Operation Absolom (Carter's Commandos Book 1), page 26
Carter swung his machine guns to the left and opened fire once again. Able to concentrate on a single target his twin guns were able to inflict more damage than the German’s single gun. But they were gradually being overhauled, which would mean that the German would soon be able to bring his aft guns into play as well. Carter had no intention of allowing that to happen.
Almost as the thoughts scuttled across Carter’s busy brain, the two machine guns stopped firing with a final click as the bolts fell on empty chambers. The two machine guns were useless to him now unless he could locate the ammunition lockers. Unless he brought the forward machine gun into play.
He sprinted forward and threw himself up into the wheelhouse. “Prof, get down onto the forward machine gun and whatever you do, keep it firing.”
Grabbing the wheel, Carter pushed Green to one side.
“Don’t you mean the aft guns, Lucky?”
“No, I mean the forward gun. Now don’t stand around arguing, or it won’t matter which gun I mean.”
Green didn’t need telling a second time. He slid down the stairs and a few seconds later Carter saw him reappear at the forward machine gun. He heaved back on the cocking handle, then turned the gun to aim as far to the rear as possible. But he didn’t have a clear field of fire, so he looked up at Carter with a puzzled look on his face.
Carter released the wheel and at once the boat went into a turn to the right. When the wheel stopped spinning Carter helped to speed up the turn until, looking through the side widows, he judged it necessary to start straightening the course before he overshot.
The forward machine gun started to chatter as Green was able to locate a target, then Carter was able to pick out the bow of the pursuing boat, then its wheelhouse and then its profile started to narrow as Carter’s E-Boat was steering straight at it.
“Ever played chicken?” Carter whispered to the other E-Boat’s distant Captain. To be truthful, Carter had never played the game himself, only read a reference to it in a book. It was usually played with cars, not E-Boats, but the principle remained the same.
Both E-Boats were heading towards each other at a closing speed in excess of fifty knots. Green pretty much kept his finger on the machine gun’s trigger, sending hundreds of rounds into the hull and superstructure of the other boat. If he was worried by what his officer was doing, he showed no sign of it.
But it was the German who blinked first, or at least whichever German was manning the wheel. The boat slewed to the side, allowing Green to send a raking stream of fire along the boat’s length as they passed each other. The forward machine gunner was last seen crawling away from his position while the aft gunner slumped down, blood spurting in great gouts from a terminal wound.
But gunners could and would be replaced and the other E-Boat was heading away from them at a considerable pace. It wouldn’t be long before it started to turn. Carter had to reverse his course as well, or he would have the German back on his tail once more.
But then something wonderful happened. The E-Boat started to turn, but then headed away on a course that would take it to the north east, away from Carter’s boat. As he slewed his boat across the top of a roller, he saw why. A much larger boat was bearing down on them, foam flashing from its bows as it headed for them at full speed. It wasn’t a big boat, a corvette Carter guessed, but it was the most beautiful boat Carter had ever seen. It must have been the source of the artillery fire which had crippled the second German boat. It was also big enough to make the captain of the remaining E-Boat turn tail and run for home. The corvette sent it on its way with some more heavy calibre shells, but there was no sign of any striking home as the E-Boat’s commander zig zagged his boat in a series of evasive manoeuvres.
Carter eased back on the throttles and turned towards the crippled boat. They had no option but to surrender and Carter could accept that on behalf of the naval crew. As they approached, A rating went to the mast and lowered the Kriegsmarine ensign, while at the jack staff a second rating did the same. Green kept his machine gun aimed on the E-Boat’s bridge, where a stiff faced officer stood, a cigarette in one hand, but there was no longer any real threat.
“I suppose that means I’ve got to go back to calling you ‘Sir’, now that we’re back within the fold.” Green said, arriving back on the bridge, a hint of humour in his voice.
“Yes, I’m afraid that’s the way of the army. You call me ‘Sir’ even if you don’t mean it and I call you Tpr Green so that the blokes don’t think I showing you any favour.”
