During the early part of the year 1940 the German Army had been massing troops along the Dutch frontier and there was a long drawn out period of tension. At this time the Dutch had taken what they considered to be adequate counter-measures by preparing bridges for demolition and flooding tracts of their country in the hope that this would deter or harass the threatening enemy just over the frontier. At the same time they maintained strict neutrality and appeared to assume a rather lofty detachment from the march of events. It must be remembered that Holland had not engaged in any war for over 100 years and, no doubt, clung to the hope that Germany would respect her neutrality. The forces at her disposal were pathetically poorly equipped and trained compared with her powerful neighbour but in spite of this she refused cooperation with the Allies until it was too late to be effective. It was fairly obvious to the observer that the mechanized enemy might, and probably would, overrun the country and that at best the Dutch could only fight a delaying action.
It so happened that large petrol refineries and oil stocks existed at Amsterdam and Rotterdam which, bearing in mind the enemy’s great need for these products for his army and air force, constituted a very tempting prize quite apart from the other resources of the country. This did not escape the notice of our Government. The direct result was that when, in the early hours of 10 May Hitler gave his army orders to invade Holland, three small parties of our formation, who had been at two hours’ notice to move for several days, moved to Dover within the hour to join a naval operation designed to cope with the situation. It must be appreciated that at this time in the war there was no Combined Operations HQ and so these operations were all carried out under Naval Command. On shore the joint naval and sapper demolition parties were, in each case, commanded by a Naval Commander, RN, not to be confused with the skippers of the destroyers. The parties moved down to Dover in specially requisitioned lorries. One of the lorries broke down on the way and they were forced to waylay a passing lorry carrying a large quantity of gas bottles. When they arrived alongside the destroyer these gas bottles were inadvertently cross-loaded onto the ship as the Navy thought they were part of the sappers’ demolition equipment. These had to be returned to the quay and the hapless driver was faced with reloading them himself.
At eleven o’clock HM destroyers Whitshead, Wild Swan, Verity and Brilliant left harbour at full speed. The plan was for the leading vessel, Whitshead to make for Ijmuiden carrying the sapper party for Amsterdam, the second, Wild Swan to go to the Hook of Holland with Rotterdam as the sapper objective, the third, Verity to Flushing with no sapper party as there were no significant oil stocks there and finally, Brilliant would try to get up the Scheldt as far as possible and put a party off for Antwerp. Because the position at the latter port was very much the same as the Dutch ports as regards oil stocks and installations, it was included in this operation.
Whitshead had on board a naval demolition party of eighty men to destroy the port facilities at Ijmuiden and eighteen NCOs and men of the Royal Engineers demolition party under Captain Peter Keeble and his second-in-command Lieutenant Don Terry, to deal with the oil installations at Amsterdam. Both the naval and sapper demolition parties were under command of Commander Goodenough RN. Besides the 100-odd extra personnel who were additional to the destroyer’s normal complement, cases of explosives, arms, ammunition and equipment were piled on all available deck space until there was hardly standing room. The ship’s company were grand hosts, as the Royal Navy always are, and in spite of the choppy sea that raked the destroyers from stem to stern, the demolition parties were in high spirits.
It was at this stage that Keeble, the OC of the sapper detachment could break silence and brief the men on their objectives in general. He told them that the sappers, on reaching Ijmuiden, would move on to Amsterdam and destroy the vast oil stocks located in tank farms. In addition he distributed Dutch money which had been provided to buy food as there were no such things as twenty-four-hour individual ration packs or similar emergency food supplies at the beginning of the war. It was hoped that it would also assist them generally when ashore. As to their method of withdrawal, he could not be too reassuring. The navy would do their best to take them off but the safety of HM Destroyers was of paramount importance and the captains were ordered not to hazard their ships unnecessarily in order to evacuate what were, after all, only a handful of soldiers. In short, there was no guaranteed return ticket for the sappers.
