THE AIR ATTACK ON GLENROY ACCOUNT BY QUEENS ROYAL SURREYS

personal experiences of PO John Priscott served aboard 1940 -43 LAYFORCE ( Force Z) THE CANAL  CRETE Queens Royals Account ACCOUNT A E WEBB BLACKIE BOY (CONT) AE WEBB - CONT 2 TROOP TRAINING TORPEDOED (with photos) MAP MAN THE PUMPS SAVING THE SHIP THE TOW NO ROOM IN HARBOUR REPAIR WORK BEGINS FORCES MAGAZINE ARTICLE REPORT  on VOyage back to UK D day D DAY 2nd Devons Account 1946  her last job FAREWELL  1946 newspaper Article OFFICIAL REPORT ON SALVAGE OFFICIAL REPORT HULL DAMAGE OFFICIAL REPORT ENGINEERING COMMENDATION Letter Louis Mountbatten COMMENDATIONS  DECORATIONS PHOTOS by CPO John Turner Gunner PHOTOS  more follow MOVIE OF GLENROY Contact



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It was at this crisis that 2nd Queen’s was embarked for the island on the 22nd May. The other two battalions of 16 Brigade, 1st Argylls and 2nd Leicesters, had already gone some days previously. They succeeded in landing but had an extremely hard time and many casualties. 2nd Queen’s and Brigade Headquarters embarked in HMS Glenroy, an early form of landing-ship equipped with special craft for getting troops ashore. They were escorted by HMS Coventry, an anti-aircraft cruiser, and one other escort vessel. As soon as they were at sea it was revealed that their destination was to be Tymbaki Bay on the south coast of Crete, and their task was to open up the road from there to Heraklion.
 At 11am on the 23rd May a stick of bombs was dropped by a highflying aircraft about 500 yards astern of the Glenroy. Frequent air alerts followed until 3pm, when an order was received to return to Alexandria. This order was rescinded by special instructions from the Admiralty and the three ships turned north again at about 6pm. However, it soon became clear that the Glenroy could not reach Tymbaki Bay before it was light, and that if she continued northwards daylight would expose her to the worst possible danger from enemy air attacks. Finally she was ordered again to return to Alexandria. 2nd Queen’s disembarked in the early morning of the 25th.But the situation in Crete was still intensely critical. The seaborne invasion had been smashed; our troops were holding out stubbornly, and there was still a chance of repelling the airborne invasion; but it was desperately important to reinforce them. Another attempt to reach the island was ordered. 2nd Queen’s and Brigade Headquarters therefore re-embarked in the Glenroy at 11am and sailed again for Crete that evening. They were again escorted by the Coventry and also by two destroyers, HMAS Stuart and HMS Jaguar.At 5pm next day an enemy reconnaissance plane dropped two sticks of bombs without causing damage, but an hour later the convoy, and especially the Glenroy, was heavily attacked by about twelve bombers. There was tremendous anti-aircraft fire from the escort, and although the Glenroy was armed with four 4in guns and four 2pdr pom-poms, 36 LMGs were additionally manned by the Battalion. In spite of this the attacks were determined, carried out by shallow dive-bombing mainly directed at the Glenroy. It was the troops’ first experience of bombing in a ship at sea, and to them it seemed impossible that the ship could survive. Early in the action a splinter from a near miss set fire to the large dump of cased petrol stored on deck. A fire-fighting party, including officers and men of the Queen’s, worked with the greatest courage and devotion, forming a chain from the blazing dump and hurling the four gallon containers into the sea. Meanwhile the LMG gunners and their No. 2s, equally gallant, maintained their fire even when the fires from the blazing fuel almost reached them. The conditions for the rest of the Battalion below decks were almost more trying since they had no activity to distract them and could only sit and listen to the appalling noise. However, the men’s conduct was magnificent, and the officers and NCOs had no difficulty at all in keeping them calm. The attack lasted a little over an hour and was followed by a low-level torpedo attack. Eventually the enemy aircraft withdrew, the fire was extinguished, and it was possible to assess the damage. One landing-craft had been destroyed and three others damaged. One man of the Queen’s had been killed
and nine wounded.During the action the Glenroy had been forced to turn south for more than an hour to bring the wind aft because of the fire. This delay, the loss of the landing craft and rough weather made the chances of landing that night almost negligible. Again the order was received for the Glenroy and its escort to return to Alexandria. The convoy was shadowed on its return journey and two more sticks of bombs were dropped, but there was no more damage. On the way back a Wellington bomber approached the ship, very low over the water. It was presumed that it had come to find the Glenroy, but it was damaged and ditched alongside. The crew scrambled out and were taken aboard.The ship anchored in Alexandria harbour on the evening of the 27th May. 2nd Queen’s disembarked next morning and returned to Amariya, The day before it had been decided to evacuate Crete forthwith, and eventually about 15,000 out of the 27,000 defenders were rescued under conditions of great difficulty with grievous losses to the Royal Navy. Three cruisers, six destroyers and 29 other vessels were sunk; whilst a battleship, one aircraft-carrier, three cruisers and another destroyer had been seriously damaged. The defence of Crete had been a most costly operation to the allies, but the German airborne forces had been crippled also. The enemy was never able again to mount such an airborne operation in any theatre during the rest of the war.

Account extracted from the Website  the The Queens Royal Surreys Regiment    by their kind permission..