CONVOY'S FIGHT

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXV, Issue 254, 28 October 1942, Page 6

CONVOY'S FIGHT

"round by round." vivid description. sydney, Oct. 21. a loud-speaker system on a British cruiser in a convpy to Russia enabied everyone on the ship to hear a round-by-round description, as it were, of enemy attacks as the officex's' various orders were heard. The Netherlands Press Agency in Australia released the following vivid account of the convoy's fight by a Dutch sailor on the cruiser. "One could hear the quiet voice of the officer describing an air attack — 'Six low-flying planes coming in at port — now there are flve — now there are four left!' Sometimes there was no hot dinner for the men as during a battle everybody on board British ships, including the cook, fights. But we always had good food; thanks to the excellent organisation. For example, the loud-speaker would antiounce: 'If the second officer can find time to go to the starboard ackack gun he will find his sausages — and if he goes immediately he might find them still hot.' "The fun started east of Spitbergen. Torpedo bombers, dive-bombers and other bombers appeared everywhere, and it was not exactly a picnic. It was not very amusing -to hear the loud-speaker commentator exclaim. "Forty-two torpedo bombers coming in line just above the water surface.' But then our guns started, with the result that the Germans got things badly. Meanwhile, our commander quietly out-manbeuvred 12 torpedoes in quick succession. It gave you the feeling that you were sw6rving around cracks in the ice when skating. Suddenly we heard two terrific explosions, af,ter which the loud-speaker calmly announced that two 1000-pounders had exploded 20 yards starboard. i swallowed hard and then shook hands with myself, because this was well worth my congratulations. "i again shook hands with myself when, after a short time, it was announced that a destroyer had sent a u-boat to the bottom of the ocean. a patch of oil and lots of green vegetables came floating to the surface. When our commander signalled the destroyer asking whether he was sure he had sunk the German submarine, the captain of the destroyer replied: 'Those vegetables are certainly not ours. We have not seen vegetables for two weeks.' "Our next job was to keep a keen. look-out for icebergs. They made a very beautiful picture, but made our job a very cold one. i was wearing two sweaters, two pairs of long pants lined with sheep wool, three pairs of socks and a heavy coat, but still i was freezing. Finally we handed our convoy over to our Russian friends." 17