Correspondence: "My Grandad Served on the Reina Del Pacifico" (1)

"Grandad was a Bosun and Quartermaster. Big Man, Ginger

Hair, Beard. Did Doug (Harrison) Meet Him I Wonder?"

On the way to Benghazi: the guns crew of a merchantman doing a practice

shoot with their 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun. The Boatswain (right) passes the

ammunition. Photo: Lt. E.E. Allen, Royal Navy photographer. A14762 IWM

[The context of the top photo: From "Alex" (Alexandria) to Benghazi: Men and ships of the Merchant Navy back up the 8th Army's victorious advance in North Africa. 31 December 1942 to 6 January 1943. They carry vital supplies to Benghazi, where the Royal Navy and Army co-operate in landing the stores and sending them on to the men in the fighting line. Imperial War Museum]

Introduction:

Mark P., a helpful reader from the United Kingdom, contacted me near Remembrance Day, six years ago, after reading a short story I'd posted - see link below - in January of the same year (2016). The story, written by my father for his hometown newspaper, mentioned a ship (Reina Del Pacifico) he'd spent some time on during World War II, specifically during Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa beginning November 8, 1942.

Mark wrote the following:

My Grandad, Herbert Jones, served on the Reina Del Pacifico. He passed away two years ago, aged 95. He used to speak about the Canadians. I was really moved by the photo of the troops leaving the ship. The story is fascinating http://wavynavy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/short-story-re-combined-ops-n-africa.html 

Photograph of Herbert Jones as found in The Wirral Globe, May 15, 2013

Photo Credit - Paul Heaps

[A photo of U.S. troops leaving the Reina Del Pacifico is included in the story.]

Mark continues:

I’ve included a feature (an interview re his Grandad) from the local paper, from 2013 I think. He was a bosun and quartermaster. Big man, ginger hair, beard. Are you aware of any other photos? Did Doug meet him I wonder?

Thanks for sharing. Mark P.

And so a brief but significant correspondence began between us. I shared a few photos in which the Reina Del might have appeared by chance, offered an idea I never followed up on until about six years later, and never answered Mark's last question.

I will do, right now. Did Mark's Grandad meet my father aboard the Reina Del Pacifico? In my opinion, the odds of them meeting were not impossibly thin. While Operation Torch was underway my father would have spent most of his time on landing crafts (LCAs and LCMs) transporting troops and the materials of war from ship to shore. However, after working for approx. 4 days without much of a break ("I worked 92 hours straight and I ate nothing except for some grapefruit juice I stole.") my father's officer, Lt. McDonald, RNR, sent my father to the Reina Del Pacifico for some rest and relaxation and more rest.

Dad writes in memoirs:

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 answer to Mark's question would be 'Yes' if Herbert Jones had been that cook in a Petty officer's uniform. Such is not the case, however. But my father met other members of the British crew. He continues in memoirs:

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. ("Dad, Well Done", pages 25 - 26)

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

As found at Imperial War Museum, FL18191

I think my father would have much appreciated the members of the ship's crew who delivered the good food and drink, especially the "big tot of rum," perhaps even would have recalled a face or two, likely any big man with a ginger beard. (Dad had red hair himself for many years, until it went grey, and quickly remarked to me how much I reminded him of his father - a WWI stoker in the RNR - when I arrived at his house upon my first motorcycle in the 1990s, sporting a deep red beard like my own Grandad). 

If the quartermaster serving up the tots of rum was not Mark's Grandad, perhaps the two sailors passed each other in the mess or narrow passageways as the ship returned 100 - 200 Canadians to their training camps in the UK after their services were no longer required at Torch.

The odds - not impossibly thin, and one will never know. But the idea of them meeting is very pleasant to consider!

