A Very Strange Way to Go to War by Andrew Vine

Author:Andrew Vine
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781845138462
Publisher: MBI
Published: 2015-10-28T15:07:16+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Take Cover, Take Cover

STEAK WAS served at breakfast, lunch and dinner on May 20, and if that had about it the air of a condemned man being offered a special meal before going to the gallows, then it chimed with the tension and clock-watching. Temporarily returning to cruise-ship fare for men about to go into action seemed entirely appropriate to Canberra’s officers; heaven alone knew what lay ashore, so the best they could do was give them the finest food on board, and as much of it as the soldiers wanted. Rudderham’s stock of fillet steak took a battering as the men of 42 Commando, for whom it had been an occasional treat, devoured it in the morning, afternoon and evening, all the more gleefully for knowing that the best 40 Commando and 3 Para could expect in the horribly cramped conditions of Fearless and Intrepid was stew.

Early on, the announcement over the loudspeakers that the landings would commence that night was all but redundant; everybody already knew and it had kept them awake. Nobody slept well, even though Canberra had left the storm behind. They tossed and turned, some too hot because they had gone to bed fully dressed just in case, most too keyed up to drop off. Rosie Elsdon woke very early. ‘I heard that the most likely time for an air raid was just as it was getting light, and I thought, “If I’m going to be bombed, I don’t want to be fast asleep in my nightie in bed,” so I got up before dawn and had a wash and got dressed and then just lay on my bed.’

Dawn brought the blessing that the convoy needed; a murky, bleak day of low cloud, fog and rain that hid the ships from Argentine aircraft and at times from each other as well. Those closest were reduced to dim outlines that could just be made out on the sea; the rest of the fleet was invisible as it headed westwards at a steady twelve knots, helicopters sometimes audible but unseen, out ahead probing for submarines. The best thing was to stay busy. The crew set to cleaning the cabins vacated by 3 Para and 40 Commando, and the passageways and stairs were full of 42 Commando shifting grenades and ammunition to the top of the ship in readiness for landing. Their cabins seemed more cramped than ever as men bustled about, packing kit they were not taking ashore and stowing it away until – if – they returned from the islands now less than 100 miles away. In the middle of the afternoon, as the light faded, a small Wasp helicopter emerged from the gloom, and settled on the flight deck, its arrival darkening the mood of all on board as word spread of its mission. It bore the corpse of a Royal Marines corporal who was among 21 men killed the previous day when a Sea King helicopter crashed into the sea as it transferred men from Hermes to Intrepid at dusk.

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