Cruiser’s tragic fate inspired thousands of Channel Islanders
On a recent visit to Jersey, we came across some war graves in St Helier’s Howard Davis Park. The majority seem to be of Royal Navy sailors from HMS Charybdis. Could you tell me more? – P. Operation Tunnel was mounted when the Royal Navy gained intelligence that the Germans would be moving a convoy along the Brittany coast on the night of October 22-23, 1943. The cruiser HMS Charybdis and six destroyers should have been a strong force to reckon with. However, it seems the Germans’ shore-based radar – France and the Channel Islands were occupied by the Germans at this time – gave them warning of the movements of the British ships, which they were able to communicate to a convoy escort, only five miles off the French coast. The Charybdis picked up the approach of enemy ships on her radar, but it was too late to anticipate the attack by German destroyers. The Charybdis was hit by a torpedo almost immediately and sank. Within days, the bodies of 21 Royal Navy and Royal Marines washed up on the shores of the Channel Islands. Although the Germans buried the men with full military honours, the Islanders seized upon an opportunity to show their loyalty to Britain and their respect for the men who died. Five thousand people attended the funerals and the Germans subsequently banned members of the public from attending funerals for the additional 29 sailors whose bodies were later washed up. In all, 464 men died and 107 survived in the tragedy, the biggest single Channel loss of the war.