My follow-up email to Mark is next. Note the date, almost 6 years ago to the day I began preparing this entry, Nov. 21, 2022:

From: Gord Harrison 
Sent: 20 November 2016 18:36
Subject: Re: Reina Del Pacifico

Hi Mark,

As I build the web/blogsite '1000 Men 1000 Stories' re Canadians in Combined Operations, I would like to include stories related to veterans from other forces that crossed paths with the Canadian men.

In the near future I would like to use a good deal of the news clipping you showed me from your local paper regarding your grandfather Herbert Jones, because he served upon a ship very closely linked to the Combined Operations' planned invasion of North Africa.

I am hoping you can supply me with the name of the local paper (I have the names of the writer and photographer, and all the print work is very clear except for the name of the band, last paragraph). The paper may have an archive of earlier articles related to Canadian Navy men, like my Dad. I may have mentioned... more than once Canadians boarded ships in Liverpool, spent time in Wallasey at a prominent pub, The Crown. An older cousin recently confirmed that our grandfather came from Liverpool.

I have attached pictures taken by the same photographer, Lt. F. A. Hudson, official Royal Navy photographer, (all found at the Imperial War Museum).... It would not surprise me if the first was taken from aboard the Reina Del.

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

American troops exiting their landing craft assault on the beach

at Are, near Oran. Some of the ships of that convoy can be seen

in the distance (Americans were aboard Reina Del).

American troops landing stores on Arzeu beach from a landing

craft. Various sized ships can be seen in the distance.

American troops making their way inland after landing at Arzeu. Several

small landing craft can be seen in the foreground whilst in the distance can

be seen some of the troopships that helped transport the men. (Reina Del

may be among them, location is right for that date, early Nov. 1942.)

Cheers, GHarrison

Mark's quick response follows:

Date: November 21, 2016 4:52:54 AM EST
To: 'Gord Harrison' 
Subject: RE: Reina Del Pacifico

HI Gord,

Great to hear from you, thanks very much for sending these photos.
The name of the newspaper is the Wirral Globe. http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/

I used to find, and purchase, many articles and things relating to the Reina Del and the Merchant Navy, for my Grandad, over the years. He passed away over two years ago now. Unfortunately, some of my relations cleared his home before we could blink I don’t know what happened to all of these things. If I can help in any way please let me know.
Thanks and best wishes. This has stirred my interest again and a way of helping me come to terms with our loss.
I’ll keep you posted on any findings.
Best wishes

True, I didn't sit on my hands for the next six years, but neither did I follow up on a lead or two that came to mind while engaging with Mark's helpful correspondence. The Wirral Globe may be home to many WWII stories from the 1940s, stored on long lasting microfilm. There may still be original copies of the newspapers in a storeroom. I have only to email the newspaper and ask. Craig Manning, the writer of the article/interview with Herbert Jones, is still listed with The Wirral Globe. Would he perhaps be interested in a follow up story? Would his imagination be stirred if given a link to this entry re correspondence?

As well, not only would the article/interview re Herbert Jones make a good entry itself for my website, but it provides leads for other stories or lines of research as well. (And I think I've waited long enough to share it here.

Veterans to Remember the Battle of the Atlantic

by Craig Manning, The Wirral Globe

A Wirral war veteran who served in the Battle Of The Atlantic has recalled his experiences ahead of the conflict's 70th anniversary commemoration.

Herbert Jones, 93, was granted Freedom of the City of Liverpool in recognition of his bravery. Mr. Jones is a member of the Atlantic Convoy Association, which has met for the last 30 years at the Royal British Legion's headquarters in Park Road East, Birkenhead. The ten members range in age from 88 to 94.

Mr. Jones, from Seacombe, was a Defensively-Equipped Merchant Seaman aboard the warship Rene del Pacifico (sic) - or "Queen of the Pacific". He was involved in four major maritime actions and later awarded the Freedom of Liverpool for his wartime service. He will be among those taking part in the commemoration service on Sunday, May 26.

