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Other
Operations in 1944
The
period from March to December 1944 was one of
relentless operations carried out firstly
against targets in the German heartland, and
then in support of Allied ground forces as they
prepared for and then executed the invasion of
Europe in June 1944.
Crews
were posted into 100 Squadron after completing
training at the Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) at
Hemswell, or from other 1 Group HCU’s, and also
from 3 Group HCU’s. Many of them completed a
full tour, many did not. During this part of
our journey, we include recollections from some
of the men who flew with 100 Squadron so
providing a ‘human’ insight into our tribute to
the Squadron. Photographs and film footage
support some of these recollections, involving
several of our Lancaster veterans. When a new
crew was posted to 100 Squadron, they were often
accompanied by an experienced pilot for their
first operational sortie. One ‘sprog’ crew were
fortunate enough have the company of Air
Commodore Arthur Wray to show them the ropes.
Air Cdre Wray, DSO, MC, DFC, AFC, was the No 12
Base Commander and was affectionately known as
‘Father Wray’. During this particular op, due
to navigational errors and the radar being
jammed, the aircraft strayed off course. Wray
helped the navigator to plot a course for the
target by dead reckoning, whilst also piloting
the aircraft. They bombed the target at
Stuttgart alone as they were fifteen minutes
late. Wray was not happy with their approach so
they went around again in heavy flak before
bombing. What a splendid but frightening example
for a new crew!
The night of 30th/31st
March 1944 was disastrous for Bomber Command. An
attack on Nuremburg was ordered with some 795
aircraft, including those from 100 Squadron in
the main force. During this raid, some 105
aircraft and their crews were lost, mainly due
to German night fighters. Although 100 Squadron
came through this operation unscathed, the
recollections of Flt Lt Gillam shed some light
on the underlying reason for this disaster. The
force had been ordered to fly at 19000 feet, and
at that height, the aircraft were leaving
contrails. With the night clear, they were
highly visible targets for night fighters.
Gillam’s recollection indicates that, as an
experienced crew, they decided to disobey orders
and climbed to 22000 feet, and then watched as a
Lanc below them, leaving a large contrail was
attacked by a night fighter. The German pilot
attacked the Lanc from below, probably using the
upward firing cannons fitted to the ME110. The
bomber crew would not have seen the fighter
approaching from below in their blind spot and
took no evasive action; there was a huge
explosion as the Lanc was blown in half. Gillam
tells us that “…his stomach turned over and we
tried to get even higher. By then I was feeling
really cheesed off with the powers that be for
sending us out on a night…[where]… protective
cloud cover was unlikely to be present.”
Of
course there are many similar recollections, but
this example clearly reveals the courage of the
bomber crews in pressing home their attacks
during such conditions. We must never forget the
heroism of these men, and in the words of Cherry
Herrington’s poem ‘One Hundred at Ninety’, “Back
in old England with Lancs, Night after night we
paid dear.” This sad loss of life was to
continue for more than another year, and Bomber
Command Squadrons suffered the attendant losses.
There are many more examples of 100 Squadron
crews performing remarkable feats of heroism and
superb airmanship during operations against
Occupied Europe. There are far more than we have
the time or space for.
The
crews of 100 Squadron developed a keen awareness
of ‘jinxes’. Flt Lt John Raper recalls how
crews became aware that whenever an NCO pilot
received his commission, he and his crew went
missing on the very next op, this had occurred
on six consecutive occasions. On 22nd
March 1944, their crew were briefed for an op on
Frankfurt, and shortly after the briefing the
Squadron Adjutant told John that their skippers’
commission had come through and that his kit
would be moved to the Officers Mess whilst they
were flying. John reminded the Adj about the
sequence of losses, so it was decided to
postpone telling the skipper about his
promotion, and not to move his kit until after
the sortie. The trip was made without mishap and
the spell was broken!
