Derek Aubrey's Story.
Derek Gresty was a 2nd Radio Officer on the SS Fort AthabaskaThe German Attack on Baris
German attack on Baris began at 7:20 in the evening on December 2, 1943. The planes flew in from the east. The docks were brilliantly lit as they were trying to accelerate unloading of the ships and weren’t expecting to be attacked by air and the East jetty was packed with ships. There was no time for the ships in the harbor to get undervay.
The Joseph Wheeler took a direct hit and exploded. Several other ships were hit and exploded. The John Harvey remained intact sustaining no direct bomb damage but caught fire when showered by flaming debris from a nearby damaged ship. The situation was extremely serious because of the mustard bombs on board. Without warning, the John Harvey blew up. Everyone on board was killed instantly and pieces of the ship and her cargo were hurled into the air. Mustard released from the broken bombs mixed with the oil on the waters surface and with billowing clouds of smoke.
The Americans sustained the highest losses from the German raid losing the John Bascom, John L. Motley, Joseph Wheeler, Samuel J. Tilden and the John Harvey. The British lost four ships, the Italians three, the Norwegians three and the Poles two. There were more than 1,000 military and merchant marine casualties with 800 admitted to local hospital. A conservative estimate places civilian casualties at around 1,000.
Casualties from the raid began pouring into the hospitals. Swamped with casualties and not realizing they were dealing with poison gas, hospital staffers let the injured remain in their oil and gas soaked clothes. Victims suffered from burns and blisters, temporary blindness, swollen genitals and irritated respiratory systems. As victims began to die, the doctors started to suspect that a chemical agent was involved. Lieutenant Colonel Stewart F. Alexander was finally able to confim that the casualties were caused by mustard exposure.
Ammunition Ship exploding at Baris
chemicals. Additionally, there was a mass exodus of civilians out of the city and some were probably gas victims that died for lack of care.
Baris after the raid
Secrecy shrouded the affair at Baris. The public was eventually told of the devastating raid at Bari but the presence of mustard gas was not divulged. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was particularly adamant that the role mustard gas played in the tragedy remain a secret. He believed that publicizing the fiasco would hand the Germans a propaganda victory. This secrecy may have caused additional deaths because if the word of the presence of mustard agent had been disseminated, more victims, especially civilians, may have sought proper treatment.
Fort Athabasca
Fort Athabasca was in dock at Bari, ready for departure carrying 76 tons of cargo, mail and 2 captured German 1000kg rocket bombs. It was part of a large allied convoy of tankers, ammunition ships and supply vessels at anchor in Bari. 105 German planes attacked the docks and when one of the ammunition ships was hit and blew up, it started a domino effect, ship after ship caught on fire. The ship next to the Athabasca blew up, and despite the crews heroic efforts, the 2 German bombs exploded killing 46 men (including Derek Gresty) out of her complement of fifty six.
Derek is commemorated on Panel 49 of the Tower Hill Memorial, the Wistaston Memorial Hall memorial and the Wistaston memorial in the Churchyard.
Athabasca Memorial
Wistaston Memorial Hall plaque