Background information
Introduction
The intention of the introductory activity is to focus pupils’ attention on how we
use sources of evidence. There is little need for detailed information about the
content of the first picture. However, it may be useful to know that it is a picture of
damage following an air raid in Swansea in the early 1940s. It is an Anderson
shelter in a back garden and the people emerging from the door are the family to
whom it belongs. The bombing was particularly intense, the casualties were high
and as a result the King and Queen later visited to show their support. This
picture was chosen in order to help pupils focus their questions on individuals,
which is often easier than events depicted in images. Pupils need to be
encouraged to ask questions, which will yield useful information.
Main section
William Killey and HMS Warwick
The story behind William Killey, Able seaman on the HMS Warwick, commanded
by Captain D Rayner. Killey died in the attack of February 20, 1944 when the
ship was sunk after an attack by the German submarine U-413. William Killey
was from Tylorstown in the Rhondda. He joined the navy the previous year as an
ordinary crew member. When the ship was hit by torpedoes from the German
submarine U-413, it was on protection duty helping convoys of ships to cross the
Atlantic with supplies for Britain.
Killey was buried in St Mary’s graveyard in Padstow where many of the sailors
who died in the incident were also buried; see the memorial page from the
Commonwealth War Graves website, the gravestone and the war memorial. A
memorial service was held in the town each year until recently to remember the
disaster. A detailed account of the incident exists and was written by the skipper
of the Lady Luck, a trawler that was one of the fishing vessels benefiting from the
protection of the destroyers at the time. The commanding officer of the
submarine was Kapitanleutnant Gustav Koel. He had to wait for a further two
days before he could get away from the area in order to return to safety in
northern France. Most of this information can be extracted from the sources of
evidence.
Atlantic convoys
At the start of the war Britain had the largest navy in the world. However, the
Germans had a very large fleet of submarines or U-boats. The main purpose of
the two navies during the war was not to fight battles but to blockade the enemy.
This meant destroying enemy ships carrying food and materials before they
reached home. This was far more dangerous for Britain because it had to import
food to survive. The Germans knew this and targeted British merchant ships
travelling together in convoys, which could be protected by the navy. The
Germans began to hunt in “wolf packs” often waiting on the surface to avoid
being detected. Up to 1943 the U-boats were winning. They destroyed more than
2,000 ships. By the end of 1943 the Allies had developed better radar and faster
ships. These together with planes that could fly longer distances to cover the
ships and more accurate depth charges, eventually defeated the German U-boat
fleet. After May 1943 when 41 U-boats were sunk, Germany gradually called off
the campaign.
Further research
There are opportunities here for further research if more able pupils identify
questions that still need to be answered. At this point it would be useful for them
to address enquiries such as:

Can we find out any further information about William Killey? They could
use the Commonwealth War Graves site themselves: www.cwgc.ork.uk.

Can we find out anything more about the HMS Warwick? A general search
will reveal a useful site www.atlanticdiver.freeserve.co.uk/hmswarwick.htm - and there is of
course a lot more should they look at investigations like Winston Churchill,
Atlantic convoys, U-boats, etc.

Lastly an obvious line of further research would be to see if the same
could be done for a local personality, starting with names from a local war
memorial, checking these on the database from the Commonwealth War
Graves site and then seeing if any further information can be pieced
together.
Credits:
Photo of grave: Nicola Smith, St Mary’s IOS
The Crisp Family, Padstow Museum, John Buckingham and David Heylar for the
two descriptions of the sinking of HMS Warwick.