“That’s OK by me. The blokes hate it when officers have favourites. It makes them think that tales are being told behind their back. But could I ask a favour, just this once?”
“If I can grant it I will.”
“Can you put in a good word for me. I think I could be on a fizzer for disobeying an order and going looking for you. Or maybe for going AWOL1.”
“I’ll certainly give it my best shot. I doubt I could have made it this far without you and that deserves some credit.” There was a risk of the conversation taking an embarrassing turn, so they fell silent and watched the approaching corvette.
It swung to the north and made a slow approach towards them, using its larger sides to create a wind shadow in its lee. Carter eased his boat into the side ship’s side, where a scramble net had already been rigged.
Ratings lined the rails, aiming rifles and Lewis guns down at them, suspicion on their faces. A Sub Lieutenant leant over the rail and called down to Carter, who was standing on the flying bridge.
“What the hell is a pongo2 doing out here on a German E-Boat?”
Carter cut off his desire to call the sailor a fish head in retaliation for being addressed as a pongo. Politeness was probably a better course of action under the circumstances. “It’s a long story and one best told over a G&T in the wardroom.” Carter replied.
“I think the Captain is going to want something a bit more formal than that.” The officer laughed, nodding his head towards the front of the ship.
Carter followed his gaze to where a head wearing a peaked cap stood on the bridge wing, looking back towards him.
“Happy to oblige.” Carter replied.
“Well, leave all your weapons and equipment on the boat. We’ll look after it for you.”
You mean you don’t trust us, Carter thought. But it made sense. Until their credentials had been checked out, they must remain objects of suspicion. Carter shrugged out of his webbing and laid it on the deck. “Oh, by the way, there’s an unconscious German on the mess deck, trussed up like an oven ready chicken, if you could look after him. He’ll probably need medical attention.”
“Will do. Now climb up the netting and I’ll take you to meet the Captain.”
As he climbed over the rail, the Naval Officer’s nose wrinkled in distaste and Carter realised that it had been over a week since he had last bathed. No wonder Gudrid had given him such a filthy look when they had been in the back of the baker’s van.
1 AWOL – Absent Without Official Leave. It is a lesser offence than desertion which implies a permanent absence, but it is still a serious offence.
2 Pongo – A derogatory word for soldiers used by the Navy and the RAF. It probably originated in 19th century Musical Halls. At that time it was normal for soldiers to wear uniform when off duty, making them easy to identify in the audience. Traditionally an army on the march, accompanied by draft animals and live animals for slaughter, as well as using latrine pits, was quite a smelly organisation. A comedian could always guarantee a cheap laugh with the line ‘Where the army goes, the pong goes’.
11 – Aftermath
The door to 25 Gillies Street was opened by Mrs Bliss. Carter was shocked to see how she had aged in the few weeks in which he had been away. She seemed to be at least twenty years older.
“Are you OK, Moira?” he asked, slipping his webbing off and setting it on the floor in the hallway.
“As well as can be expected, Steven.” She said, her tone heavy, her voice sounding listless. She glanced sideways into the dining room. Carter followed her gaze and saw the framed photographs of Moira’s sons, standing on the sideboard as they always had. Except that one of them was now draped with a black ribbon.
“Your son …” Carter didn’t know what to say, reluctant to jump to the obvious conclusion in case he was wrong.
“He was on board the Repulse. Apparently it was bombed by the Japanese and was sunk, along with the Prince of Wales. My son was amongst those killed.”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea, Moira. We’ve been away …”
“I know where you’ve been, Steven and the whole town is proud of you. The whole country is proud of what you boys did. Captain Turner, before he went on leave, told me you were missing, though. Presumed dead yourself.”
“Officially I was. I’ve just got back. It was quite an adventure. But you … is there anything I can do for you?”
