Operation: Vierzon, France

Date: 30th June/1st July 1944 (Friday/Saturday)

Unit No: 100 Squadron, 1 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: LM619

Code: HW:M

Base: RAF Grimsby, Lincolnshire

Location: RAF Grimsby, Lincolnshire

Pilot: Plt Off. John David Rees DFC 173159 RAFVR Age? Safe (1)

Flt Eng: Sgt. Michael Joseph Dunphy 1835965 RAFVR Age? Safe (2)

Nav: Flt Sgt. John Kenneth Martin 1804414 RAFVR Age? Safe (3)

Bomb Aimer: Fg Off. Edgar Jackson 151741 RAFVR Age 27. Id No: 78392 *, PoW No: 8053 ** (4)

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. Arthur Palmer 1516074 RAFVR Age? Safe (5)

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. P.L. Daly 2206414 RAFVR Age? Safe (6)

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. V.E. Locke 1608479 RAFVR Age? Safe (6)

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

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

RAF Grimsby: The existing airfield on this site was taken under Air Ministry control in July 1939 and then by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in May 1940. The airfield officially opened, after it was upgraded, during November 1941 and was initially used as a satellite airfield to nearby RAF Binbrook. Although the airfield was officially designated as RAF Grimsby it was known as RAF Waltham by both the local residents and service personnel on the base. This misnomer caused some confusion as there was an active airfield at RAF White Waltham near Maidenhead in Berkshire.

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 30th June/1st July 1944 100 Sqn detailed 19 aircraft to join a force of 118 Lancasters from 1 Group to attack the railway yards at the small town of Vierzon 80 km (50 mls) south of Orléans in France.

Of the 14 Lancasters lost 3 were from 100 Sqn:

Lancaster I LL958, HW:H was shot down by a German night-fighter. Plt Off. John Edward Estell 423087 RAAF and his crew were KiA. The aircraft was claimed by Oblt. Jakob Schaus his 20th Abschuss, from 4./NJG3 15-50 km east of Blois at 3000 m at 01:35hrs (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (12 May 1944 - 23 July 1944) Part 3 - Theo Boiten);

Lancaster III LM621, HW:C. (1 KiA, 3 PoW, 3 Evd).

Homebound at 00:40 hrs at 12,500 ft LM619 was attacked by an unidentified German night-fighter. In a steep diving turn the aircraft turned over in own slipstream. The ailerons were blown away and the Perspex of the mid-upper turret and starboard blister were blown in.

Fg Off. Jackson could not hear anything over the inter-com and Flt Sgt. Dunphy the flight engineer landed on top of him. He looked round and Flt Sgt. Dunphy pointed to the escape hatch. When half-way out of he got stuck Flt Sgt. Dunphy pushed him out as the aircraft came out of the dive. The rest of the crew returned safely to base although the aircraft was heavily damaged.

(1) Plt Off. Rees was promoted to acting Fg Off. on the 26th July 1944. On the 16th August 1944 he relinquished his acting rank of Fg Off. on completion of his 2nd tour of operations.

His DFC was awarded for this mission and the completion of a 2nd operational tour with 100 Sqn. London Gazette 22nd August 1944.

Citation: "This officer has completed a second tour of operations and has displayed great skill, keenness and devotion to duty. On a recent occasion when returning from an attack on an enemy target his aircraft was intercepted by a fighter. Whilst taking evading action the bomber turned on its back. The recovery was difficult but Pilot Officer Rees regained control. Considerable height had been lost, whilst both the ailerons had been torn away. In spite of this, Pilot Officer Rees maintained control and flew back to base. His skill and coolness in a difficult situation was undoubtedly responsible for the ultimate safety of the aircraft and its crew".

He was posted to 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) at RAF Lindholme for instructor duties on the 30th August 1944 upon completion of his 2nd operational tour.

(2) Sgt. Michael Joseph Dunphy was appointed to a commission and promoted to 183176 Plt Off. with effect the 16th August 1944 and promulgated in the London Gazette on the 29th September 1944.

He was promoted to Fg Off. on the 16th February 1945 which was promulgated in the London Gazette on the 23rd March 1945.

(3) Flt Sgt. John Kenneth Martin was appointed to a commission and promoted to 177568 Plt Off. with effect the 1st June 1944. London Gazette 25th July 1944.

