AVANCE cargo vessel 1920

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aukepalmhof
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AVANCE cargo vessel 1920

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu May 07, 2009 9:50 pm

DANISH SAILORS 1939-1945.

2005 Marks the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
In Denmark, the government has appointed a special secretariat to coordinate both the memorial ceremonies and the festivities to be held on this occasion.
There will be wreath-laying ceremonies at Mindelunden in Ryvangen, just north of Copenhagen, on the afternoon of 4 May and the morning of 5 May.
Later on the same morning, official representatives of Denmark will lay a wreath at the Memorial Anchor in Nyhavn. The ceremonies will continue with a church service in Holmens Kirke, and will conclude at Copenhagen Town Hall.
Post Denmark will be marking the sixtieth anniversary of VE Day and the liberation of Denmark with the issue of two stamps focusing on the contributions of Danish sailors to the merchant navy fleet and Allied forces during the Second World War.

A WORLD AT WAR.

The Second World War began on 1 September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
At the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, the Danish government pursued a very cautious and neutral policy unchanged despites the war between our neighboring countries.
But if this relatively unaltered lifestyle was to continue, it required that foreign trade should be maintained with the export of mainly, agricultural products and the import of coal and coke.
Foreign trade depended for the most part on transportation by sea, but the outbreak of war made marine navigation a risky business.
Mines had been laid in the North Sea, and there were intense patrols by German warships and submarines.
Denmark was in fact neutral, but this did not deter Nazi Germany, in the period from the outbreak of war in 1939 until the German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940, almost 400 Danish sailors lost their lives in the North Sea as a consequence of German act of war.
A total of 29 Danish vessels were sunk during the period of neutrality – 25 torpedoed by German submarines, and four sunk by mines.
Despite the large losses, this part of the story is relatively unknown. Many of the victims were young sailors who did not leave large families behind but only their parents, who have long since taken their sorrows with them to the grave.

DENMARK AT WAR.

On 9 April 1940, Denmark was occupied by German troops.
For several Danish shipping companies this came as no surprise, and they had already planned what to do with their ships, which were to seek neutral ports as soon as possible and await further orders. Some captains however, chose to ignore this order, and sailed to Allied ports.
The Danish merchant navy fleet was divided at the time of the occupation with one-third of the fleet in Danish ports and two thirds abroad. Around 6.500 Danish sailors were on board the latter ships, the vast majority of whom eventually entered allied service – either on British ships or, when the USA entered the war, on American ships.
During the early years of the war these sailors sailed under foreign flags, but from the end of 1943, the ships that had sailed under the British flag were once again allowed to hoist the Danish “Dannebrog”.
Of the many Danish sailors who participated in the war at home and abroad, more that 2000 lost their lives at sea, around 850 of these in the service of the Allies.
This figure also includes the more than 400 Danish fishermen who perished in domestic waters while performing their work.

THE WAR SAILORS.

Many of the Danish sailors who survived had terrible stories to tell; some had experienced being sunk at sea, or had seen their companions killed in battle or simply disappear beneath the ocean surface.
The sailors who sailed along the British coast during the Battle of Britain to bring food and coal to London were under particularly great physical and psychological pressure.
The photograph on the DKK 4.50 stamp shows a convoy off the east coast of Britain, where many Danish merchant vessels sailed. The photograph is reproduced by kind permission of the Imperial War Museum in London.
The effects of the severe pressure that the war sailors experienced has later been compared to the so-called “survivor guilt” syndrome from which concentration camp survivors suffered for the rest of their lives.

THE NORMANDY INVASION, JUNE 1944.

As Denmark played no military role in the Allied invasion of Germany occupied Europe, Denmark does not officially attend the memorial ceremonies in connection with the actual landing on 06 June 1944.
Around 800 Danish sailors served on board Danish, British and American cargo ships during the vast operation. The vast majority survived and could subsequently give an account of the great contribution that was made on this occasion by Danish sailors.
The photograph on the DKK 7.50 stamp shows a Danish ship, the AVANCE from Korsør, which unloaded pipes for pipelines on Omaha Beach in Normandy in 1944. The photograph is reproduced by kind permission of the Royal Library.
The contribution of Danish sailors attracted attention, and was remarked upon by the British monarch, George VI, when he thanked all those who had participated in the Normandy invasion in the House of Commons in November 1944: “None of this would have been possible without the extreme courage displayed by our sailors and those of the Allied nations and Denmark.

HOME AT LAST IN DENMARK.

When the German troops in Northern Europe surrendered to the Allied forces on 4 May 1945, Danish sailors were working on their ships all around the world.
Back home in Denmark, there were celebrations on the evening of 4 May 1945 and during the following days.
Many of the Danish sailors discharged their contracts and took the first available ship back to Denmark and their families, who in many cases had heard no news of the fate of their loved ones since 09 April 1940.
The homecoming of the Danish sailors did not attract much official attention, mainly because they came home in small groups – some only arriving many months after the liberation.
Immediately after the war, the Danish state passed social legislation for sailors to provide social and economic support for seafarers and their families.

The ADVANCE was built as a cargo vessel under yard No 131 by Laxevaags Msk. & Jrnskb., Bergen, Norway for A/S Tizona (K. Andersen & Co A/S), Frederikstad, Norway
Launched under the name TIZONA
Tonnage 1.592 gross, 930 net, dim. 246.2 x 37.9 x 15.8ft.
One 3-cyl. triple expansion steam eng. 137 nhp.
December 1920 delivered to owners.

1929 Sold to Dampskslsk Activ A/S (H.G. Rasmussen, Mgr.) Korsør, Denmark. Renamed AVANCE.
09 April 1940 when war broke out between Germany and Denmark the AVANCE was in port at Methil, U.K., taken over by the British Authorities.
1940 Transferred to Ministry of Shipping/M.O.W.T managed by Wm. Cory & Son, Ltd, London.
During the D-Day landings she loaded at Swansea, sailed from Bristol Channel 5th June 1944, and sailed in convoy EBC2Z for Omaha Beach, E.T.A. 8th.
1945 returned to owners.
1951 Sold to Kohlen-Import u. Poseidon Schiffahrt A.G., Hamburg renamed VANGARD.
1955 To Poseidon-Schifahrt G.m.b.H., Hamburg.
1959 Broken up at Rotterdam, where she arrived 10 July 1959.

Denmark 2005 4.50 and 7.50kr. sg?, scott?

Source: Danish Post web-site. Register of Merchant ships completed in 1920. The D-Day ships by John de S. Winser. Lloyds Register 1929/30, 1930/31. Mr. Mario Rosner.
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