“There’s nothing that can be done, Steven. My boy is gone and there’s an end to it. He wasn’t the first in this war and I’m sure many more mothers will lose their sons before it comes to an end. Now, you get yourself sorted and I’ll put some dinner on. I wasn’t expecting you, so there isn’t much in. Would mince and tatties be OK?”
* * *
Two hours previously, Carter had stood in front of Lt Col Vernon’s desk, reporting his return to his unit. He threw up a smart salute.
Vernon rose and came round the desk, grasping Carter’s hand and shaking it firmly, pumping the hand up and down as though trying to extract water. “Welcome back, Steven. Am I pleased to see you! We’d given you up for dead.”
“Well, if 6 Troop had had their way I might be.” Carter laughed. “But I’ve got a thick head and I survived.”
At last he released Carter’s hand and returned behind his desk. “Well, take a seat. I want the whole story, beginning to end and don’t miss anything out.”
“Of course. I’ll be writing a full report, but here goes.” Carter took him through a blow by blow description of his and Green’s adventures. Occasionally Vernon interjected with a question, but mostly he was content to say ‘my, my’, or ‘incredible’.
“Then we were put ashore at Invergorden and there were a couple of Redcaps1 waiting for us. It seemed odd, but they were very polite. Said that there were some people in Edinburgh that wanted to talk to us and it was their job to see us safely there. We weren’t allowed to carry our weapons, which seemed a little bit strange. They went in the boot of the car. I’d expected just to be given a rail warrant and a lift to the railway station, but we were to get a car all the way there.”
Tea had been delivered by one of the commandos who doubled as a clerk and Carter took a sip of his, enjoying the flavour.
“Anyway, we were taken to the Castle and interviewed by a bloke who said he was Intelligence Corps. But if he was a soldier I’ll eat my hat. It was more like an interrogation than an interview. It went on for two days. They didn’t seem to accept that Green and I were who we said we were, and it wasn’t until the 2IC turned up and vouched for us that they believed us. If he hadn’t shown up I’ve a feeling we might be locked up in the Tower of London by now.”
The Colonel laughed. “Yes, we heard you’d been taken to Edinburgh and couldn’t work out why, so I sent Teddy Couples over to find out what was going on. Pretty much everyone else is on leave at the moment. But you know how suspicious everyone is these days. There are rumours of spies everywhere, so when a couple of people turn up out of the blue in a German E-Boat, claiming to be British commandos, you can see their point. But still, all’s well that ends well and here you are now.
I’ve had a couple of interesting signals come in about you. First of all there’s one from HQ Combined Ops, thanking you for the donation of two German E-Boats. I had no idea what they meant by that until you just told me. Congratulations on that. The second was from some outfit calling themselves the Special Operations Executive. They thank you for the service you did while in Norway, but don’t say what that was. I assume it was the attack on the Police Station.”
“Probably, Sir. I probably shouldn’t talk too much about that. Careless talk costs lives and all that.”
“Quite right. I promise not to tell anyone what you’ve told me. Anyway, if you write up that report of yours, I’ll pick the bits I need from it. I think I can probably work it up into a DSO2 for you. Now, what about Green?”
“If I could ask, Sir, that you exercise a bit of leniency for Tpr Green. After all he was only trying to …” Carter stopped talking as Vernon raised his hand.
“I have no idea what you’re rabbiting on about Steven. Green acted with the bravery and initiative we expect from commandos, to go to the aid of his officer, that is to say you. All I want to know is if he did anything that could earn him a gong.”
Carter almost laughed, partly out of embarrassment and partly out of relief that Green wasn’t in any trouble for coming to find him in Kirkesfjord. “Of course, Sir. Silly of me. Yes, I think there’s probably a case for a Military Medal for what he did in fighting off the German E-Boats when they caught up with us.”
“Good. You write up the citation and I’ll sign it off.”
“What was the casualty rate for the raid?” Carter asked. The 2IC hadn’t said much on their journey from Edinburgh, just commenting that it was probably up to the CO to fill him in on what had happened.
