Rhyddian Masters was with Tommy in the 858th. He
writes: "858 Quarrying Coy was formed in the
County of Somerset in Southern England in 1943.
I was a 'Driver' of various lorries. The Coy was
made up of ''Sappers'' as they were called, they
were the ''Explosives'' personnel - mostly out
of the 'Slate' Quarries from North Wales in the
"Blasting Sections"- and the likes of myself and
Tommy for the small fleet of Lorries and other
vehicles we had in the Coy.
We did not belong to a Regiment or Brigade as
such. We were formed to do a job of supplying
Quarry stone for works and such like. We were
attached to ''Southern Command'' of the Army.
That was our 'insignia' on our shoulder badges;
''858 Qcoy Southern Command.''
From Somerset we went up to a place named
'Woodstock'' -it's the home of the ''Churchills''.
Winston, who was Prime Minister at that time.
Their 'home is ''Blenheim Palace'' Very Grand.
After a time there we went further North to a
place named 'Thryberg'. It was getting near the
time of the invasion, and all army personnel
were now getting ready for that occasion. We
were doing intensive training in preparation for
the landing in France. From there to a holding
place in London, and, on to the Empire Beatrice
in the Thames Estuary. We were there for about 2
days, building up the Convoy we were going with
across to France."
The 858th was
aboard the SS Empire Beatrice when it was
shipped to the battlefield in Normandy in
the night of 26/27 July 1944.
Off the coast
of Normandy their convoy was attacked by the
6th S-boat flotilla under command of Kapitän
Matzen. Although the convoy was a heavily
protected by Motor Torpedo Boats and three
destroyers, the German S97 and S114 fired
off two torpedoes from a distance of 1800
meters. Two freighters, the SS Fort Perrot
and SS Empire Beatrice were hit and
seriously damaged, but did not sink. The
other S-booten attacked the escort ships.
Mr. Masters continues: "I think we slipped down
the Thames on the night of the 26-27 day after
D-Day. We were Torpedoed on the night of the
28th. Seem to remember we had gunnery practice
during the next day [after sailing] - that would
be the 27th.
That night- or early morning of the 28th, we
were torpedoed, about 0200. Did hear something
to the effect there were a few 'E-Boats ' out
'hunting' that night. We were sitting ducks, as
the engines in the Beatrice were giving trouble
and we were stopped at that moment in time.
We had noticed that the Ship next to us was
passing us, and then we would pass them- ugh. It
was not maneuvers as we thought- it was the
stopping and starting of our ships' engines.
Well it was "man the lifeboats". It was very
dark, [good time for ship movements] but they
found us anyway.
We were fortunate in being picked up by one of
the escort Launches- that too had had engine
problems."
Many men of
the 858th Quarrying company lost their lives
in the attack. It is mentioned that up to a
hundred were killed in the Coy. Mr. Masters
thinks that is too large a number: "Also, some
of those who died were of a Canadian Band
[Orchestra] going across with us. I don't think
our losses were all that great. Although those
who were lost, were 28 too many. I vaguely
remember someone saying they had seen Tommy
coming out of the side of the ship. That must
have happened after the lowering of the
Lifeboats, for them to have seen Tommy floating
out.
It took all those years for me to know what had
happened to him. He and the other unfortunates
must have been directly over where the torpedo
struck. Question is, had he disobeyed orders
-''was''- he sleeping on the the hatch combings
?????? The force of the blast would have thrown
him and the combings up- and dropped him
straight down into the hold.
We were adrift for a little while and then
picked up by a Navy motor launch. Most
fortunate-for us. They had had engine
problems-put 'em right and were heading back to
the Convoy. Then took us on to Dover, where we
spent a little while."
Mr. Masters continued with the remainder of the
company to Normandy, only to find the company
was to be broken up. "I finished up at Tilbury
along the river Thames there. I seem to remember
they sent us all on leave. Coy was reformed and
the Beatrice had been Towed up to ''Blackstone
Sands'' opposite Canvy Island in the Thames
estuary. The equipment was offloaded on to
another ship, and we went over to France with no
troubles that time.
The coy was billeted in a Chateau at Louviers,
just Southeast of Rouen. We were disbanded while
at Louviers. There and gone in the space of a
few years. Vanished into 'obscurity'', and that
is it .
myself I went on to join eventually a ''Artisian
Works Coy". The Rocket sites up at Cuxhaven were
built by that Coy. I, was posted yet again to
Knocke on the Belgium Coast, bound for the Far
East. The War was still going on, and then, WOW,
they dropped the ''BIG ONE '' on Japan. End of
hostilities, I along with a lot of other friends
got rotten drunk.
Tommy
Austin's body washed ashore on the Texel
coast on 7 September 1944 and was buried the
same day. He was 19.
Driver Thomas
Austin is buried in Den Burg
Cemetery, Plot K. Row 7. Grave 160.
(picture
courtesy of Rob van Voorst)