Love and War in the WRNS Read online

  Acknowledgements

  This book is a tribute to my remarkable mother, and also to all those women in the Second World War who, in many ways, took a greater risk than the men in leaving the sanctuary of their homes and country in order to serve.

  When I found Sheila’s letters bundled up in black bin liners after her death in 2009, I decided to fulfill her final wish, which was to write her memoirs. She had often told me that she was immensely proud of her war years: she had even begun to sort the letters herself, using recycled envelopes. However, our daughter’s sudden death in 2011 put a temporary stop to the project. Louise and her Granny had always enjoyed a close relationship and so it became the clichéd labour of love to complete this book in honour of both of them.

  I thank them for inspiring me: writing the book was the perfect antidote to the grieving caused by this double bereavement.

  Thanks also to my friends and family – especially my husband, Ross, and our son, Tommy, who have supported me during the painstaking process of pulling the book together. And special thanks to Charlotte Blundy who transcribed the letters, cleverly deciphering my mother’s difficult handwriting, and to Joanna Frank who gave me some excellent advice on an early draft.

  Finally, thank you to Felicity Kendal for agreeing to write the foreword: I feel we share a bond via our two sets of eccentric parents. Felicity – your empathy through these difficult times has been a great solace.

  Contents

  Title

  Acknowledgements

  Foreword by Felicity Kendal CBE

  Chronology

  Introduction

  ❖ 1940 ‘Disappointed with it all’

  ❖ 1941 ‘It would be marvellous to feel one was doing something’

  ❖ 1942 ‘Work, sleep … and a little pleasure thrown in’

  ❖ 1943 ‘I am bursting with pride’

  ❖ 1944 ‘How are the mighty fallen’

  ❖ 1945 ‘Oh it’s all such a stupid muddle’

  ❖ 1946 ‘These men!’

  Bibliography and Sources

  Plates

  Copyright

  Foreword by

  Felicity Kendal CBE

  It is no exaggeration to say that what we have in this volume is a treasure chest of letters.

  They start with Sheila, as an innocent ‘green girl’, joining the WRNS at the beginning of World War Two. She writes home to her mother, begging for parcels to be sent, for silk stockings, nail polish, and her old fur coat. She seems from the start to be obsessed with dances, dates and young men, and is determined not to have her hair cut short. But as these letters, like a journal, continue through the war, we see her grow into the feisty, ambitious and independent woman she will become.

  Assigned to the important work of monitoring via cyphers and signals the enemy and British fleets, she travels to Egypt, and in her words becomes an ‘Invasion Addict’. She is promoted to Cypher Officer and as such has the knowledge of planned invasions and attacks. Her details of so many – now famous – turning points of the war are intriguing.

  She lives a giddy life full of romance, hard work and danger, yet never loses her almost childlike wonder and excitement of the day-to-day social scene, the work she is doing, and her wonder at the Exotic East.

  This is a chronicle of a time gone by, when in the midst of death and destruction so many women like Sheila, passionately committed to serving King and Country, were nonetheless equally committed to the important job of securing a suitable husband.

  Sheila seems oblivious to her beauty, but not to the staggering number of young men who constantly pursue her. Like a modern-day Emily Eden, she enthrals us with details of her journey and adventures:

  Saturday

  Dinner at the Mena Hotel. It was just perfect – dining and dancing in the moonlight by the side of the swimming pool, all very gay – At about midnight we decided to walk up a hill to see the Pyramids, it was rather glorious – you walk out of the hotel garden up a hill which slopes round the foot of the Big Pyramid … which I climbed … and all in the bright moonlight … beautifully cool!

  Her letters chart the war almost weekly. By the end she has met ‘unconventional’ Tom. He is the opposite of the social and gregarious Sheila, yet he seems to see off with ease any competition for her hand and heart. At the end of the war they plan to marry, as she writes to her mother:

  Dear Ma,

  Please don’t make too much fuss about anything – Tom hates it so – we shall get married I expect in a Registry Office – I honestly don’t think Tom would survive a proper wedding with relatives and guests – he’d probably get up and say something awful or shocking – he’s quite liable to!! And please don’t rush around telling everyone I am marrying a Czech!!

  This is an extraordinary and detailed portrait of an intelligent and passionate woman, and a fascinating read.

  Felicity Kendal CBE

  Chronology

  1939

  September

  Hitler invades Poland on 1 September; Britain and France declare war two days later

  1940

  January

  Rationing starts in the UK

  March

  Bombing of Scapa Flow naval base in Scotland

  April

  Germany invades Denmark and Norway

  May

  Germany invades Belgium, Holland and France

  Churchill becomes Prime Minister

  Holland surrenders

  Belgium surrenders

  June

  Evacuation from Dunkirk

  Italy declares war on Britain and France

  Norway surrenders

  France signs armistice with Germany

  July

  German U-boats attack Atlantic convoys

  Battle of Britain begins

  August

  First German air raids on London

  September

  Operation Sea Lion (invasion of Britain) planned by Germany with Blitzkrieg bombing of British cities

