Operation: Chemnitz

Date: 5/6 March 1945 (Mon/Tue)

Unit: No. 576 Squadron RAF

Type: Lancaster I

Serial No: PD403

Code: UL-F2

Base: Fiskerton, Lincolnshire

Location: Chemnitz target area. Possibly near Altmittweida 9 miles north of Chemnitz.

Pilot: F/O Charles James Rouse J35290 RCAF Age 22 Killed

Flt/Eng: Sgt. Ronald Harold Twin 1868384 RAFVR Age 20 Killed

Nav: P/O James Thomas Joseph Magee J95544 RCAF Age 28 Killed

Air/Bmr: F/Sgt. Kenneth Reginald Marston 1521323 RAFVR Age 21 Killed

W/O/A/Gnr: F/Sgt. Desmond Hendry Hadlow 1850564 RAFVR Age 20 Killed

A/Gnr: F/Sgt. Walter William Dewar R275670 RCAF Age 19 Killed

A/Gnr: P/O Robert William Abrams J95424 RCAF Age 20 Killed

REASON FOR LOSS
Operation Thunderclap was the last major raid on the city of Chemnitz during WW2. In total 760 aircraft were involved including 15 Lancasters from 576 Squadron. Although the mission was considered a success it came with the loss of 22 aircraft and many of the crew members during the raid itself. In addition, mainly due to the poor weather conditions causing severe icing, another 9 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from their bases in the UK.
In Chemnitz much of the city centre and southern suburbs were serverly damaged by fire including the destruction of the Siegmar factory producing tank engines and other military components. Sadly too, 2105 civilians, many of them children, lost their lives that night. To commemorate the destruction of the city and to remember those that were killed, Chemnitz Peace Day is held each 5 March.

Captain Rouse, with a mixed crew of Canadian and British airmen, took off from RAF Fiskerton at 16:55 hours on 5 March 1945. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after that time.

The exact cause of the loss of Lancaster PD403 is unknown. Some German Luftwaffe records captured after the war, lead to the suggestion that it could have been possibly shot down by a Junkers 88 G-6 night fighter of 1./NGJ5 flown by Fw.Schuster at 21.51 hours over Chemnitz. (Boiten & MacKenzie, 2011)

Alternatively, it is thought to be more likely from evidence found in RCAF personnel files by the author to be due to a mid-air collision of two Lancaster bombers.

Shortly after the cessation of hostilities, a report was made by a former British army POW, Gdsm. Norman Wood, that he had been involved in the recovery and burial of two airmen, Sgt. Twin and F/O Rouse, following a mid-air explosion.

To add further to this theory, during the MRES Casualty Inquiry in regard to the loss of 424 Sqn. Lancaster NG458 the only surviving crew member, tail gunner Flt/Sgt. C.J. Antonek, reported that his aircraft had been involved in a mid-air collision just before the target was reached. This would coincide with the fact that a member of NG458's crew, F/O A.V. Cash's, identification card was found near a bomber crash site and three bodies buried at Altmittweida. The municipality of Altimittweida lies about 9 miles north of Chemnitz and would have been lying on the approach route to the target.

Above & Left: Letters pertaining to the losses of Lancaster's PD403 and NG458 from RAF Missing Research Enquiry Service (MRES)

Above: Letter from RCAF Casualty Office to F/Sgt. Dewar's mother.

Left: Letter re contact with Gdsm. Norman Wood. Right: Letter from POW Gdsm. Norman Wood in regard to the initial burial of F/O Rouse and Sgt. Twin at the Town Cemetery (Stadtischer Friedhof Chemnitz) Note: Click on letters to enlarge text

Gdsm. Norman Wood's POW Questionnaire showing his internment at Stalag IV4 F at Hartsmanndorf near Chemnitz, Germany

THE CREW

Pilot F/O C.J. Rouse

Charles enlisted in August 1941 straight out of high school. He was selected for aircrew training and completed elementary flying at No.2 EFTS, Thunder Bay. Posted to No. 4 Service Flying Training School, Saskatoon, SK., he graduated with his pilots badge on 11 September, 1942. After postings to No.9 Bombing and Gunnery School Mont, Joli, Que., and No.7 Air Observers School at Portage La Prairie, MB., during which he gained his commission, he was posted overseas arriving at No.3 PRC Bournemouth on 30 October, 1943.
Posted to No.22 OTU at RAF Pershore and then to No.3 Pilots Advanced Flying Unit at South Cerney, before being posted to No.28 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Wymeswold where he trained on heavy bombers and crewed up. On 29 November 1944 he and his crew joined 576 Squadron. Charles first experience of operations against the enemy was on 4 December when he flew as the second pilot on a raid to Karlsruhe. He did not return from his fifteenth mission.
Charles portrait courtesy of and by permission of the family.

Flight Engineer Sgt. R.H. Twin
No further details.

