore and made up for earlier deprivations. The two American truck drivers and I slept in their truck. At night the cold north Atlantic wind nearly froze us to death, even with all our clothes on and blankets on top. To confuse the enemy, we often sailed south at night and north during the day to waste time.

A few times we helped the merchant crew refuel some of our destroyer escorts at sea. The procedure was both dangerous and complex, especially in heavy seas. The crew of the destroyer shot a fine rope line over to our ship by means of a special rifle. We secured it to a much heaver line and this was pulled on board the destroyer by their crew. Finally the fuelling line itself was attached to the heavy duty rope, which, once again, the destroyer's crew pulled to their ship. The whole operation was much more impressive in the doing than in the telling.

One evening, the merchant crew held a little party for us in their mess. There was plenty of black humour around. One Scottish wit said, optimistically, that it wouldn’t be so crowded on the return trip and an old hand almost had us convinced that his duties included the watering of wreaths that were to be thrown over the side in memory of the dead!

One bright sunny day, around noon, we left the Atlantic Ocean and passed through the Straits of Gibraltar. Another large fast convey of troopships, battleships, cruisers, destroyers and motor launches split up around us and passed by at full speed. What a glorious sight it was. Our convoy then picked up to full speed and that night we anchored off the beach of the little town of Arzew in Algeria. This was on the eastern flank for the attack on Oran. We lowered the landing craft over the side, lined up in formation and headed for the beach. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the two American truck drivers when it was our turn to leave the ship. I had never driven a car, let alone a big army truck, but it looked as though I'd have to learn real quick, since there was nobody else!. I sure as hell hoped there wasn’t going to be too much enemy fire. Fortunately, we landed with no trouble and one of the beach party was able to drive the truck ashore after I managed to get it started. I wasn’t keen on hanging around a moment longer than was absolutely necessary, so made a quick turnaround!

It was reasonably quiet during the couple of weeks we were there - we were only strafed once by a Spitfire the French had captured. To the west of us, in Oran, there was more activity, where a large French battleship sunk a small American ship that had approached to invite its surrender. The battleship could have sunk almost the whole landing fleet but a RN battle cruiser was standing by for just such a possibility - a few broadsides could have put the French battleship guns out of action in seconds. No one had wanted this to happen but there was no alternative.

We spent the next week or so unloading troop ships, cargo ships and ammunition ships that had just come from the USA. Other than the RN and RCN naval personnel, this was strictly an American operation. It was strange for us to see the jeeps and trucks we took ashore loaded with cigarettes, gum and chocolate bars. One night, we had to make an emergency trip ashore with a load of Tommy gun ammo for an American group, who were almost surrounded by the French Foreign Legion and fast running out of ammo.

On our last night there, we pulled our craft alongside an R.N. Tank Landing Craft and went aboard for a visit. They had liberated wine casks from the thousands on the beach waiting to be shipped to France. The Americans had got into this stuff pretty heavy, so they put it under guard to stop any more drinking but a couple of the RN sailors had other ideas! They threw a hand grenade nearby and, when the American army guards went to see what was up, they rolled one of the casks on to the TLC and pulled away. In the dark, they fumbled around in a vain attempt to open the cask, so they just blew a hole in it with a .45. With the wine flowing freely, we used our tin helmets and drank our farewell to North Africa.

We sailed next morning for the return to Scotland aboard the troopship Reno del Pacifico (sic), an ex P&O liner. Not having fully recovered from the previous night's festivities, I was grateful to find it was calm. We stopped at Gibraltar to set up a convoy and to pick up a few R.N. men. Some of us chose to sleep on deck because of the risk of being torpedoed in the Atlantic approaches to the Straits of Gibraltar. I was bitching the next morning, because the RN boys paced the deck all night but calmed down when told that they had recently been torpedoed twice in the same night. Our convoy made it back without any trouble. On our return to the river Clyde, we were given leave ,which I spent in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The next few months were spent in training in the following ships and camps in England and Scotland; HMS Westcliff, Drake, Foliot,, Glengyle, Keren, Ulster Monarch and Rosneath.

