Chapter 2 'Twixt Gibraltar and Bab-el-Mandeb (continued)

Events in the Middle East were beginning to move toward the full pattern of the war with rising speed. "Eastward Ho" was the urge of the Axis strategy, and the excuses for an advance by land-since the Mediterranean Fleet had shown that an advance by sea was to be no easy matter-were formulating. Italian hopes of a conquest of Egypt were high. Although events at sea to the south were not as promising as could have been desired -the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea were still open to British shipping, and Italian submarines had been having a peculiarly rough time- with no results of advantage to themselves-yet on land things were more satisfactory from the Italian viewpoint. The British had been driven out of British Somaliland, where H.M.A.S. Hobart had covered the evacuation of Berbera, and Italian remarks about "Dunkirks" and "glorious retreats" were not unknown in the ether.

The whole of the Italian African Empire suffered, however, from one great weakness. It was divided from the Homeland by sea, and the Italians did not control that sea. The difficulties of the conquest of Egypt while Britain controlled the Eastern Mediterranean and could interfere with Italian supply lines to North Africa, were matched by the insecurity of the Italian African Empire in general and of Italian control of Abyssinia and her East African possessions in particular, again due to British control of the sea, not only in the Eastern Mediterranean but also south of Suez. Pressure must therefore be brought from the north by land and by air. Italian designs on Greece became obvious.

The first move was to stir up Italian popular feeling against Greece, the next to give Greece reason to become the "aggressor". Greek espionage on behalf of Britain, and Greek outrages against the Albanians, were allegations noisily broadcast by Rome Radio. "This Greek game has gone on long enough. These lies must stop", was a typical announcement, and "Meanwhile Greek violence against the Albanian minorities continues". Then, while the Italians were being thus "conditioned", the active irritation tactics were applied against the Greeks.

On the morning of Thursday, August 15, while crowds of pilgrims were celebrating the Feast of the Assumption at the Aegean island of Tinos, the Greek cruiser Helle, at anchor off the island, was torpedoed by a submarine. Three torpedoes were fired by the submarine, which did not surface. The Helle sank an hour after the attack, while one torpedo, which missed the ship, struck a quay crowded with pilgrims. In all a number of persons were killed and injured. This exploit was followed up by a bombing attack on two Greek destroyers on their way to Tinos, the Vasilevs Georgios and Vasilevs Olga. A fragment of the torpedo which struck the Helle was identified as of Italian origin, and the attacking aircraft were definitely identified as Italian by the commanding officers of the destroyers.

Simultaneously with Italy, Germany proceeded to put pressure on Greece, though hers was "diplomatic". Germany demanded a settlement of the Albanian question and the Corfu and Epirus problems, and that Greece enter the Axis sphere of influence; adding that her attitude was identical with that of Italy. The stage was thus rapidly becoming set for action.

The reason for the Axis moves was clear. Italy was unable, by herself, to carry out her vaunted "imprisonment" of the British Fleet. Greece was the first move toward

series of stepping stones-the islands of the Grecian Aegean Archipelago -which would lead down to Crete and Cyprus, link the Italian Dodecanese up with the main Axis structure, and bring British bases and the British Fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean within easier reach of Axis bombing aircraft. Greece, therefore, was next on the list of Axis victims.

For the time being, however, the various hostile acts were "gestures", planned either"' to coerce Greece into joining the Axis, or to force her to action which would give an excuse for straight out attack. The time was ripe for a British attack on the Dodecanese.

The attack was carried out simultaneously on the islands with a bombardment and bombing attack by aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm, the island of Rhodes being the target for the air attack. H.M.A.S. Sydney, which took part in this operation, bombarded the Makri Yalo Aerodrome, Scarpanto Island, having the destroyer H.M.S. Hex in company. Sydney flew off her aircraft for spotting duty at 0550 on September 4, and opened fire on the target at 0620, continuing the bombardment for 20 minutes. During the bombardment, an attack by five Italian motor torpedo boats was made on Sydney and Hex, the destroyer sinking two of them by gunfire, and the attack being abortive.

There was little peace for the ships of the Mediterranean Fleet, since naval activity of one sort or another was in constant progress. Sweeps by the battle fleet, in the hope of bringing the Italians to face a Fleet action, were continuously being carried out.

These were often made to coincide with the escorting through the Sicilian channel of important reinforcements and stores for Malta or the Eastern theatre. But the Italians in force were elusive, and a major action could not be forced. On various occasions, however, there were attacks on units of the Italian surface fleet, and also on submarines, which were attended by a fair measure of success.

Stuart, assisted by a Sunderland flying boat in the later stages, made a successful attack--or series of attacks---on an Italian submarine during the night of September 29~30. The hunting and attacking commenced at 2215 on the 29th, and the submarine finally surfaced at 0940 on the 30th. Stuart altered course towards her and opened fire, whereupon the crew of the submarine abandoned ship, having previously taken action to scuttle her. Stuart recovered 28 survivors, including the captain, engineer, sub lieutenant, and a destroyer captain who was on passage. A further 19 survivors were picked up by a trawler which appeared on the scene. This was Stuart's last exploit of note for the year, as shortly after she proceeded to Malta for a refit which lasted until January, 1941.

