Chapter 1: Sick leave

Five weeks after his landing back in the UK with Christmas approaching fast, Tony's long stay in hospital was over. He was now ready for his convalescence. He said goodbye to Joan his companion from the intelligence branch, who had been staying with him to retrieve every bit of vital information that she could glean from him. He was taken to Haslar Hospital near Portsmouth by ambulance, with a close escort of plain clothes Policemen. After the medical, which fortunately gave him an all clear, he went to report to Captain Submarines at the submarine base at HMS Dolphin which was close to the hospital, and also to renew some old acquaintances. It was at this point that Captain Submarines told him the inside story about the capture of the Enigma machine by HMS Boxer from U110, and the reason for his abortive recall...

Tony was very bitter about the lack of communication at the Admiralty, that had put him and Anne-Marie in such danger all for nothing. He pointed out bitterly that Anne-Marie lost her life because of Admiralty bungling. Had they acted more quickly then Anne-Marie would still be alive

At Haslar Hospital he had been given a very rigid Psychological and Physical examination, to ascertain whether the experience has caused any lasting damage to his ability as a Royal Naval Officer. But as he explained it had been easy to live the lie, as there was no-one alive to betray him, except poor Janine who was now dead.

On Sunday December 7th 1941 the whole focus of the war changed, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. Almost simultaneously Japanese troops landed in Malaysia. The next day Hitler foolishly declared war on the United States which brought the comment from one of the officers in the wardroom at HMS Dolphin. Hitler has made three big mistakes, and if we can't win the bloody war now, we don't deserve to. The fact that he did not persevere with the air war in the Battle of Britain, then he stupidly attacked Russia, and now by declaring war on the United States he has surely ensured his eventual downfall."

Tony's sudden and unexpected re-appearance at HMS Dolphin had caused a lot of surprise, as his return to the UK had not formally been made public. One of his friends said caustically. "I was not sure whether I should shoot you or buy you a drink."

To his friends it was a complete surprise. Even William Joyce now known as Lord Haw-Haw in his nightly broadcasts, was quite bitter and really scathing about the way in which the Partisans had executed him.

Obviously his safe arrival back in the UK had not been pecked up by the Germans.

He was informed that the official announcement was to be made shortly. Tony cynically commented that he hoped that it would be, as he did not need to be shot by a keen eyed policeman after what he had just been through

After everyone had got over their initial surprise at seeing him again, he was the target for some very close questioning about how he had got on with Hitler and Goering, and some of the other notable Nazi' leaders, from colleagues, but in the main, most of his colleagues accepted that his experiences must be a matter of Official Secrets, and perhaps even after the war, some parts of his abortive operation would have to remain a closely guarded secret, at least for a time.

It was pointed out to him that his return would now put him in great personal danger, as through the large network of double agents that within hours of the BBC announcing his safe return to the UK, the government had learned that orders had gone out to all agents and Nazi sympathisers in the UK for his extermination, with a large financial reward being offered for either his capture or death. Somehow Nazi Germany had to restore their lost credibility in the eyes of their own population, and the World at large.

He was continually asked by many officers "Why did you not kill Hitler when you had the chance?" Tony normally replied "Think about it a bit. If I could have done, I would still not have done it, because they might then have elected someone who did not make so many stupid mistakes, and that would give them a much better chance of winning the bloody war."

He had a further long visit with Mr. Broughton from the Admiralty, who sympathised with him over his bitterness about Admiralty communications, and sending him and Anne-Marie on an abortive operation. He said that HMS Bulldog did not send details of their capture as they would not take the risk of their signals being reads by the enemy

He explained that the Admiralty would announce his safe return from a highly successful operation, in Nazi Germany in the next 48 hours, before he was due to go on leave. He also pointed out that the Admiralty had decreed that his seafaring days were finished, at least until Germany had been defeated, pointing out that if he was taken prisoner, it would mean a certain execution for him.

Mr. Broughton expressed his concern that he was he was probably in much more danger now than he had been whilst in Nazi Germany, as their were still a large number of Nazi sympathisers and agents still in the UK. Many had come in via Dunkirk and been caught, but there were still a few who were unaccounted for. In particular there was a hardcore of IRA sympathisers, who were prepared to actively work for the Nazi regime. Mr. Broughton explained that they were pleased that he would be going on leave to a country village, which gave the security services a better chance to catch any would be assassins than in a city. The security people would be there to protect him, but they would be watching for any strangers in the village as well as fully co-operating with the local County Police Force to ensure his safety.

In a way he commented as he was putting on his coat to take his leave "You will be like the cheese in the trap to catch the mouse, it will help us to entrap any Nazi sympathisers, so there is a good excuse to deploy a lot of resources to look after your security."

His old boat Tenacious was out on patrol, also his ex First Lieutenant Bill had been made Lieutenant Commander and put in command of an "S "Class Submarine, and he too was also out on patrol He had been very successful so far, and had been on a special operation, and had sunk a couple of enemy ships in another patrol. However, it was wartime, and it was sad that several of his oldest friends had not returned from their patrols. Their boats apparently being the casualties of war, as they were now long overdue.

