Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
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09/10.07.1941 144 Squadron Hampden I AD924 Plt Off. Basil J. Rennie MC

Operation: Aachen, Belgium

Date: 9th/10th July 1941 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit No: 144 Squadron, 5 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Hampden I

Serial: AD924

Code: PL:?

Base: RAF Hemswell, Yorkshire

Location: Dilsen, Belgium

Pilot: Plt Off. Basil John Allan Rennie MC, 87414 RAFVR Age 26. Evaded (1)

Obs: Sgt. Gordon F. Bottomley 647964 RAFVR Age 20. PoW No: 39281 * (2)

W/Op/Air Gnr: Sgt. Edward Roy Berkey R57931 RCAF Age 32. KiA (3)

Air Gnr: Sgt. Thomas Henry Marquiss 988208 RAFVR Age 28. KiA (4)

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

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the night of the 9th July 1941 the squadron detailed 12 Hampdens to join a force of 82 bombers on a mission to bomb targets in Aachen in Germany. The aircraft took off from RAF Hemswell commencing at 22:50 hrs. Their target in Aachen was the Nazi Headquarters which was located in the Quellenhof Palace Hotel.

144 Squadron Hampdens over RAF Hemswell (courtesy IWM)

The crew lost on Hampden AD924 - L-R: Plt Off. Rennie, Sgt. Bottomley, Sgt. Marquiss and Sgt Berkey (courtesy Margaret Robertson)

The attack was a general one on the area with 91 commercial premises hit, 19 of them destroyed. 1,698 housing units destroyed or seriously damaged (probably apartment blocks) Sadly the cathedral, town hall and hospitals were also among the seriously damaged properties. 60 people are reported to have been killed with 85 civilians and 21 air-raid workers injured. 3,450 people lost their homes.

The allies lost just 2 aircraft on this operation, the other:

77 Squadron Whitley V Z6743 - Flown by 25 year old Sgt. Peter John McLean 988136 RAFVR from Billingham, Co. Durham, killed with all 3 other crew.

Shortly before reaching the target AD924 was coned for 3 minutes by searchlight No.62 of II./Flakscheinw.Rgt 1 and then claimed by Oblt. Heinrich Griese, his 5th Abschuss, from 1./NJG1 500 m. SE of Dilsen, 20 km north of Maastricht an 01:05 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (1939 - 12 July 1941) The Early Years Part 1 - Theo Boiten.)

Maj. Griese was WiA on the night of the 12th/13th September 1944 at Annweiler near Landau when his Ju88 G-1 2Z+AA was intercepted by 239 Sqn Mosquito DZ254 flown by Fg Off. Breithaupt DFC and Fg Off. Kennedy DFC. In the ensuing dogfighter both aircraft went down at 23:10 hrs. Fg Off. William Ransom Breithaupt DFC, J17271 RCAF and Fg Off. James Aphonsus Kennedy DFC, 148471 RAFVR were KiA while Maj. Griese and his crew baled out. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (24 July 1944 - 15 October 1944) Part 4 - Theo Boiten)

Maj. Griese was credited with 13 Abschüsse. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive - Biographies - Theo Boiten).

The aircraft’s controls were disabled and a petrol tank was set ablaze. Plt Off. Rennie order the crew to bale out. Sgt. Bottomley and Sgt. Berkley baled out, Sgt. Marquiss had bee killed in the fighter attack, closely followed by Plt Off. Rennie. He saw tow other parachutes descending.

Plt Off learned later that Sgt. Berkley had had been killed possibly after being hit by debris from the crashing Hudson. He learned that Sgt. Bottomley had been captured.

(1) Plt Off. Rennie evaded via France, Spain and Gibraltar and was in Madrid, Spain by the 28th August 1941. He arrived in Oban, on the NW coast of Scotland on the 5th September 1941.

Above: Plt Off. Basil John Allan Rennie MC (courtesy Michel Beckers)

For his escape and evasion Plt Off. Rennie was recommended for a Distinguished Service Order (DSO); His recommendation narrative reads as follows:

“Plt Off. Basil John Allan Rennie 87414 was shot down by night Fighters and, escaping by parachute, landed on some telephone wires in Belgium. After overcoming almost unsurmountable difficulties, during the course of which he severely handled a disloyal Belgian, who tried to hand him over to the enemy, and killed a sentry who was about to arrest him, he reached this country and reported for full flying duties. Pilot Officer Rennie brought back a considerable amount of valuable information. Throughout his experiences he showed the greatest skill, courage and daring”.

Fg Off. Rennie was actually awarded the Military Cross (MC) which was promulgated in the London Gazette on the 13th March 1941.

Flt Lt. Rennie was serving as a pilot instructor at 14 Operational Training Unit (OTU). On the 3rd October 1941 he took off from RAF Cottesmore flying Anson I R3310 for a night navigation sortie. At 23:20 hrs in very poor weather conditions the aircraft was abandoned and left to crash a mile west of Sutton St. James and some 5 mls SE of Holbeach in Lincolnshire.

