Silence in the Desert Read online

  Silence in the Desert

  David Longridge

  Copyright © David Longridge 2018

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

  Silence in the Desert is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters other than certain known historical figures, are of the author’s imagination and are not to be interpreted as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the dialogue and situations concerning those persons are entirely fictional. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Front cover: St. Catherine Monastery (‘KaiAbuSir’ )

  Matador

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  Tel: 0116 279 2299

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  ISBN: 978 1788033 954

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

  To Charlie and Edward

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Aftermath

  Historical note

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  1

  The English West Country, May 1941

  His eyes flick up to the convex mirror above the canopy. He knows this student is the clinging sort. Nothing wrong with that, after all it’s a tail-chasing exercise. Man after his own heart. He hasn’t thrown him off yet. Tight turns, loops and dives, he’s still there. The programmed exercise in follow-the-leader is finished. Still fifteen minutes before they’re due to return to base. He’ll test the other’s nerve a bit more. That must be the Abbey tower about five miles ahead, stark against the boring countryside, what a landmark. Just in front of it, the mass of high trees coming into view, two clumps of them on either side of the patch of green. Something special’s called for. He’ll zoom in really low, circle around for a few minutes and then, when the student pilot’s least expecting it, cut inside the circle, fly straight across the open area and go into an almost vertical climb on full boost.

  The tower’s coming up fast. Now for it. Back a bit with the throttle control lever, foot down on the left rudder plate and into a full 360-degree turn around the area. The student’s right there, still on his tail. Round again, must go as low as humanly possible. Several matches being played down there. Round a third time, but now to cut in across the cricket grounds. Stay as low as you dare. Just above those large clumps of firs. Make it really tough for him. Now, without warning, above the central cricket pavilion, back with the control stick. Pull on the boost control lever. That sudden whine as the supercharger cuts in, the Merlin howling back at him. The fuselage rockets towards the vertical.

  He looks down, sees the white figures on the pitches across the mown grass. Lots of spectators too, mainly other boys sitting along the grass bank either side of the pavilion. This will give them something to write home about. The whole school must be there, several hundred of them. They’re looking up.

  He flinches. What’s that flash? Now an explosion, the plane’s frame judders in the shockwave. He cuts off boost and side-slips to port, out of the climb and towards the spot where he can see flames and smoke. Smack in the middle of the upper and lower cricket fields. There are bodies on the ground, splayed out along the bank and on the lower pitch, not moving. Others are running. Sharp cracks as ammunition belts go off in the intense heat from the fuel burning on the ground. Two figures in black habits are rushing into the inferno. He glances in the mirror, immediately fearful. No sign of the student pilot.

  He knows. Terror grips him in the chest. Realization, then horror, rush through his mind, his body. The student didn’t make it over the first tree-line, and has ploughed into the long bank between the cricket pitches. He starts to shake. It must be carnage down there. He’s responsible for that student, now in there among them. The pilot must have hit the top of a tree as he concentrated on the Hurricane in front, on his instructor. ‘Never take your eye off my tail.’ Those were his words to the student as they walked to their respective aircraft less than an hour ago. Must be all the boy thought of as the two Sea Hurricanes climbed away from Yeovilton to start their exercise.

  Can’t help them from up here, he thought. Must get a message to Yeovilton. They have to organize help. Oh, God, have to get back, face the consequences. Straight to the CO, even before preparing a report. A straightforward crash and loss of pilot is a tragedy and means an immediate inquiry. But this, how many are dead down there, the injured, the burns? Schoolboys, what will it lead to, what will they do to me?

  The House of Lords, June 1941

  It came suddenly during a few days’ leave, the telephone message. Was Bill Lomberg aware of what just happened at his old school? Nine boys killed by a Sea Hurricane on a training flight. The student pilot killed also. The request to assist in the case of the Fleet Air Arm flying instructor accused of causing the accident. It came from the person who was to act as counsel to the defendant in the pending court martial. Would he, in the meantime, attend in the public gallery of the House of Lords on 10 June when questions were to be raised on the circumstances of the crash?

  So Bill sat there in the gallery of the Lords, a lone spectator in RAF uniform of a flying officer save for Counsel to the Defendant, seated beside him. He looked down intently at the noble Lord who was speaking.

  The noble Lord asked whether it was proposed to hold any sort of inquiry, and if such inquiry would be public. An inquest had been held but that was to establish the cause of death. It could not be directed to establishing the cause of the accident, and the facts leading up to this disaster had not yet been made known authoritatively to the public. He recalled a remarkable cross-examination in the Titanic inquiry.

