Trawlers, Drifters and Tugs: the small ships of WW2

Aside from Battleships, Aircraft Carriers and the like, a huge range of smaller ships also served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. Perhaps not as glamorous as the big guns ships, never the less the Trawlers, Drifters, Tugs and other small ships gave sterling service in many theatres. Some were Navy ships, but most were requisitioned merchant vessels that served under Naval orders during the war.

Small vessels maintained boom defences around vital ports. In the Solent an anti-submarine boom stretched from Southsea Beach, across the Solent to the Isle of Wight. On 30 May 1940 HM Boom Defence Vessel Cambrian, 338 tons and built in 1924, hit a mine and sank in the middle of the Solent and 23 men were killed. Onboard was Riggers Mate Robert Lavender, 41 and from Buckland. He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. I recall fishing on the wreck of the Cambrian some years ago, and catching some nice Wrasse.

Meanwhile an armada of small ships were rescuing the British Army from Dunkirk. HM Tug St Fagan was sunk by aircraft on 1 June 1940. The St Fagan displaced 550 tons and was completed in 1919. Among the 17 crew members killed were Stoker Frederick Hatch, 22, Stoker Bernard McBride, 40 and from Hilsea, Leading Steward William Longley, 44, and Stoker William Clark, 22 and from Milton. They have no known grave and are remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. On the same day her sister ship HM Tug St Abbs was also sunk by German aircraft. Able Seaman William Cornford, 41 and from Cosham, was among the 20 crew members killed. He is also remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

The Navy also used Trawlers to perform a number of tasks, including minesweeping and coastal patrols. A 344 ton ship launched in 1938, HM Trawler Recoil was lost on patrol presumed mined in the English Channel on 28 September 1940. 25 men were lost, One of them Ordinary Telegraphist Hubert Ewen, 22 and from Surrey. He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

HM Drifter Harvest Gleaner (96 tons, 1918) was sunk by aircraft off the East coast of England on 28 October 1940 with the loss of four of her crew. Among those lost was Petty Officer Stoker Seymour Stephenson, 46 and from Eastney. He is remembered on the Lowestoft Naval Memorial.

Smaller ships also served in the Mediterranean and off North Africa. HM Trawler Ouse struck a mine off Tobruk, Libya on 20 February 1941, with the loss of 13 men. She weighed in at 462 tons, and was completed in 1917. Onboard when she sank was Petty Officer Stoker William Horsley, 40 and from Copnor. He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. HM Tug St Issey was sunk off Benghazi, Libya on 28 December 1942. 810 tons and completed in 1918, she was presumed to have been sunk by a U-Boat. Among the 36 men lost was Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Keith Hollis, from Southsea. He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

HM Trawler Red Gauntlet (338 tons, 1930) met an unfortunate end in the North Sea on 5 August 1943. She was sunk by an E-Boat, the German equivalent of a Motor Torpedo Boat. 21 men were lost. Her Second Lieutenant was 32 year old James Childs, an officer of the Royal Naval Reserve. He was a former pupil of Portsmouth Grammar School, and from Southsea. He is remembered on the Lowestoft Naval Memorial.

During the D-Day campaign small ships played a vital part. Ships that were employed on minesweeping duties were particularly vulnerable. HM Trawler Lord Austin (473 tons, 1937) was sunk by a mine in the Seine Bay off Normandy on 24 June 1944, with the loss of 7 of her crew. Her Assistant Steward was 35 year old John Cotterell. He is remembered on the Lowestoft Naval Memorial.

Operation Bluecoat: Over the Battlefield by Ian Daglish

Operation Bluecoat is perhaps one of the least well known offensives of the Battle for Normandy, and has often been overshadowed by its earlier cousins Epsom and Goodwood. This is largely due to the myth that Monty failed in Normandy, and that the US Army had to bail out the British (an argument made principally by Carlo D’Este). This argument takes no account of the fact that Goodwood and Epsom, whilst not making a decisive breakout, ground down the German forces to such an extent that a breakout further west was made possible. The myth that British forces in Normandy became bogged down and had to be rescued by th American breakout that still pervades in many quarters. It is an argument that promises to rumble on for years to come.

