The members of Labour Friends of Palestine and the
Middle East aren't all deluded fanatics, like Jeremy Corbyn, far
from it. It's obvious that many of them - probably most of them -
have a touching belief in the benefits of negotiation. Peace is
often mentioned at the same time as negotiation. Negotiation
is seen as the surest way to bring peace to this part of the Middle
East. There are many cases in which negotiation is the best or only
way forward, but many cases in which negotiation is unlikely to work
or even futile, hopeless. Negotiation seems very unlikely to bridge
the differences between Brexit supporters and Remainers in this
country. Theresa May had boundless faith in negotiation, negotiation
with Jeremy Corbyn to secure agreement on the question of the
country's relationship with the European Union, negotiation as a way
of resolving the differences between the European Union's view of
things and the United Kingdom's view.
A report in the 'Daily Telegraph (9 September,
2019),' 'Sense of relief for ordinary Afghans at news that talks
have collapsed. The 'months of negotiations' between America and the
Taliban, which have now ended, were strongly opposed by many
Afghans. Some of their comments:
The negotiations in opulent Doha hotels had lent
the Taliban credibility and legitimacy, when they were no more than
a criminal group..
[The Taliban] perceived that they were winning the
war and the peace talks. It was the worst ever peace negotiation.
'Peace talks' between Hamas and Israel would be
just as futile, with or without the support of Labour Friends of
Palestine and the Middle East> Even if it has been made forcibly
clear to Hamas that the disadvantages of armed struggle against
Israel are massive, overwhelming, this is a group that never seems
to learn. After an interval, a return to firing rockets.
If, at the time that V1 and later V2 rockets were
being fired at United Kingdom targets during the Second World War,
the government of the Irish Republic had offered to help in a
negotiated settlement between this country and Nazi Germany, then
it's certain that their offer of help would have been rejected.
Before the war and in the early stages of the war, there were the
believers, people who had such faith in negotiation. One of them was
the Ambassador Henderson. From William L Shirer, 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich:'
'Henderson: 'Hitler may ask to see me after Reichstag as a last
effort to save the peace.'
'What peace? Peace for Britain? For six hours Germany had been
waging war - with all its military might - against Britain's ally.
'Hitler did not send for Henderson after his Reichstag speech, and
the ambassador, who had accommodatingly passed along to London
Goering's lies about the Poles beginning the attack, became
discouraged - but not completely discouraged. At 10.30 m he
telephoned a further message to Halifax. A new idea had spring up in
his fertile but confused mind.
'I feel it my duty [he reported], however little prospect
there may be of its realization, to express the belief that the only
possible hope for now for peace would be for Marshal Smigly-Rydz to
announce his readiness to come immediately to Germany to discuss as
soldier and plenipotentiary the whole question with Field-Marshal
Goering.
'It does not seem to have occurred to this singular British
ambassador that Marshal Smigly-Rydz might have his hands full trying
to repel the massive and unprovoked German attack, or that if he
could break off and did come to Berlin as a 'plenipotentiary' it
would be equivalent, under the circumstances, to surrender. The
Poles might be quickly beaten but they would not surrender.'
Garel-Jones, in his 'Proclamation of the Maestranza
Bullring:' 'In
the Anglo Saxon world ... they are no longer able to look death in the face.
Indeed they are hardly able to pronounce so much as the word.' Alexander
Fiske-Harrison, speaking in support of Tristan Garel-Jones: British and
American culture is 'a culture which is afraid to even think of death.'
See also the section The courage of the
bullfighters - illusions and distortions. I show that the risk of a bullfighter being killed in
the bullring is very, very low. The section includes material on the
risks faced by bullfighters, rock climbers and mountaineers amongst others,
including the remarkable achievements of Alex Honnold. Above, Alex Honnold on Liberty Cap, Yosemite, climbing without a climbing rope
or any other form of protection - free climbing.
This is a very varied section, like some other sections of the page. So much writing in support of bullfighting is
suffocating in its exclusion of the world beyond bullfighting. I see no
reason why my anti-bullfighting page should follow this example. The
supplementary material I include in this section and other sections of the
page goes far beyond the limited world of bullfighting. I give reminders of
human courage and artistic achievement which owe nothing to bullfighting and
discuss wildlife and wildlife conservation - and many other topics.
