XD Operations: Secret British Missions Denying Oil to the Nazis

traditions.

INTRODUCTION

In the spring of 1940, the country learnt with relief of the miracle of Dunkirk and the courage of the Royal Navy and flotillas of small ships that plucked our army from the beaches. Churchill and his military advisers knew, however, that there was little to celebrate. In just a few weeks Hitler, with his blitzkrieg, had achieved what the Kaiser had failed to do in four years – he had overrun France and crushed her armed forces and swept ours from mainland Europe. Britain stood alone against the might of Nazi Germany.

General Sir Richard Gale, who commanded 1 Parachute Brigade and later 6th Airborne Division on D Day, was a Colonel on the staff of the Director of Military Operations at the War Office in 1940. In his autobiography Call to Arms he wrote of this dark period:

The withdrawal from France and the evacuation from Dunkirk was no direct concern of ours . . . . The tragedy of these events were for us, however, off-set to some extent by the exploits of a Territorial Army Unit, the Kent Fortress Engineers, with whose work we were intimately concerned. Their exploits are little known, which for reasons of security at the time is not surprising.

These operations were no less than the destruction of all oil installations in the Low Countries and northern France. The task had to be done by small parties of men who remained behind after the army had withdrawn, subsequently making their getaway as best they could. Some we managed to get off by destroyer; others only made their escape weeks later after the Germans were in the whole of northern France.

General Gale continued:

The firing of oil installations is not simple if this is to be done in such a way that the conflagration caused cannot be put down. It takes time, requires detailed knowledge of the installation, great skill and above all courage. These qualities the officers and men of this unit had in good measure.

Who was this unit and why were they given the largest demolition programme ever undertaken by the Royal Engineers? How did they become the most highly decorated unit (150 all ranks) at that time in the British Army?

In 1932 to save regular manpower in the army, the War Office decided to replace the regular gunner and sapper units manning our coastal defences, with local recruited Territorial units. The War Office approached the Managing Director, A.C. Davis, of the Blue Circle Cement Company to sponsor a company sized Territorial unit for this purpose. At that time the author of this book, my father Clifford Brazier, was manager of their largest cement works in Kent. As he had served as a sapper officer in the First World War and had left the army afterwards as a major, he was asked to raise and command the unit which was named The Kent Fortress Royal Engineers. In the event it was raised to full strength in forty-eight hours; a record which has never been equalled! Initially the unit was almost exclusively drawn from personnel working in the local Blue Circle cement works. They became highly regarded by the military authorities for their efficiency and in 1938 my father was made a brevet lieutenant colonel. He remained in command until handing over on promotion in February 1942. This is simply the story of this TA sapper unit through the first two and a half years of the war.

These operations, code named XD, were highly secret at the time mainly because of their political sensitivity. As a result when my father, just after handing over command, wrote this book based on reports and conversations with his officers and men and his own experiences of the operations, he was not able to mention the names of the players or much of the details of the tasks. Although this book is, in general, much as he wrote it, I have altered it in places for authenticity as far as possible and have been able to put in the correct names where they are known. I have deliberately not removed references to Huns, Jerries and Boche as these were the terms used at that time. The sentiments expressed reflected the prevailing national mood. It is worth remembering that my father’s generation had to take up arms against the Germans twice in their lifetime.

Sadly, few of the people mentioned are still alive, I am however greatly indebted for the help and encouragement given to me in particular by Major Peter Keeble DSO MC TD, who was one of the main players in this saga. At the age of ninety-three his memory of those days is quite remarkable considering it was sixty-three years ago. I am also indebted to Lieutenant Colonel Paul Baker MBE, who was one of the first young officers to join the Kent Fortress unit straight from officer training only days before their first operation. The other person who has been of help is Barry Phillips, until recently the Chairman of the Gravesend Historical Society. He was so impressed by what he learnt of the unit some years ago that as a hobby he researched as much as he could of what was officially code-named XD Operations carried out by the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers. At that time a number of the men who had taken part in the operations were still alive and he was able to interview them.

I would also like to thank the Royal Engineers Library for their loan of the notes by the late Major Bernard Buxton DSO. Alan Wakefield of the Imperial War Museum kindly undertook a search for any possible relevant photographs.

No official photographer accompanied the operations described here for reasons that will become obvious. Lance Corporal Hill, the HQ draughtsman in 1941, took on the role of Official War Artist and produced the drawings in this book from photographs taken by some of the officers and men and descriptions given to him by the participants.

