← WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk
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- [00:02]
A
Thank you for listening to we have ways of making you talk. Sign up to our Patreon to receive bonus content, live streams and our weekly newsletter with money off books and museum visits as well. Plus early access to all live show tickets. That's patreon.com we haveways.
- [00:34]
B
With that sort of detachment, we watched through our glasses calling the fall of shot as an announcer calls the strokes of a cricket match. But all the time there was running through my mind a vivid picture of the people in that ship. It made the sunlight and color unearthly and nightmarish. I could see men, dazed with lack of sleep, rolling out of their hammocks, running along the decks to action stations. Or had the grey dawn and the early rain found them as it had us, sleepless and cold at their guns and ammunition hoists. For days they had been driven and harried by ships and aircraft. The respite of 30 hours would give them little peace of mind or confidence. An afternoon of aerial torpedoing. And then when the darkness came, it brought with it throughout the night the wolfish attacks of destroyers that had brought her speed down, smashed her rudder and for a time made her unmanageable. After what her men had come through, these intermittent attacks must have left them with raw nerves. But they did their best to beat off each attack if they were lucky. They did not know how close we were to her that night, that we were only waiting for the light, that there was no possible escape. When they saw Rodney and King George V that morning, they must have known that was soon enough. I don't know what men think or do or look like when they know what those men knew. But I fancy they open fire as one sees our chaps in action. They look the same men. They do their jobs automatically. They curse fluently and joke and laugh in the lulls. But these men would be tired and shortly they would be dazed and numb with the concussion. What that ship was like inside, after an hour and a half of shelling, does not bear thinking of. Her guns smashed, the ship full of fire, her people hurt. It was a great relief that we were not sent in to torpedo a dirty job. And that was sub lieutenant George Wally aboard HMS Tartar, a tribal class destroyer at the scene of the battle of the Bismarck.
- [02:41]
A
Welcome to Way of Ways to make youe Talk with me, Al Murray and James Holland for part three of our Sink the Bismarck series. And the moment is approaching essentially, isn't it Jim? In the last two episodes we we sketch how Bismarck is chased, harried, lost, recovered, how the Admiralty's efforts to second guess what Admiral Lutyens might be planning or trying to do. How eventually it's clear that it's clear that she's headed for Brest and that one way or another there's going to be a moment where she is struck. And of course in our last episode we had the brilliant and brave men of the Fleet Air Arm putting in attacks and almost sinking the Sheffield but putting in attacks on the Bismarck and ultimately damaging her rudder and her rear steering gear which means the Bismarck is limping on in a giant circle and has really has nowhere to go except under the Royal Navy's guns and forces have been amassing, assets have been gathering. Everything that the Navy's got is basically being, being thrown at the Bismarck. Ships that are normally guarding the med ships from the western approaches. Ships that ought to be going to Newfoundland to be refit or whatever are on their way to deliver this killer blow. And George Wally of course is, is on a, is on a tribal class destroyer which we, which raised an eyebrow browser category in our last episode. And this is Vian's attack from force isn't it Jim? Basically.
- [04:20]
B
Well yes. So Captain Philip Vian he's, he's one of those sort of yet another Nelsonian type. He's sort of incredibly gung ho. A very aggressive and rather brilliant and formidable destroyer commander.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And he's got his little destroyer force. He's been escorting some convoy and he's broken off from that without waiting to be ordered to do so. Got into the area and he's there with his four Tribals and Prioren which is a Polish destroyer. Yeah. And he's ready to pounce. And obviously you know five destroyers against the mighty Bismarck is, is an uneven fight but, but think of this as like sort of velociraptors sort of you know they're working in a team or hunting dogs or something. You know they're kind of sort of homing in around them sort of biting at the ankles a little bit with their, with their, their, their torpedoes but the seas are still really really rough and just, just, just navigating with these destroyers is incredibly difficult. But anyway they've got here and these are all absolutely eight graders. I mean you know all the commanders of these destroyers are absolutely top draw. They know what they're about. They've got the salt in their hair and in their face and in their blood and there's nothing these guys don't know about kind of sort of fighting with destroyers. So, so they're, they're very good, very gung ho. And with Vayan as their commander, they're determined to do whatever damage they can. And really again, this is about heel snapping or to put another way, this is the horsemen with their spears before the toreador comes in and does a coup de grace.
- [06:00]
A
What it really reminds me of is, you know, if people have been watching the Kingdom, the David Attenborough wildlife thing.
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B
Yes.
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A
They're like the hunting dogs or the hyenas that come in.
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B
They are.
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A
And try and have a go at something bigger that you know, like a wildebeest that if it kicks them in the face it'll kill them. But they're still coming in, they're still having a go and one and attritionally they'll bring them down, wear them out, knock them out. And then obviously what happens in that wildlife documentaries. Then a lion turns up and they all bugger off and it, and it eats the wildebeest.
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B
Yes. And that's actually basically the same.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Lion equals battleship. Yeah.
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A
It's not, it's not unlike that, is it? It's, it's, it's strange. So Vian orders the Tribals in with the. So I mean I think it's fascinating that, that before the main attack, prior run has a go that the Polish destroyer, and this tells you something about maybe the Royal Navy might be Nelsonian, but the Poles have got a different issue here.
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B
Let me get at them, let me get at them.
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A
Let me, let me get stuck in, you know, business before pleasure and all that sort of stuff.
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B
Yes. It's like the hurricane going up to sort of 50 yards away from the messes motors.
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A
Exactly. Or the, the six pounder crew in Arnhem, the Poles that would run around the corner with their six pounder and fire one off and then run away again. It's just like that, that they, they want to be in first and they.
- [07:22]
B
They exchange gunfire and Prioren has this incredible little engagement.
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A
Yeah, I mean what a thing to do.
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B
Yeah. Sort of go, goes in, sort of, you know, fires its guns, does us, does a loop, comes back again, you know. And also of course, you know, destroyers are pretty agile so they can maneuver quicker than capital ships.
- [07:43]
A
But even so, I mean that's gutsy, isn't it? And one of Bismarck's salvage return salvos lands within 20 yards. So the captain of Proiron just thinks, okay, we'll make smoke, we'll get out of here. And then gets lost themselves and loses contact with the Tribals, which is a mark of how bad the weather Is in an encounter that close they can lose contact with each other quite easily. And then at 11:24 Vian orders a synchronized torpedo attack which is in this weather not so easy. And with Bismarck shelling them, not so easy either. I mean this is all very.
- [08:18]
B
Yeah, I mean I really can't stress enough. This is a big swell, so this is big rolling waves and these, these destroyers are comparatively small, you know. You know there are sort of, you know, 100, 100 yards long, 100 meters long, something like. Yeah, you know they're not a huge great thing and they're tossed about all over the place on, on, on the seas. I mean really, really are. So you know trying to fire off a half decent shot is, is incredibly difficult.
