Operation: Hamburg, Germany

Date: 29th/30th July 1943 (Thursday/Friday)

Unit No: 460 Squadron, RAAF, 1 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: JA689

Code: AR:?

Location: Hamburg-Harburg district, Germany

Base: RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, England

Pilot: Flt Sgt. Herbert Leonard Fuhrmann DFM, 415079 RAAF Age 25. MiA (1)

Flt Eng: Sgt. Donald Walter Woods 1184099 RAFVR Age 23. MiA

Nav: Fg Off. Charles Beatty Anderson DFC, 416735 RAAF Age 27. MiA (1)

Bomb Aimer: Sgt. Stuart Nicholson Scott 405884 RAAF Age 24. MiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Flt Sgt. Arthur William Howard Gliddon 415135 RAAF Age 26. MiA

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. John Patrick Doyle 1323519 RAFVR Age 22. Murdered (2)

Air Gnr (Rear): Flt Sgt. Thomas Edward Bent 415066 RAAF Age 21. MiA

Above left to right: Flt Sgt. Herbert L. Fuhrmann DFM, Fg Off. Charles B. Anderson DFC (Courtesy of their Service Records)

Above left to right: Sgt. Stuart N. Scott, Flt Sgt. Arthur W.H. Gliddon, Flt Sgt. Thomas E. Bent (Courtesy of their Service Records)

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the night of the 29th/30th July 1943 twenty-four (24) aircraft from the Sqn were detailed to join a force of three-hundred and seven (307) bombers on the 3rd RAF heavy raid on Hamburg.

Of the four (4) Lancasters that failed to return two (2) were from the Sqn.

JA689 was claimed as a probable by Hptm. Friedrich-Wilhelm Angermann his 1st Abschuss, flying an Fw190 “Wild Boar” from 4./JG ‘Herrmann’ over the southern districts of Hamburg at 6.000m. at 01:30 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (23 June - 22 September) 1943 Part 2 - Theo Boiten)

The same night Hptm. Angermann baled out of his Fw190 after combat over the Hamburg-Altona district and was killed when his parachute failed to open. The 4-Mot he claimed was his only confirmed Abschuss. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive - Biographies - Theo Boiten)

The second aircraft was Lancaster III ED535 was flown by Fg Off. Alan James Johnson 402507 RAAF, he and five of his crew are MiA. The 7th member, Fg Off. Clifford T. O'Riordan was KiA.

The search for the crash location of JA689 and grave locations of the missing crew was abandoned on the 7th September 1949. However, as Sgt. Doyle was captured at Harburger Berge (Harburg Hills) in the District of Hamburg-Harburg it can be surmised that the aircraft crashed in a region encompassed by the SW Mitte district to the central Northern Harburg district of Hamburg.

(1) Sgt. Fuhrmann and Fg Off. Anderson were awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) respectively for actions described in the citation on the night of the 20th/21st April 1943 whilst flying Lancaster I W4941 UV:E (London Gazette 25th May 1943).

Citation: “One night in April, 1943, Flying Officer Anderson and Sergeant Fuhrman were navigator and pilot respectively of an aircraft detailed to attack Stettin. Whilst over the Baltic Sea, the aircraft was repeatedly hit by fire from an armed ship. One engine was put out of action, the tail unit was damaged, restricting practically all rudder movements, while a shell penetrated the bomb bay, exploding amongst the incendiaries.

Flying Officer Anderson was wounded in the thigh and buttock by splinters of shrapnel which entered his cabin.

The situation was perilous but Sergeant Fuhrman decided to attempt to fly the damaged bomber home. Displaying superb airmanship and great endurance he eventually accomplished his purpose, flying the damaged bomber to an airfield in this country where he effected a masterly landing before collapsing at the controls.

During the return flight, Flying Officer Anderson, despite his injuries, refused to leave his post and continued his navigational duties, rendering great assistance to his pilot.

Both these members of the crew displayed exceptional courage, skill and fortitude in the face of a trying ordeal”.

(2) The following outlines the results of an investigation carried out by the Special Investigation Brance, British Air Force of Occupation (BAFO) into the ill-treatment and unlawful killing of a British airman presumed to be, but not positively identified, as 1323519 Sgt. John Patrick Doyle of this crew.

