Mosquito Attack on Irish ship on 23.10.1943

[Darius]

Hello friends,

from http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/kerlogue.html I have the information, that on 23.10.1943 two Mosquitos of the polish squadron 307 attacked and damaged the irish cargo ship Kerlogue (335 BRT).

Can you answer the following questions:

a) Is this information true?

b) Hit this aircraft also the landing ship infantery LCI 309 (was sunk also south of Ireland)?

b) Do you eventually have the Operation Record Book for Sq. 307 for October 1943? I have found only November.

Thank you

Darius

[Stig Jarlevik]

Darius

Not much of an answer, but looking in Cynk's Schiffer book vol 2, No 307 Sq was a night fighter unit under Coastal Command control at the time. Lots of bad weather during quite some time, made the unit operate by day as well. Most actions were so called Instep patrols in co-operation with the Navy. An "incident" this date is mentioned by Cynk as follows:
On the 23rd No.307's Mosquitoes on an "Instep" patrol damaged an enemy cargo ship. This is not to say it was the same ship although the identification is tempting.
At the time the CO was S/Ldr Jerzy Orzechowski and the units base was at Predannack and equipment was Mosquito NF.II and FB.VI

If 307 Sq was responsible we can be fairly certain that the crews were convinced the vessel was German controlled at the time.

Cheers
Stig

[Darius]

Hello Stig,

yes. In my link they said, they attacked a ship with french flag painted. This could be of course the irish flag (see picture no. one).

Greetings

Darius

[Leendert]

Darius,

This story puts its as "later identified as RAF Mosquitoes..": http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/s...a6848030.shtml

Regards,

Leendert

[Leendert]

Darius,

Perhaps this question and answer in the Irish Parliament on 2 Dec 1943 is interesting as well: http://historical-debates.oireachtas...312020002.html

Regards,

Leendert

[Darius]

Thank you guys,

I browsed a little bit in the Parliament Data, found another fine data about Irish ship losses:

http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie...pl&setCookie=1

Greetings

Darius

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Darius,

1. Unfortunately this story is true as you will have seen by now.

The Polish crews excuse of attacking a French ship is utter nonsense on their part. Vichy France ceased to exist in November 1942, a year earlier. Any French-flagged vessels in 1943 were allies of the Poles. They clearly identified it as 'French' but continued the attack for 20 minutes. All Irish merchant and fishing vessels were unarmed throughout the war, so the crew of the Kerlogue could not have fired back at the Mosquitos.

2. LCI 309.

I have no idea if the Polish aircraft were involved but it is possible. According to the monumental BRITISH AND EMPIRE WARSHIPS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR by H.T. Lenton (Greenhill Books, 1998) HMS LCI 309 was bombed by German aircraft in the Bay of Biscay on this date. It seems unlikely this happened in the Bay of Biscay for several reasons. These LCIs were not deep-water going vessels normally. Also it had no business in Biscay at that time. It could perhaps have been part of a convoy of such vessels travelling from the UK to the Mediterranean - or vice versa. I can't find anything further on it in various books.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[Darius]

Hello Martin,

thank you for the additional information.

Darius

[Franek Grabowski]

Originally Posted by Martin Gleeson

The Polish crews excuse of attacking a French ship is utter nonsense on their part. Vichy France ceased to exist in November 1942, a year earlier. Any French-flagged vessels in 1943 were allies of the Poles. They clearly identified it as 'French' but continued the attack for 20 minutes. All Irish merchant and fishing vessels were unarmed throughout the war, so the crew of the Kerlogue could not have fired back at the Mosquitos.

Every crew got a report of possible own shipping, so seeing a French one where it should not be at all, they could easily assume it was ex-Vichy and not repainted for some reason. There were worser mistakes.
On the other hand it could have well been an intentional attack, if British wanted to reduce Irish presence in the area. Use of Polish Air Force would lessen any tensions as could you imagine if those were Britons attacking Irish ship?

[Tony Kearns]

I agree with my friend and colleague Martin Gleeson,the Polish crews excuse is utter nonesense. Mistaking the Irish flag for an Italian flag would be more understandable, however the word EIRE was clearly marked on both sides, on the cargo holdcovers and with the Irish flag in the same locations. This was not noticed even after 25 mins despite the fact that the crews had been briefed of the presence of the Kerlogue outbound for Lisbon!
(Catholic) Polish forces were very hostile to (Catholic) Neutral Ireland.
The mosquitos were MJ656 S/Ldr M. Lewandowski (pilot) F/Lt G Kranwiecki (nav.) and DD726 P/O B Sachacki (pilot) P/O T Sliwak (nav.)
My understanding is that 307 Sqn was part of 10 Group Fighter Command and that the CO Jerzy Orzechowski was a Wing Commander and had in fact led the first Instep Patrol earlier that morning.
Tony K