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This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War web site by a volunteer on behalf of Harold Swain and has been added to the site with his permission. He fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

HAROLD'S WAR OPERATIONS 鈥� PART 2.

9/10 March 1943 鈥� Munich.

For the crew of Harold's Stirling the round trip to Nuremberg was exhausting. Sitting in cramped conditions with the constant noise and vibration from the engines. The gunners particularly had to stay alert, staring into dark nothingness, looking for German night fighters.

Tired or not, Harold was in the air again the very next night. He was heading for another long-range target that would take him down into southern Germany and the home birthplace of Hitler's National Socialist Party - Munich.

142 Lancasters, 81 Halifaxes, 41 Stirlings took off from their bases that night for the round trip of about eight hours, in the knowledge that flak batteries would be waiting for them over the target and on return, night fighters would be circling over France and Belgium, waiting for the jagerleitoffizier to vector them onto a target as the returning bombers crossed their box in the Kammhuber Line.

F /Sgt Jury, Tail End Charlie in his 419 Squadron Halifax remembered the hundreds of searchlights that peppered the city.

"We were on our way out of the target and had closed t he bomb bay doors when a master searchlight picked us up and suddenly it was light as day. The pilot Tom Jackson immediately put it into a dive and we went down at a very fast rate to get out of the lights. I thought at one stage we would never be able to pull out. We were probably coned for about thirty seconds, but it seemed much longer. Eventually we got out of the lights before the flak caught up. It was a very nasty moment鈥�.

Fortunately, British losses were low, compared to the raids on the Ruhr. In Munich the local flak fired 14,234 rounds of ammunition and seven night fighters were reported to be patrolling over the city that night, but only one bomber, unidentified because it exploded in the air, was shot down. Of the other seven aircraft that never returned that night, it is known that four aircraft were shot down by night fighters over France and Belgium, on the return leg. Another was abandoned East of Dungerness. All of the crew were drowned with the exception of the mid-upper gunner, who lived to tell his tale:

One of the other lost aircraft was BK610, MG-V, with Sergeant DR Spanton as Mid Upper Gunner. The aircraft was abandoned east of Dungerness and he had a very lucky escape. After the Halifax crossed the English coast on the return flight, he realized that he was the only man still in the plane. The remainder of the crew, newly arrived on the Pathfinder squadron, had baled out earlier, possibly because of suspected fuel shortage, and the pilot left the plane flying on automatic pilot. Spanton had not heard the order. He parachuted safely over Kent and the empty Stirling later crashed into the Thames estuary. The remainder of the crew, presumably thinking they were parachuting over France, had actually come down in the sea and were all drowned. Sergeant Spanton went on to fly a further 12 operations but his plane was lost on the night of 24/25 June 1943 in a raid on Wuppertal.

Harold and his fellow crew members were also lucky on this trip. The skipper had to bring W 7529 home on three engines, something that was to become a speciality of his.

From Bomber command's point of view the raid was a success. Despite the wind which caused this raid to be concentrated on the western half of Munich rather than on the centre of the city, much damage was caused. 660 buildings were severely damaged and 2,134 less seriously damaged. These included no less than 294 military buildings, including the headquarters of the local flak brigade, which was burnt out. The most serious industrial damage was at the BMW factory where the aero-engine assembly shop was put out of action for 6 weeks. Many other industrial concerns were hit, including 141 small, back-street-type workshops which were destroyed.

Munich reports show that 208 people were killed and 425 injured. These included 2 party officials, 10 soldiers, one Hitler youth boy and two policemen.

12/13 March 1943 - Essen.

Having done two long haul operations it was time for Harold to return to the Battle of the Ruhr. The day following the Munich raid he did not have to fly but on the next, the 11th, the crew did a night flying test. The next night, they were once again on the runway waiting to take off for another trip to Essen. Take off was at 7.45pm on a route that would once again take them over central Holland, before turning south towards Essen. That night the weather conditions were excellent with no cloud and bright moonlight, though the usual industrial haze and later, smoke, obscured much of the ground around the target. Also, the Germans had put up a smoke screen to the north and northwest of the town from which smoke drifted over Essen.

Defences too had evidently been considerably strengthened since Harold's last visit. Roughly half of the bombers were known to have reached the city. They encountered very intense flak, particularly during the first half of the attack, with large cones of fifty or sixty searchlights and smaller cones of about twenty, trying to capture the incoming raiders in their beams. One unfortunate victim of the seemingly impenetrable barrage was a Halifax of 102 Squadron, which was hit in its bomb bay causing a fire to break out. Six of he crew managed to get out, but the Pilot, Sergeant Charlebois, died before he could make good his own escape.

