Operation: Dortmund

Date: 14/15th April 1942 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit: No. 301 Squadron (Polish)

Type: Wellington IC

Serial: Z1379

Code: GR-J

Base: RAF Hemswell. Lincolnshire.

Location: North Sea off Belgian coast.

Pilot: P/O. Mieczyslaw Rzemyk P-1575 PAF Age 23. Killed

Pilot 2: Fl/Lt. Stanislaw Reyman P-0535 PAF Age 30. PoW Injured (1)

Obs: F/O. Zdzislaw Franciszek Zamoyski 76830 PAF Age 33. Killed (Held the title of 'Count')

Air/Bmr: Sgt. Janusz Piotr Truszkowski 781549 PAF Age 31. Missing

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Stanislaw Niewiadomski 781661 PAF Age 25. Missing

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Edward Wojan VM. 793865 PAF Age 32. PoW No: 188 Camp: Stalag Mühlberg-Elbe (2)

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 21.43 hrs from RAF Hemswell. Lincolnshire to bomb Dortmund. 208 aircraft took part 142 Wellingtons, 34 Hampdens, 20 Stirlings, 8 Halifaxes and 3 Manchesters of which 9 aircraft were lost. The raid was not classed as a success with one Military installation severely damaged, four homes destroyed and a further thirty one damaged. Four people were recorded as killed on the ground with twenty seven injured.

Helmswell 1942 L-R: Sgt. Boleslaw Bestecki, F/Lt Tadeusz Lewkowicz (3), Sgt. Janusz Truszkowski, P/O Stanislaw Reyman, Sgt. Stanislaw Niewiadomski (courtesy Krzysztof Michalski)

Wellington Z1379 is recoded as being shot down by a night fighter off the Belgian coast in the North Sea, although we are unable to place a claim against it.

(1) No PoW details as Fl/Lt. Stanislaw Reyman was hospitalised. Repatriated on the Letitia on the 2nd February 1945.
(2) Sgt Edward Wojan VM. died on the 24th February 2005.
(3) Reached the rank of Group Captain in 1964. Tadeusz Lewkowicz died in 1994

Polish Memorial to fallen Airman in Warsaw

P/O. Mieczyslaw Rzemyk. Middelkerke Communal Cemetery, Belgium. Row B. Grave 24. Next of kin details not currently available.

F/O. ('Count') Zdzislaw Franciszek Zamoyski. Oostende New Communal Cemetery. Belgium. Plot IX. Row 4. Grave 25. NOK details not currently available.

Sgt. Janusz Piotr Truszkowski. Remembered on Polish War Memorial at Northolt also on the Polish memorial to the fallen in Warsaw. NOK details not currently available.

Sgt. Stanislaw Niewiadomski. Remembered on Polish War Memorial at Northolt also on the Polish memorial to the fallen in Warsaw. NOK details not currently available.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to Krzysztof Michalski, Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii' Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses' Vol. 3, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vol's. 1 and  2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Tom Kracker - 'Kracker Luftwaffe Archives'. Oliver Clutton-Brock - 'Footprints On The Sands Of Time'.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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