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A
Well and against a moving target and with the sea, you know the torpedoes, torpedoes are temperamental things anyway when once they're underway and the conditions won't exactly, won't exactly help because you know the Swordfish, they have to, they have to make sure when they're delivering a torpedo they have to make sure they deliver it into the right part of the wave in order for it not to be disrupted by the swell. So there's the same issues here really. I mean just think of being these crews though, you know, this is a world famous, world famous, world's biggest battleship encounter. There you are on, there you are in a plucky little, I don't know, marry or whatever. You know these are gutsy people, aren't they?
- [09:29]
B
Really, really gutsy people. I mean obviously vines absolutely loving it. You know, I mean he's, he's very much in that kind of sort of George Jelligo kind of Paddy Main type. You know he just sort of it's all scouts with guns kind of attitude. You know he'd be a kind of one of those sort of, you know he'd be parachuting off mountains and stuff and skiing and things and you know, doing really crazy stuff.
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A
Yeah. Walking to the South Pole in slippers. He's one of those people, isn't he? Basically.
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B
So for him this is just an absolute blast. But I'm not sure for all his officers they're feeling quite such enthusiasm. But you know, his intention, his intention is to launch a synchronized torpedo attack. And the idea about it being synchronized is that you go off of all the various, you know, you've got four of them so you come off different beams, different sides and you tap them all at once. And that means that, that Bismarck can't swerve to void them all. Yeah, I Mean as it happens the chances of one of these torpedoes doing serious damage is quite small. But it might cause enough damage to do a bit of localized flooding which then slows it down which makes its life a little bit harder. So they're not, they're not anticipating they're going to sink Bismarck with, with a torpedo because of its waist armor and all the rest of it but, but they are hoping they're going to just sort of as you say, you know, snap at the ankles and you know, wear it down a little bit.
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A
Hold Lutchen's up as well is the other thing preoccupy him so that when the big ships are because they don't.
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B
Know what the problem is, you know, they might solve the problem on the Bismarck and then it could be off again. So Vayan's job is to peck at it but also make sure he doesn't lose sight of it.
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A
Yeah.
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B
You know, keep it in his, in his field. The problem is the weather is so bad it is just impossible to do a synchronized attack. They just can't physically do it because they're being tossed about all over the place. So, so they just basically take it in turns to go in and attack whichever way they can. And you know Bismarck's firing is also pretty good. It's pretty sophisticated and you know the key thing is not to get themselves sunk.
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A
Yeah.
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B
But anyway so HMS Maori goes in first which actually was eventually sunk off Valletta in, in, in Malta and the wreck is still there.
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A
Right. Okay.
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B
That goes in at 1:21am and fires all its four torpedoes but, but records no hits. And then Zulu fires two torpedoes at 1:37am at 2 miles out. And Commander, the commander, Commander Graham is hoping to cross her bows and attack with two more. But the fire from, from Bismarck is too hot.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And then Vayan launches his own attack in HMS Cossack at 1:40am he does this by stealing up on Bismarck's disengage side and reports hits and then finally it seeks turn which closes in and reports a further possible hit. In fact as it turns out none of them have hit.
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A
Right.
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B
But Bismarck is burning up ammo and what else is it doing? Burning up waking hours.
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A
Yeah.
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B
You know this attack keeps that crew awake all night and particularly the gunners.
- [12:32]
A
And at battle stations. So like absolutely. At full tilt.
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B
Yeah. And when you're thinking about this just remind yourself of how you feel when you've had one hour's sleep the previous night or two hours sleep or whatever you feel absolutely shocking. Don't You.
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A
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
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B
Head hurting.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Stingy eyes.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Can't concentrate properly, can't think properly. You know and you're, and you know when dawn arrives you're probably going to have to face.
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A
When dawn comes you would have seen him coming because this after you know we must forget this is a nighttime encounter. This is happening, this is happening in pitch black isn't it? In pitch black night in these difficult seas. And I suppose I mean as you say you're burning, you're burning up the Germans nerves in this process aren't you? You're burning their nerve up. Burning up Lutchin's ability to think clearly because maybe the thing to do actually is you know, come daybreak run up a white flag and go you know what we're done.
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B
Yeah. And, and the damage is something you can't calculate really.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Because this is, this is men's emotions, it's men's fatigue and fatigue levels and, and all the rest of it. But actually there's a reason why they think they've, they've scored a hit because the Bismarck stops in the water. God this is because it's still desperately trying to fix this bloody rudder that's got jammed at 15 degrees or whatever it is.
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A
Yeah. God there's an opportunity you know and.
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B
Eventually it gets underway again at 2:30am Admiral Tovey then orders Vayan to illuminate the battleship with star shells every half hour which it does you know and again this is to grind on its nerves of the German crew. Cossack for example which is Vayant ship fires its last torpedo at 3:30am but again doesn't see any hit at all. And by 4am the destroyers actually have briefly lost touch with the, with the Bismarck although they regain it again at 5.50am when Maori sites are slowly zigzagging northwest so she's not going in a big circle. So the thing is with the rudder jammed you can move forward. Yeah but the problem and you can start to turn but then the part of the rest of it swings round in the wind so you have no control. So actually it's generally steering on a, on a northerly course. What it can't do is about turning.
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A
180 degrees they can't steer. It's, that's it that they, they simply, they can't steer. They ain't going nowhere.
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B
No, exactly but they're not going around in a big circle.
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A
That's why. No but what they aren't able to do as well is lose is Lose these destroyers they can't put the. Because they've had enough boiler damage. They can't open the throttles and get away is the other thing. So it's you know, so, so Mary, Mary spots her as you say then seek Caesar. Coming out of a rain squall at half past six in the morning and it's daylight and at seven o' clock Maori fires her last torpedoes but without success. So this, I mean this is, this is amazing. Then they basically take station around the ship basically picketing the Bismarck and like we say like hunting dogs.
- [15:30]
B
Van has done an amazing job. Yeah him and his crews okay they haven't, they haven't got those hits but that's not the point that, that is to completely miss the point because even if they did hit it as I say the chances of them causing serious damage is quite small. This is about harrying them, keeping the crew awake, putting those star shells up, just being there, preying on their nerves. We're here, we haven't lost sight of you and while we're here we're bringing.
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A
Other people towards us and staying in contact you know because after all there's been a fraught, a fraught period where.
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B
They'D lost her in these incredibly difficult conditions.
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A
Yeah, yeah and of course I mean this is in a way that violin is destroyed. It's the overture to what is now to be this grand opera of destruction that's to follow really. And the, the Royal Navy now, now starts to assemble. Rodney's fallen out of action stations. The assumption aboard Rodney was that the Swordfish attack has failed. But now general quarters is sounded. The men had gone back to bed and back to their hammocks and their bunks. They had to get up duffel coats on, boots on men robbing, running to action stations and the captain comes on the loudspeaker and imagine this moment, imagine, imagine this moment hearing this over the Tennoy that the Bismarck was damaged and together with the KG5 they would engage at dawn. It's just the sheer drama of all.
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B
This and you can see it's just, it's told in just a completely deadpan way.
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A
Yeah. Oh yes exactly.
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B
This is what's going to happen. This is it.
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A
Yeah yeah. Bismarck's Bismarck cited Bismarck damaged engage at dawn.
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B
Very well.