Nearing the Dutch coast, Whitshead was the first to be attacked by a lone German bomber but it was driven off by the ship’s guns. The captain took avoiding action, zigzagging violently at full speed. Port and starboard gunwales were alternately awash and life for those on deck was a misery. Attacks by several aircraft developed later on and eventually after several near misses, Whitshead was hit on the port side aft, killing and wounding several ratings and blowing half a dozen more men into the sea. The sapper demolition party were lucky not to suffer any casualties. It also set fire to some cordite in the ammunition locker on deck. It hardly needs saying what a devastating effect it would have had if it had spread to the explosives stored on deck. The fire was quickly dealt with by some sailors who, with great bravery, seized the cordite boxes and threw them overboard. The ship went round in a circle to pick up the men but was again heavily attacked from the air and the skipper could do no more than throw over Carley floats for them before racing on to Ijmuiden. Lance Corporal Twocock’s account after the operation sums it up:
4.30 p.m. enemy planes sited – bombed from a great height – replied with AA guns.
Began to realize we were a suicide squad. Everyone was gay and it seemed like a pleasure trip.
5 p.m. Rum Issue – corned beef sandwiches and tea. Nearing the Dutch coast and expecting trouble any minute. More planes overhead and things began to fly – all guns were manned and we took cover. Had those sailors got guts! We could hear the whistle of the bombs as they hit the water – two port side and one aft. We had a marvellous skipper – the ship was doing . . . knots and twisting and turning like an eel. All we could do was hang on and pray.
Captain Keeble and Vic Huggett were lying beside me when a terrific crash occurred and the ship lifted clear out of the water. The bomb ignited some cordite and it was burning on deck near the ammunition. One sailor grabbed an armful and threw it overboard. Another grabbed the rest and jumped over with it.
At about 6 p.m. Whitshead reached the entrance to Ijmuiden harbour. The destroyer’s attempts to come alongside were being frustrated by air attacks. However, on the fourth attempt she made it. The parties and the stores were unloaded rapidly under further continual but fortunately ineffective air attack. As soon as this was completed Whitshead slipped her moorings and put to sea again.
As Amsterdam is the best part of twenty miles inland from Ijmuiden, Commander Goodenough had arranged for a ‘one coach special’ train to take them there. He was very concerned at how exposed the sapper party would be because of the news of the rapid German advance and therefore he detached a young naval officer and sixteen blue jackets to assist as a covering party and placed them under Captain Keeble’s command.
When they arrived at Amsterdam railway station they were greeted by crowds cheering their ‘British Allies’ who had come, they thought, to defend their country. Fortunately they did not appreciate their real intention. The situation they found was already far graver than had been generally realized. The Dutch Naval Officer representing the C.-in-C. Amsterdam wished them to go to the local Naval Barracks. Keeble was appalled as he was more than anxious to go straight to his objectives and start preparing them for demolition. At the back of his mind were his instructions ‘that at all costs the oil must not fall into enemy hands’. He left the men in the station café temporarily and went with the young British naval officer to find the British Consulate.
Although the Consul General was trying to be helpful he was unable to get any response out of The Hague so, for the moment there was no alternative but to accept the Dutch hospitality and stay the night in the Naval Barracks. This rather dashed the sappers’ enthusiasm as they had hoped to be at their task of blowing up the oil tanks in about half an hour!
They passed a restless night in the barracks with frequent air raids which were getting heavier and heavier. At 8 a.m. the Vice Consul arrived and took Keeble away for what they called staff talks with the Dutch authorities. Keeble returned in the afternoon after having seen the Dutch Commander-in-Chief, in person, who had been told by The Hague that the British sappers, were to be under his command and that they had come for the express purpose of preparing the oil stocks for demolition. Keeble had also managed to visit all the installations, meet managers and get information of the layout of the plants and type of oil stored without giving too much away as to his real intention. He appreciated that if they thought he was going to destroy their oil they would all be up in arms. He hoped that he had given the impression that they were going to protect the installations from German parachutists.
Armed with the valuable information gained, the next consideration was to get the men together with their explosives, arms and other equipment, distribute them over the three installations and to make a plan for the demolitions. Obviously the first problem was transport. Keeble interviewed the Dutch again, and, without speaking a word of the language, succeeded by pencil and paper and hastily drawn sketches to convince them that in the first place the enemy would get these valuable fuel supplies unless they acted quickly and also that our party could and would prevent this and finally, that the part the Dutch had to play was to be helpful and provide transport. A fairly heavy strafing from the air at the time stimulated the official mind to the extent that the sappers were allowed to requisition, solemnly and with all necessary documentation, three motor launches.
