Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by Damien Lewis Page B

SOE agent who had survived the pig assault.
    ‘This is a wonderful thing for the old country, you know,’ March-Phillipps remarked. His voice was thick with emotion and touched with a quiet pride.
    And indeed it was wonderful: stage one of Operation Postmaster was complete – a five-star, gold-plated cut-out operation. But stage two, in which the British had to formally ‘seize’ the ships that the invisible raiders had liberated, was yet to be executed, as was the sophisticated information operation that would be orchestrated from London.
    March-Phillipps appointed the skilled seaman Lassen as the
Duchessa’s
Second Officer, while he kept overall command of the purloined vessel. Under the young Dane’s ferocious gaze theItalian crewmen-captives were put to work to make the ship as seaworthy as possible. All haste had to be made to the planned rendezvous with HMS
Violet
, which was set some forty miles west of Fernando Po. The pigs were captured, corralled and tethered, in preparation for a celebratory feast, once it was mission accomplished.
    March-Phillipps wanted to make as much as possible of the journey under the protective cover of darkness. It wasn’t inconceivable that the Spanish Governor of Fernando Po might call for Axis air power to scour the sea in search of the missing ships, or there might be vessels in Santa Isabel Harbour capable of giving chase.
    Matters took a turn for the worse when the
Nuneaton
started suffering engine trouble. The
Vulcan
ploughed ever onwards, dragging the
Duchessa
after, but the flotilla of three smaller ships fell further and further behind. As the first hints of dawn washed the eastern horizon with a pale light, the sharp form of Santa Isabel Peak became visible, silhouetted against the coming sunrise. The
Nuneaton
– with her engines out of action, and her two ungainly prizes in tow – remained just a few miles off the coast, and well within Spanish territorial waters.
    Wracked with worry, March-Phillipps made the difficult decision to make an about turn. He transferred to the
Vulcan
, the tow-line was released, and the
Duchessa
was left to drift under Lassen’s command, as the powerful tugboat steamed back to find the missing ships. March-Phillipps discovered the
Nuneaton
in serious trouble, and together with her prizes she was drifting back towards Fernando Po.
    Hayes and the
Maid Honour
Force commander discussed whether the
Vulcan
should take the three vessels under tow. But Hayes and his crew remained convinced they could restart the
Nuneaton
’s engines. It was crucial that March-Phillipps did not lose sight of their bigger prize: the
Duchessa
. And so he made the difficult decision to leave the three ships drifting, as the
Vulcan
turned westwards once more. By the time she had made it back to the
Duchessa
, someone had had the bright idea of knocking-up a makeshift skull-and-crossbones, which was fluttering proudly from the ship’s masthead.
    Whether it was Appleyard or Lassen who first suggested it, the triumphant raiders had embraced the idea. Bed sheets had been retrieved from the ship’s cabins, and with a pot of black paint a crude Jolly Roger had been splashed across them. But March-Phillipps wasn’t best pleased. He was painfully aware of the vital importance of the next stage of the deception – that HMS
Violet
should approach the flotilla of ships, with all aboard bar her Captain believing them to be enemy vessels manned by mutinous Italian and German crews.
    Flying a Jolly Roger didn’t quite fit with the cover story. In a characteristic fit of anger, he ordered the flag be taken down and burned. But as always, his rage was short-lived. Under Appleyard’s steadying hand the tow was got underway once more, sans Jolly Roger.
    *
    Understandably, London had insisted on absolute radio silence for the duration of Operation Postmaster. If the enemy managed to intercept just one message from the raiders it could blow the all-important aspect of deniability