Yangtze Showdown Page 28
Leonard Williams, the cool head in Amethyst’s engine room, had the most challenging of naval careers. He was in the Yangtze gunboat HMS Dragonfly when she left Singapore on 14 February 1942, the day before the island fell to the Japanese. Dragonfly and her sister ship HMS Grasshopper, both packed with civilians, were attacked by around twenty-five fighter-bombers south of Singapore. Dragonfly took two direct hits and sank within 10 minutes. After several hours in the water Williams and a few others reached Singkep Island, where Grasshopper had managed to beach. After a long journey by boat, road and rail most of the survivors – and a dog called Judy – reached Padang on the opposite side of Sumatra, only to be taken prisoner on 17 March. As Williams put it, ‘thus began years of the most horrific labour, torture, starvation and every degradation the Japanese could inflict on us’. He was taken to a camp at Medan, northern Sumatra, along with Judy, who had become a mascot. In June 1944 he was among 800 prisoners being sent to Japan in the cargo ship Harukiki Maru. Judy had been smuggled aboard in a sack. In the Strait of Malacca two torpedoes from the submarine HMS Truculent sank the ship, and about 180 prisoners lost their lives. Williams escaped, as did Judy, who was credited with saving lives by pushing debris towards men struggling in the water. The dog was later awarded the animal VC, the Dickin Medal. Williams ended up back in Sumatra, working on the Pekan Baru to Muara death railway, which went through 140 miles of mostly jungles and swamps. More than 100,000 Indonesian slave labourers and around 6,000 prisoners of war were forced to build the line, which was completed on 15 August 1945, the day that Japan surrendered. Countless thousands had died. ‘Every sleeper laid cost lives,’ said Williams. ‘Surviving prisoners were in a terrible state of health, emaciated and needing medical help for tropical diseases.’
Amethyst must have been the least of his ordeals. With Simon the cat receiving the Dickin Medal, Williams had the distinction of serving with two animal VCs. After the Yangtze Incident he enjoyed more peaceful times. He was in the cruisers HMS Cumberland and HMS Devonshire in the Mediterranean and the West Indies. In 1953 he was among those chosen to join the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was nearing completion at the John Brown shipyard, Clydebank. Williams was the first to start the ship’s engines, and then followed 12 ‘wonderful’ years, with three round-the-world trips. He left the navy in 1964 and taught in the engineering and naval architecture department at Portsmouth Polytechnic for 20 years. Williams died in December 2006, aged 87.8
The Yangtze Incident did not harm Admiral Sir Patrick Brind’s career. In 1951 he was appointed the first Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces, Northern Europe, as part of the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That year also saw him created GBE (Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). He died in October 1963, aged 71. Brind’s Nato deputy, General Sir Robert Mansergh, paid this tribute: ‘With characteristic thoroughness and unfailing courtesy he created, in a remarkably short time, an efficient command, training and operational organisation which worked smoothly mostly and happily always. An international, closely integrated force is never easy to control, but Pat Brind achieved this and laid the basic foundation of what today is one of the major defences of the west.’ Mansergh also saluted the admiral’s ‘adherence to Christian principles, his delightful manner and impressive presence’.9
Madden’s career also prospered. He returned home early from the Far East to become Second Sea Lord in 1950, later receiving a knighthood and becoming a full admiral. Admiral Sir Alexander Madden’s last appointment before retiring in 1955 was Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. He died in September 1964, less than a year after Brind’s death.10
David Scott, Brind’s flag lieutenant during the Amethyst crisis, had been involved in the famous ‘man who never was’ deception during the Second World War. Scott was first lieutenant of the submarine HMS Seraph when she carried out Operation Mincemeat in April 1943, depositing a corpse wearing the uniform of a Royal Marines officer off the coast of Spain. Attached to the body, which had been kept in a metal container packed with ice, was a briefcase with fake secret documents. The body was found, and the Spanish, who assumed they had an air crash victim, duly passed on the documents to the Germans. The ruse worked. The Germans diverted forces from the defence of Sicily. The Royal Marines officer was actually