Memorial to the 16 year old sailor who captured the enigma machine
1,603 views · Published 29 September 2009 · 1:15 · Indexed 30 September 2026
Channel: Alan Heath · 2009 · Travel & Events
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Heaths-History-Page/173472422695696 Here at North Shileds hidden behind a church we find a memorial to the brave 16 year old who risked his life to retrieve an enigma machine from a German U boat in 1942. At dawn on 30 October 1942, U-559 was spotted by a Sunderland patrol aircraft 110km north of the Nile Delta. The destroyer HMS Hero was alerted and steamed to intercept her, while the destroyers HMS Petard, Pakenham, Dulverton and Hurworth sailed from Port Said. U-559 detected Hero's approach and dived. The destroyer group hunted for the U-boat for 16 hours, constantly depth charging. After dark, U-559, with a cracked pressure hull, unable to maintain level trim and four of her crew dead from explosions and flooding, was forced to the surface. She was close to Petard, which immediately opened fire with her 20 mm Oerlikons. The German crew hurriedly scrambled overboard without destroying their codebooks or Enigma machine and, crucially, having failed to open sea-water vents to properly scuttle the U-boat. Three British sailors, Lieutenant Anthony Fasson, Able Seaman Colin Grazier and NAAFI canteen assistant Tommy Brown, then boarded the abandoned submarine. They retrieved the U-boat's Enigma machine and the codebooks with all current settings for the U-boat Enigma key. Two German crew members, rescued from the sea, watched this material being loaded into Petard's whaler, but were dissuaded from interfering by an armed guard. Grazier and Fasson were inside the boat, attempting to escape, when the U-boat foundered; both were drowned. Grazier and Fasson were awarded the George Cross posthumously, Brown was awarded the George Medal. It was also discovered that Brown had lied about his age in order to enlist, and was only 16 years old, making him the youngest recipient of the George Medal. He was discharged and returned home to North Shields, only to die two years later attempting to rescue his younger sister from a house fire. The Enigma material they retrieved was immensely valuable to the code-breakers at Bletchley Park, who had been unable to read U-boat Enigma for nine months. The captured material allowed them to read the cyphers for several weeks, and to break U-boat Enigma thereafter. My channel on you tube : http://www.youtube.com/alanheath is one of the most prolific from Poland. I have produced a number of films, most in English but also in Polish, French, Italian, Spanish and the occasional hint of German and Hebrew. My big interest in life is travel and history but I have also placed films on other subjects There are a number of films here on the packaging industry. This is because I am the publisher of Central and Eastern European Packaging -- http://www.ceepackaging.com - the international platform for the packaging industry in this region focussing on the latest innovations, trends, design, branding, legislation and environmental issues with in-depth profiles of major industry achievers. Most people may think packaging pretty boring but it possibly effects your life more than you really imagine!
