Jewell, Norman Limbury Auchinleck (Oral history)

British officer served aboard submarine HMS Osiris, 1st Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 8/1939-11/1939; served aboard submarine HMS Otway, 5th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and English Channel, 2/1940-8/1940; served aboard submarine HMS Truant, 1st Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 9/1940-4/1941; commanded submarine HMS L27, 7th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 8/1941-2/1942; commanded submarine HMS Seraph, 8th and 1st Submarine Flotillas in Mediterranean, 8/1942-3/1944

REEL 1 Background in Seychelles, Kenya and GB, 1913-1932: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and service with Royal Navy, 1932-1939: pattern of early career; background for joining Submarine Service. Aspects of period as third officer aboard submarine HMS Osiris, 1st Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 9/1939-11/1939: sailing for Mediterranean, 27/8/1939; reaction of submarine's captain Lieutenant Commander Richard Sheridan-Patterson to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; degree of knowledge of German submarines prior to 1939. Aspect of operations as first lieutenant aboard submarine HMS Otway, 5th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and English Channel, 2/1940-8/1940: exercising with destroyers on anti-submarine exercises off Portsmouth; 1st War Patrol off Dunkirk, France, 29/5/1940-30/5/1940; boarding party to French submarine Surcouf at Devonport, 3/71940. Aspects of operations as first lieutenant with HMS Truant, 1st Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 9/1940-4/1941: joining submarine, 8/1940; release of British and Norwegian prisoners of war from German prize merchant vessel MV Tropic Sea west of Cape Finisterre, Spain during passage to Mediterranean, 3/9/1940; operations off west coast of Italy, 9/1940-10/1940. REEL 2 Continues: medical problems with his back; German mining of Suez Canal, Egypt, 1941; voyage from Egypt to GB, 7/1941. Aspects of period commanding submarine HMS L27, 7th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 8/1941-2/1942: taking command of submarine at Tobermory, GB, 13/8/1941; abortive attack on German submarine; damage sustained on voyage from Rothesay, GB to St John's, Newfoundland, 14/10/1941-26/10/1941; leaving submarine, 2/1/1942. Recollections of operations commanding submarine HMS Seraph, 8th and 1st Submarine Flotillas in Mediterranean, 8/1942-3/1944: work up on 1st War Patrol off North Cape, Arctic, 15/7/1942-29/7/1942; accidental attack on submarine by Royal Air Force in Bay of Biscay, 19/8/1942; transporting Combined Operations Assault Pilotage Parties (COPP) for beach reconnaissance west of Algiers, French Algeria prior to Operation Torch, 1/10/1942; landing Lieutenant General Mark Clark and Brigadier Lyman Lemnitzer on coast of French Algeria, 21/10/1942; rescuing General Henri Giraud during Operation Kingpin from Southern France, 27/10/1942. REEL 3 Continues: award of American Legion of Merit for his role in operation; taking Major Willam Darby of 1st Ranger Battalion on a reconnaissance for Operation Peashooter to Galita Island, Tunisia, 21/12/1942-23/12/1942; collision with Axis submarine off Cape Bon, Tunisia, 23/12/1942; failed torpedo attack on Italian submarine Mocenigo off Tunisia, 24/12/1942; participation in Operation Mincemeat and planting of 'The Man Who Never Was' off Huelva, Spain, 29/4/1943; briefing for invasion of Sicily, Italy and impression of Major General George S. Patton, Algiers, French Algeria, 29/6/1943; marking of American landing beaches at Scoglitti, Sicily, Italy, 9/7/1943; picking up American soldiers from sea during landings at Scoglitti, Sicily, Italy, 9/7/1943. REEL 4 Continues: attacks on Axis shipping during 12th War Patrol off Italy, 15/7/1943-1/8/1943; landing commandos during Operation Burrow on Portofino Peninsula, near Genoa, 31/8/1943-1/9/1943; under depth charging off Bastia, Corsica, France, 3/9/1943; sinking of German landing craft Eva and Margot off Piombino, Italy, 10/9/1943; operations in Eastern Mediterranean; torpedoing of German seaplane at Karpathos Island, Dodecanese Islands, Greece, 6/11/1943; abortive plan to send submarine into Black Sea, 11/1943; lecture tour in United States of America after leaving submarine, 4/1944-10/1944.