663's Story - One unit's experience of the sinking of the Lancastria
Part 2
At nine o'clock the trucks were ticking over. The men loaded, they set off for St. Nazaire. Sapper Brown was one of the drivers and he recalled that the roads were fairly quiet and they had little difficulty in reaching the coastal town.
The men unloaded on the outskirts of the town and the trucks were then disabled. The order came for them to pick up their gear and start marching. As they reached the centre of town air raids sirens suddenly began to wail. Walter and Chick and the rest of 663 spent the night under a stairway. The raids continued on during the night. Tracer bullets bounced off the surrounding buildings.
The morning of 17th June 1940 started off cool and bright. The men were marched down to the docks for embarkation. Their sense of elation at going home was mixed with a worry that they may well have to fight once they got there. Many believed that the Germans would continue their offensive over the English Channel and invade England. They had to wait for some time at the quayside before finally embarking via a small French vessel, the SS Titan.
They were to be transferred to a larger troopship which was anchored five miles off St. Nazaire, Latitude 47.09°, Longitude 2.20°. For many of the men of 663 that would be a position that would mark their final resting place, and that troopship was the 16,243-ton Lancastria.
Thousands of troops were making their way out to the two large ships lying of the coast. The other troop transport was the newly arrived Oronsay, another requisitioned liner. Two destroyers were present, HMS Havelock and HMS Highlander, and these were occupied in helping to ferry the men out from the port.
As the SS Titan approached the troopship's large sally doors, Lancastria's Loading Officer informed Major Morgan that he was reluctant to load any more men as he already had 7200 aboard. Morgan replied that another 242 were not going to make much difference. Lancastria's normal complement, including crew, was 2,180.
Lancastria's senior officer, Captain Rudolph Sharp, had received orders to load as many men as possible and to disregard international law on passenger limits. For more than half of the people aboard the Lancastria on that warm summers day, that order was to prove a fatal decision.
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Sapper Percy Brown found some space on the foredeck. Up on A-Deck Walter Hirst met up with fellow sapper Chick Napier. Napier handed him a life jacket, which Walter thought would make an ideal pillow on the long voyage ahead. Napier never saw Walter again and did not know that he had survived the sinking until 2003.
On boarding, Major Morgan was ordered to find a guard of 60 men and 1 Officer to protect the lifeboats and boat deck. The Guard was armed with bayonets and Major Morgan instructed the officer that they were to fire only "in case of necessity". The RAF was to guard the port side. Major Morgan explained that his men had had very little sleep in the last 72 hours and asked if they could have four hours rest, to commence duty at 1900 hours. The senior Officer, stationed in the Orderly Room agreed and the AMPC took over, under the command of Major Glover.
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Percy Brown
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At 15:20 however as Morgan inspected the deck he could see no sign of the AMPC guard. Section 2 of 663 who had been resting on the boat deck has seen nothing of the AMPC and so Major Morgan told Company Sergeant Major Meollow to come to his cabin (No. 69) to receive instruction on placing a guard on the boat deck. Immediately after Major Morgan proceeded below decks to speak with Captain Holloway, 2nd Lieutenant Huss and 2nd Lieutenant Walker. It was at this point that the air raid warning sounded and two explosions were heard, which seemed a long way off. Approximately 1 minute later Morgan heard the crash of breaking glass and the ship began to list to port and the lights temporarily went out. As he went into the stairwell he witnessed panic amongst the men and heard women screaming.
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