The Australian destroyers made quite a name for themselves in the Mediterranean as submarine hunters, and there is a story of Vampire and Voyager and the Commander in-Chief, which is worth recording. During a Fleet operation off Malta, early in October, Vampire and Voyager had proceeded into Malta to fuel, being due to rejoin the Fleet during the night. When at sea on operations, the Commander-in-Chief had a deck chair on the bridge of the Warspite in which he took cat naps during the small hours. On this particular night he awoke from one of these naps, and asked the officer of the watch if Vampire and Voyager had yet joined the Fleet. Before the officer could reply, there came a thud of depth charges from some little distance, and the C.-in-C. took that for granted as his answer. "Ah yes!" he said. "There they are."

HMAS Sydney and the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni

That was about the time that the Italian destroyer-the picture of whose spectacular funeral pyre has appeared in the world's illustrated papers, and which is reproduced in this volume-was sunk. The Italian ship was the Artighere, a modern destroyer of 1620 tons and a speed Of 39 knots. H.M.A.S. Sydney-who, during the night of October 2 had carried out a short but sharp bombardment of Port Maltesana, on the Dodecanese island of Stampalia-was on the fringe of the engagement, and H.M.A.S. Vampire saw the Italian's end. But the fight was the business of H.M.S. Ajax.

The night of October 11-12 was a night of battle for Ajax. In the early hours she was in the Sicilian channel when she met three Italian destroyers of the Airone class. In the resulting action two of the Italians were sunk, and Ajax suffered some damage and casualties. But there was more to follow. Shortly before dawn on the 12th, she met a far stronger force of Italians, consisting of a heavy cruiser of the Pola class, and four Artigliere class destroyers.

Ajax engaged the enemy at long range, and early made her mark on the Artigliere, which vessel was taken in tow by one of the other destroyers while the rest of the Italians made for their home bases. With the dawn H.M.S. York and H.M.A.S. Sydney appeared on the scene, and the towing destroyer slipped her line and made off, leaving the Artighere to her fate.

Sydney and Ajax chased the fleeing destroyer for a time, but her speed was too great. Meanwhile York gave the Artigliere her coup de grace, blowing her up by gunfire and a torpedo after allowing time for her crew to abandon ship. Because of the close proximity to enemy coasts, it was not possible to stay around to pick up survivors, but the York wirelessed the position on the Italian commercial wavelength, and the Italians sent a Hospital Ship to the spot, where the York had dropped Carley floats to supplement those from the Italian destroyer. One Italian officer and 21 ratings were, however, picked up by the Vampire from a Carley float, the Artigliere blowing up while this operation was in progress.

The Australian destroyers were kept busy on convoy escort work and Fleet duties, Vampire and Voyager being on the screen on the occasion of the bombing of Maltesana, Stampalia, by aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm in the early morning of October 27. All of the ships were, as a matter of course now, being submitted to bombing attacks both at sea and in port, and the anti-aircraft armament was the hardest worked in the ships.

The increasing intensity and frequency of the attacks was an earnest of what was to come, though the enemy was not to be the only one to strike from the air as he was shortly to learn in an unusually severe lesson. But that the attacks on the British Fleet were to stand a chance of increasing by reason of an extension of hostilities was about to be confirmed by events. Italy declared war on, and attacked Greece, on October 29.

Meanwhile the Australian naval forces in the Middle East had been reinforced by the arrival of two of the sloops, H.M.A.S. Parramatta which had reached the Red Sea area in August, and H.M.A.S. Yarra, which had arrived in September in the Aden area. H.M.A.S. Hobart was also operating south of Suez, the three ships being engaged in patrolling and escorting in the Arabian Sea and Red Sea. All of them experienced bombing attacks, both Hobart and Parramatta having their share of these in the Red Sea during October. That morale remained high is instanced by the fact that Yarra's commanding officer could say that the interest of the ship's company in the matter was such that "I fear that some do not land even when they could do so, in case they should miss an air raid."

Having safely delivered their charges, they carried out an anti-submarine patrol off the harbour, during which time they suffered fairly heavy air attacks. H.M.A.S. Sydney, with army guns, ammunition, stores, and personnel on board, arrived at Suda Bay on the 6th. All of the Australian ships were to come to know the Aegean very closely during the next few months.

The attack on Taranto was carried out by Fleet Air Arm aircraft from the Illustrious and Eagle on November 11, 1940. There was other activity in the Mediterranean on the same night. Concurrently with the Taranto attack, aircraft from the Ark Royal were bombing the aerodrome at the Sardinian base of Cagliari, while on the Libyan shore, British cruisers were shelling Sidi Barrani, to the eastward of which point the Italians had progressed in their suspiciously easy advance in September. At the same time, also, Sydney and her consorts, Ajax and Orion, with the destroyers Nubian and Mohawk, were causing some excitement in the Strait of Otranto.

There had been important operations in the Sicilian channel during the preceding few days, when reinforcements for the Mediterranean Fleet had been passed through. Then, practically the whole of Britain's sea power in the Eastern Mediterranean had manoeuvre to the south-west of Malta, almost on Italy's doorstep-they were to cross the threshold shortly-with no more aggression on the part of the enemy than some futile bombing attacks by aircraft. On the 11th, the Fleet moved to the north-east for the attack on Taranto, and at 1310 Sydney and her companions in the Otranto adventure detached and proceeded to the northward.