The
crews of 100 Squadron also made use of mascots,
or good luck charms, to help them through the
long and dangerous flights. These mascots took
many forms. One of particular interest involved
a young lady who lived close to the base at
Waltham. Her name was Sally Lancaster, and she
knitted small dolls, which she gave to the
airmen to bring them good luck. The good luck
mascots and avoidance of the jinxes did not
always work. During the night of 24th
April 1944, Plt Off Armon and the crew of ND328
HW-W WILLIAM, was shot down over Belgium. This
crew including Sgt Bowden, a Canadian, were
initially buried at the cemetery of St Truiden
on 27th April, but were re-interred
at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Heverlee
near Leuven after the end of WWII. There were
many other Commonwealth airmen flying with 100
Squadron, but the Canadians were with 100 in
some strength, and here we have photographs of
just some of them.
On 3rd
May 1944, 100 Squadron joined a joint 1 Group
and 5 Group operation in a precision night
attack against a German military camp some 75
miles east of Paris. During this operation, two
ex-100 Squadron aircraft, which were now part of
the 1 Group Special Duties Flight (SDF), had
orders to mark the special target, which was a
tank depot in the German camp. Sqn Ldr
Breakspear, who was also ex-100 Squadron, led
the SDF on this mission. It is worth noting that
a number of crews and Lancasters were posted out
of their Squadrons to the SDF in March 1944, and
remained with the SDF until it was disbanded in
August 1944, when the aircrews were either
posted back to their Squadrons, or on to
pastures new.
There
were major problems that night. The Master
Bomber delayed marking the target, and also the
Main Force Controller’s broadcasts were being
drowned by an AFN broadcast! During this delay
the Main Force were kept circling the target
under a full moon for almost 25 minutes, whilst
the German fighters took a heavy toll on the
bomber force. When the attack eventually went
in, under the direction of the Deputy
Controller, 1500 tons of bombs were dropped with
great accuracy. Severe damage was inflicted on
barrack blocks, transport sheds, vehicles and
most importantly the tanks.
On
April 14th 1944, General Eisenhower
had assumed Supreme Command of all Allied
Forces, including Bomber Command. The emphasis
changed to preparation for Operation Overlord
and, although Bomber Command maintained its
strategic role, it was to be heavily involved
with bombing tactical targets in support of
preparations for the Normandy invasion. Initial
concentration for Bomber Command was to be the
railway system in northern France, and more than
42000 tons of bombs were dropped on such targets
during more than 8800 sorties. 100 Squadron also
carried out attacks on ‘V’ Weapon sites, and
helped to open up the Normandy invasion by
attacking German gun emplacements on the
Normandy coast during the night of 5th
June 1944.
100
Squadron was extremely busy during June 1944,
dropping 1197 tons of bombs during the month,
followed by a further 1206 tons in July 1944.
The Squadron continued making attacks on railway
centres, ‘V’ weapon sites and some strategic
targets as participants in 1000 bomber raids. On
15th August 1944, a 1000 bomber raid
was made in daylight against a large number of
German airfields. 100 Squadron carried out an
attack against Volkel airfield as part of this
operation.
During
the night of August 13th 1944, LM658
HW-W WILLIAM was shot down over Bergentheim,
with two of the crew being killed. The
navigator, Fg Off Gerald Hood baled out, and a
young Dutch resistance worker, Bote van der Wal,
and his family hid him. Eventually, the Gestapo
captured both of them, shooting and burying them
in a wood. The site of the murders is now marked
by two memorials, which are regarded by local
people as a sanctuary and decorated with
flowers. Recollections of this event have been
published in ‘The Hornet’.
Two of
German officers, Otto Sandrock and Ludwig
Schweinberger, who carried out the murders, were
captured, tried by a British military court, and
executed.
Many
airmen lost their lives over The Netherlands,
where there are several memorials to100 Squadron
aircrew. Since the war, these have been looked
after by dedicated groups of Dutch villagers and
school children, and through these groups the
100 Squadron Association has forged strong and
lasting relationships with the Dutch people; we
shall return to this aspect later.
The
combined weight of British and American bombing
was, by now, taking its toll particularly on
German air defences, resulting in the withdrawal
of German fighter squadrons. This meant that
Bomber Command became able to mount daylight
raids in support of Allied ground forces.
