General Election 2019:: Post #4: In which Nigel throws a googly.

Poor old Nigel Farage, obviously still tired from all that walking he didn’t do earlier this year on his much touted march on London. Only as far as Nigel was concerned it turned out not to be a long hard slog all the way from the north of England but more of a short stroll to the first pub en route. This, however, is probably not the reason why he has decided that he’s not after all going to put up candidates for his Vanity Party – sorry, Brexit Party – in every constituency. Although even Nigel would struggle to visit 650 pubs across the entire UK over the next four weeks or so.

The reason has rather more to do with the same reason that the millionaire stockbroker enemy of the elite has decided not to stand for election himself. It’s because he knows that he’s going to get screwed. Gone are the big words and even bigger demands of just a few days ago, when he called on Boris Johnson to abandon any deal with the EU and go for a no-deal disaster capitalist fantasy of a Brexit. Nigel fancied himself as the great king-maker of Brexit, but instead he discovered that his polling ratings were in a right royal mess.

So he’s climbed down and has attempted to rescue what influence he can, and secure himself publicity and future invites to Question Time in the process, by announcing that he’s only going to stand Brexit Party candidates in seats which don’t have a Tory MP. This is, he proudly announced, the great leaver alliance. He told a press conference that he’d reflected on the chances of allowing Lib Dem MPs win in constituencies in the South West of England, and reflected on Boris Johnson’s commitment to keep his word on leaving the EU, and then decided to believe LBJ – entirely coincidentally guaranteeing his place on the honours list in the not too distant future. Arise Lord Farage of Arse Covering. The real question here is will those mugs who gave Nigel £100 each in order to stand as Brexit party candidates get their money back? That's a rhetorical question, by the way.

What this development tells us is that the Conservative Party has now completed its transformation into Ukip. They’re the party of choice of Donald Trump, and it’s reasonable to wonder whether this move by Farage is because of any pressure that he’s come under from the American President. It’s now going to be harder for the opposition parties to dislodge sitting Conservative MPs, particularly for the Lib Dems in the south of England.

Meanwhile the Labour Party has completed its transformation into Unelectablity. Labour’s chances, slim as they are, are not being helped by Jo Swinson, who goes about saying that her party is the only party of remain (conveniently ignoring the SNP) but seems to spend more of her time and energy attacking the Labour party than attacking the Tories. It’s all very well claiming to be the party of remain, but the Lib Dems are giving a very good impression of preferring to be a bunch of self-righteous I-told-you-soers in a Tory Brexit Britain than allowing even the slightest chance of letting the Labour party or the SNP get within a sniffing distance of victory.

Naturally Boris Johnson is delighted. This move gives him everything he wanted and costs him nothing. The chances of a Conservative majority government in the UK have increased. A nakedly populist right wing English nationalist party is set to dominate UK politics. British politics have realigned, and in a way that makes the UK unsustainable as a union. I wonder how that will play out north of the border, Like a leaden haggis, I would guess.

It’s a UK ruled by Boris Johnson propped up by Nigel Farage. It’s a UK which is determined to destroy those tattered remnants of the post-war social settlement that the Conservatives haven’t yet ripped up. It’s a UK which is not just headed out of the EU, but a UK which is headed for the hardest most right wing kind of Brexit imaginable. It’s a UK which apes the policies and politics of Donald Trump. It’s a UK whose governing party is funded by Russian money. It's a UK that won't be elected in by me.

General Election 2019:: Post #3: Vote, vote vote....but not for Boris Johnson

I was chatting with someone recently and they were telling me that some of the people in their work loathe and detest Boris Johnson – don’t we all – but that they’re not motivated to vote because they think that all politicians are crap. Sadly that’s quite a widespread sentiment amongst many people, particularly those who would regard themselves as working class . They are cynical and disenchanted. For generations they’ve seen all sorts of politicians make all sorts of promises. The politicians come and go, but the problems they promise to resolve remain.