Another example to show the variety of the page: it includes a
section which compares the technique of violin playing and the 'technique'
of bullfighting. The composer Philip Venables contacted me to ask if he
could use this text as part of the violin concerto he was writing. (His
works very often make use of texts.) I agreed, of course, and the world
premiere of the concerto took place at the Royal Albert Hall in August 2018,
at a Proms Concert. The violin concerto was a tribute to the Hungarian
violin teacher Rudolf Botta - I was one of his pupils.
In this section, I concentrate my attention on British and American
courage because the ridiculous 'Proclamation' of the ridiculous Tristan
Garel-Jones mentions the Anglo-Saxon world
and the ridiculous Alexander Fiske-Harrison mentions British and American
culture, but I also discuss the heroism of a Belgian woman.
Lord Garel-Jones, in the Maenstranza Proclamation: 'The English word
"pet" has no exact translation into Spanish ... The British have this
sentimentalism towards animals ingrained in their DNA.' Below, photograph
from the collection of the National Library of Scotland, with the
caption:
'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. R.A.F.
men with their pet rabbits at a Squadron near the lines.'
Below, Sergeant B Furst with the squadron
mascot on return to Duxford, Cambridgeshire after combat during
the Battle of Britain, September 7, 1940. Earlier that day, he had
shot down the Messerschmitt of Wener Goetting, who parachuted
from the plane uninjured and was made a Prisoner of War.
Below, the Animals in War Memorial, Brook Gate, London. The
sculptor, David Backhouse, writes of his work, 'The themes
are simple and universal: the interdependence of nature and
humanity, and the search for balance and harmony. My sculptures
are meditations on the human and animal condition in the modern
world, reflecting loss and tragedy, hope and delight, and above
all tenacity of spirit.' © Copyright Stephen McKay and licensed
for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence.
Amongst those who attended the unveling was former gunner
Col John Andrews of Winchester, Hampshire. He attended in memory
of mules who helped during his time in the jungle in Burma in
1944. He said, 'My life was saved by the mules ...' [Two
mules are shown above.]
PDSA Director General Marilyn Rydstrom said the memorial was
'the nation's long-awaited and very welcome tribute' to the
animals.
'It will also stand as a testament to the extraordinary bond
that animals share with mankind in times of extreme adversity.'
The Proclamation
of the Maestranza
Bullring
('El Pregón
Taurino de la Maestranza') was issued on Easter Sunday 2012
by Tristan Garel-Jones.
In the words of Alexander-Fiske Harrison, the Proclamation was
calling aficionados to arms
in defence
of bullfighting
(' ... llamando a los
aficionados a las armas en defensa de la fiesta de los toros.')
At the beginning of his speech in defence of bullfighting is this
extraordinary and disturbing statement: 'It was he, [Juan Belmonte, the
bullfighter] during a conversation with a group of intellectuals in Madrid
in the middle of the Second World War who said: "Every Englishman - unless
the contrary can be proven beyond doubt - is a spy.' For Tristan Garel-Jones
to say this, to accept, it would seem, its dismissive view of the
English - it was made by someone living in Franco's pro-Hitler dictatorship
against a country struggling to survive, but not just to survive, to play
its part in liberating Europe - is almost surreal in its offensive
stupidity. It's common for lacklustre speakers to make a strained attempt at
humour at the beginning of a stilted speech. The quotation was a way of
leading to the not so hilarious, 'I do assure you that the Brit who
speaks to you today is not a spy!' Perhaps there
were a few polite chuckles or perhaps there was embarrassed total
silence. I wouldn't know. Perhaps the audience erupted in
appreciative, uproarious laughter.
Four women members of Special Operations Executive were executed at
Ravensbrück during the war, each of them suffering from extreme malnutrition
and the effects of relentless hard labour. Each of them had been tortured
for days after being captured. Each of these volunteers faced the same risks
as members of the resistance. The courage needed to parachute from the
aircraft intto enemy-occupied territory, to face from that moment acute and
unrelenting danger, is beyond praise. The four members of SOE who were
executed at
Ravensbrück are
Violette Szabo,
Cecily Lefort,
Denise Bloch and
Lilian Rolfe. Between 20 000 and 30 000 prisoners died at
Ravensbrück. They came from over 30 different countries.
