Operation: Night Bombing Attack on Politz
Date: 8/9th February 1945
Unit: No. 630 Squadron RAF
Type: Avro Lancaster III
Serial: ND554
Code: LE-E
Base: RAF East Kirkby, Lincolnshire
Location: Politz Synthetic Oil Plant, near Stettin, Germany
Pilot: F/O. Robert Baines Knight 422292 RNZAF. Age 25. Missing - believed killed
Fl/Eng: Sgt Arthur Ronald Newby 1591945 RAFVR. Age 28. Missing - believed killed
Nav: Fl/Sgt. James Montague 1051821 RAFVR. Age 27. Missing - believed killed
Air/Bmr Fl/Sgt. Norman Eric Armour Sharpe 917319 RAFVR. Age 29. Missing - believed killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr Fl/Sgt. John Lamont 427518 RNZAF. Age 28, Missing - believed killed
Mid Upper: Sgt Leon Young 3031383 RAFVR. Age 20. Missing - believed killed
Rear Gunner: Sgt Stanley Laidler Cameron 3031383 RAFVR. Age 19. Missing - believed killed
Reason for Loss
475 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes of Nos. 1, 5 and 8 Groups were dispatched to attack the Synthetic Oil Plant at Politz, near Stettin. The attack was planned in two waves - the first marked by 5 Group, the second by Pathfinders of 8 Group. Weather was clear with 3/10ths cloud at 4,000-6,000 feet and excellent visibility. Marking was punctual and accurate and the control was excellent. Crews attacked between 21:15 and 21:29 hours from 12,000 to 13,000 feet. Many sticks of bombs were seen to fall across the target, with a series of violent explosions reported. By the end of the attack smoke totally covered the target. German records confirm the synthetic oil plant was put out of action for the remainder of the war - a total success.
Fighters were encountered in the target area. Lancaster ND554, coded LE-E, failed to return to base and without any clues as to its fate all seven crew members were posted as missing. They are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Recent work on the victory claims by Luftwaffe night fighter crews shows that ND554 might have been the aircraft claimed as shot down at 22:03 hours over Stettin by Oberfeldwebel (Warrant Officer) Rudolf Mangelsdorf of 9/NJG2 (9th Squadron of Night Fighter Group 2 - shown left with his crew). The crew included John Lamont from Ballymoney, Northern Ireland who had emigrated to New Zealand at an early age, where he found employment as a timber worker in Auckland. Arriving back in the UK after training in Canada, he had crewed up at OTU with New Zealander Bob Knight and South Londoner Norman Sharpe, a married man with a young daughter who had been a successful builder and decorator.
Burial Details
Flying Officer Robert Baines Knight - Runnymede Memorial, Panel 285. United Kingdom, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Son of Harry Knight (died 1972, age 82)and of Elizabeth Knight (née Thomson - died 1953, age 61)), of Waiuku, Auckland, New Zealand. His brother 20 year pld Fl/Sgt Jack Muir Knight was also lost on the 28th August 1944 in the South Pcifice campaigne.
Sergeant Arthur Ronald Newby - Runnymede Memorial, Panel 276. United Kingdom, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Son of Arthur and Alice Newby; husband of Frances Newby, of Cottingham, Yorkshire.
Flight Sergeant James Montague - Runnymede Memorial, Panel 272. United Kingdom, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Son of Denis and Alice Montague; husband of Brigid T. Montague, of Swatragh, Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Flight Sergeant Norman Eric Armour Sharpe - Runnymede Memorial, Panel 272. United Kingdom, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Son of James T. and Amy Sharpe; husband of Olive Sharpe, of Purley, Surrey.
Flight Sergeant John Lamont - Runnymede Memorial, Panel 285. United Kingdom, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Son of Elizabeth Lamont, of Royal Oak, Auckland, New Zealand.
Sergeant Stanley Laidler Cameron - Runnymede Memorial, Panel 274. United Kingdom, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Foster-son of Mrs. A. C. Collins, of Maidstone, Kent.
Sergeant Leon Young - Runnymede Memorial, Panel 277. United Kingdom, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Son of Harry Man Young and Mabel Alice Young, of Scarborough, Yorkshire.
Service History - F/O Robert Baines Knight RNZAF
- NZ422292. Born Waiuku, 15th April 1919.
- Educated at Waiuku School - gained Proficiency Certificate.
- Occupation: General farm duties on his father's farm at Waiuku. Sports: deer stalking and fishing.
- Applied for war service in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, April 1941.
- Enlisted in aircrew, Initial Training Wing, Rotorua, 3rd April 1942.
