Operation: Achères, France

Date: 7th/8th June 1944 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit No: 427 (Lion) Squadron, RCAF, 6 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Halifax III

Serial: LV987

Code: ZL:K

Base: RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire

Location: Gaillon-sur-Montcient, 2 km (1¼ mls) NW of Meulan-en-Yvelines, France

Pilot: WO2. David F. Foster R136520 RCAF Age? Evader (1)

Flt Eng: Sgt. George William Philliskirk RAFVR Age 20. Evader (1)

Nav: Fg Off. Gordon McTavish Waddell J24600 RCAF Age 27. Evader (1)

Bomb Aimer: Fg Off. Thomas William Farr J26297 RCAF Age 26. Evader (2)

WOp/Air: Sgt. Edward Carter-Edwards R186108 RCAF Age 21. Id No, 78361 *, PoW No. 8928 ** (3)

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. Charles Walter Ford R223422 RCAF Age? PoW No. 161 ***(4)

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Martin Donnan R171503 RCAF Age 22. Evader (1)

* 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).

*** Stalag Luft 7, Bankau nr. Kreuzburg O.S." (O.S. standing for Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia). Today called Bąków nr. Kluczbork (Poland).

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the night of the 7th/8th June 1944 11 aircraft from the squadron took-off from RAF Leeming to join a force of 337 aircraft to attack railway targets at Achères, Juvisy, Massey-Palaoseau and Versailles in France.

Flak over the target was negligible but much light Flak was encountered in a loose barrage on the NW tip of Paris. Fighter activity was seen enroute both to and from the target but the returning crews reported that most aircraft seen going down were shot down by Light Flak.

LV987 was the only aircraft from the squadron that failed to return. LV987 was claimed by Hptm. Kurt Fladrich, his 11th Abschuss, from 9./NJG4, over Meulan-en-Yvelines, 5 km NE of Limay at 1.500 m at 01:26 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (12 May 1944 - 23 July 1944) Part 3 - Theo Boiten).

Hptm. Fladrich survived the war and was credited with 14 confirmed Abschüsse with 1 awaiting confirmation. He died on the 31st January 1995. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive - Biographies - Theo Boiten).

All of the crew successfully baled out and the aircraft crashed at Gaillon-sur-Montcient, 2 km (1¼ mls) NW of Meulan-en-Yvelines.

(1) WO2. Foster and Sgt. Donnan stayed in Seraincourt for two weeks during which time Fg Off. Waddell joined them from Jambville, which is some 1¾ km (1 ml) to the NE, where he been for two days.

The three were then moved to Pontoise, about 17¾ km (11 mls) due east, and while there a member of the French Resistance took their names and contacted London for confirmation of their identities.

Sgt. Philliskirk was aided in Guitranscourt, some 24 km (15 mls) to the west of Pontoise, where the mayor of the town provided him with civilian clothes and contacted the French Resistance. He was then taken to Pontoise where he joined the other three evaders.

On the 19th July 1944 they were moved to Bobigny, which is about 8½ km (5¼ mls) to the NE of the centre of Paris, where they remained until the 29th August when American forces arrived. They were interviewed on the 1st September 1944.

WO2. Foster was appointed to a commission and promoted to J86866 Plt Off.

David F. Foster was born on the 8th July 1920 Shawinigan Falls, Quebec.

Sgt. Philliskirk was born on the 27th July 1924 in Sunderland, Durham. He passed away on the 1st July 1988 in Tring, Hertfordshire, England.

Gordon McTavish Waddell was born on the 14th February 1916 in Newdale, Manitoba. He passed away on the 21st April 2006 in Newdale, Manitoba.

Above: Courtesy of the Edmonton Journal dated, 19th September 1944

After Martin Donnan returned home to Canada he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) (No. 14708) on the 6th May 1946. He served at Winnipeg, Coppermine, Yellowknife, Chesterfield inlet, Frobisher Bay, Lake Harbour, Flin Flon and Pinawa. He was promoted to RCMP Corporal in March 1963.

Above: Title: "Nalvana prints her name at the foot of the Family Allowance voucher at Coppermine Mounted Police Barracks, while Cst.Martin Donnan waits." (Courtesy of the Library and Archives Canada)

Martin Donnan was born on the 24th March 1923 in Edmonton, Alberta. He passed away on the 11th August 1986 in Edmonton, Alberta.

(2) After Fg Off. Farr baled he landed north of Pontoise in a wheatfield and left his parachute and Mae West in the wheat.

