The 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe prompted me to delve into my family history and uncover any relatives who played a role in World War 2. Through a combination of family stories, Wikipedia, and online forums, I've been able to trace the wartime experiences of some of my family members. I’ve also included descriptions of the Prisoner of War camps that some were imprisoned to add context into why I think they are heroes. To have undergone such heroism and then horrific internment took incredible loyalty to their country and stoicism.
Let’s start with my closest relatives:- John and William Spencelayh. Both were involved in some way or another in the D Day Landings and the Battle of Britain. The first of these is John Spencelayh, my 3rd cousin 3 times removed. John was awarded the British Empire Medal for his work in repairing the radios of the Spitfires involved in the Battle of Britain. Wikipedia tells us that The Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England, lit. 'air battle for England') was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces.[13] The British officially recognise the battle's duration as being from 10 July until 31 October 1940, which overlaps the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, that lasted from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941.[14] German historians do not follow this subdivision and regard the battle as a single campaign lasting from July 1940 to May 1941, including the Blitz. It was, therefore, vital that radios were repaired, and planes then able to again fly, rapidly.
William Spencelayh died on board HMS Boadicea when it was torpedoed in the English Channel during the D Day Landings. HMS Boadicea was a B-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy (RN) around 1930. Initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, she was transferred to the Home Fleet in 1936. Before her departure, the ship evacuated civilians from Spain during the beginning of the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Boadicea later spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. During World War II, the ship spent the bulk of the war on convoy escort duty in British waters and participated in the Battle of the Atlantic, Operation Torch, the Russian Convoys, and in the Normandy landings. Badly damaged by German dive bombers in 1940, she was sunk almost exactly four years later by German aircraft.
This is a piece that was sent to me by their direct relative:
During the war, John (my father in law) was in the RAF as a radio engineer. He was based on Battle of Britain airfields repairing Spitfires and Hurricanes when they returned. He briefly was posted to Norway and quickly returned as they were overrun. Bill was on one of the ships escorting them and two were torpedoed losing all the pilots and officers on board. He was then posted to Egypt and we have pictures of him in uniform at the pyramids. They received a lot of damaged radios that they had to fix in whatever way possible to install in the aircraft and it was this that got him the BEM. He was a sergeant by then, his officer got a higher level award. Bill was on a ship in the channel that was attacked by bombers and a bomb went into the magazine and the ship exploded with virtually no survivors. Nellie never remarried and lived quietly in London, occasionally seeing the family up north. John's brothers Matt and Jim both served in the war and their sister’s future husband Dave was on the D Day landings. The eldest brother Tom worked in the shipyards in Hartlepool building warships. A different breed!
James Brown Bell, who was awarded an MBE for his bravery. My connection to James is through my great granduncle William Robert Hood's marriage. Intrigued by the mention of this honor, I reached out to a relative of his through Ancestry, and she shared James' remarkable story with me. James was in the Merchant Navy during World War 2
James' story unfolded aboard the Canadian steamer SS Thorold, which was transporting coal from Cardiff to London. On August 22nd, the ship was attacked and sunk by German Dornier Do-17 aircraft south of the Smalls. The attack resulted in the loss of 11 of the 23 crew members.
Amidst the chaos and danger, James, who was the Second Engineer, displayed extraordinary courage and resourcefulness. He cut the rafts adrift, lowered the damaged but still functional lifeboats, and managed to get the wounded Master and Second Mate on board, despite the ship rapidly sinking.
Tragically, a violent explosion then threw everyone into the water and destroyed the lifeboats. Undeterred, James, with the assistance of Able Seaman Kiely, used a raft to rescue as many people as he could find, including the Master and Second Mate. Unfortunately, both of these officers later succumbed to their injuries.
It was for these heroic actions that James was awarded the MBE while serving as Second Engineer. Additionally, he received the Lloyd's Medal for Bravery at Sea, recognizing his exceptional courage and selflessness in the face of extreme danger.
https://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/merchant-navy-awards.15302/page-47
http://warsailors.com/forum/archive/forum/read.php-1,25171,25172.html
James was also on board the SS Gemstone when she was torpedoed by the Spier. On June 4th, the German raider Stier spotted a freighter 200 miles east of St. Paul ’s Rocks off the coast of Brazil. The commander Gerlach fired a warning shot across her bow and the freighter’s captain turned his ship stern-on to present the smallest target.
Stier fired several more salvos, all of which missed and Gemstone's Captain ordered its crew to abandon ship. The freighter was then identified as the 4,986-ton Alva Steamship Co. Gemstone, en route from South Africa to Baltimore with a cargo of iron ore. Her crew was taken on board and she was sunk by a torpedo.
