Operation: Saint-Leu-d’Esserent, France

Date: 7th/8th July 1944 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit No: 207 Squadron, 5 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: ND866

Code: EM:B

Base: RAF Spilsby, Lincolnshire

Location: Between Bézu-Saint-Éloi and Neaufles-Saint-Martin, France

Pilot: Fg Off. Michael Nicholson Milner 173331 RAFVR Age 22. KiA (1)

Flt Eng: Sgt. Alexander James McPherson 1896613 RAFVR Age 27. Id No: 78435 *, PoW No: 8105 ** (2)

Nav: Flt Sgt. John Miller 968796 RAFVR Age 24. KiA

Bomb Aimer: Sgt. Beresford Matthew Jacques 1321651 RAFVR Age 30. KiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Ronald Charles Collings 1800837 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. Edward William Palmer 1474541 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Arthur Courtney Barrett 1896411 RAFVR Age 28. KiA

* Buchenwald concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimer, Germany in July 1937.

** Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland.

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the night of the 7th July 1944 15 aircraft from the Squadron took off from RAF Spilsby commencing at 23:21 hrs. They joined a force comprising 208 Lancasters and 13 Mosquitos on a mission to bomb the V-1 (Vergeltungswaffe) flying bomb storage site located in the underground quarry at Saint-Leu-d’Esserent, France.

The site was named by the Germans as the Leopold Low 1106 Feldmulag (Leopold Field Munitions Camp/Depot).

ND866 and four other aircraft from the Squadron failed to return. This was the second month in 1944 that the Squadron had suffered this number of losses on a single operation:

Lancaster I LM129 EM:Y (3 KiA, 3 PoW, 1 Evd);
Lancaster I LM218 EM:N (5 KiA, 2 Evd);
Lancaster I ME805 EM:J (2 PoW, 5 Evd);
Lancaster III ND567 EM:Y (5 KiA, 1 PoW, 1 Evd).

ND866 was claimed by Lt. Frithjof Fensch, his 6th Abschuss and the first of three this night , from 4./NJG4 over Gisors at 3.500 m. at 01:32 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (12 May 1944 - 23 July 1944) Part 3 - Theo Boiten).

Lt. Fensch was wounded on the night of the 25th/26th November 1944 and baled out of his Ju-88G-1 3C+OR near Duisburg after combat with 410 Sqn Mosquito NF.XXX MM767 RA:O flown by Lt. Harrington USAAF and Fg Off. Tongue. Lt. Fensch was credited with 12 confirmed Abschüsse. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive Biographies - Theo Boiten).

Note: This was 1st Lt. Archibald Allan Harrington DFC, AM (7 OLC), O-885992 USAAF. His DFC was awarded on the 17th November 1944;

and

Fg Off. Dennis George Tongue DFC and Bar, 177090 RAFVR. His DFC was awarded on the 29th December 1944. Bar to DFC awarded on the 2nd March 1945: Citation: “As observer, this officer continues to display a very high standard of skill and devotion to duty. One night in November, 1944, he flew with great distinction on a sortie during which he assisted in the destruction of 3 enemy aircraft. Throughout, he displayed exceptional coolness and resolution, setting a splendid example”.

They were credited with 6 known German aircraft destroyed. Four Ju88s, one on the 19th June 1944 and three on the 25th November 1944, a Ju87 ‘Stuka’ on the 26th September 1944 and an Fw190 on the 26th September 1944.

The aircraft crashed at approx. 01:30 hrs between the villages of Bézu-Saint-Éloi and Neaufles-Saint-Martin, some 6 km (3¾ mls) WNW and 4 km (2½ mls) respectively of Gisors.

(1) Fg Off Milner’s brother Lt. Geoffrey Deryck Nicolson Milner, DSC, Royal Navy was posted MiA. He was the Commanding Officer of HM Submarine Simoom which was expected to return to Beirut on the 19th November 1943 and was declared overdue on the 23rd. Post-war studies concluded that the most probable cause of her sinking was that she hit a mine in the new minefield off Donoussa on the 4th November whilst on the surface.

HM Submarine Simoom was an S-class submarine with a crew complement of 48 officers and ratings.

Their father was Sqn Ldr. Geoffrey Milner MiD 72892 RAF. He served as a Lt. (22840) in the 2nd Bn, West Yorkshire Regiment in WW1 and also detached to the Egyptian Army as a Royal Engineer (RE) Capt. He relinquished his commission on the 26th July 1918.

He was listed as a Flt Lt. in the Reserved of Air Force Officers (RAFO) - February 1939. He was commissioned in the Administration and Special Duties Branch. He relinquished his commission as a Sqn Ldr. retaining the rank of Wg Cdr. on the 27th July 1954.

