ENGLISH CHANNEL

Hokitika Guardian, 7 December 1940, Page 6

ENGLISH CHANNEL

IS STILL Mil CHURCHILL’S

(By Sefton Pelmer, the English journalist).

Maybe it was the new Channel convoy technique which we were trying out l'Or the first time. Maybe, the iGermans have found attacking Channel convoys is too costly . . . Anyhow, I have just been right through the English Channel i;u a convoy of British, Dutch, and Norwegian merchantmen. And except for lone Heiiikel, which dropped a nasty bomb at us, two hundred yards off the mark and then it scooted, we were not even challenged.

Our arrival at our destination, a port which the Germans’ air communb ques c',him to- have wijped yff' thq map, was dead on time, and the unloading of our cargoes already under way. As one of my Australian colleagues, who was also on the trip, put it, “That channel ,is still Mr Churchill’s Channel, I’ll say.” The naval trawler I was in was the full-back of the party. Our job was to sail behind the convoy and, apart from protecting its rear, to pick up casualties and to relay signals. AVe had passed the booms, and now Hhe jfob was to. get everyone in position. A little tug flying the naval ensign w still behind us, trailing a. silver blimp in the blue sky.

The tug was racing tr ( p to take, its proper station when the radio squarked, “Fourteen German aircraft flying «iOrth-west.” From the shore came the wail of sirens .giving the .inhabitants of Margate and Ramsgate their warning. “That’s for us,” said the captain. “Keep a good lookout now. They may be over any minute-” He ordered the crew to the action stations. We put on our steel helmets, gave the rubber lifebelts another blow, up just to make sure, and waited. The Lewis gunners strapped themselves to their guns. AVe waited, searching the sky. Nothing happened. Over to the right of us on the shore the anti-aircraft batteries suddenly began to splutter. • “Pilot,” said the captain, “see thqt your flooding arrangements are r,R right.” : \

Ami then high up, almost in tl stratosphere, came six Heinkels, gos , amer, almost invisible. They, we] heading back for France. , “Shall we have a go at them,'sir? , ' said the lies’ll eagerly. “No; they’re out of range.”’ " A\ : q watched them out of sigh “They’ll report us,” Said the qaptaij “'The others will be over later for m between six and seven. I should say. And we were on the move again. . It was about a quarter-past fiv ■"when the next lot parsed. Ten Hein .keis, again on their way home. I could see the balloons of Dove round the corner. To my left th white froth of the Goodwins and i the distance, the grey cliffs of. Calais. , Still they didn’t come. “Commodore’s trailin’ his coat a them,” said Number One. Put there was no sign of the Ger mans, and it was beginning to get darl now. Suddenly from the shore fou motor boats came out. “Challenge them,” said our captaii to the signalman. He challenged them, flashing tin code signal with his lamp. Back thei flashed the correct answer. Up the boats and around us flying the red and white ensign ol Poland from the stern. They were part of the Polish Navy. The roar from their motors was terrific. It. drowned completely the roar of another engine, an enemy engine, overhead. AVliich was the reason why the Heinkel was able to get over us unobserved and drop his bombs. Bang, off it went as it hit the water 200 yards abeam and sent up a cloud of spray. I looked up in the sky, and there he was like a black bat scudding off towards the shore. The balloon trawler shot off some ineffectual rounds until he was told by our captain to stop wasting ammunition, and on he wont. Ii.A.F; bombers were covering us by attacking the German positions on the coast. Or. we went up the Channel. No sound now except the, swishing of the sea. All the coast is lit up with searchlights as we pass. They’re helping! us from the shore, stretching their bright beams up into the sky over ns like the gleaming swords of a guard, of honour.

On went the convoy, on and on and on. And no Germans came out to hinder us, only the British searchlights still lighting our way. And sometimes the Germans lighting up on the opposite shore. Dawn found us off Beachy Head. There was a good wind. S|o the ships with kites put them up, trailing them behind ou cables. And the Gcrinaps had another obstacle to fight if they came. But they did not. On the crest of the wave something was bobbing up and down. As we got closer I could see it clearer. The grey-green uniform of the German Air Force was still recognisable. When we tied up the captain came down from the bridge for the first time since the trip started; the cook in the galley said: “Gosh, that was exciting.” ' And with a satisfied sigh he closed the thriller lie had been reading to pass the time on this dull, uneventful voyage through Churchill’s Channel.