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Tribute to Forgotten Heroes ; Courier & Advertiser 4 Aug

 
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Keptie



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
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Location: near Arbroath Angus

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:14 pm    Post subject: Tribute to Forgotten Heroes ; Courier & Advertiser 4 Aug Reply with quote

Todays Courier & Advertiser for Tuesday 4 August 2009 has a feature story and pics with artists impression of the memorial to remember the Dundee's forgotten heroes of the WW2 .

City Quay Dundee was the home to submarine flotillas during the War , which carried out ops against the Germans garrison in Norway and against the German Navy.

British , Dutch, Norweigian , Polish, Free French and Russian submariners were all based in Dundee and 296 GAVE THEIR LIVES during the Conflict .

Uniform properties group has donated land between Camperdown and Victoria Quays for the Memorial which it is also funding in partnership with Discovery Quay.

Veterans who served at the Royal Navy base during the war returned to the site of their former base yesterday to see where the Memorial is to be situated.

Called Still on Patrol - the term submariners use for vessels that are lost at sea - the MEMORIAL will LIST THE NAMES of all the sailors and commandos who died during the War

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Thought this may interest everyone and the Dundee Courier and possibly all editions has the story today.


Patrick W Anderson
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Adam Brown
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Pat. I looked Still on Patrol and found this article which says the memorial will be unveiled on 17th September 2009.

From Courier
By Stefan Morkis

DUNDEE’S FORGOTTEN heroes of the second world war are finally to be given the recognition they deserve when a new memorial to submariners and commandos is dedicated next month.

The City Quay area was home to two submarine flotillas during the war, which carried out operations against the German garrison in Norway and against the German navy.

British, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Free French and even Russian submariners were all based in Dundee—and 296 gave their lives during the conflict.

According to local historian Dr Andrew Jeffrey, who led the campaign for a memorial to be created, not only did the submarines turn the tide of the war, they also prevented the Soviet Union from extending its reach into Western Europe at the end of the war.

“The Germans had to keep 300,000 military personnel in Norway because of the submarines, which kept them out of the rest of northern Europe in 1945,” he said.

“That would have slowed the Allied advance and so the Russians would have got into Denmark first and it’s unlikely they would have left, so the Iron Curtain would have shifted a lot further west.”

Using information from Enigma transmissions decoded at Bletchley Park or provided by spies on the ground in Scandinavia, the submarines disrupted German merchant navy supplies and also provided protection for the Allies’ own Arctic convoys.

Unicorn Property Group has donated land between Camperdown and Victoria Quays for the memorial, which it is also funding in partnership with Discovery Quay.

Veterans who served at the Royal Navy base during the war returned to the site of their former base yesterday to see where the memorial is to be situated.

Called Still on Patrol—the term submariners use for vessels that are lost at sea—the memorial will list the names of all the sailors and commandos who died during the war.

Herman Eilertsen fled Norway to escape the Nazis and later served on minesweepers and submarines launching from Dundee and said a memorial was overdue.

“I think the memorial should have been done ages ago—it was a busy place,” said the 88-year-old.

“I came over as a refugee on a boat into Shetland and after being interviewed in London, joined the navy in 1941.

“I was on a minesweeper first and then on a submarine.”

Mr Eilertsen, who settled in Monifieth after the war, said the City Quay area was unrecognisable from how it had been more than 60 years ago, but was glad to see part of its naval tradition has been retained.

“The Sea Cadets’ building is where we used to charge the submarines’ batteries,” he said.

Jean Coron (89) arrived in Dundee at Christmas 1940 with the Free French submarine Minerve, which would fight with the Allies alongside two other French subs.

Mr Coron, who settled in Dundee after the war, said, “It was a very important base, with six different nations based here—even the Russians. We did a lot of work protecting the convoys around Norway and saw a lot of action.

“The French submarines were fine to live in, but the British ones, while being good war machines, were extremely tight and cramped to live in.

“I married a Dundee lass and after the war I went back home to Normandy, but we came back, and we have lived here ever since.

