Operation: Shipping search Tunisian coast

Date: 25th January 1943 (Monday)

Unit No: 69 Squadron "B" (PR) Flight, Middle East Air Force

Type: Baltimore II

Serial: AG739

Code: J

Base: Luqa, Malta

Location: Approximately 70 km (43½ mls) south of Sfax in Tunisia

Pilot: Plt Off. Robert Duncan MacKenzie 406321 RAAF Age 25. PoW No. 27457 * (1)

Navigator: Sgt. Thomas Jacob Weston Wilcox 961351 RAFVR Age 23. PoW No. 27465 * (2)

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Ian Douglas Drysdale 991168 RAFVR Age 24. PoW No. 27456 * (3)

Air Gnr: Sgt. Alexander Joseph Nagy CR68629 RCAF Age 22. PoW No. 342 ** (4)

* Stalag 8B/Stalag 344, Lamsdorf, now called Łambinowice in Silesia.

** Stalag Luft 7, Bankau nr. Kreuzburg, Upper Silesia, now Bąków nr. Kluczbork in Poland.

Above: Courtesy of The Daily News, dated 13th March 1943

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 25th January 1943 at 08:22 hrs Baltimore II AG739 took-off from Luqa in Malta on a shipping search on the Tunisian coast. The aircraft failed to return at the expected time.

Note: 683 (PR) Squadron was formed from 69 Squadron "B" (PR) Flight at Luqa on the 8th February 1943.

Plt Off. MacKenzie later reported that they were attacked by fighters badly damaging the aircraft and setting the port engine ablaze. He did not give the order to abandon the aircraft and kept the aircraft flying. Eventually he successfully crash-landed the aircraft without further injuries to the crew approximately 70 km (43½ mls) south of Sfax in Tunisia. The crew were captured soon after the crash landing.

Note: 70 km (43½ mls) due south of Sfax is in the Gulf of Gabes so it is suspected that the direction was probably to the SW.

(1) Plt Off. MacKenzie was transferred to Dulag Luft, Oberursel arriving there on the 28th January 1943. After the statutory solitary confinement and interrogation he was transferred to Stalag 8B, Lamsdorf on the 14th February 1943.

He was promoted to Fg Off. on the 25th April 1943.

He was at Arbeitskommando (Work Camp) No. E339 at Freudenthal (Bruntál in Czech, Silesia) from 15th April 1944 to 26th June 1944 working on railway lines.

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 day Żagań and Stalag 8D Teschen (modern day Český Těšín). The base camp at Lamsdorf was renumbered Stalag 344.

On the 19th August 1944 he was transferred to Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia. He was promoted to Flt Lt. on the 25th October 1944.

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 2nd February he was amongst the North, East and remaining West compound PoWs that were sent to Marlag und Milag Nord at Westertimke arriving there on the 4th February.

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 and marched them out, heading east. As far as can be determined from available records he was amongst those PoWs who were in the forced-march.

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. Flt Lt. Mackenzie was interviewed on the 2nd May 1945.

He embarked for Australia on the 29th June 1945 arriving at Perth on the 28th July 1945. He was discharged from the RAAF on the 6th November 1945 “On Demobilisation”.

Robert Duncan MacKenzie was born on the 9th June 1917 in Fremantle, Western Australia. He was a salesman prior to enlisting in the RAAF on the 11th November 1940 in East Fremantle, Western Australia. Robert passed away on the 20th August 1994 in Fremantle, Western Australia.

(2) Sgt. Wilcox was transferred to Dulag Luft, Oberursel arriving there on the 3rd February 1943. After the statutory solitary confinement and interrogation he was transferred to Stalag 8B/Stalag 344, Lamsdorf on the 14th February arriving there on the February 1943. Whilst here he was promoted to Warrant Officer (WO)

On the 22nd January 1945 he was transferred to Stalag 8A, Görlitz in Lower Silesia. On the 14th February 1945 he was amongst the Americans and British who were marched out of the camp westward in advance of the Soviet offensive into Germany. He was amongst the PoWs who were held at Stalag 9A, Trutzhain for approximately two weeks. On the 29th Mar 1945 the camp was evacuated and force-marched out of the camp.

The next day on the 30th March 1945 near Homburg, SW of Kassel he escaped from the columns with two (2) unnamed Polish PoWs. The following day they contacted elements of the 6th Armoured Division of the 3rd US Army. He was interviewed on the 18th April 1945

Above Courtesy of The Standard, dated 30th July 2005

Thomas Jacob Weston Wilcox was born on the 4th February 1920 in Lambeth, London. He was a Local Government Officer prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 13th September 1940. Thomas passed away on the 28th July 2005 in Stratford, Perth, Ontario, Canada.