The Straits were passed in darkness at 23oo, and the northern end of the sweep, well inside the Adriatic, was reached two hours later. There was no sign of the enemy on the northward journey, but at 0124 on the i2th, as the force was returning to the southward, there was a night alarm, and a convoy of four merchant vessels with escort vessels were sighted coming from the Albanian port of Valona. Action was joined at 0128, and all of the enemy ships appeared to be hit and damaged, fires were started on board them, and one ship was seen to sink.

A few salvoes were fired by the enemy escorts, and one torpedo track was sighted from Sydney, but none of the British ships was hit, and there were no casualties. The engagement finished at 0150, and the British ships proceeded south, the Straits of Otranto being passed through at 0330. The raiding force had thus spent four and a half hours in Italy's own private sea, bordered on either side by land under Italian control, and had damaged the enemy considerably while getting away themselves unscathed. It was a modern version of singeing the King of Spain's beard such as Drake would have delighted in.

Occurrences that were to have marked effects in the next few months were meanwhile taking place in the Gulf of Taranto. The Fleet Air Arm attack with torpedoes on the Italian capital ships in Taranto Harbour was eminently successful. The Admiralty communiqu6 announced that the attack had resulted in the crippling of two Italian battleships and probably a third, the crippling of two cruisers, and damage to one battleship and two Fleet auxiliaries. Announcing the action in the House of Commons, Mr. Churchill stated that photographs taken of Taranto Harbour on the following day by machines of the Fleet Air Arm, showed that one 35,000-ton battleship of the Vittorio Veneto class was lying with her forecastle under water and a heavy list to starboard, that a 23,000-ton

battleship of the Cavour class had been beached with her stern under water as far as the after turret, that two cruisers were submerged in the inner harbour, and were surrounded by oil fuel, and that the stems of the two auxiliaries were under water. In describing the episode, Mr. Churchill said, "Its result will affect decisively the balance of naval strength in the Mediterranean and in other parts of the world," while the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Alexander, pointed out that before Taranto the British battle fleet in the Mediterranean was less numerous than Italy's, but that the Italian numerical superiority had been reduced to inferiority in an action in which the dispositions of their admirals only allowed them to offer passive defence. The total British losses in this action were two aircraft.

It was not the Italian Navy alone that suffered heavy defeats during the closing months of 194o and the early period of 1941. The Greeks proved to be a nut that was beyond the Italian power to crack. So far from the 1talians advancing victoriously from Albania, the Greeks, the first shock of the attack over and held, themselves did the advancing. At this time the Aegean was a busy highway of ships carrying men, munitions, stores and equipment to Greece proper, and the port of Piraeus was the scene of disembarkations and the unloading of material from both warships and transports. Sydney was engaged in this duty, and noted that the arrival of British forces in Greece appeared to be giving the utmost satisfaction to all sections of the Greek community, ships and men being loudly cheered as they arrived and disembarked.

During this period another air attack was carried out on the Italians, this time at Tripoli, Sydney being one of the covering force for Eagle, whose aircraft carried out the raid, the striking force being flown off early in the morning of November 26. The objectives of protection for our own convoys and destruction of the enemy's were followed day by day, interspersed with bombardments of Italian shore positions, both on the North African coast and in the Adriatic. In Africa, the British westward advance began in December, and the Australian destroyers were, in between other commitments, employed in screening the gunboats bombarding Bardia and the coast road. Sollum fell to, the British on December 18.

It was during these operations off the Libyan coast that Voyager captured - or at any rate assisted in the capture of - the Italian auxiliary ketch Zingarella. The ketch was sighted by Voyager - who was searching the coast between Bardia and Tobruk for enemy shipping - at 0145 on December 29, and was brought to by a shot across the bows. There was some slight commotion on the deck of the ketch in the darkness, and then a voice called to the destroyer, "Don't shoot! British prisoners on board." The dialogue was continued - according to a participant - by a suspicious interrogator in the destroyer asking "What prisoners?" whereupon the commotion on the deck of the ketch died down and a new voice on board her hailed the destroyer with the question, "Got any b----- tea?"

This apparently resolved any doubts that might have existed on board Voyager, and her people were satisfied to accept the somewhat unusual story that now came from the Zingarella. It appeared that she had on board a sergeant and eight men of the Queen's Own Regiment, who were prisoners of war. On the appearance of the Voyager, the sergeant promptly took matters in hand, and as the destroyer closed the ketch he shouted that he and his men (eight) had taken charge, and had 100 Italian soldiers

battened down below. With this assurance, and being further advised that no help was needed, Voyager led the way into Sollum, where the ketch and her 100 Italian soldiers were handed over. The ketch was armed with two -303 machine-guns mounted in the bows, but these were not manned at the time of the encounter.

While Voyager was thus employing her time, yet another new Australian arrival was operating off the Libyan coast. This was H.M.A.S. Perth, which ship had arrived at Port Said via the Suez Canal on December 23, reached Alexandria the following day, and entered straight away into the life of the area, spending December 29 and 30 in support of a destroyer flotilla which was engaged in a sweep to the westward. But she saw the old year out without sighting the enemy in the Mediterranean.