Whatever the argument, it is clear that Bluecoat has been somewhat overlooked. The British advance to seize Mont Pincon and the key road junction at Vire led to the ecirclement of German forces in the Falaise Pocket. If the northern boundary of the Falaise pocket had not been formed, then more Geman forces would have escaped to fight another day. Hopefully this book by Ian Daglish wil play a part in helping redress the balance. I have found it very enjoyable, readable and most informative.

This book is most timely, as a number of Portsmouth men died in the battle for Mont Pincon. The 7th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment was a part of the 43rd (Wessex Division) that was at the forefront of Bluecoat. Private William White, 30 and from Eastney, was killed on 2 August 1944, the first day of Bluecoat. He is buried in Hottot-les-Bagues War Cemetery. Private Stanley Anslow, 27, was killed on 6 August 1944 – the day that Mont Pincon was captured – and is buried in Hottot-le-Bagues War Cemetery. Private Percy Hayter, 30 and from Southsea, was also on 7 August. He is buried n Bannevile-le-Campage War Cemetery. Books such as this make it so much easier for these men’s stories to be told.

The Over the Battlefield series is an innovative concept, drawing on aerial recconaisance photographs taken during the battle complemented with contemporary photographs. Given the popularity of GoogleEarth the use of overhead views is most welcome. Especially with a complex battlefield such as that found in Normandy, Over the Battlefield helps the reader to ‘smell the battlefield’. I for one hope that there are plenty more books to come in this vein – an edition on the Battle of Arnhem would be fascinating.

Operation Bluecoat: Over the Battlefied is published by Pen and Sword

Over the Battlefield: Operation Goodwood by Ian Daglish

After the end of Epsom the front in Normandy solidified, with the British and Canadians being held on the outskirts of Caen while the Americans cleared the Cotentin Pensinsula. Becoming bogged down was a serious fear, particularly among aggressive american commanders and British officers fearing a return to trench warfare. After Epsom ground to a halt and Caen was captured, the next logical step was to attack from the west and consolidate the possession of Caen.

Goodwood has remained one of the most contentious battles of the Second World War. Alongside Arnhem it is probably the one battle that fuels Montgomery’s detractors. The certainly have a point – the use of three armoured divisions in a concerted operation must surely have been aiming for some kind of breakthrough. Monty probably made a rod for his own back by suggesting that Goodwood might lead to a breakout in the direction of Falaise. His orders for the operation merely hinted at this as a possibility, not a certainty. Yet Eisenhower and Tedder seem to have taken it as a given.

It was a logistical achievement just to get the Guards, 7th and 11th Armoured Divisions – over 45,000 men and over 10,000 vehicles – across into the cramped Orne Bridgehead in the first place, a fact which is often ignored. Also, it is unrealistic to view operations in isolation – they were all clearly part of a wider campaign. On their own Epsom and Goodwood might have been disappointing, but seen together they resulted in the capture of Caen and its consolidation. And as Daglish points out, the Germans were very well prepared in defence east of Caen.

The other contentious point surrounding Goodwood is the use of Heavy Bombers in the opening stage. The intention was to ‘soften up’ the German front line to aid an armoured breakthrough. Over 900 British Bombers bombed in daylight on 18 July, shortly followed by their American counterparts. The use of heavy bombers to directly support operations had never been tried before. The shock was numbing, but it also gave away the element of surprise.

An advance of five miles certainly seems scant reward for the use of three Armoured Divisions and thousands of heavy bombers. But the battle had made a huge dent in the Germans ability to hold the line in Normandy. Goodwood is a very difficult battle to get a handle on due to the cotrovresy surrunding it, but the use of aerial photos iluminates a murky history. Scenes of massed tanks and bomb craters give us such a better impression than a map. The attack eventually petered out due to congestion, poor weather and stiff german resistance, and was halted on 20 July.

