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Library Reference Number: 233

Remembering 1944

Gilbert Gray

Each anniversary of the Allied re-entry into Europe brings remembrance in the air, especially amongst those of us who took part and are now in the twilight of our lives. At that time, Allied military forces entered mainland Europe to continue in earnest, the process of liberating the peoples of France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Denmark, our own Channel Islands – and even of Germany – from their Nazi oppressors.

It is right that we remember the events of those momentous days and it is natural that success was measured by the slow, sometimes dangerously slow, slogging advances of the Allied armies on the ground. However, it must not be forgotten that the efforts and sacrifice of the flying crews of the Royal Air Force played their part. In particular, the role of the much maligned Bomber Command must not be ignored.

At the end of April 1944, aged 19, as a Flight Engineer I joined the strength of 106 Squadron, Bomber Command based at Metheringham in Lincolnshire, ‘the Bomber County.’ With the six other members of our Lancaster crew, our long period of training, on the ground and in the air, had been completed and we were now deemed capable of joining the attacks on the enemy. It should not be forgotten that, since 1940, the Royal Air Force had been the only force to penetrate the German homeland to remind their leaders of the results of their folly. The sound of the engines of our aircraft passing overhead also gave comfort and encouragement to our French, Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian and Danish friends in the German occupied countries.

Our first sortie came on May 7, 1944. We were briefed to attack a large and important ammunition factory situated in the wooded area near Salbris, about 40 miles south of Orleans. It had been identified by the French Resistance as a target which should be destroyed. At 10 o’clock at night, 85 men, mostly in their late teens or early twenties, comprising the crews of twelve 106 Squadron Lancasters took off each carrying 12,000 pounds of bombs. Heading south, the sight of navigation lights assembling in the darkness reminded us that we were accompanied by 46 other Lancasters from neighbouring squadrons. With their faster speed, four Mosquitoes whose two-man crews would be responsible for careful marking of the target, followed on behind.

Approaching the English Channel at Selsey Bill, lights were doused as we headed for Cabourg on the French coast. Thence, at the unusually low altitude of 5000 feet, we headed south-east towards our target 160 miles away. Meanwhile, 25 Mosquitoes were attacking airfields near our route to keep German fighter aircraft at bay, but in spite of this, first signs of danger came near Chateaudun. A German fighter intercepted and destroyed a Lancaster of 44 Squadron. Its blazing wreckage attracted further enemy aircraft and the exchanges of machine-gun fire could be seen in and around us as fighter intercepted bomber.

The Night before D-Day

On the evening of June 5. 16 crews of 106 Squadron were briefed to attack coastal batteries at St Pierre du Mont on the Normandy coast. We were instructed not to fly below 6,000 feet and no bombs were to be jettisoned in the English Channel. Aircraft would take off at 3.00 on the following morning. In the summer dawn we rose off the ground at 3.39 unaware that we were to be part of something BIG. From Lancaster LL953 we did see on the airfields over which we passed that parked aircraft now had black and white stripes painted over their rear fuselages. However, it was a cloudy morning so much was obscured below. We were between two layers of cloud, one at 5,000feet and the other at 11,000 above us. Everything went according to plan. Our bombs were dropped from 10,500 feet, accurately it seemed, on the promontory of Pointe du Hoc as we had no difficulty in picking out the target markers. As we turned for home, round came four German Focke-WuIf 190 fighter aircraft wheeling in towards us, their tracer shells skidding past our wings while our two gunners returned fire as we sought a safe refuge in the cloud.

As I wrote in a letter to my father on our return -

“It was lovely up there, the moon ahead and the sunrise behind us as we floated along between two layers of cloud. Just after our load had gone, round came four FW 90s, the first Jerries I had actually seen and been able to recognise. Two of these attacked but after a very violent dive into cloud during which the gunners scored hits, we got away by staying under cover for about half an hour. On the way back over the Channel we saw huge convoys setting out but unfortunately we couldn’t see the coast. Over England we passed the Yanks going out so it was a rather impressive trip.”

Two hours after our departure, the 2nd American Ranger Battalion were to suffer severe casualties in scaling the hundred-foot high cliffs of the Pointe du Hoc using rope ladders and extending ladders in fighting their way to the plateau on top where they found it so pitted by the shells and bombs of the pre-H-hour naval and air bombardment that it looked like ‘the craters of the moon’. Today, now an American memorial, the area is preserved as it was, a tumble of deep craters and scattered concrete blocks.

