Fifield, Leonard William James (Oral history)

British apprentice served with Merchant Navy aboard SS Gracia, 1937-1940 and SS Norwegian in North Atlantic, 1940-1941; officer served with Merchant Navy aboard SS Gorgistan in Indian Ocean and Far East, 1941-1943; served aboard SS Empire Tourist in Arctic, 1943-1944 including sinking off Kola Inlet, Soviet Union, 4/3/1944; served aboard SS Ocean Volga in English Channel and during Normandy Landings, 6/1944-8/1944; served aboard SS Empire Buckler in North Atlantic, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Hammersmith and North Greenford, London, GB, 1921-1937: family; education; decision to join Merchant Navy, 1937. Recollections of period as apprentice with Merchant Navy aboard SS Gracia, 1937-1940: reputation of Donaldson Line; cargoes carried and ports visited; character of crew; pilfering of alcohol by stevedores; reputation of British merchant seamen; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; hearing news of loss of SS Athenia, 9/1939; fitting of ship's armament; reserved occupation status on declaration of Second World War; frequency of German attacks, 1939-1940; quality of communications; fate of ship after he left. Recollections of period as apprentice with Merchant Navy aboard SS Norwegian in North Atlantic, 1940-1941: ship's armament and use of Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunners; attitude towards convoy losses; comparison between Merchant Navy and Royal Navy roles; keeping station in convoys; danger of HMS Warspite in convoys; role of convoy commodores. REEL 2 Continues: unpopular positions for ships in convoys; experience of German Air Force bombing in London, spring 1941; his attitude towards Germans; apocryphal story of fate of German submarine crew. Recollections of period as third officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Gorgistan in North and South Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean, 1941-1943: character of crew; picking up mine off South Africa; contact with Arabs in Oman; Japanese air attacks on Colombo, Ceylon and Calcutta, India, 1942; voyages to North and South America; convoy carrying crated aircraft from Canada to GB; civilian cheering of ships on Manchester Ship Canal, 1943. Recollections of period as second officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Empire Tourist in Arctic, 1943-1944: loss of convoy ships to bad weather off coast of Scotland, 12/1943; testing torpedo nets; joining Convoy JW 56b to Murmansk, Soviet Union, 1/1944. REEL 3 Continues: coping with cold in Arctic; method of docking at Archangel, Soviet Union, 1/1944; visit to Intourist Club in Archangel; sanitary conditions in northern Soviet Union; collision with ice-breaker; torpedoing of ship by German submarine U-703 during Convoy RA 57 off Kola Inlet, Soviet Union, 4/3/1944; state of ship after torpedoing and launching lifeboats; reasons why ship kept afloat; rescue by HMS Gleaner; effect of depth charging experienced aboard HMS Gleaner, 4/1944. Recollections of period as officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Ocean Volga in English Channel and off Normandy, France, 4/1944-8/1944: joining ship, 17/4/1944; use of name Ocean for ships built in San Francisco, United States of America; armament of ship; presence of Observer Corps observer aboard ship for Normandy Landings; setting sail for Normandy; problem of acoustic mines; unloading tanks via Rhino Ferries off Juno Beach, 7/6/1944. REEL 4 Continues: period laying off Juno Beach, 7/6/1944; further voyages with supplies to Normandy beaches; torpedoing of ship off Beachy Head, 8/1944; voyage to Folkestone and onto Middlesbrough. Aspects of period as officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Empire Buckler in North Atlantic, 1944-1945: voyages from United States of America to Europe carrying food supplies; question of quality control of meat on board; nature of relations with Germans in Hamburg, Germany; attitude towards end of Second World War; VE Day at Greenford, GB, 8/5/1945; taxi ride through London, GB, 9/5/1944.