Flintshire Memories: Memoirs of Buckley man reveal war secrets

By Flintshire Chronicle on Oct 20, 09 12:56 PM in 1900-1945

Veteran Harold Donnell speaks for the first time about his guilt over the sinking of a British submarine to Eleanor Barlow.

A MAN who was sworn to secrecy over his involvement in the sinking of a British submarine has spoken out - after 66 years harbouring the secret.

Harold Donnell, 89, has never revealed the incident which happened while he was working as a wireless operator in the Second World War and led to the British Army sinking its own submarine, which he believes was HMS Thunderbolt.

But the Buckley man has chosen to tell all in his memoirs, Just a Tick.

In 1943, Mr Donnell was working with another wireless operator in Libya when a submarine was spotted in the path of a British supply convoy.

Believing it to be an enemy vessel, the two transmitted the details of its position and within half an hour it had been sunk.

"Afterwards, we were called into our officer's tent and told that for our part in the incident we'd be recommended for immediate promotion," Mr Donnell said.

"But later we were called back in and told that subject to the Official Secrets Act we were never to mention what had happened, because if we did heads would roll."

The submarine had been a British vessel.

Mr Donnell said: "In my opinion, the submarine which sunk was HMS Thunderbolt.

"There are no records of any other submarine being sunk in the Mediterranean that year.

"I've never discussed this with anyone before and according to official reports the Thunderbolt was sunk by an Italian corvette."

The Thunderbolt sank on March 14, 1943, and all men aboard were lost.

The submarine had been recommissioned from the salvaged HMS Thetis, which sank in Liverpool Bay in 1939, killing 99 people.

Mr Donnell said: "It's heartbreaking. When I was just 18 I'd cycled up to Llandudno with my dad and seen the Thetis from the Great Orme.

"It's awful to think if I hadn't transmitted the message, it wouldn't have sunk again.

"A friend of mine from Buckley had served on the Thunderbolt but changed crews before it sank.

"He's dead now but I was never able to mention this to him - the crew on board when it sank will have been his friends."

He added: "I was a little bit dubious about putting this in the book but I thought I had to disclose it because if I pass on without talking about it, it will never be revealed."

Mr Donnell, known as Don to his friends, was born in Caerwys but moved to Mancot when he was two.

He signed up for the RAF in 1939 and spent most of the war serving in the Middle East.
When he returned, he went back to his old job at Courtalds Textile Factory, Flint, but later went to work as an aircraft fitter in Broughton, a sign writer and the sales manager of a dry cleaners before he retired.

In 1946, he married Dorothy and the couple had eight children together.

They moved to Buckley, where he still lives, in 1965. Dorothy passed away in 2007.
Mr Donnell is now a grandfather to 16 and great-grandfather to 11.

He is president of the Buckley Historical Society and an elder at St John's United Reformed Church.

He decided to write the book, which compiles his memories from 1920 until 1945, after encouragement from his family. He said: "I'm always telling stories and one of my sons told me I should put them all in a book."

The book also includes 96 photos, chosen from hundreds in Mr Donnell's collection.
Just a Tick can be bought from Mold Book Shop or at www.moldbookshop.co.uk.

For more information, visit www.justatickbyhid.co.uk.

The first picture shows Harold Donnell with his book Just a Tick and the second features him working as a wireless operator in the Second World War.

A double disaster

HMS Thetis sank during diving trials in Liverpool Bay on June 1, 1939, when water was let into a torpedo tube, causing the bow of the submarine to sink.

On board were 103 people, include 53 crew members, naval officers and employees of Birkenhead's Cammell Laird boatyard, and only four survived.

The rest died from carbon dioxide poisoning caused by the crowded conditions, the increased atmospheric pressure and a delay of 20 hours before the evacuation started.

The submarine lay at the bottom of Liverpool Bay for 12 weeks, while various attempts were made to raise it, but was eventually returned to land on Anglesey. It was completely stripped and, because of the wartime economy, it was decided it should be refitted in the hope it would be back in service within a year.

In 1940, the Thetis was recommissioned as HMS Thunderbolt.

By 1943 the Thunderbolt had succeeded in sinking seven other vessels by torpedo and six by gun action and had served on two special assignments.

According to official reports, on March 12, 1943, the vessel was on a Mediterranean patrol when a large Italian convoy was spotted.

The Thunderbolt attacked the largest vessel in the group before turning away to escape.

Italian corvette the Cicogna then detected the ship and attacked.

According to reports, HMS Thunderbolt settled at the bottom of 1,350m of water and all men on board were lost.

After the Thetis sank in 1939, torpedo tubes on British and Australian submarines were fitted with a modification called the Thetis clip. This is a latch which stops the doors on the tubes being opened more than a small amount.

Several books on the Thetis disaster have been published, including HMS Thetis: Secrets and Scandal which was written by Flintshire maritime historian

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