Mr. Jones told the Globe: "I was involved in four invasions, Norway, North Africa, Sicily and Italy. One of the biggest battles was in 1943. We were on our way in a convoy of eight ships to the Mediterranean to try to get vital supplies into Malta. I knew a wing of Luftwaffe planes was flying after us, and then they attacked us. There were 64 planes and the ships managed to shoot down five of them."

Photo associated with Luftwaffe losses over the Mediterranean

Photo credit - ww2wrecks

"The worst part of it was waiting for action. You could be standing at the guns for two hours or more. The next morning I'd just come off watch and was having a shower when the alarm went again. There were 34 planes this time. We won 3 - 0."

"In 1942, my father was going to work when he read in the morning paper that a merchant ship had been torpedoed and there were no survivors. My family thought I was dead for two days. We got 48 hours' leave to go home when we docked to show ourselves. The family was in a terrible state but were so relieved to see me. I know what people are going through in conflicts today."

The human cost of the Battle of the Atlantic was immense. The Royal Navy lost 50,758 lives while the British merchant service lost more than 32,000 men. Many thousands of civilians on both sides of the battle were caught in bombing raids on shipyards and ports. Germany lost an estimated 28,000 U-boat men - 60% of those who served on frontline boats. Of the 859 U-boats that carried out war patrols, 648 were lost.

The memorial service at the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool will be followed by a veterans' parade along Rodney Street, Mount Pleasant, Hope Street, down Upper Duke Street, finishing at the Anglican Cathedral. 

On the day there also will be a special band concert by the Royal Marines Band Ports.

Excellent interview, in my opinion. And there are a few 'research threads' I could easily follow with Herbert Jones' and Doug Harrison's shared experiences in mind:

- travels in/with convoys

- duties of a quartermaster, gun layer

- experiences re large troop ships in North Africa, Sicily and Italy

Part 2 soon to follow.

Please link to memoirs sent to me by another reader, dealing with Canadians in Combined Operations. Click here - Memoirs: William Eccles, at D-Day France, Parts 1 - 4

Unattributed Photos GH 

Videos: Operation Torch, the Invasion of North Africa, 1942

 This Month - The 80th Anniversary of Operation TORCH

Canadians in Combined Ops Manned Landing Crafts

Canadian and British sailors man landing crafts, as part of the Central Task Force

near or at Arzeu, east of Oran. Official caption - 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 Credit: RN Official

Photographer Lt. F. A. Hudson, A12647, Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Introduction:

As one will see by checking the archive of entries (right hand margin) for the month on November, 2022, I have organized a small but mighty amount of material related to Operation TORCH (which began on November 8, 1942, to highlight Allied events of WWII that took place 80 years ago. There is some overlap of materials used, for example, in Remembrance Day: 80th Anniversary, Allied Invasion of North Africa (1) and Correspondence: "My Grandad Served on the Reina Del Pacifico" (1) , particularly as pertains to the Reina Del, an ocean liner converted to troop ship for the duration of WWII. Really, it couldn't be helped. When a reader corresponds with me about a relative (in this instance a grandfather) who travelled on the same ship as my father (he appears in the above photo; second left), and at the same time, there's bound to be a bit of a mash-up of photos and stories.

Tots of rum might also have been involved. In my opinion, their combined stories just keep getting better!

The above being said, I have been spending a bit of time on YouTube recently looking for relevant videos re Operation Torch and the Reina Del Pacifico, and have had some success. So, I will take a wee break between Parts 1 and 2 of "Correspondence: "My Grandad Served..." to share a few other items related to Operation TORCH. Some of it relates to background or context re TORCH, some to the significance of the operation and how it was prepared for and then carried out.

HELP WANTED: Readers who find other material re Operation TORCH (particularly related to the Canadians who served aboard landing crafts as members of RCNVR and Combined Operations), are encouraged to send me details, links, etc. I gratefully make use of the help of others.