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A
The thing is though you know a similar announcement went out on Hood and look what happened to Hood. So I mean we, we can't get. You can't get too excited can you? It's the other thing.
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B
Well no I mean if you're British crew. You're still going to be absolutely kacking it.
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A
Yeah, of course you are. Yeah.
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B
Let's face it.
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A
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then. I love this. The chaplain. Chaplain comes on. Almighty God, most merciful Father, we make our address to thy divine majesty that thou wouldst take the cause of thine own hand and judge between us and our enemies. Stirring stuff. Yeah. The thing is, you know, so much of this when you think about ships, crews and how well they all know each other, the intimacy they all live in and the way they all live together and the fact that, you know, it's not like. It's not like being in a brigade depot where people come and go, you know, you're, you're, you all live in each other's pocket. You know, the keen people are who the Skivers are, you know, but once in this situation, you, you've all got to work towards a common purpose, haven't you? There can be no malingering in this. And certainly. No, you can't betray your emotions either.
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B
I don't think there is much malingering, do you?
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A
No, but you know what I mean. In any body of men, there'll be someone who.
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B
Here, I know exactly what you mean. But, but, but the peer pressure to kind of, you know, when the, when it's hitting the fan to.
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A
Actually, that's sort of my point. How different different a ship's crew is to say, an infantry battalion, because people come and go, don't they, in, in the army or, or in a tank regiment. People come and go, they're sent away. That, you know, whereas these guys have been at sea. They all know each other inside out and they're all now going to battle together. And they also know that a strike like the one on the Hood might kill all of them.
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B
I can't even begin to think what it must be like. And there you are in the middle of the Atlantic. You can't see, you know, you can see other ships, but you can't see anything but the sea. If anything goes wrong, your wiggle room is pretty small.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Chance of being picked up is comparatively small. You know, it's. It's not great odds.
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A
No.
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B
Absolutely terrifying. Anyway, yeah, the Royal Navy is now massing, you know, all these plans that have been put into place with these converging on the Bismarck. This is the moment. And to the north, Adam Wake Walker, who is, do you remember, he's the cruiser commander, cruiser squadron commander of the Norfolk and Suffolk, and he's on the Norfolk and he's trying to catch up Captain Phillips who's the captain of the, of the Norfolk had earlier reduced speed to save fuel but now turns over to full speed after news of the Swordfish attack and its success has reached them. And to the south the cruiser Dorsetshire which is going to play a big part is now fast approaching a whopping 28 knots. And the other cruiser Edinburgh had turned to turn for home but then reverse course, reverses course. Here's the news of the Bismarck. So you know we need fuel but what the heck, I'm not going to miss out on this one. So fuel reserves are very, very low. So when the action is then postponed to the morning Commodore Blackmore once more turns towards London day. So HMS Edinburgh is out of the fray. He's out of the fray. I bet he's cursing that.
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A
Yeah.
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B
But meanwhile Admiral Somerville who is the Force H Commander which has come from Gibraltar with the, with the Art Royal and, and Repulse and so on is, is keen to send off his Swordfish again. And then you've got the Tribals plus the Tartar and Mishoma.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Who are with the HMS Rodney, the battleship HMS Rodney. Yeah with its 16 inch guns. Meanwhile on the Bismarck I mean what are they feeling do you think? Well they know about the rudder.
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A
Yeah.
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B
But most the previous evening had the faith that it would be resolved. So certainly in the first part of the evening of the 26th of May there's no great despair. And then they get busy with Vian's attack which goes on through the night and the crew are busy as a result. But at 1:45am a signal is passed from Admiral Raeder back in, back in Berlin and he says please inform the crew that early in the morning 81 Junkers887 aircraft will join us in addition to two trucks and one tanker. The U boats have received orders to close with Bismarck but as it turns out none of these are ever going to appear. This is like you know, the thousand fighter planes which are going to support Operation Lutech in Normandy in August 1944. I mean it's just absolutely nonsense.
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A
I mean this is a recurrent, this is a Luftwaffe motif of the leitmotif of the war, isn't it? Don't worry, we're going to send every single plane we possibly can and then they don't, and then they simply don't show up. This signal is exactly when the destroyers start, start firing off their torpedoes, isn't it? That's interesting that it's coincident with that.
- [21:56]
B
Exactly, exactly how do you think Admiral Lutchin's aboard the Bismarck? Replies to this. Oh, dear. So he signals back to Hitler and he says to the Fuhrer of the.
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A
German Reich, Adolf Hitler, refer to the last in our belief of jumen Fuhrer and in the firm faith of Germany's victory. I mean, you know, but remember, Lutchens is not a.
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B
He's not a Nazi.
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A
He's not an artsy.
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B
He has a. Has an Imperial German dagger.
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A
That's right.
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B
He doesn't have a Nazi daggers. Imperial Navy duck.
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A
Yeah, exactly. And then, I mean, how many of these messages does Hitler send in the war. During the war to people he knows are going to die shortly? I mean.
- [22:40]
B
It'S awful. It's absolutely dreadful.
- [22:43]
A
It's a. It's absolute classic of the genre, this.
- [22:45]
B
So he's still awake because it's only 2am of course he's. Because he always up all night and he sleeps until 10. Yeah, but, but, but his Cap von Bulow, who is his. One of his aides. And there's Engels, who's his other. Other adjutant. They both record in their diaries that Hitler is really, really agitated and depressed by this.
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A
Right, okay.
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B
Well, he might be.
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A
Yeah. Well. And he says, I thank you in the name of the German people. The whole of Germany is with you. What can still be done will be done as a performance of your duty will strengthen our people in the struggle for their existence. So in other words, he's saying you die nicely, please, and everyone will think that's fantastic.
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B
Yes.
- [23:24]
A
Rather than, I have a war to fight here.
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B
And then there's another message from Raider. So Raider's sort of like you're just about to go to your first A level. Our thoughts are with you and your ship. We wish you success for your hard fight. I mean, it's not exactly. It's not inspiring, is it?
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A
No, he's not. He's not really. He's not really helping, is he?
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B
And at this point, Lutchens is completely resigned. Lutchens is totally resigned that, that, that. That on Ziv Morning, you know, it will be Todd for all of them. Well, I mean, you know, that's it.
- [23:57]
A
He might as well be singing Que Sera Sera. Right. I mean, this is the thing, isn't it? He's. And, and. And you know, he then, as he prepares to die, basically he busies himself with the important sort of admin. So he signals Raider, saying that Commodore Schneider should get our Knight's Cross for sinking the Hood.
- [24:17]
B
Yes. He's the gunnery commander.
- [24:19]
A
Exactly. Sure. Cheer Schneider up as he sort of prepares his crews for this encounter. And Hitler approves it immediately because he's still up because Hitler, you know, he's.
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B
It's like a sort of WhatsApp message sequence, isn't it? This, you know, the speed with which they're sending these signals.
- [24:35]
A
Yeah.
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B
Oh, the Fuhrer's replied. But by this time it's the early hours of the morning. The crew's been seeing office this destroyer attack. Everyone realizes that. And don't Forget sort of 2:30 or whatever it is that they're dead in the water.
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A
Yeah.