Jan Lettens 06/07/2011
The German auxiliary cruiser Stier was responsible for the sinking of Gemstone (British), Stanvac Calcutta (Panama-flag U.S.-owned), Dalhousie (British) and Stephen Hopkins (U.S.-owned), the latter proved fatal to Stier.[/B]
On or about June 10, the Stier put 68 prisoners from the Gemstone and the Stanvac Calcutta onto the Schliemann less the Captain of the Gemstone and a crewman from the Stanvac Calcutta. With 195 prisoners the Doggerbank departed June 26 for Yokohama via Batavia.
https://www.merchant-navy.net/forum/requests-for-help/30214-sinking-ss-gemstone.html
Fukuoka #17 - Omuta, Branch Prisoner of War Camp was a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp located at the Mitsui Kozan Miike Kogyo-Sho coal mine and Mitsui Zinc Foundry in Shinminato-machi, Omuta-shi, Fukuoka-ken, Japan, during World War II. It was the largest POW camp in Japan.[1]
The camp was opened on 7 August 1943 with 500 Americans arriving on the hellship Clyde Maru from the Philippines. It was gradually populated to about 1,757[2] by Allied prisoners of war of mixed nationalities, mostly Australian, American, British and Dutch. The British, Dutch and Australians were survivors of the Burma Railway construction in Thailand (Siam). The last group to arrive were all Australians, in June 1945; they had formerly been held in the Fukuoka 13-D Oita POW camp. There were also Norwegians, Czechs, Portuguese, Saudi Arabians, Canadian, British Indian, British West Indian, Malayan, Chinese, and British Guianan POWs, as well as civilians.
The site was originally the labourers' quarters built by the Mitsui Coal Mining Company owned by the Baron Mitsui. The camp was gradually expanded with further buildings constructed over the years.
The camp measured 200 yards by 1000 yards and was surrounded by a 12 feet high wooden fence fixed with heavy gauge wire. There were 33 barracks, all one story buildings 120' x 16' with ten rooms to a barracks. Officers were billeted three or four per room measuring 9' x 10', with four to six enlisted men accommodated in rooms of same size. There was no heating whatsoever, which was a serious problem in the winter months as the men were living on starvation diets.[3]
There were two meals served each day, usually one cup of rice and some radish soup. Protein was rarely provided.
The camp commandant was Asao Fukuhara, who was executed after the war for war crimes. The camp doctor was an unidentified Japanese surgeon who forced men to work even when critically ill.
Baron Mitsui's company leased the POWs from the Japanese Army, who received payment from the Company of about 20 yen per day. The American, Australian and Dutch POWs all worked in the Mitsui coal mine whilst all the British worked in the nearby Mitsui zinc foundry. Pay for privates and NCOs was 10 yen per day and all POWs received about 5 cigarettes each day.
Baron Mitsui liked to visit the camp and seemed to enjoy seeing the POWs. He sometimes provided costumes so that the POWs could put on musicals that he and the guards would watch. When the war ended, he invited camp officers to dinner with his wife.
The camp was liberated on 2 September 1945, by which time most of the POWs were in a desperate state of health. Many were suffering from severe beri-beri and on average had lost about 60 lb (27 kg).[3] Camp survivors were evacuated via the destroyed Nagasaki about ten days after liberation. War correspondent George Weller interviewed many of the men who were released. These interviews can be found in a book edited by his son Anthony Weller, First Into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuoka_17
Denys Leonard Taffe is related to me via my 2nd cousin 3 x removed Edward Hunt. Denys was a member of 161 (Special Duties) Squadron which was a highly secretive unit of the Royal Air Force, performing missions as part of the Royal Air Force Special Duties Service. It was tasked with missions of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) during the Second World War. Their primary role was to drop and collect secret agents and equipment into and from Nazi-occupied Europe. The squadron had a secondary role in acting as the King's Flight, where it was responsible for transporting royal family members.
The squadron was formed at RAF Newmarket on 15 February 1942 from 138 Squadron’s Lysander flight and a flight of Whitleys and Wellingtons.[2] These were combined with pilots and aircraft from the King’s Flight to create the second SD squadron.[3] The unit was commanded by Edward Fielden, an experienced pilot who had been the CO of the King’s Flight. He inherited two very experienced officers in Guy Lockhart and “Sticky” Murphy from 138.[4] 161's A Flight was made up of six Lysanders, with Guy Lockhart as its commanding officer. A Flight undertook the pick-up operations. The squadron's B Flight flew two-engine Whitleys and Wellingtons, and did agent parachute drops and supply drop missions.
