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Able
Seaman Thomas Murphy / William (G) Knott |
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Ireland was a neutral country throughout the WWII and deemed not
to be a part of the allied war effort. No real numbers have to
date ever been confirmed regarding Irishmen from the Republic of
Ireland who may have served on the Allied convoys. According to
the UK Forces Enlistment Figures, the number of men and women
who joined His Majesty's Imperial Forces from Southern Ireland
from 3 September 1939, to August, 1945, under the headings of
the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force (which includes those
who went
AWOL (Absent Without Leave) from the Irish defence forces)
is 43249. There is a record of nearly 5000 service personnel
dismissed for desertion by the Irish Government post war;
presumably, many of them would have decided to serve in the
Merchant Navy and would have also served on the Arctic Convoys.
It is known that thousands of Irishmen and women joined UK
forces but lived in the UK during WW2. However more research is
needed to achieve a definitive figure.
SS Earlston:
On 27 June 1942, SS
Earlston sailed from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, as a part of
Convoy PQ17, and headed for the port of Arkhangel in the
Soviet Union. On 4th July the convoy was ordered to
scatter, with the escorting destroyers ordered to join the
cruiser force and the merchantmen to proceed
independently. On July 5, 1942 the unescorted Earlston was
badly damaged by bombs from German aircraft in Barents
Sea, some
360 miles NNE of Kola Inlet. The ship was abandoned in
a sinking condition. Later the same day, she was sunk by
U-334 northeast of North Cape (the other version suggests
she was subsequently torpedoed by U-334 and sunk by a
returning aircraft when a bomb fell into a hold containing
ammunition). The master and three gunners were taken
prisoner. The second officer and 20 survivors landed on
the
Rybachy Pensulina after seven days. The chief officer
and 26 survivors landed on Norwegian-occupied territory.
Able
Seaman Thomas Murphy:
Able Seaman Thomas Murphy from Dublin was on the
SS Earlston in
Convoy PQ17 when she was attacked and sunk off Norway July
5, 1942 . Thomas Murphy was taken prisoner but, suffering from
frostbitten legs, he had to be treated for his injury in the
Lazarette (Hospital) Hammerfast, Norway until July 28, 1942. On
the 30th July 1942 Able Seaman Murphy departed Lazarette Tromsö
and boarded Lazaretteschiff (Hospital Ship) "BIRKA" and arrived
Lazarette (Hospital) Schleswig. Departing Schleswig on August
14, 1942 Thomas arrived at Dulag Nord (Transit Camp)
Wilhelmshaven on August 21, 1942, which had been relocated to
Westertimke because of the allied bombing. Able Seaman Thomas
Murphy was later transferred to the adjacent
Milag Nord Merchant Seamen’s Internment Camp. On the 27th
January 1943, 32 Irish Born British Merchant Seamen were removed
from Milag Nord by the Gestapo and taken to an aircraft factory
in Bremen where over several days attempts were made to persuade
the Irishmen to become free workers for the Nazi regime. The
Irishmen refused to sign up as free workers and were then moved
to Hamburg. In Hamburg the Nazis tried again to persuade the
Irishmen to workfrei on German Merchant Ships. Again the
Irishmen refused to workfrei for Nazi Germany. In February 1943,
the 32 Irishmen were relocated from Hamburg to the
Arbeitslager Bremen-Farge located on the River Weser and
forced to work as slave labourers involved in the construction
of the
UBoat Bunker "VALENTIN". 5 Irishmen died in Bremen-Farge
during WW2. In 1957,
4 were reburied in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in
Rheinberg, Germany, including Able Seaman Thomas Murphy, who had
died in Bremen on 27 April 1944:
Able Seaman William (G) Knott:
Another crewmember of SS
Earlston, Able Seaman William (G) Knott from Ringsend in
Dublin, was also taken prisoner and refused to work for
the Gestapo. Relocated to Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager, he
survived the War and was a witness in the Bremen-Farge War
Crimes Trial,
Hamburg Curio Haus 1947-1948. On the 30th May 1946,
Knott in a sworn affidavit submitted in evidence to the
Bremen-Farge War Crimes Trial in Hamburg, stated:
"On the 17th
May 1942, I joined the S.S. Earlston as A.B. at Glasgow. About
the 27th May 1942 we left Glasgow and arrived in Iceland on 1st
June 1942. We left Iceland on or about the 27th June 1942 bound
for Russia. On the 1st July 1942 we were attacked by enemy
aircraft and these attacks continued off and on until 5th July,
when our ship was sunk by bombs and torpedo. The skipper Captain
Stenwick was taken onboard one of four submarines, which
surfaced close to the sinking ship. The rest of the crew were in
one lifeboat, and after ten days at sea, landed at North Cape,
Norway. The remaining men were captured soon after landing and
were taken by land and sea to a prison ship at Oslo and later to
Aalborg, Denmark. We were later taken by stages to Marlag and
Milag Prisoner of War camp arriving there by the end of August
1942". (War Crimes Files National Archives Kew. Extracts sourced
from British and German documents).