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B
So that does very little to improve morale.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And that earlier faith that it's all going to be fine is starting to kind of slip away, seep away down the drain.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Two hours later. So what's this? A sort of, you know, 4am the award is announced over the loudspeakers. And this is obviously designed to boost morale but also underlines the serious of the situation. Because the bottom line is, is you don't do spontaneous Knights Crosses when everything's going well. It's a bit like your VC theory.
- [25:20]
A
Absolutely.
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B
It's exactly the same thing, isn't it? Yeah. And then from Grouper Vest comes the news that all U boats are steering towards Bismarck and three tugs are on their way and, and the, and, and the, the Ermland which is an oiler is, is sailing towards her with fuel. An 80 craft. 81 aircraft will be heading that way that morning. But this is sort of reinforcing the earlier message from Raider. But, but it's not coming, you know, and it's not there. Now that's the bottom line.
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A
81 is a peculiarly specific number as well, isn't it? There's something, there's something about that that really does feel like it's been pulled out of someone's ass, doesn't it?
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B
That.
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A
Oh yeah, 80, 81. All right. Okay. Oh that's all right then.
- [26:01]
B
Not 82, not 80, not even 90. Just 81.
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A
And it's the point you made you make about pilots whose planes go down and the pilot gets a VC and everyone else is killed on the plane. Right. And they don't get them. You know, why not just give the Knights Cross to everyone on the Bismarck? Right. To cheer them all up. Right. Because the idea is the other. Are the others meant to go well done you. Oh no, well done you can't. You didn't. You do well?
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B
Well I think they do in that kind of sort of weird sort of German thing in the war. That kind of. I don't know. I mean, you know, it's so alien to me that.
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A
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
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B
My head around it.
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A
An honor for one is an honor for all or something. It's that.
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B
But. But it's also broadcast. Broadcast that seven Swordfish have been shot down and one destroyer sunk and two more left burning. But again, this is sort of, you know, this is like claims in the Battle of Britain. Yeah, it's all pie in the sky stuff.
- [26:54]
A
Yeah.
- [26:55]
B
None of it true at all. And it's absolutely clear that as the night is wearing on, so nerves are really beginning to start to fray because the crew's all exhausted. In one engine room, a man goes absolutely berserk and has to be sedated. In another, Werner lust found a number of the artificers in low spirits. And on deck, the flat crews gather around Chief Petty Officer Wienand. Wienand is popular. He's a bit older. He's from Hamburg and married. And he shows some photos of his wife, probably pulled from his wallet. Isn't she pretty? He tells them, if I don't survive, I want one of you to go and see her and tell her my last thoughts of her. And the others all sort of go, oh, it's not that bad, and helps on his way. And Venan says, yes, I know all that, but I really don't believe it anymore. It all sounds too good to be true. And it is.
- [27:45]
A
Yeah.
- [27:46]
B
It's the truth of it.
- [27:46]
A
Yeah. Yeah. And the third gunnery officer.
- [27:49]
B
Yes. Well, we've mentioned this chat before. Capitaine Lightning Freiherr Bookhard Mullenheim Rekburg. And he's in the. In the after control tower. And he told fellow officers that he feels like meat on the slab vaiting for the butcher's chopper.
- [28:06]
A
Oh, blimey.
- [28:07]
B
You know. So you can see this sort of spreading through the ship. Osmosis like that. This is every passing hour. And they're still kind of not on the right course. And the rudder hasn't been sorted. And there's no sign of Stukas and there's no sign of U boats. The clock is ticking inexorably. And. And they are like the meat on the slab waiting for the butcher's chopper.
- [28:30]
A
No two ways about it. Yeah. And then Lutyens orders the ship Serrado aircraft because it's got a. It has a plane, of course, for. For gunnery spotting, really, to fly off with the ship's log and film footage with. With the footage of sinking the Hood and accounts by the war correspondent who's Come along. The orders are piped out at 5am the pilot and the navigator to get into the cockpit, start the engine but the catapult gear fails.
- [28:55]
B
I mean you can imagine him, can't you? He's just going shut. I've got away with it. I've got away.
- [28:59]
A
Are you sure, sir?
- [29:01]
B
Qt.
- [29:02]
A
But he'd have had to do that whole thing.
- [29:03]
B
You really want me to fly off?
- [29:05]
A
Only if it's entirely necessary, sir.
- [29:07]
B
Absolutely necessary. I would much rather stay with the dying ship. But then the catapult gear fails. I can't launch it. So he's just going no.
- [29:20]
A
Oh God.
- [29:21]
B
And he has to clamber out again.
- [29:24]
A
And they're all, they're all clapping him on the back. Just think of the gags, the joke, the banter surrounding that event. Oh well, you said you didn't want to go.
- [29:33]
B
Oh it must be hilarious.
- [29:34]
A
This is, this is quite interesting actually. Raider in the meantime sort of gets real and orders a call to be put through to the German naval attache in Madrid to ask the Spanish to send a hospital ship or any spare vessel to assist the Bismarck. Raider knows that they're meat on the slab waiting for the butcher's chopper. He's no fool. He can see. He really, really does. You know, he's called the ambulance already. Even before the fight has started. He's called an ambulance. It's awful.
- [30:06]
B
Well exactly. And also there's that weather which is, which is no good for you know, mounting torpedo attacks but it's also no good for 81 stukas.
- [30:14]
A
No, I mean whatever they were going to. Whatever they were going to do. Yeah. And then, I mean just how unrealistic some of this is. Lutzens then asks for a U boat to take off the ship's log. I mean he's surrounded by destroyers and he thinks a U boat's going to just like steam in and pop up and saunter in, sauntering. And also we talked in, in our first Atlantic War episodes about how slowboat U boats are. You can't, you can't whistle them up, can you? You know, if they're on the surface they can make, make fairly good headway. But if they, if they're trying to conceal themselves they really aren't going to arrive in a great rush, are they?
- [30:53]
B
No sir. In the middle of a torpedo attack. I mean really, just no. And it's also, it's also absolutely clear that Captain Capitaine Zer? Z Lindemann who is after all the captain of Bismarck is getting really, really Fed up with Lutchens. I mean, you know, this guy's really, really getting on his nerves. Yeah. So he then says, you know, Lutchen says, well you know, obviously to get a U boat up it's going to mean stopping the engines. This is quite risky because the engines could then seize up. The chief engineer officer calls up to ask permission to stop and Lindemann just goes, I'll do whatever you like. I'm finished with them. I'm at it.
- [31:30]
A
Oh dear. Put it up to here and nerves are going to.
- [31:33]
B
If any orders to the crew to take whatever they want, just take it. We're not going to need it. Can't take it with us.
- [31:39]
A
Which is supposed to like cheer them up but obviously you can't put a foot right in this situation. Surely there is. There is no. There is no. There are no magic words you can say no. And at 8 o' clock that morning an enemy cruiser is reported on the port bow. It's the Norfolk who's finally caught up. Then a rain squall comes and hides her. And when it's passed German officers on the bridge they peer through their binos once again and they see two battleships ahead.
- [32:07]
B
It is the King George V and the Rodney. And they have arrived, people.
