Billy’s Story
Part 3
Part 2 can be read here
After many hours of research, I have pieced together a pathway through the life of Gunner B, or William (Bill) Begbie.
I know that he flew on several missions before his last, which we will read about in the next chapter. There are some rather sketchy MOD records on a couple of missions he was part of but I reckon it would take too much time and probably get a bit tedious for the readers to go through it all. I do believe he took part in around 10 missions. I remember looking at his Record of Service book many years ago and I know it was into double figures. His Campaign Medals also back this memory up.
His last mission is what makes this story a bit more interesting. Due to the historical value of it and the importance laid upon it by the RAF and Mr Churchill.
Early July 1941, Germany’s largest battleship/destroyer was spotted in a harbour called La Rochelle, in France. A Spitfire had taken pictures over the port and there she was.
This ship was Germany’s most famous and powerful naval Battleship to date and a top target for Britain. She was launched in 1936 after she took less than 2 years to build, a mammoth achievement. She operated together with another large German battleship called the Gneisenau (pronounced “Nize n now” with a silent G). The Gneisenau was laid down and built in 18 months. When you look at the pictures, it’s nothing less than astonishing that a ship as complex as this could be built in such a short time.
Together they wreaked havoc in the Atlantic during the early part of the war. Destroying any Merchant shipping they came across, leaving the crews to drown or float around in a lifeboat for days and weeks. Some of these crewmen were only 14 years old and others as old as 70. I just discovered that abandonment was standard practice by the enemy. All that mattered in the destruction of an enemy ship was the removal of the asset. The crews’ mortality didn’t matter a jot. This may have applied to the German Navy only but somehow, I doubt that.
Even so, some discoveries such as this leave the writer with a heavy heart.
In 1940, both German ships were involved in a battle with the Royal Navy off the coast of Norway. The British battlecruiser, HMS Renown and the aircraft carrier, HMS Glorious were to suffer heavy defeats by the German Navy’s best. The Glorious was sunk along with her two escort destroyers, Acasta and Ardent. During that battle, it was reported that Germany’s famous battleship achieved the longest-range naval gunfire hit on a target at sea. The destroyer was called the Scharnhorst.
Now that the RAF knew that the Sharnhorst and Gneisenau were in La Rochelle moored to the jetty, there was a mad rush on. They needed to plan a bombing raid and quickly destroy them before they could leave La Rochelle. Apparently, there was 30,000 Canadian troops ready to sail from the other side of the Atlantic. Tensions were high in Bomber Command. If the Sharnhorst and Co were able to get out of La Rochelle and into the Atlantic….It was a hellish thought to entertain.
I would imagine that trying to hit a warship that was steaming at 33 knots from 19,000ft was almost impossible. Especially when the aircraft was going at 200mph or more, trying to stay in the air with cargo of 58,000lbs of bombs. It would make sense to attack the German ships whilst they were berthed.
The decision was made to attack them immediately. “Strike while the iron is hot”.
Two RAF squadrons were faced with the complicated task of bombing both targets in a daylight raid. Squadron 35 and Squadron 76 were elected to carry out that strike.
Between them there would be 15 Halifax Bombers carrying thousands of pounds of bombs.
As I wrote this, I thought to myself, that’s 60 Merlin engines…. 120 x 303 Browning machine guns and around 435 tons of explosives and………..Gunner B was flying with Squadron 76 as Tail Gunner.
To be continued in Part 4