Sgt. Carter-Edwards landed in the same field and they started walking in a south-westerly direction, but they became separated so Fg Off. Farr continued alone. He walked for 3 days and nights and finally arrived at a farm near FAVRIEUX, where he stayed for 5 days.

During his stay, a member of a local Resistance group came and took him to a house in Arnouville-lès-Mantes where he stayed until the 25th August when American forces arrived.

While he was at the farm, he was joined by an American (Lt. Gifhorne), who stayed with at the farm until the arrival of the Americans.

This was in fact 2nd Lt. William E. Giffhorn O-747691 who was the Bombardier from B-26B #42-9621 ‘Our Darling’ of the 597th Bombardment Group (M), 397th Bombardment Group (M), 9th Air Force. Hit by Flak on a mission to Maisons-lafitte, France on the 24th June 1944 (5 PoW, 2 Evd).

He arrived at RAF Heston on the 30th August and was interviewed on the 1st September 1944.

Thomas William Farr was born on the 25th January 1918. He was an Aircraft Apprentice prior to enlisting in the RCAF on the 3rd December 1941.

(3) After Sgt. Carter-Edwards baled out he landed 24 km (15 mls) NW of Paris and hid in woods all that night and the next day. He then made contact with a farmer who took him in and hid him for the next 10 days.

He was then taken to another house where he stayed for 2½ weeks after which a car arrived to take him to Paris. Enroute the car was stopped by the Gestapo and he was arrested.

He was then taken to the Fresnes prison located to the south of Paris. This 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 he 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.

Sgt. Carter-Edwards was moved to the sick barrack suffering from pneumonia and pleurisy. After he recovered sufficiently he was sent to work on a railroad line. He was too weak to work but with the help of a doctor managed to avoid the working party. He missed the evacuation to Stalag Luft 3, but followed later arriving there on the 19th October.

Whilst at Stalag Luft 3 he was appointed to a commission and promoted to J88738 Plt Off.

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.

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. 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.

Plt Off. Carter-Edwards was amongst the PoWs from the North, East and remaining West compound prisoners at Spremberg who were sent to the Malag und Milag Nord PoW camp

Note: Malag = Marinelager (naval prisoner of war camp) and Milag = Marine-Internierten-Lager (naval internment camp), Nord (North). Located at a former Luftwaffe (German Air Force) barracks near Westertimke NE of Bremen in Germany.

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 and marched them out, heading east. Plt Off. Carter Edwards, albeit he was listed as a Sgt, was in this column.

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. The column slowly headed east, finally crossing the River Elbe, north of Hamburg, on the 18th April.

On 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.

At the Malag-Milag Nord camp the guards fled on 9th April 1945 and were replaced by elderly civilian guards. Those remaining at the camp were liberated by the British Guards Armoured Division on the 27th April 1945.

Above: Courtesy of The Hamilton Spectator, dated 5th June 1945

Edward Carter-Edwards was born on the 2nd April 1923. He was an Electrical Engineer at the Westinghouse Electric in Hamilton, Ontario prior to enlist in the RCAF on the 17th August 1942. He passed away on the 22nd February 2027 in Grimsby, Ontario Aged 94.

(4) A “General Questionnaire for British/American Ex-Prisoners” for Sgt. Ford has not been found. However, as he was at Stalag Luft 7 it probable that. he was amongst the 1,500 prisoners marched out of the camp in the bitter cold n the 19th January 1945,. They crossed a bridge over the river Oder on the 21st January, reached Goldberg on 5th February, and were loaded onto a train.

Note: Whilst at Stalag Luft 7 he was appointed to a commission and promoted to J90087 Plt Off.

On the 8th February they reached Stalag 3A located about 52 km (32 mls) south of Berlin near Luckenwalde, which already held 20,000 prisoners, consisting mainly of soldiers from Britain, Canada, the US and Russia.

During January and February 1945 PoWs from numerous other camps arrived and the camp eventually housed 45,942 PoWs, including 24,996 French, 12,517 Soviet, 4,093 Serbian, 1,499 American, 1,433 British, 1,310 Italian, 86 Polish and 8 Romanian.

On the 22nd April 1945 the guards fled the camp in the face of the advancing Russians leaving the prisoners to be liberated by the Red Army.

Stalag 3A was turned over to the Americans on the 6th May at which time the Senior American Officers (SAO) took over the running of the camp until all the PoWs were evacuated.

Burial details:

None all the crew survived

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

Other sources listed below:

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