HMS Zambesi entered Bergen, Norway, on 8th May 1945, the day WW11 formally ended. The following is from a letter by Midshipman Derek Hirst to his mother started on 14th May and completed shortly after leaving Bergen on the 21st May.

Written from HMS Zambesi,  C/o  G.P.O. London.

May 14th 1945

18.00. It’s a calm night with just a slight breeze blowing. Everyone is fallen in for leaving harbour & on the bridge the Captain is standing on the compass platform waiting to give the order to slip. A few minutes later the order came – the slip rope was hauled in board & once again the ship was under way, but through the boom we went, as we had done so many times before, closely followed by HMS Obedient. Outside the flow (Scapa Flow) the cruiser HMS Norfolk joined us & together we sailed out into the night. The  middle watch passed very pleasantly & by 04.00 we were 40 miles N E of the Shetlands. We then turned East & set course for Bergen.

11.30. Land-ho! Just over the horizon loomed Norway with its snow capped mountains silhouetted brightly against the sky. We were still 60 miles or more away & as we closed in we saw the ruggedness & terrific height of the mountains more plainly. We were doing 20 knots so it took us just on three hours before we reached the Fiord which led to Bergen. At the entrance we stopped main engines & waited for a pilot to come aboard. We still had another two hours steaming to go up the fiord before we should finally reach the harbour and town of Bergen itself.

The pilot arrived on board at 1400. We closed all X & Y openings (water-tight doors & hatches) and put on our life-belts as we had to go through several minefields. So up the Fiord we proceeded & we passed some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.

It was not long before dozens of rowing boats & motor boats came out to meet us as we steamed along. They came so close to us that we thought we might hit some of them but we managed not to somehow. They cheered madly as we passed them & our own sailors were returning their cheers with plenty of vigour. The joy on the people’s faces was enough to show us how welcome we were & how glad they were to see us. All the way up the fiord there were literally hundreds of Norwegian flags flying. Crowds gathered on the shore & cheered us as we passed the many little villages along the Fiord.

In places we had to pass through a channel only 200 yards wide. Between the villages we passed many German searchlights & gun batteries still manned by Germans.  As yet the British Army had not arrived to take them over & disarm them so you may guess that we had our misgivings as to whether the Germans might try to be funny. However all went well & at last we arrived at Bergen itself.

The cruiser went in first & went alongside the jetty & we followed her in & went alongside her. I think there must have been at least half of the towns population out to greet us. It was simply terrific – all the cheering & gay smiling faces – the hundreds waving Norwegian flags – it was truly a royal welcome. Also there were dozens of little boats fussing round our sides & before we knew where we were we had crowds of people swarming over the side onto the ship.

Bergen itself is rather sprawled out owing to the high mountains coming so close to the shore. It is a very pretty town with many different coloured roofs. It had suffered a little from our own bombing but only in one place. Over on one side of the harbour were the U-boat pens similar to the ones at St. Nazaire. The RAF had done a good job on them though & there was not much left. In the harbour we found 38 U-boats! The biggest haul yet captured. There were also 30,000 German troops around the town, still to be disarmed. It rather shook me that there were so many.

At 18.00 we had some Norwegians in the wardroom and at 20.00 we all went into the town. It amazed me how many Norwegians spoke English as well. We walked through the barrier amidst hundreds of people who cheered us and before we knew where we were we had about a hundred kiddies walking up the street with us arm in arm singing away. We sang all the popular songs – Tipperary & Pack Up Your Troubles etc. We were cheered all the way to the main square and there we sang Auld Lang Syne.

After that these Norwegian friends of ours took us to their home. It was a lovely place and the furniture was beautiful – real solid stuff. Their lighting in the houses is very mellow & not very bright as you always find in an English home.

These Norwegians had suffered a lot – very little food – kept heavily under by the Gestapo. Food was the main thing & cigarettes. Butter, meat & tea were almost unknown to them during the last five years. That first night though was a night to remember and we did not get back to the ship till 03.00 in the morning. It was funny though to pass Germans still fully armed in the streets. Their expressions were very stony and ours were even stonier to them as you may guess. The Germans seemed bewildered by the gaiety of the town that night & well they might be.

