Operation: Trondheim, Norway

Date: 22nd September 1940 (Sunday)

Unit No: 825 Naval Air Squadron (NAS)

Type: Fairy Swordfish I

Serial: L9756

Code: ??

Base: HMS Furious

Location: Leka Island 115 mls north of Trondheim, Norway

Pilot: Sub-Lt(A). Henri Deterding RNVR Age 43. PoW No. 1266 *

Observer: Sub-Lt(A). Douglas Arthur 'Doug’ Poynter RN Age 20. PoW No. 1278 * (1)

Telegraphist/Air Gunner: LA(A). Henry William Brown FAA/FX77522 RNVR Age 20. PoW No. 27354 ** (2)

* Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland.

** Stalag 8B, Lamsdorf in Silesia.

REASON FOR LOSS:

In the autumn of 1940, HMS Furious embarked an Air Group comprising the balance of the Swordfish from 816 Naval Air Squadron (NAS), nine (9) Skuas of 801 NAS and nine (9) Swordfish of 825 NAS. The group made a number of largely unsuccessful air strikes on shipping in Norwegian waters and on the seaplane base at Tromsø and Trondheimin September and October 1940.

Above: HMS Furious (Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum – IVM (FL 4910))

One these air strikes, codenamed Operation DT(ii), was flown against Trondheim on the 22nd September 1940 by twelve (12) Swordfish and six (6) Skuas. However, due to bad weather the aircraft never found Trondheim and contributed to several aircraft failing to find HMS Furious on their attempted return.

816 NAS lost two (2) Swordfish:

Swordfish I L9731 made a forced landing in heavy fog near Ekne, north of Vaernes airfield, near Trondheimsfjorden. The crew removed some instruments and set the aircraft alight, but they were captured by German occupying forces and became PoWs. The crew were Sub-Lt(A). Maurice James Hanrahan, PoW No. 1270; Lt(A). Anthony Oliver Atkins, PoW No. 1262 and LA(A). Arthur Richard Purchase FAA/FX79411, PoW No. 306;

The second was L2745 which crashed into the sea after failing to locate the aircraft carrier. Lt(A). John Read RN; Sub Lt(A). Gordon Alfred Busby RNVR and LA(A). Leslie Arthur Webber FAA/FX76308 were lost at sea. All are remembered at the Lee-on-Solent Memorial.

801 NAS lost Skua II L2942 which was last seen entering low cloud off the Norwegian coast and was not seen again. It was feared that they were lost at sea, however, the aircraft force landed in the small river Faxälven near Ramsele in Sweden. Sub Lt(A) Bernard F. Wigginton RNVR and LA(A). Kenneth R. King were interned.

825 NAS lost three (3) Swordfish. L9756 and one (1) other landed in a cornfield at Vestran Farm on the island of Leka off the Norwegian coast some 190 km (119 mls) to the NNE of Trondheim.

The second was Swordfish I L7656 5C whose crew was Sub Lt(A). Hugh Noel Crawford Hearn RN, PoW No 1272; Sub Lt(A). Herbert Alanby Cheetham RN, PoW No. 1265 and LA(A). Charles Douglas Jago FAA/SR8093, PoW No. 298;

The third was Swordfish I L2860 5F, which was not seen again and it was feared that they were lost at sea. However, the aircraft force landed on Krychtjärn, a lake in Jämtland, Sweden. Sub Lt(A). R.L.R. Morgan RNVR; Sub Lt(A). M.A. MacLeod-Rees and LA(A). B.L. Laing, a New Zealander, were interned.

There were no Germans on the island and the two crews, after setting their aircraft on fire, were helped by the islanders to man a fishing boat and set sail for Shetland. After two days of rough weather, the engine failed and they drifted towards the coast of Norway. Their landfall was made at the Halten lighthouse, some 148 km (92 miles) SW of Leka, on the 27th September where they were captured by some Kriegsmarine sailors based there.