On Sunday the 31st July 1943, after a heavy bombing raid on Hamburg, a British airman was arrested in the Harburger Berge (Harburg Hills) in the District of Hamburg-Harburg by a Gestapo Kriminalinspektor (Detective Inspecter) named THOMSEN. The airman was handed over to Wilhelm MAURUSCHAT, who was the Chief of the Criminal Police in the Hamburg-Harburg district, at about 08:00 hrs that morning.

MAURUSCHAT contacted the Landesschützen-Bataillon 498, at the Überseeheim, Veddel in the Hamburg-Mitte district and requested an escort. Whilst waiting for the escort, the airman is alleged to have told MAURUSCHAT, that he had only been in the RAF for about 9 months, and that he was unhurt. About two (2) hours later, the escort arrived in the form of Stabsgefreiter (Private 1st Class) Bernard Julius SCHALTHOFER, who marched the airman back to the Überseeheim,

Note: Landesschützen-Bataillon 498 was a Local Defence force unit and Überseeheim was a Refugee Shelter.

That morning a Gottlieb KÜHL a member of the Landesschützen-Bataillon 498 was on a Fixed Guard Post duty at the entrance at the PoW Compound which overlooked the Guardroom. At around 10:00 hrs he saw SCHALTHOFER arrive with the airman and take him to the office of the Company Commander of the unit, Hptm. (Captain) Fitz PETERS.

PETERS who had another engagement instructed Hauptfeltwebel Friedrich Wilhelm Karl SCHULTZ, to take airman to the Guardroom until he returned.

Note: A Hauptfeltwebel was not a rank but an assignment for the most senior Stabsfeldwebel (M/Sgt.).

PETERS return about 1½ hrs later and instructed SCHULTZ to bring the prisoner to his Office. However, SCHULTZ told him that the prisoner had been killed and already buried. He claimed that a party of Pioniertruppen (Pioneers) had broken into the guardroom and had killed the airman.

PETERS was not satisfied with this explanation and informed his Commanding Officer (CO), Major (Major) Ludwig Karl PETERSEN, who immediately conducted a preliminary investigation. From questioning a number of witnesses, contrary to orders that no unauthorised individuals were allowed in the guardroom, a number of men some wearing Nazi Party uniforms and others identified as Pioniertruppen (Pioneers) from the spades that they were carrying has been observed in the guardroom looking at the prisoner. Efforts to trace these men proved fruitless because of the large number of such troops in the area.

SCHULTZ had left the guardroom so as to distance himself from what was about to transpire. PETERSEN then informed PETERS that it was SCHULTZ who had shot the airman in a ‘Coup de Grâce’. The outcome of which was that SCHULTZ was placed under arrest awaiting a Court Martial.

However, Obergefreiter (Acting Cpl) Emil GROTH, who was the Guard Commander on the morning in question provided a different perspective on what had transpired. He described that when the prisoner was first brought to the Guardroom he was accompanied by SCHULTZ and SCHALTHOFER and left after ordering GROTH to guard the prisoner who was standing in a corner. Some ten (10) minutes later SCHULTZ and SCHALTHOFER returned accompanied by an Unteroffizer (Cpl) by the name of Georg WILKIN and five (5) or six (6) other men.

GROTH stated that during the time the prisoner was under his exhibited no signs of being injured. The prisoner was then taken by SCHULTZ, SCHALTHOFER and WILKIN into the room in which the guards slept. He saw them knock the prisoner from one side of the room to the other during which time he dropped to the floor from exhaustion and as a result of the injuries which they had inflicted, and was kicked where he lay. He also saw one of those present, pour a bucket of water over the prisoner’s head and being compelled to remove his jacket and wipe his blood from the floor, after this he was subjected to a further beating.

At this point GROTH had to leave the Guardroom to relieve the posted guards. Upon his return about 10 to 15 mins later, at around 11:30 hrs he met SCHALTHOFER in the yard who told him that SCHULTZ had shot the airman in a ‘Coup de Grâce’. He saw a small bicycle trailer carrying the shot airman by four (4) Russian prisoners accompanied by SCHULTZ and a member of the Nazi Party in uniform. The body was buried in the Harburg Neuer Friedhof.

On the 7th March 1946 Capt. Jeremy W.M. BLAIR Royal Army Medical Cops (RAMC) Medical Officer No.8 Area, Harburg, was requested to examine the exhumed remains, presumed to be Sgt. John Patrick Doyle, from the Harburg Neuer Friedhof.