At dusk the same evening a greatly relieved Captain Keeble had the satisfaction of moving his small force consisting of two officers and eighteen NCOs and men to their objectives. He allocated the party to their respective tasks, at the same time giving verbal orders outlining his plan including withdrawal routes and rendezvous (RVs). A signal for action was arranged for firing the tank farms but stressing the fact that, come what may, they should not allow the plants to fall into German hands.
During the night they crept about the plants making a more detailed survey of the contents of the scores of large tanks and the main layout of the extensive pipelines and the pumping arrangements.
It must be remembered that this operation started when they landed at Ijmuiden on Friday evening and it was now Sunday morning. It had been impossible to buy food as the shops were shut over the weekend and the country was being invaded and subject to incessant air attack. The sappers were desperately short of food and a foraging party set off and shortly met a group of Dutch sailors. They asked if any of them spoke English and to their amazement one said that he did and abandoned his colleagues to join the small group of sappers. He said ‘ Come with me’ and led them back to the Dutch Naval Barracks. He told them that everyone in the barracks would take cover when the next air raid started and this would be their opportunity. They did not have long to wait, a raid started and predictably all personnel evacuated buildings and took cover. After a suitable pause he boldly entered the cookhouse and returned a few minutes later with a large bucket of food. Their new found friend remained with them until their final withdrawal and proved invaluable.
At this time things began to look bad in Holland. Although it was impossible to get a reliable picture of the actual position, it was freely rumoured that the Germans were advancing towards the coast and that the Dutch resistance, whilst stubborn in places, was by no means consistent. Aerial attacks met with practically no opposition. Some of the population appeared to have a friendly feeling towards the invader for one reason or another, and sniping was not uncommon, which seemed to indicate that the end was not far off. At one stage the Dutch Naval C.-in-C. under whose command they were, tried to get the sappers to return to the Naval Barracks as he feared that they might fire the oil without his permission. Keeble rightly resisted this order as he said that the position was so precarious that the men must stay where they were. During this period the sappers did much useful preparation and despite the small naval covering party still had to stay alert and be on their guard all the time.
Early on the Monday morning, 13 May, Goodenough contacted Keeble by phone and told him to carry out all demolitions at once but to try and phone The Hague as a courtesy on a specific number he was given but even if agreement wasn’t forthcoming, to ‘blow’ anyhow. In the event Keeble got straight through to The Hague and a very agitated voice said ‘do it now’ and repeated ‘do it now’. It sounded as though he was then torn from the phone.
The order to fire was transmitted by Keeble mainly by using the refineries’ private telephone systems. They exclusively adopted the system of blowing off the cocks to the tanks with gun cotton to flood the areas between the tanks and the bunds. When they fired Very light cartridges into the air over the bunds the fuel would ignite and burn furiously about fifty foot above the pool of petrol. This phenomenon was caused by lack of sufficient oxygen until it reached this height. Eventually, with an enormous whoomph a whole tank would take off into the air, roll over and fall down. This tickled the sappers’ imagination no end! The flames grew higher and higher and the black smoke denser and denser. The flames eventually reached several hundred feet and the smoke drifted slowly over the city. At each installation the firing of the oil tanks started down wind and they then slowly worked their way upwind attacking other targets. When a tank or group of tanks contained only heavy fuel oil, blankets were brought out and soaked in kerosene as planned and used to ignite the heavy fuel oil behind the bunds. This method had to be watched for ten or fifteen minutes to ensure ignition was taking place. It was noticed that when the heavy oil or bunker fuel had become sufficiently warm wisps of smoke would appear showing that the fuel had started to vaporize and they knew then that the fire would take hold shortly.
After the destruction of the outlying tank farms was completed the sappers made their way back to the RV at Petroleum Haven, the largest of the installations, where Keeble was waiting to fire the last lot of storage tanks. When this was done they were ready to pull out. The spectacle of a large oil plant wholly on fire is a sight not easily forgotten. It must be borne in mind that all this was achieved by a tiny group of sappers and sailors in the face of the invading German army.
