My father, Ken, joined the Royal Navy on the 20th of April 1937 at Portsmouth, Hampshire. He was stationed at HMS Victory, the shore establishment. He was 18.5 years old. I was always told that he, and his brothers, joined the Navy like so many Englishmen before them because it was a way out of poverty. His older brother Ray had joined at 15.5 years.
He was obviously dedicated and keen. His introductory training was completed after eight weeks and he was judged the ‘….. the smartest and most efficient of his Class during the eight week course’ and presented with a book to record the achievement. The book was Ships of the Royal Navy (British Commonwealth of Nations) by Oscar Parkes, 1936 . Dad has hand written comments next to some ships – e.g. ‘sunk Dutch East Indies’, ‘Overdue presumed lost’ which he obviously recorded during the course of the war.
I specifically broadened this Chapter on what I originally intended to be a concentration on the Second World War to cover what is really a period of conflict that started in 1936 with ongoing invasion of Ethiopia by Mussolini’s Italian troops, the occupation of Austria by Hitler’s German troops, the continued sponsorship of the Spanish Civil War also by Hitler and the continued invasion/occupation of Korea and China by the Imperial Japanese Forces.
It is not my intention to relate the history of the War – there are thousands of books dedicated to this task. One, which I have used extensively as background, is Winston S. Churchill, Memoirs of the Second World War. I have only included historical facts about various campaigns where this puts into some context the Walls and Scott activities.
Birmingham was a Southampton Class Light Cruiser launched on 1 September 1936 and was completed on 18 November 1937. These cruisers displaced from 9 100 to 11 350 tons. They were powered by 4-shaft Parsons geared turbines operated by 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers developing 75 000hp. They had a speed of up to 32 knots. They were 591 feet in length and 62 feet in beam drawing 17 feet. It had a crew of 748. Armament was 4 triple 6 inch guns, 4 twin 4 inch guns, 4 3-pounder saluting guns and two quadruple 2-pound pompom (anti-aircraft) guns.
Dad (and his brother Alf) was assigned to this brand new ship on commissioning. It was immediately assigned to the China Station and sailed in 1937. My mother told me that Dad had asked her prior to his departure to become engaged. Although she was a bit sceptical about this young man I think mainly because of his age – she was 22 and he only 19, she agreed. She knew there was plenty of time and they had been going out for a few years.
The time that Dad spent away (almost two years) must have been a real eye-opener and the making of him as the man he turned out to be. Here was a young man who at this time hadn’t even ventured as far a field as London going out to fulfil that old adage ‘join the navy to see the world’.
I assume that the ship visited Spain on the way to the Far East because I remember Dad telling me stories about the covert support that the British were giving to the Republicans.
The Spanish Civil War was an absolute tragedy for all Spaniards and the many members of the International Brigades that volunteered. From memory dad told me they visited Spain on the way to China and they certainly would have stopped at Malta to bunker.
The Japanese had invaded Korea and China in 1931 as I mentioned in the previous chapter.
Dad told me a story whilst the Birmingham was in Shanghai. The Japanese of course held large sections of China including Shanghai. The British were apparently supplying arms to the Chinese ‘government’ and other forces. The way Dad told the story was that a British freighter that was carrying arms for the Chinese had been arrested by the Japanese and was occupied. The captain of the Birmingham told one of his junior officers to take an armed boarding party and take the ship back.
The armed party went down the side of the ship and boarded a cutter and motored over to the British freighter. All on board Birmingham watched as the cutter approached the landing steps. The officer along with his armed party climbed the steps and the crew of the Birmingham saw the young officer engage in a heated conversation with the Japanese officer holding the freighter.
The British officer saluted turned around and left the ship and rejoined the cutter – motored back to his ship and came back on board without achieving his assigned task.
When he returned the way Dad told it, the captain demanded to know what had happened. He was told that the junior officer had ‘asked for permission to board’ and the Japanese officer told him it ‘was denied’ so he came back. The captain is allegedly to have then said at high volume ‘that is why I sent you over there with a xx##$$%% armed boarding party.’ I have never worked out whether he went back and corrected the situation.
The First Months
When Neville Chamberlain finally declared war on Germany on the 3rd of September 1939 following the invasion of Poland two days earlier, my father and his brother (my uncle) Alf were still both stationed on the HMS Birmingham on the China station. History records that as soon as Chamberlain advised the House of Commons that Britain was at war with Germany, the air raid sirens wailed and wailed.