- No. 3 Elementary Flying Training School, Harewood, 9th June 1942.
- No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Wigram, 3rd April 1943.
- Awarded Flying Badge, 7th June 1943.
- Promoted to Sergeant, 31st July 1943.
- Embarked for the United Kingdom, 21st August 1943.
- Promoted to Flight Sergeant, 31st January 1944.
- Arrived No. 12 Personnel Reception Centre, Brighton, 15th October 1943.
- Refresher course, No. 21 Elementary Flying Training School, Sealand, Cheshire.
- No. 21 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit, Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire, 21st March 1944.
- Instrument flying course, No. 1511 Beam Approach Training Flight, Wheaton Aston, April 1944.
- No. 10 Operational Training Unit, Stanton Harcourt then Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 6th June 1944. Crewed up on Whitley bomber aircraft.
- Commissioned as Pilot Officer, 18th August 1944.
- No. 1669 Heavy Conversion Unit, Langar, Nottinghamshire, 13th October 1944 - conversion to Halifax bombers.
- No. 5 Lancaster Finishing School, Syerston, Nottinghamshire, 5th December 1944 - graduated on Lancaster bombers.
- Promoted to Flying Officer, 9th January 1945.
- No. 630 Squadron, RAF East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, 9th February 1945.
- Operational sorties: Politz (13/14 January 1945), Siegen (1/2 February 1945), Karlsruhe (2/3 February 1945), Politz (8/9 February 1945).
- Lancaster ND554 failed to return from Politz, 8/9th February 1945. Death officially presumed 9th February 1945 as result of air operations.
- 564 hours as pilot.
- Next of kin (Father): Mr. H. Knight, c/o Messrs. Mason and Munro, Solicitors, Box 31, Waiuku.
- Runnymede Memorial - Panel 285.
Pilots course 37a. No. 1 Service Flying Training School, RNZAF Station Wigram.
L-R: Back; E.K Whitechurch ✝, J.C Flanagan, J.W, I.A Carnie, G.G Barnett, R.E.R r e RobertsawA.R Galletly, ✞ W.L Pound, I.H i h Byers, W.L Hardie, K.B Smith, D.F. Butler.
3rd Row; A.L. Bell, G.W.E Steel, R.B Knight ✞, D.A Ingham, J.W Franklin, R.S Bishop, F.M Lomas, N.H Thorpe ✞, R.B Crawford, D.P Leadley, W.J Geary ✞, A.P Reid.
2.nd Row; R.J Pearson, P.W Nicholas, J.H.T Wood, R.A Cumberpatch, D. Tebbutt, A.G Dale, G.D Wareham, RW Russell, AD Simpson, D.A Gawith, J.B Annand ✞, L..G Sinclair.
Front; L.T Friedrich ✞ C.W McFarlane, J.C.D Sharpe, D. McClellan, R.L Werner, P.D Young, H.S Day, N.S Culpan, J.D Williams ✞, G.G Smail, N.L Handricks. (Courtesy Air Museum of New Zealand)
Politz - synthetic oil refinery
In the 1930s, Germany had a great need to become self-sufficient and one of their biggest imports was fuel. The large chemical company IG Fabre had a solution to the problem: by using large amounts of coal, they could produce synthetic fuel.
Adolf Hitler approved the project and in 1940 IG Farben built 12 factories around Germany which produced a total of 11.4 million litres of synthetic fuel per day. An amount that, with the addition of forced labourers and prisoners of war, was doubled over the next three years.
In 1937, near Pölitz (today Police in Poland), IG Farben built a large factory that would eventually produce 15% of Germany's total consumption of synthetic fuel. Factory workers were forced labourers and over the next five years, over 30,000 were employed; whilst working there, 13,000 of them died of hunger and disease.
From May 1944, the Allies began to systematically bomb P.O.L facilities (petrol, oil, lubricants) as a way of reducing the mobility of the German forces; the Pölitz fuel factories were no exception. In total, these synthetic oil plants suffered fourteen raids. These attacks ended in early 1945 with the virtually complete destruction of the whole site facilities by a 250-bomber raid.
The area was conquered in late April 1945, and the Soviets quickly dismantled all the technical equipment and sent it back to Russia.
The plant can now be visited on guided tours.
Sources and Acknowledgements
- Auckland War Memorial Museum.
- No. 630 Squadron research archive
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
- Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
- Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13.
- New Zealand Cenotaph.
- Aircrew Remembered databases and archives
- Battles of WW2
- Air Museum of New Zealand
- Kracker Luftwaffe Archive
Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