H.M.A.S. Perth's sister, Sydney, was to have one more flutter before the new year. That was on the night of December 18-ig, when a force of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers again passed through the Straits of Otranto, with the object of destroying Italian convoys and shipping in the South Adriatic, between Italy and Albania, Sydney being one of the cruiser striking force. This force passed through the Straits of Otranto at 2200 on December 18, and, while proceeding northward three hours later, observed from the direction of Valona the flashes of the guns and the explosions of the shells fired by the British battleships carrying out the bombardment of the port.

At 0130 on the 19th, the cruiser force had arrived beyond the line Brindisi-Durazzo, and turned to the southward to withdraw. At o5oo, having spent seven hours trailing their wakes in the Adriatic, they passed out through the Straits of Otranto once more having encountered no enemy forces or shipping. A successful bombardment of Valona had also been carried out without incident.

At Christmas, 1940, there were, therefore, in the Middle East, three Australian cruisers, H.M.A.Ss Sydney and Perth in the Mediterranean, and H.M.A.S. Hobart in the Bab-el-Mandeb area; two sloops, H.M.A.Ss Parramatta and Yarra also south of Suez; and the five destroyers, H.M.A.Ss Stuart, Vampire, Vendetta, Voyager and Waterhen in the Mediterranean. Most of them were veterans well tried in warfare against the Italians. All of them had done, and were doing, a valuable job of work for Australia.

The year 1941 opened with the western advance of the British land forces into Libya, and continued successes of the Greeks against the Italians. To the south, also, in Italy's East African Empire, the increasing British pressure was beginning to make itself felt. The influence of sea power was telling in the various theatres, and history was repeating itself in that regard. British sea power kept open the lines of communication over the oceans of the world, established an unbroken link between Australia and her naval and military forces overseas, maintained the steady flow of troops and materials of war from Britain and other sources to the Middle East, and kept going the life stream that flowed to and from the heart of the Empire.

In the Mediterranean, British sea power hammered the flank of the Italian army in Libya, and cut and harried the Italian lines of communication with the armies of East and North Africa, and Albania. At the same time, it ensured a constant stream of reinforcements and supplies for the gallant armies of Greece.

Early in January, Sydney left the Mediterranean to return to Australia. She was accorded a proud "send off", and was the recipient of signals from the Commander-in Chief, the Vice-Admiral Light Forces, and from ships of the Fleet, which brought a warm glow to the hearts of her commanding officer and ship's company. On January 12 she made the passage of the Suez Canal, and departed to the southward en route to an inspiring welcome home at her name city.

Perth and the destroyers carried on in the Mediterranean, the ranks of Australian naval men in the Middle Sea being swelled by the arrival of some of the "N" Class destroyers, whose names began to appear in the Royal Australian Navy List. January and February passed by, with routine work none the less exacting because it was unspectacular. During January, Perth, while in Malta, experienced one of the very severe air attacks on the harbour, when the dockyard was subjected to severe dive bombing, the ship suffering a near miss off the starboard quarter. On this occasion parties from the Perth did some excellent work fighting fires in a merchant vessel which, loaded with munitions, was lying astern of the ship. In February the Australian ships in Alexandria were visited by the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, the Hon. R. G. Menzies.

In January the "Inshore Squadron" was formed, the destroyers and gunboats which carried out the various bombardments and operations supporting the troops in the Western Desert. Much of the work of the Australian destroyers was concerned with these operations, and their association with the Libyan coast was to continue to its climax, when they achieved especial fame as the members of the "Tobruk Ferry Service". Ashore in Africa the British land forces continued their westward advance.

Bardia was in their hands by January 5. On the 22nd of the month a "Digger's" hat floated at the masthead of the flagstaff in front of the Naval Barracks at Tobruk, from which the Italian flag had been hauled down. The town of Derna was entered on January 3o, and the formal surrender of Benghazi was taken by an Australian brigadier on February 7. The two opening months of 1941 had been flushed with victory for British arms, as also for the Greeks to the north. But a change was impending.

Throughout this period of Italian reverses it had been more and more apparent that Germany could not stand by and see her Axis partner being so discredited and debilitated. It was obvious that Germany, as soon as weather conditions permitted, would herself have to march south-east. On March 2, 1941, her troops occupied Bulgaria. This was a move that Britain had to counter with all the power within her means, and the gathering of that power in Greece inevitably meant a weakening in other sections. The British retreat westwards from Benghazi began during the third week in March, and the work of the Inshore Squadron "carried out under constant air attack and with the ever-present menace of mines", was to carry on under increasingly adverse conditions.

There was, however, another rod in pickle for the Italian Fleet, something to temper the warmth of feeling consequent on the changed fortunes resulting from German intervention in the northern, and also the African theatres.

Three of the Australian ships, H.M.A.S. Perth, H.M.A.S. Vendetta, and H.M.A.S. Stuart, were concerned in the Battle of Matapan, which took place during the day of March 28 and the night of March 28-29. Vendetta and Perth were with the squadron that sighted three Italian 8-inch cruisers, and engaged them, at o8oo on the morning of the 28th. The engagement lasted one hour, when the enemy broke off. Shortly after this episode, Vendetta was ordered back to Alexandria, owing to engine trouble. The rest of the British force followed the enemy to keep in touch. Two hours later the - British cruisers were engaged by an Italian battleship of the 35,000-ton Littorio class, and endeavoured to lead him towards the British battle fleet, but the enemy broke off the engagement at 1130. No hits were sustained by any of the British cruisers or destroyers during either action.

