Overseas British Evacuation of Children: City of Benares (September 1940)


Figure 1.--The 'City of Benres' tragedy effectively put a stop to the British overseas evacustions. Churchill never liked the idea, and the RAF's successes in the skies over Englnd meant that the German invasion was no longer eminent. Here a wire service photograph shows boys thought lost, but were found 8 days after the U-bost sank 'Benares'. The press caption read, "Saved After Eight Days in Open Lifeboat at British Port: After tossing for eight days in an open lifeboat, 46 additioial survivors of the torpeoded evacuee liner 'City of Benares,' who had been presumed lost, were saved when sighted at sea by a flying boat on patrol which directed a warship to the boat. Five of the six children who were saved are shown here. Left to right: William Cunniunghsm Short, Harry B. Steele, Howard Claytor, Derek Capel and Kenneth Sparks." William's big sister had already been rescued, clinging to an over turned lifeboat. When the captain of the Royal Navy ship that rescued them presented William to her, she scoled him. Their parents had instructed her to look after him and she had been agonizing about how she was going to explain losing him. The photo here was taken when 'Anthony' landed the the survivors in Glasgow.

The City of Benares was a very new oceanliner built in Glasgow just before the War (1936). It was thus pressed into service after the outbreak of World War II (September 1939) as an evacuee ship. At this stage of the War, America was neutral and thus oceanliners were not needed to transport American servicemen. Benares departed Liverpool (September 13). Liverpool was the primary British port involved in the Trans-Atlantic trade during the War. Benares carried 200 British and foreign civilian passangers and 93 Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) children escorted by nurses, teachers, and a clergyman . It was destined for Canada. Another ship Diomed with 18 CORB boys and plane wings accompanied Benares. They were part of convoy OB213. (OB meaning outward bound.) The convoy was 600 miles on the way to Canada in the mid-Atlantic when the Admiralty peeled off three escorts to protect an incoming convoy. The weather was rough and deteriorating forceing the convoy to slow. This left OB213 vulnerable to U-boat attack. Benares had the lead position in the convoy which was sailing straight, taking no evasive mesures. U-48 was persuing the convoy. Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt fired two torpedoes into the lead ship--Benares. He scored direct hits. U-48 then attacked other ships in the convoy. The Benares crew attempted to launch the life boats as Benares began to sink. The rough weather made this difficult and Benares sank quickly causing chaos on the ship as the crew strggled to launch the lifeboats. And many of the passengers in the life boats that were launched perished in the extreme conditions. HMS Hurricane, an H-class destroyer, searched for survivors, but found only bodies. Miracuolosly two girls somehow clung to each other on an overtuned life boat. They were found just in time--15 year old Beth Wilder, and 14 year old Beth Cummings. Search aircraft managed to find a few survivors. HMS Hurunane and HMS Anthony managed to pick up two life boat with 13 other CORB children, including Beth's little brother. Six children along with Benares Fourth Officer Ronald Cooper and Miss Mary Cornish, spent seven days in an open boat. They were found and rescued by Anthony (September 26) and landed safely in Glasgow (September 29). When the Hurricane's captain presented William to Beth, she scoled her brother. Their parents had instructed her to look after him and she had been agonizing about how she was goung to explain losing him. Trafically only a handful of the evacuee chikldren were saved. There were 77 children lost. Hurricane would itself be heavily battered during a Luftwaffe raid on Liverpool (May 1941) and then fatally damaged by a U-boat (December 1943).

City of Benares

The City of Benares was a very new oceanliner built in Glasgow just before the War (1936). It was thus pressed into service after the outbreak of World War II (September 1939) as an evacuee ship. At this stage of the War, America was neutral and thus oceanliners were not needed to transport American servicemen. Passagener lners were used for evauuees because they were much faster than ordinary merchant vessels.

Voyage: Convoy OB213

Benares departed Liverpool (September 13). Liverpool was the primary British port involved in the Trans-Atlantic trade during the War. Benares carried 200 British and foreign civilian passangers and 93 Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) children escorted by nurses, teachers, and a clergyman . It was destined for Canada. Another ship Diomed with 18 CORB boys and plane wings accompanied Benares. They were part of convoy OB213. (OB meaning outward bound.) The convoy was 600 miles on the way to Canada in the mid-Atlantic when the Admiralty peeled off three escorts to protect an incoming convoy. The weather was rough and deteriorating forceing the convoy to slow. This left OB213 vulnerable to U-boat attack. The Royal Navy thought they were safe because up to this point the U-boats attacks were generally confined to the Western approaches. The U-boat fleet was limited abd the small types available had limuted ranges. The children were told that it was now safe to sleep in their pajamas.