A lot of people just don’t vote. Maybe they think that voting only encourages the politicians. But that’s not true. Not voting encourages them even more, or at least, it encourages some of them. Not voting isn’t the equal opportunities plague on all your houses message that some people think it is. The fact is that certain political parties benefit more from people not turning out to vote than others do, because the decision not to vote isn’t spread evenly across the population as a whole. Certain groups within the larger population are less likely to vote than others, and when members of those groups decide that they’re not going to vote because they’re unhappy with the entire political system, they’re only assisting those parties which benefit from the system as it is.

If you’re of the cynical persuasion and you believe that all political parties are rubbish, just ask yourself one question. Why do you think that the Conservatives have been introducing measures which make it harder to vote? Over recent years the Conservatives have introduced measures which mean that you can only register to vote if you supply a National Insurance number or if you provide some form of recognised ID. It’s well known that such measures have the effect of decreasing the voter registration and turn out of working class people, young people, ethnic minorities and migrant communities and people who depend on social security. Surprise, surprise - all of these groups are those which are less likely to vote Tory.

The Conservatives are quite happy when working class people don’t vote. Boris Johnson doesn’t lose any sleep over working class people who don’t bother to vote. He’s delighted when working class people don’t bother to vote. Him and his Tory pals are quite happy to encourage working class people not to vote, which is precisely why the Conservatives have been at the forefront of introducing measures which make it more difficult to vote.

The reason is because it’s the Tories who benefit when working class people don’t vote. Their own supporters with their upper middle class comfortable privileges will get out and vote to defend those privileges. Middle class older people, richer people, and the comfortable middle classes in rural constituencies are the groups within the population who are most likely to vote. They’re the groups who are most likely to vote Tory, the groups who will support Brexit. They’re going to vote anyway, because they’re not as disenchanted with a political system that benefits the Conservative party. They don’t share your cynicism, because they know that the existing political system works to their advantage.

Now it has to be said right away, and in the interests of fairness, that just because you’re an older person with a good pension it doesn’t automatically mean that you’re a right wing Daily Mail reader who hates immigrants and the Welfare State in equal measure. There are many older people who are committed to social democratic politics and social inclusion. However it remains a statistical fact that the older you are and the better off you are, then it becomes more likely that you will be right wing rather than left wing, and that you will support rather than oppose Brexit. It also becomes more likely that you will be registered to vote and that you will actually vote.

When the young, the working class, and the poor don’t register to vote, then the effect is that the influence of those right wing voters who are more likely to vote becomes greater. It means that those right wing voters, those Tory supporting smug people who do very well out of the existing system, will find it more likely that there’s enough of them to ensure that they can get a Conservative MP who represents their interests. Because the left wing, the working class, the young, and the poor haven’t bothered to vote. If there is a constituency with 10,000 voters, 4000 of them comfortable well off right wing Tories, and the other 6000 are low paid working class people, or people who rely on social security, and all of them hate the Tories, the Tories are not going to win if everyone bothers to vote. But if half of the Tory haters don’t bother to turn out, then the Tories are going to win 4000 to 3000. It’s simple arithmetic. Then everyone in that constituency will have a Tory MP imposing Tory policies.

If you lose yourself in a comforting cynicism, telling yourself that you’re opting for the clever choice by not bothering to vote at all – you’re only doing the Tories’ job for them. Boris Johnson is going to take that as a sign that you’re quite happy for him to decide it for you. If you don’t vote, it’s not just that you don’t count. It’s not interpreted as a sign that you are so fed up that the political system needs to change. Your silence is taken as a sign that you’re quite happy with the way things are. The only way to change a political system that you think is rubbish is to vote for a party that’s going to allow you to change it. Do not disengage and decide not to vote or lose yourself in a comforting cynicism, because then you’re only making it less likely that things will ever change. You’re helping Boris Johnson to screw you over.

Vote, and make a difference. Vote, because if you don’t Boris Johnson will take your silence as consent.

General Election 2019: Pst #2: The Tories Implode?

The Tories are in a mess (hooray). Admittedly that’s not news, but when they’ve finally got the General Election that they’ve been begging for and are seeking to pose as the party of competent government, it’s not good news for them (double hooray).