British losses were heavy, amongst them several Portsmouth men. Flight Sergeant Kenneth Meehan, 20 and from North End, was a Navigator in a 158 Squadron Halifax Bomber that crashed while bombing the German lines on 18 July 1944. He is buried in Banneville la Campagne War Cemetery.

The principal stated goal of Goodwood, as Daglish points out from the start, was to tie up Panzer Divisions in the East. Yet Monty let himself down by allowing his equals and superior to hope for too much. He woud have done far better to accept that he was acting flexibly than to insist that everything went exactly to plan. Personally, I feel that a breakout from Goowood would have over-extended the allied eastern flank and left the bridgehead imblanced – completely out of character for Monty.

Next: we take a look at Operation Bluecoat, the succesful British breakout in Normandy.

Over the Battlefield: Operation Goodwood is published by Pen and Sword

Operation Epsom: Over the Battlefield by Ian Daglish

Courtesy of Pen and Sword, over the next few days I will be bringing you reviews of the first three books in their innovative new series ‘Over the Battlefield’. Here is my taken on the first instalment, which focuses on Operation Epsom.

Operation Epson was the first of three set-piece battles fought by Montgomery in Normandy. Before Epsom the front still remained fluid, and there were hopes that the allies might be able to extend the beachead further. There was even talk of dropping the 1st Airborne Division west of Caen in support.

But at the same time, there was also a risk that the Germans might also launch a decisive counter-attack against the allied build-up. Although Epsom was blunted, it also prevented a planned German operation and ensured that from then on the strategic initiative remained with the allies.

Epsom saw largely well-trained but inexperienced British Divisions fighting against some of the Third Reich’s most battle-hardened units. Thanks to ULTRA intelligence Montgomery was aware that Rommel was planning an offensive towards Bayeux – by launching Epsom Rommel was frorced to cancel his thrust for Bayeux.

This book tells the story of Epsom in wonderful detail. I am very impressed with the use of aerial recconaisance photographs, and combined with period maps and location photographs, the combination of sources means that you can almost locate yourself in the action and ‘smell the battlefield’. These books are almost the military historians equivalent of Google Earth – they would make a fantastic addition to your luggage if you’re planning on walking the Battlefields of Normandy. Daglish has plotted the movements of units down to Company level, which is refreshing considering that most books on Normandy concentrate on Armies, Corps and Divisions.

Here Ian Daglish introduces new unseen evidence to analyse Epsom. The battle is routinely cited alongside Goodwood as evidence of ‘Monty’s failure’ in Normandy. Whilst neither battle went exactly to plan, what military plan ever does? Particularly with Epsom, the situation was very fluid indeed. Although the outcome of the battle itself was indecisive, this was acceptable for the allies, who could carry on ther build-up, whilst the Germans, under pressure to throw the Allies back into the sea, were ground down more and more. That it made a German counter-offensive less likely seems to be forgotten. Outflanking Caen would have been great, but to call Epsom a disaster, as some do, is ridiculous. In particular historians such as Carlo D’Este and Max Hastings are critical, yet D’Este’s opinions are partisan and Hasting’s are part of a wider intention to denigate Montgomery.

But Ian Daglish focuses on the men who fought the battle, and I think this approach adds much more to our understanding of the battle for Normandy than any tired ‘tit-for-tat’ arguments about Montgomery.

My research has identified several Portsmouth men who were killed during Epsom: Sergeant Leslie Scott, 25 and from Eastney, was killed serving with the 23rd Hussars on 27 June 1944. He was most likely killed in the tank fighting south of Cheux, and may have met a grisly end as he has no known grave and is remembered on the Bayeux Memorial. And Captain George Hendry, 27 and from Southsea, was killed serving with the 7th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders on 29 June 1944. Daglish tells us that Hendry was last seen stalking Tanks with a PIAT when the Germans made a strong counter-attack aiming to cut off the allied advance near Cheux. He is buried in St Manvieu War Cemetery.