Meanwhile the British battle fleet was anxiously following aircraft reports of the action, while endeavouring to make contact with the enemy, and there was considerable disappointment when it was learned that the enemy was retiring to his bases. This was lessened when a report came through that the Littorio class battleship had been damaged and slowed down by an attack from aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. But again it seemed as though the Italians would manage to avoid action, although a cruiser and destroyer striking force was detached to endeavour to locate and destroy the damaged battleship.

Stuart was one of the destroyers not included in this force, being left on the screen of the battle fleet, and consequently took part in the night action off Cape Matapan, which was the highlight of the battle. It was a very mixed affair. As an observer in Stuart said:

There was all the difference in the world between the Battle of Calabria and the Battle of Matapan. The former was carried out in brilliant sunshine, with our ships steaming magnificently in formation, deploying in response to fluttering signals, wheeling in line, altering course in columns, every aspect of the fight easily visible. The Matapan affair was a dog fight on a pitch black night in which collisions were narrowly averted and only a quick and snap judgment could distinguish friend from foe in the weird light from star shell and the glare of burning ships.

The night action opened with the sighting by Stuart of ships, apparently five cruisers and destroyers, passing down the port side of the battle fleet. An enemy report was made, and at 2230 the battle fleet opened fire at a range of about one and a half miles. As the Stuart observer describes it:

The blackness of the night was first split by Warspite's searchlight beam, accurately trained on a cruiser which, almost simultaneously, exploded under the impact of the salvo of 15-inch shells.

Thereafter it seemed all hell was let loose. The snarl and snap, bark, bristle and rapid yap of a dog fight with its circlings and dashes would be the best way to draw a parallel of the next 15 minutes. Faint splashes in the darkness indicated enemy shells falling unpleasantly close, the flame and roar of our guns, a searchlight suddenly switched on, to circle a moment and then, shut off, to leave the night blacker than before. For one awful moment Stuart was centred in Warspite's searchlight. (Would Stuart be recognized ? She was!) There were the pallid light of slowly falling star shell, brief silhouette of an enemy frantically firing streams of brightly coloured tracer bullets, the phosphorescent wake, the ting-ting of fire gongs and the shouts of the supply party sweating as they sent up ammunition for the insatiable guns - thus, the Battle of Matapan.

In one particular the Battle of Matapan resembled the defeat inflicted on the Italian fleet at Taranto. The total British losses were two aircraft, whilst the Italians lost heavily in ships and t)ersonnel. The Italian losses included five ships sunk, die three io,ooo-ton cruisers Zara, Flume and Pola, and the destroyers Vincenzo Globertl and Maestrale, and probably another cruiser and destroyer, with the Vittorio class battleship certainly damaged and possibly sunk. Nearly iooo Italians were rescued by the British, but the work of rescue was interrupted by bombing from German aircraft, and had to be discontinued.

Of the part played by the Australian ships in the battle, the Commander-in-Chicf of the Mediterranean Fleet (Sir Andrew Cunningham) said: "H.M.A.S. Perth and H.M.A.S. Stuart formed part of the fleet unit taking part in the operations from March 27 to 30. The cruisers were not heavily in action and there is little to add to reports already published. H.M.A.S. Stuart and three destroyers of the Royal Navy were with the battle fleet, and finished off cruisers damaged in action with the battle fleet. H.M.A.S. Stuart performed distinguished service in this duty of a standard which I have come to expect from ships of the Royal Australian Navy. She fired torpedoes into damaged cruisers and was in action with them and with enemy destroyers who attempted to interfere. I am glad, as the case with all ships, no damage or casualties to Australian personnel was caused."

During the days immediately previous to the Battle of Matapan, Germany had been putting pressure on Jugoslavia, and Prince Paul, the regent, had been ready to hand his country over to the Axis. Popular feeling among the people, however, prevented this, and on March 27 he resigned, and the young King Peter took over. Germany invaded Jugoslavia and Greece on April 6.

The next few weeks were to see a series of Allied reverses in the Mediterranean, with an increasing strain put on the British Fleet, and on the Australian ships which formed part of it, though, through the critical days of the withdrawals from Greece and Crete, no Australian ships were to be lost and there were but few casualties among personnel. In between times they did yeoman service along the Libyan coast, and a bombardment of Sollum and the roads leading to the town from Bardia, which was carried out by Stuart and the British gunboat Gnat and destroyer Griffin on April N, held up the whole of the head of the German Armoured Brigade, and enabled the British forces to retake Sollum.

Let us again turn to the Stuart observer for a description.

At daylight on the 14th both destroyers approached Sollum Bay, Gnat being in the vicinity. It was realized that the enemy might already be in Sollum (it was known that he was in Bardia) so Stuart and GrIffin went into the bay to make sure who was in possession. The question was quickly answered when, at 0630, at a range of about 5000 Yards, several well-directed salvoes from a field gun battery were fired at the destroyers. Both ships replied at once, and range was opened until the shells fell short. Thereafter Gnat bombar'ed the town, Griffin the winding road coming down to the town, and Stuart the area back of the fort where the road leads off to Bardia. This was continued until 0948, when the British Army at Halfaya (with which Gnat had by then got in touch) requested fire to cease. At 1100 the destroyers withdrew to proceed to Alexandria, leaving Gnat alone.