The Royal Navy was of course immediately placed on a war footing and the Birmingham was ordered home from China. She returned via Malta for a refit and then she joined the Home Fleet operating out of Scapa Flow in the Orkney’s. According to my uncle Bill, Alf was a bit tight with money. Bill claims that on return to England reminded Dad that he owed him for a stamp he had borrowed whilst in China!
I don’t know when Birmingham got back to the UK but assume that it must have been either just before Christmas 1939 or early in 1940.
The early months of this war became known as the Phoney or the Twilight War. Why? - Because on the western front there was no shooting going on.
The strategic situation changed in April.
Norway and Dunkirk
The real war started for Dad and Alf in Norway. Norway is only about 300 miles from either Scapa Flow or the Shetlands at its closest and about 800 miles to Narvik – only two to four days sailing in British warships.
On the 5th of April the British Government decided that the navy should lay a minefield off Vest Fjord and a minelayer and four destroyers were despatched from Scapa Flow to accomplish this task. Birmingham and two destroyers (Hostile and Fearless) were sent further north to intercept what purported to be fleet of fishing boats and the to join
the rest of the fleet off Vest Fjord on the 7th.
On the morning of the 7th British reconnaissance aircraft reported a German cruiser and two destroyers steering northwards. By early afternoon the following message was received from the Admiralty:
‘Recent reports suggest a German expedition is being prepared. Hitler is reported from Copenhagen to have ordered unostentatious movement of one division in ten ships by night to land at Narvik, with simultaneous occupation of Jutland. Sweden to be left alone. Moderates said to be opposing the plan. Date given for arrival at Narvik was 8th April.’
The fleet was ordered to go to ‘one hours steam.’
Later that afternoon, the Admiralty advised more German ships (including a Scharnhorst class ship and ten destroyers) had been sighted steering northwards. The enemy fleet was obviously on the move.
The enemy fleet was reported as comprising one battlecruiser, one pocket battleship, three cruisers and about 12 destroyers. The British fleet that was to try and intercept them comprised three capital ships (Rodney, Valiant and Repulse), three cruisers and 10 destroyers. Birmingham was already assigned to assist Renown protect the minelayers who were mining Vest Fjord (the entry to Narvik). Other British ships were at sea protecting two convoys but these were turned back to British waters as soon they were advised of the German movements. As it turned out, some lost contact and at least 13 were destroyed or captured by the Germans.
The mine laying was completed by early on the morning of the 8th of April. When the fleet arrived during this exercise Birmingham and her two destroyers were not in sight! Within three hours the first contact with the enemy (the Gloworm came across elements of the German fleet) was made and after exchanging gunfire for some time and sustaining damage, the German ship Hipper accidentally rammed Gloworm as they both emerged from the smokescreen laid down by Gloworm. Gloworm blew up and sank within minutes. Only 40 British sailors survived.
It became apparent very quickly that the invasion of Norway was underway and the British fleet needed to stop them.
A signal sent by Admiral Whitworth at 1850 on the 8th said, among other things, ‘Our objective is to prevent German forces reaching Narvik; my present intention is to alter course at 2100 to 280 degrees, and turn 180 degrees in succession at midnight; enemy heavy ships and light forces have been reported off Norwegian coast; position of Brimingham forces is not known.’ It was later reported to him that Repulse, Penelope, Bedouin, Eskimo, Punjabi and Kimberley were coming to assist. The official record states that at this time (about 1700 – i.e. 5pm on 8th April) the position of the Birmingham force was not known. The commander (Admiral Whitworth) was building up his forces and signalled Birmingham and Repulse to join him. The Repulse did but for some unknown reason (to me that is) Birmingham never made it. I find this quite intriguing – Birmingham seems quite elusive.
A British force had left the Clyde in Scotland aboard s.s Empress of Australia, Monarch of Bermudua, and Reina del Pacifico on the 11th of April and was later joined by the s.s Batory and Chroby from Scapa. This convoy was protected by a fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Layton in Manchester, in company with Birmingham, Cairo, Proctor and five destroyers. Other ships were diverted to also ensure the convoys safe passage.
The ships joined the convoy on the 13th and proceeded to escort them into Norwegian waters. At 1907 on the 14th Admiral Layton received orders for the convoy to divide – the record shows that they wre then at 68 degrees 10 minutes N; 10 degrees 20 minutes S about 130 miles from Vaagsfjord. Manachester, Birmingham, Cairo, Vanoc, Whirlwhind, Highlander and 10 destroyers under Layton were despatched to Namsos. At the same time the first British troops had begun to land – an advance party from Galsgow and Sheffield. Also the troops which were onboard the Namsos cruisers were ordered to be landed.
