This was the only one of his wartime escapades that I ever heard my grandfather talk about , he was involved at Dunkirk, the North Africa Campaign and Sicily landings but never spoke about any of these. The planes were still hovering about machine-gunning the decks, killing hundreds of struggling soldiers. My father was RAF was due to board ,But was ordered off ,along with others .He was ordered to destroy any vehicles ,fuel etc .He was on the last boat to leave which was a coal barge .He ended up in wales . At the time this operation was going on, Lancastria was actually being readied to take part in Operation Alabaster, and that was the operation, basically, to man and defend certain Icelandic bases, and her role was to carry 2,000 troops up to Iceland, so she was nowhere near France at the time. A walk of 800 metres from the submarine pens. I moved to the stern of the ship on the starboard side and saw a rope hanging down over the propellor housing. The German army launched its Blitzkrieg offensive on France and the Low Countries on 10 May 1940. When the bombs hit I suffered a blow to the head. We all clung to whatever we could, the sea was full of men desperately trying to survive. Those subsequently rescued, reported that those clinging on were singing ‘Roll out the barrel’ and ‘There’ll always be an England’ as they waited for the ship to slip between the waves. I joined them as more people tried to get aboard. © Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. I don’t know how many bombs dropped but I vividly remember one tremendous explosion and huge sheets of flame leaping up from an open hatch. It was a very daunting task to climb up the ladders to board her; her sides seemed miles above us. my grandad was killed on the lancastrian and i would love to pay my respects. Embarkation to the Lancastria began about at 6am. When I pulled myself together I got across to what was the companionway, now a few spars and somehow managed to climb to the next deck which was above water level.
This is not an untypical account. The atmosphere on board was almost like a cruise to begin with. The lifebelts had risen up as they entered the water and broken their necks. On 17 June 1940, over 4,000 people died after German bombers hit the ship they were being evacuated on. It could have actually begun earlier, but the French harbour master forbade any earlier loading because he didn’t want lights used. She is protected as a maritime monument. By this time, she was actually in Liverpool. 11.04.1904) survived. So let me introduce you to the lady herself. I swam until I reached a dinghy but couldn’t get up the ropes because of oil. It prompted the formation of the Survivors Association, which held an annual service of remembrance and a parade. I passed out a few times and when I came round there was nobody nearby. Survivors and descendants of those killed during Britain's worst-ever maritime disaster are being urged to claim medals honouring them.
Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated. A couple of local observations – Michel Lugez: ‘The bodies did not reach the shore immediately after the ship sank, but by July the bodies came ashore in large numbers. Born in 1918, I was 20 years old when I joined the Airforce, this is my story of the Lancastria which was sent to rescue us after Dunkirk. It was not a pretty sight. But as I looked over to see how they had done I saw that they appeared to be unconscious or dead.
This, bear in mind, was for a ship that was meant to take 2,200 passengers, and it’s because of this we just haven’t really got a clue how many people actually did die on board. “Then the smoke drifted and parted and we saw the most terrible sight the Lancastria could offer; the mess of blood and oil and splintered woodwork that littered the deck and the furious white core of water that came roaring from the bottom of the ship in Number 4 hold.
Find out how you can use this. Someone shouted “I am gong to get some bangers and mash”. /* footerad2 */ In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. There was however a body 20 feet away minus the head.” Consequently a decision was taken on the 25 May to evacuate British and French troops from that port. On this day, following the resignation of the French Prime Minister, Marshal Petain ordered the French to cease hostilities against the German invaders.
Lancastria left Liverpool at five o’clock on the 14 June, for Plymouth, to await her orders. I was surrounded by men in similar condition, and even when our own aircraft flew over and dropped rafts for us we were too weak to struggle to them.
Denis Holland, Royal Army Pay Corps. There were frequent air raid alarms, and each time I had to close down the bar and stand by my action station.’, ‘At about 15:55, and still busily serving drinks, another air raid alarm, and at the same time a terrific explosion, and the ship rolled over on her side. In 1981, the HMT Lancastria Association was formed, and since then has taken on board several pilgrimages back to St Nazaire. Can you imagine a hatch cover the size of the average sitting room exploding upwards like that and me sitting there without a scratch. I regret to say that on two occasions when groups tried to grab me I dived under to avoid their clutches. hello im going to st nazaire in august this year. In the event, over 338,000 were rescued between 27 May and 4 June, in what Winston Churchill described as ‘a miracle of deliverance’. France would be surrendering, and the BEF were now out on their own. In many instances, soldiers were fending for themselves, and even trying to get to ports using Michelin maps that they’d purchased from local shops. Walter Hirst, 663 Artisan Works Company, Royal Engineers, “I was on G deck, in the hold, when the bomb struck.
