In honour of the heroes of Narvik
British sailor Cyril Cope survived his ship being beached in 1940 and the following tale of guts and survival has now been collated by his son, Ron
Over the next four weeks, we will be carrying extracts from an audio tape of Cyril Cope's memories of the Battle of Narvik. Listen to the first instalment by clicking on the icon.
Soon after Cyril Cope's family received the dreaded wartime telegram to tell them that he was "missing, presumed drowned" they received, out of the blue, a mysterious letter with a photograph of what appeared to be women sitting at a railway station with mountains in the background.
"When they looked again at one of the women, they shouted: 'That's our Cyril! What's he doing in a ladies' skirt?'" said the late Cyril's son, Ron Cope, of Telford.
Behind the picture was a tale of guts, heroism and survival involving British sailors in the First Battle of Narvik which took place in Norway 70 years ago, on April 10, 1940.
Cyril's ship, the destroyer HMS Hardy, had been heavily hit and beached, and he and other survivors swam to shore, where they discarded their sodden clothing because in the intense cold it was freezing to their bodies.
Reaching a Norwegian house, and numb with cold, all they could find to wear was women's clothes. In Cyril's case it was a pair of girl's knickers and a long ladies' gown, which he immediately gave away to somebody with nothing.
Sheltered by brave Norwegians, he was able to upgrade his mode of dress by donning skiing gear, and it is probably this garb, unfamiliar to his family, which he was wearing in that photo.
The exact circumstances of the picture have been lost in the mists of time, but the message was clear - it was his way of assuring his family he was safe.
Cyril, who hailed originally from Salford, died in 2003 but left behind an invaluable archive in the form of his taped recollections, which have now been painstakingly and patiently transcribed by Ron, a task which has taken many hours' work.
The First Battle of Narvik was a destroyer engagement during the German invasion of Norway.
British destroyers led by HMS Hardy sailed into the fjord and surprised a force of German destroyers, which were larger and more powerful.
In the intense engagement which followed, there were heavy losses on both sides.
Among those killed were the commander of HMS Hardy, Captain Warburton-Lee, who was posthumously awarded the first Victoria Cross of World War Two.
Grandstand
As a young torpedoman on HMS Hardy, Cyril Cope had a grandstand view of the battle, in which he was the first to open fire. That first torpedo hit and sank the "Wilhelm Heidkamp", killing the officer in command of the German destroyers.
And he also had a grandstand view - this time from the shore - of the Second Battle of Narvik a few days later on April 13, 1940, when a British force spearheaded by the battleship
HMS Warspite sailed into the fjord and dealt a devastating blow to the remaining German destroyers.
To the dismay of the shorebound survivors of the earlier action, the British ships then left without them. But two officers in a commandeered motor launch managed to catch up with the last destroyer, and in darkness Cyril and his colleagues were picked up and brought home.
"His account is unique because as a 21-year-old torpedo man with an apparent photographic memory, throughout the battle his action station was on the upper deck. This put him in a position to fully witness the events that unfolded of this great sea battle," said Ron, of Horsehay, who is himself ex-Royal Navy.
"On semi-retiring from my second profession as a probation officer, this has allowed me time to fulfil my father's request of not letting future generations forget. Just like present members of our armed forces, they are all heroes, past and present."
Cyril became honorary secretary of the Narvik Association and his memories of the battle were sought out and recorded for the Imperial War Museum.
Ron has been trying to contact remaining survivors and their families, and intends to write a book about the battle. The only survivor found to date is 92-year-old Harry Rogers, who lives in the North East of England.
"Somewhere down the line I promised my dad that I would not let people forget the Narvik story. I was very proud of what he did," added Ron.