- [32:13]
A
Yeah, and I think that's the best place to take a break.
- [32:16]
B
Yep.
- [32:16]
A
Well, people can gird their loins and prepare for the arrival of these two mighty battleships. We'll see you in a tick. Welcome back to we have Ways of Making youg Talk With Me, Al Murray and James Holland. And before the break, before Jim popped a log on the fire in. In his headquarters, I mean on his bridge. It's like we're in rival destroyers, isn't it Jim? Observing the action.
- [32:42]
B
I feel so from a distance very much a tribal class.
- [32:48]
A
Oh dear God. The Rodney and the kgv, the King George V have arrived upon the scene.
- [32:59]
B
Yes. And we haven't really talked much about what to's up to, have we? So shall we. Should we explain what he's been doing all night?
- [33:05]
A
Go ahead, fill him in.
- [33:05]
B
Yeah, yeah. So. So 1am on the 27th, Tovey's battle fleet has gone as far to the northeast of Bismarck as he wanted. And then he turns and runs down the reciprocal bearing. So to be west of. So they're going like that kind of thing west of Bismarck at dawn. And at 5am on Monday 27th May they crossed 20 miles ahead of Bismarck. But the weather's so bad they never even see Vian's star shells. Which he's sending out every half hour.
- [33:35]
A
Wow.
- [33:35]
B
And, and Lieutenant Hugh Guernsey is an officer on the KG5 and he notes that throughout the night we sat, stood or leant like a covey of disembodied spirits. It was dark, windy and rainy. None of us will ever know it was cold. About 2 o' clock in the morning Coco appeared. We drank it gratefully but it might equally have been pitch tar. No one would have noticed. So they're also frazzled.
- [34:00]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [34:01]
B
And a bit numb at the prospect of what's to come. And there's this sort of, I think there's a sort of collective sense of unreality, isn't there? Sort of sweeping through both sides I think. Anyway, dawn breaks at last and Hugh Guernsey continues. He goes. Patchy rain squalls, a tearing wind from the northwest and a rising sea. I mean it's hardly ideal conditions, is it?
- [34:25]
A
No, no. And Somerville as we mentioned in the first part was planning on sending another sword, Swordfish strike, but decides against it. He nixes it because the weather's so bad. There's poor visibility, extremely high wind and anyway the heavy metal has arrived. You can, you can park the string bags now because yes again they can Harry, they can bother, they can disrupt and in fact and have done exactly that. And the Bismarck's in the predicament she's in because of the Swordfish attack but what they can't do is sink her. And this is what you need literally the big guns for. And Tovey says yeah great, that's absolutely right. The warships are here so you can stand the Fleet Air Arm down. Much as I'd love to tell another tale of plucky string bags going in through all that flak and you know.
- [35:10]
B
Al, they've done their work. They've done their work and they've done it magnificently.
- [35:13]
A
They have done it absolutely. There's no, no argument.
- [35:15]
B
Hand over to the big boys now. But first of all there's a bit of praying to be done.
- [35:20]
A
So Tovey goes to his cabin to pray just as Nelson had done before Trafalgar.
- [35:26]
B
There he is.
- [35:27]
A
I know, right, right there. Use the fleet.
- [35:30]
B
He's, he's worried about what losses engage the enemy more.
- [35:42]
A
And he knows, he's worried about what losses they might suffer because the Bismarck, even if she's lame is still like has excellent gunnery and extreme potential to cause extreme damage and you know, sank the Hood only, only five minutes ago and he feels, the longer he prays that he's a, he feels and he knows all would be well. God is. God is on his side. Nelson is at his right hand or on his shoulder. Everything's going to be fine. And he has been planning tactics all night. Now he shares them with his senior officers.
- [36:14]
B
And the plan is this.
- [36:15]
A
Well interesting isn't it? I mean the distances are fascinating Jim when we get into it. So go on.
- [36:22]
B
Well the King George V and the Rodney are going to approach the enemy head on in line abreast 3/5 of a mile apart. Yeah and he hopes this would put the fear into Bismarck's crew. Just seeing them kind of going straight towards him. Two battleships with the two battleships that then close as quickly as possible to seven to eight miles and then turn and fire their broadsides. So Rodney would then have the discretion to maneuver on his own. And at 7.30am on the 27th May Tovey orders the fleet to turn to port in a long slow arc to the east towards Bismarck keeping abreast of her position from Huff Duff bearings from Marion. This is high frequency direction finding. Just sort of you know radio signals from HMS Maori. At 8.30am Norfolk appears dead ahead. Reaches the scene at the last moment and originally thought that Bismarck was Rodney. So when Bismarck opened fire Norfolk swiftly got out of the way and seeing Rodney and KG5 signal to Toby enemy bears 130 degrees 16 miles on tin hats. Completely brilliant. That's another line. I think we should put on a.
- [37:33]
A
T shirt on tin hats. Yes, absolutely. I love it. And so Tovey does put his tin.
- [37:38]
B
Hat on quite right too.
- [37:39]
A
Takes the advice and the ships start to sort of maneuver. So the minutes, minutes are ticking by the seconds of straining their way through and look out to look at because again the weather this is the thing is the is the weather is diabolical. And then suddenly there she is suddenly in the. Through the mist and the filth and the cloud there. There she is. Hugh Guernsey. What does he say Jim?
- [38:02]
B
Well you remember he's on. He's on the. On the King George V he goes. We spotted her veiled in distant rainfall. A thick squat ghost of a ship very broad in the beam coming straight towards us. And what comes on over the loudspeakers?
- [38:18]
A
Enemy in sight.
- [38:19]
B
Enemy in sight. And what do the men do on Rodney?
- [38:23]
A
They cheer Jim.
- [38:25]
B
Huzzah. They cheer because this is release of tension. The moment is upon them as a sort of just a sort of collective sense of excitement, apprehension, nerves of course all those things together and it erupts in a rebel yell kind of cheer.
- [38:43]
A
Well, a war cry, if anything.
- [38:45]
B
Well, a war cry. It's what it is. So I was watching a thing the other day of a veteran of the First World War and he was talking about. And they were saying, you know, when you, when you were going over the top, did you all shout and cheer? And he said, yeah, we did. We all shouted and cheered. He said it was something you just couldn't help yourself. You just. You were charging towards the enemy and everyone was going, wow, really interesting.
- [39:06]
A
That is interesting.
- [39:07]
B
Yeah. Gosh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [39:09]
A
And this is at 8:43 on Monday 27th May 1941. So a year on and we have.
- [39:19]
B
Now got to the moment.
- [39:20]
A
Yeah. A year on from Dunkirk, that you've got to place it in the continuity of the war. This is the thing, isn't it?
- [39:26]
B
Monday 27 May, the day that Britain comes closest to losing the war, arguably. And here we are, 1941, and actually we are coming to the moment where Britain is about, is turning a massive corner in heading towards winning the war at this very precise moment. Yeah, it is, it is a moment of enormous magnitude because the naval war is the single most important part of the Second World War.
- [39:57]
A
Yeah.