After interrogation at Trondheim and Oslo Sub-Lt(A). Deterding and Sub-Lt(A). Poynter were transferred to Dulag Luft, Oberursel arriving there on the 2nd October. On the 22nd October they were transferred to Oflag 9A/H, Schloss Spangenberg (Spangenberg Castle) which is in the small town of Spangenberg in NE Hesse, Prussia. On the 10th March 1941 the camp was closed and they were transferred to Stalag 20A in Thorn (Toruń), Poland. On the 5th June 1941 they were returned to Oflag 9A/H.

On the 10th October 1941 they were both transferred to Oflag 6B which was located SW of the village of Dössel in NW Germany. On the 3rd September 1942 they were transferred to Oflag 21B, Szubin which was a few miles SW ofBydgoszcz in Poland arriving there the next day. On the 11th April 1943 they were transferred to Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia in Germany.

See Serial (1) below for Sub-Lt(A). Poynter’s role in the Great Escape.

On the night of the 27th January 1945, with Soviet troops only 26 km (16 mls) away, orders were received to evacuate the PoWs to Spremberg which is to the West in Germany. The PoW’s were informed of the evacuation, which was on foot, at about 22:00 hrs the same night and were given 30 mins to pack and prepare everything for the March. The weather conditions were very difficult, with freezing temperatures, and it was snowing accompanied by strong winds. There was 15 cm (6 in) of snow and 2000 PoWs were assigned to clear the road ahead of the main groups.

After a 55 km (34 mls) march, the PoWs arrived in Bad Muskau where they rested for 30 hours. The PoWs were then marched the remaining 26 km (16 mls) to Spremberg where they were housed in empty garages, storerooms and in military barracks. There they were provided with warm soup and bread.

During next days, PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages. On the 4th February they were amongst the group that were sent to Marlag und Milag Nord.

Marlag is an acronym for Marinelager (naval prisoner of war camp), Milag is short for Marine-Internierten-Lager(naval internment camp), and Nord is German for ‘north’.

On the 2nd April 1945 the Commandant announced that he had received orders to leave the camp with most of his guards, leaving only a small detachment behind to hand over the camp to Allied forces, who were already in Bremen.

However, that afternoon a detachment of over a hundred SS-Feldgendarmerie entered the camp, mustered over 3,000 men, which included Lt. (A) Deterding and Lt. (A) Poynter, and marched them out, heading east. The next day, at around at 10:00 hrs the column was strafed by RAF aircraft, and two PoWs were killed.

Over the next few days the column was attacked from the air several times. Finally the Senior British Naval Officer (SBNO), who was later killed in a strafing attack by RAF aircraft, offered the Germans the PoW’s parole, in return for being allowed to rest during the day and march at night. The Germans agreed.

On the 9th April 1945 the guards at Marlag-Milag moved out and were replaced by older men, presumably local Volkssturm. Meanwhile, the column slowly headed east, finally crossing the River Elbe, north of Hamburg, on the 18th April.

On the 27th April the camps were liberated by elements of the British Guards Armoured Division. The next day, the 28th April, the column finally arrived at Lübeck on the Baltic coast. They were liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on the 1st May 1945. They were interviewed on the 3rd May 1945.

Henry Deterding was born on the 28th August 1897 in Gravenhage, Netherlands. He was a farmer in Daventry, Northants prior to enlisting in the RNVR on the 14th September 1939. Henri passed away in December 1975 in Daventry, Northamptonshire.

Above Private Pilot Licence (PPL) for Henry Deterding

(1) The now Lt(A). Poynter contributed in an unknown capacity with the tunnelling projects but it earned him an early position in the line of two-hundred (200) hoping to escape from Stalag Luft 3.

On the night of the 24th/25th March 1944, seventy-six (76) officers escaped from the north compound of Stalag Luft 3 which, at that time, held between 1000 and 1500 RAF PoWs. The escape was made by the means of a tunnel. At about 05:00 hrs on the 25th March the 77th PoW was spotted by guards as he emerged from the tunnel.

