Having gotten what he had been ordered to acquire, Archie banked hard left flying over the shallow section of the Estuary until he passed east of the Island of Mellum. He took a departure fix from the Roter Sand light house and headed south of Heligoland enroute to RAF Benson and the Photographic Development Unit based there. It wasn’t until he climbed back into the comforting embrace of the cloud layer that the two men breathed a sigh of relief.
Sheppard, Ted Grabowski, Ollie Halverson, and Major Morris Jenkins were waiting in the conning station when Admiral Hamblen returned. Proceeding again directly to Sheppard’s chair, he sat and recovered from the long climb. From his own days in command of the battleship Illinois, he knew better than to ask a Captain to leave his bridge underway, particularly now in wartime. Climbing the twelve decks to meet Sheppard was a small price to pay for not interfering in the operation of the best battle cruiser the Navy had.
It did not take the admiral long to brief what had happened in his meeting with the French. Sheppard, Ted, and Morris had stiffened with bitter expressions of silent rage when the Admiral relayed Schröder’s ultimatum. Sheppard recognized the name immediately as the German admiral he had defeated at Cape Vilan. It was a total surprise that he was now an admiral in the Kriegsmarine. As he continued, it was clear to Sheppard why the admiral had sent the message he had to the American Embassy in Switzerland.
But it wasn’t clear to Ted or Morris, who had not read the message until the Admiral laid out his plan of action. Everything would rely on the Maquis. Even though Hamblen had no idea what the answer to his message might be, there just didn’t exist the time to wait for the answer before getting close enough to Toulon to carry out Argonne’s part of the plan.
Before long the Admiral asked the gathered officers if they saw any holes in what he wanted to accomplish. The plan’s success totally relied on the speed of Argonne in both the approach and withdrawal to avoid German or Italian countermeasures. Charts of the area were broken out and the water depth carefully surveyed as well as the pilot charts of the Mediterranean to check on the tides and currents in the area. Those were the critical considerations in determining the likelihood of the waters being mined. There was nothing they could do about the moon except hope for cloud cover.
Ted Grabowski said, “Admiral, Captain, we are going to have to move two more Kingfishers out of the hanger to make room for the boats.”
Sheppard quickly added, “We will have to wait until we slow. Fifty knots wind across the deck is much too great for handling an OS2U dangling from the end of a cable.”
Sheppard turned to Major Jenkins whose gaze was fixed at some far off place probably thinking rapidly about things only a Marine would understand. “Major, what are you thinking?”
“Captain, I will need all my Marines to accomplish the mission ashore. Request that they be removed from the watch-bill for the 5-inch mounts as soon as possible. I will need to brief them on the mission.”
“Certainly, Ted, please see to it.”
Commander Grabowski left to make the necessary arrangements. It would be difficult to be sure all the watches had enough rest.
Captain McCloud immediately sent for Commander Williamson, Commander Roberts and Lieutenant Commander Becker to inform them and discuss the navigation and communication requirements that needed to be put in place. The small meeting with Admiral Hamblen was turning into one of Sheppard’s famous counsels of war. With the watch standers present, it took less than an hour before every man in Argonne knew what was going to happen. When Ted finally got back to his office on the second deck there was a line of over three hundred men who wanted to volunteer for the mission ashore.
André Sorentino did not consider himself a resistance fighter. As a goat herder in the mountains of Corsica, he hadn’t even seen a German soldier let alone understood that France was no longer a sovereign country. He only knew that his uncle had asked him to keep a watchful eye out for ships and had provided him with a telescope and a book of pictures to compare with what he saw.
Every once in a while he saw a ship, most of which he did not recognize, but he dutifully wrote them down and told his uncle when he returned home at the end of the day. Today he saw many ships from the summit of Capo d’ Occi near the town of Calvi. Even more exciting to him, he was able to match them with some of the pictures in the book. He was very proud of that and ran immediately to see his uncle concerning the Italian aircraft carriers of the Aquila class and the battle cruisers that he had seen.