a Welsh vagrant who had been found dead in London. In October 1942 Seraph had rescued the French general Henri Giraud from a beach near Toulon. Giraud had refused to be saved by the Royal Navy because of the British attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. When he boarded Seraph she was flying the Stars and Stripes, had a temporary US Navy captain and Scott and the rest of the crew were speaking with dubious American accents they had picked up from watching films. Giraud, apparently none the wiser, was taken to Gibraltar to meet General Eisenhower, who wanted him to help with the invasion of French North Africa. Scott was also involved in the Corfu Channel disaster of 1946 when the destroyers Saumarez and Volage were badly damaged by Albanian mines, with heavy casualties. He was second in command of Volage, which went to Saumarez’s aid only to suffer a similar fate. But Volage towed the other destroyer to safety, and Scott was commended for his superb seamanship and courage. In 1953 Scott achieved the first submerged transatlantic crossing by a diesel submarine using a snorkel. Twenty years later he became deputy controller of the Polaris programme. He was later knighted and left the navy in 1980 in the rank of rear admiral. Scott died in January 2006, aged 84.11
The Soviet spy Guy Burgess, who monitored Amethyst and the events on the Yangtze so closely, also tried to influence policy on China during his time in the Foreign Office’s Far Eastern Department. He argued for early recognition of the Communist regime, and persuaded his superiors to put pressure on the Americans and the French to do the same. The Labour politician Tom Driberg noted: ‘Because of his knowledge of Communism he became, in effect, the department’s political analyst of the Chinese revolution. His colleagues knew China – he knew Marxism. It was a happy partnership.’ Cambridge-educated Burgess opposed the move to increase military forces in Hong Kong. He acknowledged that the Chinese Communists could overrun the colony but insisted they would not. Because of his stand the department found itself in a major dispute with the War Office and the Colonial Office. Soon after the start of the Korean War in June 1950 Burgess was sent to the British embassy in Washington to liaise with the US State Department on Far East policy. According to Driberg, he experienced an ‘agonising’ time. Burgess found his new colleagues ignorant and incompetent, and he fell out with a senior diplomat, Sir Hubert Graves, who removed him from his specialist role. Burgess’s state of mind was not helped by concussion he suffered after a colleague pushed him down a stone staircase during an argument. Heavy drinking and fast driving – he was stopped for speeding three times in one day – did not endear him to the American authorities. Burgess was recalled to London.12 In May 1951 he fled to the Soviet Union with Donald Maclean. They belonged to the Cambridge Five spy ring, whose other members were Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt and someone who has never been positively identified. The son of a naval officer, Burgess had been born in Amethyst’s home, Devonport. He went to Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, but he never took up a career in the navy after an eyesight problem was uncovered. Burgess, who disliked life in the Soviet Union, died in 1963, aged 52.
Clement Attlee, who lost the 1951 general election and saw his Yangtze critic Winston Churchill return as prime minister, made a remarkable journey in August 1954. He went to Peking and shook hands with Mao. It was the first time that the Communist leader had met a Western statesman since coming to power. President Richard Nixon would make a similar trip nearly 20 years later and claim a diplomatic triumph. Attlee was still leader of the Labour Party and took along some of the faithful, including Aneurin Bevan, for the eighteen-day visit to China. He had three hours of talks with Mao, which he described as ‘vigorous but quite friendly’. Mao branded the United States as China’s ‘chief enemy’ and railed against the emergi
ng South East Asia Treaty Organization. At a dinner days earlier Attlee told his audience: ‘We know how much China has suffered in war’, adding that Britain had lost ‘the flower of our youth’ in two world wars.13 In his talks with Mao it does not appear that the former prime minister mentioned the attacks on Amethyst, Consort, London and Black Swan and the high number of casualties. Nor, apparently, did he mention the 1,078 British service personnel who were killed in action during the Korean War, which began during his premiership and ended in stalemate the previous year. Mao and Stalin were the driving forces behind the war.
