Bøger af Roy V. Martin

At low water on the grey dawn of the 6 June 1944 the greatest invasion force ever assembled lay off the Normandy coast. Among them were thirty six Infantry Landing Ships manned by the British Merchant Navy. During that morning they landed forty thousand soldiers, at all five beaches. They then returned to the south coast of England to reload and continued to ferry troops throughout Operation Neptune and beyond. That evening the first convoy of civilian coasters arrived; these small ships brought fuel, ammunition and more men. The next morning the Liberty ships, both British and American, came with vehicles, fuel and even more troops. Then the hospital carriers and salvage ships joined, as did more and more coasters, and so the build-up continued. Roy Martin describes this vital, but largely forgotten, part of the landings. He explains how the planning involved other civilian organisations and how the various types of ships evolved. He shows how the press correspondents reported the landings and how some of the crews remembered their involvement.

The Risdon Beazley fleet of nineteen vessels were requisitioned in 1940, these were handed back to him to manage together with ten others. Seventeen newly built Admiralty salvage ships joined the fleet during the war, plus thirteen non-propelled lifting craft. The vessels were manned by civilian merchant seamen. Three ships and a barge were lost due to enemy action. The first new ships worked in the Mediterranean and as far east as Colombo, they entered newly occupied ports often before the bomb disposal teams had completed their work. Risdon Beazley were responsible for the whole salvage fleet employed in the D-Day landings and their ships went on to clear ports in Northern Europe. In his book 'The Ocean on a Plank' Captain Doust, the Deputy Director of Admiralty Salvage, says that Risdon Beazley salved "over 3,500 ships and 3.5 million tons of cargo - a contribution of vital importance to the war effort beyond the reach of any other of the managers. He got no official recognition for it". While these figures overstate the number of operations, it is correct to say that their achievements were beyond the reach of other managers. After the war the company specialised in the recovery of metal cargoes, plus general salvage and wreck removal. When the Admiralty needed to recover the remains of the Comet airliner they sent a request to Mr Risdon Beazley, he sent men and equipment, for this he was made a CBE. An RB team re-floated Brunel's steamer 'Great Britain', which was transported to Bristol by Ulrich Harms. This book could not have been written without the help of people who worked for the company both during and after the war. The writers, both former employees, have uncovered much previously unpublished information.

During World War II the Merchant Navy played a vital part in evacuations from countries that were overrun. They saved over 90,000 troops from Dunkirk and went on to rescue more than 200,000 from other parts of France. They also manned salvage ships, rescue tugs and other specialist craft. This book tells the story of these achievements.