A copyright-free
photograph of
Andrée de Jongh isn't available.
The New York Times obituary article includes a photograph. These are
photographs of (from left to right) Violette Szabo, Cecily Lefort, Denise
Bloch and Lilian Rolfe:
The reference made by the bullfighter Belmonte during the Second World War was probably to Englishmen in Spain at some time during the war
years rather than Englishmen in general. Many Englishmen and other
nationalities did find their way to neutral Spain during the war years, as
escaped prisoners of war, and were able to make their way back to Britain
from Gibraltar. Spain may have been officially neutral and a place of safety
for escaped prisoners of war but supported the Axis powers in many ways.
About 45 000 Spanish troops fought with the Nazis on the Eastern front.
There were a number of lines over the Pyrenees into Spain. One of them,
the
Comet line, was organized by
Andrée de Jongh, a member of the Belgian resistance. The line began in
Brussels, With the British organization MI9 she helped 400
members of the Allied forces to return to Britain.
How can the courage of a bullfighter be compared
with courage of the Belgian resistance and the other resistance movements?
They were in acute danger not for very short periods at a time, like a bullfighter, but
for months at a time or years. If captured, it was overwhelmingly likely
that they would be tortured and executed. When bullfighters are injured,
they are whisked out of the arena with the adulation of the bullfighting
public and given immediate medical treatment. When resistance workers were
tortured, there was no solicitous care for their injuries.
Andrée de Jongh was captured and tortured but she looked so unlikely a
member of the resistance that the Germans didn't execute her. (But her
father was executed by a firing squad.) She was released, arrested again
later and sent to
Ravensbrück, the concentration camp for
women, and later
Mauthausen. At both these camps, the system of Vernichtung
durch Arbeit (Extermination through labour) was in force. Andrée de Jongh survived the war, however, and devoted her life to
the care of patients suffering from leprosy by working in a hospital.
From Douglas Martin's obituary article published in 'The New York
Times (18.10.07):'
'Derek Shuff, in his book “Evader” (2007), told of three British
crewmen whose bomber made a forced landing in 1941. They found their way to
the Underground and were ensconced in a safe house when a slip of a young
woman appeared.
[After telling them that it was her job to get them to Spain]
'She left and the three sat in stunned silence. One finally spoke.
“Our lives are going to depend on a schoolgirl,” he said.
'Two of the men survived the grueling trek along what became known as
the Comet escape line, because of the speed with which soldiers were hustled
along it.
'Ms. de Jongh eventually led 24 to 33 expeditions across occupied
France, over the Pyrenees to Gibraltar. She herself escorted 118 servicemen
to safety. At least 300 more escaped along the Comet line.
'When the Germans captured her in 1943, it was her youth that saved
her. When she truthfully confessed responsibility for the entire scheme,
they refused to believe her.
'The citation of her Medal of Freedom With Golden Palm, the highest
award the United States presented to foreigners who helped the American
effort in World War II, said Ms. de Jongh “chose one of the most perilous
assignments of the war.”
...
'The Comet operation was complex: organizers needed to recover fallen
airmen, procure civilian clothing and fake identity papers, provide medical
aid for the wounded, and shelter and feed the men as they moved along their
long obstacle course.
'It was also so dangerous that Ms. de Jongh warned recruits that they
should expect to be dead or captured within six months. Her own father was
captured and executed, along with 22 others.
' ... she was sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp.
There, among skeletal and shaven forms, she was so unrecognizable that the
Gestapo could not identify her for requestioning.'
When have the British and the
Americans been afraid to look death in the face, even to think of death? Not when it counted. Not when British cities were being bombed in the
Blitz, not when British and American troops were landing on the beaches on
D-day to liberate Europe, not when their ships were being torpedoed, not
when men of the merchant navy were volunteering to serve on oil tankers, not
when the gruelling war in the Pacific was being fought. In all spheres,on
land, sea and in the air, and not just in defence of their own countries and their own legitimate national interests
but in defence of subjugated countries, British and American blood has been
shed again and again.
