ATTACK ON TIRPITZ

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 127, 24 February 1944, Page 5

ATTACK ON TIRPITZ

Two Awards Of Victoria Cross

(British Official Wireless and Press Assn.) (Received February 23, 7 p.m.) LONDON. February 22. Rear-Admiral G. B. Barry, flagofficer commanding submarines, broadcasting regarding the awards of the Victoria Cross to Lieutenants C. B. Place and D. Cameron for their deeds in the attack by midget submarines on the battleship Tirpitz in a protected anchorage in North Norway last September, said: “The submarines were so close to the Tirpitz that men on her deck opened fire with small arms. The submarines disappeared as they were firing. “Shortly after there was an enormous explosion. It lifted the battleship several feet into the air, and when she fell back she was so thoroughly crippled as to be no longer a fighting ship.” The official announcements of .these and other awards gained in the same action is fol’Xved by a vivid account of the exploit. “To reach the anchorage,” the citation says, “necessitated penetration of an enemy minefield and a passage of 50 miles up a fiord known Jo be vigilantly patrolled and guarded by nets, gun defences and listening posts. “Having successfully eluded all these hazards and entered the first anchorage, Lieutenants Cameron and Place, with complete disregard of danger, worked their small craft close to the 'antisubmarine and torpedo nets surrounding the Tirpitz, and from a position inside these nets carried out a cool, determined attack. “They were still inside the nets when a fierce enemy counter-attack by guns and depth charges developed, making it impossible to withdraw. Lieutenants Cameron and Place therefore scuttled, their craft, and the majority of their crews, together with themselves, were subsequently taken prisoner.” A number of other awards are made to other members of the crews.