Dieppe Read online

  After scanning the sand I began to creep forward. I wanted to take the opportunity of seeing the town from the sea. We had not managed to do so the first time. I took off my flippers. It was easier moving that way. The beach seemed quiet and I did not see anyone. I risked raising my head a little. I saw that there was no barbed wire on the beach. That was a good thing. I moved up the beach. The shingle would help to disguise my prints although the morning tide would remove them completely. Although there was no barbed wire and no mines there was a five feet high wall. I knew that behind that was an open esplanade area but the five feet high wall would be an obstacle. If a tank tried to climb the obstacle then the vulnerable underneath would be exposed for German gunners. I looked beyond the esplanade and the roads into the town; I saw that there was a huge concrete wall; it looked to be more than six feet high. Tanks would not get into the town that way. They had, effectively, blocked in the beach. I wondered what it would be like further away from the port.

  I had seen enough and I crept back into the sea. I sat in the surf and put on my flippers. Before I slipped back into the surf I marked a number one at the left side of my map. Once I started to float I kicked hard and moved about a hundred and eighty yards to my right. I repeated my action. I collected my second sample and I crept up the beach to check that the defences were continuous. The goose grease was working. I was not as cold as I thought I would have been. I was about to slither on the beach for the last time when a movement caught my eye and I froze. It was a German sentry. Even as I stopped I heard him talking. There were two of them. The other had approached from the opposite direction. I lay with my face down in the surf and did not move.

  "I do not know why they have us patrolling this beach. Why in God's name would the Tommies want this shithole?"

  "It was those attacks we had not long ago. Perhaps they were preparing for another raid."

  I heard a match being struck but I kept my face down in the sand. "This is not St. Nazaire. We have no dock here. It is a little port with a few fishing boats. They would not come here."

  "Someone in Berlin thinks it is worth protecting. Perhaps they think the Tommies will invade here."

  "Perhaps."

  "Come, General Haase will have our balls if he finds out we have not walked the length of this beach. Let us get this leg finished and then have coffee."

  The cigarette stub glowed as he threw it in the air and it hissed just five feet from my head. "It is not proper coffee. It is roast acorns."

  "Better than nothing and it will warm us up."

  I noticed the voices receding as they headed up the beach towards the harbour wall and the mole. "Now when I was a student in Vienna then we had real coffee."

  I risked looking and saw that they were disappearing into the dark. I quickly filled my last bag with the same shingle and sand which covered the whole beach. I then slipped back into the sea. It was time for my rendezvous with Bill. I had seen enough. The concrete blocks stood at every road which led from the esplanade. The bags around my neck suddenly seemed heavy. Perhaps I was tiring or the cold was getting to me. I felt cramp begin to kick in. I moved my legs economically. There was little point in rushing until I had found Bill. I reached where I thought he should be and I trod water as I rotated to find him. I heard splashing to my left. I kicked in that direction. A white face loomed up out of the dark. It was Bill. He looked to be in distress.

  "Are you all right?"

  He turned at the sound of my voice. "Sorry sir. I have cramp. I have it bad. I can barely move my legs. And I can barely get my breath. I haven't got the lungs I had a few years back."

  "Lie on your back and I will tow you."

  "Leave me sir...I..."

  "If I leave you they will find you and the game will be up. We don't want them to know we have been here. Just lie back and try to move your feet. Even a little will help. We will both get back Bill. A Commando never leaves a comrade behind. Even a sailor!"

  He chuckled and rolled on to his back.

  I put my right arm under his arms and across his chest. I began to kick my legs as I swam out to sea. I had to work them harder than I had done before but we began to move out to sea. We were moving slowly. I realised that the tide was coming in and I was having to fight that too. When a wave splashed over our heads I realised that the waves were getting higher. Either I was further out than I thought or the sea was getting up. The beach was almost invisibly black and I risked speaking.

  "'Lady Luck'!" I did not shout but whispered loudly.