My Naval Chronicle by Lloyd Evans

Interested readers can find all of Lloyd's memoirs at the following link to Combined Operations Command by Scotsman Geoff Slee. Mr. Slee did much typing and organizing of Lloyd's emails that contained his stories (leading to a self-published book, i.e., My Naval Chronicle), and it was through him I was able to make contact with Lloyd during the last two years of his life.

Both Lloyd and my father rose through the ranks, from Ordinary Seamen (OS), to Able-Bodied (AB), to Leading Seamen (LS) and Coxswain (aka "Cox'n") but I think their greatest accomplishment - apart from serving Canada steadfastly for four years during WWII - was to take time to write things down. After about two weeks in N. Africa they returned to the U.K. aboard the Reina Del Pacifico, and likely crossed paths a few more times before their next operation, i.e., HUSKY, the invasion of Sicily beginning in early July, 1943.

In closing, I share below a story my father wrote about the Reina Del Pacifico, first published in his hometown weekly newspaper (The Norwich Gazette) in the early 1990s:

REINA DEL PACIFICO SERVED WELL IN WAR YEARS

This is the story of a large passenger liner converted to a troop ship called the Reina Del Pacifico which carried 200 Canadian sailors and other personnel back to Liverpool, England after the invasion of North Africa, which started November 8th, 1942.

Buryl McIntyre and I were among the 200 sailors who had worked on our landing craft ferrying army supplies ashore night and day for about a week at a little town south of Oran named Arzew.

Doug Harrison (left) and Buryl McIntyre, RNCVR, from Norwich, Ont.

Outside Wellington barracks, at HMCS Stadacona, Halifax, N.S. 1941

During the invasion, the Reina Del had acted as a hospital ship which we Canadian sailors could go aboard when tired. We were given excellent food, excellent rum, help to tumble into a hammock where we remained horizontal for many hours. The Reina Del served as a passenger liner again for many years after the war but unfortunately burned about 1970.

Canadians in Combined Ops (dark uniforms) man landing crafts as U.S.

troops unload supplies. Arzew, N. Africa. Nov. 8, 1942. Photo - IWM

Approximately Nov. 14th, 1942 the dark green, two funnel Reina Del lay at anchor at Arzew, and those two funnels were active enough to indicate steam was being brewed in the engine rooms, and she was as anxious as the sailors to head for home. Our landing craft, one by one, manoeuvered to the gang-plank on the port side of the Reina Del and Canadian sailors waiting for the proper swell of the wave jumped to the gang-plank and hurried up the steps and went aboard through the large cargo door. Each one was checked off by name by a Canadian officer standing inside the cargo door, complete with clip-board. The landing craft were now manned by English sailors returning at a later date.

As my turn came to jump aboard the gang-plank, my eye spotted a large unexploded shell imbedded in the side of the ship not far from the officer’s head. I was very tired but not that tired, and inquired of the officer about the unexploded shell and he replied that the Captain had the shell examined and it was a dud. “I sure hope he is right because my mother will miss me, Mr. Wedd,” I said. (Canadian Navy Officer Andrew Wedd)

Mr. Wedd was dog-tired too and in no mood for an argument. “Your mother will miss you a lot more if you’re not aboard on the next swell, Harrison, because we are leaving. Do you hear me?” He added a bit more which couldn’t be printed and his ultimatum enabled me to time the swell of the next wave perfectly and I jumped to the gang-planks, and though tired, I found new energy at the cargo door and was soon amidships. The shell never exploded but it was sand-bagged and roped off.

It wasn’t long before the clank of the anchor cable could be heard in the hawse pipe. The anchors stowed, the gang-plank came on board and we were underway and in a few hours steaming at 27 knots (about 33 mph) we were safely inside the submarine nets at Gibraltar. In those few hours we organized bridge and crib tournaments.

