Smithy's War

Of a total of 55,882 Allied merchant crewmen between 1939 and 1945, 25,864 died as a direct result of Axis naval and air forces. Those who survived are barely remembered.
Leslie George Smith, who was born in Sydney, Australia on 14th May 1908, was one such survivor. Serving as a communications officer aboard the 12,000 ton Danish oil tanker Anglo-Maersk, under British Flag from May 1940, his experiences reflecting the dangers of working on fairly unprotected merchant ships during wartime are quite moving, and are included in his own words within the pages of this book.
SMITHY’S WAR traces what happened to the other merchant ships Leslie mentions in his text. It also includes the final hours of the Anglo-Maersk taken from the Logbook of the German U-boat U-604 which was responsible for the sinking of the tanker when it formed part of convoy SL.125. The convoy was “sacrificed” to the Germans as it drew away their U-boats from the North African coast at the launch of Operation Torch – The Allied invasion of North Africa. This operation was regarded to be a “dress rehearsal” for the eventual landings in France and therefore immensely important as it was the beginning of the turning point of the war.
The book looks at the chase and final destruction of the U-604 at the hands of the US Navy and US Navy aircraft.
SMITHY’S WAR has been structured chronologically and includes events that were happening around the world during the time Leslie was at sea and up until the end of that horrendous conflict known as World War II.