Canadian Naval Forces "Interview with Lieut. Lawrence and Stoker Petty Officer Powell" page 5
Description
- Media Type
- Image
- Item Type
- Documents
- Description
- Page 5 of the Canadian Navy interview with Lieut. Lawrence and Stoker Petty Officer Powell describing action of HMCS Oakville August 28, 1942.
- Notes
- Memorandum: To Naval Broadcasting Officer
- Inscriptions
- Stoker Petty Officer James Arthur Powell, R.C.N. of Cobalt, Ont., married to Margaret Simmons of Halifax. Powell was below, underthe after gun platform when action stations was rung. He ran up on the fiddly, near the entrance to the stokehold. His function during action stations was a standby to the fire party, the repair party, etc, and also was a member of the boarding party. He was wearing a pair of trousers, a bathing suit, and his life-jacket. When the boarding party was piped to fall in, he got his cap and gun and flashlight. The sub came along the port side.. (on page 2 of this report, at the point marked with an asterisk, the stab'd side is indicated. This is a contradiction between Powell's story and Cully's story) The boarding party was ready to jump aboard, but the sub was too far out and passed too quickly. There were six in the boarding party, and of these six only lawrence and Powell guessed that they would be alongside the sub on the stab'd side. (The port side in Cully's story). Powell stripped his pants and shoes off and after the collision, as the sub lay alongside, Lawrence yelled at him, "Going to go?". Powell replied, "Sure, I'm going to go." and jumped. Lawrence hit the sub's deck right behind him. (Lawrence clad only in shorts). There were two Germans on the deck of the sub. Powell yelled, "Marche" at them, and told them to get over to the side. He spoke no German and by a combination of the French command and waving and English, forced the two Germans over the side. He and Lawrence then went forward to the conning tower, and stood over the hatch. Powell spoke of seeing a red-bearded German lying dead in the conning tower. He did not know how he was killed, but Lawrence shot a German as he moved towards the conning tower and he was fairly certain the man wore a red beard. Lawrence told Powell to try and get some information of the Germans and went forward to see what was what. Powell stood before the hatch. Two Germans emerged from the conning tower and cam towards Powell. He shot and killed one of them and the other fell back, and crouched down beside the hatchway. Much chattering, excited and fearful in German. Lawrence came back and said, "Let 'em up, and see if we can get below." Conning tower badly damaged by gun fire...full of holes. Conning tower hatch canted over by gunfire and couldn't be closed. 22 or 23 Germans came up through the hatch.
L. and P. stood back and they filed past. P. marched them aft, waving and calling "Marche". Then the officer went below, first telling Powell to try and get as much information as possible. P. shouted at the Germans, "Du spracken Angleterre?" A weird juxtaposition of languages, but all he could think of. One German ran up, and shouted twice, "Spracken zie Deutsch?" Then another yelled, "English prisoners." and pointed to the deck. P. immediately... cont. on next page
- Date of Publication
- 1942
- Date Of Event
- 28 Aug 1942
- Subject(s)
- Collection
- HMCS Oakville - E. Stewart, Curator
- Language of Item
- English
- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Contact
- Oakville MuseumEmail:oakvillemuseum@oakville.ca
Website:
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