The scene at Gibraltar was one of carnage, war at its worst. Nearby were destroyers which had been mauled by bomb and torpedoes, with gaping holes in their sides and deck plating, and some of the large guns were bent and pointed at bizarre angles.

H.M.C.S.: One Photographer's Impressions, WWII... Page 64

Photo Credit - Royal Canadian Navy Photographer Gilbert A. Milne

Doug Harrison's story from The Norwich Gazette continues:

Miraculously they floated with pride and here and there steam came from the odd funnel. We thought of what the crews had been through and the fire and heat that had buckled the plates, how anyone could have survived. But Malta had to be fed.

Aboard the Reina Del at Gibraltar the Captain advised us to sleep up top under cover at night and those Canadian sailors who were not taking part in the tournaments became look-outs as we sailed west into the Atlantic alone.

Naval tradition prevailed aboard the ship and at 11 o’clock each morning we were given a tot of navy rum which we didn’t have to drink under the watchful eye of some Chief Petty Officer. Buryl McIntyre and I were partners at bridge; we received good cards and placed second in the tournament; there being no main prize it was agreed that whichever team won the rubber of bridge also won their opponents’ tot of rum. Buryl and I slept quite well most nights, but with one eye open and one arm through our Mae West life jackets. Each ship has its own peculiar quirks and sounds; it is the unusual sound that brings sailors awake.

The Captain wished to miss the Bay of Biscay and as we skirted the western edge heading north we ran into a severe electrical storm. Standing well inboard under cover we witnessed the worst electrical display of our lives. Also, it seemed to rain so hard it pounded the sea flat. The ship retained good speed throughout and reached Liverpool safely in about four days.

Liverpool, such a friendly city, has welcomed sailors for centuries and we went ashore soon after our arrival to a seaman’s home, a large, warm, clean barrack-like building with good food, showers, and cots with white sheets and pillow cases. Heaven! Soon mail arrived and I can still see myself and my friends discarding our boots and stretching out on the cots to read the latest from home. Everything went quiet until someone shouted, “Hey guys, get a load of this!”

“Pipe down!” The old familiar phrase. “Read it to us later!”

We shared our parcels with anyone who may have missed out and showed new photos all around. Although we had shore leave, many chose to stay where we were, get some rest, and write some letters home.

We did not see the Reina Del Pacifico again. One evening she slipped quietly away, but I for one have never forgotten her, our home for a few short days.

"Dad, Well Done" Pages 89 - 91

Reina Del Pacifico, 'Underway'. Photo by J. Hall, Gourock, Scotland

As found at Imperial War Museum, FL18191

Interested readers can read Doug Harrison's memoirs here.

Please click here to view more about Operation TORCH, the invasion of North Africa, at Remembrance Day: 80th Anniversary, Allied Invasion of North Africa (1)

Interested readers can also link to all of the information (i.e., photographs, news articles, etc.) I have compiled thus far on "1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories" related to the Allies in North Africa here.

Lest We Forget

Unattributed Photos GH

Remembrance Day: 80th Anniversary, Allied Invasion of North Africa (1)

Operation Torch: N. Africa Invaded Beginning November 8, 1942 

Canadian Sailors Landed U.K. and U.S. Troops in Landing Crafts

American troops landing on the beach at Arzeu, near Oran, from a landing

craft assault (LCA 426), some of them are carrying boxes of supplies. 

RN Photographer Lt. F.A. Hudson, A12649 Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Introduction:

Remembrance Day 2022 approaches quickly. And during WWII, also in the month of November, Allied forces combined to land thousands of troops in three general areas along the shores of North Africa, beginning November 8, 1942, eighty years ago from this date.

