ARMISTICE DAY 2001
November 2001
My talk will be about the CANADIANS WHO SERVED IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
FROM 1940 TO 1945. I will start with the island of Malta which
was the most bombed place in WW2. During the siege from June
1940 to November 1942, 3000 Maltese were killed and 25000 buildings
and houses were destroyed or severely damaged. It was used as
a base for British Commonwealth naval cruisers, destroyers,
submarines, aircraft, motor torpedo boats (MTBs) and Motor launches
(MLs) to attack Italian and German enemy convoys from Italy
and Greece supplying their armies in North Africa. It was a
major contributing factor in our eventual victory in the Mediterranean.
Flight Lt. Buzz Buerling, Royal Canadian Airforce (RCAF) DSO
(Distinquished Service Order), DFC Distinquished Flying Cross),
DFM (Distinquished Flying Medal) was one of Canada’s top
air aces who shot down 32 aircraft over Malta. A little known
fact is that Canada produced the most MTB aces. These tiny fast
warships and their fearless captains operated in the British
Channel attacking enemy coastal convoys and also in the Mediterranean
off the N African coast, and in the Aegean and Adriatic seas.
The famous ones were Doug Maintland DSC & bar, MID (Mentioned
in Despatchs), the French Croix de Guerre with palm who was
from Vancouver; Cornelius Burke DSC and two bars, MID who was
also from Vancouver, Tom Ladner DSC and bar, 5 MIDs of Vancouver,
Tom Fuller DSC and 2 bars, MID of Ottawa. I know him. He had
13 boats sunk under him. During the Battle of Crete at the end
of May 41 when the German army came to the assistance of Italy
in its war with Greece, the navy carried out the evacuation
of Commonwealth troops from Greece and then from Crete. It was
a bloody and tragic battle when the German and Italian airforces
took on our fleet which had very little air cover from our own
aircraft.
The cruiser HMS Orion although not sunk suffered 250 sailors
and mostly troops killed by air attack. The cruiser HMS Fiji
was sunk by air attack with 241 killed or drowned. The cruiser
HMS Gloucester also sunk by air with 736 killed or drowned.
Several destroyers were also sunk with heavy loss of life and
many other ships damaged some very severely. The film “In
Which We Serve” is about the sinking off Crete of the destroyer
HMS Kelly and its captain the then Commander Louis Mountbatten
(Later Admiral of the Fleet). 18,000 allied troops were evacuated
to Alexandria. The Germans paid a very heavy price for winning.
22.000 of their soldiers were killed of which 5,000 were drowned
by our naval actions. The operation caused the German army to
delay its invasion of Russia causing it to arrive at Moscow
in winter with no winter clothing. And the Russians were finally
able to stop them leading to their eventual victory Later in
one of the most tragic sinkings of the war, HMS Neptune, a cruiser,
was sunk in a severe gale off Tripoli in Libya, running into
a minefield and its famous Captain Rory O’Coner drowned
and there was only one survivor.
The most publicized and awful sinking, which I saw from the
Admiral’s
bridge in the
battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth occurred at 3.50 pm on 25th November
1941. It was the sinking of the battleship HMS Barham with 862
lost and 495 fortunately being rescued (including 4 Canadians).
Hans Dietrich Von Tiesenhausen ,the skipper of U331 which sank
Barham , who died last year, lived in West Vancouver, Canada
for many years. All in all nearly 5,000 navy and merchant navy
sailors were lost in the Mediterranean naval war. Many in the
Malta convoys from Gibraltar and Alexandria that we fought through
to the island On armistice day, I always think of our Commander-in-Chief
who had the respect and admiration of the men and women of the
fleet, Admiral Cunningham DSO and two bars, who has been called
the greatest admiral since Admiral Nelson. I was on his staff
and close to him on several very dramatic and some calamitous
occasions.
About 200 Canadian officers, sailors and wrens served in Royal
Navy
ships and shore
establishments in the Mediterranean during this period and a
number were
killed or
drowned. Some took part in the sieges of Tobruk (from January
to
December 1941,
lasting for nearly a year) and Malta (lasting for 2.5 years).
On 10 November 1942, 16 Canadian corvettes from the Battle of
the
Atlantic entered
the Mediterranean escorting Allied convoys carrying troops landing
in
Algeria.
HMCS Louisberg and HMCS Weyburn were sunk with loss of life
but HMCS
Port Arthur and HMCS Ille de Quebec sank two U-boats and an
Italian
submarine.
Finally on 10 July 43, The Canadian Division was landed in
Southern Sicily. I took part in the landing of the 8th Army
to their north. So Canada played its part in the Mediterranean
war and we must not forget our brave servicemen and woman and
our war heroes and particularly those who died at sea.They were
a great credit to our country taking part in the winning of
the Mediterranean war.
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