Photos Captain E.F GUERITZ- Unseen photos

[Bombardier]

I am starting this thread somewhat prematurely but couldn't contain my excitement
I have been contacted by a lady called Alison who has come into possession of an old trunk which was labelled Capt E.F GUERITZ RN, HMS Terror Singapore

She has found in the Trunk a set of negatives and describes them as photos of ships in the Harbour at Malta and the grave of Lieutenant commander E.M. Britton RN who died 24/06/1946.

Alison has asked if we can provide a good home for the photos which I have obviously agreed to and I await delivery of them so they can be developed and posted here in this thread. I doubt these photos have ever seen the light of day on the interweb and as such I am really looking forward to posting them here.

Given there rarity and the likely hood of being used without any copyright permissions I may consider watermarking them (Thoughts?)

She has kindly forwarded me a photo of one of the negatives, trunk and label which I have attached here.

There is a lot of information about Captain E.F GUERITZ who later became a rear Admiral in the Royal Navy.

Teddy Gueritz - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I have also found some audio files on the Imperial War Museum site that I will link at a later time, very interesting life that he has led indeed.

If you find any interesting information about this great man please post it here

This is an image I found on the web

Edward (Teddy) Findlay Gueritz​

(8 Sep 1919 – 21 Dec 2008)​

Here are the initial offering of pics for your interest but stay tuned when I receive the photos I will have them developed toot sweet and post them up, for your convenience you can use the bookmark function top right of this post

 

[Bombardier]

Just searched our galleries and found this photo of Lieutenant Commander E.M BRITTON grave posted by @28th61st

 

[uktabber]

Very Cool mate......thanks for sharing this find, looking forward to it!

 

[NebrHogger]

Bless you for preserving the images!!

 

[Bombardier]

The negatives should arrive tomorrow and will be straight out for development

 

[Bombardier]

I have now sent the negatives to a specialist for developing, it took me a while to identify the right company but I am hoping the photos will be available in the next week. There are about 20 images containing ships in the harbour and were probably taken circa 1950. Looking forward to sharing them with you all

 

[Bombardier]

The photos have now been developed and attached here
There were some duplicated photos so they are not included. It would be great to identify the ships and get some idea of the time period they were taken. Enjoy
All photos Copyright MilitaryImages.Net and larger resolution images are available by request

 

[Bombardier]

Could the carrier be HMS Vengeance? if so this photo may have been taken Circa 1945

 

[Gaz]

I don't think it's Vengeance because (And I'm not a nautical person so forgive the piss-poor terminology) but the pattern of circular objects to the left of the drainpipe in this picture - https://militaryimages.net/attachments/image-002-resized-jpg.439721/ - which is two protruding and then three flat black holes doesn't match the pattern in this picture -

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Now, I'm the first to admit I don't know what I'm talking about and things could have been altered or painted over by the time the flickr picture was taken but to put the cat amongst the pigeons... Is it possible that it's whatever carrier was WITH Vengeance in Malta in this picture?

HMS Vengeance

HMS Vengeance and sister ship (HMS Warrior ?) at Malta.

www.militaryimages.net

 

[Gaz]

The second carrier is rather unhelpfully not named in this IWM picture

WITH THE LIGHT FLEET CARRIER HMS VENGEANCE. MARCH AND APRIL 1945, IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. ACTIVITIES OF AIRMEN AND SISTER SHIPS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.

HMS VENGEANCE and another Light Fleet Carrier lying in Grand Harbour, Malta.

www.iwm.org.uk

 

[Bombardier]

I think it is possible that images 5&6 are that of HMS Saumarez (G12) an S-class destroyer, I believe this is possible as the photo of the grave of Lt Commander Britton shows a death in the year 1946 and so the photographs in this collection can only be as early as that .

In that year Gueritz was second in command of that ship.

HMS Saumerez was involved in the Corfu Channel incident on 26 September 1946 (see below summary) and due to the damage control procedures that E.F Gueritz put in place the ship was not lost during that incident.

Saumerez hit a mine at 14:53, which caused severe damage and 30 deaths among her crew; the efficient damage control parties led by the ship's second-in-command, Teddy Gueritz, helped to minimise the casualty numbers.

I have compared images 5 & 6 to other photos of HMS Saumerez and they are strikingly similar. The ship being in Malta some 3 months before the Corfu incident would seem to support my suspicions and also the grave of Lt Commander Britton appears relatively new and again fits into the time frame (some 3 months before the Corfu incident), of course my whole assumption here is that Lt Commander Britton was laid to rest around the time of these photographs and I base that assumption on how new the grave is and the abindance of flowers ( as you would expect if recently buried)

Here is a different view of his grave


Just guess work but I am somewhat convinced and if I am right this collection of photos was taken circa 77 years ago

A photo from the Imperial War museum of HMS Saumarez burning after hitting the mine in Corfu

SERVICE OF REAR ADMIRAL SIR [WILLIAM] DAVID SCOTT RN, 1937-1980

HMS SUAMAREZ fiercly burning 20 seconds after hiting a mine in the Corfu Chanel. Photograph taken from HMS VOLAGE which was also to strike a mine under two hours later.

www.iwm.org.uk

 

[Bombardier]

The British Cemetery, Corfu. Memorial and graves of victims of the mining of HM Ships Saumarez & Volage, in the Corfu Channel 1946, after it had been cleared. Albania was later blamed and held to account for re-mining the channel. Some of the first casualties of the Cold War?

 

[JW1966]

Hello Bombardier,

Many thanks indeed for sharing your find of photos that belonged to Rear Admiral Gueritz.

If I may, I will outline some facts about Lt.-Cdr. E.M. Britton, how he met his end and Teddy Gueritz’s interest in photographing it.

HMS Falcon was the Fleet Air Arm base at Malta, and Edwin Britton was a pilot. He had joined the RN in 1938, and by 1941, he was a FAA lieutenant, and the following year went to East Africa with 728 NAS. In 1943, he was posted to Malta with 828 NAS, and he immersed himself fully in his duties against German and Italian installations and naval and merchant targets, earning a 'mention in despatches’ for his tour. In autumn 1943, he assumed command of 831 NAS.

In early-1944, he was given command of Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance Wings (829 and 831 NASs), one of the first to fly the Fairey Barracuda. He took over 12 TBR Wing (815 and 817 NASs), and sailed to the Far East with HMS Begum and was later attached to HMS Indomitable. Flying off the Indomitable they dive bombed oil storage facilities and airfields at Sabang, Sumatra, then on 26th August 1944, targets on Emmahaven (Operation Banquet), winning a second ‘mention' for gallantly, skill and leadership.

Subsequently, in February 1945, he returned to Blighty and was posted to command 778 NAS (probably at HMS Condor at Arbroath), and remained in this posting until the end of the war. At the start of 1946 - as CO - he went back to 728 NAS, by then at HMS Falcon, Malta. Tragically, having survived the war, in early-June his Bristol 156 Beaufighter TF.X S/No. NV483 crashed on take-off. He suffered burns and multiple injuries and died on 21st June.

Why did Teddy Gueritz make sure to take photos of Edwin Britton’s resting place? Because they were firm friends, having been at Cheltenham College together.......and the following yearTeddy Gueritz married a lady called Pamela Britton - in all likelihood, Edwin’s sister.

God bless him.......God bless them both.

 

[Bombardier]

Thank you very much for this information @JW1966