Operation: Berlin, Germany

Date: 24th/25th March 1944 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit No: 626 Squadron, No 1 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: LM393

Code: UM:W2

Base: RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire

Location: Just north of Liebätz, Germany

Pilot: Flt Sgt. Keith Harry Margetts 1576746 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

Flt Eng: Sgt. Ronald William Chandler 1279002 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

Nav: Fg Off. Hance Logan Shortliffe J23712 RCAF Age 21. KiA

Bomb Aimer: Sgt. Dennis Frank Brooker 1395647 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Geoffrey Thomas Probert 1517303 RAFVR Age 25. MiA

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. Robert Charles Waters 1801475 RAFVR Age 23. KiA

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Charles Geoffrey Gordon Bateman 1865972 RAFVR Age? KiA

Above: Fg Off. Hance L Shortliffe from his Service Record

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 24th March 1944 Bomber Command mounted an 811 bomber raid on Berlin. The aircraft comprised 577 Lancasters, 216 Halifaxes and 18 Mosquitoes. Of this force 44 Lancasters and 28 Halifaxes were lost.

This night became known in Bomber Command as ’the night of the strong winds’. A powerful wind from the north carried the bomber streams to the south at every stage of the outbound leg. The bomber stream became very scattered, particularly on the homebound leg and radar-predicted Flak batteries at many places were able to score successes. It was estimated that approximately 50 of the 72 aircraft lost were from Flak and most of the remainder were lost to German night-fighters.

Two Lancasters from 626 Sqn failed to return:

Lancaster I HK539 UM:A2. On the homebound leg the aircraft was claimed by a German night-fighter.The aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Neuwarendorf, 4 km west of Warendorf. Wg Cdr. Quetin W.A. Ross 32111, and his crew were KiA.

LM393 was claimed by Lt. Johannes G. Jockenhöfer flying a Bf110 G-4, his 3rd Abschuss, from Stab V./NJG4, 30 km SW of Berlin at 5.600 m. at 22.45 hrs. He was injured in a crash landing at Magdeburg after this engagement. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (16th March 1944 - 11th May 1944) Part 2 - Theo Boiten).

On the 23rd February 1945 his Ju88G-2 Werk #621206 (Stab II./NJG5) was shot down by AAA near Leukersdorf/Chemitz. Lt. Jockenhöfer and his Bordschütze (Gunner), Ofw. Erwin Gumm were KiA. his Bordfunker (Radio/Radar Operator), Oblt Kurt Böttger baled out but is believed to have perished. (Kracker database - Aircrew Remembered)

On the 14th May 1947 Flt Lt. E.F. Herbert of the Berlin Section, No. 4 Missing Research and Enquiry Unit (MR&EU), proceeded to the Liebätz Cemetery accompanied by No. 56 Graves Concentration Unit (GCU) for the purpose of exhuming the first five airmen and later a sixth from this crew who were listed on the German Burial Record Cards. The bodies of the six airmen were interred without coffins in a communal grave and there was no cross.

Liebätz is some 44 km (27 mls) SSW of Berlin and 6 km (3¾ mls) NNE of Luckenwalde.

It was determined that the Lancaster was flying from the direction of Berlin and was set ablaze in an attack by a German night fighter. The aircraft circled and then crashed just north of Liebätz, exploded and burned on impact in 3 feet of flood water.

An unnamed member of the crew was known to have baled out but died in unknown circumstances. Flt Lt. Herbert thought that if the airman was injured that he may have drowned after landing in the flood water.

No documentation or physical trace of Sgt. Probert, the seventh crew member, has been found.

The recovered crew members were initially buried in the community cemetery at Liebätz, recovered and finally laid to rest in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery on the 16th May 1947.

Burial details:

Above: The Berlin 1939 1945 War Cemetery (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC))

Flt Sgt. Keith Harry Margetts. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery 8.K.23. Born in the 3rd Qtr of 1922 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. Son of William Harry Leonard and May (née Brice) Margetts of Rushden, Northamptonshire, England.

Sgt. Ronald William Chandler. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery 8.K.25. Grave Inscription: ‘AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM’. Born on the 29th May 1922 in Keynsham, Gloucestershire. Son of William Charles and Florence (née Sheppard) Chandler of Staplehill, Bristol, England

Fg Off. Hance Logan Shortliffe. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery 8.K.27. Born on the 18th August 1922 in Edmonton, Alberta. Son of Delbert Llewelyn and Mayme Anna (née Brownwell) Shortliffe of Edmonton, Alberta Canada.

Sgt. Dennis Frank Brooker. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery 8.K.26. Grave Inscription: ‘AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM’. Born on the 5th September 1922 in Dartford, Kent. Son of George Henry and Florence May (née Smith) Brooker, of Dartford, Kent, England.

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

Sgt. Geoffrey Thomas Probert. Runnymede Memorial Panel 236. Born on the 21st July 1918 in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Son of Thomas Chesters and Ann Jane (née Sweeney) Probert of Walker, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England.

Sgt. Robert Charles Waters. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery 8.K.22. Grave Inscription: ‘"SUNSET AND EVENING STAR, AND ONE CLEAR CALL FOR ME"’. Son of Henry Hayden and of May Beatrice Waters of North Harrow, Middlesex, England.

Sgt. Charles Geoffrey Gordon Bateman. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery 8.K.24. Next of Kin details not found.

Researched by Ralph Snape and dedicated to the crew and their families (Aug 2024)

Other sources listed below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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