1943:
Irishmen in Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager:
On the 31st March 1943 Gestapo Bremen wrote to the Reich Main
Security Office, Foreign Workers Section, Berlin SW 11, asking
for other instructions to send the Irishmen to a concentration
camp (Neuengamme).
The RHSA (Reich
Main Security Office/SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner) advised
that the Irishmen be kept in Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager and await
further instructions. Circa 6th April 1945, the Irishmen, less
the 5 men who died, were returned from Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager
to their former camp,
Milag Nord (Merchant Seamen's Internment Camp) located in
Westertimke.
(Film extract showing the
Liberation of Marlag und Milag Nord 27 April 1945
- Imperial War Museum):
UBoat Bunker "VALENTIN":
In April 1943 construction
of the largest Kreigsmarine project, the
UBoat Bunker "VALENTIN" was begun, located on the
River Weser. In less than two years a bunkered shipyard
would arise to build submarines of the latest type. The
completion of the first submarine was scheduled for March
1945, and from the autumn of 1945 every other day, a boat
was to be launched and put into service. William (G) Knott
and Thomas Murphy from SS Earlston and the other Irish
born British merchant seamen who refused to workfrei for
the Nazis were relocated to Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager
circa 06th February 1943 and forced to work as slave
labourers on soil removal and the construction of the mud
banks that now surrounds the Bunker to prevent the Weser
flooding the site. The Irishmen also worked laying the
foundations for the UBoat Bunker, and were the first group
of slave labourers to work on the Bunker Valentin from
1943. Built to withstand aerial bombing with up to seven
metre thick ceilings and walls, what now remains of the
Bunker "VALENTIN" is a unique and unmistakable relic of
Nazi armaments for naval warfare, a lasting place of
memory and a visible reminder of crimes of the Nazi
regime.
Bunker Valention:
Drone footage:
Imposing Concrete Hideout is Where Nazi U-Boats Were Once
Built: This imposing concrete structure in the German city
of Bremen is 1400-feet long, 300-feet wide, and 90-feet
high, and looks every inch the secret Nazi facility that
it is. Its purpose was to build and test U-Boats.
https://fb.watch/cdYfNm3osz/
28 April 2010:
Commemoration Milag Nord Westertimke Germany:
Organised by the Irish
Seamen’s Relatives Association (1939-46) a
Commemoration was held at the location of the former
merchant seamen’s prison camp (Milag Nord) in Westertimke,
in remembrance of prisoners who lost their lives during
world war two: Pipe Major David Johnson, from Northern
Ireland, ex Irish Guards, former Pipe Major, Queens Royal
Irish Hussars and currently Pipe Major, Crossed Swords
Pipes and Drums, Germany, Piped the lament. Pipe Major
Johnson placed a wreath in remembrance of members of Irish
Guards killed in action. Wreaths were also placed on
behalf of the Irish Seamen’s Relatives Association
(1939-46), British Merchant Navy Association and the Royal
Naval Patrol Service Association in Lowestoft.
