I am a volunteer with the Guardians of Aberdeen Graveyards. I'm looking for more information on the deaths of, Richard Darlington, service No.1429822 & Christopher John Danson, service No. 3444469 who both died on the 16th/17th May 1941. Apparently they both died at sea? They were both from the Manchester area. They are both commemorated in Trinity Cemetery, Aberdeen, Scotland. Kind Regards, Norman G Wood
There are others from 65 HAA buried in this cemetery. 65 HAA were defending Scapa Flow. On return to the mainland their transport was attacked. From Hunt for Bismarck and sinking, May 1941 Steamer ARCHANGEL (2448grt) was sunk by German bombing 57-55N, 2-03W, ten miles northeast of Aberdeen. Forty of a crew of seventy five and twelve of four hundred troops on board were lost. The survivors were rescued by destroyer BLANKNEY which landed them at Aberdeen. She attempted to take the steamer in tow, but she was beached off Black Dog, five miles south of Newburgh, and broke in four pieces. SINKING OF SS ARCHANGEL on 16 MAY 1941 with thanks to Peter Houston ((a) 7 Feb 2011 and (b) 7 Feb 2012) (a) "During research into my Father's war experiences, I came across this information regarding HMS BLANKNEY. At the time, my late father was aboard the ARCHANGEL and I recall him describing the action as outlined below. 196 and 182 Batteries (65th Reg HAA, RA) were ordered to redeploy to Birmingham and, on 16 May 1941, embarked on SS ARCHANGEL at Kirkwall for Aberdeen. The destroyer HMS BLANKNEY was assigned as escort. Around midnight ARCHANGEL was attacked off Aberdeen by three German aircraft believed to be operating out of Norway. The following is the direct word-for-word account as recorded in the regimental war diary [1]: '16 May, 2359 hr approximately. Three Heinkel III approached ARCHANGEL and one of them flying at approximately fifty feet dropped two HE bombs on the ship, one aft and one in the engine room, causing boiler explosion and disabling damage to the ship. Enemy aircraft engaged by escorting destroyer HMS BLANKNEY (Lt Comdr Powlett R.N.) as it returned to machine gun damaged ARCHANGEL and destroyer’s boats and after three runs it was damaged and fell into the sea. Evacuation of all personnel on board ARCHANGEL not killed by explosion continued. Remaining enemy aircraft made off. Evacuation of personnel completed by putting BLANKNEY alongside ARCHANGEL. 17 May, ARCHANGEL taken in tow by tug and beached approximately 30 miles north of Aberdeen. 0800 (approx) Personnel evacuated from ARCHANGEL reached Aberdeen in BLANKNEY. Total deaths (including those who died in hospital up to 29 May) 41 ORs, 38 of them of 182 Hy AA Bty and 3 of 196 Hy AA Bty. Injured and admitted to hospital and still living on 31 May, of 182 Hy AA Bty 18 ORs (including BSM Bee J.C., No 3511578) and 24 ORs of 196 Hy AA Bty (including W/BSM Flitcroft W., No 3522907). No officer casualties. All injured suffered from burns." (NOTE: HMS Blankney was misspelt twice in the above report)'" Peter's father was not injured but he described the terrible burns of those who were. The uninjured men were assigned to look after the injured personnel on a one-to-one basis. He spoke very highly of the BLANKNEY - described how she put up a tremendous AA barrage whilst circling the stricken ARCHANGEL at high speed. I am struck by the matter of fact reporting in the 65th HAA war diaries of the shooting down of one of the He111s "after three runs it was damaged and fell into the sea"! He subsequently went overseas and survived 31/2 years as a POW in the Far East after taking part in the defence of Singapore, Sumatra and Java. [1] 65th Reg. HAA, RA War diaries, Royal Artillery Museum Library, Woolwich (b) I recently found some more accounts (summarised below) on a web site which was advertising the sale of medals belonging to the captain of Archangel, A. P. Sutton. http://www.dnw.co.uk/medals/auctionarchive/searchcataloguearchive/itemdetail.lasso?itemid=59658. The following report of the incident was recorded by the Ministry of War Transport: ‘I am sorry to inform you that the Archangel was attacked by enemy aircraft about midnight on 16 May 1941, while conveying troops from Kirkwall to Aberdeen. She was struck heavily amidships, the engine and boiler rooms being put out of action and the upper decks so badly damaged that there was no communication between the fore and aft of the ship. The Master, Captain A. P. Sutton, was seriously injured, and out of a crew of 75, 17 are dead or missing and 15 injured ... Casualties among the troops were very heavy but the discipline throughout of both troops and crew was excellent. The destroyer escort sent a Surgeon to assist the ship’s Medical Officer. While they were attending the wounded there were two further attacks from the air, but these were beaten off by the Archangel’s own guns. At 4 o’clock in the morning tugs arrived and both the wounded and uninjured troops, with part of the crew, were transferred to a destroyer. The Archangel was beached but unfortunately is a total wreck.’ Since Captain Sutton was seriously wounded, Chief Officer A. W. Greenham submitted his report of the action as follows: ‘The enemy aircraft released three bombs simultaneously which struck the ship amidships between the funnels ... They wrecked the whole of the upper decks and blew out the private cabins; wrecked the engine and boiler rooms and there was hell let loose with escaping steam. I noted that the engine room skylights still remained in position but there was nothing left of the after funnel except a great chunk of iron ... the Second Officer came back and said he had found the Captain on the deck injured, and the O.C. Troops and I decided there was nothing to do but collect the wounded. Just at this time we heard the destroyer [H.M.S. Blankney; her Captain’s report included], which was ahead of us at the time of the attack, firing at an aircraft and our guns joined him. The starboard forward gun was very busy, and I think he got off two or three belts, but I am unable to say whether the after guns were used. The aircraft flew over us twice, using his machine-guns, and I saw tracer bullets flying directly at me. Although I did not actually see the aircraft I got the impression it was flying about 500 feet high, as I saw bursts of shells in the half-light about 1000 yards away at low altitude. I believe the destroyer shot down the aircraft. Some of the crew thought that tracer bullets from our guns struck the aircraft, but it was not seen approaching or overhead. The first thing we heard was the bombs and later there were machine-gun attacks ... ’ Tim
From CWGC. Both are buried in the Cemetery so either they died of their injuries or they were killed and their bodies were recovered. Gunner RICHARD DARLINGTON Service Number: 1429822 Regiment & Unit/Ship Royal Artillery 196 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Date of Death Died Between 16 May 1941 and 17 May 1941 Age 21 years old Buried or commemorated at ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Sec. 8. Joint grave 3. United Kingdom Lance Bombardier CHRISTOPHER JOHN DANSON Service Number: 3444469 Regiment & Unit/Ship Royal Artillery 65 H.A.A. Regt. Date of Death Died Between 16 May 1941 and 17 May 1941 Age 25 years old Buried or commemorated at ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Sec. 8. Joint grave 8. United Kingdom Tim
Hi Tim, Thanks for the information. That explains the connection to Aberdeen and why they are remembered here. This is an excellent site, I'll definitely be back with more queries. Norman
Not just remembered. They are buried there. Connection with Manchester is that 65 HAA was formed from the 6th/7th Manchester Rifles. From Casualty Lists: Subsequently amended by: and Casualty Cards: Tim
Your right, I forgot to add burial in the last message. Thanks for the extra information regarding their deaths. Norman
My father was one of the survivors from 196Bty who was on the Archangel when it was attacked. It affected him and he used to talk about it. He wrote his own brief account of it,he wrote about manning the gun to shoot at the attacking aircraft and I wonder if that is the returned fire referred to in the account given above I've done a little research into it recently and have compiled a list of the casualties and wounded. Unfortunately there isn't a list of the Archangel's wounded but they lost 17 men and the Regiment lost 41 Killed and 41 injured from what I can see. This is a list of all the men buried in Aberdeen Trinity Cemetery L/Bdr ACTON WILLIAM W '3520755' 18/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 9. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr BILLINGTON JOHN J '871576' 16/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 9. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr BOND JAMES FREDERICK J F '1564704' 18/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 10. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION L/Bdr BOURNE CYRIL LESLIE C L '1589018' 16/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 11. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr CONSTABLE GEORGE G '5884057' 17/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 7. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Bdr CROOK FRANCIS GERRARD F G '878398' 18/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 4. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION L/Bdr DANSON CHRISTOPHER JOHN C J 3444469' 16/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 8. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr DARLINGTON RICHARD R '1429822' 16/05/1941 196 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 3. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr KNIGHT CHARLES F. T. C F T '1636967' 17/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 10. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Serjeant LAMB HARRY H 1429826' 18/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 3. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr MARTIN RONALD R 1609734' 16/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 5. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr McRAE WILLIAM W 891498' 16/05/1941 196 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 5. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr McVEY JOHN J 899015' 16/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 4. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr PASHLEY LAWRENCE L 1532719' 16/05/1941 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 7. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION Gnr SULLIVAN RICHARD JAMES R J 1432438' 16/05/19 182 Bty., 65 H.A.A. Regt. Sec. 8. Joint grave 8. ABERDEEN (TRINITY) CEMETERY, BROADHILL EXTENSION
There is a painting held by the Imperial War Museum titled "Roll Call of the Survivors of HM Troopship Archangel at Aberdeen" by Christopher Perkins. The painting was painted at the time in 1941 and shows the men of 182 and 196 Bty of 65th HAA RA Regt from the ship in various states of dress after being landed at Aberdeen Docks. In the foreground Royal Naval Personnel can be seen loading the injured and wounded into ambulances and the Naval Escort Destroyer HMS Blankney (uncredited in the painting) is alongside. Roll-Call of the Survivors of HM Troopship 'Archangel' at Aberdeen | Art UK
It's a poignant thought to realise that figuratively speaking my father is included in the men pictured in this painting. It's just a shame that I cannot show it to him now.
Hello all, Apologies I am late to this thread. My Great Uncle died due to wounds sustained during this action. I had heard the stories of 'Uncle Jimmy' from my dad since I was a small boy, all about how the ship was bombed and a bomb 'went down the funnel'. Since my nan passed and other relatives too I have inherited pictures and some documents of Uncle Jimmy and have become somewhat obsessed with him and the 65th. One day I will get to visit him. During my research I found the comapany he worked for before the war and contacted the company historian. It turns out his dad was a part of the 65th also and in the following ship on this date and had been told the same stories too. I attach my favourite picture of 1564704 James Frederick Bond, 13th June 1915 -18th May 1941. Cheers Dan
Welcome to the thread and RIP James Frederick Bond. As stated above my Dad was one of the survivors of the Archangel and spoke many times of it. Coincidentally I share a birthday with your Great Uncle Jimmy. Last Remembrance Sunday a fellow volunteer at Astley Green Mining Museum posted a photo of a memorial where he included a photo of his Great Uncle John Dempsey. When I asked who he was I looked him up and when I read the date of his death and saw that he had died at sea, I immediately recognised that he was one of the victims of the Archangel. He and his immediatel family weren't aware of the circumstances of his death and had always assumed he must have been based on a ship. It turns out that he is buried in my local Cemetery and I was able to pay respect to him on Armistice Day whilst also remembering my late father. There are other relevant threads on this site relating to the 6th that you may wish to look at. I would be interested to share material with you related to the Unit and would be interested in the company historian's link to the Regiment. I also have a summary of the Regiment's War Diary that may supply some details for you. Tony
Hi Tony, Many thanks for your reply, I've sent you a message but not sure its sent correctly as I'm having a few issues my end! Cheers Dan
