Veterans befriend German survivors

The British veterans travelled to Germany for a memorial service

A group of British war veterans have returned from a remembrance service in Germany for sailors who died in a sea battle almost 60 years ago.

Almost 2,000 German sailors died in December 1943 when the British Navy sank the German battleship Scharnhorst in the sea north of Norway.

Only 36 German sailors survived the attack.

Three of the British veterans from the East Midlands have built friendships with a handful of the ship's survivors.

'War is awful'

John Wass from Nottinghamshire, who served on the HMS Scorpion, says he remembers the sinking vividly: "I thought how are we going to get out of this - had she opened fire we would have been blown to smithereens."

They were fighting for their country and what they believed was right - just like we were George Eyre

Mr Wass still has a life jacket from one of the young Germans he helped pull out of the icy Arctic waters.

George Eyre, from Derbyshire, who served on the HMS Duke of York, said: "It was amazing that we survived, as we were seven miles away, it was snowing and we were in total darkness and heavy seas.

"The men who died were brave men, they were our enemies, but they were fighting for their country and what they believed was right - just like we were."

Mr Wass said: "I hope there will be peace, because, by God, war is awful."

German survivor Helmut Feifer said: "I was swimming but I thought it was the last moment of my life.

"Two English sailors took my arms and put me on the deck," he said.

The British men recently travelled to a park in Wilhelmshaven, the Scharnhorst's home port in northern Germany, to meet the survivors and attend a ceremony to honour the war dead.