British casualties during the Second World War, civilian and military,
included 450 900 killed, whilst 418 500 Americans were killed. Meanwhile, in
Franco's Spain, officially neutral but supporting Hitler's Germany, two
matadors died in the bullring. As I note above, no bullfighters have been
killed in Spain in the bullring in the past twenty years. How exactly are
the British and Americans supposed to learn how to face death like the
Spanish? How is their view of death to alter? Why should it alter? Is it true that the Spanish are deeper
and more profound than us in their attitude to death or an illusion? See
also my examination of some Spanish attitudes to death in
Bullfighting and 'duende.' When the bullfighter Manolete died, Franco declared three days of
national mourning and Spanish radio in that time played nothing but funeral
dirges.
(Manolete is one of the minority of matadors who died not as a result
of a car accident, suicide, venereal disease or other natural causes
but from injury in the bullring.) Is this a 'healthy' attitude
to death or an excessive one? See also Bullfighting: 'the
last serious thing in the modern world?'
Above. part of Tyne Cot cemetery, between Ypres and Paschendaele
(now 'Passendale'), with
the graves of 11 954 soldiers, on land assigned in perpetuity by King Albert
I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by British and
Commonwealth forces in the defence and
liberation of Belgium during the First
World War. Below, the Menin Gate Memorial at Ieper / Ypres recording the
names of 54 389 officers and men from United Kingdom and Commonwealth Forces
who died in the Ypres salient before 16 August 1917 and who have no known
grave.
Below, Remembrance Day images.
Below, the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede,
Surrey, commemorates by name the 20,401 airmen who were lost in
the Second World War during operations from bases in the United
Kingdom and North and Western Europe, and who have no known
graves. © Copyright Brendan and Ruth McCartney and
licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence.
Below, memorial
to some of the Royal Navy dead of Porstmouth: the WW1
memorial. The WW2 memorial is behind it. From the inscription: '
... to the abiding memory of these ranks and ratings of this
port who... have no other grave than the sea ...' The memorials
record the names of 14 9222 men and women from the port who died
in the Second World War and 9 666 who died in the Second World
War. © Copyright Peter
Facey and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence.
See also the
memorial at Tower Hill, London,
for the 36 000 members of
the merchant navy (all civilians and volunteers) who died in the two world wars, very often after U-boat
attack, and who also have no other grave than the sea. During
the Second World War, Britain needed over a million tonnes of
imported supplies each week to survive. The merchant navy
transported these supplies.
Below, part of the American cemetery near Omaha beach, Normandy, with the graves
of 9 387 American service men and women who died for the liberation of Europe
on and after D-day.
Tristan Garel-Jones and so many other apologists for bullfighting are
in the grip of a severe error, which
I'll call the deficiency error: Spanish culture and the
culture of other bullfighting countries are regarded as complete and
balanced, whilst the cultures of non-bullfighting countries are regarded as inadequate, deficient,
like a diet which lacks some essential nutrient. They suppose that countries
which lack the bullfight can only admit to inadequacy and look on in
admiration at the courage and achievements of bullfighting countries.
This deficiency would be corrected, allegedly, if only
the non-bullfighting countries took up bullfighting. Once the British,
the Americans, Belgians, Dutch, Swedes, Danes and others begin training,
from childhood, in proper bullfighting schools, as matadors, banderilleros
and picadors, once fighting bulls are imported through Dover,
Rotterdam, Antwerp and other ports, once lorries transporting bulls to
the bullrings become a familiar sight on motorways, once the construction
industry has provided the bullrings for the bullfighters, once bullfights
are held in London, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Brussels, Amsterdam, New
York, San Francisco, Stockholm, Copenhagen and many other places, once the
BBC and other broadcasting organizations start televising these bullfights,
once aficionados in these countries are no longer compelled to make long
journeys to satisfy their artistic desires, once achievement is recognized
by the cutting of bulls' ears and tails, then people in these countries will
be able to lift their heads up high. They will no longer have to admit to
such inadequacies as a deficiency of courage and an impoverished artistic
life, one which lacks the traditions of la corrida, los toros bravos, la
fiesta brava. Once a British, American, Belgian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish or
bullfighter of some other nationality is killed in the bullring (although it
may be a long time before this happens at current fatality rates - zero
fatalities in the last 30 years), then his or her countrymen and women will
have an example of the highest courage of all to honour and admire.
Football, cricket, baseball and other sports will survive and be supported,
but people will increasingly recognize the immense superiority of
bullfighting, will recognize that bullfighting is an art form, not a sport.
