Evening star., 1942-09-25
CONVOY
Continued From First page.)

cNcIy gun III tIle CONVOY ITOW CIlc
smallest merchant ship to the big
stuff" aboard the scylla-heavy
pom -pons, Oerlikons, anti-aircraft
guns OF every description, machine
guns and even Bren guns.
From then on the battle becomes
a whirfing maelstrom of shells, bull
lets. tracers, of black, blue, brown
and gray smoke bursts. The zoom
OF aircraft and the crashing OF
bursting shells add to the din.
Torpedoes Find Mark.
From time to time we hear crash
as the torpedoes find their mark
there were losses but nothing like
the Nazis hoped.
Columns OF smoke rise up into the
low-hanging clouds. Bursts of flame
spout forth and yells of triumph rise
as plane after plane hits the sea
and sinks. ...,.
Now the battle takes on a new
phase, s-., 49,. -4 .....
Hurricanes rush of from the
flight deck Of an aircraft carrier.
Dognghts are going on above the
clouds, beloW the clouds and In
breaks through the clouds or low
over the seas.
Junkers and Heinkels twist and
turn, dive and climb, slip and roll
to avoid the relentless pursuit.
Gradually the noise of the battle
dies away as the surviving Germans.
having dropped their loads, streak
for home-followed by myriads of
shells.
Shots Cleverly Placed.
Those that dive low to the sea to
avoid the high bursts are met with
cunningly placed Oerlikon tracer
shells that ricochet OF the water
and "plunk" into fuselage and. cock
pit.
1t seems hardly any time before a
calm voice announces that there are
Is more Junkers 88s or Heinkels
coming at us.
This time they carry bombs as
well as torpedoes-but they have
miscalculated.
They are met before they reach
the convoy by a drove of Hurricanes
which breaks up the formation.
This time there are no sinkings
and the Luftwaffe loses more planes
to our aircraft and ack-ack ships.
Another short breather. Then the
alarms goes again-but not before
seaman has time to approach an
ofhcer and say, Please, sir, can we
borrow some darts to pass the time
away"
Many Survivors Americans.
The minesweeper Harrier comes
alongside and, although we are
travelling at considerable speed, she
laShes herself to us and lands some
30 survivors from a torpedoed mer-
chant ship. This happens again
when H. M. S. Sharpshooter trans
ters more survivors amounting to
we'll over 100 in all.
Some Of them get revenge when
they are permitted to man an Ger
likon gun. They put shells into a
couple Of Heinkels.
From one American survivor
hear a story which might be en-
titled Three Men Under a Boat
Three OF them were trapped un-
der an upturned lifeboat in the bit
ter waters of the Barents Sea.
Breathing space beneath the boat
was II inches and they had to
tilt their heads upwards to the roof
OF the boat to get air.
One felt along the gunwales while
he grasped handline loop and
then oived under and emerged into
the fresh air The second followed.
Then they found the third sailor
had been trapped between a seat in
the boat and the emergency ration.
In Water Over an Hour.
One OF them Immediately ducked
beneath the surface back into the
boat prison and, to use his own
words, kicked the guy out of the
jam''-and all this in sea which
contains icebergs.
They were in the water upwards
OF one solid hour
Some of them had been torpedoed
twice, yet I heard many say they
wanted only to get back to the
States, see the missus," get another
ship and go out again.
Now We are on the return Jour-
new with another convoy of ships.
We are not troubled much this time
by German aircraft but again Ad-
miral Raeder sends out U-boats.
Apart from one torpedo which
comes near us their shooting is bad
Figures are difficult to obtain, but
already I hear it claimed that the
convoy has bagged five U-boats,
A crisp voice comes from the
bridge loudspeaker:
Those planes above are friendly
Hurricanes
Says the yeoman Of signals:
"Blimey, all 'Urricanes is friend