Please find below a few useful, informative links to videos related to TORCH, a significant operation that took place 80 years ago this month:

Battle of North Africa Part 2 - The Big Picture by Nuclear Vault (Time - 28min:33sec.)

Notes - good video of troop convoys to N. Africa; good views of the three landing areas (Casablanca, Oran, Algiers)

 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 - Hudson, F A (Lt.) A12649 (IWM)

Operation Torch - The invasion of North Africa offered by scapa6 (Time - 6min:01sec.)

Notes - from an American POV; details re build up of supplies and troops, then transporting same across the Atlantic; details re three landing zones; good views of convoy to, and action at, Casablanca only

Movietone News: North African Occupation" (Time 3min:52sec.)

Notes - onboard exercises look like fun; good views of LCAs and LCMs on North African shores; Reina Del Pacifico may have appeared more than once

The Turn Of The Tide - Allied Landings In North Africa (1942) by British Pathe (Time - 7min:34sec.)

Notes - good views of convoys approaching N. Africa and night-time battle action; more of a British POV than previous videos with mention of the work of the Royal Navy (Canadians sprinkled amongst landing craft crew); very good scenes of LCMs being loaded with scenes very similar to above photo of 'American troops landing... at Arzeu'; though little or no resistance in some areas, we learn about snipers that the US troops cleared out

The One Move Germany Never Expected America to Make by Dark Docs (Time - 12min:20sec.)

Notes - a short documentary in five parts/chapters that includes a section about the Allied landings (Operation TORCH) in three locations upon the coast of North Africa; the first chapter (Allies in Discord) provides some context re the plan to invade N. Africa vs France in 1942; second chapter... more details re TORCH follows this paragraph - "In November, German and Italian intelligence detected a significant build-up of Allied ships near Gibraltar, but Germany disregarded the warning as simply another supply convoy to reinforce Malta. The Italians, however, were not so sure, and they pleaded with Germany to investigate the anomaly. Still, Hitler had lost all faith in the Italians by then, and he refused their request. The decision would prove costly for Germany, as what they believed to be a supply convoy was actually a transport fleet carrying 65,000 US servicemen, commanded by Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Operation Torch, the first American incursion on the Mediterranean, was about to begin"; more details about Allied progress in N. Africa, and Rommel's worst outing, are provide in the final three chapters

As frequent users or viewers of YouTube know, when one video is near finished, a few similar items are promoted, so you might get to see more videos about North Africa than you can shake a stick at.

Happy Hunting, I say!

Please click here to view other videos, e.g., related to landings in North Africa during Operation TORCH - Video: "Allied troops in landing crafts reach Oran"

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.

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) A 12646

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.

More information, in Part 2, will follow.

Please click here to view earlier posts about Operation TORCH.

Unattributed Photos GH

Books: Artist At War by Charles Fraser Comfort

ARTIST AT WAR by Charles Fraser Comfort

(With a Link to An Artist @ "Hostilities Only") 

Plate 28: The Hitler Line (Oil, 40" x 48")

Introduction:

Some of us would say we are fortunate if we live in towns or cities with healthy 'used book' stores. Luckier still if there are 2 or 3 within easy walking distance. Luckiest are those - like myself - who will also find a healthy 'military' or 'world war 2' section sporting new titles and rare items of interest on a regular basis.

A recent purchase was Artist At War by a Canadian artist who described himself in the following manner in the foreword to the first edition:

This is an account of my personal experiences during an episode of that war (i.e., in Italy, WWII). I have undertaken to write these rambling, discontinuous, impressions because I was profoundly stirred by all that I saw and felt during that experience... This is not a history of the campaign, I leave that problem to my colleagues, the historians... The part I played was a minor and inconspicuous one. I was not a combat soldier, although I had been trained as such, but a war artist, assigned the task of producing some visual record of the part played by officers and men of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division during the Italian campaign of 1943-44... Charles Comfort, The Studio Building, Toronto, l91956 