  There was silence. I expected to hear the diesel engines but there was nothing.

  "Don't worry, sir. The lads'll be keeping a weather eye for us." Bill sounded confident but I was not too sure.

  "But I am not certain if we are in the right place." I risked speaking a little louder, "'Lady Luck'!"

  There was nothing and I began to feel both the cold and the cramps. I had not swum for as long as this since I had been a young lad. It was only the Commando training which had kept me going as long as I had.

  "I am going to tread water for a bit, Bill. Let's turn around and look out to sea."

  We rotated through a hundred and eighty degrees. "'Lady Luck'!"

  "There sir! I saw a whitecap. It might be the bow wave!"

  "'Lady Luck'!"

  This time I saw it and caught the diesel throb of her engines. I raised my white arm and saw the faces lining the bow of our boat. It was 'Lady Luck'. We had not been abandoned. Lines were thrown and we were soon hauled aboard.

  The crew threw blankets about our shoulders. I felt my teeth begin to chatter. Sergeant Poulson said, "Sorry about the delay, sir. The Lieutenant heard a pair of armed trawlers leaving the harbour. We drifted without engines for a while. We weren't on station." He sounded critical of the Lieutenant but Alan had done the right thing.

  "You got here and that's what counts. Groves take the gear from Bill. Hewitt get him down to the SBA. He has cramp."

  One of the hands put a mug of cocoa into my shivering shaking palms. "Here y'are sir. Stoker's cocoa! That'll put hair on your chest!"

  "Thanks." He was right. The double tot of rum coursed through me. I found that I had finally stopped my teeth chattering. I made my way to the bridge.

  "Sorry, Tom. I daren't risk starting the engines with Jerry so close."

  "No problem. Leslie did well. He got cramp quite badly but he did his job."

  "Good. I'll write him up. He deserves another promotion. Well?"

  "The good news is there are no mines and the beach is just shingle. It has a shallow shelf."

  "That sounds all good to me."

  I shook my head, "They have barbed wire at the sea wall and the sea wall is about five feet high. The roads are all blocked with huge concrete pillars. The tanks will struggle to get off. I can't see them being able to get any further than the esplanade."

  "It is all good news then." I cocked my head to one side. His words made no sense. He shrugged, "This way they know what they have to face."

  "I suppose." I was not convinced. I could not see how they would be able to overcome such obstacles. I perched in the corner of the bridge with the blanket still draped around me.

  Symons, the radar operator popped his head out from his cubby hole. "Trouble sir. Those two trawlers are out there again. Look like they are making a sweep right across our course."

  "Damn."

  I put my empty mug down. "Do you think they are looking for us?"

  "Not unless they have radar too. I think we are just unlucky." He pointed to the east. False dawn could be seen. The true dawn was not long off. Late June meant the shortest of nights. "Middy, have all the guns manned. It might get a bit lively soon." Midshipman Rowe raced around the crew checking that they were ready for action

  "And I will get dressed. It would be rude to face Jerry half naked eh?"

  As I passed Sergeant Poulson I said, "You had best man the two guns in the torpedo tubes. There may be trouble."

  "Rig
hto sir."

  It did not take me long to dress. The goose grease which still remained after the towelling would have to stay until we reached Blighty. I would, at least, be warm when we went into action. I checked that both the Colt and the Luger were loaded and that I had spare magazines. I returned to the deck. Already the sky was visibly lighter in the east.

  Alan had his head in the radar cubby hole. He stood as I approached. I noticed that Bill Leslie was on the wheel. He was a hard man to keep down.

  "They will see us soon. They are patrolling about a mile apart. I think I will try to use my speed and get around their southern side. They won't be able to catch us but they will radio our position. We can't outrun aeroplanes." He shook his head. "I prefer winter. It might be cold and the weather awful but at least we have night's cloak to hide us!" He turned to Bill Leslie, "Right Killick. Let's head due west and give her some juice!"

  "Right sir!"