It was therefore comforting to receive a message from the Naval Liaison Officer, Bagush, reporting that the bombardment had been effective and that British troops were once more in possession of Sollum. This impromptu bombardment had had the effect of holding up the whole of the head of the German mechanized column.

The sheer weight of the German mechanized forces, and the overpowering air strength they had as "artillery", soon crushed Yugoslavian and Greek resistance, though guerilla warfare continued, and is still continuing. Yugoslavia capitulated on April 17, and the Greek forces laid down their arms five days later, the King and the Government moving to Crete. Athens was occupied by the Germans on the 27th of the month. As an offset to this, although too far away to affect the immediate scene, British forces had entered Addis Ababa on April 7

All of the Australian ships in the Eastern Mediterranean-including the "N" Class destroyers - were engaged in the Aegean operations. All of them did brilliant work. In a brief summary such as this, it is not possible to do more than touch on certain isolated incidents, but the work of any one ship symbolized that of the lot.

As an example of the varied work they carried out, the Australian ships of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, during April, were employed in the following rough schedule:
- Stuart, bombarding Sollum, landing night-raiding party in Libya, escorting convoys in the Aegean, operating in the evacuation of Greece, screening the battle fleet.
- Voyager, escorting convoys, night assault on Bardia, evacuating troops from Nauplia, screening battle fleet.
- Waterhen, operations in Western Desert area, night assault on Bardia, operations and escort duties in Aegean, screening battle fleet.
- Vampire, escorting various convoys, operations in Aegean, screening battle fleet.
- Vendetta, operating in Western Desert area, convoy escort, operating in Aegean, screening battle fleet.
- Perth was similarly engaged.

These are just the bones of the story. They are clothed with high courage, dauntless endeavour, unfailing endurance and devotion to duty, of which one day the details will be told. Some of them are touched on in the articles farther on in this book, in which actors in the drama give their own experiences, and to them the reader is referred.

The Greek forces capitulated on April 22, and the scene moved south to Crete while the evacuation of the British and Australian forces from the mainland continued. Dive-bombers, high-level bombers, troop transport aircraft and gliders overpowered Crete, and the Allied evacuation of the island began late in May. The defence of Crete against invasion had been gallantly fought, but the enemy's air power was too great. In the circumstances it was a creditable achievement indeed for the Navy successfully to evacuate more than 17,000 British and Imperial troops from the island, which was approximately the number it cost the Germans in drowned, killed and wounded, to take it.

Crete cost the Navy heavily in cruiser and destroyer losses, and naval fatalities off the island exceeded 500. It was during the evacuation that the Royal Australian Navy suffered its largest single loss of personnel, to that date, in action, when four of the complement of H.M.A.S. Perth were killed as the result of a direct hit by a bomb.

Perth had embarked 1188 passengers in Spakhia Bay, on the south coast of Crete, during the night of May 30-31. They included military officers and other ranks-among which were 20 stretcher cases and 120 walking wounded-refugees, Allied troops, and distressed British seamen of the Merchant Service, who had played a magnificent part in the operations. During the following day on passage to Alexandria, the convoy with which Perth sailed was attacked by aircraft five times, and during one of these attacks the ship received a direct hit, putting the forward boiler unit out of action. Following their technique of concentrating on an injured enemy, the subsequent attacks on the convoy were mainly directed at Perth, and she suffered some very near misses which shook her considerably. As a result of the hit, two cooks and two stokers were killed out of the ship's complement, while nine of the passengers also lost their lives.

In May, H.M.A.S. Parramatta joined the Mediterranean Fleet. She had had an arduous time, and done a good job, in the Red Sea and Aden areas, where her ship's company had cheerfully stood up to a long spell of excessive heat and anxious and monotonous weeks on Perim Patrol. She had had her share of bombing, and of escorting work, and in addition had two or three outstanding items to her credit. One of these was the towing of H.M.S. Capetown to Port Sudan from Massawa, shortly after that base and the surrounding mainland had fallen to British land forces on Sunday, April 6.

The Capetown had been torpedoed, but after a tow of two days, Parramatta safely delivered the cruiser at Port Sudan. Off Massawa, Parramatta was engaged in the minesweeping operations opening up, a channel to the port, and on Monday, April 14, she sent her motor boat ashore in charge of the First Lieutenant (Lieutenant G. W. A. for the new British Shore Base Staff, Massawa. Thus reach Massawa by sea was Lieutenant Langford in charge of the Parramatta's boat.

While at Massawa-which "presented a strange sight, as scuttled merchant ships lay in fantastic positions in the various fairways and harbours", and in which port "berthing alongside between a scuttled merchant ship ahead of me and a scuttled floating crane astern required delicate maneuvering in the failing light"-Parramatta embarked three ratings ex H.M.A.S. Hobart, comprising a volunteer gun's crew who had been landed to cover the evacuation of Berbera in 194o and had been captured by the Italians, having been retaken when our forces reoccupied British Somaliland.