The Table of Contents reveals a bit about the ground our artist covered while accompanying Canadian troops in Italy:

In the introduction by W. E. C. Harrison (Lt. Col., Ret'd) we read about the significant episodes or operations that marked the times in which Comfort was very involved. Coincidentally, the role of Canadian sailors who had volunteered for Combined Operations (including my father and his mates) also followed much the same path, and there seem to be, by way of Comfort's book, several connections between the Canadian artist and those Navy boys who serve as the heart of this online archive re 'Canadians in Combined Ops':

Excerpt from Artist At War, page x

One part of "the surge of events" mentioned above is Operation TORCH, the invasion of North Africa beginning November 8, 1942 (about 3 months after the Dieppe raid). Not only was Comfort brought "into the picture" but so were members of RCNVR/Combined Ops who manned landing crafts filled with Allied troops (including Americans in great numbers) and all the material of war on the shores of North Africa.

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. Photo Credit -

Royal Navy Photographer Lt. F. A. Hudson, A12649 - Imperial War Museum 

"They had taken Sicily" - i.e., Operation HUSKY, beginning on July 10, 1943. While the Canadian Army landed on the southern shore of Sicily, the Canadian Navy (i.e., members of RCNVR/Combined Ops) again manned landing crafts, this time loaded that landed Monty's Eighth Army on the eastern shore. Both Canadian forces could say they were just around the corner from each other (see map below): 

Four Canadian Flotillas of Landing Craft are active "around the SE corner"

from Canadian troops. Map is from Combined Operations by C. Marks

For details about the book - email Editor @ gordh7700@gmail.com

Excerpt from page x continues and more connections between Comfort's zone of activity and Canadians in Combined Ops appear:

The invasion of Italy beginning on September 3, 1943 on the 'toe of the boot', i.e., Reggio Di Calabria (see map above, upper right corner) was known as Operation BAYTOWN to members of the Canadian Navy or RCNVR/C.O. And Operation AVALANCHE took place at Salerno, the 'shin of the boot', on September 9th. Both operations are described in good detail in Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks, and lengthy excerpts from Marks' book can be found on this online site.

Click here to view more of Editor's research about Operation BAYTOWN

The importance of Comfort's book for today's audience is underscored in the introduction - for the Second Edition, the book I possess and highly recommend here - provided by Retired Lt. Col. W. E. C. Harrison (no relation as far as I know):

Excerpt from Artist At War, page xv

I believe that the just-mentioned war correspondent Wallace Reyburn wrote for The Montreal Gazette or Montreal Standard during WWII and he is on my short list re 'research, microfilm, at U.W.O - i. e., University of Western Ontario'. He may be the writer mentioned by one of my father's close mates in an account re the landings on 'the toe of the boot' in September, 1943. We shall see what we shall see, and readers here will be the first to know if I hit pay dirt in the near future.

Please find below a few more highlights from Artist At War ... and if you can find it for what I paid at The Attic Bookstore, London ONT - $9.50 - count yourself lucky.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Comfort had me hooked on page 1 of PART 1 (THE APPROACH MARCH. S. S. Volendam) when he writes:

Our ships, in two columns, were beating across a lively chop to a rendezvous with the Gourock convoy somewhere off the north coast of Ireland... Adventures had begun, and with it that quality of lively excitation which surrounds the beginnings of every fresh wartime experience. The ship vibrated with the combustion of high spirits, expressed in laughter, appetites, profane anecdote, and lusty song - 

Roll out the barrel,

Let's have a barrel of fun.

Roll out the barrel,

We've got the Hun on the run...

The depressing inactivity of waiting has ended. We are underway, we are moving, moving toward who knows what?