This Territorial Army Unit was very much a family affair. In this relatively small industrial community everyone knew each other well, their backgrounds and families. My father was not only the largest employer locally, but he was Chairman of the local District Council and Chairman of the Bench. Because he had been extended in command of the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers no less than three times by 1939, he was very much a father figure in the hierarchy of the unit. The average age of all ranks was higher in the TA than their regular counterparts; on parade a number of them bore First Word War medals. My father was in his early fifties when these events took place.

In editing this book my task was made much easier by the fact that I knew many of the men in the original unit, some of them extremely well. I was in my early teens at the time and inevitably I was aware of some of the facts after the events had taken place. I joined the Army myself towards the end of the war and served for thirty odd years in the Royal Engineers.

Finally I am greatly indebted to my wife, Helen, who took on the task of correcting and typing this book.

P.H. (Jock) Brazier,

Marnhull, Dorset, October 2003

Chapter One

PRELUDE TO ACTION

The beginning of the story was in those far off days, pre-war, pre-crises in fact, when as a Territorial Fortress Company Royal Engineers, we trained together with the Heavy Coast Defence gunners to resist sea borne attack upon the Thames River and estuary. With its endless docks and many miles of coastline, the numerous industries, together with its vital geographical situation in relation to the capital of the Empire, we certainly gained the impression that our responsibility was not to be taken lightly. Hence it was not considered at all surprising that during the crisis in the autumn of 1938, we were embodied and spread around our war stations in the estuary. This period lasted just a month, then back to factory and workshop again. When, a year later, after progressively menacing moves by Germany, war broke out, not only did mobilization cause little comment amongst the men, but the move to the forts seemed natural and inevitable. The wartime footing of the defences not only meant day and night watch-keeping in order that the searchlights could spring into action at a moments notice, but in addition to all the ordinary humdrum activities of the garrison we were busy modernizing our equipment.

The convoy of buses moved off towards our war stations, all farewells were taken, and the sorrowing families left behind to turn over in their minds what it all meant. How long would it be, when would we return? Off we went, men and baggage lumbering through town and countryside and, as is the custom, singing heartily the songs of the people. It was a queer repertoire, telling of their affection for ‘South of the Border’, and all the oft repeated hit tunes of the dance halls and radio. A raucous mouth organ would lead them in quick succession from tune to tune but every now and again in the cycle, a particularly strident air would stir the tired ones, and bring them back to renewed vocal effort to proclaim in the most dominant manner, ‘GOOD MORNING MR STEVENS AND WINDY NOTCHY KNIGHT’.

Good morning, Mr Stevens and windy Notchy Knight

Hurrah for the CRE.

For we’re working very hard down at Upnor Hard

Hurrah for the CRE.

You make fast, I make fast, make fast the dinghy,

Make fast the dinghy, make fast the dinghy,

You make fast, I make fast, make fast the dinghy,

Make fast the dinghy, pontoon

For we’re marching on to Laffan’s Plain,

To Laffan’s Plain, to Laffan’s Plain,

Yes, we’re marching on to Laffan’s Plain,

Where they don’t know mud from clay.

Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah,

Oshta, oshta, oshta, oshta.

Ikona malee, piccanin skoff,

Maninga sabenza, there’s another off,

Oolum-da cried Matabele,

Oolum-da, away we go.

Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah,

Shuush . . . . . . . . . . . . . Whoow!

On this occasion I pondered over this oft repeated and familiar doggerel, and wondered what either of the worthies quoted did to merit such immortalization. It came back to Chatham from the Boer War. It is sung to the same refrain as ‘We’re marching on to Pretoria’ and the fact remains that wherever sappers are gathered together (and the party isn’t too dry!) the RE song is bound to break out sooner or later. On company concert programmes it is styled ‘Hurrah for the CRE’! Moreover, I remembered an old gramophone record of it in the Sergeants’ Mess and at dances it was sometimes played as a one-step. At times one would hear less complimentary and quite unprintable variations of the words of which it may be wise to say no more.