“This memorial is a great idea and probably long overdue. It is very important that we remember the fallen and Dundee remembers its maritime past.”

Dr Jeffrey said Dundee was the only UK wartime submarine base that did not have a memorial.

He said, “It was utterly shameful but it’s wonderful that there is now at last to be something appropriate.”

Artists Jeremy Cunningham and Paul Grime have designed the memorial, which will be officially unveiled next month.

“You try to do something that is respectful and accurate in the way that we convey the information,” said Mr Cunningham.

Tim Allan, director of Unicorn Property Group, said the entire project is costing around £100,000 but that his company had quickly got behind the idea after being approached by Dr Jeffrey in early 2006.

“Unicorn is committed to developments of quality and we are conscious of building on the heritage of an area,” he said.

“We pride ourselves on building unique homes in unique locations, and we are delighted to be able to be part of this significant memorial to an often forgotten part of the war effort.”

Dundee Lord Provost John Letford added, “A rich and important part of our city’s naval history will be revealed and commemorated on September 17, 2009, when Dundee’s wartime submarine base, its heroic submariners and their sacrifices will be remembered
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Adam Brown
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And from the P&J

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1336956?UserKey=

Submarine war heroes remembered with memorial
Large Kilkenny stone monument will honour nearly 300 sailors who lost their lives
By Alison Middleton

Published: 04/08/2009

A MEMORIAL to commemorate the sacrifice of sailors killed during World War II is to be erected in Dundee, it was announced yesterday.

Nearly 300 allied sailors and commandos from a Dundee submarine base lost their lives during the war.

Six British, Dutch, Norwegian and Russian submarines, which were stationed at HMS Ambrose Royal Navy base in the city, never returned.

Artists Paul Grime and Jeremy Cunningham were asked to create a piece of public art to commemorate the submarines and the names of the sailors who died.

Entitled Still on Patrol, the large Kilkenny stone features the silhouettes of the lost submarines, who were part of a multinational flotilla.

Unicorn Property Group donated an area of land for the memorial, which will be unveiled at the west end of Dundee’s Victoria Dock on September 17.

Dundee Lord Provost John Letford said: “A rich and important part of our city’s naval history will be revealed and commemorated when Dundee’s submarine base, its heroic submariners and their sacrifice will be remembered with a lasting tribute and memorial.”

During the war the submarines took part in operations against the German garrisons in Norway and against the German navy.

Scottish Branch of the Submariners Association vice-chairman Dennis Rawle said: “This is a great opportunity for a long-awaited memorial to this important wartime submarine base.

“The submarine service welcomes the reflection this memorial will allow on Dundee’s role in the World War II effort and the chance to remember the tremendous sacrifices made by men and women from all over Europe.

“Some of those that served at HMS Ambrose remain with us – indeed many settled in Scotland.

“We are delighted that they have the opportunity to finally realise a memorial in honour of theirs’ and their comrades’ sacrifices.”
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Adam Brown
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And the Scotsman

Recognition at last for unsung heroes of war against Hitler
By Frank Urquhart
THEY are the forgotten heroes of one of Scotland's most vital contributions to the Allied victory in the Second World War.

But plans were unveiled yesterday for a permanent memorial to the servicemen based at HMS Ambrose, the wartime submarine base in Dundee, including 296 submariners and commandos who lost their lives.

Nothing remains of the sprawling base that was home to the submarine flotillas of five nations – Britain, Norway, France, Russia and the Netherlands.

From their base, they set out to destroy Nazi shipping in the North Sea and take elite commando units, undercover agents and members of the Special Intelligence Service behind enemy lines. Those who died included seven British commandos, shot by the Gestapo after a "Heroes of Telemark"-style raid on a hydro power station in Norway.

Next month, a sculpture honouring all service personnel who were based in Dundee, including those who perished, will be unveiled at the city's Victoria Dock.

Dundee City Council, in partnership with Unicorn Property Group, the company behind the City Quay development, agreed to fund the memorial after being contacted by Dr Andrew Jeffrey, a historian and the author of This Dangerous Menace, the definitive account of Dundee at war.