During a major Bomber Command raid on Frankfurt
on 12th September, 100 Squadron lost
another aircraft ME828, HW-F FOX piloted by Fg
Off Cole. Frankfurt was also subjected to
another major attack on the night of 6th
of January 1945, when the suburb of Hannau was
bombed.
Often,
what was a very dangerous and testing situation
could also have its funny side, and crews
laughed and joked about such events. A good
example of this occurred when Sqn Ldr Dave Robb,
with his mixed RCAF and RAF crew carried out a
raid on Emmerich on 7th October
1944. The crew were flying HW-H HOW named
‘Hellzapoppin’, the kite regularly used by Flt
Sgt Harry Brown and his crew Their bomb aimer,
Stamper Metcalfe, had spent hours painting the
name on the nose of the aircraft. Just as Fg Off
Mo Mosure released the 4000-pound ‘cookie’,
incendiaries from a Lanc above them hit the
plane. One of the incendiaries came through the
cockpit, wrecking most of the pilot’s
instruments, and rolled down into the nose where
it ignited. After a scramble to put the fire
out, Dave Robb was still heading east, and
Arthur White the Nav, quickly called for a
westward course for home. After further scares
with fuel leaking from wing tanks, and flying at
reduced speed to conserve fuel, Robb finally
landed at Waltham with the Lancaster still
carrying all of its incendiaries.
Waiting at the dispersal was a reception
committee, which included the Boss, Wg Cdr
Hamilton. Robbie’s crew waxed lyrical about
their experiences, fully expecting Robbie and Mo
to be awarded immediate DFC’s, but the Boss just
said, “Well Robbie, maybe next time you’ll look
up!”
Operation Hurricane commenced on 14th
October 1944. This was to be a series of
concentrated attacks on the industrial cities of
the Ruhr. Twenty 100 Squadron Lancs, each loaded
with a maximum bomb load of 13000 pounds of
bombs, joined a 1000 bomber raid against
Duisberg at 06:45 with a fighter escort. Flak
over the target was heavy, and fourteen aircraft
were lost with crews reporting aircraft
exploding over the target. The crews returned to
bases by around mid-day, and were called to
briefing again at tea-time for second attack on
Duisberg with take off scheduled for midnight.
Between the two Bomber Command raids, American
aircraft had also attacked the city, and fires
from these earlier attacks were still burning,
In the two attacks, Bomber Command had dropped
more than 10,000 tons of bombs on the city.
At
15:00 hours 100 Squadron was called yet again
for a third operation, this time against
Wilhelmshaven. In less than 48 hours, 100
Squadron had flown three major operations, and
all without loss.
During
the remainder of October, 100 Squadron carried
out attacks against Bochum, Cologne, Stuttgart
and Essen. November commenced with attacks
against Gelsenkirchen and Wanne-Eickel as
bombing priorities had now shifted to German oil
refineries. Attacks on oil refineries continued
with operations against Karlsruhe, Essen and the
refineries at Leuna in early December.
Christmas Eve 1944, and 100 were involved in
another operation against Cologne. This proved
to be a sad ending to 1944, as Fg Off Griffiths
and his crew failed to return. 1944 ended with
the Allied ground forces closing in on the
Rhine, although it would be a full three months
before the Rhine would be crossed. The attacks
and operations we have talked about, carried out
by night and by day during 1944, brought two
more well deserved Battle Honours for 100
Squadron. These honours were ‘Fortress Europe’
and ‘Normandy’.
1944 had been
a costly and difficult year for 100 Squadron.
Many dangerous and difficult operations had been
undertaken, yet the Squadron were still ‘keeping
it going’. More was still to come in 1945, as
100 Squadron would play its full role in
clearing the way into Germany. 100 Squadron’s
contribution to the Battle for Fortress Europe,
and the Overlord Invasion had been of great
importance. 100 Squadron aircrews and ground
crews had again performed above and beyond the
call of duty. The courage of 100’s airmen in
pressing home their attacks had been exemplary.
Despite the odds, and the obvious dangers
involved, the crews of 100 had gone out and
‘paid dear night after night’ flying their
Lancaster bombers.
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