“Not too bad, all things considered. We lost two officers and fifteen ORs killed. Five officers and forty eight ORs wounded. Most of those were minor wounds, thankfully, though there were some nasty burns to the men in Molly Brown’s landing craft. Colin Foggerty will have a story to tell his grandchildren. He got half his ear shot away. Lucky it wasn’t a fraction to the right or he wouldn’t have lived to tell the tale. As it is he’ll be in hospital for a while.”
“If I could get my hands on the pilot of that …”
“Don’t be too harsh on the RAF, Steven. That aircraft was shot down and the crew is listed as missing, though no one saw any parachutes so it doesn’t look good for them. The RAF paid a heavy price for covering our backs and our casualties would have been a lot higher if we’d have had to contend with the Luftwaffe as well. They lost eleven aircraft all told, with all the crew listed as missing, presumed dead.”
“I’m sorry, Sir. I didn’t know.”
“No, very few people do. The casualty figures have been kept hushed up. After all, we don’t want to take the shine off our victory. We’re the talk of the country right now, ever since the news-reel footage was shown in the cinemas.”
“But we didn’t take any cameramen with us.”
“It’s amazing what you can do with some footage shot during training, edited with a bit of archive stuff. There was a stills photographer with us, of course and he got some very good shots. The public will see some brave British commandos storming the enemy shore and blowing lots of stuff up. It may not be us they’re seeing, but they will believe it is. And it isn’t really a lie because that’s exactly what we did. And I have a personal telegram from the Prime Minister congratulating us for doing it, if proof is needed.”
“What sort of damage did we do?”
“Well, we blew up the three fish oil factories, of course. We also took ninety eight prisoners. We have no idea how many Germans we killed but it was a fair few. There were a dozen or so Quislings arrested, including the Mayor. By a stroke of luck we also sank ten German ships. Five were anchored along the fjord towards Groening, but another five just sailed straight into the North Channel, right onto the guns of the two destroyers that were guarding the approach. It would have been good to capture some of them, but the ones we didn’t sink the Germans scuttled to prevent them falling into our hands. Everyone is very pleased with us, as I said.”
He took a sip of his tea before continuing. “With the casualties and a couple of other personnel changes, we’ve had to move people about a little. Don Donaldson of 6 Troop has been promoted to Major and he’s off to the Middle East. So Molly Brown has been promoted to Captain to take his place, which means you’re now the senior Lieutenant in 4 Troop. I have to say I thought I was going to have to replace you as well, so you’ve saved me a problem there.”
“Do we know who’s replacing Molly?”
“Not yet. We’re waiting for a draft to come down from Achnacarry to replace all of our casualties, officers and ORs. They’ll be with us within the month. Which brings me to the subject of leave. Everyone else has been sent home for a fortnight, of which they’ve got a couple of days more to go. But of course you and Green have to have your two weeks as well.”
“If you’ve no objection, Sir, I’d like to take my leave up here.”
“As you wish. Any particular reason?”
That was an awkward question. On the one hand Carter didn’t want to mislead his CO, but on the other there was no reason for Vernon to know about the strained relations between Carter and his family. In the end he compromised with the truth, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.
“There’s a young lady I promised to take to the cinema. Now would seem to be the best time, before we get back into training again.”
Vernon gave Carter an amused look. “Well, enjoy yourself while you can. You’ve earned it. There’s a new Humphrey Bogart film at the cinema, something about a falcon in Malta. Not my cup of tea but you know how the ladies love Bogart.”
“Thanks for the suggestion, Sir. Sounds just the sort of thing. By the way, how goes the war in the Far East? Have we sent the Japanese back home to lick their wounds?”
“Sorry, I keep forgetting you’ve been out of touch. I’m afraid it isn’t looking good. The Japs are everywhere. They’re advancing down the Malay peninsula and already Singapore is under threat. It makes the fall of France and the Low Countries look like a side show. I dare say your Huntingdons are in the thick of it. The Japs are also attacking Indonesia and Indochina. The Americans are preparing to defend the Philippines and there’s even been Japanese ships seen off the coast of New Guinea.”
