Dambusters 7. Oktober 1944

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Check this post for a list of ORB available online:

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=18817

About the Krembs bombing raid, here is what I have:

The 617 Sqn RAF flew another special operation. The Kembs Dam on the Rhine, just north of the Swiss town of Basle, held back a vast quantity of water and it was feared that the Germans would release this to flood the Rhine valley near Mulhouse, a few miles north, should the American and French troops in that area attempt an advance. The Squadron was asked to destroy the lock gates of the dam. 13 Lancasters were dispatched. 7 aircraft were to bomb from 8,000ft and draw the flak, while the other 6 would come in below 1,000ft and attempt to place their Tallboys, with delayed fuses, alongside the gates. American Mustang fighters would attempt to suppress flak positions during the attack. The operation went according to plan. The gate number 1 of the dam and a good part of the power factory were destroyed but 2 Lancasters from the low force were shot down by flak.

The Lancaster I NG180 KC-S was hit by light Flak while nearing the AP at 600 feet. On fire and with two engines out of action, it flew north before being put down in the Rhine near the Franco-German border town of Chalampe, Haut-Rhin. It is believed that all survived but they were then arrested near the village of Rheinweiller, on the German bank of the Rhine. The Kreisleiter of Lörrach, Hugo Gröner, applied the instructions given by Goebbels and Himmler, and relayed by his superior, Gauleiter Wagner, saying that the Kreisleiter and the police should let any captured airman to the wrath of the population. He shot himself the four or seven prisonners on the bank of the Rhine. The seven crew of the bomber (Sqn Ldr Drew Rothwell Cullen Wyness (pilot), Flt Sgt Thomas James Hurdiss (flight engineer), Flt Lt Ronald Henry Williams (navigator), Flt Off Herbert Walter Honig (air bomber), Flt Off Bruce James Hosie (New Zealander, wireless operator), Flt Sgt Thomas Horrocks (gunner) and Flt Off George Edward Cansell (gunner)) didn’t survive the crash and subsequent execution. Gröner and Wagner were both sentenced to death and executed in 1946.

The Tallboy of the Lancaster III LM482 KC-Q failed to release and the crew were seen to turn away and go round for a second run. The aircraft was hit by light Flak and crashed at Efringen-Kirchen, a village just inside Germany on the Swiss border, about 8 km SSE of the target. The eight crew (Flt Lt Christopher John Geoffrey Howard (pilot), Plt Off Frederick Charles Hawkins (flight engineer), Flt Lt Thomas Jobson Tate (navigator), Plt Off Eric Albert Hartley (air bomber), Plt Off Richard Dennis Lucan (wireless operator), Wt Off Philip Edwin Woods (gunner), Flt Sgt Herbert George Clarke (gunner) and Flt Off David Trevor Watkins (gunner)) were all killed.

Sources:
"La libération de Mulhouse et du sud de l’Alsace 1944-1945", by Eugène Riedweg, ISBN 2-86-339100-3 (includes pictures of Kembs dams)
"Bomber Command losses of the Second World War, vol 5. Aircraft and Crews losses 1944", by W R Chorley, ISBN 0-904597-91-1
CWGC website