Operation: Blainville-Sur-l’Eau, France

Date: 28th/29th June 1944 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit No: 582 (PFF) Squadron, 8 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Lancaster III

Serial: ND921

Code: 6O:D

Base: RAF Little Staughton, Cambridgeshire

Location: Coincy, 27 km (16¾ mls) SSE of Soissons, France

Pilot: Plt Off. Splinter Adolphe Spierenburg 171436 RAFVR Age 24. Id No: 78372 *, PoW No: 8068 ** (1)

Flt Eng: Flt Lt. William Harold Henry Siddons DFC 53552 RAF Age 21. Evader (2)

Nav: Flt Sgt. William Edward Foley 421799 RAAF Age 30. Evader (3)

Bomb Aimer: Flt Sgt. Leslie Hood 1499246 RAFVR Age? Evader (4)

WOp/Air Gnr: Flt Sgt. John William Austin 1320627 RAFVR Age 21. KiA

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. Robert William ‘Bobby’ Chelu 1807401 RAFVR Age 20. KiA

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Douglas Albert Frederick Coole 1587024 RAFVR Age 22. KiA

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

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

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 28th/29th June 1944 582 (PFF) Squadron joined a force of 230 aircraft that were detailed to attack the railway yards at Blainville-Sur-l’Eau and Metz in France.

Plt Off. Spierenburg described that they were attacked by fighters enroute to the target and in the first attack the rudder was shot away. He managed to right the aircraft but the wing had been partly shot away. As the intercom had gone dead he gave a verbal order to bale out.

ND921 was claimed by Oblt. Ernst-Georg Drünkler, his 14th Abschuss, from 1./NJG5 over Chateau Thierry at 4.200 m, at 01:08 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (12 May 1944 - 23 July 1944) Part 3 - Theo Boiten).

Hptm. Drünkler survived the war and was credited with 27 confirmed Abschüsse and a further 16 awaiting confirmation. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive - Biographies - Theo Boiten).

The aircraft crashed and exploded, killing both Air Gunners who had bailed out safely but had the misfortune to land amongst the burning wreckage, at Coincy, 27 km (16¾ mls) SSE of Soissons, France.

(1) Plt Off. Spierenburg landed in a hamlet in the vicinity of Château-Thierry. On landing he tore up all his papers, buried his Mae West and parachute and then began to walk in a southerly direction. At daybreak he sighted a farm and approached it, however, there was a disagreement between husband and wife and seeing that he would get no help he moved on. About a 1 km down the road he met a farmhand and after eventually persuading him that he was in the RAF he then took him into a nearby wood and told him to rest. The farmhand returned about ½ hour later with food and wine.

Later he brought a village priest who provided him with a civilian suit. Soon thereafter another man arrived on a motor cycle who took him, on the pillion, NW through several villages, finally arriving at a small village, whose name he did not recall, near Villers-Cotterêts, SW of Soissons. He was fed and sheltered there for the next 4 days during which time he did not leave the house.

The owner of the house arranged for him to go to Paris by train. They arrived there late on the evening of 3rd July 1944 and had to stay overnight at the station. The following morning a woman arrived and took him to her mother's house where he stayed for about a week.

Later he was seen by a man called ‘Jacques’ who moved him to another house and then to the Hôtel Étoile where he stayed for 3 or 4 days. On the 13th July 1944, an unnamed man came to the hotel and told him to get ready to go to Lyon. He went out to the car and then realised by looking at the driver that he was in the hands of the Germans. He was first taken to Gestapo Headquarters and later to Fresnes Prison.

Jacques 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.

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 over the period 15th to 20th October 1944.

Above: Plt Off. Spierenburg from his PoW card at Stalag Luft 3

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.

During next days, PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages.

He 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, Flt Sgt. Whellum was amongst the over 3,000 men mustered and marched out, heading east.

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 10th April 1945 he and a Sqn Ldr. Mathers escaped the forced-march from a wood cutting party and walked for about 5 nights in an attempt to join the British forces.

Sqn Ldr. Barcroft Melrose Mathers DFC 44634, PoW No: 7742, Stalag Luft 3. He was the navigator from 582 (PFF) Sqn, Lancaster III ND969, 6O:F which was shot down by a German night fighter on the night the 12th/13th August 1944 on a mission to Russelsheim, Germany. (4 KiA, 3 PoW).

They reached Steddorf, some 21 km (13¼ mls) NE of the camp, and there were taken in and fed by the Burgomaster who later took them in a cart to Zeven, to the NW where they were picked up by a Kriegsmarine guard. They were returned to the camp on the 18th April 1945.

Earlier 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 1945.

On the 27th April the camp was 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. Plt Off. Spierenburg reached the UK on the 10th May 1945.

Splinter Adolphe Spierenburg was born on the 17th May 1920 in The Hague, Holland. He was a student prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 21st November 1941. He passed away in April 1997 in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England.

(2) The escape and evasion report for Flt Lt. Siddons has not survived consequently the details of his evasion are not known.

Plt Off. Siddons was awarded the distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) whilst with 57 Sqn. London Gazette 21st January 1944.

Born in Belfast on the 17th September 1922. He was found dead in his car on the 4th November 1963 aged 41, apparently by suicide.

William Harold Henry Siddons was a British film and Television actor.

(3) The escape and evasion report for Flt Sgt. Foley is not currently available therefore the details of his evasion are not known. What it known is that he left for the UK from B.14 airstrip, Banville on the 6th September 1944.

Above: Flt Sgt. William Edward Foley from his Service Record

Flt Sgt. Foley was appointed to a commission and promoted to Plt Off. with effect 21st June 1944.

After a period of leave upon his return to the UK he was repatriated to Australia on the 25th October 1944. His appointment in the RAAF was terminated at own request to resume his civilian occupation as a school teacher on the 20th August 1945.

William Edward Foley was born on the 3rd August 1913 in Randwick, New South Wales. He enlisted in the RAAF on the 28th March 1942.

(4) The escape and evasion report for Flt Sgt. Hood is not currently available therefore the details of his evasion are not known. What is known is that he was liberated at Livry-Gargan, NE of Paris, by American forces on the 29th August 1944.

Burial details:

Above: The only three Commonwealth Graves in the Coincy Isolated Graves (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

From left to right: Sgt. Douglas A.F. Coole, Sgt. Robert W. ‘Bobby’ Chelu, Flt Sgt. John W. Austin

Flt Sgt. John William Austin. Coincy Isolated Graves, Grave 3. Son of John Thomas and Catherine Dorothy Austin of Walthamstow, Essex, England.

Sgt. Robert William ‘Bobby’ Chelu. Coincy Isolated Graves, Grave 2. Believed to have come from South Africa. No further information found.

Sgt. Douglas Albert Frederick Coole. Coincy Isolated Graves, Grave 1. Grave Inscription: ‘FATHER IN THY GRACIOUS KEEPING LEAVE WE NOW THY SERVANT SLEEPING’. Born in 4th Qtr. of 1921 in Croydon, London. Son of Frederick and Edith May (née Pinnell) Coole. Husband of Lilian Kate (née Simmonds) Coole, of Wimbledon, Surrey, England.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the crew and their families (Jul 2024).

Other sources listed below:

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