In April 1942 the squadron joined 138 Squadron at RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire. It remained there for the duration of its service. In November 1942 the B Flight's Whitleys were replaced with the four-engine Halifax.[5]
Following the end of the war in Europe, the squadron was disbanded 2 June 1945.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._161_Squadron_RAF
On the night of the 2nd October 1942, as part of Operation: Special Duties / Special Operations Executive / target: Lettuce 7, his plane took off from Tempsford at 21.30 and ditched off the Dutch coast at 22.45 after suffering engine failure. Bomb-aimer Sgt Denys Taaffe and first pilot Ernest Edge were the only survivors. They were captured , P/O Edge being detained in Stalag Luft 3 (Sagan) and Denys Taaffe in Stalag Luft 6 (Heydekrug)
https://www.rafcommands.com/database/awards/details.php?qname=TAAFFE&qnum=1253986
https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/211873
Google’s AI overview states:
Operation Lettuce was a code name used by the British Royal Navy during World War 2 to describe a naval operation aimed at disrupting German naval traffic in the English Channel
The operation's primary goal was to disrupt German U-boat activity and other naval traffic in the English Channel, which was a vital route for Allied shipping.
The operation involved the deployment of mines and other obstacles in the channel to disrupt German shipping and naval activities.
"Operation Lettuce" was a small but effective operation that contributed to the overall Allied effort to cripple the German war machine.
Other Operations:
While "Operation Lettuce" is a specific operation, it's important to note that there were many other significant naval operations during World War II, such as Operation Torch, Operation Overlord (D-Day), and Operation Husky.
Denys was a Prisoner of War at Stalagluft IV in Gross Tychow, Poland in 1939 and again on 2 October 1942.
Stalag Luft IV was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp in Gross Tychow, Pomerania (now Tychowo, Poland). It housed mostly American POWs, but also Britons, Canadians, Poles, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Czechs, Frenchmen and a Norwegian.
The camp was opened in May 1944. In July of that year a military report was released which described such problems as inadequate shower facilities, unfit distribution of Red Cross parcels, and that prisoners complained about the food situation often. Two letters and four postcards were permitted per month. These letters were harshly censored, with prisoners forced to tell families that they were being treated well and that there were no problems whatsoever.[1]
A report by the International Red Cross in October 1944 described camp conditions as generally bad. The camp was divided into five compounds (A-E) separated by barbed wire fences, with the POWs housed in 40 wooden barrack huts, each containing 200 men. Prisoners in compounds A and B had triple-tiered bunks, but there were no bunks at all in compounds C and D, and POWs slept on the floor. None of the huts were heated, with only five small iron stoves in the whole camp. Latrines were open-air, and there were no proper washing facilities. Medical facilities and supplies of food and clothing were also inadequate. At this point there were 7,089 American and 886 British POWs (of these 606 were from the British Isles, and included 147 Canadians, 37 Australians, 58 Poles, 22 New Zealanders, 8 South Africans, 5 Czechs, 2 French and 1 Norwegian).[2]
Another International Red Cross inspection in January 1945,[3] reported that the camp held:
8,033 Americans
820 British
60 Polish
5 Czech
2 French
1 Norwegian
On 6 February 1945, some 8,000 men of the camp set out on a march that would be called the "Death March". The prisoners were given remaining Red Cross parcels and were allowed to carry as much as they could. The march from Gross Tychow lasted approximately 86 days. They were forced to march under guard about 15–20 miles (24–32 km) per day. There was much zigzagging, to escape the encroaching Soviet Red Army from the east. The death march passed through the towns of Białogard and Świnoujście.[4]
The treatment was deplorable. The sick were shot or bayoneted when they fell out of formation.[5] Dysentery and diarrhea were commonplace as water sources and latrines were inadvertently mixed. Shelter might be a barn or under the stars, in the rain, snow, or whatever was available. Food remained scarce and the best one could hope for was a portion to replenish the calories from a full day’s march (a bushel or two of steamed potatoes for a barn full of men was the best ever received at the end of a day). Often, the food was placed in the barn in the dark of night for the men to get what they could. The German government provided no clothing. They carried two blankets, and an overcoat for bedding.
The average POW lost a third of his body weight after capture. They drank water, often contaminated, from ditches beside the road, or ate snow when available. They used cigarettes, watches, rings or whatever they had to trade with the farmers along the way, for food. However, in doing so risking the farmers and the POWs' lives. The POWs ate charcoal to help stop dysentery, and they all became infested with lice. Pneumonia, diphtheria, pellagra, typhus, trench foot, tuberculosis and other diseases ran rampant among the POWs.