It started last Sunday when Ross Thomson was forced to stand down as the Tory candidate for Aberdeen South after the local party chairman refused to sign his nomination papers. The refusal came following newspaper reports that the Labour MP for Glasgow North East Paul Sweeney had alleged that Ross had groped him in a Commons bar, an allegation which Ross Thomson denies. This was a separate incident from the previous allegation that Ross had groped some men in a Commons bar, an incident which he also denies, apparently claiming that he’d merely slipped and had attempted to grab something to stop himself from falling. The local Tory party was hurriedly forced to find another candidate, although the speed with which they managed to publish election leaflets bearing the new candidate’s name – local councillor Douglas Lumsden – has led some to speculate that the local Conservative Association had been planning a coup for some time. All is not well within the Aberdeen Tories. Not the least of which is the fact that they have candidates who back Brexit in a city which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.
 
The resignation/sacking - delete as appropriate -  came as another Conservative candidate found themselves under attack after it came to light that she had said that people on benefits ought to be put down. Francesca O’Brien, who is the Tory candidate in the key Welsh marginal seat of Gower made the comment on Facebook in 2014. Writing about the Channel 4 poverty porn show Benefits Street, she commented, “Benefit Street .. anyone else watching this?? Wow, these people are unreal!!!” Then added, “My blood is boiling, these people need putting down.” So that’s nice. Tory, enough said really. The malign spirit of Thatcher is alive and well. Vote Tory, and you’re voting for institutionalised cruelty.

Then, on Tuesday last, Jacob Rees Mogg said that if those who died in the Grenfell tragedy had shown more common sense and had left the building despite being told to stay by the authorities, more people would have survived. Because that’s what he’d have done. Like Francesca he was forced to make an abject apology for his insensitivity. Although if every Tory had to apologise every time one of them said or did something insensitive then we’d never hear anything else from them. Which would be nice. However what they’re apologising for isn’t being offensive, insensitive and cruel. They’re apologising for having been caught out and as a damage limitation exercise in the hope that it won’t hurt their election prospects. And it won't, of course, because those who vote for them think exactly the same way.

It’s pretty rich of Jacob Rees Mogg to say that other people should display common sense, since Jacob only knows what common sense is when his nanny tells him. Actually, whenever I go looking for common sense, my first port of call is to turn for advice to a man who thought it was a good idea to call his son Sixtus. However, if those poor people had attempted to leave the building and died in the attempt, Jacob would have been one of the first to condemn them for not obeying the orders of the authorities. Working class people should do what they’re told after all. It’s the Tory way.

Still, Jacob has been defended by the patron saint of wankers, fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, whose sole claim to fame is that he is slightly taller than Mark Francois – but that doesn’t prevent him from being even lower morally. Andrew claimed that Jacob would have survived the fire due to his superior intellect and that’s why he ought to be running the country. After all, he can quote Latin and discourse on the finer points of theology. It’s just a pity that he has less emotional intelligence than a packet of Bath Olivers. Although, if Jacob really was that clever, you’d think that he’d pay a tailor to make suits for him that actually fit.

Then there are the peculiar circumstances surrounding the collapse of a rape trial in Wales. The Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns has denied that he knew anything about the role of a former aide in collapsing a trial for rape of a friend. The aide, Ross England – what is it with Tories called Ross? – had been strongly criticised by the judge in the trial after bringing up the subject of the victim’s sexual history despite having been ordered by the court not to. The trial collapsed as a result, and there had to be a retrial, during which the defendant was found guilty. Cairns denied that he knew anything about this before it became public knowledge just a few days ago. However the BBC in Wales, who seem to believe in holding Conservatives to account (somebody has to. The opposition seems to ne no good at it) published an email sent to Alun Cairns by another advisor over a year ago in which the advisor told the Welsh Secretary that Ross England was confident that the court would take no action against him for his behaviour. Today, Cairn’s position became untenable and he resigned as Welsh Secretary although he’s still standing as a Tory candidate. However we’re in the middle of a General Election now, so it’s not like Alun’s resignation has any real meaning. But it looks good for the press and that’s all that matters. It’s a safe bet that if he gets re-elected and the Tories win, he’ll be back in government again. I refer the court of public opinion to the case of Gavin Williamson.

