Operation: Le Manoir railroad bridge, France

Date: 6th July 1944 (Thursday)

Unit No: 450th Bombardment Squadron (M), 322nd Bombardment Group (M), 99th Combat Wing, 9th Air Force

Type: B-26B Invictus

Serial No: 41-31897

Code: ER:?

Base: Great Saling aka Andrews Field (Station #485), Essex, England

Location: B-2 Bazenville Airfield, Lower Normandy, France

Pilot: 1st Lt. Edward Victor Munge O-809994 Age 24. Returned

Co Pilot: 2nd Lt. Park Vassar Chapman O-816237 AAF Age 20. Id No: 78284 *, PoW No. 8130 ** (1)

Bombardier/Navigator: 1st Lt. Donald Benjamin Harsh O-731510 Age 27. PoW **

Engineer/Gunner: S/Sgt. Joseph Elmer Totton 32409441 Age 22. PoW ***

Radio Operator: S/Sgt. William Eugene McCarthy 31082602 Age 32. PoW ***

Tail Gunner: Sgt. Edward J. Shedlock 13155943 Age 20. Evader (2)

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

** Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland. (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, Bavaria).

*** Stalag Luft 4 Groß-Tychow, Pomerania, Prussia now Tychowo, Poland (Moved from Stalag Luft 6 Heydekrug on 28th May 1944. Moved to Wöbbelin near Ludwigslust and then to Usedom near Swinemünde).

REASON FOR LOSS:

B-26B Invictus took off from Andrews Field at 17:30 hrs on the 6th July 1944 to join a mission to bomb the Le Manoir railroad bridge in France.

The aircraft was hit by flak directly in the bomb bay over the target. The order was given to bale out at about 19:06 hrs at an altitude of 11,000 ft. All of the crew baled out with the exception of the pilot who managed to bring the aircraft under control and flew the damaged aircraft to the RAF B-2 Bazenville airfield, some 130 km (80 mls) to the west of the target.

1st Lt. Harsh, S/Sgt. Totton and S/Sgt. McCarthy were apprehended immediately. 2nd Lt. Chapman and Sgt. Shedlock managed to evade being captured.

(1) The circumstances of 2nd Lt. Chapman’s evasion are unknown except that the resistance cell which was helping him was infiltrated in May of 1944 and that 2nd Lt. Chapman was captured on the 19th July 1944.

He was then taken to the Fresnes prison located to the south of Paris. This 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 the was 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 who received 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.

2nd Lt. Chapman was transferred to Stalag Luft 3 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.

The first groups of American PoW’s set out from the South Compound with the last PoW leaving at 23:00 hrs. The next group of American PoWs set out from the West Compound. At 03:45 hrs the North Compound left, followed by the Centre Compound. At 06:00 hrs the East Compound left. All the groups were accompanied by guards.

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 31st January, the South Compound prisoners plus 200 men from the West Compound were sent to Stalag 7A at Moosburg followed by the Centre Compound prisoners on the 7th February.

The camp was liberated on the 29th April 1945 by units of the 14th Armoured Division from Patton’s 3rd Army.

(2) Sgt. Shedlock baled out from the aircraft near Pont-Saint-Pierre, some 7¼ km (4½ mls) ENE of the target, at about 19:05 hrs. He landed in a tree , climbed down and hid in the woods for about 4 hrs before being assisted by local French people.

He was hidden by a Monsieur G. Laurence in a little work shop next to a house in Romilly-sur-Andelle, about 3 km (1¾ mls) to the west of where his had landed, until the 2nd September 1944. Whilst there SS troops broke in and searched the place but did not find him. Monsieur Laurence was apparently an officer in the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) and he was in constant danger.

Sgt. Shedlock was then moved to a farmhouse back at Pont-Saint-Pierre from where he was liberated by American forces. He was interviewed on the 11th September 1944.

Burial details:

None. All the crew survived

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew (Mar 2023). Update to include forced-march information (Jun 2024).

Other sources listed below:

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt