Hello everybody,
while I thank Dan and Alecsandros and everybody else for their nice words, I think from my side it is due to underline in few words what I have realized from all this time spent on all this documents.
@ Wadinga,
I did NOT research in KEW for the documents and communications about the potential inquiry and court martial request ( Churchill, Pound, Tovey ) for Capt J.C. Leach and RearAdm W.F. Wake-Walker. They could have been there or still secreted as I imagine, that is not important to me.
I assumed that what Adm Tovey told McMullen on Adm Blake home and what was written by several authors about the court martial request Pound discussed with him on May 1941 based on Churchill request was true and not invented.
What I wanted to demonstrate, and I did it, is that what Adm Tovey wrote into his dispatches on point 17 and 19 on July 1941 did NOT correspond to the reality and was incorrect.
Since I assume that on July 1941 Adm Tovey did NOT suffer 10 times more for that "dementia" you are using to justify his words to McMullen 20 years after, there must have been a reason why he changed completely the data and statements from the received documents on June 1941 and released his dispatches incorrectly on July 1941.
I assume, after all the documents analysis, that the reason Adm Tovey had in mind when he wrote his dispatches on July 1941 was the avoidance of an inquiry call ( with consequent Court Martial ) for the above 2 Officers and the base definition for the awards recognition, namely 2 medals, for their conduct into the hunting and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck that occurred on October 1941.
In detail :
As said, I went in Kew to find the truth about the material regarding the battle itself, the original maps and radio communication logs, the warship diaries and so on.
What I realized anyhow by analyzing those documents regarding this thread is at follows.
For 72 years, on the many books written about this battle, when it was the moment to analyze 2 key occurrences, namely the missing participation of the 2 British heavy cruisers HMS Norfolk and HMS Suffolk and the disengagement of HMS Prince of Wales, we have mainly and obviously read statements that were directly related to the Adm Tovey dispatches of
July 5th, 1941 printed on the London Gazette on Thursday October 16th, 1947,
referencing the points 17 and 19.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/L ... /38098.pdf
It is now clear in my mind that the way those 2 points have been declared and than taken by the book writers after, have developed a series of theories about what happened that are NOT supported by the evidences lately de-secreted ( 1972 ) and currently available into the Public Record Office in Kew- London.
Usually those theories based on Adm Tovey declarations explain that the 2 heavy cruisers had never been in position to engage because they were late on closing the distances and distant more than 15 sea miles ( so out of gunnery range ) at the moment the battle started,
referencing point 17.
Similarly, the book authors explain that PoW retreated after some minutes engagement ( at 06.13 ) and after having received serious damaged on board ( 7 hits ), with few guns still working ( down to 3 still available out of 10 is the most used number ) and with a quadruple turret ( the Y aft ) jammed and unusable,
referencing point 19.
The available data into the official records, ironically all contained into the same available document, demonstrate that Adm Tovey made incorrect statements on his dispatches on points 17 and 19 ( July 5th, 1941 ). Those errors were based both on RearAdm Wake-Walker own incorrect summary ( June 5th, 1941 ) of documents received from Capt Ellis and Phillips that do have different distances reported together with maps available attached, as well as on an incorrect interpretation of Capt Leach narrative ( June 4th, 1941 ) about the PoW disengagement event, timing and reasons once correlated with RearAdm Wake-Walker PoW disengagement event timing incorrectly declared into his summary at 06.13, since Capt. Leach did not provide any timing in writing for that event and referred only to his own attached maps for the timing and his warship manoeuvers, and the timing he refers to do NOT correspond with the timing used by Adm Tovey ( 06.03 vs 06.13 disengagement ). More, Adm Tovey changed completely the PoW disengagement reasons wrote to him by Capt Leach and by doing so in conjunction with the timing change basically provided a completely different event scenario, so it cannot be considered anymore being a typo. It was done intentionally.
Summarizing :
It was thru Adm Tovey July 1941 incorrect dispatches that the evidences about an inquiry to be called against those 2 Officers was put “ to bed “ just to use your wording.
He did it using RearAdm Wake-Walker incorrect summary of June 1941, despite Capt. Ellis, Phillips and even Capt Leach own correct and different declarations in writings attached to it.
Adm Tovey disregarded what the Captain wrote, and it was going to be his duty to read it thru, he blessed Wake-Walker summary despite it was incorrect, and more, on doing his summary he also changed completely the meaning, timing and intention of the actions written by the warship single Captain, especially about the HMS Prince of Wales retreat event.
It is a fact and everybody can read his points 17 and 19 and compare those statements to what Capt. Ellis, Phillips and Leach wrote and declared on their own Official reports submitted about those events.
The Plot is a real shame used on August 1941 to remove and change RearAdm Wake-Walker previous declaration to HMS Hood First Board of Inquiry that was in conflict with July 1941 Adm Tovey declaration ( 10 sea miles vs 15 sea miles).
So, no “ dementia “ by anybody here, but some clear actions and data alteration, done intentionally and using a person directly involved into the scrutiny ( RearAdm W.F. Wake-Walker ) in order to enable what they wanted to do on October 1941.
No Court Martial, and a celebration with awards, and this is what they did.
Very simple, and well proven in writing on Official Royal Navy documents still available for everybody to be read into the Public Record Office, in Kew-London.
Of course for the one that after 72 years want to know the truth, ... the others can still believe to Adm Tovey points 17 and 19 on his dispatches ... and keep on writing that PoW retreated after 21 minutes in action at 06.13, ... while Norfolk and Suffolk were struggling at more than 15 sea miles behind the enemy and were never in condition to join the battle that morning ... while we all know it is
INCORRECT !
Bye Antonio
In order to honor a soldier, we have to tell the truth about what happened over there. The whole, hard, cold truth. And until we do that, we dishonor her and every soldier who died, who gave their life for their country. ( Courage Under Fire )