(4) Fg Off. Jackson landed in a ploughed field injuring his back, although not seriously, and hid his parachute. He could see a village nearby and decided to distance himself by walking away until he came across an isolated farm where he slept in a barn.

The next morning at 07:00 hrs two women from the farm invited him into the farmhouse and said that they would hide him. He stayed with them for the next 3 days and provided him with civilian clothes. They then contacted an organisation and who arrived and they were taken by bicycle to Orgères where he stayed for the night.

There he met Flt Lt. Light RAAF, and Lt. Challot USAAC. The following day a car arrived from Paris with a driver accompanied by a red-headed women. The four of them were taken to Paris in this car where he stayed first at the Hotel Piccadilly and then at some flats near a racecourse in the hands of an organisation run by the Germans.

Fg Off. Kevin W. Light DFM 402447. Mid-Upper Gunner from 9 Sqn, Lancaster III LM361 lost on a mission to Juvisy-su-Orge, France on then night of the 18th/19th April 1944 (4 KiA, 1 PoW, 2 Evd).

Flight Officer (FO) John Andre Chalot T-223068 USAAF the pilot from P-51B #43-6554 shot down on the 11th Match 1944;

Note: From the description of the man and woman it is probable that this couple were Jean-Jacques and Madame Orsini:

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.

On the 10th July he was taken by car by a member of this organisation and handed over to another a car in the street of Paris and taken to Gestapo HQ at 84 Avenue Foch in Paris..

He was handcuffed and stood with his hands over his head in a room covered by two men with revolvers for about 30 mins. He was questioned by a Gestapo man (All of them were in plain clothes), he gave his name, rank and number and told them he was an RAF Officer.

They told him that he was a saboteur and a spy. The questions they asked him were limited to his name, occupation before joining the RAF, his home address, but, they didn’t question him anything concerning the military. During this time he was spat at on the face by this man was drunk. He was then taken to Fresnes Prison in a very overcrowded van of French prisoners where he was put into solitary confinement for one month without being interrogated. After this time he was put into another cell with two other unidentified RAF and American Air Force man.

Fresnes prison 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 he 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 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, 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.

During next days, PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages. WO. Harper was amongst the West Compound PoWs that were sent to Stalag 3A, Luckenwalde.

In early 1945, some 1,000 PoWs from the Stalag 8C and Stalag Luft 3 were brought to Stalag 3A, and also PoWs from the Stalag 21C in Wolsztyn. In February 1945 prisoners from Stalag 3B Furstenberg were evacuated to Stalag 3A, adding to the already overcrowded and unhygienic conditions.

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. Fg Off. Jackson was interviewed on the 12th May 1945.

Edgar Jackson was born on the 3rd April 1917 in North Bierley in West Riding of Yorkshire. He was a Police Constable in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 2nd March 1942. Edgar Jackson passed away in the 3rd Qtr of 1988 in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

(5) Sgt. Palmer was appointed to a commission and promoted to 178444 Plt Off. on the 4th June 1944. London Gazette 8th August 1944.

On the 30th August 1944 upon completion of his 1st operational tour he was posted to 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) at RAF Lindholme for instructor duties.

He was promoted to Fg Off. on the 29th December 1944 which was promulgated in the London Gazette on the 23rd January 1945. On the 29th June 1946 he was promoted to Flt Lt. London Gazette on the 26th July 1946.

He was granted the substantive rank of Fg Off. with the seniority of 21st September 1946. London Gazette 20th January 1948, and then promoted to the substantive rank of Flt Lt. on the 23rd March 1948. London Gazette 4th May 1948.

He was appointed to Permanent Commission as a Flt Lt. in the Secretarial Branch on the 19th November 1952 promulgated in the London Gazette on the 31st March 1953. He was promoted to Sqn Ldr. on the 1st July 1970. London Gazette 30th June 1970.

Sqn Ldr. Arthur Palmer retired from the RAF on the 27th March 1976. London Gazette 6th April 1976.

(6) Sgt. Daly, Sgt. Locke along with Plt Off. Dunphy were posted to the Air Crew Allocation Centre (ACAC) at RAF Brackla, Scotland on the 26th September for assessment for future duties upon completion of their operational tour.

Typically airmen were sent there for a month whilst postings were found where their experience would be of the most benefit.

Sgt. Daly and Sgt. Locke were promoted to Flt Sgt. on the 2nd October 1944 whilst still on the strength of 100 Sqn. No further records for either airmen has been found.

Burial details:

None - Crew Survived.

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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