Operation: Nantes (Mission #414), France

Date: 15th June 1944 (Thursday)

Unit No: 423rd Bombardment Squadron (H), 306th Bombardment Group (H), 1st Air Division, 8th Air Force

Type: B-17G

Serial No: 42-107212

Code: RD:Z

Base: Thurleigh (Station #111), Bedfordshire, England

Location: Treillères, 4¾ km (3 mls) north of Nantes, France

Pilot: 1st Lt. Wilbur Burns O’Brien O-810204 AAF Age 23. PoW * (1)

Co-Pilot: 2nd Lt. George Cleitus Price O-819164 AAF Age 22. PoW **

Navigator: 2nd Lt. William David Allen O-709238 AAF Age 27. Evader/Killed (2)

Bombardier: 2nd Lt. William Burns Uhlhorn O-703538 AAF Age 23. PoW **

Engineer: T/Sgt. Richard Fred Boozer 39554327 AAF Age 20. PoW, Unknown PoW camp

Radio Operator: T/Sgt. Odis George Pearson 39694079 AAF Age 21. PoW ***

Ball Turret Gnr: S/Sgt. David French Gibson 16056912 AAF Age 23. PoW **

Waist Gnr: S/Sgt. John Samuel Sutton 18213638 AAF Age 21. Evader/PoW **** (2)

Tail Gnr: S/Sgt. Arne George Wilhelm Ziem 32768319 AAF Age 21. Evader (3)

Note: One of the two Waist Gunners was removed from crew complements starting on the 7th June 1944 and then both from 23rd February 1945.

* Stalag Luft 1, Barth-Vogelsang, today situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

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

*** Stalag Luft 4, Gross-Tychow, Pomerania, Prussia now Poland.

**** Frontstalag 221 W (Ausstelle), Rennes Military Hospital, France.

REASON FOR LOSS:

B-17G 42-107212 took-off from Thurleigh (Station #111) in Bedfordshire on the morning of the 15th June 1944 to join a force of one-hundred and seventeen (117) aircraft detailed to bomb railroad bridges over the Loire River at Nantes, France.

An account compiled from pilots flying in the same formation as 1st Lt. Wilbur B. O’Brien described:

Our aircraft #212, Pilot W.B. O’Brien, was last seen ”on the deck” at about 47 10N, 02 00W. Hit by Flak at 08:07 just after bombs away, pieces were seen to fly from the plane which then pulled out of formation to the left and started to lose altitude rapidly but under control, headed SW. No.2 engine was first on fire, then smoking. One crew reports three chutes, but another reports only one. Most reports do not mention chutes. One crew reports a small silver aircraft following the B-17 down, but it was too far away to tell whether it was enemy or friendly.

The surviving crew later reported that three (3) engines were damaged by Flak resulting in #2 engine catching fire. All of the crew baled out at about 17,000 feet and the B-17 crashed at 08:15 hrs at Treillères, 4¾ km (3 mls) north of Nantes, France.

Some of the crew reported that they were shot at from the ground whilst descending. 2nd Lt. Allen was wounded whilst he was descending and along with S/Sgt. Gibson and S/Sgt. Sutton evaded as best they could.

Above: Plaque memorialising the crew of B-17G 42-107212 at the location where 2nd Lt. William D. Allen bear the village of La Villabeau. (Courtesy of lucile Masson-FindAGrave *Last active more than a year ago*)

Des aviateurs américains se posent à Brains

À la recanter du patrimoine Brennois

Le jeudi 15 juin 1944 vers 8h00, une forteresse volante B17G américaine est touchée par la Flack allemande après avoir bombardé le pont de la Jonelière à Nantes. L'avion ira s'écraser à Treillères.

Les aviateurs ont sauté en parachute à plus de 6000 m et, portés par les vents, se dirigent vers le sud-Loire. Quatre aviateurs sur neuf se postent à Brains (le Bignon, le Tordreau, la Villabeau, le Moulin de la Fouëlle)

Translation:

American Airmen Land in Brains

From the Brennois Heritage Chronicle

On Thursday 15 June 1944 at around 8.00 am, an American B-17G ‘Flying Fortress’ was hit by German anti-aircraft fire after bombing the Jonelière Bridge in Nantes. The aircraft went on to crash in Treillères.

The airmen parachuted from a height of over 6,000 metres and, carried by the winds, headed towards the southern Loire. Four of the nine airmen landed in Brains (Le Bignon, Le Tordreau, La Villabeau and Le Moulin de la Fouëlle).

(1) 1st Lt. O’Brien was the last to abandon the aircraft, landed safely and buried his Mae West, harness and parachute. He was aided by friendly French citizens and eventually taken to the town of Le Pellerin, about 14½ km (9 mls) west of Nantes and then shortly thereafter to a small island in the River Loire (See Ser 3. below).

(2) The fate of 2nd Lt. Allen was determined by a United States General Military Government Court convened at Dachau in Germany, on the 15th and 16th September 1947.

A Bernhard Koehnke (Köhnke) a German national and a former member of the Wehrmacht was charged on two counts.

That he did firstly, at or near La Villabeau in France on or about the 15th June 1944, wrongfully kill a member and secondly, wrongfully commit an assault upon a member of the United States Army, who were then and there unarmed and in the act of surrendering themselves to the German Reich.

Note: In the summary card for the trial record 2nd Lt. William D. Allen was named as the airman who was murdered and S/Sgt. John S. Sutton named as the airman who was wounded.

The court heard that on or about the 15th June 1944 several American airmen parachuted from their damaged plane, landing at or near La Villabeau in France. Three (3) of the airmen, upon being informed that the Germans were looking for them, hid in the woods nearby. The three (3) airmen were unarmed. The accused, armed with an automatic pistol, participated, with others, in searching the woods for the airmen. During the search, one of the airmen was shot to death and another received gun shot wounds in both legs. The accused was the only one who fired at the three (3) airmen and that he fired five (5) to seven (7) shots.

The accused testified that he saw a man in uniform lying on his back and that he loudly and clearly called to him in German “Hands up”. After he called at least three times, he shot into the ground and not in the man’s general direction.

The other two (2) soldiers then surrendered. The accused did not make any attempt to shoot a second time when the two (2) soldiers appeared and surrendered. The accused denied that he wounded the other airmen.

The court determined that the evidence did not support the charges of murdering 2nd Lt. Allen or wounding S/Sgt. Sutton and acquitted Koehnke (Köhnke).

Above: Courtesy of The News Star, dated 23rd March 1945

2nd Lt. Allen was initially buried in the Saint-Herblain cemetery. This was probably today the ‘Cimetière I’Orvasserie de Saint-Herblain’ in Saint-Herblain.

S/Sgt. Sutton was admitted to Frontstalag 221 W (Ausstelle), Rennes Military Hospital in France for treatment to his gunshot wounds and from where he was Liberated by US Forces on the 4th August 1944.

(3) After the order was given to abandon the aircraft S/Sgt. Ziem baled out at about 17,000 ft. He delayed opening his parachute until about 4,000 feet, landed safely and buried his Mae West, harness and parachute. He then left the area and walked across country for about a mile (1½ km) before hiding in some bushes.

A while later he approached a French boy who took him to his house. During the next week he was moved several times to different houses and then to the town of Le Pellerin, about 14½ km (9 mls) west of Nantes and then shortly thereafter to a small island in the River Loire, where he joined his pilot 1st Lt. O’Brien.

Note: The small Island was Bacn de Bilho in the mouth of the Estuary of the River Loire, some 30 km (18½ mls) down river from Le Pellerin.

They stayed there for five (5) days, during which time three (3) RAF airmen were brought in from a Lancaster from which they had parachuted on the 12th June.

The RAF airmen were Fg Off. Edwin J. Warmington, who was the Mid-Upper Gunner and the first to arrive, followed by Flt Lt. Robert A. Boddington DFC and Sgt. Jack Harrowing who were the Bomb Aimer and Flight Engineer respectively all of whom were from 635 Sqn, Lancaster III ND965 F2:K.

That evening the group were moved by boat to the river bank, south of the village of Cordemais and were transported by covered truck to a to a Maquis farmhouse in the woods near Saffré some 46 km (29 mls) to the NE. They were greeted and welcomed by about sixty (60) Maquisards, little knowing that the camp in the woods in fact held some three-hundred (300) in total.

They spent three (3) full days witnesses the Maquisards training in fieldcraft, camouflage, rifle, grenade and machine-gun tactics. There were also gangs of men removing hedges and trees from four (4) fields and prepare the area as a landing strip for the reception of glider landings. There also toured the inner defence rings set up with machine-gun posts at well situated at critical lane junctions.