Had they seen them escape? Our troops had all been rescued, a defeat became a victory and an army lives to fight another day.
Cyril Cumbes, 663 Artisan Works Company, Royal Engineers, “Swimming was difficult because of so many troops already in the water – many of them fully clothed and many with packs still on their backs and grabbing at anyone who was seen to be swimming. Small boats took us out to her and the nearer we got we began to realise why she couldn’t come in further for us as the bay was too shallow for the 16,000 tonne liner. When he arrived back in Dover to be met by his son (my Dad) , he was wearing a set of Chef’s whites since his uniform was now lost. Here in Pornichet for example, there were two or three at each tide. Kitted out in peasant clothingm cotton trousers and jackets and espadrilles. At the Ponte du Bec there were others. During this time, the assembly area was becoming completely filled with troops and transport and I estimate there were at least 10,000 personnel there by noon. However, by midday, the evacuees kept coming. I was elected to do the cooking, we also did general duties and square bashing to keep fit. Two men were brought on board were so exhausted they died just after arrival, while the remainder recovered after they had got rid of the oil from their lungs and had warmed up slightly. Lancastria slipped out of Plymouth at midnight on 15 June. However, the French Forces were in full collapse, and the men of the BEF found themselves heading west again to try and find open ports. The survivor statements in the 1990 Sunday Telegraph article, the claim by David Pollock, Littlewood’s friend that originally the boat had the name “Lancastria” on her side and the high quality construction, all pointed to the fact that the second lifeboat they saw had come from the Lancastria. He ended 75VE in plain clothes with a Hurricane Squadron keeping a look out for the Russians. Initially the lounge steward was counting those that came on board with a little hand counter, but was told to go back to his lounge that he looked after because it had been turned into a senior rank’s mess and drinks were being called for. Estimates range from a conservative 2,500 to 6,000, but from the documents that I’ve been studying within the National Archives, I believe the figure is more around the 4,000 mark, which is still extraordinarily high. google_ad_height = 60; There was a panic one day when the officers disappeared, rumours spread like wildfire and the word Dunkirk was being used. The Lancastria was just a bad news story in a sea of bad news stories. Others lost their lifejackets simply because they slipped out of them in the oily water.
I had only gone a few hundred yards down the ramp when there was a great flash of light, like lightening and a deafening noise. The hatch covers were shattered and splintered and allowed the bombs deep into the ship. Back in the water again till a voice shouted “There’s a boat behind!”, this time I was hauled aboard.
The bomb that burst through number three hatch, which we see here, actually hit the oil tank, and once the oil tank was burst it spilled hundreds of tons of the fuel oil, that should have been taken off at Liverpool, into the sea around the stricken ship. I cannot swim, but lay on my back, paddling with my feet and hands.’, ‘After about two hours, I began to feel that I would pass out, and I pinched and banged myself to bring myself out of it. kind regards Bev.
However, one of the most controversial aspects of the sinking of the Lancastria was the alleged cover up of the facts by Churchill’s Government. We can’t answer research requests on Archives Media Player, but if you go to our ‘contact us’ page at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/contact/ you’ll see how to get in touch with our record experts by email or live chat. He survived the Lancastria also. Well, by this time she’d moved from Iceland to Norway and was evacuating troops from Norway, from Harstad. He was L.R Welsh, and this is his account: ‘I was the lounge steward on board and from the first embarkation of troops was stationed on the portside, clocking each person by a small hand counter as they came aboard. //-->, Bolton Lancastria victim search goes on 66 years later, Lancastria international petition launched. “She was going down fast. They eventually reached Bayonne and were evacuated on board Koningen Emma, “Queen Emma”. See our help guide for more information on podcast subscription.
I decided then to throw my lifebelt into the sea and jumped in after it.” There were over 200 men in the unit and we all had to board the many lorries that were sent for us, each of these lorries had a metal U in the tail gate to enable us to board and get off easier. It was very difficult because of the enemy machine gunning and the ship listing badly. A little less well known is the Empress of Ireland; 1,024 people drowned when she was struck by a Norwegian coal freighter on the St Lawrence River in 1914. Some of the men rode on these as the lorries sped along the roads and lanes. In 1946, Major Cyril V.Petit invited all survivors of the Lancastria to attend a reunion.
In his report, Captain Sharp concludes that each of the bombs which struck the ship passed through the upper deck and hatches, bursting inside the ship and blowing holes in her sides. We have been led to believe he was onboard when the ship was sunk. There have been estimates that as many as 6,500 people could have been on board, with some estimates ranging even as high as 9,000. On the Record at The National Archives: Heroic deeds (a trailer), Nancy Astor: First steps towards a better balanced world, Film of the month: ‘Our Jamaican Problem’, Audacious Raids: Operations Grouse, Freshman, Swallow and Gunnerside, Friends of The National