His uncle was a member of the resistance and went to where he had a radio hidden to send the report to the English. He did not worry about the Germans. As soon as he finished sending the message, he packed up the radio and moved it to another hiding place in the mountains around Calvi. There just weren’t enough Germans or Italians in Corsica to chase down everything the resistance was doing.
Pierre Ferres had finished his meeting with the Maquis. It had gone much better than he could have hoped. Now he had to get the information back to the embassy. He walked as quickly as he could through the outskirts of Marseilles. Once he got to the city proper where the likelihood of Gestapo agents was greater, he ducked into alleys and occasionally doubled back behind his own route to verify that he was not being followed. All that took time, but he could not afford to be arrested now.
Finally he reached his goal—one of the fishmongers who still displayed the sign asking for sea bass. He drew on his own experience as a fisherman off the coast of Maine in pretending to be the brother of the captain of a boat out of Le Brusc, a small fishing village to the East of Marseilles. He negotiated a price for the requested sea bass, claiming that his brother always had some in his catch. Pierre knew that anyone who wanted a special order would pay a hefty price and managed to extract a high price from the fishmonger for his brother’s entire catch.
He told the fishmonger that his brother would be coming back into Le Brusc a little after midnight and would get the catch to him as quickly as he could. The fishmonger agreed and Pierre hurried off to his apartment.
Martin Lautens was delighted with the message from the fishmonger. He casually inquired as to how he had managed to get the sea bass so quickly. The fishmonger relayed the story of the brother of a fishing boat’s captain promising that his brother always had sea bass in his catch. They haggled over the cost of the sea bass until they settled on a price which, unknown to Martin, was more than double what the fishmonger was paying. Martin had to ask what port the boat was fishing from. The fishmonger would not give that information for fear of being cut out of the very profitable deal unless Martin promised to only deal with him in the future.
Once the long term arrangement had been settled, the fishmonger told Martin the remaining details of when and where the boat would dock. He confirmed the details of the long term relationship for the fishmonger and promised that he would be at his shop first thing in the morning to pick up the fish. He emphasized that the fish must be iced well as he had to deliver them to Geneva.
Martin then picked up his telephone again and called the international operator to be connected with the American Embassy in Geneva. As he waited, he heard the expected double click signifying that the Gestapo was listening to the phone call. When connected to the Embassy switch board he asked to be put through to the Deputy Assistant Attaché for Intercultural Development. When Bernie Smith picked up, Martin gave him the good news concerning the sea bass with all the details of when the boat would arrive at Le Brusc. He closed the conversation with a comment hoping to be remembered to the Ambassador and his wife and wishing her a safe delivery.
The Gestapo HauptscharFührer (technical sergeant) who was listening wondered why the Swiss merchant would pass so many details to the American Embassy. International phone rates in wartime were very expensive. There had to be more to this than idle conversation. He decided to tell his HauptsturmFührer (captain) of his suspicions.
Flight Lieutenant Anthony Pennyman was studying the photographs that
had just been developed of Wilhelmshaven’s piers. There were the usual assortment of tanks, half-tracks, trucks, and supplies. He needed to look closer to find out where they might be going. He took out his best magnifying glass, wiping it carefully, and began to examine the supply crates closer. He could just make out some of the wording that indicated what was contained in most.
Munitions and rations were not unexpected. Clothing, tents and bedding were more meaningful. As he studied them, one thing jumped out. The items were all labeled for cold weather.
So the Germans were getting ready to go someplace cold with perhaps three maybe four brigades of mechanized infantry and armor. Summer was just beginning, so it was unlikely that they would bring the supplies to sustain themselves long term in the initial loading. Four brigades were too much for someplace like Greenland. There just wasn’t anything there. Armor made no sense for Jan Mayen or Svalbard. The Faroe Island’s terrain also was far too bad for armor. That left the Shetland Islands and Iceland. In both cases the terrain could support armor, but the Shetlands would be under continuous air attack from the Orkney’s and was very close to the Royal Navy’s base at Scapa Flow.