Next:Now that the Allied Bridgehead was left with a salient pointing out to the west of Caen, the next logical step was to attempt to outflank Caen to the east from the Orne bridgehead.

Operation Epsom: Over the Battlefield is published by Pen and Sword

Portsmouth war dead project: News

I’ve now finished processing the list of Portsmouth’s World War Two Dead from the list on Portsmouth City Council’s website. Each name has been inputted into a database, along with their details from the Commonwealth War Graves online roll of honour. I have also done a lot of research on each person, using websites such as lostbombers, Far East Prisoners of War, RAF Web and Naval History.net.

I’ve managed to find some fascinating stories, which I have written about on my blog over the past few months. Stories of heroic deeds, medals, families, young and old, men and women, rich and poor. Men who have no grave, who are buried in Portsmouth, or who died far away from home. Men who died in famous battles, and men buried in cemeteries long forgotten. Men who served on the sea, on land and in the air. From all corners of Portsmouth.

There are a total of 2,023 names in the list. 1,027 in the Royal Navy, 539 from the Army, 319 from the Royal Air Force, 84 in the Royal Marines, 35 in the Merchant Navy and 11 in the NAAFI.

From Ordinary Seaman to Admiral of the Fleet, Private to Lieutenant Colonel, and Aircraftman 1st Class to Wing Commander. Youngest 16, oldest 73.

82 men died on HMS Hood, 60 on HMS Royal Oak, and 43 on HMS Barham. 12 Died on D-Day.

2 George Crosses, 5 BEM, 2 CBE, 1 Cross of St George (Russia), 1 DCM, 9 DFC, 5 DFM, 4 DSC, 1 DSC and Bar, 2 DSO, 5 MBE, 1 MC, 3 OBE, 35 Mentions in Dispatches and 32 DSM and 2 DSM and Bar.

113 are buried in France, 60 in Germany, 102 in Italy, 128 in the Far East and 100 in North Africa. 632 are remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Southsea Common. 147 are buried in Milton Cemetery, 96 in Kingston Cemetery, and 35 in Highland Cemetery. To put that in perspective, more are buried in Milton Cemetery alone than are buried in France.

I have found some amazing stories – the Chindit, the 16 year old Para, the two brothers who died on the same plane, the submariners, the Paras, Prisoners of War, the Bomber Crew, Engineers, Sappers, Gunners, Ground Crew… all manner of men and women, of all ages, from all parts of Portsmouth, and from all walks of life. I guess the moral of this story is that war, and death, knows no distinction. Like the gravestones in War Cemeteries – all the same, row upon row.

This list was generated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for the Council, in order to compile a list of names for the proposed WW2 memorial in Guildhall Square. It is clearly far from complete, however. There are many names on local war memorials that do not feature in the list and will require some further research. Also, using Geoff’s WW2 search engine has already helped me identify that there are many people who’s location is given as ‘Fratton’, and not ‘Portsmouth’, for example, and hence may have slipped the net.

So, the project is far from completed. The names that are inputted still require a lot of research, and there are potentially hundreds of other names that can be added to the list. I’m already starting to think about what to do with my findings – clearly, such a database does need to be available to the general public. I especially hope that young people may be able to use it for school projects and such like. The statistics should be able to tell us so much. I also have plenty of ideas for a website including pictures of each grave, so families may even be able to find pictures of the last resting place of their loved ones.

Artificial harbours for disaster relief?

Vehicles coming ashore at the Mulberry Harbour

I’ve just read a very interesting article on Think Defence about the relief effort in Haiti after the devestating earthquake there. It has strong historical echoes, so I thought I would sumarise it and add my own thoughts here.

The news channels are full of stories about how Foreign Governments and Non-Governmental Agencies are struggling to get aid into the country. Aside from security the problem appears to be that with no suitable port, and the one airport overwhelmed, there is no way to get aid into the country. The US Air Force has even resorted to air dropping supplies into Haiti by parachute, which is surely an option of last resort. This inability to get aid onto an island is all the more puzzling, as the US Navy and Marine Corps between them have awesome amphibious assets.