29 April 2021: Commemoration Stalag XB Sandbostel Germany:
On the occasion of the
76th anniversary of the liberation of prisoners of war and
concentration camp prisoners in Stalag XB Sandbostel, a
Commemorative film published online includes a section
remembering IRISH VICTIMS OF THE NAZIS:
Sandbostel76 Virtual Memorial:
29th April 1945: Liberation of Stalag XB Sandbostel Germany:
On the 29th
of April 1945, members of the
Irish Guards led by Lieutenant John Gorman were involved in
the
liberation of Stalag XB Sandbostel (Film Extract: Imperial
War Museum): Sandbostel is also where
Irish born British merchant seamen
were held from 1941-1942: Former
Ulster Unionist MP Sir John Gorman, spoke of witnessing the
"barbarous" treatment of prisoners at Sandbostel concentration
camp. Sir John recalled "We were trying to do something to keep
some of the dying people alive."A hole had been dug to put dead
bodies in. "The people running the camp behaved in a barbarous
way". By the end of the war, more than 313,000 prisoners from
around the world had passed through the camp complex of
Stalag XB Sandbostel. Their treatment was regulated by
international treaties, but systematic violations were common.
The Wehrmacht denied the Soviet soldiers any protection under
international law. Thousands of them died of hunger and
diseases, the exact number, is not known. In April 1945, about
9,500 prisoners from the
Neuengamme concentration camp, which had been evacuated
shortly before, and some subcamps in the Bremen area arrived at
Sandbostel. Despite the desperate efforts of the International
Prisoner of War Resistance Committee to help the concentration
camp prisoners in the days before liberation, thousands died of
disease, exhaustion, and direct violence at the hands of the
guards. The British Army liberated 14,000 POWs and 7,000
concentration camp prisoners on April 29, 1945. The soldiers
found catastrophic conditions, especially in the area where the
concentration camp prisoners were housed. After the liberation,
the
British Royal Army Medical Corps,
(No 10 (British) Casualty Clearing Station), tried to
help the liberated concentration camp prisoners, but more than
500 concentration camp prisoners still died of exhaustion,
emaciation, and infectious diseases. The dead were initially
buried in mass graves around the camp. These graves were opened
between 1954 and 1956.
Irish Merchant
Navy Memorial - Alrewas - UK:
Sponsored (2001) by the
Irish Seamen's Relatives
Association (1939-46), the Irish Merchant Navy Memorial Plaque
and Plinth uniquely embossed with the Irish flag
commemorating those crews lost on neutral Irish registered vessels
during world war two (including an oak tree) is now on view in the
Merchant Navy Convoy Section of the
National Memorial Arboretum
currently managed by the Royal British Legion, and located in
Alrewas, Staffordshire, England. The Irish memorial is also listed
on the website of the
British Merchant Navy Association. On the 22 June 2017,
following completion of loan in Germany, the Bremen-Farge Memorial
Plaque which commemorates 5 Irish Born British Merchant Seamen who
lost their lives in the Bremen-Farge Work Concentration Camp
during world war two, and originally fixed to the front of the
plinth, was donated to the
Mayo Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance,
Lannagh Road, Castlebar, County Mayo
(Google
Map Location), for
permanent display. This memorial plaque was unveiled on Saturday
26 August 2017 at 14.30hrs by a relative of the O’Hara family in
honour of their Father, Grandfather,
Radio Officer Gerald O'Hara.
(Article: Gerald O'Hara (1893-1944)
An Irish Seaman of the British Merchant Navy):
The Irish Merchant Navy Memorial
Plaque/Plinth, along with
the Bremen-Farge Memorial Plaque: is listed by the
National Memorial Arboretum UK,
listed in the UK War Memorials Register/Imperial War
Museum, London at
Neutral Irish Registered Vessels Memorial,
and recorded in British Commonwealth and International War
Graves in Ireland, Published 2007 by the Irish Government
Stationery Office, Dublin: The Merchant Navy Association UK, have
included the Bremen-Farge Memorial Plaque now located in the Mayo
Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance, Castlebar, County Mayo, on
their website record of
Merchant Navy Memorials Worldwide. (Additional Publications:
Merchant Navy Association UK, Newsletter, 11 August 2017:
Unveiling Ceremony Mayo Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance;
Western People Newspaper, Monday 04 September 2017:
'Ballina's
Gerald O'Hara is Remembered': Merchant Navy Association UK,
Newsletter, 12 September 2017:
Unveiling Ceremony Mayo Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance):
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