Over 1,000 Bomber Command aircraft were engaged that invasion morning. In addition, other Lancasters and Stirlings simulated an invasion fleet approaching the coast of northern France to divert enemy attention from the actual invasion site at the beaches of Normandy.

After D-Day

On the following night, over 1,000 heavy bombers attacked railway and road centres around the Normandy area which was now heavily defended by fighters and anti-aircraft artillery as the German Command realized what was happening. 106 Squadron’s mission was to destroy the bridges in the town of Caen adjacent to the battle area. Our aircraft was attacked and damaged by a Ju 88 night fighter as well as suffering damage from anti-aircraft fire. Again, the attacks were made from the low level of 5,000 feet. On this occasion, two of our Squadron Lancasters did not return.

With the Allied armies becoming established in Normandy, Bomber Command’s support attacks continued, often with spectacular accuracy. The blocking of a railway tunnel with 617 Squadron’s ‘Tallboy’ earthquake bombs prevented a Panzer tank unit reaching the battle area. We, from 106 Squadron, disrupted a railway line south of Orleans by attacking from 700 feet at 2 am on the morning of 11th June. Attacks were made on ports from which German E-boats might disrupt the flow of supplies across the English Channel. Bomber Command was now operating more frequently in daylight.

Sir Arthur Harris describes an attack on June 14th . . . . .

“On the night of June 14/15, I was called upon to attack a target of immediate and fleeting importance, a road junction at Aunay-sur-Audon, where a great concentration of German troops and vehicles had been reported. The bombers dropped 1,168 tons of high explosives, and photographs show that everything in and around the area had been wiped out.”

106 Squadron’s 20 aircraft contributed 116 tons.

Further very heavy attacks on enemy positions were made in the Caen area where Allied troops were having difficulty in breaking out of the bridgehead, over 460 aircraft on July 7, nearly 1,000 on July 18; & 690 on July 30.

However, southern England was now being faced with the menace of flying bombs, the ‘doodle-bugs’ so considerable Bomber Command effort was diverted to deal with it. Almost daily, launching sites and storage depots, usually tiny targets, were attacked by day and by night. Steady aircraft losses were incurred. In two attacks on underground storage facilities at St-Leu-D’Esserent in July 1944, Bomber Command lost 42 Lancasters. My own 106 Squadron lost seven aircraft and their crews.

Nevertheless, Bomber Command’s support of the ground forces continued throughout the campaign as they advanced towards Germany. . clearing the way at Falaise to allow the Canadian troops to advance; support of the airborne landings at Arnhem by attacking nearby airfields; removing barriers to the River Scheldt to allow the port of Antwerp to be brought into use.

The Aftermath

Support of the ground advances after D-Day cost Bomber Command a further 170 Lancasters and Halifaxes. All-in-all, in preparing the ground for the Allied invasion of Europe and in supporting the armies on the ground from April 1, 1944, Bomber Command lost some 600 heavy bombers, each containing at least seven aircrew, over 4,000 men. Some parachuted to safety and became prisoners of war or, if more fortunate, were marshalled to safety by the gallant members of the Resistance movements in the occupied countries. Some disappeared into the English Channel or the North Sea. Most were broken or incinerated in crashed and burning aircraft. The names of many who have no known grave are recorded on the great memorial at Runnvmede.

The remainder rest in village cemeteries scattered throughout the lands in which they met their deaths or are assembled under the gleaming white headstones in immaculate cemeteries administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and movingly cared for by local organizations.

So, during those periods of remembrance of the great events which got rid of the Nazi tyranny let’s not forget the lads of Royal Air Force Bomber Command. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, their ultimate Commander-in-Chief expected, demanded and received much from them. Their tasks were carried out with perseverance, daring and devotion but at the end he washed his hands of them.


Footnote: Gilbert Gray and I trained alongside each other with our service numbers separated only by one digit. However on qualifying for aircrew duties, we flew thousands of miles apart. Gilbert joined Bomber Command while I was sent to the Far East to fly with Force 136. - Jack Burgess.

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