The Sinking of the Lancastria
Page 22
15. Karslake, Appendix A, lists units
16. Ibid., pp. 179–82; PREM3/188/5 at Public Records Office, Kew (PRO)
17. Ibid., pp. 156 et seq; PREM3/188/5 p. 80 at PRO
18. Mervyn Llewelyn-Jones’ diary, 9–14 June 1940
19. War Office (WO) 167/117 at PRO
20. Brooke, War Diaries, p. 74
21. Ibid., p. 80
22. Ibid., p. 81–82
Chapter 2: Saturday, 15 June 1940
1. Llewelyn-Jones’ diary, 15 June 1940
2. Grattidge, Captain of the Queens, p. 152
3. Spears provides an acid, and probably accurate, portrait of her.
4. Brooke, War Diaries, pp. 83–6
5. Naval report, ADM 199/371 at PRO
6. Roskill, War at Sea, p. 239
7. Ibid., p. 236
8. Colville, The Fringes of Power, p. 158
Chapter 3: Sunday, 16 June 1940
1. Colville, The Fringes of Power, p. 158
2. Ibid., p. 159–60
3. Ibid., p. 159–61; Horne, To Lose a Battle, p. 659
4. Courrier de St-Nazaire et de la Région, 6–13 July 1940
5. Denise Petit’s diary, p. 12
6. Stahl, The Diving Eagle, p. 53
7. The Times, 18 June 1940
8. Spears, Assignment to Catastrophe, p. 293
9. Ibid.
10. WO 167/918 at PRO
11. Spears, pp. 316–17
12. Colville, pp. 163–5
13. WO 167/117 at PRO
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
Chapter 4: Monday, 17 June 1940
1. Grattidge, Captain of the Queens, pp. 152–3
2. Denise Petit’s diary
3. WO 167/1155 at PRO
4. Brooke, War Diaries, p. 86
Chapter 5:The Bombing
1. Grattidge, Captain of the Queens, p. 107
2. Ibid., p. 155
3. Barry Stevens’ diary
4. Churchill speech, Hansard, Vol. 362, columns 51–61
5. Stahl, The Diving Eagle, p. 40.
6. Grattidge, pp. 153–4
Chapter 6: The Sinking
1. Stahl, The Diving Eagle, pp. 54–5
2. WO 167/1155 at PRO
3. Stahl, p. 55
Chapter 7:The Sea
1. Captain Sharp’s report, ADM 199/2133 at PRO
Chapter 8:The Rescue
1. ADM 1/12264 at PRO
2. Bond, Lancastria, pp. 223–6
3. Grattidge, Captain of the Queens, p. 159
4. Ibid.
Chapter 9: St-Nazaire
1. Fred Hahn’s papers, Imperial War Museum
2. Ibid.
Chapter 10:The Way Back
1. Admin 199/76, WH 7063 case at PRO
2. Brooke, War Diaries, p. 86
3. Ibid., 87–8
4. ‘Life and Times of Captain Barry Kenyon Stevens’ by Admiral Guy F. Liardet, February 1996, private paper in author’s possession.