The Tory aptitude for venal incompetence just keeps giving this week. The Chancellor Sajid Javid has also come under criticism for spending taxpayers’ money in a nakedly political move. The Chancellor had instructed civil servants to assess nine of Labour’s policies and intended to publish the report. He was slapped down by the UK’s highest ranking civil servant, Mark Sedwill, who told the Chancellor that such a move during an election campaign would be improper. The Tories have to have the fundamentals of democratic propriety explained to them. Although this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone in Scotland who wants another independence referendum.

Yesterday the Tories found themselves being criticised again after a campaign video that they released online backfired. The video contained a heavily doctored version of an interview on Good Morning Britain in which Piers spit spit boo hiss Morgan asked Labour’s Keir Starmer about the party’s Brexit policy. Keir immediately gave a detailed and full response to the question, which you may or may not agree with, however the Tories then released a video showing Keir sit in dumbfounded silence for a few seconds after being asked the question by the slimy one, giving the entirely incorrect impression that he had no answer. The Tory party chairman James Cleverly, who is living proof that nominative determinism is not a thing, then went on the BBC to defend the video. Essentially his argument was that it was “light hearted” and just a bit of banter. So that makes it OK then. Tory MP Johnny Mercer later said that the video had “inexplicably been doctored”. There was no inexplicable about it at all, Johnny. Even Piers Morgan said that the way that the Conservatives had treated the interview was “misleading and unfair”, and he knows a lot about that sort of thing.

However the Conservatives haven’t merely failed to officially apologise, they’ve doubled down on attempts to spread the video on social media. In response to Piers Morgan’s criticisms, the Tory party tweeted a new version of video saying: “Fair point @piersmorgan. Is this version better?” The new version is almost identical to the first one. The only difference is that instead of showing Starmer blinking and licking his lips at Morgan’s question, it freezes the frame on his face and zooms in. What larks. Even being caught out in a blatant lie doesn’t stop them. They’re clearly taking their cue from the very top.

Today the master prat of the Tory party took to a podium in Downing Street to mark the official launch of the Conservative General Election campaign. As to be expected, he fnarr fnarred his way through a series of lies, not the least of which was the claim that the SNP and the Labour party have struck a deal to bring about another independence referendum next year. It’s a sign of things to come. This coming election is going to be the dirtiest, the most untruthful and the nastiest in living memory. The true colours of the Tory party are not red white and blue, they’re a nasty dark stain on public life.

A walk on the Caldon Canal in the Potteries

Gawd, isn't the  start-up of the Brexit Election depressing? Time for a cheery respite and a look back on a very pleasant few days Mrs P and I spent a month or so back with old (chronologically not temporally) friends just outside of Stoke-on-Trent. Because of its industrial past, this area is threaded with canals and it's always a pleasure to do a canal-side walk.  This time we took in a stretch of the Caldon Canal and here are a few photographs to prove it. If you get a chance, do the walk yourself.

The Caldon Canal (or to be precise, the Caldon Branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal) opened in 1779 to carry Peak District limestone from the quarries at Cauldon Low down to the Potteries and the industrial Midlands. Not long after later a short branch was added so that the Caldon connected to the town of Leek and improved water supplies to the main line of the Trent and Mersey (that's something that the casual canal-lover seldom thinks about - where the water comes from and how the levels are maintained).

The full length of the Caldon is 17 miles (27 km) long, has 17 locks, 3 operational lift-bridges and one tunnel and runs from Etruria in central Stoke on Trent to Froghall in Staffordshire.

Our route (just under 7 miles) took us from a pub, the Hollybush, at Denford along the main canal for a couple of miles, thence onto the Leek branch for a spell, up over a hill through a country park and then back along the branch to our starting point. And a delicious pork pie for lunch as a reward at the end.

Typical scenery for most of our route and, unlike our normal walking back home, almost completely flat.

Hazlehurst Lock Bridge (Number 37), with original iron work.

Some more iron work, this time supporting the walkway allowing access to either side of the lock.

Signpost at the Hazelhurst Junction where the Leek branch separates from the main Caldon Canal.