- [39:57]
B
Because without it, you don't have D Day, you don't have Normandy, you don't have Sicily, you don't have Operation Torch, you don't have any invasions, you don't have any amphibious operations, you don't have Britain surviving. So this is why those sea lanes and keeping these sea lanes secure is so absolutely vital. And back in March, you've had the death of, or capture of those three leading aces, Shepka, Kretschmer and Preen.
- [40:20]
A
Yeah.
- [40:21]
B
And now you've got the Bismarck, the mightiest battleship in the world, surrounded, snared, wounded, lame and about to be fired upon. As I say, it's 8.43am on Monday 27th May 1941 and Rodney is the first to open fire.
- [40:41]
A
But to go to your point there, Jim, say you're a modern government and you want to have a global security strategy, you need to have a powerful navy. Right, yeah, yeah, Just. Just leaving that lying there. That's enough geopolitics. Let's get. Let's get this. Guns are about to fire. So on Rodney, she opens fire. She's first to fire at 8:47.
- [41:03]
B
Yes.
- [41:04]
A
George Wally, who's on Tartar, is on the upper deck when he sees streaks of fire and then brown smoke followed by a rumble of the opening salvo. And he runs to the wardroom where some of the other officers are catching up on their steam, says they found her. It's begun.
- [41:16]
B
And you know who else is on HMS Tartar, don't you?
- [41:19]
A
It's Ludovic Kennedy, isn't it? Ludovic Kennedy, yes, Whose account we've put up a chapter from his book Pursuit. It's the most amazing book. Absolutely incredible. Like, like extraordinary, exciting prose that we put that up on our Patreon for patrons listen to it. I may read some more chapters because it was really, really. It's really vivid and well worth a listen.
- [41:40]
B
Well, yes, and we should. Maybe, maybe we should try Bill to republish it.
- [41:43]
A
That's a good idea.
- [41:44]
B
Anyway, so the fire gong has also sounded on, on the kg5, which is this curious thing that just before you have literally have a gong and it warns everyone that the earthquake is about to happen. So Captain Patterson, who's the commander of the, of the King George V. Tovey is the admiral. Yeah. Patterson is the captain and it. So this is a bit like Lutchens and Lindemann and his officers are all on the bridge, tin hats on and cotton wool in their ears. And then the King George V's guns open up at 8:48. So a minute later, after about a minute and a half actually after, after the Rodney and it's like a small earthquake and Lt. Hugh Guernsey is on the bridge at the time and the blast blows his tin hat off his head and a pile of signals are sucked upwards and then scattered to the four winds and salvos are falling as Bismarck is turning to starboard to bring all her guns to bear. Great white plumes of water burst all around her and the Bismarck fires back at 8.50am so three, three minutes after the first round and the British crews then see the ripple of orange fire down her length followed by the pall of cordite smoke. It's much blacker and thicker than British smoke so they can always tell a German one from a British. And one of Tovey's staff officers begins calling out the seconds and Toby says for heaven's sake, shut up. Absolutely fantastic. I like Toby more and more, I have to say.
- [43:10]
A
Yeah.
- [43:11]
B
The salvo is aimed at Rodney rather than the King George V and it's a little bit short, so there's a sigh of relief on the, on the KG3.5. The Norfolk is now at 10 miles range and opens five is 8 inch guns and Rodney and the King George V now firing multiple salvos. So this is just, just absolutely. Yeah, it is raining shells.
- [43:31]
A
Yeah.
- [43:31]
B
And they're claiming straddles and hits. And this is, this is a key thing, you want to straddle your enemy because when you've straddled your enemy you know you're nearly there.
- [43:39]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [43:39]
B
And when you're straddling you only need one lucky shot to kind of hit the mark and it's good night Charlie. You know CF HMS Hood.
- [43:46]
A
Yeah.
- [43:47]
B
But Bismarck is also finding its own range. The third salvo straddles Rodney. Splinters strike her. One passes through the starboard side of the anti aircraft director, smashes the ceasefire bell, passes through a tin hat on a hook, severs the trainer's telescope, hits the fire gong and grazes the trainer's wrist.
- [44:06]
A
Incredible.
- [44:06]
B
So he's had a very, very lucky escape. You have luck and you have bad luck.
- [44:12]
A
Yeah.
- [44:13]
B
And so Captain Dalrymple Hamilton turns to port to avoid the next salvo and brings the after turret into action. And Hugh Guernsey again. Do you want to read this one?
- [44:23]
A
Yes. I watched Rodney to see if she was being hit but she just sat there like a great slab of rock blocking the northern horizon and then suddenly belched a full salvo and he watches the shell streak over like little diminishing footballs curving into the sky.
- [44:38]
B
It's lovely. Beautifully vivid that is.
- [44:39]
A
Yeah it is, yeah. And they're closing on Bismarck now so all the window vulnerability moments have passed.
- [44:45]
B
But just, sorry just to interrupt, just think about this. You know you're this huge warship surging through the wave, surging through this quite, this still pretty chunky swell though, it's lessening a bit. Fumes of water either side, the bellow of these guns, the whole ship rocking. I mean you can picture it can't you? This sort of incredible sort of force of kinetic energy hurtling towards, towards the Bismarck which is you know, still moving of course.
- [45:13]
A
Yeah. And Tovey orders the Rodney in the KG5 to turn from southeast to south to bring all their guns to bear so they can fire broadsides. And their hits. They are now striking the Bismarck. One strike hits the forecastle while another sends up a sheet of flame up the superstructure. And a fourth British ship now appears, the Dorsetshire. She's been steaming 600 miles between 20 to 32 knots in these hard seas. Sees Cossack bumps into Cossack basically 40 minutes earlier and is directed by vine to the scene vines like they're over there. Good Godspeed, good luck. Yes, go get her.
- [45:51]
B
And good shooting.
- [45:53]
A
Yeah good shooting and all that and but on the Bismarck then, I mean obviously they're not Even though we, even though we went through a sort of litany of doomed fatalism upon the Bismarck and wrong steps they're going to go down swinging. So Bismarck turns its attention to KGV, to the KG5. I need to get that right. It's the KG5 isn't it? We get, we'll get, we'll get letters.
- [46:14]
B
KG5, not KGV.
- [46:16]
A
Yeah. And Hugh Guernsey hears the whine of approaching shells followed by enormous fountains of water and he feels that he finds himself wanting to go behind a doorway at the back of the bridge. It's quite funny that isn't it? I think I just shuffled back to that door there.
- [46:31]
B
Maybe I try to be really small.
- [46:34]
A
And he realizes actually that won't offer me any protection. You know, if we're hit, we're hit, we're here. And he finds the courage to step forward again and take his place. Then 15 minutes after the first shots fired Dalrymple Hamilton realizes that Bismarck will soon be drawing past him. So if he's not careful the Rodney will end up coming between Bismarck and KG5. So he did what no British warship has done since the battle of Capes of I just love the way they got. That's how he'll have been thinking of it. He'll have been thinking of his history, won't he?
- [47:06]
B
Yeah.
- [47:07]
A
And he takes his ship out of the line which it hasn't been done since the battle of Cape.
- [47:12]
B
I mean well not while you're in the middle of engagement. No.