  People were not perturbed by the facts which they learnt during the inquiry; they were reassured by feeling that the matter had been probed and that steps would be taken, in future, to prevent an oc
currence of such a disaster. An inquiry of this kind is not a hunt for a scapegoat, it is only an endeavour to find out what was wrong and to make sure the necessary precautions will be taken in the future.

  Bill looked sideways, muttering ‘Can’t argue with that.’

  Counsel nodded. ‘As soon as this is finished, let’s go to my chambers, and we can talk about the court martial.’ The noble Lord was summing up.

  I hope I have not spoken too strongly on this matter, but I know that cricket field. One cannot imagine a more typically English scene than those boys playing cricket on that Saturday afternoon, and to think of that cricket field being suddenly turned into shambles by this inexcusable action is something which I confess has filled me with very deep feelings of pain and indignation.

  The Inns of Court, June 1941

  ‘Come on into my lair, Flying Officer Lomberg,’ said Counsel as he showed Bill into his comfortable office. He pointed towards leather armchairs in the corner by the window overlooking the church and lawns of Middle Temple. ‘Let’s be on first name terms, I’m Adrian.’

  ‘I’m Bill.’ He must be twice my age and half my height, thought Bill, watching the wizened face and keen eyes behind half-moon glasses. Too old for service in this war. Looks kindly enough on the outside, but I bet he’s like steel underneath. Wouldn’t fancy being cross-examined by him.

  ‘So, the reply of the Parliamentary Secretary of the Admiralty didn’t take us any further,’ said Counsel. ‘Just stressed that the Admiralty viewed it as a terrible calamity. That he didn’t want to go into the accident in detail for the simple reason that further proceedings were pending. There was to be a court martial, and it would be highly improper for him to say anything that might in any way affect the trial of the officer concerned. What I expected him to say.’

  Bill nodded. ‘Yes. I must say I wouldn’t want to be in your client’s shoes when he is marched into the court at Devonport.’

  ‘That’s why I’m asking you to help. You’re an old boy of St Gregory’s College, in the school only three years ago. You know the geography.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Bill. ‘I’ve a pretty good idea how it must have happened.’

  Counsel went on. ‘You’re an experienced Hurricane pilot. You and my client, Sub Lieutenant John Smith, must have Hurricanes and low flying in the blood.’

  ‘You could say that. I’ve been at it for two years now, been lucky to survive,’ said Bill.

  ‘I don’t have to tell you, Flying Officer, this country’s in a gigantic struggle. One side trying to get the edge over the other. Risks must be taken, in training as well as in action. That’s what it’s about.’ He paused, looking hard at Bill. ‘I need you to explain that in your own words to the Board. The defendant is probably going to plead guilty. Therefore, it’s in backing up the plea for leniency that your evidence as an expert witness will count.’

  ‘I understand,’ said Bill. ‘I’ll do what I can.’ Bill wanted to help. Yet, he couldn’t help imagining the carnage on the ground when the student pilot and his Hurricane ploughed into the mass of boys and masters watching the matches that day. The pain in the faces of the parents and families of the nine boys killed, and those badly injured. He reasoned to himself how accidents and their consequences were more likely in wartime. But did that make the flying instructor morally less culpable?

  Devonport Court Martial, June 1941

  Bill was already seated in the back of the courtroom, thinking of the several discussions with John, the defendant, who was ready for the worst. The Fleet Air Arm instructor knew he’d flouted the regulations on low flying, and the horrendous consequences that followed.

  He took a liking to John as their talks progressed, and wanted to help the instructor pick himself up after the shattering events of six weeks ago. With Counsel, they’d drawn up the case for leniency, submitting it to the Court the previous day. The aim was to ensure the Board would take account of the mitigating circumstances in this case. As an old boy who knew the school inside out, and experienced Hurricane pilot, his deposition should lend weight to Counsel’s argument for leniency in arriving at the sentence.

  Bill knew that John, like himself, remained an ardent believer in the effectiveness of ultra-low flying in ground attack. He understood the instructor’s frustration when, on arriving at Yeovilton only a week before the accident, he found no official low-flying area was established. Student pilots were either not being given low-flying training, or instructors were breaking the rules and hoping for the best. He understood how the instructor wanted his pupil to develop that extra edge in attacking enemy surface vessels. Destroying a U-boat on the surface removed a giant threat, both militarily and in terms of supplies the nation badly needed. All this he had written down in his deposition and signed. John’s fate now rested with the Court.

  The Chief Petty Officer marched John into the large oak-panelled court room, together with Counsel. They halted and saluted in front of the Bench. The Judge Advocate of the Fleet sat in the centre of the long table facing the defendant, with the four officers who made up the Board spread evenly on either side.