Some publications recorded that Flt Lt. Rennie had been seriously injured in baling out of Anson I R3310 and had died of his injuries 10 days later. However, and although he may have been injured, he died in tragic circumstances in RAF hospital Rauceby on the 19th October 1942 over a year later.

Above: Anson the type as flown by Flt Lt.. Rennie shortly before he lost his life

He had mistakenly consumed carbon tetrachloride (cleaning agent) thinking it was lemonade and died of bilateral basal pneumonia and acute toxic hepatitis.

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Aircrew remembered has been contacted Emma Williams whose grandfather was at RAF Saltby on 144 Sqn and was best friends with Basil Rennie. He wrote a note to Emma’s father explaining that Rennie died from poisoning after accidentally drinking cleaning fluid that had been left by his bed at the camp. He recalls taking Emma’s grandfather to visit the grave at RAF Cottesmore.

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Flt Lt. Basil John Allan Rennie is buried in Cottesmore (St Nicholas) Churchyard Extension, Compt. 16. Grave 16. Grave Inscription: ’OUR BELOVED SON SAFELY HOME’. Born circa 1916 in Gauteng, South Africa. Son of George and Margaret Eleanor Rennie of Parktown Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa.

After school at Aberdeen Basil John Allan Rennie worked for awhile at the London Stock Exchange, later with his father in Johannesburg prior to joining the RAF.

(2) Records show that Sgt. Bottomley was promoted to Warrant Officer (WO) whilst held as a PoW at Stalag 357 Kopernikus at Thorn (Toruń) in Poland and Stalag Luft 3.

Believed to have been born in 4th Qtr of 1920 in Keighley, West Yorkshire and passed away on the 30th November 2012 in Cumberland, England.

Sgt. Thomas Henry Marquiss shown 2nd from right. The chap with the pipe at rear of photograph has been identified as that of Sgt. Edward Roy Berkey - it is thought that Sgt. Gordon Bottomley is standing fourth from left, next to Sgt. Marquis.(courtesy Margaret Robertson)

Pictured during training L-R: LAC Berkey of Port Coquitlam, instructor - Cpl. McClellan, LAC D.B. Babineau of Saskatoon, LAC W.A. Casey of Ridgetown, Ontario, Canada. (courtesy Barbara Kinsella)

Plt Off. William Aloysius Casey J3270 RCAF (Son of John D. and Helen McNally Casey, of Ridgetown, Ontario, Canada) was KiA on the night of the 16th/17th August 1941 with 99 Squadron. Flying with 26 year old Plt Off. Geoffrey Lloyd Wells 40477 RAAF (Son of Henry Leslie and Elsie Irene Wells, of Auchenflower, Queensland, Australia) as pilot, when their Wellington IC X9700 LB:B was shot down by a night fighter over Holland. (5 KiA, 1 PoW).

(3) Prior to enlisting Edward Roy Berkey was a teacher at Fox Valley and Neidpath. Moved with his family to Coquitlam in 1939. Edwards’ nephew was KiA on the night of the 23rd/24th April 1944 aboard 405 (Vancouver) Sqn, RCAF Lancaster III JB684 on a mission to Laon, France.

above: Sgt. Edward R. Berkey (courtesy Barbara Kinsella)

(4) Margaret Robertson provided the following information for Thomas Henry Marquiss and his family:

“When war was declared my grandma (Hannah S. Marquiss) went to stay with her eldest daughter Mrs. Sarah Ellen Thompson in Heighington nr. Darlington Co. Durham for the duration of the war. The family are from Barnard Castle, County Durham and her other children were away. Tom's twin sister Charlotte had died age 9 in 1923. His younger brother John, my father, was serving in France with Royal Army Service Corps whilst his youngest sister Margaret was a state registered nurse”.

Burial details:

Original crew graves, on the left that of Sgt. Thomas Marquis, right: Sgt. Edward Berkey (courtesy Barbara Kinsella)

Sgt. Edward Roy Berkey. Dilsen Churchyard, Rear of Church, Middle left. Born on the 14th November 1908 in Herbert, Saskatchewan, Canada. Son of Eli (deceased) and Emma Elizebeth (née Stewart) Berkey of Herbert, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Sgt. Thomas Henry Marquiss. Dilsen Churchyard, Rear of Church, Middle left. Grave Inscription: 'KINDLY, CHEERY, UNSELFISH. ALWAYS REMEMBERED "UNTIL WE MEET"'. Born on the 8th July 1913 in Barnard Castle, County Durham. Son of John Thomas and of Hannah Todd (née Brown) Marquiss of Heighington, County Durham, England.

Researched for Margaret Robertson, niece of Sgt. Maruiss and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Michel Beckers. Thanks to Emma Williams for the additional information regarding the death of Flt Lt. Rennie (Jun 2024). Reviewed and updated by Aircrew Remembered (Jun 2024). Complete update to the narrative with corrections and updates after new information has been found (Oct 2024).

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