(2) Little is known about the details of his evasion in France. What is known is that he was sheltered by the Picourt network and met fellow evaders Martini and Wilson.

S/Sgt. Frederic Cosmo Martini 32163997 USAAF was the Left Waist Gunner from 551st Bombardment Sqn (H), 385th Bombardment Group (H) B-17G #42-31762 ‘Crash Wagon III’ lost on the 12th June 1944 on a mission to Montdidier, France. (1 KiA, 9 PoW);

S/Sgt. Paul James Wilson 31013843 USAAF was the Tail Gunner from 574th Bombardment Sqn (M), 391st Bombardment Group (M) B-26B #42-95827 lost on the 27th May 1944 on a mission to Maisons-Laffitte Railroad Bridge, France. (6 PoWs).

They were visited on a regular basis by Desoubrie and Orsini. All three were taken by Desoubrie to Hotel Picadilly, and then picked up and driven to Gestapo HQ at 84 Avenue Foch in Paris.

Jean-Jacques was a Belgian traitor named Jaques Desoubrie (Jean-Jacques, Jean Masson and Pierre Boulain were aliases) who had infiltrated the Réseau Comète (Comet Line) escape route in Brussels and Paris. He was responsible for the Nazis rounding up dozen of members of the Réseau Comète and Allied airmen. He was finally captured and stood accused at a French military trial in Lille. He was convicted and condemned to death for having participated in the capture and assassination of members of the resistance and for sending Allied military to their deaths in violation of the Geneva convention. He was executed by firing squad.

Madame Orsini, also known as Colette, was Marie-Antoinette Orsini and an accomplice of Desoubrie. She was arrested by the French authorities but not before Desoubrie tried but failed to kill her so that she would not inform on him.

They were then transferred to Fresnes prison which was located to the south of Paris and 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 they were 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.

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.

He was transferred to Stalag Luft 3, Belaria over the period 15th to 20th 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. Sgt. McPherson was amongst the PoWs who were transferred to Stalag 3A, Luckenwalde.

As of 1st January 1945, it 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 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.

Alexander James McPherson was born on the 22nd February 1917 in Normanton. He passed away July 1999 in Gravesend, Kent, England.

Burial details:

Above: Neaufles-Saint-Martin Churchyard and the only five Commonwealth casualties (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC))

Fg Off. Michael Nicholson Milner. Neaufles-Saint-Martin Churchyard Coll. Grave. Born on the 17th January 1922 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. Son of Geoffrey and Kathleen I. (née Nicholson) Milner of Chichester, Sussex, England.

Flt Sgt. John Miller. Neaufles-Saint-Martin Churchyard Coll. Grave. Grave inscription: ‘HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR FREEDOM THAT THOSE HE LOVED MIGHT LIVE. R.I.P.’. Son of Theodore and Mary Miller, of Cardonald, Glasgow, Scotland.

Above: The only Commonwealth casualty in the Bézu-Saint-Éloi Communal Cemetery is that of Sgt. Jacques. (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC))

Sgt. Beresford Matthew Jacques. Bézu-Saint-Éloi Communal Cemetery. Grave Inscription: ‘"THY WILL BE DONE"’. Born on the 6th May 1914 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire West Riding. Son of Sydney George Baker and Julie (née Burns) Jacques. Husband of Grace Lillian (née Barnard) Jacques of Upper Holloway, London, England.

Sgt. Ronald Charles Collings. Neaufles-Saint-Martin Churchyard Coll. Grave. Born on the 5th March 1923 in London, England. Son of Walter Charles and Beatrice Emma (née Abbott) Collings. Husband to Eva Florence Kathleen (née Davis) Collings of Edmonton, Essex, England.

Sgt. Edward William Palmer. Neaufles-Saint-Martin Churchyard Coll. Grave. Grave Inscription: ‘REST ON, DEAR SON, YOUR DUTY IS DONE; YOU WILL STILL LIVE ON IN OUR MEMORIES’. Son of Alfred Frederick and Florence Elizabeth Palmer of Reading, Berkshire, England.

Sgt. Arthur Courtney Barrett. Neaufles-Saint-Martin Churchyard Coll. Grave. Grave Inscription: ‘IN LOVING MEMORY OF ARTHUR. HIS WIFE IRIS, BABY SANDRA AND HIS MOTHER’. Born in 3rd Qtr of 1916 in Hampshire, England. Son of Alfred and Lillian (née Venner) Barrett. husband of Iris Elena Morley (née Youngs) Barrett, of Christchurch, Hampshire, England.

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

Other sources listed below:

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