In one of the dozen or so planes thought to have been shot down by night fighters was Sergeant Gouley, who gave an account of what happened:

"We were attacked three times by a night fighter. After the second attack, the pilot gave orders for all of us to leave as all of the controls were gone. Twice the navigator and air bomber extinguished the fire at the front of the aircraft; used everything, cushions, 'chutes, and extinguishers. They succeeded, but we had to jump in the end I was wounded in the first attack and did nothing. ,,3

The allied losses amounted to 8 Lancaster鈥檚, 6 Wellington鈥檚, 2 Stirling鈥檚 and 7 Halifax鈥檚, representing 5 per cent of the force. Once again, Harold's trip was not without incident, his Stirling returning to Easington less one engine working. Unfortunately, a 7 Squadron, Mark I Stirling was not so lucky. Piloted by Flight Sergeant D E Street, the aircraft was lost without trace.

As far as Bomber Command was concerned, the raid was great success, with more damaged caused than the previous raid. Photographs covering the whole of the Krupps Works and most of the town were taken the next day. Whereas damage from the previous raid was seen mostly in the town centre and the Krupps Works, the fresh damage was most concentrated in the Krupps Works and in suburban areas to the northwest. Almost as large a number of shops and administrative buildings of Krupps were affected as in the last raid and the damage was on a scale altogether more severe. The most important damage, with the exception of that at the Krupps Works, was the destruction of pithead installations and buildings often collieries, though in the majority of these the damage was slight except for the destruction of buildings of the Katherina Pit of the Hercules Colliery, the Hubert Pit of the Konigen Elizabeth, and the Hellene Pit at Stoppenberg. Besides damage to three unidentified factories, severe damage was also done to a large zinc and sulphuric acid works at Borbeck, where the whole works now appeared to be inactive. Considerable damage also was caused to railways and sidings in the northern districts of the town. Not only were the tracks disrupted in a number of places but some destruction of rolling stock was evident at sidings. It was thought that the main line to Oberhausen was cut temporarily by direct hits on the tracks.

German records say that one third of the bombs dropped on this night did not fall on Essen but on a number of other towns. The worst affected was Bottrop, just to the north of the city.At last, Harold was about to get a few days rest from war operations. Because of bad weather, a lay-off was ordered, that lasted ten days.

THE "BIG CITY."

This was just one of the names airman had for Hitler's capital city. It was also known as the "Holy City." From the outbreak of war, Berlin loomed large in the imagination of politician, military planner, soldier and aircrew alike. Berlin was unequivocally the cultural, economic and political centre of the Third Reich. Moreover, it鈥檚 war factories, it鈥檚 administrative infrastructure, its rail and canal communications were part of a centralised industrial power base.

A combination of size, geography and an extensive system of active and passive defences made the city the most dangerous target in Germany. With an area of more than 1,400 square miles and a population of more than four million, Berlin was Germany's largest city and among the largest in the world. Its air defences stretched across more than 37 miles of searchlights, anti-aircraft guns, decoy fires, decoy marker flares and target indicators.

Outside the range of the more reliable Oboe radar network crews relied on onboard H2S. The confusion of woodlands, lakes and smaller satellite towns around added to the difficulty of discerning the target areas. The lakes were not visible to H2S screens because the Germans covered them with large wooden screens to confuse the bomber crews.

When aircrew finally arrived over the city, they were stunned by the magnitude of the city itself and resistance offered by her defenders. Sergeant Hannah of 9 Squadron described the sight as awesome, struck most of all by the "immensity of the city" and his "excruciatingly slow progress across it." Another airman described flying through the formidable flak like a "giant hand" taking hold of the aircraft and shaking it, like a huge dog shaking a rat.

The symbols of German resistance were the flak towers upon which the anti aircraft guns were mounted. In one particular tower and U-Bahn (underground) station about 40,000 people could take refuge. With their thick concrete walls, steel windows, kitchens, a hospital, air-conditioning and independent power and water supply, some residents claimed it was difficult even to hear the bombs during a raid - save for a direct hit. The only sign that a raid was in progress was that the ground shook slightly. One tower even housed Berlin's art treasures. More than mere defensive structures, these were built to demonstrate German defiance and technological superiority. Indeed, these towers and air raid shelters were so sturdy that after the war many either had to be buried, or built around. One of the Berlin Flak towers, One, Flakturm 1, was sited in the Zooalogical Tiergarten, in the centre of the city.

