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Library Reference Number: 059

The B26 Glenn Martin Marauder in the Mediterranean Theatre

1944-1945

Ernest Wall, OBE, Warrant Officer Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, ACA

This article serves as a supplement to an earlier article called "The Path to 24 Squadron SAAF):Library Reference 010. It's quite a lengthy and detailed account so the page style has been altered to accommodate it better.

Background

The Glen Martin B26 Marauder. Note the icing up on mainplane. By 1943, the RAF had five Squadrons equipped with Marauders viz:- 14, 39, 326, 327 and 454 although by mid-1944 only No. 14 was operating from Foggia in Italy, the others having been withdrawn to the Western Front.

The authorities decided to equip 5 Squadrons of the SAAF with Marauders in late 1943 and early 1944. In Italy, therefore, the Squadrons Nos. 12, 21, 24 and 30 of the Desert Air Force and No. 25 of the Balkan Air Force were operating from Pescara & Foggia by mid-1944.

My Squadron, No. 24, was converted from 4-man Bostons to 6-man Marauders in December 1943 whilst operating from Gambut (situated in Libya halfway between Bardia and Tobruk) where I joined the Squadron in early May 1944, direct from final training but missing Operational Training Unit. The increase in crew numbers particularly from one air gunner to three necessitated some fast recruiting of additional RAF Wireless Operators and/or Air Gunners to crew up the Marauders. The Bostons, incidentally, had been very successful in assisting the invasion of Sicily in 1943.

Initially there were many minor problems with the Marauders particularly with the ammunition links to the tail gunner turrets. This took more than 3 weeks to resolve. Targets were then set for the Aegean Sea (again) and to Crete where it was thought a formation of six Marauders could cope on its own without fighter escort. (A Marauder being heavily armour-plated was regarded as a mini-Flying Fortress).

Some Operational Stories

Operation in the Aegean

The theory that Marauders could operate over Crete without fighter escort proved to be a disastrous one. After a short time operating from Nicosia in Cyprus over targets at Rhodes and Leros, raids over Crete found the Germans heavily fortified with anti-aircraft guns and groups of fighters. Marauders were vulnerable over heavily defended targets as bombs had to be dropped at around 10,000 feet and no higher.

In two raids in March 1944 over Suda Bay in Crete, the Squadron, unescorted, was attacked constantly by groups of German aircraft (ME 109s and FW190s) and eight aircraft were shot down out of 12, the remainder suffering much damage both from fighters and ack-ack. One good result was that it proved that Marauders could not operate properly without fighter escorts and these were, at first with some reluctance by High Command, eventually provided.

These losses became known in Squadron lore as the "Marauder Massacre" and confirmed that the Marauder targets had to be carefully chosen to suit the aircraft's capabilities. (In May 1943, the USAAF, operating 11 Marauders unescorted from Southern England, lost all 11 in an unsuitable raid over Ijmuiden, Holland, also leading to a change of policy).

Operation from Pescara. Italy

Having moved from Gambut to Pescara, Italy on the Adriatic coast, in July 1944, the Squadron attacked targets consisting of bridges and railway marshalling yards. On 14 August, 8 aircraft in two rows of four attacked a railway bridge over the River Po at Pontelagoscura being the first raid in which "window" was used by two aircraft flying just in front of the main formation. ("Window" was strips of metal designed to confuse ack-ack gunners). As always in Italy, very heavy flak was encountered and most aircraft were holed but, apart from one shot down, all returned safely. By this time the Luftwaffe had practically withdrawn from the Italian front but the Germans had compensated by heavily reinforcing their anti-aircraft positions around important areas.

Operation Close Support from Pescara

The Squadron was called upon to support advancing ground forces, particularly the Polish and Canadian Divisions, over three days in late August 1944. Attacking what was known as the Gothic Line, the Squadron performed the amazing feat of getting three operational flights per day off the ground with all Squadron personnel heavily involved. Aircraft on these sorties mainly carried 500 lbs anti-personnel bombs or canisters of six x 201b fragmentation bomb clusters instead of the usual 1,000 lbs heavies.

It was a revelation to fly over the ground forces and be fired at by German troops. A few aircraft were lost although most returned to fly again and again with all day and all night servicing, usually three ops per day.

Operation from Iesi. near Ancona over North Italy. Christmas Day 1944

As the earth-based landing ground at Pescara had been unserviceable in late September due to floods, the Squadron moved north to Iesi, near Ancona, which had been one of the targets from Pescara. Very bad weather curtailed operations from Iesi, including deep snow in December. But after a period of some inactivity and the promise by the Met Officer that no flying was possible, many aircrew were disconcerted on Christmas Day to hear the Ops gong banging away. Snow had to be swept off the wings and tail planes before take-off. 12 aircraft set off to bomb railway engineering workshops at Treviso, north of Venice an operation of 2 hours 25 minutes. Xmas Dinner delayed - chaos in the Mess Kitchens! No flak - enemy eating or having a day off perhaps - the only raid I recall without encountering flak.

Note: We were instructed not to fly over San Marino, Florence and Venice in Italy and Dubrovnik in Yugoslavia, although the gunners fired at us from San Marino emplacements!

Operation from Iesi over Yugoslavia

Cards in Russian and Serbo CroatCards in Russian and Serbo CroatIn January, targets were bombed in Yugoslavia to assist 25 and 30 Squadrons of the Balkan Air Force to step up efforts to support the Yugoslav partisans of the British-supported Tito. On one such raid - a bridge at Celje, north of Zagreb, anti-flak pre-bombing aircraft were used (two) to confuse the enemy and the temperature at 12,000 was recorded as - 25C! We certainly required our American anti-flak jackets to wear rather than sit upon them as we usually did! Escorts were four Spitfires. Note: For Yugoslavian raids our escape material was expanded to include small notes in Serbo Croat and Russian languages and including a double-sided identification flag card (illustrated).

Operation from lesi into Austria

In order to try to disrupt German supply lines to Northern Italy through the Alps, some raids were organized to bomb targets near Innsbruck which meant dodging along a couple of passes through the Alps at around 12,000 feet (again extremely cold!) without oxygen supplies. On one such operation on 23rd March 1945, which proved to be my 68th and second last, the target was St. Veit marshalling yards again near Innsbruck. The views to and from the target were spectacular, the mountains being covered in snow and several lakes still frozen over. Eight Mustang aircraft acted as escorts but only flak was encountered without any real problems. The raid was one of the longest (3 hours 25 min-utes) and my pilot after leaving the target, decided to "shoot up" Innsbruck by flying along the main street towards a frighteningly high hill at the end just pulling up in time! No doubt we terrified the good burghers of Innsbruck!

Finale

After one more operation to hit a marshalling yard at Casarsa, I was made tour-expired and sent back to the RAF in Cairo via Malta, El Adem and Benghazi.

Checked Sources

Personal log book and "The Story of 24 Squadron, South African Air Force" published in 1961 with authors Tucker and McGregor (300 pages profusely illustrated detailing all operations - and strategic backgrounds - 1940 - 45 ranging from East Africa, Ethiopia, Middle East and Italy).

Endpiece

I have always thought that the Italian Campaign became the second "Forgotten War" of WWII (the first, of course, was Burma). The Germans, after losing their ally Italy in 1943, fought fiercely every inch of the way in their long retreat north against various Allied Armies, only capitulating when the War ended in 1945.

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