Dr Jeffrey said: "The submarine base at Dundee is very much a forgotten part of the war effort. Its contribution was probably incalculable, but until now it has been unsung."

His campaign to secure a lasting tribute began while he was researching Scotland's maritime role in the Second World War.

"I discovered Dundee was the only Allied submarine base that didn't have any form of permanent memorial," he said. "There was nothing to commemorate the base or the 296 servicemen who lost their lives. A total of 281 submariners died on six Dundee-based submarines that were lost – two British, two Dutch, one Norwegian and one Russian. The others who died were commandos and Special Intelligence Service agents."

Seven of the commandos who died were executed on the direct orders of Hitler after the hydro power plant raid in September 1942. An eighth commando was killed in action during the raid.

Dr Jeffrey said: "Commandos were taken by a Dundee-based submarine into a fjord, 40 miles inside enemy held territory, and then climbed a glacier and blew up the power station.

"The seven who were captured were taken to Colditz, then to Berlin, where they were tortured by the Gestapo, and then to Sachsenhausen, where they were shot with a bullet to the back of the head."

SOVIET COMMANDER WHO ROSE TO NATIONAL FAME

THE submariners who lost their lives while serving at HMS Ambrose in Dundee included one of the most celebrated wartime heroes of the Soviet Union.

Israel Fisanovich was a Soviet Navy submarine commander who was made a "Hero of the Soviet Union" – the Russian equivalent of receiving the Victoria Cross – for his exploits during the Second World War.

His submarine was credited with sinking two warships, ten transports and a tanker. In July 1943, he was appointed to command a division of the submarine brigade of the Soviet Northern submarine fleet.

He was killed, with his crew, in 1944 when his submarine – formerly HMS Sunfish, and renamed the V-1 – was sunk in a "friendly fire" incident while on passage to Russia.

Fisanovich is reported to have ordered that his submarine submerge rather than stay on the surface and send a recognition signal.

Fisanovich's rise to fame was even more remarkable as he came from a working class Jewish family.

After leaving school he had initially worked in a Ukrainian tractor factory but went on to study at the Frunze Military Academy where he was top cadet.
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Adam Brown
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

None of the articles mention which Flotillas were based at HMS Ambrose. Ninth Flotilla was one of them. With the Special Operations to Norway the other one might be 12th Flotilla but I'm not certain. It could be 2nd Flotilla which was based in Dundee during the very early months of the War.

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john burnett



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:13 am    Post subject: dundee Reply with quote

Here is another link
http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?t=4432&highlight=submarine
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john burnett



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:15 am    Post subject: dundee Reply with quote

And another link

http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?t=4938
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john burnett



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 2:31 pm    Post subject: Dundee Reply with quote

Thanks to Mrs Aase Goldsmith for the information.


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 2:39 pm    Post subject: Dundee Reply with quote

From Courier 18/9/2009
Memorial to honour fallen ‘still on patrol’

By Graham Huband

THE LIVES of almost 300 submariners who sailed from Dundee were finally remembered yesterday, 70 years on from the outbreak of the conflict in which they perished.

The Duke of Gloucester visited the city to unveil a major new war memorial dedicated to the 296 sailors and commandos of HMS Ambrose who were killed in action while fighting Nazi Germany.

The Dundee Submarine Base was home to the 2nd and 9th Flotillas and was commissioned as HMS Ambrose on April 18, 1940.

Submarines sailing from Dundee took part in numerous high-risk operations against enemy garrisons in Norway and also disrupted the German Navy—or Kriegsmarine—as they attempted to attack the vital Allied Arctic convoys en route to northern Russia.

Six submarines—HMS Oxley and HMS Thames of the Royal Navy, the Dutch submarines O-13 and O-22, the Norwegian Uredd and the Russian B-1—never made it home to Dundee and all but two of their combined crews were lost.

The courage and sacrifice of the submarine crews was immense but the story of HMS Ambrose had largely been forgotten in the many tomes written about the war.