Acts of heroism were virtually universal. The stronger helped the weaker. Those fortunate enough to have a coat shared it with others. The Germans sometimes provided a wagon for the sick. However, there seldom were horses available, so teams of POWs pulled the wagons through the snow. When a wagon was not available and a POW fell out along the road, a German guard would drop back and a shot would be heard.[6] The guard would then come back into formation alone. However, not all Germans were hated - the guard Shorty was carried by several prisoners after he couldn't go on.[citation needed]
They reached (Stalag XI-A), near Dörnitz on 30 March 1945.[7] Many camps on the eastern edge of Germany were combined into one large camp there. The treatment was a repetition of that at previous camps, with the exception of food, of which there was virtually none.[citation needed] There were no beds or bedding in the buildings.[citation needed] The prisoners, and the Germans as well, knew liberation was close at hand. The sounds of the encroaching American artillery could be heard getting louder and louder at this camp. When the sound of Allied artillery grew closer, the German guards were less harsh in their treatment of POWs, because the prisoner roles might soon be reversed.[citation needed]
The POWs were only in this camp for about a week, when lagers A and B from Stalag Luft IV were taken out on their final march on 8 April 1945,[8] this time marching to the east. This last march lasted 25 days,[9] but was just as harsh as the previous march except for the treatment by the Germans, which was somewhat better. There was still little or no food available, and the pace was much slower, advancing 4–5 miles a day. With the Russian and Western Allied forces closing in rapidly, the POWs of Stalag Luft IV crossed the River Elbe on 21 April 1945, near Dahlenburg. On the morning of 2 May 1945 the POWs were all sitting in a ditch next to the River Elbe near Lauenburg, Germany, when the British arrived and liberated the camp. Soldiers were given virtually nothing and told to march west. Thus Stalag Luft IV ended.[citation needed]
Some POWs managed to escape before the liberation of the rest of the camp. According to an interview with Sgt. James B. Lindsay 15081658, he and two fellow POWs, Dewitt and Lockenny, armed with a hatchet taken from a woodpile of a nearby barn, captured a guard and fled on 24 April 1945; they found the body of a second decapitated German officer while making their escape.[10] Two days later they reached an American outpost while heading South towards Düben.[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_IV
Ralph Bernard Spencelayh was my 3rd cousin 3 times removed and was a POW in Kalamata, Greece on 29 April 1945 and was also held at Stalag 18A Wolfsberg, Ralph was a driver in 292 Field Company which was initially allocated to support of the RAF in improving, upgrading and repairing the few usable Greek airfields. Later they, and other arriving Sections, were utilised to aid active fighting Brigades in forward deployments as the tactical military circumstances demanded (including HQ Section). As such they were dispersed geographically and were required to perform a variety of functions including maintenance and repair of roads and railways and subsequently - during the withdrawal phase - demolition of the same.
The battle of Kalamata, named for a small city on the southern coast of the peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece took place on the 29th April 1941. It pitted the 2nd New Zealand and British units against elements of the German 5th panzer division and some SS units. It was fought as a delaying action to assist the evacuation of over 58,000 imperial and commonwealth personnel from greece by royal navy and other allied ships. The action at Kalamata marked the end of the larger battle of greece
https://wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/battles/battle.php?pid=5004
https://ww2greekveterans.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/3-GREEK-CAMPAIGN-Jack-Dean-updated.pdf
Stalag XVIII-A was a World War II German Army (Wehrmacht) prisoner-of-war camp located to the south of the town of Wolfsberg, in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia, then a part of Nazi Germany. A sub-camp Stalag XVIII-A/Z was later opened in Spittal an der Drau about 100 km (62 mi) to the west.
The camp, first designated Oflag XVIII-B, was opened at the site of a former parade ground on 19 October 1939, after the German invasion of Poland. The first inmates were Polish officers, from Spring 1940 also Belgian and French officers captured in the Battle of France.[1] Wolfsberg remained a sub-camp of Stalag XVII-A Kaisersteinbruch, until in March 1941 the officers were transferred to other camps and the camp was redesignated a Stalag of the military district XVIII, with French and Belgian prisoners being transferred in from Stalag XVII-A. The first British and Commonwealth prisoners arrived in July 1941 from a transit camp in Thessaloniki, Greece, having been captured during the battles of Greece and Crete. The first Soviet prisoners arrived in October 1941, and were housed in a separate enclosure.