His examination revealed that the airman had suffered two injuries, both in his opion would have been fatal. The first was a shot through the forehead from close range by a small calibre firearm. The second which could have been caused by the impact of the head against a flat surface or a heavy blow from a flat instrument like a shovel.

Upon the conclusion of the investigation, it was determined that the persons responsible for the murder of the British airman, where SCHULTZ, SCHALTHOFER and WILKIN however, the men could not be traced for the following reasons:

Friedrich Wilhelm Karl SCHULTZ - Had been posted to the Eastern Front on the 10th August 1943 and no trace of him could be found of him in the British Zone.

Bernard Julius SCHALTHOFER - Had been posted to the Eastern Front on the 27th April 1944 and no trace of him could be found of him in the British Zone;

Georg WILKIN - The home of this man was visited, and it was learned that he had not been or heard of since he went back off leave to re-join his unit, which was on the Eastern Front, in June 1944.

On the 7th May 1946 the results of the investigation were discussed with a Capt. DRAPER, War Crimes Section JAG Department, Rhine Army Headquarters. It was decided that all documents, appertaining to this case, were to be forwarded to, Group Captain SOMERHOUGH, JAG Department, War Crimes Section, BAOR, as it was deemed that the evidence against the three (3) men was sufficient, and tracing of them in the Russian Zone, would be carried out by his Department, in liaison with the Russian Authorities.

A letter to the Soviet Authorities on the 20th February 1947 requesting that the three (3) suspects, amongst a number of others in unrelated cases, be traced and arrested. The Soviet Authorities replied on the 23rd September 1947 stating that searches had produced no results.

However, the record shows that the investigation had been brought to standstill on the 25th February 1947 by the War Crimes Group. No record has been found that formally closed the case.

Burial Details

Note: The No. 81 Graves Concentration Unit (GCU) was responsible for recording the bodies exhumed from the Harburg Neuer Friedhof. Their report mis-recorded the remains recovered from Grave 5624B as those of a non-existent 323519 Flt Sgt. Joyce, which is still mis-recorded in the CWGC database for the entry of 1323519 Sgt. John Patrick Doyle.

Above: The Runnymede Memorial (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

Flt Sgt. Herbert Leonard Fuhrmann DFM. Runnymede Memorial, Panel 191. Born on the 27th November 1917 in Collie, Western Australia. Son of Frederick and Margaret Fuhrmann of Collie, Western Australia.

Flt Sgt. Fuhrmann DFM was posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to Plt Off. with effect 3rd July 1943.

Sgt. Donald Walter Woods. Runnymede Memorial, Panel 170. Born on the 30th July 1920 in Oxford, Oxfordshire. Son of Walter and Eveline (née Bull) Woods of Headington, Oxford, England.

Fg Off. Charles Beatty Anderson DFC. Runnymede Memorial, Panel 187. Born on the 1st June 1916 in Port Adelaide, South Australia. Son of Emil and Mary Ann Anderson of Franklin, South Australia.

Plt Off. Stuart Nicholson Scott. Runnymede Memorial, Panel 191. Born on the 12th March 1919 in Brisbane, Queensland. Son of Charles Edward and Edith Margaret Scott of Bell, Queensland, Australia.

Sgt. Scott was posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to Plt Off. with effect 3rd July 1943.

Flt Sgt. Arthur William Howard Gliddon. Runnymede Memorial, Panel 192. Born on the 24th February 1917 in Northam, Western Australia. Son of Arthur William Howard and Mary Ellen Elizabeth Gliddon of Northam, Western Australia.

Above: Grave marker for Sgt. John Patrick Doyle ((Courtesy of the TWGPP)

Sgt. John Patrick Doyle. Becklingen War Cemetery 11.C.6. Grave Inscription: “PROUDLY IN OUR HEARTS”. Born on the 5th June 1921. Son of John and Helena Doyle.

Flt Sgt. Thomas Edward Bent. Runnymede Memorial, Panel 192. Born on the 11th September 1921 in Collie, Western Australia. Son of Edwin Thomas and Gladys Juanita Bent of Mt. Lawley, Western Australia.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew. (Feb 2026).

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

Other sources listed below:

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