  Italy invades Egypt

  British victory in Battle of Britain

  Germany, Italy and Japan sign pact

  Sheila joins up and goes to Dunfermline for training

  October

  Sheila moves to Dundee

  Germany invades Romania

  Italy invades Greece and Albania

  Hungary and Romania join the Axis

  December

  Britain begins desert offensive against the Axis

  1941

  January

  Tobruk falls to the British

  February

  Afrika Korps arrives in Tripoli, led by Rommel

  Benghazi falls to the British

  March

  Benghazi falls to Rommel

  Tripoli falls to Rommel

  Rommel besieges Tobruk, the only part of Cyrenaica to remain in British hands

  Stalemate in the desert

  British forces land in Greece

  Sheila goes to Greenwich Naval College for Officers’ Training Course

  Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia

  Greece and Yugoslavia surrender

  May

  British counterattack in Egypt

  Fall of Greece and Crete

  Sheila goes to Methil, Lundin Links, Fife

  Sinking of the Hood by the Bismarck, and then the Bismarck is sunk

  June

  General Auchinleck takes over as Commander-in-Chief from General Wavell

  Allies invade Syria and Lebanon

  Germany attacks Russia

  July

  Britain and Russia agree pact of mutual assistance

  August

  Fall of Persia to British forces

  Battle for Weste
rn Desert begins

  Russia joins the war

  Siege of Leningrad begins

  September

  First use of gas chambers at Auschwitz

  October

  Germans advance on Moscow

  November

  Aircraft carrier Ark Royal sunk off Malta by U-boat

  December

  Bad period for the navy: loss of Repulse and Prince of Wales in Far east; Ark Royal and Barham hit by U-boats in the Mediterranean; Valiant and Queen Elizabeth sunk by human torpedoes in Alexandria harbour

  Mid-1941 – mid-1942

  Eighth Army in retreat in Western Desert

  Japan attacks Pearl Harbour

  US joins the war after Pearl Harbour

  Britain surrenders Hong Kong

  1942

  January

  Sheila receives order that she is to report to Overseas Service Office in London

  Early February

  Sheila sets sail from England, destination Egypt via the Cape

  End February

  Sheila meets Robin Chater on board ship

  Fall of Singapore

  Tobruk taken by Rommel

  May

  Sheila arrives in Alexandria and is attached to Office of the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean

  Sheila meets John Pritty

  June

  US Navy wins Battle of the Midway – turning point in the Pacific

  Sinking of the Medway at Port Said

  Germans advance on Alamein Line and two hours from Alexandria

  ‘The Flap’ in Cairo and Alexandria, accompanied by mass evacuations of civilians and staff

  July

  1st Battle of El Alamein begins

  British Army in the Western Desert in retreat: General Auchinleck replaced by General Montgomery

  Low point of war: Japanese sweeping through Malaya, Java, Burma, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Borneo (1941–2)

  October

  2nd Battle of El Alamein begins

  November

  Eighth Army wins Battle of El Alamein; turning point of the war

  Operation Torch, combined landing of US First Army and Eighth Army begins offensive in North Africa with the aim of meeting in Tunis

  Axis forces defeated at Stalingrad – Germany’s first major defeat

  1943

  January

  Tripoli recaptured; Tunis falls to First (US) and Eighth Armies and Battle for Africa is won

  Casablanca Conference: Roosevelt and Churchill call for ‘unconditional surrender’

  March

  Sheila moves to Cairo to join Admiral Ramsay’s planning team for Operation Husky, Royal Navy General Headquarters

  May

  Sheila meets Major Bruce Booth-Mason

  German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa

  June

  Sheila is promoted to 2nd Officer

  Sheila moves back to Alexandria now that Operation Husky planning is completed

  July

  Allies invade Sicily, Operation Husky, the beginning of the Second Front agreed by Churchill and Roosevelt at Casablanca Conference in Jan 1943

  Sheila goes on leave to Beirut

  September

  Eighth Army lands in Italy

  Italy surrenders but Germans rescue Mussolini

  October

  Sheila moves back to Cairo to work for Admiral Waller, director of Combined Operations

  Rome falls to the Allies and Italy declares war on Germany

  November

  Allied leaders meet in Tehran

  1944

  January

  Allied landings in Anzio

  End of the Siege of Leningrad

  March

  Sheila is transferred to Suez as Principal Cypher Officer

  Hungary occupied by Germany

  May

  Germans surrender in Crimea

  Germans retreat from Anzio

  June

  Allies enter Rome

  Operation Overlord: D-Day landings in Normandy

  July

  Operation Cobra: Allies break out from Normandy

  Sheila goes on leave in Palestine with John Pritty

  August

  Sheila on leave in Beirut, Baalbek and Damascus with Aenid Brothers

  Allies liberate Paris

  Germans abandon Bulgaria

  September

  Sheila returns to England by sea; she remains in England for the rest of the war, stationed at Harwich

  Athens liberated; Rommel commits suicide

  October

  Soviet army enters Prussia

  November

  Surrender of Axis forces in Greece

  December

  Germans attack Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge begins

  1945

  January

  Germans withdraw from Ardennes

  Soviets capture Warsaw

  Auschwitz liberated by Soviets

  Japanese retreat to Chinese coast

  February

  Yalta conference: the Big Three leaders meet

  US lands at Iwo Jima

  April

  US army encircles Germans in the Ruhr

  Allies liberate Belsen, Buchenwald and Ravensbrück

  Roosevelt dies and Truman becomes US President

  May

  Germany surrenders in Europe on 7 May

  Sheila is posted to Kiel to help with supervising the peace

  June

  Sheila meets my father, Sub. Lieut. Tom Unwin, RNVR based in Kiel

  Leave in England

  July

  Back to England for a three-week course at Petersfield Signal School

  September

  Sheila is back in Germany: Hamburg, not clear what the job is

  October

  Sheila moves to Plön; Bruce Booth-Mason awarded MBE

  November

  New relationship with Captain Ken Millar of the Tanks

  1946

  Feb–March

  Sheila is on leave in England

  April

  Sheila is on leave in Brussels with Ken Millar

  Sheila moves to Kiel to do secretarial work

  June

  Sheila celebrates the anniversary of V-Day sailing with Tom Unwin

  July

  Sheila is on leave in England

  August

  Japan surrenders after the US drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

  September

  Tom Unwin drives Sheila into a tree in Kiel

  October

  The Nuremburg Trials

  Sheila announces her engagement to Tom Unwin