  The 'Lady Luck' leapt out of the water like a greyhound from the stalls. It was lucky that I was leaning against the bridge else I might have fallen. Symon's disembodied voice came from his cubby hole. "We are starting to lose them, sir! It looks like they are sailing a box pattern."

  "Good. Our luck might have held! They must be hunting submarines."

  Five minutes later our hopes were dashed. I heard Symons say, "Bugger!"

  "What is it Symons?"

  "A small convoy ahead of us. It looks like it is on a course to meet the trawlers."

  "And I am guessing that it is German." We had been told that there were no British ships in the area. By now the dawn was most definitely in the east. I could see the thin smudge that was the French coast behind us. Alan ducked down to the radar set. His face was grim when he emerged. "Five ships. One looks to be a destroyer and there is an E-Boat too. The other five look to be coasters."

  "Can we avoid them?"

  He shook his head. "We will see them soon and the destroyer is bigger than us; they will spot us." He chewed his lip.

  "Look, Alan, it is your boat. You know what she can do. What do you reckon is our best move?"

  He grinned, "We will try to bluff our way through them. Head straight for the Isle of Wight. Have your chaps ready with their guns. Wacker get on to base and report the convoy. Tell them we need aerial support."

  "All right sir. " Wacker's comforting and cheeky Liverpool accent was somehow reassuring.

  "Sarn't Poulson, have the men find defensive positions. We are going to be in action soon!"

  "Righto sir."

  I went down to the mess to retrieve my Thompson. If we could put up a wall of bullets we might just get through the enemy ships. As I came up I heard a lookout shout, "German convoy directly ahead, sir!"

  Alan shouted, "No one fire until I say so. They might take us for one of their own E-Boats."

  I went towards the bow and lay down next to George Lowe who was manning the starboard MG 39/41. He patted it and grinned, "Be good to see how this works sir, in action, so to speak." He nodded towards the half of the tube which remained, "Nice and cosy down here, sir."

  "Well if it gets too hot up here I may well join you."

  I saw the five ships. They were going at the speed of the slowest coaster. We were travelling almost at full speed. I knew that Alan had a couple of knots in hand if he needed them. The E-Boat was leading the convoy and the destroyer was at the rear of the line. I could see that Alan was aiming between the E-Boat and the leading coaster. The E Boat just had a machine gun in the bows. We had the new Oerlikon as well as the two MG 39/41s. It might be enough.

  Wacker said, "Sir, Jerry is calling. They are asking for a code."

  "Pretend you are dozy. Just keep them talking."

  I heard Wacker as he tried to convince the Germans that we had lost our code books. It bought us some precious minutes while we closed with them.

  They were not fooled. I saw puffs of smoke from the German coasters. Each had a small deck gun. The calibre was not very big and they were trying to hit a rapidly moving target. All that they did was send waterspouts up which obscured us from the destroyer. The bigger warship had better and more accurate guns. As long as we were not struck by the destroyer's guns we had a chance.

  Alan shouted, "It looks like it is a Zerstörer 34 class destroyer. She is almost as fast as us and has five guns. They are the same as our five inch. If she turns to face us we have a chance as she can only bring two to bear."

  I watched as the E-Boat began to turn. She had been travelling at the sedate pace of the coasters and it was taking time for her to turn. The coasters did the same. I realised why; they thought we had torpedoes. The destroyer captain must have thought we were attacking his convoy. They were making us take a bow shot; always the hardest.

  "Oerlikon crew, you can start to fire whenever you have a target."

  As the E-Boat picked up speed we began to close really rapidly. I shouted to my men. "Those on the port side target the coaster. Don't waste ammunition!"

  The German secondary armament began to fire but we were travelling so fast that most were missing. I heard the ping of bullets as they struck the metal torpedo tubes. We were less than five hundred yards apart and closing rapidly. I waited for a moment or two and then shouted, "Commandos, open fire!" Our combined speed would meant we would be together in seconds rather than minutes.