I know, I know - never take a photograph into the sun. But I thought my lens hood would remove the flare, honest. Having said that, I don't think it detracts too much from the overall effect. The infra-red picks up the ripples nicely.

The names given to canal boats are always intriguing. This one probably isn't a comment on the forthcoming General Election but rather a nod to what is probably the best Pink Floyd track of all time. Don't believe me? Take a listen below and I defy you to tell me I'm wrong.

I guess the owner of this one thinks there's nothing better than messing about on a canal boat. I don't agree with them. I can think of many things that I like better. Don't get me wrong, occasional jaunts are fine but to do it full-time? Nah, not for me.

Mr Google tells me that the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company was a freight carrying transport service from 1934 to 1948. We forget how important and extensive canal freight routes were up until fairly recently.

Who was Little Edna? And how little was she? Did she feel flattered at having a boat named after her?

This was an odd one. The dog (inset) was staring out of a porthole at us. No name was on the boat but could it have been called 'Badly Drawn Otter' or 'Even More Badly Drawn Terrier'?

A solitary Grey Heron that refused to look my way. Perhaps it thought that its side-profile was its best side?

Llama (pronounced 'yama') giving a David Bowie impression. Actually, and I mean this in an affectionate way, it reminds me of one of my grandsons.

A nice collection of chimneys at a mill complex.

Seed heads always have an interesting structure. Umbelliferous, that's the word that springs to mind.

In the absence of an adopted flag the banner of the arms of Staffordshire County Council have been used as a symbol of Staffordshire. The arms have a simple chevron and knot - the Staffordshire knot -  and a lion indicating the authority of the council.

It's General Election Time again.

The General Election has been called for December 12th and, without any doubt whatsoever, I'll be putting fingers to keyboard between now and then and voicing my opinion in my usual understated way. Or, with spittle-flecked hyperbole, depending on the mood I'm in or how mischievous I feel. Let's start off with something in the latter category...… 

Many of us have no sympathies for the Tories. Getting away from them and building a politics in which they are permanently a minority party instead of the usual party of government is, in fact, the prime reason why so many of us support others in the first place. We’ve had our fill of their austerity, their greed and selfishness, their lack of compassion and humanity. We’ve had enough of the way in which they blame the poor for the sins of the rich. We’ve reached the end of our tether with the way in which they have normalised foodbanks and the demonisation of migrants. Having sympathy with the political travails of a Conservative is too much like empathising with the mosquito which is killed by the malaria fluke it passes on to a child.

The sorrows of Conservatives still makes those of us with a functioning ability to feel compassion say “ha ha, what goes around, comes around”.   However something has changed within the Conservatives of late which, while it might not make us feel any sympathy for anyone who sought a political career in the Tories, ought to make us worry about our own futures. Former One Nation Tories are leaving the party in their droves. These are the people considered moderate by Conservative standards, the ones who’d give a child on crutches a modest head start before attempting to run them over. The One Nation Tories were the last vestige of upper class Conservative patronage, the Victorian belief that those who had wealth and privilege ought to provide a modicum for the poor, even if it were only to offer their children employment as chimney cleaners.

In the past few weeks and months we’ve seen the resignation of Ruth Davidson, a woman whose fantasy future as the next first minister is behind her. She has been followed out of politics by Ken Clarke, Rory Stewart, David Liddington, Philip Hammond, Oliver Letwin, Amber Rudd, Nicky Morgan, and some two dozen more. Others have fled the Conservatives for the Lib Dems or Change UK.  We can expect their places to be taken by hard faced closed minded right wing Brexiteers who will strengthen the ranks of the European Research Group and push the Tories even further to the right.