  After waiting for everyone to settle down, the Judge Advocate opened the proceedings by addressing John directly.

  ‘Sub Lieutenant. You have pleaded guilty to the charge “For acts prejudicial to good order and naval discipline: low and dangerous flying outside the practice area”. The role of the Board is therefore to recommend sentence, to establish the punishment after taking all fact-based evidence into account.’ The Judge Advocate paused.

  Bill felt the pressure. It could be him in the other’s position. Accepting a gross error of judgement was the cause of death of those young people, cut down on the lawns of his old school. Imagine the pain of the wounded, the grief of the parents. The consequences of the instructor’s actions were too awful to be avoided in any way. John would live with the experience of that day all his life.

  The Advocate General continued. ‘The factors submitted by your Counsel will be taken account of in the Board’s judgment. Counsel for the Defence stressed your exemplary service record since entering the Fleet Air Arm two years ago. That you passed from being an exemplary student pilot almost directly to becoming instructor. That you arrived at Yeovilton only the week preceding the accident. That front line Fleet Air Arm pilot training was, by necessity, creating young flyers who could live with risk. That inevitably some would be hot-blooded.’

  The Judge Advocate turned to the officer previously appointed President of the Board. ‘Captain, has the Board agreed upon the punishment appropriate to the charge for which the defendant has pleaded guilty?’

  ‘Yes, sir, we have agreed unanimously how the defendant should be sentenced, having taken full account of the evidence laid before us, and after considering the defendant’s plea for leniency.’

  ‘Thank you, Captain,’ said the Judge Advocate. ‘And what is your finding?’

  ‘We find that the defendant be “dismissed his ship” and “severely reprimanded”.’

  The eyes of the Judge Advocate gave away nothing of his own feelings as he turned back to face the defendant, asking ‘Do you have anything to say, Sub Lieutenant?’

  ‘Thank you, sir. I accept the sentence, and have no intention of appealing.’

  Outside the court room a few moments later, the three of them came together. ‘So what exactly does that mean?’ John asked Counsel.

  Counsel replied ‘It means that your career record will forever after be marked “severely reprimanded”. And that you are grounded until the Royal Navy decides what to do with you next.’

  Bill looked at the young Fleet Air Arm instructor, admiring his composure. A combination of foolishness and the hand of fate led to this horror. The moral responsibility lay on him. How would he live with it? Bill had an idea, something that would challenge him to win back his esteem, and be recognized by others as doing just that.

  2

  Three years earlier. The English West Country, June
1938

  The coolness of the walls and the sweet smell in the air were comforting in a strange way, as he reached the end of the long passage. Henri gripped the heavy iron handle, opening one of the large oak doors, making his way into the great edifice which towered above him. Turning right, and following his way in the semi-darkness round the back of the chancel, he arrived at the entrance to the vestry. Henri looked at the several hooded figures readying themselves, each tying a cincture or rope round the waist of their habits. Lifting over their heads the vestments that had lain in the wide drawers of the chests along the walls, they were adjusting the cowls from behind the neck. He went up to one of them and bowed to the monk. Picking up a tray of water and wine, he stepped in behind the priest as they walked out of the vestry, turning right down the nave towards one of the side chapels.

  The ritual commenced, devoid of audience, devout in its execution, the sublime Latin phrases and responses flowing between them. As he knelt behind and to the right of the bowed figure, Henri felt for the bell which like everything else had its part to play. To him, all was second nature. Yet today was somehow different, the last time he would serve in this place which had been an essential part of his formation for the past five years. When all was done, as they walked back to the vestry and Henri began to think of his breakfast, the monk turned and over his shoulder said, ‘Rochefort, let’s have a talk in my study after supper this evening.’

  Henri made his way from the House refectory to Rooky’s study, knocking on the door marked Dom Brendan Rooker OSB, House Master. He heard the gruff ‘come in,’ and entered. There was a decanter of sherry and several glasses on a small round table next to the chair in which Rooky, as Dom Brendan Rooker was known to the boys, sat comfortably, pipe clenched in his teeth. Opposite was a sofa which served various purposes including a support for unfortunates sentenced to a beating.

  ‘Help yourself and pour me one,’ the monk said, gesturing towards the decanter. As Henri handed him a full glass, Rooky said ‘I hear you’re destined for military college in your father’s home country,’ referring to the new life Henri would soon find himself in. As he filled his own glass, he felt strangely apprehensive, knowing the next day was to be the end of the summer term and his last at the school. He would be launching himself into an uncertain world, with talk in the papers of another war.