27/28 March 1943 Berlin.

On the night of the 27th of March, at 7.45pm, to be precise, Harold took off for his first trip to the capital of the Third Reich. The stream of bombers consisted of 191 Lancaster鈥檚, 124 Halifax鈥檚 and 81 Stirling鈥檚. It crossed the Yorkshire coast and headed toward Groningen, on the northern tip of Holland. Before reaching the Dutch coast, it changed course, flying just north of the German Hansiatic city of Breman, approaching Berlin from the South West. After bombing the city, the stream turned north towards Copenhagen, then turned east, crossing the Kategat, before making for the Yorkshire coast once again and the relative safety of home.

Unfortunately, the raid was not a success. The Pathfinders established two separate marking areas, but both well short of the city. No bombing photographs were plotted within 5 miles of the aiming point in the centre of Berlin and most of the bombing fell from 7 to 17 miles short of the aiming point.

Local records showed that damage was relatively light, with only 16 houses being classified as completely destroyed. Despite this 102 people were killed and 260 injured. Most of these casualties occurred when two bombs, which fell on the Anhhalter railway station, hit a military train bringing soldiers back from the Russian Front. Arno Abendroth, a German researcher said that the damage to Berlin would have been much heavier if nearly one quarter of the bombs dropped had not been 鈥榙uds鈥�.

Despite the poor marking there were some lucky strikes. Further out from the city several Luftwaffe establishments were hit. Three planes were destroyed and a flak position hit at Tempelhof airport and the flying school at Staaken airfield was damaged.

A most interesting story concerns a secret Luftwaffe stores depot in the woods at Teltow, 11 miles South West of the centre of Berlin. By chance, this was in the middle of the main concentration of bombs and a quantity of valuable radio, radar and other technical stores was destroyed. The Luftwaffe decided that this depot was the true target for the RAF raid on this night and were full of admiration for the special unit, which had found and bombed it so accurately. The Gestapo investigated houses near by because someone reported that light signals had been flashed to the bombers.

Harold finally touched down at Easington after a flight of eight hours and fifty minutes but for the third time Zee had to bring his aircraft back on three engines. The crew of the Stirling must have been wondering how long their luck could last. Sadly, luck had run out for one crew of 7 Squadron. Stirling number BF327 MG-X, piloted by Pilot Officer N Lord, was hit by flak and crashed at Melchiorshausen, killing everyone on board. Another 7 Squadron crew were more fortunate. The crew of Stirling umber R9255 MG-G were more fortunate. The aircraft was hit by flak over the target area, which damaged the port outer engine. Pilot Officer S Baker managed to get her back to base, but on landing the undercarriage collapsed. The crew escaped unhurt. In total 4 Halifax鈥檚, 3 Lancaster鈥檚 and 2 Stirling鈥檚 were lost that night. This represented 2.3 per of the total force. A figure that was to rise dramatically on future visits to the German capital.

Stirling W7529 Duration 5.10 Take off 19.20

St Nazaire attacked by 323 aircraft - 179 Wellington鈥檚, 52 Halifax鈥檚, 50 Lancaster鈥檚, 35 Stirling鈥檚,
7 Mosquito鈥檚 . With most of the bombs falling on the port area. 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster lost.

March ended not with a continuance of the main battle but with a split of resources between Berlin and Bochum. This diversion of resources away from a major objective was seen as a weakness.

April witnessed 5 attacks on the Ruhr- Harold took part in only one of these.

8/9 APRIL 1943

Stirling W7529 Duration 5.05 Take off 2115.

Duisburg

The Second attack on Duisburg in the Battle of the Ruhr.

392 aircraft - 156 Lancaster鈥檚, 97 Wellington鈥檚, 73 Halifax鈥檚, 56 Stirling鈥檚, 10 Mosquito鈥檚 despatched to Duisburg with little success. A total of 19 aircraft - 7 Wellington鈥檚, 6 Lancaster鈥檚, 3 Halifax鈥檚, 3 Stirling鈥檚 鈥� were lost, 4.8 per cent of the force.

Thick cloud made it very difficult for the Pathfinders to mark the target and the bombing was scattered. At least 15 other towns in the Ruhr Valley were hit.

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