But let's not be beguiled into thinking that those who have left Conservative politics are cuddly liberals. These are politicians who were quite comfortable with the spread of food banks, tax cuts for the rich and blaming the poor for the sins of the bankers who caused the financial crash. They were quite content to preside over the destruction of financial security for the disabled, the bedroom tax, the rape clause and the privatisation of anything that wasn’t nailed down. But they’re leaving politics or have joined other parties because the Conservative party has now become the preserve of right wing ideologues, chancers, opportunists and British nationalist extremists, people who are beyond the pale even for them. They’ve gone because even they, with their barely functioning capacity for compassion, fear what’s coming down the line and don’t want to taint themselves with it. They’ve gone because even though the harsh and cruel policies that they were responsible for were acceptable to them, what’s approaching is an order of magnitude worse. If they’re afraid, we should be terrified. It’s one thing to hear a warning about the devil from a saint, it’s quite another to hear it from a demon.

The Tories are now the party of English nationalism. They’re the party of Brexit, of opportunistic hard right wing populism. They’re a party which, and I don’t use this term lightly, are heading for fascism. They’re a party which is hell bent on destroying the post-war British consensus which gave us the NHS, state pensions and a comprehensive social security system. They’re ultras in pinstripes. If you want to protect those social gains, the only way you can do so is by supporting other parties in the forthcoming General Election. They, the social gains, are already tattered and battered, they won’t last much longer in Tory Ukania.

There is no place left in the Conservatives for compromise or for negotiation. All there is is the philosophy of winner takes all and to Hell with everyone else. The party which considers itself the natural party of British government now believes that reaching out is a weakness and empathy a mental illness. This is the new nature of things, a harsh faced cruelty, a smear of tweets and the sneer of Daily Mail editorials as British national policy. But they’ll stick a few union flags on things and, if we object, we’ll be unpatriotic traitors.

The Tories tell us that they don’t want another referendum because it would be divisive. But they’re creating the greatest social divisions of all as they take a crowbar to the gap between rich and poor and lever it ever wider. They’re no longer even pretending that they’re doing it for the good of the country. Now they’re going to places where even Thatcher didn’t dare to tread.

Expect the ever creeping privatisation of the NHS. Expect the cost of drugs to rise. Expect more tax cuts for the rich while the government preaches the need for austerity. Expect to see disability payments slashed. Expect to see even more homeless people begging on the streets. Expect an erosion of maternity leave and workers’ rights. Expect even more low paying gig economy jobs offering no security. Expect the loss of what is left of social housing. Expect to see more Tory MPs grinning for a photo op as a new food bank opens in their constituency. Expect despair. Expect weeping. Expect desperation. Expect the flickering flame of hope to be extinguished as more and more people flee into the harmful and destructive self-medication of drugs and alcohol. Expect the Tories to be Tories. That’s the British future we’re being promised. The future isn’t bright, it’s red eyed with tears.

We can only save ourselves. The death of One Nation Conservatism is the death of the UK. Don't vote them in.

November 1st 1944: Operation Infatuate and the assault on Walcheren.

Royal Marine Derrick Parsons

In an earlier post I have mentioned my father's experiences during the D-Day Landings on 6th June 1944 and actions in and around the Normandy beaches thereafter. His unit gradually moved eastwards to secure crossings over the Seine and then northwards through France towards the Belgian port of Ostend.It was from there that Dad became part of Operation Infatuate.

As the Allied forces advanced deeper and deeper into Europe, the need for port facilities north of Normandy grew acute. Allied supply lines were moving farther and farther away from Normandy, where most of their supplies were landing in Europe, resulting in very long supply runs by truck to the Allied armies. Antwerp had fallen with intact port facilities in September 1944, however, the waterway leading to Antwerp, the Scheldt Estuary, was lined with German forces, and in particular heavy coastal batteries on Walcheren Island prevented any Allied supply ships from approaching the Scheldt in order to land supplies in Antwerp.

A schematic of the Battle of the Scheldt, of which Operation Infatuate, to capture and secure Walcheren, was a key part.