Anthony picked up the telephone to Bomber Command Headquarters Intelligence at High Wycombe to relay what he had deduced of the German intentions. Bomber Command immediately forwarded it to Whitehall recognizing the significance a successful invasion of Iceland would have on the fate of Great Britain. Admiral of the Fleet Dudley Pound phoned Downing Street to let the Prime Minister know. It did not make sense to Churchill who wanted to see the photos for himself at Whitehall.
When Flight Lieutenant Pennyman was told to report immediately to White Hall with his photographs in order to brief the Prime Minister, his only thought was of the British Museum and the safe solitude of studying old bones. He fervently wished he had never joined the RAF.
Pierre Ferres returned to the barn and his apartment by another route. He exercised more care than usual, doubling back three times and pausing long enough in a side alley twice to confirm that he was not being followed. He even approached the barn from a different path than usual. Entering the barn he repeated his checks of the telltales he had left to discover any surreptitious searches that may have been conducted by the Gestapo in his absence.
Finding none, he went to the stallion’s stall and connected his radio. Having already used the frequency for today’s date, he had to tune to the first of several emergency wave lengths. Again hearing no interference, he transmitted his oui and waited. It was fifteen minutes before the American Embassy responded; beginning a relatively short message. He transmitted the short dot of acknowledgement, carefully stored and hid the radio, making certain to reward his four legged guard, and went to his apartment to decode the message. This was somewhat harder since it was the second message of the day. He had to count 145 pages of Voltaire backward from the end to get the correct page.
When he read the message, he smiled that the American Embassy had understood what had been sent to them. He closed his book, went down to the barn and fed the goat. Now he had to maintain his cover. He hitched the stallion up to his little cart and set off toward an ice house he knew on the other side of Marseilles. He would then go to La Ciotat where he knew the fisherman and would be able to buy what he needed. He absentmindedly wondered as he drove the cart, which would come first—France’s liberation or a hangman’s noose—perhaps a firing squad if he was lucky?
Admiral Hardy stood on the compass platform of Renown with his Flag Captain Sir Phillip Kelley as the capstans for Prince of Wales dock slowly pulled the old battle cruiser into the dry dock in Gibraltar Harbor. Both officers hoped it would take no longer than the day estimated by the base commander to repair the damage caused by the American 18-inch armor piercing projectile. Over by the air station, HMS Ark Royal and Splendid were still moored to the pier where they were loading aircraft and uncrating some new Albacores for Splendid’s strike/reconnaissance squadrons.
Both his carriers were still armed with the venerable Fairey Fulmar fighters, though all four squadrons had upgraded to the Fulmar II with a more powerful Merlin XXX engine. Stealing from Splendid’s Swordfish, HMS Ark Royal was back up to her compliment of 36 of the biplane torpedo bombers. Splendid’s two squadrons were reequipping with the Fairey Albacore which had a higher speed and greater range despite still being biplanes.
Outside the mole, the four American tankers and two supply ships swung at their anchors. In spite of their value to the mission of preventing the French fleet from falling into Axis hands, there was just not enough room inside the mole for them and their destroyer division escort. The addition of the Invincible class battle cruisers and their destroyer flotilla to Force H had filled the small harbor. Hardy thought that they would be safe enough before he sortied and could then bring them inside the anti-submarine nets if need be. Until then he had ordered the patrols at the entrance to the bay doubled.
The two officers had received the latest intelligence report from London concerning the sortie of the Italian scouting force under Ammiraglio Moretti. Sir Phillip commented that Moretti never went anywhere that the battle fleet did not also go. Hardy could only nod in agreement. It would have been a relatively even fight with Moretti’s six battle cruisers and four carriers against Hardy’s five and two. When you added in Ammiraglio Romano’s battleships it was imperative that HMS Renown be repaired and available. Even then Sir Bruce was going to have to be “creative” in how he handled the Italians. Neither officer knew how they would accomplish that yet—but they would have to.