(3) Sgt. Drysdale was transferred to Dulag Luft, Oberursel where he remained for 14 days before being transferred to Stalag 8B/Stalag 344, Lamsdorf on the 14th February 1943. Whilst here he was promoted to Warrant Officer (WO).

Whilst at the camp he changed identity with Rifleman G. James 6897021 of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and on the 12th January 1945 went out on an Arbeitskommando (Work Camp) with the intention of contacting local partisans.

The Arbeitskommando was No. E749 Märish Trübau which he recorded as a Cement Factory.

He escaped from the camp on the day the war ended and was with partisans in Czechoslovakia for the next seven (7) days. He was then sent to Prague and was finally repatriated to the American forces at Pilsen. He was interviewed on the 23rd May 1945.

Ian Douglas Drysdale was born on the 5th January 1919 in Glasgow, Scotland. He was a Fruit Salesman prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 27th March 1940.

(4) Sgt. Nagy was wounded in the leg by MG fire in the attack. He was admitted to the Hospital (Caserta) in Naples, Italy on the 28th January 1943. He was discharged on the 16th May 1943 and sent to the Italian PoW camp PG 66 in Capua, Italy.

Two days later he was transferred to PG 54 in Fara Sabina and remained there until the 10th September 1943. There was an escape committee there and he worked on a tunnel project which was incomplete when the Italian’s signed the armistice on the 5th September.

The camp leader, Regimental Sgt Maj. (RSM) Sneiman SAP, advised him along with five (5) other Canadians to leave the camp on the 10th September. However, they were captured on the 26th September at Monte Lebreiti by German troops and were transported to Germany.

RSM Sneiman was WO1. L.G. Snyman SAP/196269 PoW No. 132375.

En route on about the 7th October he escaped from freight train near Orte by removing the bars and barbed wire from a window. He was one six (6) of who escaped when they saw German paratroopers descending onto the airdrome the others were Flt Sgt. Bill Guertin, RCAF, Sgt. Gordon Bennett, RAF, Sgt. Gerald LaCoure, RCAF, Sgt. W.L. Smith, RCAF, Sgt. A.V. Rimes RAFVR and a South African (SA) Pte.

Flt Lt. William Norman ‘Bill’ Guertin R68183 PoW No. 464903, Stalag Luft 6, Heydekrug. 462 Sqn Halifax II DT498: 11th November 1942;

Believed to be Sgt. Gordon Bennett 1063396 RAFVR. No further information found;

LaCoure was actually Sgt. Joseph Gerard Roger LeCours R79289 RCAF, PoW No. 248553, Stalag Luft 6, Heydekrug. 112 Sqn Kittyhawk III FR325: 5th February 1943;

Sgt. Walter Lodington Smith R70871 RCAF, PoW No. 344, Stalag Luft 7, Bankau nr. Kreuzburg. 160 Sqn Liberator II AL620: 14th/15th January 1943;

Sgt. Arthur Victor Rimes 1166705 RAFVR, PoW No. 229157, Stalag Luft 7, Bankau nr. Kreuzburg. 37 Squadron Wellington IC, HD963: 18th/19th September 1942.

The SA Private (Pte) has not been identified.

His escape and evasion details are not known except that he was recaptured at Palembarlo in Italy by German soldiers on the 25th April 1944.

Escape was impossible this time and he finally arrived at Stalag 7A, Moosburg in Bavaria in the 1st June 1944. On the 14th June he was transferred to Stalag Luft 7, Bankau nr. Kreuzburg in Upper Silesia arriving there on the 16th June 1944.

He was promoted to Warrant Officer Class 1 (WO1).

On the 19th January 1945, he was amongst 1,500 prisoners marched out of the camp in the bitter cold. They crossed a bridge over the river Oderon the 21st January, reached Goldberg on 5th February, and were loaded onto a train.

On the 8th February they reached Stalag 3Alocated about 52 km (32 mls) south of Berlinnear Luckenwalde, which already held 20,000 prisoners, consisting mainly of soldiers from Britain, Canada, the US and Russia. On the 22nd April 1945 as the Russians approached the camp the guards fled 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. He remained at the camp until the 20th May 1945 and was interviewed on the 24th May 1945.

Above of Courtesy The Ottawa Citizen, dated 11th January 2014

Alexander Joseph Nagy was born on the 6th January 1921 in Hungary. He was a student in Winsor, Ontario prior to enlisting in the RCAF on 14th September 1940. Alexander passed away on the 8th January 2014.

Burial details:

None – crew survived

Researched by Ralph Snape from Aircrew Remembered as dedicated to this crew and their families (May 2025).

Other sources listed below:

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