Mission: Night Shipping Sweep

Date: 7th/8th May 1941 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit No: 139 (Jamacia) Squadron, 2 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Blenheim IV

Serial: P4860

Code: XD:P

Base: RAF Horsham St. Faith, Norfolk

Location: Wadden Sea, Netherlands

Pilot: Sgt. William James ‘Bill’ Middleton 968144 RAFVR Age? PoW No. 26857 * (1)

Nav: Sgt. Kenneth Robert ‘Bob’ Coles MBE(M), 751124 RAFVR Age 22. PoW No. 6 * (2)

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Horace Robert ‘Bob’ Hale 755144 RAFVR Age 24. PoW No. 31 * (3)

* Stalag 8B, Lamsdorf, now called Łambinowice in Silesia

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 22:04 hrs from RAF Horsham St Faith for night shipping strikes along the Dutch coast.

RAF Horsham St. Faith, Norfolk (courtesy American Air Museum in Britain) Blenheim IV (courtesy Imperial War Museum)

Flying at a very low level the tail wheel of the aircraft hit the water causing it to flip over several times and crashed into the sea at 00:13hrs. The injured crew eventually reached the shore using the aircraft's dinghy only to be met by Germans and were taken to a Luftwaffe hospital

Map showing the area of the crash in the Wadden Sea, Netherlands

The aircraft was discovered by the Dutch Air Force in 1979. The remains of P4860 are no longer visible, but the site serves as a historical reference for aviation enthusiasts and researchers studying military aircraft losses during the war.

(1) Sgt. Middleton was repatriated in 1943. No reason for his repatriation has been found.

Warrant Officer (WO) Middleton was appointed to a commission and promoted to 189099 Plt Off. on the 5th December 1944 (London Gazette 30th January 1945). He was promoted to Fg Off. on the 5th June 1945 (London Gazette 13th July 1945).

It is believed that Bill Middleton came from Aberdeen

(2) Sgt. Coles and Sgt. Middleton tied bed-sheets together and escape via window from Amsterdam hospital. They were recaptured by a Dutch policeman near Schiphol aerodrome the same day.

Sgt. Coles was then transferred to Dulag Luft, Oberursel on the 22nd April arriving there two (2) days later for the statutory solitary confinement and interrogation. On the 22nd May he was transferred to Stalag Luft 18A Wolfsberg in Austria

Whilst being transferred by train to Litzmanstadt in Poland, he escaped from the goods wagon north of Regensburg along with Sgt. Hale, Sgt. Middleton from his crew, Sgt. Ratcliffe and Sgt. Smith.

Sgt. Ratcliffe was Sgt. Robert George Ratcliffe 745200 RAFVR and Sgt Smith was Sgt. Frederick John Smith 751604 RAFVR. They were the pilot and one of the WOp/Air Gunners from 107 Sqn Blenheim IV L9272 OM:?which ditched in the sea in the vicinity of Heligoland on an Anti-Shipping operation on the 21st May 1941 (1 MiA, 2 PoW).

They walked at night, hide during the day and stole food from farms. They were recaptured twelve (12) days later by German guards of an Arbeitskommando (Working detail) passing through Regensburg at night. He was then transferred to Stalag 8B, Lamsdorf on the 10th June where he remained until the 6th May 1942.

Note: In 1943, the Lamsdorf camp was split up, and many of the PoWs (and Arbeitskommando) were transferred to two new base camps at Stalag 8C Sagan (modern Żagań) and Stalag 8D Teschen (modern Český Těšín). The base camp at Lamsdorf was renumbered Stalag 344.

Prisoners of war hard at work in Lambsdorf camp (courtesy Australian War Memorial)

On the 7th May 1942 was then transferred to the newly opened Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan-Silesia, Germany where he remained until the 23rd June 1943.

Guard standing outside the prisoner of war camp and one of the watch towers at Sagan (courtesy Imperial War Museum)

On the 24th June he was then transferred to Stalag Luft 6 in Heydekrug, Memelland

In June 1943 Stalag Luft 6 became a Stalag for enlisted men, when British and Canadian NCOs (non-commissioned officers) arrived at the camp from Stalag Luft 1 and Stalag Luft 3.