Lets take a look at another situation. Long before D-Day, the planning team putting together the plan for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe, had to ponder the problem of getting sufficient supplies into the beachead. It would be too risky to attack a port right away – ports are usually heavily defended, and capturing one would be a bloody business. The Germans were likely to render any ports useless anyway. But supplies had to be got onshore, or the offensive risked being bogged down in stalemate.

The solution? Build a new port. A team in British Combined Operations put together a plan to construct two working ports off the Normandy coast. After extensive trials in England, a blueprint was drawn up for each port to be bigger than the port of Dover. Floating Breakwaters were created to form an outer line of sea defence, and inside these old ships were sunk as blockships. 146 Concrete Caissons were assembled to form the harbour itself. Inside this the pierhead and roadways were built.

Construction began in the early hours of 7 June (D+1), and by D+8 the Mulberry harbours were operational. Unfortunately the harbour off the American beaches was completely wrecked in a severe storm on 19 June. The British Mulberry landed around 9,000 tons of supplies until the end of August when Cherbourg finally became available. Albert Speer, the Nazi Germany Armaments Minister, cited the Mulberry Harbour as the chief reason why the Allies were able to breach the fabled Atlantic Wall.

It was known at the time that the American commanders were less than keen on the Mulberry Harbours, similar to their ambivalent attitude towards the specialist ‘Hobarts Funnies’ amphibious tanks. But since the concept of a mobile, quickly assembled harbour proved so useful in 1944, how come no capability exists for doing something similar nowadays? The inability to get supplies ashore during an amphibious assault would be bound to limit options that any planners have. Modern amphibious forces only seem to have an ability to transfer stores from sea to land by landing craft, powered pontoons or by helicopter. But what if ships could dock directly in a harbour, and supplies could then be driven onto shore? Such a system could be made modular, so the port could be built as large or as small as needed.

Time and time again ideas that have proven useful in history are forgotten or discarded. The famous Bailey Bridge concept was quickly resurrected last year when floods hit Cumbria and swept away a number of Bridges. Maybe new technology emerges, but surely the same requirements exist – to cross a water obstacle, for example, or to create a port quickly?

Maybe Armed Forces consider that the Mulberry is an old concept that had its day in 1944, but that there is no need for it in the modern world. I don’t know. But I think looking at its performance in 1944, the concept still has a lot to offer. Not only could it have aided in getting supplies into the country quickly, it might have had a longer term legacy for developing what is a pretty poor country.

Lance Corporal Leslie Webb MM

Troops coming ashore at Gold Beach on D-Day

Lance Corporal Leslie Webb, 27 and from North End, was serving in D Company of the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the 1st Hampshire landed at 0725 in the first wave on Gold Beach at Arromanches. They came under heavy fire and lost their Commanding Officer and Second-in-Command within minutes of landing.

Yet in the confusion the long and thorough training of the men seems to have held out. In an assault to capture Le Hamel, on the flank of Gold Beach, D Company found themselves pinned down. Lance Corporal Webb managed to move his men forward, and was seriously wounded while going to receive orders from his Platoon Commander. The Battalion suffered 64 men killed on D-Day alone, including many officers.

For his bravery on D-Day Lance Corporal Webb was reccomended for the Military Medal:

At Le Hamel on 6 June 44, during an attack on an enemy position by D Coy, the Company came under heavy enemy fire and found movement forward impossible.

L/Cpl Webb, showing complete disregard for his personal safety, repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire in order to move his men forward. In full view of the enemy he went to get orders from his Pl Cmd, and was seriously wounded, but his courage and bravery were such an inspiration to all that the Pl went forward again and seized its objective.

Webb was evacuated back to England, but sadly died on 14 June 1944. He is buried in Milton Cemetery. His Military Medal was announced in the London Gazette on 25 September 1944.