The messages arrived aboard at about 1800 when Argonne was on course 043o north of the Balearic Islands. Sheppard had needed to avoid some of the local fishing traffic, but so far there had been no air contacts or warships. After he read the messages, he realized that he needed to consult with Admiral Hamblen and Major Jenkins again. Sheppard sent Corporal Westbrook with the message:
Captain McCloud sends his respects; wishes to inform the Admiral of intelligence and rendezvous instructions being received; and requests the Admiral’s and Commander Halverson’s presence on the conning station for consultations.
Sheppard sent the messenger of the watch with his “complements” and a request for the Executive Officer and Department Heads to join him in his sea cabin.
While they were gone Sheppard had the quartermaster of the watch find the relevant charts of the area. He took a quick look at them to familiarize himself with the waters and land areas where Argonne would be operating before he briefed the others. Surprisingly, Admiral Hamblen was the first to arrive, proceeding directly to Sheppard’s chair. Sheppard handed the Admiral the message boards with the two messages of concern for him to read for himself. He deliberately did not discuss them before the Admiral read them to insure that Hamblen’s interpretation would not be colored by Sheppard’s own.
It wasn’t long before everyone had arrived. Admiral Hamblen led the way to Sheppard’s sea cabin behind the conning station where the quartermaster had laid out the charts. Sheppard began. “Admiral with your permission I would like to brief a plan that has been developing in my mind and then open the meeting for discussion of problems, factors I failed to consider, or improvements. Admiral you are also the only one who has seen the messages other than myself. I am relying on you to immediately correct any misunderstandings I may have.”
“Certainly, Captain. I realize we are in an unusual circumstance where I do not have staff support. I think this arrangement is a good one.”
Sheppard briefed the latest intelligence on the movement of the Italian fleet, laid chart number 53060 Palamoś to Saint Raphail on top of his bunk, and began. “Gentlemen, we are currently located at approximately forty-one degrees north latitude, three degrees east longitude, on course zero-four-three. In approximately one hour we will pass Cape San Sebastian and enter the Gulf of Lion. Our destination is a rendezvous with the Maquis off the fishing village of Le Brusc at midnight. At our current speed we will get
there much too early. I propose that we slow after sunset, which will allow us to complete our preparations in the hangar before we reach Le Brusc. Are there any comments on that part?”
Art Roberts interjected. “Captain, if you will excuse me for a moment, I’ll get my quartermasters working on the details with the OOD so we are not pressed for time in this meeting?”
“Good idea, Art.” Sheppard continued. “Up here in the Gulf of Lion, I would not expect any submarines but with the developing cloud cover we will also have darkness on our side. Mr. Becker, is there any way that your radiomen or radar technicians can rig a device to alert us to any German radar?”
“Sir, we might be able to do that. I think I can detune one of the SK search radars and use it as a rotating receiver. If there is a German radar operating close to its frequency that radar will show up as a dotted line pointed directly at the source. All the German radars that are in my intelligence pubs for coastal surveillance and air search are close to the SK’s operating wave length. The only problem is that I will need to keep the other SK in standby to prevent interference.”
“Understood, Admiral, gentlemen, with the increasing cloud cover do you think that is an acceptable risk?
Ted Grabowski said, “Captain, if we double the lookouts with instructions to listen for aircraft as well, once we slow, I think it will be okay. Jonathan, how long will it take to bring the SK back up to operation if we need the air search?”
“Less than a minute from standby!”
“Jonathan, if we can set that up before we close the last forty miles, I think that is settled. Now,” Sheppard continued laying the next chart Number 53081 Bec-de-L’Aigle to Presqu’ Île de Giens on the top of his bunk. “If we lay about four miles off shore, here east by southeast of Île du Grand Rouveau we can remain in water that is too deep for mines. Art, we should be able to get good SG radar returns off of the cliffs at Pointe de la Cride and Île des Embiez for navigation.”
Sheppard and the French Rescue Page 15