And Amethyst? When filming of Yangtze Incident finished in 1956, the frigate was towed back to Devonport. In January 1957 she went to a local breaker’s yard. The film was released shortly afterwards. As cinema audiences watched the Yangtze drama unfold, Amethyst was being ripped apart.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Ships in Action
HMS Amethyst
Class: modified Black Swan destroyer
Pennant number: U16, later changed to F116
Builder: Alexander Stephen, Govan
Laid down: 25 March 1942
Launched: 7 May 1943
Commissioned: 2 November 1943
Displacement: 1,350 tons
Length: 283ft
Beam: 38.5ft
Draught: 11ft
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 192
Propulsion: Parson geared turbines driving two shafts
Armament: 6 x 4in guns, 4 x 40mm Bofors guns, 2 x 20mm Oerlikons
Scrapped: 1957
The frigate was the seventh Royal Navy vessel to bear the name Amethyst. Battle honours: Cerbere 1800, Thetis 1808, Niemen 1809, China 1856–60, Ashantee 1873–4, Heligoland 1914, Dardanelles 1915, Atlantic 1945 and Korea 1951–2.
HMS Consort
Class: ‘C’ class destroyer
Pennant number: R76
Builder: Alexander Stephen, Govan
Laid down: 26 May 1943
Launched: 19 October 1944
Commissioned: 19 March 1946
Displacement: 1,885 tons, 2,545 tons full
Length: 362.75ft
Beam: 35.75ft
Draught: 11.75ft
Speed: 32 knots
Complement: 186
Propulsion: geared turbines driving two shafts
Armament: 4 x 4.5in guns, 4 x 40mm Bofors guns, 4 x anti-aircraft mountings, 8 (2 x 4) tubes for 21in torpedoes
Scrapped: 1961
HMS London
Class: ‘County’ class heavy cruiser
Pennant number: C69
Builder: Portsmouth dockyard
Laid down: 23 February 1926
Launched: 14 September 1927
Commissioned: 31 January 1929
Displacement: 9,750 tons, 13,315 tons full
Length: 633ft
Beam: 66ft
Draught: 21ft
Speed: 32 knots
Complement: 784
Propulsion: geared turbines driving four shafts
Armament: 8 x 8in guns, 8 x 4in guns, 8 x 21in torpedo tubes
Scrapped: 1950
HMS Black Swan
Class: Black Swan destroyer
Pennant number: L57, later U57 and F57
Builder: Yarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down: 20 June 1938
Launched: 7 July 1939
Commissioned: 27 January 1940
Displacement: 1,250 tons
Length: 299.5ft
Beam: 37.5ft
Draught: 11ft
Speed: 19 knots
Complement: 180
Propulsion: geared turbines driving two shafts
Armament: 6 x 4in guns, 8 x 2pdr pompoms
Scrapped: 1956
HMS Concord
Class: C class destroyer
Pennant number: R63, later D03
Builder: John Thornycroft, Southampton
Laid down: 18 November 1943
Launched: 14 May 1945
Commissioned: 20 December 1946
Displacement: 1,885 tons, 2,545 tons full
Length: 362.75ft
Beam: 35.75ft
Draught: 11.75ft
Speed: 32 knots
Complement: 186
Propulsion: geared turbines driving two shafts
Armament: 4 x 4.5in guns, 4 x 40mm Bofors guns, 4 x anti-aircraft mountings, 8 (2 x 4) tubes for 21in torpedoes
Scrapped: 1962
Appendix 2: Amethyst’s Ship’s Company
Killed or died of wounds:
Alderton, John, Surgeon Lieutenant
Aubrey, Owen, Chief Petty Officer Stoker Mechanic
Baker, Thomas, Sick Berth Attendant
Barnbrook, Maurice, Boy 1st Class
Barrow, William, Stoker Mechanic
Battams, Charles, Ordinary Seaman
Crann, Leslie, Stoker Mechanic