U-48: Attack

Benares had the lead position in the convoy which was sailing straight, taking no evasive mesures. U-48 was persuing the convoy. On the surface, a U-boat was faster than most Royal Navy ships, let alone a convoy. Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt fired two torpedoes into the lead ship--Benares. They were still near Nritain, 280 miles from Rockwall. He scored direct hits. One of the torpedoes struck right below the cabins where the children were sleeping. U-48 then attacked other ships in the convoy. The children that could tried to read the deck. The attack had been so unexpected that there were few adults to help them. The children reached the deck dressed in their pajamas, many without their lifejackets. As the ship began to list, it became difficult to launch the lifeboats. The Benares crew attempted to launch the life boats as Benares began to sink. The rough weather also made this difficult and Benares sank quickly causing chaos on the ship as the crew strggled to launch the lifeboats.

Survivors

The problems for the survivors did not end once they were in the lifebots. Convoy discipline meant that the other merchant vessels and escorts could not stop for them as this would have presentedesy targets for the U-boats. The sinking was repoorted and an airsea search anbd rescue effort began. The sea was very rough and keeping open boats afloat in the North tlnic under such comditions was very difficult. Many of the passengers in the life boats that were launched perished in the extreme conditions. In addition the rough weather not only scattered the survivors, but made search efforts difficult. HMS Hurricane, an H-class destroyer, searched for survivors, but found only bodies. Miracuolosly two girls somehow clung to each other on an overtuned life boat. They were found just in time--15 year old Beth Wilder, and 14 year old Beth Cummings. Search aircraft managed to find a few survivors. HMS Hurunane and HMS Anthony managed to pick up two life boat with 13 other CORB children, including Beth's little brother. Six children along with Benares Fourth Officer Ronald Cooper and Miss Mary Cornish, spent seven days in an open boat. They were found and rescued by Anthony (September 26) and landed safely in Glasgow (September 29). When the Hurricane's captain presented William to Beth, she scoled her brother. Their parents had instructed her to look after him and she had been agonizing about how she was goung to explain losing him. Trafically only a handful of the evacuee children were saved. There were 77 children lost. Hurricane would itself be heavily battered during a Luftwaffe raid on Liverpool (May 1941) and then fatally damaged by a U-boat (December 1943).

French Bases

What the Royal Navy did not immediately appreciate was that with their new Atlanic coast bases in occupied France, the U-boats could now strike far out into the Alantic and conduct longer patrols. The U-boat attacks would no longer be limited to the Western approaches. The first German U-boat arrived at L'Orient (July 1940). And for the rest of the Battle of the Atlantic, the port of L'Orient would be the most active and largest German U-boat base in France. Dönitz moved his headquaters to L'Orient (November 1940). His headquarters was a villa overlooking the harbour, but after the British commando raid at Saint Nazaire (1942), he moved, for security reasons, back to Paris. L'Orient is on the southern coast of the Britany Peninsula--a peninsula which juts out into the Atlantic. This was an advantage that the the U-boats did not have in World War I. A communication centre was established at the Chateau de Pignerolles at Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjoubetween the coiatak bases and Paris. Massive bunkers made it impervious to air attack. Dönitz would direct the Battle of the Atlantic from L'Orient and later Paris until the D-Day landings and subsequent Allied break out forced him back to the Reich. L'Orient was not only made into a major U-boat base, but radio transmissions from Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou allowed Dönitz to reach U-boats throughout the North Atlantic and direct operations in detail. The led to many spectacularly successful coordinated Wolf Pack attacks. While the Btritish were unable to destroy the commujications center, the Royal Navy was able to monitor the transmissions. At first it was mostly helpful in directionl opertions to locate U-boats. Once the Navl Enigma was cracked, the the Royal Navy could read the messages in real time and take counter measures through Bletchly Park's Ultra decrypts. There were times that Ultra went dark because of Kreigsmarine Enigma security measures. Dönitz's role in guiding the U-boat campaign through radio messages thus left the U-boats more vulnerble than any other German World War II campaign. L'Orient would become one of the most heavily bombed French cities of the War.

Sources

"Captain Ronald Brooke", The Telegraph (December 6, 2004).





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Created: 10:37 AM 7/15/2012
Last updated: 1:48 AM 6/23/2016