Lt(A). Poynter was the thirty-first (31st) PoW though the tunnel and left the exit at 01:30 hrs. He was the fifth (5th) of his party of eight (8) and was joined by a further two (2) and the ten (10) walked SW through the woods to Sagan railway station. After purchasing tickets the group boarded the train at 05:00 hrs and after an uneventful journey left the train at 10:00 hrs at Bober-Rohrsdorf (Ref 2, pp 209-210).

The group split up and he walked into the woods on the southern outskirts of Bober-Rohrsdorf and hid there until about 16:00 hrs. It was snowing and bitterly cold so he started walking in a south-westerly direction and after about 12 km (7½ mls) came across the railway line running between Hirschberg and Polaun (Ref 2, pp 209-210).

Exhausted, he decided to risk catching a train so followed the track to a station and purchased a ticket just before the train departed for Polaun. At 21:00 hrs the train stopped at a station and was boarded by the police a member of the Hitler youth. Lt(A). Poynter’s papers passed scrutiny of the police but the Hitler Youth found an error which prompted his arrested (Ref 2, pp 209-210).

He was put off the train at the next station and taken to Hammersdorf police station and from there he was escorted by two (2) German soldiers to the police HQ in Hirschberg. There he met seven (7) other members of his group. After being interrogated they were taken to the civil prison. On the morning of the 29th March he and Flt Lt. Green were taken back to Stalag Luft 3 (Ref 2, pp 209-210).

His story from the evacuation of Stalag Luft 3 is described above and is the same as that for Lt(A). Deterding.

Douglas Arthur Poynter was born on the 1st March 1920 in Ramsgate, Kent. He enlisted in the RN during November 1938. Douglas passed away October 1999 in West Sussex.

(2) After being captured on the 27th September LA(A). Brown was held in Oslo Prison for two (2) weeks. On about the 11th October he was moved to a prison in Berlin where he remained for another two (2) weeks.

On about the 25th October he was transferred to Dulag Luft in Oberursel where he remained for the next 2½ years. Early in March 1943 he was transferred to Stalag 8B at Lamsdorf. In order to attempt an escape he had to change identifies because aircrew were not allowed to work.

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

He was amongst those who were transferred to Stalag 8D at Teschen. Whilst here he was detailed at the following Lamsdorf Arbeitskommando (Work Camps):

E255 - Sawmill at Hartenua between the 5th March 1943 and August 1943;

E709 - Labouring at Stauwerder between August 1943 and May 1944.

In early May 1945 he together with a Cpl. Russell, RAF and a Cpl. Peacock, D.L.I. escaped through the barbed wire of an Arbeitskommando in Seesen near Goslar. They walked for the rest of the day and then hid in a barn and were helped by two ex-polish soldiers. In Echte, some 15 km (9 mls) to the SSW of Seesen, they were provided with food by a German family. After evading for four (4) days and were liberated by an American 1st Army Unit.

Cpl. Russell was Cpl. Albert Charles Russell 523857 RAFVR, PoW No. 21946. He was serving with 30 Sqn and it appears that he was captured on the 21st May 1941 when the Germans attacked the airfield at Maleme on Crete;

Cpl. Peacock was probably Cpl J. Peacock 4451189 of the Durham Light Infantry, PoW No. 50147.

Henry William Brown was born on the 21st June 1920 in Tower Hamlets, London. He enlisted in the RNVR on the 5th December 1935. Henry passed away on the 2nd September 2006 in Folkstone, Kent.

Burial details:

None the crew survived

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to this crew and their families (Mar 2025).

Other sources listed below:

Reference:

1. Stalag Luft III - An official history of the “Great Escape” PoW Camp - Published by Frontline Books - ISBN: 978-1-47388-305-5.

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