A summary of the situation in Norway on the 15th of April is that ‘in the northern area Vice Admiral Whitworth was cruising off the Lofoten Islands in the Warsprite, standing by to support the operations against Narvik … the Valiant remained in Vaags Fjord on patrol till 1900, 15th, when she sailed for Scapa … on the same day Admiral of the Fleet Lord Cork, wearing his flag in Aurora, met General Mackesy for the first time in Vaags Fjord, who had arrived there in Southampton the previous day.’ The record gos on to state that ‘Vice Admiral Cunningham, with the Devonshire, Berwick and Furious was operating in the Tromoso area. … In the central area (Tronheim) Vice Admiral Layton with the Manchester, Birmingham, Cairo and three destroyers and two transports was nearing Lillesjona where he had been directed to transfer the troops to destroyers for passage to Namsos.’ The German landing had all been reasonably successful although air and surface attacks by Bristish forces had taken quite a toll of their ships.
The assault on Tronheim (Operation Hammer) was cancelled as the German’s had far superior forces in the area and was building up all the time.
The fleet however was very active escorting convoys to and from Norway taking troops and supplies to those already ashore. The ships maintained a blockade of Norway and generally harassed enemy shipping and used their armaments to shell German positions ashore.
The Birmingham seems to have operated in these roles up until the 26th May when she was ordered back to the Humber.
On 24th of April, Layton and Manchester, York and Birmingham along with the usual fleet of escorts left Rosyth loaded with stores and troops set sail for Norway on one of the resupply sorties. Early in the morning of the 26th Layton’s ships came across a number of German armed trawlers disguised as Dutchmen. One minelayer hoisted the German flag and Birmingham sunk it. My uncle Bill Walls, who was also in the Royal Navy, told me only recently that the rule was that there was no rescue of men when the ship sunk was under 10,000 tons. He tells that my father said that for this reason the captain of Birmingham shut off his engines as the cruiser ploughed through the debris – so as not to diminish the sailors already meagre chances of survival.
The Manchester and the Birmingham remained in the area until the 26th of April. The Birmingham then took part in the withdrawal of the British forces from central Norway in late April and 1 May. The Birmingham was bombed but not hit.
On the 9th May, the Birmingham (with Janus, Hyperion, Hereward and Havock) was ordered to intercept two enemy forces thought to be operating near the Little Fisher Bank. The Kelly (under the command of Lord Louis Mountbatten), Kimberley, Khandahar and Hostile were instructed to join them. It was during this ‘search and destroy’ type operation that Kelly was torpedoed from a MTB being hit just under the bridge at 2235. During the next few hours a number of contacts were made with MTBs including one attack on the Birmingham. Kelly was put under tow by Bulldog and with the Birmingham and her destroyers she was put under escort back to Scapa. The whole fleet was subject to air attack.
That night the German’s invaded Holland and Belgium and the Brimingham and most of the destroyers in company were told to steam immediately to Terschelling.
I understand that Birmingham might have operated a fair amount of the next 12 months in convoy escort duty which included at least one trip to South America.
It is in this context that my Uncle Bill tells me that at some time the Birmingham was in port in Buenos Aires. Both my father and his brother Alf were keen fans of that great crooner Bing Crosby. Apparently he was in town and after too many ‘jars’ my father and Uncle Alf decided that they would call on him in his hotel to offer their respects. They managed to cajole a hotel employee to advise his room number and armed with a bottle of scotch commenced banging on the door calling out to their hero to open up – they wanted to buy him a drink. According to my Uncle Bill it became quite apparent that he had a woman in the room and he said some rather harsh words to say through the door – quite unlike the Bing we all know! They chose to return to the ship rather than take on a rather angry Bing and the hotel management. A wise decision by all accounts.
I have no further information concerning the operations of Birmingham although my father remained a member of the crew until 12 May 1941.
The certificate presented to my father for having crossed the equator (or the ‘line’ as it was called) is dated 5th September 1939 – two days after the war was declared. Obviously it should have been presented on the way out to China but for some reason it was done on the way home. On the Proclamation by good old King Neptune, my father has written the names of the ports that Birmingham had visited – Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Amoy, Sharps Peak, Shanghai, Tsingtao, Wei-Hai-Wei, Cheefoo, Manila, Pedang, Kobi, Alexandria and Kulang Su.
This is the passage of a young Sussex boy from Worthing who worked in a dairy to manhood.
Norway had to wait until the 8th May 1945 to be liberated.
Everyone who was alive in England (or elsewhere in fact) at the time of the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 has lingering memories of that fateful day.