It is hoped the new memorial—designed by acclaimed artists Paul Grime and Jeremy Cunningham at the behest of Dundee City Council and the Unicorn Property Group, which owns the land at City Quay where it stands—will redress the balance and ensure HMS Ambrose’s contribution to the war effort will now be recognised for generations to come.

Guests at the ceremony— the largest single naval gathering in Dundee since the second world war—included several veterans of the base, dignitaries from all of the nations that served at HMS Ambrose and senior local and national political figures.

Dedicating the new memorial, the duke said submarine crews had suffered a “cold and dark” war but their efforts had helped shape the outcome of the conflict.

He said, “The subs were very much part of the battle and had many enemies— they had the risks of bombs from aircraft, depth charges from above, (the threat) of torpedoes from other submarines and the random effects of mines in the minefields.

“Their’s was a cold and dark war that few people outside the service could imagine but, on the whole, it was a successful war and they fought to keep us in command of the seas.

“This memorial will add an extra sense of history to those who come here and need to be reminded of the sacrifices of those who went before and reminded of the cost to those who defended our freedoms in times past.”

French veteran Andre Vallois—who received the Distinguished Service Medal and was also presented with the Croix de Guerre by former Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle— spent his entire war based in Dundee.

The 90-year-old—who was decorated for his minelaying expertise aboard the submarine Rubis—lives in Stirling and said he was pleased his fallen comrades from HMS Ambrose had now been recognised.

“I think it is a very good thing and should have been done a long time ago,” Mr Vallois told The Courier. “I came to Dundee in 1939 and left in 1945 and we did 28 missions in that time, working in minelaying. Dundee people were very good to us.”

Norwegian signalman Rene Samson Grepne—who sailed from Dundee aboard the Uredd, which was later sunk by a German mine— said there had been great camaraderie between the sailors of all the six nationalities based at HMS Ambrose.

He recalled the living quarters at the base, where the Norwegian crews were flanked by the French and Poles, and a high-spirited celebration of Norway’s national day that took place in Dundee city centre and was fuelled by French wine.

Mr Grepne said the memorial would keep alive the memories of the men who were lost and raise awareness of Dundee’s significant contribution to the war effort.

He said, “I joined the Norwegian Navy in 1942 and went on the signals course to become a signalman. After that I volunteered to go on the submarines and I joined here in Dundee.

“The Uredd had been on training in Scapa Flow but now she was going out on a war mission and we spent a month operating off the Norwegian coast. We were always submerged during the day because of the dangers from aeroplanes and only came up in the middle of the night.

“As a signalman, I got to go up onto the conning tower. Only as few people as possible were allowed to go there as the ship had to be ready to dive in just 20 seconds (notice).”

He added, “It is a lovely memorial and is very modern. In Norway, they have something similar in Oslo.”

Jean Coron, a crew member on the French sub Minerve, which limped to Dundee after being slammed into the seabed by depth charges, was also at the ceremony.

The 89-year-old—who settled in Fife after the war—said a memorial to remember the men of HMS Ambrose was long overdue.

He said, “I am so proud. There were six different nationalities here altogether and we all got on well together. The memorial is great, as far as I am concerned.

“I knew most of them (the fallen)—we all knew one another. We never had a fight and I never had a wrong word with any of them.

“Personally, I was two-and-a-half years on the Minerve and then I went away to the Aegean Sea. We did 13 patrols from here and mostly it was to escort the convoys in case the German battleships were coming.”

Local naval historian Dr Andrew Jeffrey said the dedication of the memorial had been an extremely important and poignant moment.

He said it was also vital that Dundee’s contribution to the war was recognised, as the history books had all but forgotten the contribution made from the banks of the Tay.

“Much of it is down to the fact the flotilla was broken up at the end of the war and all of the various contingents went home and took their history with them,” he said.

“As a result of that, a lot of it was lost but what we have done today is brought it all back together and hopefully now it will never be forgotten again.”

Dundee’s Lord Provost, John Letford, led the city’s own tribute to the dead and said it was vital the sacrifices of those “still on patrol” were not forgotten."
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dhubthaigh
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This seems to have been forgotten about in the last couple of years. I'll try and get this done in the near future.
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