Operation: Ranger, France

Date: 30th April 1944 (Sunday)

Unit No: 65 (East India) Sqn, 2nd Tactical Air Force

Type: Mustang III

Serial: FB119

Code: YT:?

Base: RAF Ford, Sussex

Location: 5 km (3 mls) east of Romilly, France

Pilot: Fg Off. Neville Edward Stone Mutter 147751 RAFVR Age 22. Id No. 78375 *, PoW No. 8059 **

* 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:

Note: Mustang III FB119 was built as a P-51B #43-6678

On the 30th April 1944 Fg Off. Mutter was flying over Northern France when at about 09:00 hrs the aircraft was hit by Flak over Romilly-sur-Seine Aerodrome and force landed at Châtres-sur-Seine.

Romilly-sur-Seine Aerodrome was 35 km (21¾ mls) NW of Troyes and 3¼ km (2 mls) SE of Romilly-sur-Seine itself.

Châtres-sur-Seine is some 6½ km (4 mls) due east of the Romilly-sur-Seine Aerodrome.

He left the aircraft with his flying equipment and hid up in some nearby woods for the rest of the day. That evening he met an employee of a big house in the district who brought the lady of the house to him. She took him to her house and met her husband who spoke English. They fed and hid him for 4 days and then got in touch with the Maquis atTroyes who then sent him to a nearby cottage at Saint-Savine where he stayed overnight.

The next morning he left with the Maquis who then hid him for the next 3 nights in a wood near Chappelle-Vallon. He was later told that the cottage where he had stayed was raided and the old couple were taken away by the Germans and also the 2 of the Maquis had been caught.

One morning the group was attacked by German soldiers but the group escaped successfully and he was taken to a farm at Sainte-Maure where he remained overnight. The following day he was taken to some people in Troyes who hid him for 3 days. On the 4th day he and his group joined the local Maquis and heading for the Forêt d’Othe to the west of Souligny. He stayed here for about a month and was joined by a Flt Lt. T.H. Blackham RAF.

This was Flt Lt. Thomas Henry Blackham DFC the pilot of 50 Sqn Lancaster III LM480 shot down by a night-fighter on the night of the 3rd/4th May 1944 on a mission to Mailly-le-Camp. (6 KiA, 1 Evd/killed, 1 PoW).

After D-Day the group was attacked again and as a result the Maquis split into small parties. Fg Off. Mutter, Flt Lt. Blackham and a Frenchman made their way to Melun, where they were put in touch with an English woman. They stayed in Melun for 4 days after which the English woman sent them to a French woman in Pringy.

She put them on a train for Paris via Melun. At Melun they were met by two guides who took them to a hotel in Porte de Clichy where they stayed for 2 weeks. Whilst there they were visited by an American lady who was married to a Frenchman and who was trying to find a way to get them back to the UK.

The hotel was raided by Gestapo but they only took money and jewels but they were warned that they should move so the American woman took them to her flat where they stayed for a week. During this time she had put them in touch with some French communists at Aubervilliers in northern Paris. As they had no intention of helping them to get home they returned to stay with the Countess until she left the country. Despite her best efforts she could not help them.

On the 22nd July 1944 they that they would be met by a Frenchman who could help them met a man who said he was a Canadian British agent. The so-called Canadian took them to his flat. He told them that he and his friend would put them up for the night and then arrange for a car to drive them to the south of France.

This so-called Canadian British agent was in fact:

Jean-Jacques who was a Belgian traitor named Jaques Desoubrie (Jean-Jacques, Jean Masson, Jean Decan 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.

They left the flat with the two of them at 22:00 hrs and were walking along when they were surrounded by plain clothes Gestapo on the Pont de La Concord and arrested. They were then taken to Gestapo HQ for interrogation.

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.

Fg Off. Mutter was transferred to Stalag Luft 3, East Compound 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.

Fg Off. Mutter joined PoWs from the North, East and remaining West compound PoWs and sent to the Marlag und Milag Nord PoW camp at Westertimke in Lower Saxony.

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. Fg Off. Mutter was on this 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 und Milag Nord camp 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 and left for England by air on the 8th May 1945.

He was promoted to Flt Lt. on the 7th June 1945. London Gazette 8th June 1945.

His earlier flying career was eventful:

On the 23rd September 1943 Plt Off. Mutter, whilst with 19 Sqn, suffered an engine failure flying Spitfire IX MA628 QV:? and undershot the runway at RAF Kingsworth. The aircraft was declared Cat B = Beyond repair on site, i.e. repairable at a Maintenance Unit or at a contractor's works.

On the 26th March 1944 Fg Off. Mutter, whilst with 65 Sqn, crashed Mustang III FZ117 YT:G.

Fg Off. Mutter recalled: “On this operation I was flying Richie Barrett's aircraft (FZ117) which he had used on 20 March. We were taking off in Sections and I was the CO’s No 3. As we reached flying speed the aircraft began to veer to the left as it had done when flown by Barrett - of course this took me towards the CO. I knew that I did not have enough speed to climb above him and quickly realised that my only choice was to fly under him and inevitably I hit the ground destroying the aircraft as it overturned. The ground crew got to me quickly I was hanging upside down with petrol pouring over me. In trying to get me out my rescuer was more concerned about not tearing the sleeve of my uniform than the petrol! I found out later that Barrett had gone on leave as soon as we returned from Hornchurch and he had failed to report the fault with his aircraft”.

Note: Richie Barrett was Flt Lt. Richard Barrett 391324 RNZAF. He was KiA on the 17th May 1944 when his 65 Sqn Mustang III FX993 YT:? was shot down by an Fw190 whilst he was engaging an He177.

On the 22nd April 1944 Fg Off. Nutter whilst with 65 Sqn, flying Mustang III FX944 YT:?, claimed a Bf109 destroyed south of Laon.

Neville Edward Stone Mutter was born on the 1st August 1922 in Moseley, Staffordshire. He passed away on the 5th March 2001 in Brendon, Devon, England.

Burial details:

None - Survived

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the Pilot and his family (Jun 2024).

Other sources listed below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2026 Last Modified: 18 August 2024, 20:45