640 Squadron Halifax crew?

[Andy Saunders]

This article appeared in the Daily Telegraph (London) during 2005:


"German works tirelessly 'to give war dead a face'
By Kate Connolly in Lietzen

With the gentlest of touches Erwin Kowalke ran his fingertips along the tops of four tiny cardboard coffins. "My job is to give the dead a face," he said.

For 25 years he has been doing just that, unearthing the bones of soldiers who perished in the woods around Berlin during ferocious battles in the final days of the Second World War and trying to identify them.

In front of him, in the grounds of a German war graves cemetery, lay the remains of five RAF crew members in four shoebox-sized brown coffins.

The airmen's remains were discovered last year in a wood in Gerbisbach near Wittenberg, north-east of Berlin, during one of Mr Kowalke's many missions. The find followed a tip-off by a local resident who had watched on the night of March 24, 1944 as a blazing RAF Halifax plummeted to the ground before smashing into pieces.

Of the original crew of seven, two escaped, possibly with parachutes. In his detailed report to the Volksbund, the German war graves commission, Mr Kowalke, 63, wrote of the crew from the RAF's 640 Squadron: "I estimate their ages to be between 20+ and up to 30, one must have been heavily built. Another had previously broken his left shinbone and fibula." He even listed the shoe sizes of four of the men, as well as the make of their footwear. "Some of the crew members were flung out of the plane as it crashed," he wrote.

For Mr Kowalke, whose anatomic and forensic knowledge is all self-taught, it is all in a day's work. Since 1980, when he carried out his work illegally because the then-communist regime ruled that nobody was to have anything to do with the remains of a "fascist army", he and his network of volunteers have worked on the remains of 20,000 soldiers.

Even now 1,000 bodies a year are still uncovered in and around the sandy battlefields of Berlin where more than 100,000 German, Russian and Allied soldiers lost their lives. More than 10,000 are still believed to be there.

The Ministry of Defence is close to a final identification of the remains of the Halifax's crew. A spokesman said the aim was to bury the remains in September.

Mr Kowalke said: "Some bureaucrats in Germany find it tiresome and pointless having to deal with the dead decades after the war but I only need to see a grateful widow who finally knows the whereabouts of her loved-one after 60 years spent in the dark to know that the work is worth it.

"After all, one in seven war widows are still alive, while 1.3 million Germans remain missing in action."

The task of identifying the RAF crew was a relatively easy one. Often Mr Kowalke only comes across an engraved wedding ring when he is roaming in the woods with his metal detector.

He said all the soldiers he finds he treats equally, regardless of nationality.

"My work is my way of trying to make amends for what Germany did," he
said."

Can anyone tell me if this case was concluded by the MOD and, if so, what are the details? Who were the crew and where are they now buried?

I may have missed something, but searches for anything after this 2005 piece have drawn a blank.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Andy,
NO info about the MOD, but probably one of only two 640 Squadron losses that night:
Halifax LW430 Information

TypeHalifaxSerial NumberLW430Squadron640X1DC8-TOperationBerlinDate 124th March 1944Date 225th March 1944

Further Information

"Serial Range LW412 - LW446. 35 Halifax Mk.111. part of a batch of 360 HP61 Halifax Mk.B.11/B.111. LW223-LW246; LW259-LW301; LW313-LW345 (100) B.11; LW346-LW346; LW361-LW397; LW412-Lw446; LW459-LW481; LW495-LW522; LW537-LW559; LW572-LW598; LW613-LW658; LW671-LW696; LW713-LW724 (260) B.111. Delivered by English Electric Co. (Salmesbury & Preston) between 29Nov43 and 22Dec43. LW430 was one of two 640 Sqdn Halifaxes lost on this operation. See: MZ510. LW430 was initially issued to No.158 Sqdn. Airborne 1906 24Mar44 from Leconfield. Cause of loss and crash-site not established. According to captured enemy papers, this Halifax was shot down by a night-fighter some 22 km N of Torgau. Assuming the German Air Force Documant KE8061 does relate to LW430 and that the distance quaoted is correct, then it may be assumed the Halifax crashed between the towns of Jessen and Annaburg. P/O W.C.McLeod KIA Sgt A.P.Webb KIA Sgt N.L.Cooper KIA Sgt S.W.Wheeler KIA Sgt J.C.Burdett KIA Sgt R.H.Turner KIA Sgt J.N.Boston KIA "

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Halifax MZ510 Information

TypeHalifaxSerial NumberMZ510Squadron640X1DC8-QOperationBerlinDate 124th March 1944Date 226th March 1944

Further Information

Serial Range MZ500 - MZ544. 45 Halifax Mk.111. Part of a batch of 360 HP61 Halifax Mk.B.111. MZ500-MZ544; MZ556- MZ604; MZ617-MZ660; MZ672-MZ717; MZ730-MZ775; MZ787-MZ831; MZ844- MZ883; MZ895-MZ939. Delivered by English Electric Co. (Salmesbury & Preston) between 11Mar44 and 31Mar44. MZ510 was one of two 640 Sqdn Halifaxes lost on this operation. See: LW430. Airborne 1922 24Mar44 from Leconfield. Cause of loss not established. Crashed at Dinslaken. Those killed are buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery. F/O R.Hodgson KIA f/S F.G.Hursey KIA Sgt S.E.Rayner KIA F/O A.H.Bunster PoW Sgt R.C.Thorpe KIA F/S R.J.Draffin RAAF KIA Sgt A.Ayres KIA F/O A.H.Bunster was interned in Camp L1. PoW No.4089.

[Andy Saunders]

Thank you, Adriano, for your help.

What puzzles me is that I can find nothing more about this after the 2005 news story and the crew from 640 Sqn seem to still be listed on the Runnymede register.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Andy,Personally I do believe they are still trying to identify the crew. For example: the particular concern of Herr Kowalke ( "Another had previously broken his left shinbone and fibula" ). I do guess they are also trying or have tried to contact some family members of those aircrew...Anyway...a wonderful work on the part of this man. OBS: Have you tried to find his email? Maybe he is still around...and can answer abou the "end of the Story"?Maybe there is a 640 Squadron Association and someone can link the heavy built airman to the correct plane?!?A very interesting subject and work!YoursAdriano Baumgartner