- Author
- A.N. Other and NHSA Webmaster
- Subjects
- Biographies and personal histories, WWII operations
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- December 2001 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
It is not always appreciated that British and Australian merchant seamen served ashore (probably inadvertently) during the withdrawal of Allied forces from Greece and subsequently, Crete. One such story deserves retelling.
Cadet J.H. Dobson of the SS Dalesman was captured by German parachutists after landing ashore in Crete. While he was being marched away he made a bid to escape, seized a sub-machine gun and turned it on his captors. He then found his way to a New Zealand gun battery, where he offered his assistance for some days. Eventually, as Allied resistance was crumbling all round the island he arrived at the south shore, where Allied troops were being evacuated from the beach. Alas, he had arrived too late. However, some survivors of the Royal Marine battalion had salvaged an abandoned landing craft. He joined his company and undertook the navigation for the passage to Egypt. Ten days later they arrived safely. He was later awarded the BEM for his efforts.
This feat is all the more remarkable when it is considered that this was Cadet Dobson’s first voyage at sea and throughout his exploits in Crete he had been suffering from a rumbling appendix!
In another incident, Chief Officer W. Rennie from the Logician (Captain W. Jones, OBE) reported how anti-parachutist patrol parties were formed, also in Crete, from gunners and seamen from his own ship and those of the Dalesman, 24 men in each party, commanded by a merchant navy officer. They slept on the ground or in slit trenches, arranging suitable camouflage like soldiers.
Bibliography: Merchantmen at War – the Official Story of the Merchant Navy 1939-44 – His Majesty’s Stationery Office.