  I leaned my Thompson on the torpedo tube and aimed at the open bridge of the E-Boat. I fired short bursts. I felt the vibration from the tube as Lowe let rip with the MG 39/41. With so many of my men firing we had to hit something and I saw three men fall from the bridge of the E-Boat. The machine gun crew at the bow were also scythed down. We must have hit the helmsman for it began to lurch towards us. Suddenly Sergeant Poulson and Private Hewitt hurled two grenades towards the approaching E-Boat. It would be close enough for the shrapnel to hit and they could both throw a long way.

  "Grenade!"

  Lieutenant Jorgensen threw us to port to avoid the careering German. The grenades went up and the shrapnel cleared the decks. It became a charnel house. It would not be a threat. My men on the port side had managed to kill the gun crew on the coaster.

  I fired the last of my magazine at the coaster's bridge and then we were in open water. The destroyer would have to turn to catch us and we had the speed to escape. I heard Lieutenant Jorgenson shout, "Hang on to something. We will use everything we have got!"

  It felt like being in a fighter which was diving. The speed was so great that we almost felt out of control. We sped across the water while the wounded were tended by the SBA and Private Hewitt, our section medic.

  The sun appeared behind us. The sea looked grey. The lookout at the stern shouted, an hour after we had passed through the convoy, "German aircraft sir. 110's!"

  Whilst not the greatest of fighters in aerial combat, as ground attack aeroplanes these twin engined beasts were a problem; they were deadly. "I hope the RAF have scrambled fighters or all your efforts will have been in vain, Tom!"

  "Don't worry! They will get here." I was less confident than I sounded. I knew just how stretched the RAF were. The German machine guns in the two tubes were fixed and of little use to us. "Commandos, to the stern. Let's give them a hail storm they will remember!"

  I went with my men and sat with my back to the bridge, my Thompson resting on a ventilator. The three black crosses drew closer remarkably quickly. They stood out against the rising sun. They came three abreast. I saw hope for that was a mistake. Line astern would have enabled them to bring all of their guns to bear in succession. They were anticipating that Alan would turn to port or starboard and they would have a beam on shot. Alan did not oblige. Our disadvantage was our speed. We were bouncing over the waves so much that aiming was almost impossible. Any hit would be pure luck. Sometimes luck favoured the brave. I hoped so.

  Each of the fighters had four machine guns at the front. Wherever they aimed the aeroplane was their target. It was our stern. The Hotchkiss began to pump out shells and then
the first of the Messerschmitts began to fire. We were lucky. The bouncing E-Boat upset his aim and the shells whizzed overhead.

  "Fire!" We all let loose with our Thomson's and the Lewis guns by the bridge joined in. As soon as it passed the bow the Oerlikon added more firepower. Something must have hit for smoke began to pour from its fuselage. The other two banked to port and starboard. I saw now that their plan was to attack us at the same time across our beam. We would be the nut in the nutcrackers.

  I heard Alan yell, "Hang on!" He threw the boat around so that we were racing towards the starboard 110. This time the Oerlikon gunner had more of a target and he pounded the nose of the 110. Its guns stopped but before we could cheer his back was torn open by the second 110. We turned to port. As we did so I saw the flight of Hurricanes dive down to attack the enemy. They had come too late for Jackson, the gunner, but they had saved us. As the three Hurricanes chased the fighters back to France Alan slowed us down to a speed which was not as hazardous to our safety. We had survived.

  Chapter 3

  Wacker's head popped up from the radio, "Sir, we are to go to Weymouth and report to Lord Lovat."

  "Righto."

  I handed my Thompson to Lance Sergeant Gowland, "Here, Harry, stow this for me will you?"

  "Right sir."

  "Any casualties?"

  "A couple of lads were hit by flying splinters. Nowt to worry about, sir."

  I saw that Bill had his pipe going while his relief steered the boat. I shook my head, "That is why you haven't got the lungs you used to have."