Sinking The Tirpitz

[poliphilo]

Our friend John was persuaded to talk about his naval service yesterday. (Actually we didn't know he'd been in the war- we didn't think he was that old) and he mumbled something about "D" day and the Tirpitz, then hurried on to the training he did after being demobbed.  Isn't that marvellous? I don't really buy into all that "greatest generation" guff but I love it when a man who was involved in two of the legendary campaigns of the Second World War would rather talk about almost anything else. 



The Tirpitz was the biggest German battleship of World War II. She spent the war holed up in Norwegian ports and- in spite of never actually firing a shot in anger- hobbled the Royal Navy by compelling it to maintain a strong defensive presence in  the North Sea. The British sank her- after many attempts- in November 1944. Nearly a thousand men went down with her.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My father spent the war defusing unexploded bombs. Unglamorous work but highly dangerous. Again he had no wish to talk about it.

It's something that makes me proud.