The task of capturing and securing Walcheren was given to the combined forces of Canadian and British troops and was spear-headed by an amphibious assault (Operation Infatuate) from the west by Royal Marine forces. Dad was part of this force, the Close Support Squadron, and was on LCF 38, one of the heavily armed landing crafts which were part of the first wave. In fact, LCF 38 was the lead attack vessel in their particular sector and, as such, was in the thick of the action right from the start. This amphibious assault at Westkapelle – the last such enterprise in the European War – was difficult and dramatic. Especially hard hit was the Support Squadron Eastern Flank, of which LCF was a key part. Twenty of its twenty-seven vessels sunk or were put out of action and their complements of about one thousand men suffered 192 killed or missing, 126 severely wounded and many others slightly wounded. Here's a quote I've taken from a book about Operation Infatuate and it gives a flavour of its difficulty: "For ‘Operation Infatuate’ Landings, only experienced Officers, Sailors, Marines and Soldiers were required for this last, extremely difficult and operationally essential landing in Europe. This had to be during daylight hours because of the prevailing tidal conditions. The officers commanding the assault and landing craft knew each other well and all had high regard for each other and their crews. They knew that success was not guaranteed, but heavy casualties were. Their tremendous professionalism, dedication to duty and heroism under extreme fighting conditions is not duly recognized. When the odds were stacked against them, all the crews of the ‘Operation Infatuate’ assault craft did not let the side down and ensured the success of the ‘Landings’. They all answered ‘The Call’."

This is a photograph of LCF 32. Dad's LCF 38 would have been essentially identical. Landing Craft Flak (LCF) were landing crafts armed with a variety of guns, designed to attack shore batteries and provide cover for landing troops. Because of their shallow drafts, they were able to get extremely close to their targets and, as a consequence, were very vulnerable. Dad would have manned one of these guns.

Luckily, I've been able to locate a copy of the report of LCF's exploits written by its commander, Lieutenant Alfred George Whittington Wilks. It makes for harrowing reading, particularly if you are related to one of the men on board! The original record is quite difficult to read, in parts, so I've included the transcription below.

REPORT ON OPERATION INFATUATE 1^ST NOVEMBER 1944

LCF 38

At Ostend Roads weighed and proceeded to form up at 0245 on LCGs with LCH 98 as guide.

Proceeded along swept channel to position AA off Westkapelle, Walcheren Island.

From AA proceeded to position BB with LCH 98 as guide in Order 1. The tide had a definite southerly set and big alterations of course were necessary to maintain correct bearing.

At BB with LCH 98 as guide quarter line to port was assumed. At approx. 0915 shelling of the Red Flank by shore batteries began. At approx. 0920 signal from 98 to carry out previous instructions. F38 became guide of Ps and proceeded at half speed as Landing Craft were behind time and the circumstances it was felt that it was best that they should be coming through while while the Ps were still able to engage the enemy batteries.

At approx. 0935 while about 2000yds from the beach salvos of rockets from our own rocketships began to fall about 1 ½ cables from our port quarter. With wheel hard astarboard and emergency full ahead we drew away from the line of fall. Bringing F38 back onto her course emergency full ahead was maintained for some minutes. Reducing to full we closed the beach. With F36 and F42 acting independently a slightly zig-zag course was maintained to enable port and starboard batteries to fire in turn. At about 1500 yds from the beach the port batteries opened up on the enemy positions. At approx. 1000 yds from the beach we straightened up and headed for the mound on the lefthand side of the gap. At approx. 0945 the shore batteries began registering hits on both sides of the ship. Between 800 and 1000 yds from the beach a 90 degree turn to port was made to engage enemy machine gun nests and batteries south of the G(M) now beached. Fire was maintained until dangerous to the G (M) but re-opened when she was out of line.

By this time we had been hit by about ten heavy shells. The magazine flood was smashed, the magazine on fire, the forward mess deck a foot under water, the wheelhouse a shambles, the steering jammed, one engine gone, about five gun positions smashed and the ward room on fire. Still all available armament maintained constant fire on the enemy. Asking the Flotilla Officer to take over on the bridge I went below to try to rig up some sort of steering. By disconnecting the port rudder (damaged by hit) steering was obtained on the starboard rudder. Being now a danger to incoming craft F36 was requested to take us in tow. Cease fire was ordered and at approx. 1015 F36 came alongside and took us in tow, still under heavy and accurate shell fire. Hoses were at once rigged to the magazine from F36 but it was well ablaze and ammunition began to explode, despite the use of hoses and foam. F36 was hit below the water-line on the starboard side by a heavy shell. F38 received two more direct hits on the port side. With the presence of F38 endangering the F36 and being no longer a useful fighting unit it was decided to anchor her and then abandoned F38. Removing wounded and one dead, leaving one dead aboard, dumping the CB chest overboard and removing the vital parts of the QH to F36, F38 was abandoned at anchor at approx. 1035.

