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author: behemoth.

introduction

"we have reached the enemy coastline, prepare for battle," every british bomber crew member will understand that when they hear the captain's words from the intercom, it means the beginning of the real battle - after a long journey, they have crossed the vast north sea. of course, before that, there were also a few unlucky people who failed to cross it. the lucky ones returned successfully, and the unlucky ones simply went to the sea to meet poseidon. the road ahead is the real dangerous road - through the german-occupied norway and fly to the german target. if these people can continue their good luck, then they will return along the original route after completing the mission, but if they are unlucky, their fate will be precarious. except for a few lucky ones who can get the cover of the underground resistance organization in the german-occupied area, others will either spend the rest of the war in the german concentration camps, or simply find their own destination in a cemetery. marshal goering once boasted that it was impossible for a british bomber to bomb berlin. although the british had already overturned his assertion, bombing berlin was still not an easy task. now, on the night of april 7, 1941, the german air force still dominated the skies of the european continent. for these english warriors, their road ahead was particularly dangerous...

on such a night, the protagonist of our story also embarked on a long journey to germany. unfortunately, in this bombing operation involving more than 300 bombers, it and more than 1,000 other allied bombers (including british and later american bombers) in the entire war never returned and remained on the european continent forever...

hunting and predation in the night sky

just before the formation approached the norwegian coastline, the german radar station deployed near the coastline detected the target. soon, the german anti-aircraft artillery units and night fighter units began to take action, preparing to intercept the british bombers.

under the night sky, tens of thousands of norwegians also witnessed this fierce ground-to-air battle. at that time, the german anti-aircraft guns fired countless shells at the direction of the british bombers, and the sharp screams of night fighters chasing prey and the roar of bombers intertwined to form a symphony of death. among them, some bullets and shells hit the bombers accurately, and accompanied by dazzling explosions, the downed bombers fell to the ground with thick smoke. on the second day, as usual, a large number of german soldiers rushed to the crash site to check the downed bombers. if they could get permission from the guards, some brave locals would approach the crash site and see the wreckage of the downed bombers. sometimes, the bodies of the crew members could even be seen in the cabin or around the wreckage.

from the german occupation of norway in may 1940 until the victory in the european battlefield in may 1945, a total of about 3,500 british aircrew and about 2,000 american aircrew were shot down and killed during the five-year occupation. some of them found their home in the mud of the netherlands lowlands, and some in the zuiderzee (Zuider Zee) in the clear waters of the north sea, while others lie on the shores of the north sea or the wadden sea (Wadden Zee) came to the end of the mission and even life. of course, for such a result, the germans were not unscathed. during the entire war, the german air force also lost nearly 1,000 fighter planes of various types. generally speaking, the number of crew members of british medium or heavy bombers is between 4 and 7, while the number of crew members of german fighters is between 1 and 3. except for those who did not have time to parachute or failed to parachute, others will eventually fall on the ground or on the sea. for the german pilots who successfully parachuted, such survival only means the suspension of the game. many people did not even have time to rest and went directly into the battle of the next day. as for the crew members of the british bombers who successfully parachuted, congratulations, for them, the war is over. what they have to do next is to recuperate in the prisoner-of-war camp and wait for their own rescue-if they can wait until that day. and the protagonist of this story encountered such a fate.

figure 1. royal air force whitley bomber

figure 2. air raid route map on the night of april 7, 1941

this is a whitley bomber codenamed t4145-ge. of course, its crew members prefer to call it "p for peter". it is from the 4th wing (Group4) 58th squadron. at 8:55 p.m. on april 7, 1941, captain roy karapet (Roy Carrapiett) and 48 other bombers from the 4th wing were coming from lyndon, yorkshire.Linton-on-Ouse) base and began a new mission. according to the action plan, their main target for this trip was kiel, an important port city in germany and also an important port for the german navy.Kiel) port. to attack this target, the british air force assembled about 320 bombers, the largest scale since the war began. the other 20, including t4145, bombed emden (Emdenflying over the north sea and across norway, everything seemed to be safe, but in groningen (Gromingen) in the sky north of the german air force, an me110 quietly targeted them. this night fighter was from the 4th squadron of the 1st night fighter wing of the german air force (4/NJG1), by paul gildner (paul gildner, 48 air combat victories, was awarded the knight's cross of the iron cross with oak leaves) was piloted by a sergeant. that evening, the aircraft departed from leeuwarden in the north of the netherlands (Leeuwarden) took off, and after a long period of ground guidance and onboard radar search, the aircraft finally locked onto aircraft t4145 over the southeast of groningen. at 12:27 local time in the netherlands, accompanied by an explosion in the air, debris fell to the ground.

