Join the Navy and See the World: 6. Bizerta.

This story is submitted to the People's War Website by David Thacker, a volunteer from BBC Radio Northampton, on behalf of his Mother, Isabella, wife of the late Len Thacker, and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands and accepts the site's terms and conditions.
Firstly here are Len's words written in a W/T Operator's Log book, about his time in Bizerta in 1943. He is believed to have written this soon after the war's end:
"After Sicily, we had a time at anchor in Ferryville and Bizerta. Here there were nightly raids. These were rather enjoyed by us except one time when we were near an ammunition ship and we didn’t like to think what would happen if she went up. The searchlights here were red hot and always got the planes right away. In addition to the shore guns, there were many warships and large numbers of merchant ships in harbour. The barrage was terrific, probably the heaviest put up. Fellows who were at Malta or did Malta convoys or (were) in London blitzes say it exceeded any barrage they’d seen. It was a wonderful sight. From all directions there seemed just one solid wall of flame going up to the planes. The number of rounds must have been millions. Usually several raiders were brought down.
Only once did he do any damage, and that was to harbour installations. Our sister ship: “Bruiser” who lay near us, had 15 casualties from shrapnel, but we were lucky, though we had one or two near misses."

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