One Civil Servants World War II (Paperback)

Perhaps one of the most memorable sights in the Second World War was the arrival in Scapa Flow of the Home Fleet after the successful sinking of Scharnhorst in the last week of 1943. Harry Semark was one of the few civilians privileged to witness it. This and other of his eye witness accounts, remembered with such clarity down the years, add value to the record of what was a monumentous six years in the history of not only these isles but most of the world. This book describes with complete accuracy and in a most unassuming way, the real story of the varied service that one man, like thousands of others, gave ungrudgingly largely unnoticed and unrewarded, to keep the Naval War machine, ready to fight and win. Harry Semark makes light of the hardships the world often worked in, in biting weather on large guns with practically no assistance, being expected to analyse and make good faults as requested by the Gunnery Officer (this was World War II practice). It is to his credit that he invariably found a way to achieve the aim, be it converting a fishing drifter for its self-protection to modifying a battleship's 15" guns to allow it to engage and destroy the enemy. A technical expert, he makes gunfitting come alive, this obvious zest for knowledge and life ensures that the cameos he paints are always vital and fascinating.