5. Fred Hahn’s papers, Imperial War Museum
6. Churchill, The Second World War, Vol. 2, p. 172
7. Ibid., pp. 198–9
Chapter 11: Home
1. Fred Hahn’s papers, Imperial War Museum
2. Grattidge, Captain of the Queens, p. 160
3. Brooke, War Diaries, p. 88
4. Bryant, The Turn of the Tide, pp. 180–6 on Brooke’s return.
5. Grattidge, p. 161
6. Cadogan, Diaries, 17 June 1940
7. Roskill, The Navy at War, p. 81
Chapter 12:The Bodies
1. This and next paragraph, WO 32/18802 at PRO
2. Gurio, interview with author
Chapter 13: Aftermath
1. The Times, 26 July 1940
2. Admin 199/76 WH case 7063 at PRO
3. WO 32/18802 at PRO
4. CAB 100 at PRO
5. Grattidge, Captain of the Queens, p. 161
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Accounts by survivors of their time in France, of the sinking of the Lancastria and of their subsequent journey back to Britain, have been taken from interviews by the author, oral history tapes at the Imperial War Museum and, above all, from two collections of narratives: The Loss of the Lancastria, compiled by John L. West and published by Millgate Publishing; and HMS Lancastria: Narratives, compiled and published by the Lancastria Survivors Association. Official War diaries and War Office documents are from the Public Records Office at Kew, the Imperial War Museum, and RAF records of 73rd Squadron at RAF Digby, Lincolnshire. The diary of Mervyn Llewelyn-Jones and the typescript of Fred Hahn’s account are at the Imperial War Museum. Captain Sharp’s reprort is at the PRO – ADM 199/2133. The Hirst family website at http://groups.msn.com/HirstFamilyWebsite/homepage2.msnw has a wealth of detail about the liner and the disaster. The eventual publication of news of the sinking is taken from newspapers of 26 July 1940, at the Newspaper Library, Colindale. The evidence from Barry Stevens comes from his unpublished diary in the possession of the author. French naval documents mentioned in the text are from the naval archives at Vincennes. Local French documents, including Denise Petit’s account and contemporary newspapers, are in the departmental archives in Nantes and the Eco-musée in St-Nazaire. Memoirs, diaries and other works used as sources are as follows:
Alanbrooke, Field Marshal Lord, (ed. Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman) War Diaries, 1939–1945, (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001)
Bryant, Arthur, The Turn of the Tide, 1939–43 (London: Collins, 1959)
Bond, Geoffrey, Lancastria (London: Olbourne, 1959)
Booth, Clare, European Spring (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1941)
Bourdon, Emile, L’Inattendu (Laval: Siloë, 1996)
Cadogan, Sir Alexander, (ed. David Dilks) The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, O. M., 1938–1945, (London: Cassell, 1971)
Colville, John, The Fringes of Power (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1985)
Churchill, Winston, The Second World War, Vol. 2 (London: Cassell, 1950)
Flowers, Vic, Premonition of Disaster (Wartime News, 1998)
Grattidge, Harry, Captain of the Queens (London: Olbourne, 1956)
Gilbert, Martin, Second World War (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989)
Horne, Alistair, To Lose a Battle: France, 1940 (London: Penguin, 1979)
Jackson, Julian, The Fall of France (Oxford: OUP, 2003)
Jenkins, Roy, Churchill (London: Pan, 2002)
Karslake, Basil, 1940, The Last Act (London: Leo Cooper, 1979)
Kersaudy, François, De Gaulle et Churchill (Paris: Perrin, 2001)
Maclean, Alistair, The Lonely Sea (London: Collins, 1985)
Reynaud, Paul, In the Thick of the Fight (London: Cassell, 1955)
Roskill, S.W., War at Sea (London: HMSO, 1954)
——, The Navy at War (London: Collins, 1960)
Stahl, Peter, The Diving Eagle (London: William Kimber, 1978)
Spears, Edward, Assignment to Catastrophe, Vol. 2 (London: Heinemann, 1954)
Williams, Charles, The Last Great Frenchman (London: Little Brown, 1993)
Winter, John de S, BEF Ships Before, At and After Dunkirk (Gravesend: World Ship Society, 1999)
INDEX
André, M., ref1
Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, ref1
Armoured Division (1st), ref1
Attlee, Clement, ref1
Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps, ref1
Bardell, Samuel Valentine, ref1
Batory, ref1
Baudouin, Paul, ref1, ref2
Beal, Cal, ref1, ref2
Beattie, Tom, ref1, ref2
Beauman Division, ref1
Berry, George, ref1
Booth, Clare, ref1
Bordeaux, ref1
Bowden, Isobella Macclaine, ref1, ref2
Boyd, Henry, ref1, ref2
Bradbury, Major Leslie, ref1
Braxton, Percy, ref1, ref2, ref3
Brest, ref1
British Expeditiona
ry Force (BEF), ref1, ref2
British Naval War Diary, ref1
Brittany plan, ref1, ref2