Wounded were transferred to LCT 428 and the survivors sailed back to Ostend on F36.

The last report on F38 was she had blown up, her tanks had caught fire and she was well ablaze.

Through the whole of the action, the ship’s company bore itself in a manner fully in keeping with the highest traditions of both services. The guns were firing until the last possible moment, the gunnery especially under the circumstances was excellent and I believe effective. It is indeed very difficult to single out any man were worthy of praise than another. Excellent discipline was maintained at all times. Fire control was beyond criticism. The whole ship’s company fought with characteristic determination. Some died at their posts.

The SBA’s Drummond and Watkins did sterling work throughout.

AB Crothers with the wheelhouse a shambles freed the wheel from the dead and took over.

Corporal Miller performed excellent work throughout and after the action.

OCRM Lieut Clifford was very calm and decisive during the entire action. The amazing steadiness and brilliant efficiency of the Royal Marines was undoubtedly due to their training and his presence.

Lieut Hewitt RM directed fire by manning the after oerlikons and did fine and accurate work, until his gun was blown up, his crew killed and he was severely wounded.

Sub/lt Maclean after but one week as First Leutenant showed a veteran’s poise and performed his multitudinous duties with great skill and perseverance.

I am indebted greatly to Lieut-Commander Lammert RNVR and Lieut D. Thomas RNVR for their services rendered to F38.

Orders had been carried out. Support had been given.

Casualties:

Killed – 4.
Died of wounds – 1.
Wounded (including slightly wounded) – 20 approx.

The survivors were taken back on F36 where they were divided between F36  and F35 and routed back to the UK.

Lt. Alfred George Whittington Wilks
Lieutenant RNVR
Commanding Officer.

Luckily, dad's name appears on the list of survivors and he, and his comrades, were taken on board another landing craft. I can only try and imagine the conditions at the time. Cold, wet, bedraggled, shocked - probably all of these. Being transferred to LCF 36 was not the end of action for the men off LCF 38. As a sailor on LCF 36 wrote: "Our Flotilla Leader, L.C.F. 38, was ahead of us in the firing line. She was hit and set on fire at 10:20, we went alongside and took off survivors. Going back into the firing line, we were eventually hit and holed at 11:15. Dodging more shells, we withdrew and after the survivors of L.C.F 38 had been taken off, we limped back to Oostend".

The message from the operations commander on board HMS Kingsmill, the lead battleship and effective HQ for the operation, to all stations after the Westkapelle attack

Signal from Admiralty to operations commander after beachhead assault at Westkapelle November 1

A personal note sent to all on LCF 38 and who survived the action. It wasn't the style of the officer classes to use Christian names!

Operation Infatuate was a success and played its part in the liberation of the Scheldt and providing the much needed access to the port of Antwerp. As far as my dad's service is concerned, his service record is a bit hazy on the details. However, we do know that he was part of the capitulation of Germany and was spend time with the invading forces on the Rhine. Perhaps we'll be able to find out more as we try and locate further records.

I'll leave the last words of this post to the son of Lieutenant Wilks: "I can only speak about my father’s vessel and her crew, but I am sure that others were the same. LCF 38 as lead attack vessel in that sector, charged in with a thousand horse power thundering in her engine room and all guns blazing, keeping accurate fire with some shells penetrating gun slits. These men were not just doing their job, they were warriors of the highest order in the full knowledge that, for the objective to succeed, it could result in the total loss of the ship and all hands. The document I find particularly moving is the high praise of the actions of the close support flotilla especially the LCF, LCG, and LCS. Knowing my father and his crew were real warriors in the thick of it, and the recognition they got, makes me intensely proud".

Derrick Parsons x2, taken in about 1948, some 4 years after Walcheren. It could have turned out so differently.