figure 3. captain roy karapet, who was killed in this mission

figure 4. sergeant paul gildner who shot down the t-4145

figure 5. the wreckage of the t4145 ge-p, photographed by a german photographer

figure 6. german technicians are checking the wreckage of the bomber

in the subsequent investigation, the t4145 ge-p was once believed to have been intercepted and shot down by sergeant paul gildner on its way back to the uk. however, this raises a question: if it was really shot down on its way back, why were there still unreleased bombs in the fuselage? whether it was recorded in aldshoff's diary or the search nearby the next day, it proved that the "whitley" was actually shot down by gildner on its way to the target. fortunately, after these unreleased bombs fell to the ground, they did not cause any serious consequences or casualties, except for some insignificant damage to the ground.

aldershov's diary

a man named jan aldershoffJan Aldershofa local farmer in the town of aldshov witnessed the t4145 plane being shot down and crashed to the ground that night, and he managed to record the process in a simple little diary that he used to keep track of his life during the war. the following is some of what aldshov recorded in his diary:

"on april 7, i was digging peat, and at 12:15 at night, i heard a loud bang. it was so loud that the glass windows were blown open. my wife and i were afraid that the glass would shatter. just as we managed to escape from the house, i found that the whole house was on fire. after seeing five large fires in the old fence through the back door and the wreckage of the bomber carrying the bomb burning fiercely on the road, i decided to open the gate and let all the cows out. the next day, i was able to see more wreckage scattered all over the ground. the german soldiers quickly rushed to the crash site, but there was nothing they could do here. of the five crew members, four fell to the ground with the bomber, and one successfully parachuted to escape and landed in a nearby polder. all day long, various vehicles came in and out, and it was very busy. a bomb fell on stern (Mr.Steens)'s house, creating a large hole in the ground.Oomkes) three of mr. li’s pigs died in the explosion, and his house was severely damaged. this night is an unforgettable page in my life. this is war! ”

figure 7. original version of aldshov’s diary

as written in aldershov's diary, the wreckage of the shot down "whitley" was scattered in this area. in some photos taken at the scene afterwards, it can be seen that in addition to some small pieces of wreckage, the fuselage was broken into 5 or 6 main parts. most of these photos were taken by german soldiers and officers who were viewing the scene at the time, and then they were developed in the darkroom to produce multiple copies. after the long war years, they were preserved and then found in a small roadside market after the war. with the help of these photos and some other eyewitnesses, the situation at the crash site was restored to the greatest extent.

after being shot down and exploding, most of the wreckage landed on the watermans seawall.Woortmans Dyke) on both sides.Waterhuizen) and the winschoten canal between groningen and winschoten (Winschoterdiep Canalmost of the wreckage of the whitley was later reassembled, but the right wing was torn off the fuselage and landed about a mile away from the rest of the wreckage, almost across a canal and on the other side of it.

in addition to the wreckage, let's talk about the crew members. as mentioned above, four of the five standard whitley crew members were killed on the spot, and the only survivor, radio operator arthur mason (Authur Mason) successfully parachuted, and the place where he landed was right near the right wing from which he flew.

figure 8. the right wing flew out, and you can see that the engine compartment was also torn apart.

mr. stern, who was mentioned in aldershov's diary, also saw the scene. in his opinion, mason landed here because his parachute was caught on the wing after it was opened. however, this was not the case. another rumor that mason was injured when he parachuted into a tree next to a nearby shipyard was later proved to be just a rumor, because there was no tree near the landing point.

