On 19 November Soviet troops launched a massive offensive, Operation Uranus, against both flanks of the German forces on either side of Stalingrad. The German and Romanian troops were caught by surprise and overwhelmed. The Soviets swept round in two great arcs which met on 22 November and encircled the German forces besieging Stalingrad, trapping up to 300,000 men inside “Der Kessel”, the Cauldron. Meanwhile, in the Western Desert Allied forces continued to pursue the Afrika Korps westward across Libya, and retook Benghazi.
The John O’Groat Journal reported this week on the ringing of the church bells last Sunday for the victory at El Alamein (as Churchill said, “Before Alamein we never had a victory; after Alamein we never had a defeat”). In Caithness, “special services were held in most of the churches to mark the occasion. Wick Old Parish Church bells rang at 11.15 a.m. and 6.30 p.m., and Wick Central church at 12 noon only, the evening service being discontinued during the winter.”
In Halkirk the bells of the Abbey and West Churches were rung at 10.50 and 11.50 respectively. “It did one good to hear the kirk bells ring on Sunday forenoon.” As the paper reported, “These words of an elderly parishioner summed up the feelings of all within hearing.”
On 18 November the Caithness Constabulary passed on the following melancholy message to their colleagues in Inverness: “About 13.10 hours today a locally based British aircraft No. B.D.675 crashed in a field near Wick… The four members of the crew were killed and the plane a total wreck. Please inform R.A.F. Maintenance Unit Tel. No. Inverness 1504.”
The John O’Groat Journal reported this week that a van driver, Donald Miller, had been fined £20 for careless driving. The accident happened on the county road from Wick to Castletown, when Miller had turned out of the junction with the Lyth road without looking to see if anyone was coming and collided with another car. As Sheriff Trotter observed moodily in court, “It is a strange thing in Caithness that the fewer motorists there are on the roads, the more accidents occur, apparently.”
Finally this week, “Norseman” in the John O’Groat Journal addressed the question of women being recruited into the Wick Police. Taking his life into his hands he observed, “That this change will add to the attractiveness of the local Force goes without saying, but whether or not it will add to the efficiency is another matter.” But then, he reflected ironically, although they were currently restricted to clerical duties, “there is no special reason why the ladies could not do everything that has hitherto been done by their male colleagues.” Interesting to see how attitudes have changed in 73 years, which in historical terms is the equivalent of a mere 3 generations…