On the evening of the 27th June it was expected that the camp was to be visited by a liaison officer of the FFI (Force Francaise Intericur) which actually turned out to be a pair of French Majors, a French Capt., a French Lt. and an American Capt. by the name of Wigton who had had arrived from Moribihan Maquis.

No information regarding Capt. Wigton has been found but he was probably from the Special Forces (SF) of the Office of Strategic Service (OSS) who were in France training and advising the Maquis.

Capt. Wigton informed Flt Lt. Boddington that the group had been sheltering five (5) members of a Stirling crew for the past six (6) months. Apparently the Moribihan Maquis, about 4000 to 5000 strong and all well armed, came under sustained German attack and the group had dispersed. Consequently the planned move of the five (5) to that group had been cancelled.

Note: The identity of the Stirling crew and their fate has yet to be determined.

They were unaware that their camp location had been betrayed by collaborators in the Maquis ranks to the Germans who were assembling troops in the surrounding villages. At about 06:00 hrs on the 28th June the woods were surrounded by some 1,500 German troops from Châteaubriant and they were awakened by the Maquis rushing around warning the Germans were attacking. About 30 minutes later they heard periodic burst of machine-gun fire to the south of the camp.

Without any weapons the five (5) fled the farmhouse to the north and hid in the woods that night. Only about a third of the Maquisards were armed and realising that this was more than just an incidental skirmish a general evacuation of the camp was ordered whilst the armed Maquisards held the attack and covered the retreat.

About 30 mins later the five (5) airmen sneaked through the northern edge of the forest and came across a road only to be greeted by gunfire. The five (5) turned back and Flt Lt. Boddington saw S/Sgt. Ziem and Sgt. Harrowing running in a different direction. He along with Fg Off. Warmington and 1st Lt. O’Brien carried on parallel to the road but hidden in the forest. They attempted to cross the road again but were confronted by three (3) Germans who immediately opened fire on them. Flt Lt. Boddington ran straight back into the forest but Fg Off. Warmington and 1st Lt. O’Brien appeared to run across the line of fire on the edge of the wood.

Fg Off. Warmington and 1st Lt. O’Brien were captured and became PoWs for the remainder of the war.

After S/Sgt. Ziem and Sgt. Harrowing were separated from Flt Lt. Boddington they had escaped unscathed, sneaked through the German lines and made their way to a farmhouse where they were fed and remained overnight. The next morning they made their way back to Le Pellerin where they spent the next two (2) weeks at another farmhouse near Belle Île, some 7½ mls (12 km) the NW of Le Pellerin.

They were then moved to yet another farmhouse after suspicions were raised that the Germans were wise to their hiding place. They remained at their new location for the next four (4) to five (5) days before moving back to Le Pellerin and finally back to Belle Île, where they remained until the morning of the 15th August.

S/Sgt. Ziem left Belle Île with a member of the French Resistance and rowed a short distance down the Loire river at night as far as Cordemais. They then cycled the rest of the way to Nantes, some 30 km (18½ miles) to the east, in the daytime through German lines. They were stopped just once and asked for their Identity Cards and were left to go on their way. At Nantes they were liberated by American forces. The Resistance man headed back through the German lines and S/Sgt. Ziem was evacuated to Sens-de-Bretagne and then back to England on the 19th August 1944.

Arne George Wilhelm Ziem was born on the 20th March 1923 in Göteborg, Sweden. He was living in Madison, New Jersey prior to being drafted into the USAAF. He returned to the United States on the 3rd September 1944 flying out of Prestwick, Scotland and was discharged from the Service on the 3rd August 1945.

Records show that he was registered for draft in the Korean conflict but no further details have been found.

Arne passed away on the 7th June 2011 in Hudson, Pasco County, Florida, USA.

Burial details:

2nd Lt. William David Allen. Repatriated and reinterred in the Nassau Knolls Cemetery, Port Washington, New York. Born on the 21st April 1917 in Kings County, New York. Son of the Rev. Albert William and Mae R. (née Redding) Allen of Port Washington, New York, USA.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew (Jul 2026).

References:

1. EE-1084: S/Sgt. Ziem, Escape & Evasion.
2. Case No: 11-52 - Review and Recommendations

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