Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Lest We Forget


In memory of the Australian servicemen who lost their lives whilst protecting the Arctic shipping lanes aboard British Royal Navy convoy & merchant navy ships during World War 2.

The Allies sent over 4 million tons of supplies to Russia in attempt to keep the country & the Russian front supplied during the German invasion. 

Our sailors braved treacherous freezing seas and ran a deadly gauntlet of German battleships, U-boats and Luftwaffe torpedo bombers. Huge seas, with waves as high as cliffs, would set the ships on great roller coasters. Waves landed on decks as solid ice, which had to be picked off at every spare moment, no matter the weather, as its weight was capable of capsizing a ship.  Of 1,400 ships on 78 convoys – described by Winston Churchill as 'the worst journey in the world' – 101 perished in the icy waters north of Norway. Over 3,000 allied sailors lost their lives.

Later a faltering German defense in Europe ultimately allowed these convoys to survive and, more importantly, allowed the Russians to continue to save their country from within thanks to these much-needed supplies.


LEST WE FORGET
Images: Daily Mail
Photobucket

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing, Millie - I had never heard of this part of the war effort before.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A very touching and informative post.
    Sharyn

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an evocative and thought-provoking post, Mills. Thankyou. What they saw was so different to what my grandfather saw in PNG. J x

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And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
~W.H. Auden

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