Four days after Christmas, nightly bombing began and continued every night for a week. Mum’s frayed nerves were at breaking point and it was only the relief of having Dad with us that kept her going. I was glad my hospital duties took me away from her. I tried to persuade her to volunteer herself, but she’d agree then kept putting it off. I suspect she didn’t want to have to face how bad the situation was in the hospital, where every day more wounded men arrived for treatment.
In our hotel, the walls shook, our beds rocked, the glass in the window juddered. My fear was in contrast to the reassuring bluster of most of my compatriots.
During January, more and more people flooded onto the island from the peninsula, and military reinforcements arrived by sea.
Too little too late.
The ships