As we bumped along towards our destination, which was to mean such a tremendous upheaval in all our lives, I turned the peculiar insistence of these flippant verses over in my mind and was forced to the conclusion that the words did not matter, although the reference to Upnor Hard was apposite enough. What then was it that perpetuated it down the years? The tune might be considered invigorating, but could hardly be credited with much musical merit! By this process of reductio ad absurdum there was only one answer, it was the saga of the sapper, and that is all there is to the matter. Hence it has travelled to the four corners of the earth with the Corps motto, Ubique. I wondered, ‘How far will these lads take this very peculiar song before they return to their homes for good?’

My reverie came to an abrupt end when the convoy pulled up beside the parade ground within the area of the fort, and the keen night air coming in from the sea quickly brought one back to realities. The all important duties of off-loading and distribution of manning details to action stations was the occupation of the moment.

During those early days, through the hard winter of 1939, all were keyed up by the expectation that great things were about to happen, and we should be in the stalls for the performance. Then, doubts crept in. Discussions and speculations in the mess and barracks had in the past centred around the type of attack we might reasonably expect – whether it would be a light raiding force of motor torpedo boats, or large block ships that would sink themselves in the fairway, or some kind of fleet action, with or without an attempt at invasion – but now we began to wonder whether it would come at all!

In the ‘piping days of peace’ there were night runs, when high speed craft would exercise their wiliest tactics to evade the penetrating beams of light. On they would come, twisting, turning and jinxing about in the inky blackness of night, at times wallowing stationary bow on in the hope that the beam would pass over unsuspecting, then the dash in through the black patches of unlighted water. Once in the beam they would be held and followed, meantime the guns would blaze away, round after round. The only lack of realism, so we thought then, was the blank ammunition, hence it was not surprising that when real war came, it was a bitter disappointment to find the encounter of our dreams existed solely in the imagination. The German High Seas Fleet could have joined Sweden in her neutral outlook for all we saw of them; an excellent thing from a national point of view, but it made life less interesting for us. As those long winter months crept by the truth became fairly obvious. Our job was remote from any action and, whatever chance there may have been, in the opening phases of hostilities, of an attack upon the port it now all seemed highly improbable. The inevitable reaction upon the minds of the men, all anxious to do their bit, can well be imagined, the slow developing feelings of frustration, disappointment and futility.

The old forts were laid out in regular angles to a geometric pattern with bastions and moats on principles dating from the great French engineer of former days, Vauban. There were the relics and remains of many generations of gunners where changes had been made with each succeeding improvement in armament. The glacis of earth, beyond the moat, must have been a task in keeping with the works of Ancient Egyptians. As the CRE (Commander Royal Engineers) I pondered on the geometry of the place and tried to visualize the fire plan of the original defenders of these shores.

These forts dating back into history, with their grim masonry walls, miserable little windows, and with the general air of mediaeval prisons, in themselves gave a background to the mental outlook of the garrison. The living accommodation was mainly old casemates with domed brick roofs covered again by many feet of earth and concrete and through the cracks the water trickled down the walls. With little or no ventilation, two courses remained open – either to have large fires and produce a kind of Turkish bath atmosphere, or alternatively to freeze in one’s tomblike surroundings. In one case the fort was an island in the river, rather like a large lighthouse with the tide oozing in and out below the floor and adding its smell to the atmosphere inside. During the winter months it was perpetually dark inside and over the door was chalked ‘abandon hope all who enter here’.

My room, like the others, had a vaulted roof and was just over the central archway leading in to the interior of the keep, the audible conversation of the guard below and all who went in and out, floated up to my open window. The unconscious humour of much of this and the references to our peculiar share in the war gave one food for thought. I, personally, was very well looked after by Corporal Holland, my batman. He was a very popular figure and I believe had been a professional boxer at one time. He was one of the few men in the unit who had not been an employee at Bevans Cement Works in Northfleet before the war. He was landlord of the King of the Belgiums public house on the riverfront at Gravesend which he ran with his sister, as he was a bachelor.

In spite of all this, night after night these gunners and sappers kept their weary vigil, peering out into the inky blackness over the North Sea, frequently in the teeth of an east wind which overcame all efforts to keep warm by wrapping up. Speaking of wrapping up, the British soldier is a past master at this – starting with regulation issue clothing he adds several cardigans, arctic socks, mittens, gloves, balaclava helmet, plus an old oilskin which he puts on over his greatcoat, and gets a pal to rope him around the middle. Then fortified by a tot of rum he goes up to his OP gun site or emplacement for his watch, looking more like a bundle than a human being.

Not withstanding the discomforts, the troops were singularly good-natured about their new found mode of life