My mother, who’s husband – (my dad of course) – was on a Motor Torpedo Boat in the Mediterranean, told me of the visit of Montgomery to Hove to address (some of) the troops before they embarked. She also told me that everyone new that Operation Overlord had started when all of a sudden the streets were quite and they became conscious of the constant drone of aircraft from the early hours of the morning and throughout the next day. She also mentioned to me that all of a sudden the huge number of vehicles that were parked along every road and byways were gone – just gone.
My father and his three brothers were all in the Royal Navy. My father, Ken Walls, had joined in 1937 and spent his first two years on HMS Birmingham in China. His brothers Alf and Ray had joined the navy earlier in 1931 and 1933. The youngest, William Walls who was born in September 1923 managed to talk his way into the RN by lying about his age in 1940. He spent a large part of the war in home waters on armed trawlers and coastal patrol vessels. He was always known as ‘Tom’ in the navy after the famous actor – Tom Walls (who is no relation).
In 1944 he was a Leading Seaman and was told, at quite short notice I believe, that he was required to ‘drive’ a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) to Normandy. As he told me the story last year, he had just completed some gunnery training and was awaiting a posting to a ‘real ship’ when he was assigned to the 4/7 Dragoon Guards and the LCT was to take a Sherman tank and a recovery vehicle across to Gold Beach in early June. As all know the weather was a bit unpredictable and the landings which were to take place on 4 June were put off until 6 June.
In that short interval he got to meet the tank commander, a chap named ‘Goldsmith’ he said and his sergeant – a good guy called Whittle. Well I now know because of my research that ‘Goldsmith’ was in fact (later) Major-General Sir James D'Avigdor-Goldsmid Bt. CB, OBE, MC. He was at that time either a major or a Lt Col. He and ‘Skin’ Whittle, a fitter, were having a bit of rum on the night before the crossing and Goldsmid, obviously being quite aware of the dangers of a Jewish combatant in Europe, said to Bill, ‘Walls – just remember one thing; if we get caught, my name is Smith – got it – Smith.’
They of course departed along with many thousands of others for Gold Beach on 5 June arriving in very choppy seas as all the action started about 0730. Because of the chop, it was decided that the tanks would not swim ashore but be delivered to the beach. As Bill’s LCT also had a recovery vehicle, they had no choice. It required a beach landing.
The LCT was manned by a Sub-Lt as commander, Bill as the coxswain and a young deck hand rating. As all would be well aware that on arrival there was fire raking the beach and the commander decided to have Bill steer the LCT to an area which was not attracting as much attention – so to speak. My understanding is that Bill questioned the wisdom of this is rather strong and colourful language given that this part of the beach had not been ‘cleared’. He was given short shrift and the LCT ground ashore.
The rating was ordered to lower the front doors so that Goldsmid and his troop could get the tank and vehicle off. The door crashed down right on top of a mine and the explosion did great damage to the door and killed the rating instantly. Bill tells me he shouted at the commander along the lines of ‘you stupid bastard – you have killed him.’ He was immediately told he was on report and that he would be court martialled. The last words that Goldsmid said to him was ‘don’t worry coxswain, I will support you at your court marshal – now I must get out of here.’ He then got aboard his tank and drove it through the buckled doors and up onto the beach.
Bill never saw him again but told me he always wondered how his war went. I now know that he had a very distinguished army career winning an MC. The Dragoon Guards fought their way into Germany. They took a lot of casualties. Goldsmid died in 1958.
Bill left the LCT – it was certainly a one way trip to Normandy for this crew. He ran along the beach until he came to the beach commander, a naval officer, who seemed to be directing landing craft and other sea-born traffic. He asked whether he wanted a lift home! He didn’t need to be asked twice and Bill was safely back in England later that day.
When he returned to barracks he had to have an x-ray which was standard practice because TB was rife. It was as a result of this check that he discovered that he had been hit by a piece of shrapnel whilst on the beach which had been lodged between a rib near his heart. When he was on the beach he knew he was bleeding but assumed he had taken a glancing blow. Neither he nor the doctors considered the wound serious at the time.
It wasn’t until some three months later that he was called back and advised that they needed to operate. It was a difficult operation because the small piece of shrapnel was close to the heart and major arteries. They operated on Boxing Day 1944 and he lost a lot of blood and they needed to cut through his collar bone. His weight dropped from 11 to just over 7 stone.
He had a rather uneventful next few months recovering whilst the Dragoon Guards had a tough and gallant war fighting their way into Germany. Although he only spent a couple of days with them, they have made a lasting impact.