Driscoll, Albert, Ordinary Seaman
Griffiths, Dennis, Ordinary Seaman
Hicks, Sydney, Electrician’s Mate 1st Class
Maskell, Victor, Stoker Mechanic
Morgan, Dennis, Stoker Mechanic
Muldoon, Patrick, Stoker Mechanic
Sinnott, Patrick, Ordinary Seaman
Skinner, Bernard, Lieutenant Commander
Tattersall, Edmund, Probationary Writer
Thomas, David, Ordinary Seaman
Vincent, Albert, Able Seaman
Winter, George, Ordinary Seaman
Wright, Reginald, Ordinary Seaman
Three Chinese, including a Yangtze pilot, also died
Wounded:
Anderson, Thomas, Stoker Mechanic
Bannister, Samuel, Stoker Mechanic (returned to ship)
Berger, Peter, Lieutenant
Canning, Leonard, Stoker Mechanic
Crighton, Arthur, Leading Seaman
Davies, Amos, Able Seaman
Davis, Dennis, Cook (S)
Fletcher, Ronald, Stoker Mechanic
Howell, Brynley, Stores Assistant (remained on board)
Loving, Bryan, Stoker Mechanic
Maddocks, George, Stoker Mechanic (remained on board)
Marsh, Samuel, Boy 1st Class
Martin, Keith, Boy 1st Class (returned to ship)
Mirehouse, Henry, Lieutenant
Morrey, Frederick, Stoker Mechanic
Nicholls, Rosslyn, Petty Officer
Potter, Ronald, Able Seaman
Redman, Donald, Able Seaman
Richards, Ronald, Able Seaman
Rimmington, Albert, Ordinary Seaman
Roberts, Brian, Boy 1st Class
Roberts, Dennis, Signalman
Roblin, Stanley, Chief Engine Room Artificer
Silvey, Anthony, Stores Assistant
Stevens, Gwilyn Leading Seaman
Tetler, Maurice, Ordinary Seaman
Weston, Geoffrey, Lieutenant
Wharton, Douglas, Signalman
Wilkinson, Ernest, Lieutenant (E)
Williams, Cyril, Leading Seaman
Williams, Edward, Ordinary Seaman
Williscroft, Kenneth, Ordinary Seaman
Non-wounded who took part in the evacuation of 20 April 1949:
Aldridge, Thomas, Able Seaman
Ashford, John, Able Seaman
Bailey, Ronald, Ordinary Seaman
Bowles, George, Petty Officer
Calcott, Raymond, Able Seaman
Clarkson, Lawrence, Yeoman of Signals
Cook, Derek, Telegraphist
Crocker, William, Leading Telegraphist
Davies, Ronald, Able Seaman
Dawson, Kenneth, Able Seaman
Donaldson, William, Able Seaman
Eddleston, Ronald, Able Seaman
Ferrett, Joseph, Leading Signalman
Ferrier, David, Able Seaman
Gibson, Robert, Stoker Mechanic
Gill, Donald, Able Seaman
Graham, Gerald, Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class
Hackman, Clive, Boy 1st Class
Haveron, Hugh, Able Seaman
Heath, David, Petty Officer
Heighway, Percy, Joiner 3rd Class
Higgins, Stewart, Stoker Mechanic
Hiles, Norman, Ordinary Seaman
Johnston, James, Able Seaman
Lees, Leslie, Ordinary Seaman
Mewse, Leonard, Chief Petty Officer Telegraphist
Monaghan, Eric, Gunner (left in Sunderland flying boat on 21 April)
Morrison, George, Ordinary Seaman
Mortimer, Ernest, Electrician’s Mate 1st Class
Morton, John, Boy 1st Class
Mulley, Kenneth, Able Seaman
Mullins, Thomas, Leading Seaman
Mustoe, Eric, Able Seaman
Osbourne, Alfred, Able Seaman
Pitman, Horace, Able Seaman
Porter, Donald, Able Seaman
Quinn, John, Ordinary Seaman
Sampson, Arnold, Able Seaman
Stapleton, Albert, Stoker Mechanic
Stone, Robert, Telegraphist
Thomas, James, Signalman
Todd, Matthew, Able Seaman
Traylor, Bruce, Able Seaman
Turner, Robert, Able Seaman
Wakeham, Brian, Able Seaman
Warwick, Walter, Ordnance Artificer 2nd Class