Broadbent, John, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Brogden, Frank, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Brooke, General Alan, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Cadogan, Sir Alexander, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Cambridgeshire, HMS, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Campbell, Sir Ronald, ref1, ref2
Carinthia, ref1
Chamley, Sister, ref1, ref2
Champlain, ref1
Chesterton, Neville, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Churchill, Winston, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; and de Gaulle, ref1; and Dunkirk evacuation, ref1, ref2, ref3; and France, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7; and Franco-British Union proposal, ref1, ref2, ref3; prevention of France’s fleet falling into German hands, ref1; speeches, ref1; suppressing of reports on Lancastria disaster, ref1, ref2, ref3; view of France seeking armistice terms with Germany, ref1
City of Mobile, ref1, ref2, ref3
Classey, Grace, ref1
Clements, Frank, ref1, ref2
Coe, Lance Corporal Fred, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
Colville, John, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, ref1
Cook, Bertie, ref1
Corbin, Charles, ref1, ref2
Coudray Tronson, Lieutenant Colonel Norman de, ref1, ref2, ref3
Couedel, Laurent, ref1, ref2
Crew, G. F., ref1
Cunard Steamship Company, ref1
Cunliffe, Burt, ref1
Curran, Joe, ref1
Cuthbert, Alec, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Cymbula, ref1, ref2
de Gaulle, General Charles, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14
Delfosse, Julie, ref1, ref2
Dill, Sir John, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Diving Eagle squadron (KG30 unit), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Dönitz, Admiral, ref1
Dorsetshire, ref1
Drage, Arthur, ref1
Drake, HMS, ref1
Draycott, Donald, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Driver, Norman, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Drummond, J. H., ref1
Duchess of York, ref1
Duggan, Alfred Edwin, ref1, ref2, ref3
Duggan, John, ref1
Dunbar, James, ref1
Dunkirk evacuation, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Dunmall, Sidney, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
Earle, Lieutenant Colonel, ref1
Eden, Anthony, ref1, ref2
Edwards, John, ref1, ref2
Ellis, Margaret, ref1
Evans, Roger, ref1
Fairey Aviation Company, ref1
Fairfax, Major Percy, ref1, ref2
Field, Captain, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Flowers, Stan, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
Flowers, Vic, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Forde, Leonard, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Ford, Colonel V. T. R., ref1
Fortune, General Victor, ref1
France: armistice agreed with Germany, ref1, ref2; collapse of under German advance, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; destruction of military equipment to prevent falling into German hands, ref1, ref2, ref3; entering of Paris by Germans, ref1, ref2; losses, ref1; proposal of union with Britain and opposition to, ref1, ref2, ref3; relations with Britain, ref1; seeking of armistice with Germany, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7; troops remaining in after Dunkirk evacuation, ref1; see also St-Nazaire
Franconia, ref1, ref2
Freeman, Claudine, ref1
Frodsham, Thomas (‘Shorty’), ref1
Fuller, Captain, ref1
Georges, General, ref1
Georgic, ref1, ref2
Gourio, Claude, ref1, ref2
Grahame, Christine, ref1
Grattidge, Chief Officer, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16
Greenwood, Arthur, ref1
Griggs, Captain F. E., ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Hahn, Major Fred, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Halifax, Lord, ref1, ref2
Hamper, Mrs D., ref1
Hancock, Norman, ref1, ref2
Hanley, Patrick, ref1
Harding, Henry, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Harpathian, ref1
Havelock, HMS, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
Highland Division (51st), ref1, ref2
Highlander, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Hill, Sergeant Robert, ref1
Hitler, Adolf, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Holt, Reverend, ref1
Hooper, Muriel, ref1
Horne, W., ref1
Huni, Pierre, ref1, ref2
Hutchison, Thomas, ref1
Ismay, Hastings ‘Pug’, ref1, ref2
Italy, ref1, ref2
James, Admiral, ref1
Jean Bart, ref1
John Holt, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Jory, Mrs, ref1
Joyce, William, (Lord Haw-Haw), ref1
JU-88s, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Kain, ‘Cobber’, ref1, ref2, ref3
Karslake, General Henry, ref1, ref2, ref3
Keenan, Sid, ref1, ref2
Kennedy, Joseph, ref1
