Eugene Esmonde

Infobox Military Person
name= Eugene Kingsmill Esmonde
lived= 1 March, 1909–12 February, 1942
placeofbirth= Wortley, South Yorkshire
placeofdeath= English Channel


caption=
nickname=
allegiance= United Kingdom
branch=Royal Air Force
Fleet Air Arm
serviceyears= 1939–1942
rank= Lieutenant Commander
commands= 825 Naval Air Squadron
battles= World War II
* Last battle of the battleship "Bismarck"
* "Channel Dash"
awards= Victoria Cross
Distinguished Service Order
laterwork=

Lieutenant Commander Eugene Kingsmill Esmonde VC DSO, F/Lt, RAF, Lt-Cdr (A) RN (1 March 1909 – 12 February 1942) was a distinguished pilot who was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awarded to members of Commonwealth forces. Lt-Cdr Esmonde earned this prestigious award while in command of a Naval torpedo bomber squadron serving in the British Fleet Air Arm in World War II.

Life Prior to World War II

Esmonde was born on 1 March 1909 in Thurgoland, near Barnsley, Yorkshire where his father Dr. John Joseph Esmonde (1862–1915) was in temporary General Practice. Though by birth English, his parents were from Ireland and he returned to his family's ancestral home of the Esmonde Baronets in Drominagh, co. Tipperary as a boy and was educated by the Jesuits, first at Wimbledon College in London and then at Clongowes Wood College in co. Kildare, Ireland.

He had three elder half-brothers from his father's first marriage, Sir John Lymbrick Esmonde, 14th Baronet, who served in the Great War, 2nd Lt. Geoffrey Esmonde (1897–1916) who was killed in action in the First World War serving with the 26th Tyneside Irish Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers, [ [http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=276200 Casualty details—Esmonde, Geoffery] , Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 2008-07-16.] and Sir Anthony Esmonde, 15th Baronet.

Esmonde was commissioned into the Royal Air Force as a pilot officer on probation on 28 December 1928. [LondonGazette|issue=33453|supp=yes|startpage=72|date=1 January 1929|accessdate=2008-07-16] During the early 1930s Eugene Esmonde served first in the RAF, and then transferred to the Fleet Air Arm where he served in the Mediterranean when responsibility for naval aviation was returned to the Royal Navy. Upon leaving the armed forces he flew for Imperial Airways.

Early wartime career

At the start of the war he returned to the Fleet Air Arm with the rank of lieutenant commander. His first sea posting was to HMS "Courageous", which was sunk in September 1939. He returned to sea duty onboard HMS "Victorious" after a series of postings to shore-based stations. On on the night of 24 May 1941, Esmonde led No. 825 Naval Air Squadron's nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers in an attack against the German battleship "Bismarck". This attack was part of the pursuit that took place after the battle of the Denmark Strait, in which HMS "Hood" was sunk by shells fired by the "Bismarck". The shells apparently struck an ammunition storage area of HMS "Hood", and the ship was destroyed by a violent explosion. Only three of the "Hood's" 1,418 crew members survived the action. The biplanes, flying from "Victorious", made a 120 mile flight in foul North Atlantic weather to attack the "Bismarck". The squadron's attack crippled the "Bismarck" when the ships rudder was disabled by one of two torpedo hits. Unable to effectively steer, the "Bismarck" was doomed. The ship was sunk the next day by the naval forces pursuing her (last battle of the battleship "Bismarck"). As a result of Esmonde's leadership and actions in the attack, he was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order on 11 February 1942 (the award was actually announced on 16 September 1941. [LondonGazette|issue=35275|supp=yes|startpage=5357|date=12 September 1941|accessdate=2008-07-16]

Esmonde had already been involved in another dramatic event by the time he received the Distinguished Service Order for his actions against the "Bismarck". His squadron was serving on HMS "Ark Royal" when she was torpedoed in November 1941. Attempts to tow her to Gibraltar were abandoned, and on 14 November 1941 she sank. The Swordfish of the squadron ferried some of the ship's crew off the doomed ship prior to her eventual sinking, and Esmonde was Mentioned in Despatches for his actions on this occasion. [LondonGazette|issue=35424|supp=yes|startpage=341|date=16 January 1942|accessdate=2008-07-16]

Victoria Cross

Esmonde earned his Victoria Cross when he led his squadron against elements of the German Fleet which made the "Channel Dash" (Operation Cerberus) from Brest in an attempt to return to their home bases at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel through the English Channel. On 12 February 1942 off the coast of England, 32 year old Lieutenant Commander Esmonde led a detachment of six Fairey Swordfishin an attack on the two German battlecruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" and the heavy cruiser "Prinz Eugen" (which had already managed to get from Brest without hindrance). These ships, along with a strong escort of smaller craft, were entering the Straits of Dover when Esmonde received his orders. He waited as long as he felt he could for confirmation of his fighter escort, but eventually took off without it. One of the fighter squadrons (10 Supermarine Spitfires of No. 72 Squadron RAF) did rendezvous with Esmonde's squadron, and the two squadrons were later attacked by enemy fighters of JG 2 and JG 26. The subsequent fighting left all of the planes in Esmonde's squadron damaged, and caused their fighter escort to become separated from the torpedo bombers.