Canadian sailors (RCNVR) were members of the Center and Eastern Task Forces

More information, incl. above map, re Operation Torch, link to Wikipedia here

As we remember all those who served amongst Allied Forces during WWII, I would like to shine a light on the significant role of a relatively small number of Canadian sailors who not only volunteered for the RCNVR in the summer of 1941, but, shortly thereafter, also for Combined Operations (aka Combined Ops, a British organization).

Under the command of Combined Ops they accepted "dangerous duties overseas" and helped fill the need to man small, swift landing craft, to transport troops and all the materials of war to foreign beaches, from Dieppe (Operation JUBILEE, August 19, 1942) to Normandy, France (Operation NEPTUNE, beginning June 6, 1944).

Below I will share a few details related to Operation TORCH, my father's first serious action. He was one of the 50 - 60 members of the Effingham Division - RCNVR, HMCS Stadacona, Halifax - and amongst the first draft of Canadian sailors to join Combined Operations in November, 1941. Though they all trained for the Dieppe raid a few months after arriving in the U.K. in January, 1942, some were put on leave on that fateful day, my father included.

The Effingham Division, "almost to the man", volunteered for Combined Ops

The sailors left for the U.K. for training aboard landing crafts in Jan. 1942

Photo - from the collection of Doug Harrison, taken December, 1941

That being said, over the course of the remainder of WWII, a total of about 950 - 1,000 other members of RCNVR (about one per cent of the 95 - 100,000 Canadians who joined the Canadian Navy during WWII), were eye witnesses (front row seats!) to most of the major Allied operations, including Operation TORCH (beginning Nov. 8, 1942), HUSKY (the invasion of Sicily beginning July 10, 1943; about which a sailor on my father's landing craft, after getting attacked by the German Luftwaffe every two hours during the first three days, proclaimed while hiding under a winch, "Dieppe was never like this!"), BAYTOWN (the invasion of Italy, on 'the toe of the boot', beginning Sept. 3, 1943), AVALANCHE (the invasion of Italy at Salerno, on the shin of the boot, beginning Sept. 9, 1943), and finally NEPTUNE (Neptune was the Navy's role in Operation OVERLORD, the invasion of France, beginning June 6, 1944).

I would say the 1,000 sailors who are the chief subject of '1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories' kept busy. 

And now, about TORCH:

In the book Assault Landing Craft: Design, Construction and Operations by Brian Lavery, we read the following about the invasion of North Africa:

As the Vichy forces finally surrendered on Madagascar on 5 November, several huge convoys were approaching the coast of North Africa, for the Americans were about to land near Casablanca and at Safi, and the British inside the Mediterranean at Algiers and Oran. It was the largest operation mounted so far and the training camps had been emptied as partly trained crews were embarked in LSIs (Landing Ships, Infantry).

The Combined Operations Organisation was under considerable strain as the demands increased. Fifteen LSIs had been originally requested  for the operation, twenty-five eventually sailed. The planners had asked for 91 LCAs (Landing Craft, Assault) with their crews, but now they needed 140. Page 102

My father, heading toward Arzeu in a troopship - with landing crafts hanging from davits - just east of Oran (one of the Central Task Force's destinations) writes the following in memoirs:

After Dieppe we regrouped and went back to H.M.S. Quebec for further training, this time on LCMs or Landing Craft Mobile or Mechanized. H.M.S. Quebec was in Scotland on Loch Fyne... My group went through much more training at H.M.S. Quebec and then we entrained for Liverpool. Prominent pub was The Crown in Wallasey. We left Greenock in October, 1942 with our LCMs (Landing Craft, Mechanized) aboard a ship called Derwentdale, sister ship to Ennerdale. She was an oil tanker and the food was short and the mess decks where we ate were full of eighteen inch oil pipes. The 80th and 81st flotillas, as we are now called, were split between the Derwentdale and Ennerdale in convoy, and little did we know we were bound for North Africa.