'Who knows what?' My father and about 100 of his RCNVR mates might know, because they crossed the Atlantic from Halifax to Gourock, Scotland, on the S.S. Volendam as well, in early 1942, as the first Canadian members of Combined Operations. It is unlikely that the Canadian sailors and Charles Comfort travelled at the same time (Comfort was attached to the Canadian forces in Italy from 1943 - 44) but their experiences would have had some similarities I am sure. For example, they both travelled in convoys, for safety's sake, and 'high spirits... laughter, appetites, profane anecdotes (etc.),' were in common.

Painting by Charles Comfort, between pages 92 - 93, Artist At War

Chances are better that Charles Comfort crossed paths with Canadian sailors in Combined Operations beginning on September 3, 1943 (e.g., during Operation Baytown, the invasion of Italy at the toe of the boot), when Canadian troops - for the first time - were delivered to shore aboard Canadian flotillas of landing crafts.

On page 3 Comfort mentions another ship that was familiar to some Canadians in Combined Ops:

The blackout had gone on during the evening meal and the spirits of the human cargo had banked down a bit. The gusty darkness of the weather deck was relieved by the flashing lights at the entrance to Belfast Lough and the Mull of Galloway. It was just possible to make out the positions of the nearest vessels. The escort rolled deeply a thousand yards ahead of us, Reine del Pacifico was a barely perceptible silhouette to port.

My father mentions Reina del Pacifico in his memoirs (one of the reasons I got hooked by the book). The excerpt deals with getting ready for the invasion of North Africa (i.e., Operation Torch, beginning Nov. 8, 1942) without starving to death:

My group went through much more training at H.M.S. Quebec (No. 1 Combined Operations training camp) and then we entrained for Liverpool. Prominent pub was The Crown in Wallasey. We left Greenock in October, 1942 with our LCMs 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 (of Canadian landing crafts), 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.

I became an A/B Seaman (Able-Bodied) on this trip and passed my exams classed very good. The food aboard was porridge and kippers for break-fast, portioned out with a scale. We would plead for just one more kipper from the English Chief Petty Officer, and when he gave it to us we chucked it all over the side because the kippers were unfit to eat.

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.

American troops climb into assault landing craft from the liner REINA

DEL PACIFICO during Operation 'Torch', the Allied landings in North

Africa, November 1942. Photo Credit: The Imperial War Museum

[I believe my father Doug Harrison, RCNVR, is second from left]

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:

Charles Comfort was transported to Algeria, North Africa before joining Canadian forces in Italy in the fall of 1943. He suffered from the heat and gusts of wind when painting, but writes with a comfortable and colourful style about his experiences:

A full training programme was under way. The valley behind us chattered with small arms fire, the reverberating echoes seeming louder than the weapons themselves. East of us the resounding thump of mortar bombs added a bass note, while in the Philippeville direction the pom-pom-pom of Bofors made a noisy background of war-like sound.

Excerpt from Artist At War, page 10

Philippeville, North Africa. Cap de Fer in background. Artist At War

Canadians in Combined Ops would appreciate his later paragraph about finally escaping from all the dust:

Excerpt from Artist At War, page 11

There are many passages in the book that provide details about the many tough elements Canadian troops (and artists in their retinue) had to face in Italy in 1943 - 44, and the samples of Comfort's art work provide significant and informative images.

In several passages Charles Comfort remarks about experiences that were similar to many who experienced the war in the Mediterranean, including my father and mates in RCNVR and Combined Operations. Some of those passages will be provided in another entry; please visit "passages from WW2 books" as found under the "click on Headings" section in the right hand margin of this online archive for more details.

While reading the book I was contacted - coincidentally - by the creator of another WW2 online site re his entry related to another World War II artist, i.e., Eric Ravilious. Those interested in 'artists at war' or the 'arts of war' are encouraged to visit the site; please click here - Eric Ravilious

Eric Ravilious, Anchor and Boats, Rye, 1938

Found at Hostilities Only. Imperial War Museum

Please click here to view Books: Combined Operations - The Official Story of the Commandos

Please click here to view Passages: Combined Operations - The Official Story of the Commandos

Unattributed Photos GH