Operation: Blainville-Sur-l’Eau, France

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

Unit No: 10 Squadron, 4 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Halifax III

Serial: LV870

Code: ZA:H

Base: RAF Melbourne, Yorkshire

Location: Perles, 9 km (5½ mls) ESE from Braine, France

Pilot: Fg Off. Ralph John Taylor 146434 RAFVR Age 23. Id No: 78376 *, PoW No: 8071 ** (1)

Flt Eng: Sgt. Thomas C. Hogg 3020140 RAFVR Age 19. Evader (2)

Nav: Sgt. Kenneth Leslie Peakman 1575557 RAFVR Age 21. PoW No: 321 *** (3)

Bomb Aimer: Sgt. Basil Henry Orford 1511963 RAFVR Age 22. PoW No: 319 *** (3)

WOp/ Air Gnr: Sgt. R. Conde 1621820 RAFVR Age? Evader (4)

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. C.C. Carpenter 1320995 RAFVR Age? Evader (4)

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Jonathan Cuffey 1896078 RAFVR Age 23. KiA

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

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

*** Stalag Luft 7, Bankau nr. Kreuzburg O.S." (O.S. standing for Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia). Today called Bąków nr. Kluczbork (Poland).

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the night of the 28th/29th June 1944 10 Squadron joined a force of 230 aircraft that were detailed to attack the railway yards at Blainville-Sur-I’Eau and Metz in France.

Of the 11 Halifaxes lost from the Blainville-Sur-I’Eau raid 2 of the losses were from 10 Sqn:

Halifax III LW717 ZA:W was shot down by a night fight-fighter and Plt Off. Martin Livesey 175822 RAFVR and his crew were KiA.

LV870 was claimed as one of three possibles by Fw. Johannes Gajewski, his 4th Abschuss, from 6./NJG2 in the Soissons-Fismes area at 3.200 m. at 01:06 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (12 May 1944 - 23 July 1944) Part 3 - Theo Boiten).

Ofw. Gajewski became a PoW on the night of the 26th/27th December 1944 flying Ju88 G-8 4R+A. He attacked two locomotives in the Châlons-sur-Marne area but was forced to make a belly-landing 4 km east of Chalons-sur-Marne following and engine. He and his crew were captured by American forces the next day. LV870 was his final Abschuss (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (16 October 1944 - 31 December 1944) Part 5 - Theo Boiten.)

The aircraft crashed near Perles, 9 km (5½ mls) ESE from Braine in the department of Aisne.

(1) Fg Off. Taylor landed near Fismes, some 2¾ km (1¾ mls) SE of the crash site, alongside a wood where he hid this parachute, Mae West and harness. He remained in the wood until early in the morning and then made his way to a farm in the village of Perles, near Fismes.

He stayed there for a day and during which time the farmer obtained some peasant clothing for him. He also brought two men from a nearby village with maps, food and drink. They also pointed out the locations of the German garrison in the area.

He set out on foot at 23:00 hrs on the night of the 29th June 1944, and walked for the next 2 days and as far as Soissons, some 27 km (16¾ mls) to the ESE of Fismes, sleeping in barns and buying food on the way.

He only stayed an hour or two in Soissons and then struck south on the road to Château-Thierry, some 37 km (23 mls) to the south. He spent one night in a barn and reached Oulchy-le-Château, about halfway to Château-Thierry.

The following day about noon he went into a cafe in the town and took the proprietress into his confidence and asked to see a doctor to treat his feet which were in bad shape due to septic blisters. She sent him to a doctor who attended to his feet, provided a bath, food and a bed for the night.

The next morning the doctor took him by car to a farm in Artmentières-sur-Ourcq, about 3 km (2 mls) to the SSE, where he stayed with the farmer and his two sons for just over 10 days.

During this time the doctor and his wife visited me frequently and provided me with a false carte d'identitie. He also met WO. Foley W., the navigator of a Lancaster captained by a Fg Off. Spierenberg.