RFA Derwentdale, 'At Anchor'. Photo by J. Hall, Gourock, Scotland

As found at Imperial War Museum FL 11110

We had American soldiers aboard and an Italian in our mess who had been a cook before the war. He drew our daily rations and prepared the meal (dinner) and had it cooked in the ship’s galley. He had the ability to make a little food go a long way and saved us from starvation. Supper I can’t remember, but I know the bread was moldy and if the ship’s crew hadn’t handed us out bread we would have been worse off.

We used to semaphore with flags to the Ennerdale to see how they were eating; they were eating steak. One of the crew cheered us up and said, “Never mind, boys. There will be more food going back. There won’t be as many of us left after the invasion.” Cheerful fellow. However, we returned aboard another ship to England, the Reina Del Pacifico, a passenger liner, and we nicknamed the Derwentdale the H.M.S. Starvation.

In the convoy close to us was a converted merchant ship which was now an air craft carrier. They had a relatively short deck for taking off, and one day when they were practicing taking off and landing a Swordfish aircraft failed to get up enough speed and rolled off the stern and, along with the pilot, disappeared immediately. No effort was made to search, we just kept on.

One November morning the huge convoy, perhaps 500 ships, entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar. It was a nice sun-shiny day... what a sight to behold. "Dad, Well Done". Pages 23 - 24

Related Photos:

In the distance a destroyer is laying a smoke screen round one of the transports

off Oran. Two landing craft assault and one landing craft personnel (ramped) can

be seen in the foreground they are LCA 85, LCA 394 and LCP (R) 838.

 Photo Credit - RN Photographer Lt. J.E. Russell. A12633 (IWM)

A destroyer laying a smoke screen round one of the transports off Oran.

Photo - RN Photogr. Lt. J.E. Russell. A12634 Imperial War Museum

North African Operations. Britain's Royal Navy had a major role in the world's greatest combined operation when the 500 ship convoy safely transported Allied troops to French North Africa, where simultaneous landings were made at strategic points. November 1942. Link to IWM Photos, approx. 11,000,000 : )

An Auxiliary aircraft carrier escorting the convoy.

RN Photographer Lt. L. Pelman A12711 (IWM)

HMS ARGUS operating off the North African coast during combined operations

for the 'Torch' landings. RN Photographer Lt. R.G.G. Coote. A12882 IWM

Excerpt from Brian Lavery's Assault Landing Craft continues:

The lack of training showed and several of the LCA flotillas got into difficulties. Off Algiers there was a westerly current that caused many landing ships and craft to arrive in the wrong place. Fortunately there was little resistance from the Vichy French. The three landings in the Oran area had similar difficulties. West of the town, Queen Emma's and Princess Beatrix's ten LCAs formed only a small part of the total of thirty-nine craft, which were mostly LCP and LCMs...

The troops from Monarch of Bermuda were embarked via ladders (Editor: see photograph below), the rungs of which turned out to be too far apart. This caused delay so that the LCAs from her and Glengyle landed sixteen minutes late*, and the LCMs grounded on undiscovered sandbars offshore**.

American troops manning their landing craft assault from a doorway in the side

of the liner REINA DEL PACIFICO. Two of the landing craft are numbered LCA

428 and LCA 447. Photo - RN Lt. F.A. Hudson, A12647 Imperial War Museum

The third landing, east of Oran, was much larger and involved 29,000 troops, 2400 vehicles and eight LSIs plus the LCM carrier Derwentdale***. It deployed eighty-five landing craft, of which sixty-eight were LCAs and three were LCSs. The first flight of assault craft heading for Z Green beach lost cohesion despite being led in by a motor launch - the first of its craft landed twelve minutes before H-hour, the last landed ten minutes after...

Pages 102 - 104

*sixteen minutes late - that's not bad compared to my father's tale (below)

**undiscovered sandbars - my father actually discovered one!

***LCM carrier Derwentdale - my father came from England aboard this ship, but he liked Reina Del Pacifico better, I bet. Supporting details to follow.

