THUNDER BAY – Memories of rough, frigid seas and a dark sky “lit up like Christmas trees” rush back to Peter Medwick every year starting in early November.
It was nearly 74 years ago in those waters north of Norway where the Second World War veteran’s convoy, which came under attack and ultimately prevailed over a feared German battleship, experienced the Battle of the North Cape.
“I think enough of it around Remembrance Day, from now until after December until January,” the 94-year-old Medwick says. “I’d say Dec. 26 sticks in my mind. I’ll never forget it.”
It was Boxing Day 1943 when a number of Allied warships were able to bring down the Scharnhorst, a feared German battleship that had been an imposing presence in the Atlantic and Arctic throughout the war.
Having been born and raised in Ignace and grown accustomed to being on the water, Medwick, then 19, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy in April 1943. Within eight months, Medwick received training in Thunder Bay, Esquimault, B.C. and Halifax before heading overseas and joining the crew of HMS Sheffield.
HMS Sheffield, a British naval ship which Medwick estimated had a crew that included about 80 Canadian sailors, was one of three cruisers dispatched to escort a convoy north of Norway to transport supplies to Russia to aid efforts on the Eastern Front that December.
The convoy was particularly wary of the threat of the Scharnhorst. Medwick said he didn’t know much about it, other than it was “faster than any British ship” and had longer range.
“We were going along and then all of the sudden our captain … he got on the mic and he mentioned right away the Scharnhorst had left port. That’s when we heard about it first, when he announced it over the loudspeaker,” Medwick says.
“Shortly after that, we closed up to the convoy. We figured right away they were going to attack the convoy.”
The British contingent managed to intercept the battleship and staved off the first attack before it returned for a second exchange of fire.
“All of these battles, the sky was just lit up like Christmas trees with these star shells from all the ships shooting in the sky,” Medwick says. “On the horizon, I could see the silhouettes of the different ships.”
His role as an anti-aircraft gunner stationed directly behind the bridge gave Medwick a prime vantage point for the battle.
“With my action station there was the Scharnhorst – that was running through your mind all the time. I could see what was happening,” Medwick said.
“My biggest fear I always thought was what I was going to do if I had to hit that water. We never had the clothes like they have today. They just gave us a duffel coat, that was about it. I know I had a jacket that I used to wear underneath all the clothes I had with me.”
As the Scharnhorst attempted to flee, HMS Sheffield suffered mechanical difficulties and had to drift behind. British destroyers arrived as reinforcements as the German battleship was located and sunk.
After the battle, Medwick and the rest of the crew returned back to their base where he says they were rewarded with an extra tot of rum, which “went down pretty smooth.”
He continued to serve with HMS Sheffield, escorting aircraft carriers to Norway, until being drafted off the ship and brought back to Canada on June 1, 1944. Less than a week later, the Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy.
“You could tell the Navy was operating with the different manoeuvers they were doing something big was going to come off,” Medwick says.
Medwick continued his naval career aboard HMCS Uganda, which toured the Mediterranean and served in the Pacific theatre. He was formally discharged from military service on Nov. 16, 1945.