Almost as the thoughts scuttled across Carter’s busy brain, the two machine guns stopped firing with a final click as the bolts fell on empty chambers. The two machine guns were useless to him now unless he could locate the ammunition lockers. Unless he brought the forward machine gun into play.
He sprinted forward and threw himself up into the wheelhouse. “Prof, get down onto the forward machine gun and whatever you do, keep it firing.”
Grabbing the wheel, Carter pushed Green to one side.
“Don’t you mean the aft guns, Lucky?”
“No, I mean the forward gun. Now don’t stand around arguing, or it won’t matter which gun I mean.”
Green didn’t need telling a second time. He slid down the stairs and a few seconds later Carter saw him reappear at the forward machine gun. He heaved back on the cocking handle, then turned the gun to aim as far to the rear as possible. But he didn’t have a clear field of fire, so he looked up at Carter with a puzzled look on his face.
Carter released the wheel and at once the boat went into a turn to the right. When the wheel stopped spinning Carter helped to speed up the turn until, looking through the side widows, he judged it necessary to start straightening the course before he overshot.
The forward machine gun started to chatter as Green was able to locate a target, then Carter was able to pick out the bow of the pursuing boat, then its wheelhouse and then its profile started to narrow as Carter’s E-Boat was steering straight at it.
“Ever played chicken?” Carter whispered to the other E-Boat’s distant Captain. To be truthful, Carter had never played the game himself, only read a reference to it in a book. It was usually played with cars, not E-Boats, but the principle remained the same.
Both E-Boats were heading towards each other at a closing speed in excess of fifty knots. Green pretty much kept his finger on the machine gun’s trigger, sending hundreds of rounds into the hull and superstructure of the other boat. If he was worried by what his officer was doing, he showed no sign of it.
But it was the German who blinked first, or at least whichever German was manning the wheel. The boat slewed to the side, allowing Green to send a raking stream of fire along the boat’s length as they passed each other. The forward machine gunner was last seen crawling away from his position while the aft gunner slumped down, blood spurting in great gouts from a terminal wound.
But gunners could and would be replaced and the other E-Boat was heading away from them at a considerable pace. It wouldn’t be long before it started to turn. Carter had to reverse his course as well, or he would have the German back on his tail once more.
But then something wonderful happened. The E-Boat started to turn, but then headed away on a course that would take it to the north east, away from Carter’s boat. As he slewed his boat across the top of a roller, he saw why. A much larger boat was bearing down on them, foam flashing from its bows as it headed for them at full speed. It wasn’t a big boat, a corvette Carter guessed, but it was the most beautiful boat Carter had ever seen. It must have been the source of the artillery fire which had crippled the second German boat. It was also big enough to make the captain of the remaining E-Boat turn tail and run for home. The corvette sent it on its way with some more heavy calibre shells, but there was no sign of any striking home as the E-Boat’s commander zig zagged his boat in a series of evasive manoeuvres.
Carter eased back on the throttles and turned towards the crippled boat. They had no option but to surrender and Carter could accept that on behalf of the naval crew. As they approached, A rating went to the mast and lowered the Kriegsmarine ensign, while at the jack staff a second rating did the same. Green kept his machine gun aimed on the E-Boat’s bridge, where a stiff faced officer stood, a cigarette in one hand, but there was no longer any real threat.
“I suppose that means I’ve got to go back to calling you ‘Sir’, now that we’re back within the fold.” Green said, arriving back on the bridge, a hint of humour in his voice.
“Yes, I’m afraid that’s the way of the army. You call me ‘Sir’ even if you don’t mean it and I call you Tpr Green so that the blokes don’t think I showing you any favour.”
“That’s OK by me. The blokes hate it when officers have favourites. It makes them think that tales are being told behind their back. But could I ask a favour, just this once?”