figure 9. schematic diagram of the crash site of t4145 ge whitley

wiggles's eyewitness experience

finally, a witness to mason's fall was found, a man named hendrik wiggers.endrik Wiegers) was a young man from winschoten, whose father was engaged in dredging work in the local area. when the bomber exploded and fell to the ground, he was operating dredging machinery on the winschoten canal. at that time, some ships were anchored not far from the shipyard. similar to the experience of many locals that night, he also heard the roar of the bomber engine and the explosions of anti-aircraft guns and machine guns in the sky. then, he ran out of the cabin of his ship and ran to the deck to look up at the scene they could see in the night sky. just after the explosion, he briefly saw an object passing through the night sky-later learned that the object he saw was actually the torn right wing, and then he saw a white smoke-like object floating down from the sky. in fact, this white object was not smoke, but mason's white parachute.

figure 10. the exterior of the shipyard photographed in 1955 after the war

after a while, he suddenly heard someone shouting for help. then, he and his mother left the boat and ran to the polder in the direction of the cry for help, trying to find the person who called for help. there, they found mason, who was already injured and bleeding. in order to save his life, they immediately took mason back to the boat and then went to the other side of the canal through the gangway, where many onlookers had gathered. after that, mason was taken to the shipyard and placed in one of the managers' rooms. he was also given some brandy to replenish his energy. at this time, it was impossible to hide mason safely, because many people in the local area already knew that there was a british royal air force soldier hiding there, and there was no doubt that the germans must have received relevant information from local nazi collaborators. after thinking about it, they felt that hiding mason was too risky. in the end, they decided to inform the local nazi police of mason's whereabouts and let them take him away. after the police took mason away, they sent him to the hospital in groningen for necessary treatment. after recovering from his treatment, mason was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp, where he remained until the end of the war.

what happened to the stern family

on the other hand, also mentioned in aldershoff's diary, on the night of the "whitley" being shot down, the stern family went to bed early on their farm to recharge for the busy day before dawn the next day. just as they fell asleep, the bombers began to engage the germans, and the stern brothers' mother was awakened at this time, trying to find out what was going on in the northern sky. when she began to hear the roar of the engine, she immediately got up to check. as the roar of the engine became louder and louder, she immediately woke up her two sons, jan and hendrick, in worry. then, they heard an explosion in the night sky, and then they ran out of the house together to try to see what was going on. when they ran out of the house, they saw a fire next to the house - this was the "bomb" recorded in aldershoff's diary, but in fact, it was just a fuel tank on the bomber. when the germans arrived, they began to take branches from the trees and light them into torches, searching for parachutes left by the british crew members after they jumped. in a nearby field, they found a crew member lying on his back without a parachute. hendrick later recounted that this was obviously the body of an officer, because his uniform was better cut and made of better material than the uniforms of the other crew members. according to subsequent inferences, this was most likely the body of captain roy karapet. due to the great impact when he fell to the ground, a deep mark was left on the muddy ground.

the next morning, just as hendrick took the milk churn and set off for a nearby road (no matter how many planes the british had lost last night, life had to go on), he found another crew member. when he was found, he was sitting upright on the edge of a ditch with his feet in the mud, as if he was still alive. it seemed that he was not wearing a parachute and fell directly to the ground after jumping out of the bomber. from all indications, he should be the co-pilot of the bomber, anthony white (Anthony White) later that morning, hendrick and his brother jan were called in by the germans to help, and their horses were requisitioned. a piece of wreckage from a bomber had landed on the land opposite their farm, and the germans wanted to break it up into smaller pieces. as the brothers were working, hendrick suddenly noticed that there seemed to be a man inside with a machine gun on his knees, as if he was about to shoot him. quick as lightning, a german soldier rushed up, grabbed hendrick's shoulder and pulled him back. of course, it was a false alarm. the wreckage should be from the nose of the bomber, and the man should be observer cecil jones (Cecil Jones)second lieutenant.

figure 11. sergeant anthony white, who unfortunately died in the mission

figure 12. newspaper obituary recording anthony white’s death

return to peace

on april 10, the germans began to recover the wreckage of the whitley, and in aldershov's diary, he recorded his experience after entering the accident site. about 43 incendiary bombs of various types were unloaded on his home, in addition to several other "small bombs about 45 cm long and 5 cm in diameter". previously, he had been able to enter the wreckage of the bomber's tail and inspect it. in fact, he may have even seen the wreckage of the bomber's nose and noticed the body of lieutenant jones who died behind the victor k machine gun.