About the landings east of the town of Oran, near Arzeu, and during the same time period, my father writes:

On November 11, 1942 the Derwentdale dropped anchor off Arzew (sic) in North Africa and different ships were distributed at different intervals along the vast coast. My LCM (landing craft, mechanised) had the leading officer aboard, another seaman besides me, along with a stoker and Coxswain. 

At around midnight over the sides went the LCMs, ours with a bulldozer and heavy mesh wire, and about 500 feet from shore we ran aground. When morning came we were still there, as big as life and all alone, while everyone else was working like bees.

There was little or no resistance, only snipers, and I kept behind the bulldozer blade when they opened up at us. We were towed off eventually and landed in another spot, and once the bulldozer was unloaded the shuttle service began. For ‘ship to shore’ service we were loaded with five gallon jerry cans of gasoline. I worked 92 hours straight and I ate nothing except for some grapefruit juice I stole.

Doug Harrison (centre) watches as troops and ammunition come ashore

on LCAs at Arzeu in Algeria during Operation 'Torch', November 1942.

Photo credit - RN Photographer Lt. F. A. Hudson A12671 (IWM)

Our Coxswain was L/S Jack Dean of Toronto and our officer was Lt. McDonald, RNVR. After the 92 hours my officer said, “Well done. An excellent job, Harrison. Go to Reina Del Pacifico and rest.” 

But first the Americans brought in a half track (they found out snipers were in a train station) and shelled the building to the ground level. No more snipers. "Dad, Well Done" Page 25

Brian Lavery's last line about North Africa in his book Assault Landing Craft reveals that two men in the same harbour (i.e., at Arzeu), perhaps on different days or a mile apart - can have radically different experiences:

"Again there was no opposition (re three LCAs "making for Arzou (sic) harbour"), which was fortunate. Oran surrendered fifty-nine hours after the invasion began." Page 105

My father mentions snipers, and hiding behind a "bulldozer blade when they opened up at us."

But 'all's well that ends well.' After about four straight days of 'ship to shore' - surviving on stolen grapefruit juice - he was given leave to visit the Reina Del:

I then had to climb hand over hand up a large hawser (braided rope) to reach the hand rail of Reina Del Pacifico and here my weakness showed itself.

I got to the hand rail completely exhausted and couldn’t let one hand go to grab the rail or I would have fallen forty feet into an LCM bobbing below. I managed to nod my head at a cook in a Petty Officer’s uniform and he hauled me in. My throat was so dry I only managed to say, “Thanks, you saved my life.”

The Reina was a ship purposely for fellows like me who were tired out, and I was fed everything good, given a big tot of rum and placed in a hammock. I slept the clock around twice - 24 hours - then went back to work.

In seven days I went back aboard the Reina Del and headed for Gibraltar to regroup for the trip back to England. During the trip I noticed the ship carried an unexploded three inch shell in her side all the way back to England. "Dad, Well Done" Pages 25 - 26

In memoirs, my father thanked his Maker for getting him home safely from operations, in this case Operation TORCH, November 1942, 80 years ago this week. And his time of service in North Africa ('ship to shore,' 11 days) was not the first or the last time he expressed his gratitude or sang a hymn of thankfulness that his mother Alice had taught him as a child. 

The damage to MV LLANGIBBY CASTLE from an 8" shell. North Africa

Photo Credit: Royal Navy Official Photographer - Russell, J E (Lt)

© Imperial War Museum (IWM) A12646

I think he and his 1,000 Canadian mates (approx.) in RCNVR and Combined Operations had good cause to be thankful many times over their four years of transporting troops and all the materials of war in small crafts, 'ship to shore' (from Dieppe, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and more, to D-Day Normandy), often under heavy, merciless fire.

Lest We Forget

More information, in Part 2, will follow.

Please click here to view earlier posts about Operation TORCH.

Unattributed Photos GH