From Massawa, Parramatta had proceeded northward and had performed another good towing task-that of towing a merchant vessel off a shoal at Port Tewfik-and from there proceeded through the Canal to the Mediterranean, the Commander-in-Chief East Indies expressing by signal his regret at losing the services of ship and complement "which have been invaluable". No time was lost in picking up the threads of the Mediterranean tapestry in escort and patrol work.

On the Libyan coast we were now back to where we started, save that we held the fortress of Tobruk-garrisoned by Australians. This force was entirely cut off except by sea, and in order to maintain communication with it, the famous "Tobruk Ferry Service" was inaugurated, its units being destroyers which ran from Alexandria to Tobruk and Mersa Matruh, carrying supplies and reinforcements, and evacuating wounded and relieved men from the besieged port. All the Australian destroyers-including "N" Class ships - as well as British destroyers, took part in this. It was a strenuous job, with but little rest and much bombing, embarking and disembarking and unloading in the pitch dark during the night at Tobruk with the destroyers' crews as stevedores, and no freedom from the enemy aircraft even during the comparatively peaceful nights in Alexandria. The experience of one Australian destroyer was typical of that of all, when she reported "during the period of five days over 16oo men were embarked and disembarked, in addition to nearly 100 tons of ammunition being taken to Tobruk.

Whilst employed carrying troops and ammunition, and evacuating wounded, the ship's company have been subjected to the most arduous conditions of service. Practically no sleep can be obtained, and only the scantiest of meals can be arranged." Yet with it all the ships' companies remained cheerful and morale was high. An excellent description of a Tobruk Ferry night appears later in this book, under the title "Spud Run".

But although we were as we were in Libya, and our position in the Aegean was no longer tenable, a new sphere of hostile operations had opened *in the Mediterranean. Greece and Crete had performed a valuable function in that they had delayed the German advance and upset Axis plans in Syria and Iran. Baghdad was entered by British troops on June 1, and Mosul on the 4th of the month, while on June 8 Imperial and Free French Forces entered Syria. The Navy took an important part in these operations, and Perth and the Australian destroyers were among the units of the Fleet that assisted the land forces by bombardments of the Syrian coast, continuing their operations until the Syrian Vichy French accepted the armistice terms on July 12.

It was during this period that Australia lost her first ship in action against the enemy. H.M.A.S. Waterhen was sunk on June 29 as a result of a bombing attack while on the Tobruk Ferry Run. Fortunately there were no casualties. The engine room was holed by a near miss, and personnel were lucky that it fell on the side on which deck cargo consisted of cases of tinned fruits-with which men were liberally spattered. On the other side were jars of acid, and had it fallen there the results would not have been as innocuous.

H.M.S. Defender, one of the "Kipper" destroyers on the run, took Waterhen in tow, but in spite of her efforts at salvage the old ship sank. She had done a good job, her exploits including the sinking of an Italian supply schooner off the Libyan coast, and an excellent piece of salvage work on the bombed tanker Mario Maersk during the hectic March days in the Aegean. The tanker was set on fire and abandoned, but volunteers from Waterhen boarded her, and steamed her to Suda Bay. Waterhen also attempted to tow the Hospital Ship Vita to safety after she had been deliberately bombed by German Stukas at Tobruk on April 14. The tow proved to be unmanageable, however, and had to be slipped. But Waterhen rescued from her 437 patients, and a medical staff of six doctors, six nurses, and 41 sick berth ratings, and took them to Alexandria.

June was the month in which Australian units-Parramatta in particular-were leading actors in an exciting encounter with enemy aircraft while on the Tobruk run. On June 22 the petrol carrier Pass of Balmaha, escorted by H.M.S. Auckland and H.M.A.S. Parramatta, left Alexandria for Tobruk. At 1730 on the 24th, three formations of Junkers 87 dive-bombers, each of 16 aircraft, were seen approaching. Let Parramatta herself take up the tale.

As they worked round in order to dive from the direction of the sun, both Auckland and Parramatta opened with the heaviest barrage their guns could give. The pandemonium was terrific. Added to the bark of gunfire and the continuous staccato of machine-guns, was the angry hornet noise of the dive-bombers swooping down from every direction; then the hiss of falling bombs followed, in some cases, by the roar of an explosion. The enemy machines concentrated two-thirds of their first attack on Auckland and the remainder on Parramatta and Pass of Balmaha. Auckland was suddenly obscured by thick brown smoke.

She had been hit, the whole of the stern section above water having been blown to pieces. With the foremost guns still firing, she managed to continue at about io knots with the wheel jammed hard-a-port, yet, for some unaccountable reason turning rapidly to starboard. To the amazement, therefore, of Parramatta, the next thing she saw was Auckland emerge from the smoke and head straight at her. Just in time Parramatta managed to put her wheel over to avoid collision, but Auckland presented a pathetic sight, with no stern visible, heeling heavily to port, her available guns still firing at the diving aircraft.

Almost immediately she was hit again by three bombs simultaneously, but she continued firing until the enemy had dropped all their bombs and flown away. When the enemy drew off, she lay stopped, flames and smoke pouring from her decks and the ship listing more heavily to port. As her end was obviously near, orders were given to abandon ship, and boats and rafts were already in the water. Parramatta closed and stopped to windward of the sinking vessel, where she dropped both whalers, skiffs, lifebelts and floats.

