On 11 November British naval forces launched the first all naval air attack, devastating an Italian naval force at the battle of Taranto. In Greece, the second Italian offensive over the Pindus mountains ended in failure, and on 14 October the Greek counter-offensive began. Also on 14 October came the heavy night air raid on Coventry, when the cathedral and much of the medieval town was destroyed when 500 German bombers dropped incendiary bombs. Some 4,300 homes were destroyed, and over 500 people were killed.
The John O’Groat Journal reported on the loss of the HMS Jervis Bay last week, and because of the number of Caithness Royal Naval Reserve men aboard attention naturally focused on survivors, rather than details of the action itself. As the report observes, when all the families at home knew was that the ship had been sunk and only 45 men survived, they initially feared the very worst. Then, “Early on Thursday morning came the heartening news that some of the Wick men were safe, and there were expressions of relief because the number was more than the most optimistic dared hope for.”
Meanwhile, the Director of Education was dealing with the thorny issue of married women teachers, writing two letters on the subject. One Thurso woman teacher contemplating marriage was informed that, “There is a regulation that members of staff shall resign on marriage and it will be necessary, therefore, to intimate your resignation”. And to a married woman teacher from Glasgow enquiring about work in Caithness he wrote tersely: “there is a regulation … that married teachers shall not be employed.”
Schools in Caithness were by now well prepared against air raids. As the Director of Education reported this week, “sandbag shelter” was being provided in the corridor of the new Miller Academy building in Thurso, and “anti-splinter gauze has been affixed to the windows of Wick High School, the churches and church halls occupied by Wick pupils, schools in Thurso, Halkirk, Lybster, Keiss, Staxigoe, Killimster, Thrumster, and Latheron”
Finally this week, along with films by George Formby and Nelson Eddy, the Pavilion Cinema was showing The Wizard of Oz. It’s interesting to see that Judi Garland isn’t mentioned, but Frank Morgan (who played the Wizard) gets top billing instead!
