Major P. Pettit – 17th Field Regiment Cameronia:
“At 2230 Bill and I were on deck, we heard an aircraft coming nearer, it seemed to swoop on the ship and away again. As it came in our AA opened up with tracer and as it went away the other boats opened up as well. Really a ‘Brocks Benefit’ (a wartime expression meaning a ‘Night Bombardment’ named after a well known British firework manufacturer of the time – ‘Brocks’). Then the alarm bells rang for ‘Action Stations’ and we went below to our jobs on the troops messdecks”
In the words of Master of the Cameronia Captain Kelly, in his ‘Shipping Casualty Report’:
“At about 2230, when just leaving the swept channel, an attack was made upon us by three Heinkels 111 and (The five) Junkers 88 bombers. ‘Action Stations’ were sounded, and a heavy barrage put up by ourselves and the Escort”