The torpedo bombers continued their attack, even with their damage aircraft and lack of fighter protection. Heavy anti-aircraft fire from the German ships now added to their peril, and Esmonde's plane sustained a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire that destroyed most of one of his port wings (the Swordfish, an antiquated aircraft made of laminated cloth stretched over a wooden frame, had two wings). Esmonde's squadron continued their attack run despite their damage, and Esmonde led his flight through a screen of the enemy destroyers and other small vessels protecting the battlecruisers. He was still some 2,700 metres from his target when he was again hit, resulting in his aircraft bursting into flames and then crashing into the sea. The remaining aircraft continued the gallant attack, but all were shot down. Only five of the squadron's 18 men flying that day survived the action, and four of these survivors were wounded. Of the survivors, four officers received the Distinguished Service Order, and the lone enlisted survivor was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.LondonGazette|issue=35474|supp=yes|startpage=1007|endpage=1008|date=27 February 1942|accessdate=2008-07-16] . The disproportionate ratio of officer to enlisted survivors was most likely due to the fact that the officers, who were the aircraft pilots, sat furthest forward in the aircraft and were closest to the aircraft's large radial engine, which served as a shield from enemy fire. The enlisted members sat behind the pilots in rear facing seats and were exposed to more enemy fire as a result.

The courage of the gallant Swordfish crews was particularly noted by friend and foe alike. Admiral Ramsay later wrote: "In my opinion the gallant sortie of these six Swordfish aircraft constitutes one of the finest exhibitions of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty the war had ever witnessed", while Admiral Otto Ciliax in the "Scharnhorst" described "The mothball attack of a handful of ancient planes, piloted by men whose bravery surpasses any other action by either side that day". As he watched the smoking wrecks of the Swordfish falling into the sea, Captain Hoffman of the "Scharnhorst" exclaimed "Poor fellows, they are so very slow, it is nothing but suicide for them to fly against these big ships". Willhelm Wolf aboard the "Scharnhorst" wrote: "What an heroic stage for them to meet their end ! Behind them their homeland, which they had just left with their hearts steeled to their purpose, still in view".

The award of the VC was gazetted on 3 March 1942, the citation read:

quote|"ADMIRALTY. Whitehall. 3rd March, 1942."

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the grant of the VICTORIA CROSS, for valour and resolution in action against the Enemy, to:

The late Lieutenant-Commander (A) Eugene Esmonde, D.S.O., Royal Navy.

On the morning of Thursday, 12th February, 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Esmonde, in command of a Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, was told that the German Battle-Cruisers SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAUand the Cruiser PRINZ EUGEN, strongly escorted by some thirty surface craft, were entering the Straits of Dover, and that his Squadron must attack before they reached the sand-banks North East of Calais.

Lieutenant-Commander Esmonde knew well that his enterprise was desperate. Soon after noon he and his squadron of six Swordfish set course for the Enemy, and after ten minutes flight were attacked by a strong force of Enemy fighters. Touch was lost with his fighter escort; and in the action whichfollowed all his aircraft were damaged. He flew on, cool and resolute, serenely challenging hopeless odds, to encounter the deadly fire of the Battle-Cruisers and their Escort, which shattered the port wing of his aircraft. Undismayed, he led his Squadron on, straight through this inferno of fire, in steady flight towards their target. Almost at once he was shot down; but his Squadron went on to launch a gallant attack, in which at least one torpedo is believed to havestruck the German Battle-Cruisers, and from which not one of the six aircraft returned.

His high courage and splendid resolution will live in the traditions of the Royal Navy, and remain for many generations a fine and stirring memory.

He was remembered in Winston Churchill's famous broadcast speech on 13 May 1945 "Five years of War", as having defended Ireland's honour:

Esmonde was buried in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent. [ [http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2361369 Casualty details—Esmonde, Eugene Kingsmill] , Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 2008-07-16.]

ee also

*Eugene Esmonde was the great-nephew of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Esmonde VC.

References

*British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
*Eugene Esmonde, VC, DSO (Chaz Bowyer)
*Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)
*Irelands VCs (Dept of Economic Development 1995)
*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

External links

* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/valgal/valour/INF3_0447.htm Lieutenant Commander E. Esmonde] in "The Art of War" exhibition at the UK National Archives (includes image of original recommednation for the VC)
* [http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/kent.htm Location of grave and VC medal] "(Kent)"
* [http://humphrysfamilytree.com/Fitzgerald/esmonde.html Esmonde Family Tree]