The three launches that they had at their disposal were provided primarily for withdrawal down the canal system to Ijmuiden. However Keeble had been warned that the Germans had laid mines from the air in the canals to paralyse all movement. Keeble had taken the precautionary measure of sending two sappers out on to the main road to seize the first decent sized lorry they saw and hold it for their eventual withdrawal to the coast. At this stage they all climbed onto the lorry including their ‘tame’ Dutch sailor and drove fast towards Ijmuiden. They came across a number of roadblocks that they crashed through at speed, their lorry bristling with rifles, and eventually arrived safely at the port. At this point Keeble met Commander Goodenough again and returned his covering party of sailors with thanks. It was always intended that once the sappers had destroyed the oil they would assist the small naval party in destroying the port infrastructure. Lieutenant Don Terry went with about half a dozen sappers round one side of the docks to help the Navy and Keeble with about a dozen men to the other side. Keeble had appreciated as soon as they arrived, that with the destroyer long gone, the prospect of evacuation did not appear too good and therefore looked round for a small ship or boat to use to get away. Eventually he found a motor boat about thirty-two foot long and he placed two of his sappers and the Dutch sailor on it as a precautionary measure to guard it. The latter was still anxious to stick with them and had obtained from somewhere a small wireless transmitter that he claimed he could work.
Lock gates, cranes, a floating dock and coast defences went up one after another and finally the sinking of two block ships left the heavy mark of the Navy assisted by sappers, on this port.
An hour or so after their arrival they saw the party under Terry leaving in a small tug from the other side of the harbour. This tug met up with a small coaster when out at sea which they boarded and persuaded a reluctant skipper to sail for England. Eventually, whether through incompetence or not wishing to comply with their orders it became apparent that they were hopelessly lost in the North Sea. Fortunately they came across a British destroyer onto which they clambered and arrived safely back at Dover in due course.
When Keeble’s party had finished their remaining demolition tasks, it was quite late in the evening and approaching dusk. As there was no sign of a destroyer standing off to take them aboard they felt there was no alternative but to board the open motorboat that they had been holding for this eventuality and head out to sea. The boat had no navigational instruments or charts on board but did have a compass. The one thing they knew was that England lay to their west and they motored due west assuming that they must ultimately make a landfall should they not be picked up before.
They left Ijmuiden just before dusk and were repeatedly attacked by enemy fighters. The sappers had only rifles to defend themselves. Small arms fire from only twelve men sitting and standing in a small boat in a seaway was not likely to be very effective! They circled round several times and Keeble realized that as it was getting darker, the flashes from their rifle fire were probably giving their position away. He ordered them to cease firing and his hunch paid off as the enemy lost them in the darkness. All that night and through the next day they headed slowly due west. Fortunately the sea was calm. By now they were extremely tired and hungry as they hadn’t had a proper meal or nights sleep for some days. On the second night out the Dutchman claimed that he was in touch with a British destroyer on his small transmitter. Keeble said to him ‘I will believe you when I see it’. As you can imagine, they were getting pretty desperate now but sure enough an hour or two later, out of the dark the destroyer HMS Havoc appeared, on passage from Norway to Harwich. With hindsight it was thought that Admiral Ramsay, in charge at Dover had probably sent out a signal to all HM ships asking them to keep a look out for parties of soldiers in small boats trying to get back to England. It was an amazing RV, as in those days there was no shipborne radar and the Navy at that time, did not have efficient Direction Finding equipment. Havoc, still showing her battle scars, was a household name at the time having just taken part with the other H class destroyers in the first Battle of Narvik.
The Captain shouted at them through a loud hailer to climb on board without delay and in the same breath congratulated them on having just crossed one of our minefields. Now, an extraordinary thing happened. The Dutch sailor who had been with them through so much, was suddenly overcome with emotion and felt that he must return to Holland. This was the last that was seen of him and no one knows whether he made it back alone or what became of him. Once the sappers were aboard the Master-at-Arms collected all their weapons for safe storage. The Navy, as always, were most generous hosts although really all the men wanted to do was get a bite to eat and a good sleep. When they reached Harwich, Keeble had a slight altercation with the captain of Havoc. It must be pointed out that because of the special nature of these sapper operations, a considerable number of the men had been issued with .38 revolvers as well as their rifles. The former were in exceedingly short supply at this time in the war. It was these that the captain was more than reluctant to part with. However Keeble stood his ground and refused to allow his soldiers to disembark until they were returned!
They were safely disembarked at the naval shore establishment at Harwich where every comfort was provided so they were able to shave, clean themselves up and were given a hearty breakfast. A senior naval officer who was obviously aware of the role they had played came and congratulated them. In due course they returned by train to their base at Gravesend and despite everything they had accomplished and endured, like good soldiers they still had all their weapons.