English Channel. April 1944.

Written histories of war have many times been described as resembling parts of ‘grand tapestries’ –

When it is realised that all written history can only reflect the writer’s interpretation of events, as revealed within his or her own research, even when the record is of an actual personal experience, the writer selects - either consciously or subconsciously - the detail that he/she wishes to emphasise. This is commonly known as bias and is very difficult, if not impossible, for writers to avoid.

The opportunity to read an official “War Report” however, may give a reader a unique chance to witness dramatic events as seen through the eyes of a participant.
Devoid of any contamination that the passing of time may give to other written ‘histories’ this, in my opinion, is as close as the written word allows a reader to approach a small scrap of the grand tapestry that makes up “The History of WW2”.

This naval “War Report” is just one of the many thousands that were written shortly after forays into war zones. These report’s were required so that the Chief’s of Naval Staff, and maybe their Political leaders, could get an accurate picture of a particular operation, while collectively, of how the War was progressing or being conducted – hopefully to assist in the strategic and tactical planning for any future ‘foray’s’.

As a very experienced Senior Officer of a “D” boat Flotilla (the 55th), this writer would have been operating under a broad Order from his superiors. He would also have been aware that his report – necessarily requiring to be accurate and in some detail - may also be scrutinised for any failings in the execution of that broad order.

Although written 3 days after the action, a little imagination may be required as to the state of mind of the original writer. The Report gives no indication of any personal trauma suffered from the violent events that happened on that particular night. He was not listed within the ‘List of Casualties’ [deleted from this report], so we may deduce that he had no physical injuries. However, the experience of being once more under direct and accurate gunfire, but this time witnessing the inferno and total loss of a vessel under his overall charge - as the Senior Officer of the Flotilla, - together with almost its entire crew – would most certainly have added to the enormous strains that the war was placing upon the shoulders of such men and their crews.

This particular Report, (the first of many it is hoped) is not complete.

Most of the details in the Casualty List have been omitted, where crew members are identified and were known to have died. There are others listed who, at that particular time of writing, were presumed ‘missing’ but only much later were known to have perished. The original List also enters into some detail to the injuries suffered by the known survivors (on all three boats) and also identifies the single fatality suffered onboard MTB 632.

There are no records of the particular wireless transmissions of that night or of the Plot or Charts used, (both mentioned in the Report).

The date set is just 4 days before the tragedies that befell ‘Exercise Tiger’ and 6 weeks before ‘Operation Neptune’, the code name given to the naval contribution to ‘Operation Overlord’ – more commonly known as the ‘D’ Day landings.

Here then is an opportunity to look at an official record of just one ‘incident’, one of the many hundreds of Coastal Forces operations that occurred during World War 2.

(Apologies for the quality of some images)