After a very pleasant visit, Tony was free to go home on sick leave pending further appointment. His kit would follow, being brought to his home by the Red Cross. He was escorted discreetly by four plain clothes police officers who would be responsible for his security. Tony arrived at the local station by the morning milk train. at 5.0 am in the morning. just as the all clear was being sounded following a raid on the Bristol docks. Fortunately, the Red Cross had been able to get a message through to Jean his cousin, that he was on his way, and she had waited on a freezing snow covered railway station all night, as the trains were very irregular, and she was not going to take the chance of missing him.

Anyone seeing their reunion would have thought that they were lovers, and not just first cousins. She told him that she had received a long visit, from some security people, and the local police, who wanted a complete lay out of the farm and the local area, and that everyone was taking the issue of his security very seriously. She was quite concerned about all the fuss, which was being made, which quite rightly, made her think Tony was in some sort of danger. But she worried because she did not know the real reason for it. When Tony explained she understood, and Tony introduced him to the four police officers who had accompanied him...

Tony had been asked by the special police to keep them informed of his movements, but otherwise they would not intrude on his movements, or activities. They did however ask him to inform them if he was going anywhere outside the village or to visits like military hospitals for a check-up to give them plenty of notice if possible.

It was good to be home, and despite the war, his cousin Jean prepared a wonderful breakfast for him. It was good to enjoy some real Wiltshire bacon and eggs and a proper mug of tea, in his own farm house kitchen. For the first time, sitting at home at the kitchen table with a proper breakfast Tony began to appreciate, the danger he had been in, and realise how lucky he had been to survive.

Jean asked about his family especially Rolf his cousin, who had been a regular visitor to the farm before the war, but Tony had not seen him during his visit, as his squadron was operating on the Russian front. Tony had always thought that Jean had a bit of a crush on Rolf when they were kids, and he and Tony had been really good mates.

Tony was also delighted to see a couple of new faces at the breakfast table. The Ministry of Agriculture had allocated two land girls to the farm. They were both London born and bred, and had never seen a real cow in their lives before they came to work at the farm. Jean was really pleased with them; they had taken to life on the farm like ducks to water.

The girls were not in any way shy and they obviously liked flirting which annoyed Jean a little by the look of annoyance on her face.

Rose the youngest one had lost her parents recently, in a raid on London, and Betty had come straight from an orphanage, and had no known family. They were both quite pretty girls, and worked well together. They were living in two self contained apartments over the stables, and had made themselves quite comfortable, although they took their meals in the main house with the family.

Tony had a walk round the farm yard after breakfast, savoring the odor of fresh cow dung that hung in the morning air, and he had an enjoyable visit to the dairy for several glasses of fresh cold milk, that had just come through the water cooler, before it went into the milk churns for the daily collection by the local dairy The smells brought back memories of more pleasant times for him.

Even his old favourite cart horse Bandit was still working, and seemed to remember him. Jean explained that they now had five horses working, but Bandit was only on light work now because of his age.

The weather had been quite warm for December, until the snow arrived later that day which thawed quickly to be followed by clear skies and a hard frost, with more snow being forecast for later in the month, and speculation was rife for a white Christmas. The days were longer as with double British Summertime in operation, it was possible to work later in the evenings, although the mornings were dark until later. The Luftwaffe despite losing the Battle of Britain were now making good use of the long winter nights with occasional lightning forays on military targets and some cities.

There had only been one bomb dropped locally at a farm two miles away recently, and the only casualty had been a wild rabbit. Jean told him with some amusement that the farmer a friend of hers now had quite a large crater in the field adjoining the farmhouse. He was delighted as he had intended to make a pond, so that he could keep some ducks, and so a lot of the work had been done for him, but he was not amused at having to replace all his windows in the farmhouse. His baby son had slept all the way through the noise and was perfectly all right.

Shortages of food were now being experienced by the population at large, but being a country village. With clothes and most food products being rationed, but there was always plenty of fresh produce available, plenty of rabbits, chicken and eggs and the odd pig got slaughtered, and sold quietly without ration cards. Things like Sugar and Butter in particular were in short supply although most dairy farms managed to make a reasonable butter for their own consumption. Some farms had plighted fields and planted Potatoes and vegetables, a thought which Jean was considering

Tony made himself known to the farm workers who had not met him before, Most of whom were past the age for military call-up, but they had already lost three younger men to the army, and several younger men were awaiting their calling up papers ... So the land girls were a useful and very welcome addition. They had been promised one more girl, but she had not yet arrived. Tony took the first couple of days quite easy, just helping with little jobs around the farm, when he felt like it.

To the surprise of everyone, he started to get up for early morning milking, and quite impressed the girls, with the fact that he still retained his ability to milk a cow. On the second morning Tony had been busy mucking out the cowshed after the morning milking, and when he returned to the kitchen, he found a young attractive lady sitting there talking to Jean.

She was introduced to him as Mrs. Angie Drake. She was about 25 and slim with nice features, long blonde hair and quite a pleasant personality. and were the tenants of Lower Hill farm house, which was the other side of the wood, and which actually belonged to Tony. He was quite intrigued with Angie, and in talking found that she had been a second officer in the WRNS, but having become pregnant, and married she was discharged. She did however, subsequently lose the baby. Her husband was a serving naval officer, and had just started his submarine training at HMS Dolphin.