“If I can grant it I will.”
“Can you put in a good word for me. I think I could be on a fizzer for disobeying an order and going looking for you. Or maybe for going AWOL1.”
“I’ll certainly give it my best shot. I doubt I could have made it this far without you and that deserves some credit.” There was a risk of the conversation taking an embarrassing turn, so they fell silent and watched the approaching corvette.
It swung to the north and made a slow approach towards them, using its larger sides to create a wind shadow in its lee. Carter eased his boat into the side ship’s side, where a scramble net had already been rigged.
Ratings lined the rails, aiming rifles and Lewis guns down at them, suspicion on their faces. A Sub Lieutenant leant over the rail and called down to Carter, who was standing on the flying bridge.
“What the hell is a pongo2 doing out here on a German E-Boat?”
Carter cut off his desire to call the sailor a fish head in retaliation for being addressed as a pongo. Politeness was probably a better course of action under the circumstances. “It’s a long story and one best told over a G&T in the wardroom.” Carter replied.
“I think the Captain is going to want something a bit more formal than that.” The officer laughed, nodding his head towards the front of the ship.
Carter followed his gaze to where a head wearing a peaked cap stood on the bridge wing, looking back towards him.
“Happy to oblige.” Carter replied.
“Well, leave all your weapons and equipment on the boat. We’ll look after it for you.”
You mean you don’t trust us, Carter thought. But it made sense. Until their credentials had been checked out, they must remain objects of suspicion. Carter shrugged out of his webbing and laid it on the deck. “Oh, by the way, there’s an unconscious German on the mess deck, trussed up like an oven ready chicken, if you could look after him. He’ll probably need medical attention.”
“Will do. Now climb up the netting and I’ll take you to meet the Captain.”
As he climbed over the rail, the Naval Officer’s nose wrinkled in distaste and Carter realised that it had been over a week since he had last bathed. No wonder Gudrid had given him such a filthy look when they had been in the back of the baker’s van.
1 AWOL – Absent Without Official Leave. It is a lesser offence than desertion which implies a permanent absence, but it is still a serious offence.
2 Pongo – A derogatory word for soldiers used by the Navy and the RAF. It probably originated in 19th century Musical Halls. At that time it was normal for soldiers to wear uniform when off duty, making them easy to identify in the audience. Traditionally an army on the march, accompanied by draft animals and live animals for slaughter, as well as using latrine pits, was quite a smelly organisation. A comedian could always guarantee a cheap laugh with the line ‘Where the army goes, the pong goes’.
11 – Aftermath
The door to 25 Gillies Street was opened by Mrs Bliss. Carter was shocked to see how she had aged in the few weeks in which he had been away. She seemed to be at least twenty years older.
“Are you OK, Moira?” he asked, slipping his webbing off and setting it on the floor in the hallway.
“As well as can be expected, Steven.” She said, her tone heavy, her voice sounding listless. She glanced sideways into the dining room. Carter followed her gaze and saw the framed photographs of Moira’s sons, standing on the sideboard as they always had. Except that one of them was now draped with a black ribbon.
“Your son …” Carter didn’t know what to say, reluctant to jump to the obvious conclusion in case he was wrong.
“He was on board the Repulse. Apparently it was bombed by the Japanese and was sunk, along with the Prince of Wales. My son was amongst those killed.”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea, Moira. We’ve been away …”
“I know where you’ve been, Steven and the whole town is proud of you. The whole country is proud of what you boys did. Captain Turner, before he went on leave, told me you were missing, though. Presumed dead yourself.”
“Officially I was. I’ve just got back. It was quite an adventure. But you … is there anything I can do for you?”
“There’s nothing that can be done, Steven. My boy is gone and there’s an end to it. He wasn’t the first in this war and I’m sure many more mothers will lose their sons before it comes to an end. Now, you get yourself sorted and I’ll put some dinner on. I wasn’t expecting you, so there isn’t much in. Would mince and tatties be OK?”
