Operation: Trappes, France

Date: 2nd/3rd June 1944 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit No: 640 Squadron, 4 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Halifax III

Serial: LW434

Code: C8:H

Base: RAF Leconfield, Yorkshire

Location: Forges-les-Bains, France

Pilot: Flt Sgt. George William Chambers R152703 RCAF Age 21. KiA

Flt Eng: Sgt. Robert Thomas Brown 1802002 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

Nav: Fg Off. Ernest George Shepherd J23363 RCAF Age 21. Id No 78372 *, PoW No. 8066 ** (1 & 2)

Bomb Aimer: Fg Off. Calvin Erskine Willis J25541 RCAF Age 28. Id No, 78342 *, PoW No. 8073 ** (1)

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. George Sydney Pritchard 1322271 RAFVR Age? KiA

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. Peter Charles Eldridge 1895127 RAFVR Age? KiA

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Alan Roy Green 592078 RAFVR Age 19. KiA

* Buchenwald concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany in July 1937.

** Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland. (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, Bavaria).

Above: Flt Sgt. Chambers from his Identity Card

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 2nd June 1944 15 aircraft from the squadron were tasked on a mission to bomb the railway yards at Trappes in France. There was very strong German night-fight opposition and a bright moon.

LW434 was one of 3 aircraft from the squadron that failed to return.

LW434 was claimed by Lt. Frithjof Fensch, his 1st Abschuss and the first of three this night, from 4./NJG4, in the Chevreuse area at 3.700 m at 00:55 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (12 May 1944 - 23 July 1944) Part 3 - Theo Boiten).

On the night of the 25th November 1944 he was engaged by a Mosquito of 410 (Cougar) Sqn, RCAF flown down by 1st Lt. Archibald Allan Harrington O-885992 USAAF. He was wounded and parachuted from his Ju88 landing near Duisburg, Germany.. It is believed he survived the war and was credited with 12 Abschüsse. (Luftwaffe ACES - Biographies and Victory Claims (Mathews and Foreman) - Volume 1)

The aircraft crashed at 01:00 hrs near Forges-les-Bains some 30 km (19 mls) SW of Paris.

The other two aircraft that failed to return were:

Halifax III MZ541 C8:U (7 KiA);

Halifax III MZ677 C8:G (4 KiA, 2 PoW, 1 Evd).

(1) Fg Off. Willis baled out and landed in a tree in some woods where he remained hidden for two or three days. He was then assisted and put in contact a local underground group and was with them for a week. During that time, the invasion had started and the became preoccupied with their own duties. He was then hidden in a local garage along with Fg Off. Shepherd. The Gestapo, who were looking for the local resistance chief, raided the garage and found the two airmen on the 10th June 1944. They were taken to the Gestapo headquarters in Paris and then to Fresnes prison on the 13th June 1944.

The prison was located to the south of Paris and was where French political prisoners were held and ordinarily Allied airmen, after questioning, were moved to a PoW Camp. In the summer of 1944, with the Allies having liberated Paris and closing in, the Gestapo guards started reducing the prison population by execution, and then relocating surviving prisoners to various concentration camps east of France. On the 15th August 1944 they was amongst 169 Allied PoWs and hundreds of French men and women who were packed into a freight train and transported to Buchenwald concentration camp on a journey lasting five days. Buchenwald was located 8 km (5 mls) north of Weimar, in the German province of Thüringen. It was established and administered by the Schutzstaffel (SS).

Fg Off. Joel Mathews ‘Tex’ Stevenson C27788 RCAF, the pilot of 419 (Moose) Squadron, RCAF Lancaster X KB727 VR:H escaped from the train and successfully evaded.

Sqn Ldr. Lamason and Fg Off. Chapman succeeded in getting all but two of the Allied PoWs transferred to Stalag Luft 3. Two airmen, 1st Lt. Levitt Clinton Beck Jr. O-736945, US AAF and Fg Off. Philip Derek Hemmens, 152583, RAFVR died in the sick barrack.

Recognition:

For decades the International Red Cross (IRC) had stated that there were no military personnel in Buchenwald despite the overwhelming documentary and anecdotal evidence. It was not until 1988 that the IRC eventually confirmed the airmen were illegally held at Buchenwald.

The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments also consistently denied that any of their service personnel were ever held in concentration camps and refused to investigate the claims made by a 'mere’ handful of men.

Reparations were made to the British airmen who had been illegally held at Buchenwald in 1965. Eventually in 1988 the Australian, New Zealand and it is believed the Canadian governments acknowledged that their airmen had been illegally held in concentration camps.

American airmen were among those receiving compensation and the US Air force have acknowledged the Buchenwald airmen with an exhibit at the Air Force Museum, albeit the airmen are shown in uniform rather than in civilian attire. Furthermore, there is no mention of decades-long denial of their experiences by other branches of the government.

Fg Off. Shepherd and Fg Off. Willis were transferred to Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia over the period 15th to 20th October1944.

Just before midnight on the 27th January 1945, because of advancing Soviet forces, the PoW’s were marched out of the camp to Spremberg. Here PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages. The train journeys took about 2-3 days with trains the stopping every 12 hours beyond railway stations. PoWs could leave carriages for physical needs and were provided with fresh water.

From Spremberg they were with a group from the West Compound that were sent to Stalag 3A, Luckenwalde. The camp housed not only PoWs from Stalag Luft 3, but also from Stalag 8C in Sagan-Silesia, Stalag 21C in Wolsztyn and Stalag 3B in Furstenberg. Finally, as the Russians approached the guards fled the camp leaving the prisoners to be liberated by the Red Army on the 22nd April 1945.

The camp was turned over to the Americans on the 6th May.

(2) Ernest George Shepherd was tragically killed along with a friend in a motorcycle road traffic accident on the 6th March 1954 aged 31.

Above courtesy of The Toronto Star, dated 8th March 1954

Burial details:

Above the Bretigny-sur-Orge Communal Cemetery where 18 Allied airmen are laid to rest. In addition to the 5 crew from this aircraft there are 7 crew from 78 Sqn, Halifax III MZ568 KY:E and 6 from 76 Sqn Halifax III MZ604 HP:M. (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

Flt Sgt. George William Chambers. Bretigny-sur-Orge Communal Cemetery, Collective Grave 6. Born on the 24th August 1923 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Grave inscription: ‘GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN’. Son of David Wallace and Elizabeth (née Muir) Chambers, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Flt Sgt. Chambers was appointed to a commissioned and promoted to J86747 Plt Off. with effect the 7th May 1944.

Sgt. Robert Thomas Brown. Bretigny-sur-Orge Communal Cemetery, Collective Grave 6. Grave inscription: ‘NOT JUST TO-DAY BUT EVERY DAY IN SILENCE WE REMEMBER. MUM, BROTHER, SISTERS’. Born in 1st Qtr of 1923 in Edmonton, Essex. Son of Charles and Amy Kate (née Morris) Brown of Tottenham, Middlesex, England.

Sgt. George Sydney Pritchard. Bretigny-sur-Orge Communal Cemetery, Grave 9. No further information found.

Sgt. Peter Charles Eldridge. Bretigny-sur-Orge Communal Cemetery, Grave 7. No further information found.

Sgt. Alan Roy Green. Bretigny-sur-Orge Communal Cemetery, Grave 4. Grave inscription: ‘UNTIL THE DAY DAWNS’. Born in 1st Qtr of 1925 in Leicestershire. Son of Horace Dormer and Elsie (née Tebbut) Green of Ashby Magna, Leicestershire, England.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew (Mar 2024).

Other sources listed below:

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