since not many people could see the scene clearly at that time, and because the german guards were on guard at the scene, they were also a certain distance away from the crash site in most cases, so people later began to spread that the german soldiers looted all the belongings of the british crew members. in fact, in 1941, the germans still maintained a certain respect for those who died, even if they were enemies. as for the following years, the allied strategic bombing had devastating consequences on various german cities, and the germans' attitude towards enemy aircrews began to change. of course, this was basically limited to the western front. in this case, as hendrik stern later recalled, because of the cold environment of high-altitude flight, the british crew members were wearing thick fur flight suits, so they could hardly be stuffed into the coffins prepared for them by the germans. in order to bury them, the germans had to take off those clothes first. as for their personal belongings, such as some small bags, the germans also collected them to facilitate the verification of the identities of these aircrews.

a lot of things happened just a few days after the crash, and they are still reflected in aldshov's diary:

"on april 12, various vehicles carrying aircraft parts had left. today, they repaired the engines and towed them to the road. we gradually got acquainted with two of the german guards and spent a good evening with them. according to them, one of them was named hein (Hein), 37 years old, and the other one is hans (Hans), 25 years old this year. hein had traveled to india, china and other places before volunteering to join the army. we also learned from them that the bomber weighed about 20,000 kilograms, of which the engine weighed 1,000 kilograms and had a power of about 1,500 horsepower. recently, british bombers have come to bomb quite frequently, causing considerable losses to the germans.

"on april 13, easter sunday, the last batch of aircraft wreckage was hauled away by the germans. after six days of on-site alert, the german guards said goodbye to us. although most of the aircraft wreckage was cleared by the germans, there were still about 10 unexploded bombs left in de witt.De Wit)'s field. these bombs were guarded day and night by the nazi police, and omke (Oomkemr. ) was unlucky. a bomb exploded in front of his house, sending shrapnel flying everywhere, including into the barn.

figure 13.a discoveryunexploded bomb

“on april 15, approximately 75 unexploded incendiary bombs were found at the site of the original aircraft wreckage.

"today, april 16, the germans detonated all the remaining unexploded bombs on mr. dewitt's land."

the crash of the bomber had a great impact on the lives of nearby residents, but a few days after the incident, life gradually returned to normal and people began to live their normal lives as usual. however, there was still a nazi police officer checking the crash site, and on april 22, they were notified that the police were no longer needed to check. from then on, like other things in the war, the crash of the whitley brought a temporary end to everything that the locals had experienced. aldershov's diary also gave a detailed description of his experiences during this period:

"it was not until today that the police informed us that they were no longer needed to guard the area around the crash site. at 8 o'clock, someone sent from groningen brought them a letter, but his car accidentally slipped into a ditch next to us. fortunately, he did not lose his life in this traffic accident. we all took a lot of effort to pull him out of the ditch, which took us about an hour. after a short rest, he was able to return to groningen. this episode also brought an end to the crash. although the germans cleared away most of the wreckage, there are still a small amount of aircraft wreckage scattered in the area. we heard that the bomber was hit over germany before it fell to the ground, which may be the reason why most of the crew members did not escape..."

end

many years later, mr. aldershov still lives in a nearby village. in his home, he still keeps some souvenirs taken from the "whitley" - an escape axe with an insulated handle, and a small ladder (missing the top two steps) for crew members to use when getting on and off the plane.

figure 14. the boarding ladder shown by aldershoff

figure 15. recovered tools

all four crew members of the whitley who died in action are buried in a cemetery near groningen. during world war ii, about 6,595 volunteers from the united kingdom, the commonwealth countries/dominions, and other raf volunteers were buried in norway, and about half of them do not even have a cemetery address. every year on may 5, norway's national liberation day commemorations, on the eve of the anniversary day, these allied aircrews who gave their lives for the liberation of the norwegian people and the people of europe will be mourned by the whole country.

to this day, some allied fighter planes shot down in the past are occasionally found in the norwegian sea. during the entire world war ii, about 600 to 700 allied fighter planes disappeared near the zuiderzee. many times, people who visit the local area can still see some aluminum or plexiglass wreckage of bombers from time to time. these wreckages have been silent, reminding people of the bloody scenes of the past again and again.

- the full article is over, please look forward to the next one! -