Suddenly there was a terrific explosion in Auckland, which lifted her slowly and steadily about six feet into the air. Her back broke, and she settled down with an increased list to port, and at 1829 she rolled over and sank. Another attack was obviously developing, and it was impossible for Parramatta to stop and pick up survivors at the time. As she was gathering way the attack came in a deliberate low-level bombing by six Savoias 79. Parramatta and Pass of Balmaha successfully evaded damage, whereupon the aircraft machine-gunned Auckland survivors in the water, but happily did little harm.

As the sun began to sink towards the horizon-and how anxiously every one watched it! the sky became alive with aircraft. At first it was hoped that British fighters were among them and attacking the bomber formations, but it was soon discovered that all in sight were hostile. At 1955 the attack developed, and from that moment the air seemed so full of shrieking and diving planes that it was impossible to count them. There was always one formation overhead falling about like leaves and diving in succession, another formation moving forward into position, and 2 third splitting up and approaching at an angle 01 45 degrees.

For the best part of an hour and a half attacks continued, until at length, as the sun touched the horizon at 2025, the enemy drew off. Shortly after, to the great relief of every one on Parramatta, we sighted the destroyers Waterhen and Vendetta. We had begun to feel lonely, and the arrival of these destroyers was much appreciated. The work of picking up survivors was quickly carried out, and with 162 on board, Parramatta proceeded towards Alexandria, while Waterhen took Pass of Balmaha in tow and delivered her safely at Tobruk. Thus, another 750 tons of petrol reached its destination.

H.M.A.S. Perth left the Mediterranean for Australia in July, H.M.A.S. Hobart arriving in her stead early in August. Hobart ran into enemy action as soon as she reached the Canal area, Port Tewfik and Suez being the targets for a heavy air attack while she was there on August 14. Good work was done by Hobart on this occasion in rescuing the passengers and crew of the motor vessel Georgic, which ship had been set on fire by bomb hits, and had beached herself to avoid sinking. Hobart also carried out some useful salvage work in towing off another merchant vessel which had run aground. From then on Hobart was variously employed on bombardments of the Libyan coast, the reinforcing of Cyprus, and operations off Syria, together with the customary Mediterranean sweeps with the battle fleet.

Australian representation in the Mediterranean was now gradually being reduced. Vampire had left for Australia in May, and Voyager in July. Now, in August, Stuart followed them, while Vendetta, the last of the original Australian brigade to leave the Mediterranean, set her course to the south in October. The Australian destroyers had done great work. A number of their personnel received awards and mentions, and the

earning by Captain "D", Captain H. M. L. Waller, of the D.S.O. for "courage, enterprise and devotion to duty in action with the enemy" and of a Bar to the D.S.O. for "bravery and enterprise at the Battle of Matapan", was symbolic of the spirit that actuated all the officers and men of his flotilla. The following month, Australia suffered her second loss of a ship in the Mediterranean, when H.M.A.S. Parramatta was torpedoed and sunk while on the Tobruk run.

The loss of Parramatta occurred at .0235 on November 27, when she was escorting a convoy, which subsequently reached port safely. Unhappily, her loss was accompanied with heavy loss of personnel, 139 including her Commanding Officer (Commander Jefferson Hirst Walker, R.A.N.), and all other officers - losing their lives. In speaking of her loss, the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean could have given no higher praise when he said that the record of achievement established by His Majesty's Australian ships had been fully upheld by this fine little vessel.

During December 1941, the last of the Australian ships which had entered the Mediterranean from Australia left to return to Far Eastern waters. On December io H.M.A.S. Hobart passed through Suez Canal followed a few days later by H.M.A.S. Yarra. H.M.A.S. Yarra had entered the Mediterranean in November, and during her short stay had done some very valuable work on escort duty between Alexandria and 'Tobruk. But Australia was still represented in the Middle Sea. Australian personnel were -still serving on the station in the "N" Class destroyers, and with them Australia was to suffer another loss in the Mediterranean when H.M.A.S. Nestor was holed by a bomb blast in the engine room on June 15, 1942, while she was escorting a convoy. Although she was taken in tow it was impossible to save her, and eventually she was sunk by ,our own forces after personnel had been removed. Happily, casualties were light on this occasion, of the ship's complement three being killed and one injured.

The personnel in the "N" Class ships have, with their comrades in the older Australian destroyers, borne the burden of fighting in many widely spaced areas, and given the enemy many a taste of effective medicine. Nestor, during her short but crowded life, was credited with the destruction of two U-boats and three aircraft, and a share in one E-boat. Her 15 months' active service included the chase of the Bismarck, the bombardment of Bardia, and operations off Madagascar, Iceland, West Africa, and in -the Indian Ocean.

So closes a chapter of Royal Australian naval endeavour "'Twixt Gibraltar and Bab-el-Mandeb". But the story still goes on, for Australian personnel are still serving oil 'the seas lying between those two narrow straits. The Australian ships came to the area before Italy entered the war, when it was still comparatively peaceful. They fought through it, day in and day out, in its darkest periods. They were in all of its major ,engagements, and shared the glories that British naval might gained in it. They were part of a great expression of British sea power, an expression to which the area was no stranger, and in the history they have helped to make they repeated history which the British Navy made in years long past. And they earned, from their Commander-in Chief, his confident expectation of their high achievement.

No one could ask more than that.