KG30 Diving Eagle unit see Diving Eagle squadron
Kingett, Stanley, ref1
King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, ref1
Knight, William, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
La Baule, ref1, ref2
La Bernerie, ref1
Lancastria Association, ref1, ref2, ref3
Lancastria disaster (in chronological order): specifications and description of ship, ref1; fitting out as troopship, ref1; recalled for urgent mission, ref1, ref2, ref3; setting sail for France and heading for St-Nazaire, ref1, ref2; enters estuary off St-Nazaire, ref1; boarding of troops at St-Nazaire, ref1, ref2, ref3; delay in leaving St-Nazaire, ref1; bombing of, ref1, ref2; sinking of, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; surviving in sea, ref1; rescue of survivors, ref1; first mention of disaster in the British Naval War Diary, ref1; leaving of survivors from St-Nazaire for England, ref1, ref2; suppressing of reports on disaster by Churchill, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; arrival of survivors in England, ref1; bodies washed up onto beaches and burial of, ref1; breaking of story in press, ref1; aftermath, ref1; awards to crew, ref1; annual memorial service, ref1; sixtieth anniversary pilgrimage by Lancastria Association, ref1; sixty-fifth anniversary pilgrimage by Lancastria Association, ref1; designated maritime monument by French, ref1; reasons for silence over, ref1; death toll, ref1, ref2, ref3,
Lanconia, ref1
Lashbrook, Lance Corporal Morris, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Lawrence, Peter, ref1
Lebrun, President Albert, ref1, ref2, ref3
Legroux, Emilie, ref1, ref2, ref3
Legroux, Madame, ref1, ref2, ref3
Legroux, M., ref1, ref2, ref3
Legroux, Roger, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Les Moutiers, ref1
Lindeman, Professor Frederick, ref1
Llewelyn-Jones, Mervyn, ref1, ref2
Looche, Thérèse van, ref1
Luciani, Michel, ref1, ref2
Lumsden, Horace, ref1, ref2
Lusitania, ref1, ref2
Lutwaffe, ref1 see also Diving Eagle squadron
Macfadyen, Wing Commander, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
McMenemy, Padre Captain Charles, ref1, ref2, ref3
Macpherson, Sergeant, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Maid of Kent, ref1
Maloney, D
enis, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Mandel, Georges, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Manning, Tom, ref1
Maurois, André, ref1
Miller, Sergeant, ref1
Monnet, Jean, ref1, ref2
Moore, ‘Chippy’, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Mussolini, Benito, ref1, ref2
Nantes, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Newlove, Richard, ref1
Noblanc, Gaston, ref1, ref2
Number One Heavy Repair Shop, ref1, ref2
O’Brien, Joe, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Oldham, Wilfred, ref1, ref2
Operation Aerial, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5; success of, ref1
Operation Cycle, ref1
Oracle, HMS, ref1
Oronsay, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Pack, Harry, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Paris: falling of to Germans, ref1, ref2
Pay Corps, ref1, ref2, ref3
Pearse, Joe, ref1, ref2, ref3
Perfect, Teddy, ref1
Perrin, William Reeves, ref1
Pétain, Marshal Philippe, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Peterson, Bob, ref1
Petit, Denise, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Pettit, Sergeant Harry, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Picken, Sergeant Major, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Portes, Hélène de, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Proctor, Private, ref1
Punjabi, ref1
Quittenton, Edwin, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Ratcliffe, Jack, ref1
Resistance, ref1, ref2
Reynaud, Paul, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12
Richelieu, ref1
Rimmer, Stanley, ref1, ref2
Rock, Johnny, ref1, ref2
Rodes, Joan, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Rolland, Marie, ref1
Roosevelt, Franklin, ref1, ref2
Roskill, Captain, ref1, ref2
Royal Army Service Corps, ref1, ref2, ref3
Royal Artillery, ref1
Royal East Kent Regiment, ref1, ref2
Royal Engineers, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Royal Ordnance Corps, ref1
Royal Signals unit, ref1
Royal Sussex regiment (6th), ref1
Royal Welch Fusiliers, ref1
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de, ref1
Saint-Michel, ref1
Sandys, Duncan, ref1, ref2
Sapsford, Mrs, ref1
Saxton, Joe, ref1, ref2, ref3
Scott-Bowden, Major, ref1, ref2
Sharp, Captain Rudolph, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13
Shaw, Dr, ref1
Sheehan, Michael, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6