* * *
Two hours previously, Carter had stood in front of Lt Col Vernon’s desk, reporting his return to his unit. He threw up a smart salute.
Vernon rose and came round the desk, grasping Carter’s hand and shaking it firmly, pumping the hand up and down as though trying to extract water. “Welcome back, Steven. Am I pleased to see you! We’d given you up for dead.”
“Well, if 6 Troop had had their way I might be.” Carter laughed. “But I’ve got a thick head and I survived.”
At last he released Carter’s hand and returned behind his desk. “Well, take a seat. I want the whole story, beginning to end and don’t miss anything out.”
“Of course. I’ll be writing a full report, but here goes.” Carter took him through a blow by blow description of his and Green’s adventures. Occasionally Vernon interjected with a question, but mostly he was content to say ‘my, my’, or ‘incredible’.
“Then we were put ashore at Invergorden and there were a couple of Redcaps1 waiting for us. It seemed odd, but they were very polite. Said that there were some people in Edinburgh that wanted to talk to us and it was their job to see us safely there. We weren’t allowed to carry our weapons, which seemed a little bit strange. They went in the boot of the car. I’d expected just to be given a rail warrant and a lift to the railway station, but we were to get a car all the way there.”
Tea had been delivered by one of the commandos who doubled as a clerk and Carter took a sip of his, enjoying the flavour.
“Anyway, we were taken to the Castle and interviewed by a bloke who said he was Intelligence Corps. But if he was a soldier I’ll eat my hat. It was more like an interrogation than an interview. It went on for two days. They didn’t seem to accept that Green and I were who we said we were, and it wasn’t until the 2IC turned up and vouched for us that they believed us. If he hadn’t shown up I’ve a feeling we might be locked up in the Tower of London by now.”
The Colonel laughed. “Yes, we heard you’d been taken to Edinburgh and couldn’t work out why, so I sent Teddy Couples over to find out what was going on. Pretty much everyone else is on leave at the moment. But you know how suspicious everyone is these days. There are rumours of spies everywhere, so when a couple of people turn up out of the blue in a German E-Boat, claiming to be British commandos, you can see their point. But still, all’s well that ends well and here you are now.
I’ve had a couple of interesting signals come in about you. First of all there’s one from HQ Combined Ops, thanking you for the donation of two German E-Boats. I had no idea what they meant by that until you just told me. Congratulations on that. The second was from some outfit calling themselves the Special Operations Executive. They thank you for the service you did while in Norway, but don’t say what that was. I assume it was the attack on the Police Station.”
“Probably, Sir. I probably shouldn’t talk too much about that. Careless talk costs lives and all that.”
“Quite right. I promise not to tell anyone what you’ve told me. Anyway, if you write up that report of yours, I’ll pick the bits I need from it. I think I can probably work it up into a DSO2 for you. Now, what about Green?”
“If I could ask, Sir, that you exercise a bit of leniency for Tpr Green. After all he was only trying to …” Carter stopped talking as Vernon raised his hand.
“I have no idea what you’re rabbiting on about Steven. Green acted with the bravery and initiative we expect from commandos, to go to the aid of his officer, that is to say you. All I want to know is if he did anything that could earn him a gong.”
Carter almost laughed, partly out of embarrassment and partly out of relief that Green wasn’t in any trouble for coming to find him in Kirkesfjord. “Of course, Sir. Silly of me. Yes, I think there’s probably a case for a Military Medal for what he did in fighting off the German E-Boats when they caught up with us.”
“Good. You write up the citation and I’ll sign it off.”
“What was the casualty rate for the raid?” Carter asked. The 2IC hadn’t said much on their journey from Edinburgh, just commenting that it was probably up to the CO to fill him in on what had happened.