Fg Off. Splinter A. Spierenberg 171436 RAFVR and Flt Sgt. William E. Foley 421799 RAAF were the Pilot and Navigator respectively from 582 Sqn Lancaster III ND921, which was shot down on a mission to Blainville on the night of the 28th/29th June 1944 (3 KiA, 1 PoW, 3 Evd). Fg Off. Spierenberg was captured and Flt Sgt. Foley successfully evaded.

He left the farm by a car driven by another doctor, who was a vet and friend of the first doctor who treated him, and was taken to the Presbytery of La Croix-sur-Ourcq a few km to the SW of Artmentières-sur-Ourcq. Here he stayed for one night and was then taken by the vet back to Soissons where he stayed the night at the house of a friend of the vet in the Place de la Cathédrael.

The following day he was taken on the pillion of a motorcycle to Morsain, some 10 kms (6¼ mls) NW of Soissons, where he stayed at a farm for 10 days and where the family treated him extremely well.

He was then taken to the home of the mother of the farmer’s wife in Porte de Vincennes, Paris. He stayed here for 3 days during which time he was put in the hands of "Jack" who posed as a British agent in the resistance movement. 3 days later, on the 28th July 1944 he was handed over to the Gestapo.

He was then transferred to Fresnes prison which 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 the East Compound at Stalag Luft 3 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. On the 31st January Fg Off. Taylor and from the West Compound were sent to Stalag 3A, Luckenwalde.

Note: Stalag 3A and work camps (Also Oflag 3-6) Luckenwalde (was originally interrogation centre) Brandenburg, Prussia.

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. Taylor was interviewed on the 14th May 1945.

Ralph John Taylor was born on the 18th April 1921. He was an Articles Clerk in Farnborough prior to the RAFVR on the 14th March 1941.

(2) Sgt. Hogg’s escape and evasion report is not current available. What is know is that he was interviewed on the 4th September 1944.

(3) Sgts. Peakman and Orford were captured near Fismes that day. After the statutory visit to Dulag Luft, Oberursel they were transferred to Stalag Luft 7, with Sgt. Peakman arriving there on the 14th July and Sgt. Orford on the 12th July.

On the 19th January 1945, they were amongst the 1,500 prisoners that marched out of the camp in the bitter cold. They crossed a bridge over the river Oderon the 21st January, reached Goldberg on 5th February and were loaded onto a train.

On the 8th February they reached Stalag 3Alocated about 52 km (32 mls) south of Berlinnear Luckenwalde, which already held 20,000 prisoners, consisting mainly of soldiers from Britain, Canada, the US and Russia.

Note: Stalag 3A and work camps (Also Oflag 3-6) Luckenwalde (was originally interrogation centre) Brandenburg, Prussia.

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.

Both Sgt. Peakman and Sgt. Orford were interviewed on the 24th May 1945.

Kenneth Leslie Peakman was born on the 26th September 1922. He was a Tool Setter (Press) in Birmingham prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 4th May 1942.

Basil Henry Orford was born on the 19th November 1921. He was a Clerk on the Railways in Liverpool prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 16th February 1942.

(4) The escape and evasion reports for Sgt. Conde and Sgt. Carpenter have not been found and consequently the details of their evasion and liberation are not known.

Burial details:

Above: Perles Churchyard (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

Sgt. Cuffey’s grave is the only Commonwealth grave in this Churchyard.

Sgt. Jonathan Cuffey. Perles Churchyard. Grave Inscription: ‘HIS BROTHER FRED, R.A.F. (V.R) IS BURIED IN HOLLAND. BOTH DEARLY LOVED AND SADLY MISSED.’ Son of Jonathan Charles and Annie Celia Cuffey of Tottenham, Middlesex, England.

His brother was Flt Sgt. Frederick Cuffey who was the Rear Gunner from 115 Sqn, Lancaster II DS652 KO:B, which was shot down by a German night-fighter on the night of the 12th/13th June 1943 (3 KiA, 4 MiA.)

Flt Sgt. Frederick Cuffey is buried in the Wonseradeel (Makkum) Protestant Churchyard Row M, Grave 42.

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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