- [47:14]
A
Exactly. And he must be thinking about I hope this works otherwise I'm the bollocking and the sort of what they're going to say about me and let's face.
- [47:22]
B
It, he's not going to be out of the line for long. He's just, this is really just maneuvering into a better position.
- [47:26]
A
Yeah.
- [47:27]
B
Or advantageous position. But anyway, you know, I mean I think the key thing is that those on these ships have little time to take in what's happening. It's all happening so quickly. You're completely focused on what's around you. Too busy firing, being fired upon as well of course as dodging shells up on the bridge. You know those are kind of sending out orders to maneuver. They're having to maneuver like cross crazy. Yeah but the Tribals have a spectator's view because they're doing their, their hunting dogs bit and just staying on the kind of, you know, on the, on the corner and it's not just, it's not just vines for, it's also tartar and mashona you know, so this is Ludovic Kennedy and George Wally. So George Wally is on Tartar and he goes. It's impossible to imagine the sense of detachment watching a battle between capital ships as one watches a tennis match or a film. You know, so they really do feel like spectators in this. And he's struck by the vividness of sudden color. The first patches of blue sky in days and clouds streaking across it and the blackness of Bismarck and the gray of the British and the green blue of the ocean and the white tops of the waves as well as the brown pool of smoke from the British guns and the darker smoke from the, from the Germans and then there's the ripple of orange with each broadside. You know again I mean this, this, this piece that he writes about his experience in this battle is incredibly vivid. But, but of course Wally's also thinking about the men on the Bismarck and, and that's why we included that quote from him at the beginning of this episode. And initially Bismarck's gunnery has been pretty good and she's as, as we mentioned she quickly straddled Rodney but this is quickly over. Rodney surging forwards. Bismarck's aim goes off completely the moment these straddles start to occur. Only minor adjustments are then needed to hit. And George Wally on Tartar and others watching the shells now see them tearing into the Bismarck and smashing her superstructure. And Wally writes a dull red glow showed from an instant where a shell had hit. Soon Bismarck could no longer manage control firing and judging from the spasmodic shooting went into local control. And it's amazing isn't it?
- [49:37]
A
Yeah, he's right isn't he? Because one, one shell's gone through the bridge.
- [49:40]
B
Spot on.
- [49:41]
A
Yeah. I must have killed everybody including Lutyens and Lindemann. Lutyn's waiting for the fatal moment can end now. And that's probably from dorsetshire. Dorsetshire. An 8 inch shell which they're doing very well with the 8 inch shells. And another goes into the gunnery control tower which kills the recently decorated commandur Aldebert Schneider whose Knight's Cross is not yet in the post. He's the gunnery control officer commander. With him all command and control has gone. Bismarck's ability to fire back effectively is now as Wally's noticed it's gone into local control. Rechberg points out two hits on the bridge in the main control position blew out Bismarck's brain.
- [50:27]
B
And that's the point. You know your guns might still be functioning. Yeah but if you've got no control whatever you're stuffed.
- [50:34]
A
Yes.
- [50:36]
B
And actually Mullenheim Weckberg had noticed that it had taken a little while for the British to find range. But once they did hit Bismarck they were doing so repeatedly and especially on the front half. And he's aware that A and B turrets have been knocked out quite quickly and also the gunnery control tower. And once control's gone Mullenheim Rickburg then hurries forward to the B turret and takes command there and he fires four salvos and a shell explodes near him and he bangs his head against an instrument and also smashes the optics of the rangefinder. So they're then losing accuracy as a result. Makes it much, much harder to fire. And he also realizes that the gun crews are thoroughly demoralized and then they mutiny. They say we're not going to stay here for target practice. Practice. I mean you can blame them. A Mullenheim Reckberg also then leaves B turret and there's reports of, of prisoners later that one officer shot a gunner for cowardice.
- [51:31]
A
But God knows.
- [51:32]
B
But anyway, you know it's, it's pretty bad.
- [51:34]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [51:35]
B
You know you just, just see the whole thing sort of imploding. All that control, all that training, you know, once the brains have been blown out so to speak, you know, what else is there?
- [51:43]
A
What's left? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the D turret's not detour, it's knocked out Dora. There's a shell burst in the barrel causing a flashback and all that's left is is Sea turret. And then one of its barrels is hit and that's that. She, she ceases firing her main guns. The Bismarck, I mean this is the, this is the moment to. All right, enough. We surrender surely?
- [52:08]
B
Yep. Why aren't they just surrendering?
- [52:10]
A
I don't know.
- [52:11]
B
I suppose because there's no one to surrender, is it?
- [52:13]
A
And there might be, there might be enough, you know, if one officer declares to surrender, there might be enough sort of motivated people who say no. We go down fighting and they end up. You know what I mean? Who's got the authority to do it?
- [52:24]
B
Yeah.
- [52:25]
A
And after the bridge someone does son. Someone does take over the executive officer. Officer Fregaten Capitaine Hans Earles and he's his command post is down below the armored deck amidships. So I mean what can he. What I mean what can he, what can he do?
- [52:45]
B
No, there's nothing. It's this mayhem. It's all going, it's all. It's death rows time, you know, run.
- [52:49]
A
Up a white flag, send out, send Out a signal. Please stop. And the Rodney is now closing in with the KG5 and Dorsetshire is also pounding Bismarck. She's only four miles away with her, with her guns and it's getting easier and easier to fire.
- [53:04]
B
Well that's, that's effectively point blank range.
- [53:07]
A
Isn'T it basically with these guns. Yeah.
- [53:09]
B
For battleships.
- [53:09]
A
Yeah. Even though the shells aren't going through the belt armor having a, they're having a problem penetrating the belt armor because that's the, that's the trade off. The closer you get that the more likely you are to be striking the belt armor rather than superstructure. And one shell from Bismarck does land close enough to the Rodney to cause some more damage just off the starboard bow jamming the sluice door of the starboard torpedo tube. But that's it. After Bismarck's lucky shooting against the Hood that is the closest Bismarck comes to scoring a direct hit in this, in this encounter. I almost feel like it's so depressing this, this, this, this phase of this battle. You know when we talked about the battle of Bulge and the short sheer pointlessness of it and the why bother? It feels like that, that this I, I almost, I almost and we're gonna go on but I almost don't want to go on because it's like right it's over this done. It's gonna, she's gonna sink. But there's, there's, there's more to come isn't there Jim?
- [54:05]
B
Yeah there is. You know Bismarck's obviously in massive trouble by this stage. Yeah. Hydraulic power serving the Anton turret is jammed with guns depressed drooping like dead flowers and obviously can't fire. B turret is also hit and back of the turret has been blown away and barrel A burst leaving a stub like a peeled banana inside though. It's, it's, it's, it's just a, it's a, it's horrific. Yeah. Catastrophic fires developing throughout the whole ship. High explosive shells now penetrating when exploding. You know so, so they, they don't just, it's not just the explosive blast but also the spalling that causes a problem. So you hit a bit of metal goes through and shards of hot metal from the superstructure or structure of the, of the ship flying absolutely everywhere. And, and you know it's a bit like a shell penetrating the turret of a, of a tank or something. Yeah. George Wally writes. Pray God I may never know what those shells did as they exploded inside the hull but, but it, you know it is, you know it's an apocalypse going on inside the Ship and yeah Dalrymple Hamilton is now zigzagging the Rodney across Bismarck's bows and firing alternately from port and starboard having close to four miles and goes to three miles which is you know as we were saying almost point blank range. And at 9:30am The Bismarck stops firing. So you know when that's 40 minutes really?