As on the first night so for the nights of the rest of the week we had a marvellous time. We went to many of their homes & made many friends – they were very glad indeed to see us. On board we had many parties with Norwegians & what a time we had. We gave them as much as we could to eat & their expressions were enough to tell us how grateful they were. Practically everyone we made friends with spoke English so it made things very easy. They had not seen white bread at all during the war so they were very glad to see us and get plenty.

The resistance movement had done a grand job of work & we met many of them who had very interesting stories to tell.

May 17th was Norway’s National day and on that day they really went mad & we joined them. The town was one mass of colour. The national costumes of the women were really beautiful. During the night hundreds of fireworks went off – ones the Germans were saving for their victory. At 18.00 we had 20 guests on board & had another party & also a film. At 21.00 we all piled into the town & joined in the gaiety. There was dancing in the square which was great fun. It’s amazing but practically all Norwegian girls are fair or blond & have blue eyes – a very pleasing mixture  & on the whole all of them were extremely pretty.

At 23’00 we went along to the British Army headquarters & got hold of what was the German general’s staff car. It was a lovely Mercedes-Benz & could she go! We piled into this car & there were even 4 people hanging onto the luggage boot at the back & three sitting on the front mudguards. We went touring round the town causing quite a bit of chaos. We sang and cheered & the crowds joined us – even our captain went completely mad. We ended up at our friends house where another party was already going on. It was a terrific house in size so there was plenty of room for games. At 02.00 we went to another party at another house further up the side of the mountain overlooking Bergen. Here we had more dancing etc. Eventually we decided at 04.30 we had better get back to the ship, which we did.

On Saturday the cruiser and we two destroyers arranges a children’s party for 500 children. We rigged swings, slides & dozens of little things with which to amuse them. We also had a terrific tea waiting for them. Well it started at 2.00 in the afternoon and went on till 7.00 in the evening. Instead of 500 we had 2,000! & what a time they had. They were all over the place and we had to watch them like hawks in case they started playing with things they shouldn’t. The sailors came well up to their reputation of being able to give kiddies a good time. It was a very tired lot that left the ship at 7.0.They had screamed & shouted themselves hoarse as well I think. It was as much fun for us as well entertaining them.

It was 09.30 Monday 21 May that we finally steamed out of Bergen. We were very sorry to leave. The Navy had done their job – dealt with the 38 U-boats. As well as creating greater friendship between Norway and England. The English sailor is definitely the English ambassador where-ever he goes & he kept his reputation in Bergen, although I think the Germans have still got the idea all Englishmen are as mad as hatters!

Editor: Roy Elwood.

The photographs above, from the top, are:

• HMS Zambesi follows the cruiser HMS Norfolk into Bergen, May 1945 (Courtesy of Derek Hirst)
• A pre-war postcard of Bergen, sent home to New Zealand by HMS Zambesi Signalman Ray (Joe) Ward in May 1945 – one of several he sent. (Courtesy of Christine Ward, Ray’s daughter, from North Island, New Zealand – now Christine Jones)
  
• HMS Zambesi going up the fjord to Bergen, May 1945
• Bergen en fete at the end of World War II in May 1945. (Courtesy of Derek Hirst)
• Ray (Joe) Ward and fellow HMS Zambesi crewmen with some Bergen townsfolk in May 1945. (Courtesy of Christine Jones)
  
• Signalman Ray (Joe) Ward from HMS Zambesi (right) with a fellow crewman and some children from Bergen, May 1945. (Courtesy of Chritine Jones)
• Bergen folk in national costume for the Victory Parade in May 1945. (Courtesy of Derek Hirst)
• Nurses in Bergen’s Victory Parade, 17th May 1945. (Courtesy Derek Hirst)
• Victory celebrations in Bergen. (Courtesy Derek Hirst)
• HMS Zambesi signalman Ray (Joe) Ward, 2nd left. (Courtesy of Christine Jones) This photograph is a deliberate postscript to Derek Hirst’s story – because Christine left a comment at ForArgyll on Roy Elwood’s story on HMS Zambesi. We put them in touch, learned something about Christine who sent some of her father’s photographs to Roy. Her father, Ray Ward, known to his shipmates as Joe Ward, was a New Zealander posted to HMS Zambesi. He was a Signalman on the ship for the passage from Scapa Flow to Bergen in May 1945. As with many veterans, he spoke little of his wartime experiences to his family. Contact with Roy Elwood, his story of Zambesi and Derek Hirst’s letter home, above, on the Bergen liberation, have given Christine new insights into her father’s life in those momentous days.
  

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