In early 1944 the Russian Army were advancing into the Baltic States from the North and the East preparation for evacuating the camp was being made. PoWs from Stalag Luft 6, the camp closest to the Russian advance, were in the "northern route" of the force-marches, and were transported to Stalag 20A by train on the 16th July 1944, and from there took part in the forced-march.

It was estimated that 100,000 PoWs took the northern route. It went to Stalag Luft 4 at Groß-Tychow, Pomerania then via Stettin to Stalag 9B and Stalag 357, Kopernikus at Thorn (Toruń) in Poland.

On the 1st September 1944 the he was amongst the PoWs who were force-marched from Thorn (Toruń) in Poland to the site of the former Stalag 11D, with construction being carried out by the Italian PoW from Stalag 11B. The camp was commonly known as Stalag 357, Fallingbostal but officially the designation was Stalag 357, Oerbke.

Prisoners of war dividing up the potato peelings at Stalag 357 Fallingbostel (courtesy National Library NZ)

In early April 1945 the PoWs were informed by the Commandant Oberst Hermann Ostmann that 12,000 British PoWs were being evacuated from the camp in the face of the Allied advance. On the 7th April he was amongst the men who marched from the camp in columns of 2,000.

On the 18th April 1945 he escaped from the forced march by running into some woods where he hid for three (3) days. He made their way to Allied lines and were liberated by elements of the 11th Armoured Division. The then Warrant Officer (WO) Coles was interviewed on the 26th April 1945.

WO. Coles also known as ‘Smudge’ was appointed to be an Additional Member of the Military Division of the said Most Excellent Order (MBE(M)) which was promulgated in the London Gazette on the 28th June 1946.

Citation: "Warrant Officer Kenneth Robert Coles 751124 RAFVR No 139 Squadron. Warrant Officer Coles was captured and taken to a Luftwaffe hospital at Amsterdam after his aircraft had crashed into the sea on the 8th April 1941. A few days later he and a friend, dressed in uniforms stolen from the Luftwaffe patients, climbed through a window on the first floor and over the boundary wall, making their way to the outskirts of the city. They were recaptured the next day having been betrayed by a man who had offered to help them. In June 1941 when being transferred to Litzmanstadt by rail, he and four others prised open the door of the truck and jumped from the train while it was travelling at about 30 m.p.h. For the next ten days they walked towards Switzerland, eventually reaching Regensburg, where they planned to steal an aircraft, but this proved impracticable, so they continued walking south. On the 7th July they were recaptured by the police while attempting to board a goods train, and taken to Stalag Luft VIIIB at Lamsdorf. During the summer of 1942 Warrant Officer Coles took part in several tunnelling operations which were discovered before completion. He also assisted the escape committee by making dummy heads to cover the absence of escapers, and he did valuable work in reproducing identification papers etc. Warrant Officer Coles and a friend escaped from a marching column on 15th April 1945 and 3 days later made contact with the Allied forces".

He returned to Holland to be reunited with his recovered aircraft in 1998. In 2002 Bob returned to Amsterdam to visit the building (Luftwaffe Hospital) that he, Bill Middleton and Bob Hale had been admitted to in 1941.

Kenneth Robert ‘Bob’ Coles was born on the 1st June 1919 in Northampton. He was a Photographic Process worker prior to enlisting in the RAFVR in 1939. Kenneth passed on the 12th July 2013 on the Isle of Wight, aged 94.

(3) Sgt. Hale suffered from shock, cuts and bruises in the crash and after he was captured he was admitted firstly at a hospital in Leeuwarden and then Amsterdam where he remained until the end of May.

His PoW travels and travails were the same as that for Sgt. Coles after his transfer to Dulag Luft, Oberursel, arriving there on the 22nd May (See Ser (2) above)

Horace Robert Hale was born on the 9th August 1916 in Foleshill, Coventry, Warwickshire. He was a Machine tool fitter prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 13th July 1939.

His first wife, Rose Irene (née Cockerill) Hale tragically died after a short illness in hospital on the 16th July 1940 aged just 21.

Above Courtesy of the Coventry Evening Telegraph, dated 17th July 1940

Horace passed away in the 4th Qtr of 1987 in Coventry.

Burial details:

None. The crew became PoWs.

Researched by Kate Tame for Aircrew Remembered and for all the relatives and friends of the crew. With special thanks to Isle of Wight - County Press. (Aug 2015). Reviewed and updated with new information by Aircrew Remembered (Dec 2025)

Other sources listed below:

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