- [55:26]
A
Yeah it's 40 minutes.
- [55:29]
B
And at three and a half miles range Rodney fires two torpedoes. They both miss but while they're all the, while they're continuing to pummel her in all over 2000 heavy shells are fired from the Rodney King, George V, Norfolk and Dorsetshire and some 4, 400 hit it. A lot of those strike the hull and very few penetrate the waist armor. Only about half a dozen penetrate the hull but most of the damage is on the deck superstructure, gun turrets and above the waistline. And you know you just think about those shells, you know 1516 inch shell weighing a ton each. Yeah think what 200 tons of, of shells coming down on you is gonna, gonna do. King George V is struggling with gun defects just as the Prince of Wales had done. Remember the kg5 is a, is a brand new battleship as well. But the secondary armament is continuing to fire until after her main 14 inch guns have stopped. And watching Bismarck, Admiral Tovey frankly can't even believe that she can still be afloat. But by 10am after more than an hour Bismarck is a burning wreck. The crew can be seen running along the deck through fires jumping into the sea at 9:30. Half an hour earlier Somerville had ordered another swordfish attack. 12 sorcerers flew off the Art role but arriving with battle in full flow they then just sort of circle around and watch and kind of then skedaddle back again. And although the Bismarck is still afloat it's all over. She's finished, she's no longer a threat. Nothing more Tovey can do really and stays longer than perhaps she should have done with the fuel situation. So she gives orders to the, the KG5 and Rodney to return to port but with one last signal which is any ship with torpedoes to close Bismarck and torpedo her. So there you go.
- [57:22]
A
But I mean, I mean this is the thing though because Tribe Vian's tribals have used them all up, all their torpedoes up. Tata and Mashona have already turned for home because they're out of fuel. Dorsetshire still has some torpedoes so she comes in to a mile from Bismarck's starboard beam. It's incredible, fires two torpedoes both of which hit. Then she sails to the side and Fires a third which also hits, you know, stop it. He's dead. It's, it's awful. And at 10 o' clock in the morning, however, at 10am Else who as we saw had taken over command, has given the order for what they call measure five, the scuttling of the ship. And these orders are witnessed by Matrosa, who's enabled Seaman Heinz Starts, who's just a rating on the ship, who serves in Earls command post because there's the, you know, did she sink? Was she scuttled? We know, we know from, from Start's testimony that this was what was intended. At the same time the order was given to abandon ship.
- [58:27]
B
Well, we're coming to that in the next episode.
- [58:29]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. It's a point of, it's a point of debate, isn't it? And there are several ways out of the command post. You go up a vertical ladder which runs up to the superstructure which is on fire and with ammunition cooking off and everything, smashed pieces and, and so on, or through one of the bulkhead doors. And Staadt doesn't fancy the ladder so he goes through the port door, finds the next compartments flooded with hammocks floating in the ship listing. He manages to get up to the next deck in a compartment of yellow green smoke full of wounded and doctors and orderly's giving morphine injection directions. Stark goes on and up onto the battery deck and into the main canteen next to the funnel and finds Earl's and about 300 men all struggling to get out. They can't go forward because of the fires in and the midship's hatch is jammed as well. So everyone's pushing and shoving to get through the narrow door to the aft. And the thick fumes in the canteen, it's just a seed from hell, isn't it? And there's another, another sailor, Herbert Blum, who's also in the canteen.
- [59:30]
B
Yes. Remember him? He's the guy who was, who was the officer said to him, it's a thousand to one shot.
- [59:37]
A
Yeah, exactly, yeah. And he's sheltered by the funnel when a shell bursts into the next compartment, blows open a bulkhead door and Bloom saw a wounded man carried out and another with no arms as well. And they're so there. In the Bloom and start of the cantina there's another explosion. Blum remembers a blinding red ball of fire. Start records a blue green flare and then yellow white like phosphorus. And the after funnel growing red. I mean it's the, it's. They're, they're they're in a steel inferno, aren't they? And they're both thrown by the blast. The recover to pick themselves up. It's just absolute carnage. There's a hundred dead including Earths, many, many more wounded. Men maimed, limbs missing, splintered bones sticking out as blood everywhere, guts everywhere. Worse possibly than what George Walley imagined. And both managed to get out. And on. On the deck Start sees even more wounded. There's a man with a leg blown off imploring him to throw him overboard. But Stark barely has the strength to do to keep himself going. And then he sees another man take off his trousers and get ready to jump overboard. There's another blast and he sees only the head and torso of the man plunging into the sea.
- [60:46]
B
Pretty grim, isn't it?
- [60:47]
A
It's just horrendous, isn't it? Start and Blum eventually jump into the sea. Blum is with Capitaine Lightning Gerhard Eunac who's the chief engineering officer. Unac gathers together a number of survivors, blub included, and he's. UNAC has placed the timed explosives for scuttling the ship. He heard them go off, managed to gather men onto the quarter deck. They're also joined by Mullenheim Reichberg near the sea turret. And Yunak now says will give three sig heils then we'll go overboard. Don't worry comrades, I'll be taking a Hamburg girl in my arms again if we'll meet once more on the Reaper barn. They give three sig heils. Someone singing begins singing the national anthem and then they jump over the side. I mean this is amazing, isn't it? And at this, at this moment, Toby, who's several miles away on the, on the bridge of the King George V, he sees Bismarck heave over, roll, then she's capsized and then she sinks. And all around her are men swimming about in life belts. So the Bismarck, the mightiest battleship in the world had lasted nine days in battle. That's her operational life.
- [62:03]
B
Yep, it's operational life that is it. God, it's not great for all that effort, is it?
- [62:10]
A
It's certainly not. And you think of her setting sail, Admiral Lutyens, full of fatalism. Well, he's, he's, he's been proved right if nothing else, isn't he? Anyway, join us for our final episode of this series. Oh, that's life.
- [62:32]
B
We need a little bit of levity at the end of all that, to be honest.
- [62:34]
A
We do, don't we? Yeah. Join us for our final episode. We take a look at what happened to the survivors, the aftermath of the sinking and the hunt for the wreck many, many years later. And we're gonna maybe kick around some of the some of the debate, some of the argument around some of the points of this battle and discuss some of it because there is controversy around certain aspects of this, isn't there? And quite a lot of argument about the hood and about the Bismarck. So thanks so much for joining us. If you're feeling fatalistic, you'll go straight onto the next episode, of course, because you'll have joined our Apple Officer class podcast channel or, or become a Patreon where episodes, further episodes of Pursuit will wait for you. And I think we're going to read, I think we're going to put up that essay by George Wallace account. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, thanks for listening. We'll see you again very soon. Cheerio.
- [63:26]
B
Cheerio.