“Not too bad, all things considered. We lost two officers and fifteen ORs killed. Five officers and forty eight ORs wounded. Most of those were minor wounds, thankfully, though there were some nasty burns to the men in Molly Brown’s landing craft. Colin Foggerty will have a story to tell his grandchildren. He got half his ear shot away. Lucky it wasn’t a fraction to the right or he wouldn’t have lived to tell the tale. As it is he’ll be in hospital for a while.”
“If I could get my hands on the pilot of that …”
“Don’t be too harsh on the RAF, Steven. That aircraft was shot down and the crew is listed as missing, though no one saw any parachutes so it doesn’t look good for them. The RAF paid a heavy price for covering our backs and our casualties would have been a lot higher if we’d have had to contend with the Luftwaffe as well. They lost eleven aircraft all told, with all the crew listed as missing, presumed dead.”
“I’m sorry, Sir. I didn’t know.”
“No, very few people do. The casualty figures have been kept hushed up. After all, we don’t want to take the shine off our victory. We’re the talk of the country right now, ever since the news-reel footage was shown in the cinemas.”
“But we didn’t take any cameramen with us.”
“It’s amazing what you can do with some footage shot during training, edited with a bit of archive stuff. There was a stills photographer with us, of course and he got some very good shots. The public will see some brave British commandos storming the enemy shore and blowing lots of stuff up. It may not be us they’re seeing, but they will believe it is. And it isn’t really a lie because that’s exactly what we did. And I have a personal telegram from the Prime Minister congratulating us for doing it, if proof is needed.”
“What sort of damage did we do?”
“Well, we blew up the three fish oil factories, of course. We also took ninety eight prisoners. We have no idea how many Germans we killed but it was a fair few. There were a dozen or so Quislings arrested, including the Mayor. By a stroke of luck we also sank ten German ships. Five were anchored along the fjord towards Groening, but another five just sailed straight into the North Channel, right onto the guns of the two destroyers that were guarding the approach. It would have been good to capture some of them, but the ones we didn’t sink the Germans scuttled to prevent them falling into our hands. Everyone is very pleased with us, as I said.”
He took a sip of his tea before continuing. “With the casualties and a couple of other personnel changes, we’ve had to move people about a little. Don Donaldson of 6 Troop has been promoted to Major and he’s off to the Middle East. So Molly Brown has been promoted to Captain to take his place, which means you’re now the senior Lieutenant in 4 Troop. I have to say I thought I was going to have to replace you as well, so you’ve saved me a problem there.”
“Do we know who’s replacing Molly?”
“Not yet. We’re waiting for a draft to come down from Achnacarry to replace all of our casualties, officers and ORs. They’ll be with us within the month. Which brings me to the subject of leave. Everyone else has been sent home for a fortnight, of which they’ve got a couple of days more to go. But of course you and Green have to have your two weeks as well.”
“If you’ve no objection, Sir, I’d like to take my leave up here.”
“As you wish. Any particular reason?”
That was an awkward question. On the one hand Carter didn’t want to mislead his CO, but on the other there was no reason for Vernon to know about the strained relations between Carter and his family. In the end he compromised with the truth, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.
“There’s a young lady I promised to take to the cinema. Now would seem to be the best time, before we get back into training again.”
Vernon gave Carter an amused look. “Well, enjoy yourself while you can. You’ve earned it. There’s a new Humphrey Bogart film at the cinema, something about a falcon in Malta. Not my cup of tea but you know how the ladies love Bogart.”
“Thanks for the suggestion, Sir. Sounds just the sort of thing. By the way, how goes the war in the Far East? Have we sent the Japanese back home to lick their wounds?”
“Sorry, I keep forgetting you’ve been out of touch. I’m afraid it isn’t looking good. The Japs are everywhere. They’re advancing down the Malay peninsula and already Singapore is under threat. It makes the fall of France and the Low Countries look like a side show. I dare say your Huntingdons are in the thick of it. The Japs are also attacking Indonesia and Indochina. The Americans are preparing to defend the Philippines and there’s even been Japanese ships seen off the coast of New Guinea.”