Newspapers will have proper taurine correspondents, like the taurine
correspondent of The Spectator, who is, or was, Tristan Garel-Jones.
Bullfights will be reported in the culture sections of The Sun, The Times,
the Guardian, The Now York Times, De Telegraaf and other newspapers, not the
sports sections. 'Celebrity gossip' will include more and more gossip about
matadors.
The rest of the proclamation is yet more evidence that bullfighting supporters are panicking. (See also
The Declaration of Asotauro,' 'For lovers of bullfighting [literally, 'lovers of
bulls'] 'the time has come to take the offensive, leaving no lie unanswered,
no fallacy unrefuted.')
These ringing declarations have to be followed by
attempts to answer the objections to bullfighting, such as the detailed and
comprehensive objections I give on this page. I've drawn the attention of
many individual bullfighting supporters and bullfighting organizations to
this material and received replies - the most common responses amount to
'I'll see what I can do,' - but silence has followed. Not one defence of
bullfighting against these arguments. If these people and organizations
consider that there are lies on this page, then go ahead and answer them, if
they consider that there are fallacies on this page, then go ahead and
refute them. Any bullfighting defender who does respond to the arguments on
this page will have to follow much higher standards of critical reading and
critical debate than Alexander Fiske-Harrison, who did claim to find a lie,
a fallacy on this page. His claim that I'd referred to him as 'the
acceptable face of Nazism' was nonsensical, and I explain why this is so in
the section 'Into the Arena' which begins with comments on
bad causes. By his own admission, he'd only
read a little of what I'd written about him.
My contact in the Club Taurino of London was one of the people who said
that he'd see what he could do. In fact, I've made strenuous efforts to
begin a debate with members of the club, as I explain in the section which
discusses the Club Taurino. In the light of
their failure, these words of Tristan Garel-Jones in his speech in Seville
don't inspire the least confidence:
' ... we need to be very aware that nowadays global discussion takes
place through the internet. The detractors of the Fiesta are extremely
active in promoting misleading information about the Corrida seeking to gain
acceptance for the view that it is a cruel bloodsport. The London Taurine
Club [the Club Taurino of London] - "aficionados" in the truest sense of the
word - are very aware of this danger. A group of members are planning to
launch a web site whose aim would be to respond one by one to the falsehoods
that are put about on the internet and to explain the true reality of the
Fiesta.'
I look forward very much to the launching of this new site (if it ever
happens), and to making a contribution to a vigorous exchange of views. I
look forward very much to studying and responding to the arguments of the
aficionados in defence of the 'fiesta brava,' to be supported, obviously, by
all the appropriate historical, philosophical and factual evidence
they can find.
The regal proclamation of Tristan Garel-Jones contained gross falsifications. According to
Alexander Fisk-Harrison, in his own speech in Seville:
'Como Lord Garel-Jones dijo en su discurso, la mente
americana y británica, sienten rechazo por este aspecto de
la corrida de toros en una forma que es sintomático de una
cultura que tiene miedo a contemplar la muerte.'
'As Lord Garel-Jones said in his speech, the American and British mind is
repelled by this aspect of the bullfight in a way which is symptomatic of a
culture which is afraid to even think of death.'
He comments on sentimental attitudes to animals as if they were a
universal feauture of British life. Sentimentality exists, but it's far
better for a culture to have a humanitarian attitude to animals, with
sentimentality as an emotion taken to excess, than for a culture to lack
this concern for animals, without the excess but without
the warmth and without the moral and practical concern. Again and again,
British people have shown an affection for animals in dire, dangerous
circumstances. For example, this is Lt Colonel Singer, a medical officer
attached the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland,
serving in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on what enables soldiers to
withstand the intense pressures (his fine piece begins, 'Today we have a
service to mourn another dead soldier ... Today's service is one that will
be repeated across all bases in Afghanistan, large and small.')
'Soldiers ... cite the incidental therapy of our search dogs ... in the
main delightfully energetic spaniels. To see them being walked of an evening
lends a peculiar air of normality to this place, like a patch of Hampstead
transposed to Helmand.' ('The Times Literary Supplement,' 20.04.12) The appreciation of the role of animals in time of
war has a long history.
This is Lord Garel-Jones in full flow:
'The english word "pet" has no exact translation into Spanish ... The
British have this sentimentalism towards animals ingrained in their DNA ...
