Destroyer from America

Published three months after the first edition. THIS COPY WAS PRESENTED BY DONALD RUSSELL OF THE LYGON ARMS AT BROADWAY, WORCESTERSHIRE, TO E B DAVIES, FIRST LIEUTENANT OF HMS BROADWAY - A DOUBLE 'BROADWAY' CONNECTION. It carries Davies's signature and Russell's inscribed business card on front paste-down. The Town-class destroyer HMS Broadway became famous as one of three escorts (the others being HMS Aubretia and HMS Bulldog) which captured U-110 intact in May 1941. The U-boat's capture led to the first seizure of a working Enigma machine and many vital cipher documents. The capture, subsequently code-named Operation PRIMROSE, was one of the greatest secrets of the Battle of Atlantic and was not revealed until ULTRA began to be declassified in the 1970s. Donald Russell was the owner-manager of the prestigious The Lygon Arms. The hotel was purchased, restored and made famous by his father, but during WWII Donald Russell turned it into a haven for servicemen on leave. It was doubtless while Davies was staying there that Russell caught sight of the 'Broadway' connection that resulted in the presentation. It is a remarkable added coincidence that HMS Broadway and HMS Newmarket should be sister ships. 'Destroyer from America' is a vividly-written and personal account of the war service of Town-class destroyer HMS Newmarket (here thinly disguised as 'HMS Porchester'). The simple device nevertheless allows the author to describe the war in the Atlantic with much less than the usual censorship. In addition to his work as a book illustrator, the artist John Worsley is best remembered as the creator of 'Albert RN', the dummy prisoner so lifelike that it enabled a series of successful escapes from the famous naval prison camp Marlag Milag Nord. The story is told in Lewis Gilbert's well-known feature film 'Albert RN' (1953) starring Jack Warner and Anthony Steel. Law 0231 (recording the first edition).