Navigator P/O J.T.J. Magee

James was the oldest member of the crew, married to Vera with a son, David and daughter Maureen. Of Irish parents, he worked as a machinist for several companies in the Montreal area from 1933 until he enlisted in September 1942. After his initial training and selection for aircrew, he was posted to No. 9 Air Observers School, St. Jean, Que., to train as a navigator on 22 August, 1943. James graduated with his Navigators badge on 14 January, 1944 and two weeks later arrived at No.3 Aircrew Graduates Training School, Three Rivers, Que., before embarking for the UK on 30 March, 1944.
Six weeks after his arrival he was posted to No.6 Observers Advanced Flying Unit at RAF Staverton to hone his navigation skills. His next stop was to be at No.28 OTU where he crewed up with Captain Rouse before joining 576 Squadron on 29 November, 1944. As was the case with the rest of his crew-mates he was lost on their fourteenth sortie.

Bomb Aimer Flight Sgt. K.R. Marston
No further details

Wireless Operator Air Gunner Flight Sgt. D.H. Hadlow

Desmond joined the RAF Volunteer reserves in 1940, 576 Squadron; Rank (on death) Flight Sergeant; Service Number: 1850564; He is buried in Charlottenburg, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Berlin, Germany, and memorialised on the Berlin War memorial. He was born at Faversham, Kent, England on 26 Jan 1925 to Thomas Willam Hadlow (a former British Army Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery; Regiment number 67246) and Helen Ellen (nee Roberts). He had an older brother, Alfred Thomas who was also in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve) 604 Squadron; Service Number: 1382460; Rank (on death) Sergeant (Pilot); Who died 11 Jan 1943 Kerrier, Cornwall, England, when his aircraft, a Bristol Beaufighter Mk VIF, crashed during a test flight.
I hope this information is of use to you. He is my 11th cousin twice removed.
Desmond's details courtesy of and with thanks to Paul Roots

Air Gunner Flight Sgt. Walter William Dewar

The youngest member of the crew came from a family of two brothers and six sisters. Walter was born in Drake, SK., and moved with his parents to British Columbia in 1939 where his father was serving in the military as a Corporal in the Canadian Army Medical Corps at Little Mountain Training Camp. He completed his Grade Eleven high school in 1943 and almost immediately with his parents blessing, enlisted in the RCAF in September of that year. He was posted to Saskatoon for initial training and then to No.3 Bombing and Gunnery School, MacDonald, MB., in January 1944, gaining his Air Gunners badge on 21 April. Posted to No.4 Aircrew Graduates Training School, Valleyfield, Que., for a further month of training after which he was taken on strength at Y Depot Lachine, Que., to await his transfer to the UK. Walter arrived in England on 25 June 1944 and a month later was posted to No.83 OTU at RAF Peplow, Shropshire and from there to Fiskerton on 29 November 1944.

Air Gunner P/O R. W. Abrams

Robert was the only son from a family of five sisters. Upon completion of his Grade Eleven education he worked on the family farm until he enlisted in September of 1943. Selected for aircrew training as a gunner, he was posted to No.13 Service Flying Training School at St. Hubert, Que., and then to No.10 Bombing and Gunnery School at Mount Pleasant P.E.I., where he graduated with his Air Gunners badge on 24 March, 1944. That April he was posted to No.3 Aircrew Graduates Training School, Three Rivers, Que., for the newly introduced survivors training course in the event of being shot down, prior to his embarkation for the UK on 25 May, 1944.
After Robert's arrival at No.3 PRC Bournemouth, he was posted to No. 28 Operational Training Unit at RAF Wymeswold on 20 June, 1944 joining 576 Squadron that November. His first operation against the enemy was scheduled for 17 December to bomb Ulm but due to a hydraulic leak and inoperative gun turret they were forced to return to base just after takeoff. Robert was participating in his fourteenth operation when he was lost.

Burial Details:

F/O Charles James Rouse, Runnymede Memorial Surrey, UK Panel 279. Son of Herbert Walter and Isabelle (nee Baird) Rouse, of Milden, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Rouse Lake in Saskatchewan is named after F/O Rouse.

Sgt. Ronald Harold Twin, Runnymede Memorial Surrey, UK Panel 277. Son of Harold and Annie Margaret (nee Kane) Twin, of Grays, Essex.

P/O James Thomas Joseph Magee, Runnymede Memorial Surrey, UK Panel 280. Son of Henry and Catherine Magee, of Verdun, Province of Quebec, Canada; husband of Vera Patricia (nee Shaw) Magee, of Verdun.

F/Sgt. Kenneth Reginald Marston, Runnymede Memorial Surrey, UK Panel 272. Son of William F. and Rose Emily (nee Dexter) Marston, of Leicester.

F/Sgt. Desmond Hendry Hadlow, Berlin 1939 - 1945 War Cemetery Germany Grave 2 A 1. Son of Thomas W. and Helen E. (nee Roberts) Hadlow, of Faversham, Kent.

F/Sgt. Walter William Dewar, Runnymede memorial Surrey, UK Panel 281. Son of Harry M. and Violet (nee Brown) Dewar, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

P/O Robert William Abrams, Runnymede Memorial Surrey, UK Panel 280. Son of Hubert James Abrams and Ella Mabel (nee Reid) Abrams, of Rockhaven, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Abrams Bay, Saskatchewan is named after P/O Abrams.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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