In the adult world this translates into realities which are, at times, funny
and, at times, profoundly immoral. Every day the British press carries a
string of animal stories.'
Lord Garel-Jones' devastating indictment of British civilization, as he
obviously sees it, would benefit from a much wider range of evidence.
British 'sentimentality' towards animals, as Lord Garel-Jones thinks of it,
goes back a long way. What would he make of this, from the First World War -
not a war in which the British troops could be described as soft
sentimentalists? Lt Denis Barnett: 'There is a little grave about 2ft by 3ft
in the middle of a bust-up farm, and the cross there is this: 'Here lies
Tim, a little brown dog, killed by a shell during the bombardment of this
house by teh Germans on April 23, 1915. R.I.P.' That was the end of our
mascot.' (From Richard van Emden, 'The Soldier's War: The Great War Through
Veterans' Eyes.' I give another example from the book below.
He could consider this, for example. I have a publication called 'Sheffield at
War,' published a few years after the Second World War ended. It contains
just the sort of sentiment which he would condemn as sentimentality. It
contains so much more, of course, such as this: In the air raids of December
12 - 13 and December 15, '602 people were killed and 1 671 injured. Of
Sheffielders: 'If the object of the raids was to break their spirit this,
too, failed: it left them an embittered and more determined people.' One
hotel 'a seven storey building - received a direct hit from a heavy calibre
bomb,' killing nearly 70 people. Survivors who were rescued 'told vivid
stories of how they spent the night trapped in the cellars. How they could
hardly breathe for smoke and dust ... how they dug with their hands to make
an air vent - how they dozed, weary and light-headed from the loss of
blood.' Accounts of the devastation and photographs of the devastation are
followed by accounts and photographs of Sheffield's contribution to the
military campaigns. 'Heavy losses on Italian Front' is the heading for one
substantial article.
After this, there's a long section on the massive and astonishingly
varied contribution made by Sheffield's steel industry and other industries
in the city. A few examples: 'For the first 18 months of the war
the only drop hammer in the country that could forge crankshafts for
Spitfires and other important planes was in the Vickers works at Sheffield.'
The hammer weighed over 200 tons. The factory of the English Steel
Corporation manufactured bullet-proof plates to protect the pilots of
spitfire aircraft. Firth Brown produced 'over 1 000 000 tons of high quality
alloy steels' during the war. Firth Brown could 'make shells to go through
any armour and armour to resist any shell.' They manufactured many, many
other things as well, such as marine forgings, components for submarine
detector gear, and tools: 'In one week, during the peak period, over 250 000
individual tools were produced.' The gigantic Mulberry floating harbours
were essential to the success of the D-day landings. Firth Brown (and other
Sheffield firms) manufactured components for these harbours, for example
'special brake mechanisms ... were entrusted to the firm's engineers and
metallurgists, and called for a very high standard of foresight and skill on
such an untried and almost visionary undertaking.'
The publication has eighty very large pages devoted to death, injury,
determination, devotion, engineering achievement, but one of the pages has a
section, illustrated with photographs, that Lord Tristan-Jones would dislike
intensely, underneath a title in large print at the top of the page:
THIS GOLDFISH PROVED THAT IT COULD "TAKE IT
! "
These two brothers found their goldfish was safe, although the bowl was
half-filled with debris after a bomb had fallen near their home.
SO DID THE CANARY!
Yes, this canary certainly has something to chirp
about. He was found alive after the house had been badly damaged by a bomb.'
Is this harmless, human, endearing, or evidence of
something rotten in British life, as Lord Garel-Jones would have us believe?
(On the evidence of his comments in 'The Proclamation.) On the
next page of 'Sheffield at War,' there's a section on H.M.S.
Sheffield, 'adopted by the city in October, 1941.' Amongst other
achievements, it was involved in the very, very dangerous Arctic convoys:
H.M.S. Sheffield 'safely escorted convoys through Arctic gales, U-boat and
air attacks to Russia ... 'the ship was part of the cruiser force ... which
took part in the sinking of the Scharnhorst, which was trying to attack a
North Russian convoy ... During one passage through northern waters she
encountered terrific storms which lasted for three days. Seas over 50 feet
high swept down on the ship ... For three days the ship fought the gale,
then the weather cleared and a course was set for port.'