In December a typhus epidemic broke out, and the entire camp was quarantined until March 1942. Many prisoners died, mainly Russians, as their living conditions and rations were substantially inferior to the other prisoners.[2] In June 1942, to ease overcrowding, three new barracks were built, and 400 British NCOs were transferred to Stalag XVIII-B at Spittal. In January 1943 the camp at Spittal became a Zweiglager (sub-camp) of Wolfsberg, and was redesignated as Stalag XVIII-A/Z. In March 1943 a Lazarett ("Camp Hospital") was built there.[2]
In November 1943, after the Italian armistice, Italian and Commonwealth prisoners arrived from Italy. Two hundred NCOs were transferred to Stalag XVIII-C at Markt-Pongau in June 1944. That month there were a total of 38,831 prisoners registered at the camp. Of these 10,667 were British and Commonwealth troops, of which only 825 were in the main camp, while the rest were attached to various Arbeitskommandos ("Labour Units").[2] In August 1944, according to a Red Cross report, there were 313 Arbeitskommandos attached to Stalag XVIII-A, which were split fairly equally between Landwirtschaft (agriculture or forestry) and Gewerbliche Wirtschaft (trade and industry).[3] There were several attempts to escape, primarily from the Arbeitskommandos.
On 18 December 1944 the camp was bombed by U.S. aircraft. Forty-six prisoners and several guards were killed. Both the British and French camp hospitals were hit, with the British hut being almost completely destroyed.[2] On the approach of Allied forces in April 1945 all fit prisoners from the camps and neighbouring labour units were marched east to Stalag XVIII-C.[2]
Officially, the camp was liberated by elements of the British 8th Army on 11 May 1945. In fact the prisoners had been in control of the camp since the 8th, the day of the German surrender. That day the Kommandant, Hauptmann Steiner, had handed over control of the camp to the Senior British Medical Officer and the "Men of Confidence". French and British prisoners disarmed their guards and took control of the camp armoury, and the local Post Office, Railway Station and Police Station. Over the next few weeks the prisoners were transported via Klagenfurt to transit camps in Bari and Naples, from where they were eventually repatriated. By the middle of June only Russian prisoners remained, these were eventually exchanged for British and American PoWs in Russian hands, near Graz. The camp then served as a British detention centre for ex-Nazis, before finally closing in mid-1947
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_XVIII-A
He earned the Africa Star which was a British World War II campaign medal awarded for service in North Africa between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943.1 It was instituted to recognize the service of British and Commonwealth forces during the North African Campaign. It was awarded for a minimum of one day's service in designated operational areas. These areas included North Africa (from the Suez Canal to the Strait of Gibraltar), Malta, Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Kenya, Sudan, and the Somalilands and Eritrea. The qualifying period spanned from 10 June 1940 (Italy's entry into the war) to 12 May 1943 (the end of the North African campaign). It's a six-pointed star with the Royal Cypher "GRI VI" in the center, surrounded by the inscription "THE AFRICA STAR. The ribbon has a light buff (sand) color with central red, dark blue, and light blue stripes, symbolizing the desert, the Army, the Navy, and the Royal Air Force, respectively.6There were three clasps awarded for specific service within the campaign: 1st Army 8th Army, North Africa 1942–43. Only one clasp could be worn on the ribbon, even if a person qualified for more than one.
The Africa Star is a significant symbol of the hard-fought campaigns that took place in North Africa during World War II.
Frederick George Spencelayh was a member of XV(B) Squadron and Bomber Command.
No. XV (B) Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron that played a significant role in both World Wars and the Cold War. Bomber Command was a major RAF command during World War II, responsible for strategic bombing. It employed large numbers of aircraft like the Lancaster, Halifax, and Stirling. It was controversial due to the high civilian casualties caused by its bombing raids. It played a significant role in the Allied victory in Europe.
Frederick was killed in action in Siemolten, Germany during a raid on Emden on 1 June 1942
The raid on Emden on June 1, 1942, was a significant event in World War II. The primary target of the raid was the German city of Emden, a major port and shipbuilding center. Siemolten's Role: While the exact details of Siemolten's involvement are likely limited due to the nature of wartime records, it's possible that: Civilian Impact: Siemolten, being a nearby town, would have likely experienced the effects of the bombing. This could include: shock Waves: The explosions from bombs dropped on Emden would have been felt in Siemolten. Debris from the bombing, such as shrapnel or falling masonry, could have reached Siemolten. The air raid sirens in Siemolten would have sounded, alerting residents to the imminent danger. If Siemolten had any military installations or personnel, they would have been on alert and potentially involved in the defense against the Allied bombers. The raid on Emden was a significant event in the strategic bombing campaign of World War II. It aimed to disrupt German war production and weaken the country's economy
Information provided by Gemini AI
It's been a privilege to share the stories of my family's heroes and their experiences during World War 2. I hope you've found them as compelling as I do.
