Operation: Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Date: 27th February 1945 (Tuesday)

Unit No: 186 Squadron, 3 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Lancaster I

Serial: NG175

Code: AP:J

Base: RAF Stradishall, Suffolk

Location: Ewald 3/4 Buer-Resse coal mine, northern Gelsenkirchen

Pilot: Flt Lt. Norman Coatner Cowley 187512 RAFVR Age 22. PoW/Killed (1)

Flt Eng: Sgt. Nigel Paul Etheridge 1466103 RAFVR Age 22. KiA

Navigator: Flt Sgt. John Eric Peach 1581092 RAFVR Age 22. KiA

Bomb Aimer: Flt Sgt. John Morrison Young 648408 RAF Age 23. PoW (2)

WOp/Air Gnr: Flt Sgt. Harold George Kimber 1851740 Age 20. PoW (2)

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. James Sneddon 1823545 RAFVR Age 23. KiA

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Douglas James George Gibb 1656358 RAFVR Age 21. KiA (3)

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 27th February 1945 NG175 was one of twelve (12) aircraft from the squadron that were detailed to join a force of one-hundred and forty-nine (149) bombers from 3 Group on a daylight G-H operation to bomb the Alma Pluto benzol plant at Gelsenkirchen in Germany.

Note: G-H or Gee-H, was a radio navigation system to aid RAF Bombing operations. The name refers to the system's use of the earlier Gee equipment and the "H principle" or "twin-range principle" to improve location accuracy.

All of the crews from the squadron reported that NG175 was seen to drop all of its bombs in a salvo and about two (2) seconds later the bombs exploded after falling about 1000 ft. The aircraft went down in flames but appeared to be under control. The flames died down and about 1,000 ft above the cloud layer a parachute was see after which the aircraft turn over and dived into the cloud. It was variously reported that one (1) to three (3) parachutes were seen in the air. One crew believed that the Rear Gunner was clear.

NG175 was the only bomber that failed to return from this operation.

(1) To determine the fate of Flt Lt. Cowley, two British Military Courts were convened, the first over the period 10th,11th and 13th at Recklinghausen in Germany. The second on the 29th January 1947 at Essen in Germany.

Two German nationals were charged that at Buer-Resse near Gelsenkirchen in or about the month of February 1945 in violation of laws and usages of war, with the ill-treated an unknown British airman, a PoW.

Note: At the time of the two trials the unknown British airman had not been identified as Flt Lt. Norman C. Cowley.

Heinrich Adolf SIEBERT was before the court in the first trial and Johannes ENGEL in the second.

SIEBERT was a former member of the Einsatztruppe (Rapid Response Team) and employed as a telephonist at the Parteibunker (Nazi Party Bunker) Bergmannsheil;

ENGEL was a former NSKK-Sturmführer (Junior Officer in the National Socialist Motor Corps, which was essentially a training organisation) and employed by the Kommandantur (Command Post) at Gelsenkirchen.

The courts heard that a British bomber was hit by Flak at about 14:29 hrs after dropping its bombs. Witnesses described that three (3) airmen were seen to bale out of the aircraft which crashed on the grounds of the Ewald 3/4 Buer-Resse coal mine, NE of the railroad tracks, near two water towers.

One on the three airmen was arrested by an Obergefreiter (Cpl) and by two Flak gunners and took him carrying his parachute to the military registration office in Buer-Resse. A Hauptmann (Capt) SCHÜRHOLZ, Major (Maj)WITTERMANN and another unnamed individual who was to act as a translator took the prisoner to the office of unit’s head.

The head of the office was an Oberstleutnant (Lt Col) SCHLICHTENWEG who verbally and physically abused the captured airman. After being searched and interrogated SCHLICHTENWEG ordered that the prisoner should be marched and not transported to Fliegerhorst (Airfield) Gelsenkirchen-Buer, which was about 2½ mls (4 km) NNW of Gelsenkirchen.

SCHLICHTENWEG asked Oberfeldwebel (Sgt) Albert MEIER, his Orderly Sgt., if there was any personnel who could make sure that the prisoner failed to reach the Fliegerhorst alive. MEIER told him that he knew of no one who would do such a thing.

Note: The rationale for SCHLICHTENWEG’s order came from a so-called “Fliegerbefehl” (air force order) issued by Albert HOFFMANN, the Gauleiter in South Westphalia. This in turn is believed to be as a result of a secret order from Heinrich HIMMLER, the Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police:

The translation of the order:

‘It is not the duty of the police to intervene in altercations between German compatriots and parachuted British and American terrorist pilots’.

MEIER did not ask for any volunteers so SCHLICHTENWEG ordered him, along with the Obergefreiter (Cpl) and the two Flak gunners to escort the airman and added that he hoped that he did not arrive at the Fliegerhorst (Airfield) alive.

SCHLICHTENWEG was not charged along with SIEBERT and ENGEL for his part in the ill-treatment of the airman because it was established that he had been KiA on the 30th March 1945.

However, the word has spread through the local community that an airman had been captured at held at the military registration office. When MEIER, his prisoner and the escorts stepped out on the street they were confronted by a crowd of about one-hundred (100) hostile and threatening people.

MEIER stopped a passing vehicle which he, the escorts and the prisoner boarded and drove of toward the Fliegerhorst (Airfield). After about 1¾ mls (3 km) the vehicle turned off the road so MEIER, the escort and the prisoner dismounted and continued on foot to the Fliegerhorst (Airfield). During the journey another member of the NSKK named Gustav ADLER was claimed to have tried to run over the prisoner with his motorcycle, but failed. They continued the journey without further incident.

During the initial investigation ADLER denied the accusation and was cleared of any wrong-doing.

However, about ¼ ml (½ km) from the Fliegerhorst (Airfield) the encountered another hostile crowd who appeared intent of lynching the prisoner. At that time SIEBERT and ENGEL arrived by car, jumped out and attacked the prisoner, pushed him into a shallow water filled bomb crater and continued to beat him and tried to push him under the water.

MEIER unholstered his sidearm and grabbed ENGEL’s arm and told him that he had no right to attack the prisoner, whereupon SIEBERT and ENGEL left the scene by car. The prisoner managed to climb out of the crater and they continued to the Fliegerhorst (Airfield) where MEIER handed over the prisoner into the custody of a Oberfeldwebel (Sgt) ANGENENDT.

During the investigation MEIER initially accused ANGENENDT of beating the airman after he had taken custody of the prisoner. ANGENENDT denied the accusation and was cleared of any wrong-doing.

The prisoner at this time was bleeding from his nose and ear so ANGENENDT gave him some cottonwool to staunch his nose bleed and asked him what his name was which he recorded (this record has not been found). ANGENENDT heard later that the following day the prisoner had been transferred along with other prisoners to the Fliegerhorst (Airfield) at Dortmund.

However, during the investigation, a witness learned from a nurse from the Reserve Military Hospital Gelsenkirchen-Buer (St. Marien Hospital) in Herne that the airman had been admitted and allegedly died of Renal Haemorrhage (bleeding from his kidneys). He was buried at the Gelsenkirchen-Huellen Cemetery as an ‘Unknown’.

ENGEL pleaded guilty to the charge and SIEBERT was found guilty of the charge and both were sentenced to six (6) months imprisonment. The final disposition of their sentences are not known.

Note: The investigation into the death of Flt Lt. Cowley recommended that the two suspects should be charged with murder, however, it was deemed that the crime did not met the threshold to be considered for a murder charge.

Stolperstein (Stumbling block) laying ceremony for Norman C. Coley in Gelsenkirchen on the 11th June 2022. From left to right: Dominic Schneider (Stolperstein sponsor), Michael Zambra (Chairman of the Royal British Legion) and Gunter Demnig (sculptor).

Michael Zambra spoke some words of remembrance and commemoration for Norman C. Cowley at the laying ceremony:

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”

(2) Flt Sgt. Young and Flt Sgt. Kimber landed at Herne-Sodingen. Both were injured, captured and taken directly to the Reserve Military Hospital Gelsenkirchen-Buer (St. Marien Hospital) in Herne on the 27th February.

The Sisters of the Roman Catholic Order of St. Vincent at the hospital hid both airmen for the next three (3) days in order to ensure that they were not ill-treated or removed by the Gestapo. They remained in the hospital until the 12th April 1945 when they were liberated.

John Morrison Young was born on the 17th December 1921 in Wrexham, Wales. He enlisted in the RAF on the 19th June 1939. John passed away in during November 2006 in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.

Harold George Kimber was born on the 31st December 1924 in Southampton, Hampshire. Prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 27th January 1943 he was employed as a Clerk in Southampton. Harold passed away on the 16th December 2018 in Southampton, Hampshire.

(3) Sgt. Douglas J.G. Gibb

Above: Courtesy of the Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic, dated 10th March 1945

Sgt. Gibb’s brother, LAC. Christopher Charles Ivor Gibb 1187073 RAFVR, was captured on the island of Kos (Dodecanese Island) on the 6th October 1943 when German paratroopers captured the island. He was serving with 33 Squadron, 243 Wing, Middle East Fighter Command. He was liberated from Stalag 4F at Hartmannsdorf in Saxony by American forces on the 14th April 1945.

Burial details:

Those who perished were initially buried in a mass grave of sixteen (16) ‘unknown ‘Allied aircrew at the Gelsenkirchen-Huellen Cemetery. The five (5) crew were identified and finally laid to rest at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery on the 12th May 1947.

Above: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

Above: Grave marker for Flt Lt. Norman C. Cowley (Courtesy of the TWGPP)

Flt Lt. Norman Coatner Cowley. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 20 B.17. Grave Inscription: “THY WILL BE DONE”. Born on the 19th October 1922 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Son of Francis Ernest (deceased in July 1940) and Frances Minnie (née Drew) Cowley of Old Leake, Lincolnshire, England.

Plt Off. Nigel Paul Etheridge. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 20 D.3. Born in the 1st Qtr of 1921 in Hertford, Hertfordshire. Son of Lionel Frederick and Phyllis Marion (née Cook) Etheridge of Royston, Hertfordshire, England.

Sgt. Etheridge was posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to 190973 Plt Off. with effect 29th December 1944 (London Gazette 20th March 1945).

Plt Off. John Eric Peach. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 20 B.18. Grave Inscription: “RESTING WHERE NO SHADOWS FALL, IN PERFECT PEACE HE AWAITS US ALL. EVER LOVED”. Born on the 24th April 1922 in Wolstanton, Staffordshire. Son of John and Gwendoline (née Goodyear) Goodger Peach. Husband of Mary Enid (née Cryer) Peach of Kettlesing, Yorkshire, England.

Flt Sgt. Peach was posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to 191087 Plt Off. with effect 29th December 1944 (London Gazette 20th March 1945).

Sgt. James Sneddon. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 20 D.2. Grave Inscription: “HE BRAVELY FOUGHT FOR THOSE HE LOVED THEN LEFT US TO REMEMBER”. Son of William and Mary Sneddon of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Sgt. Douglas James George Gibb. Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 20 D.1. Born in the 3rd Qtr of 1923 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Son of Christoper James and Elsie (née Preston) Gibb of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered with thanks to Jose Antonio Mariano for bringing this war crime to our attention, and dedicated to the crew and their relatives (Mar 2026).

Thanks to The War Graves Photographic Project (TWGPP) for their great work.

Other sources listed below:

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