Luck and a Lancaster by Harry Yates

Author:Harry Yates [Harry Yates]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847974099
Publisher: Airlife
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

BUT GOD DISPOSES

Mepal was inactive for thirty-six hours after our return. But on the morning of 5 September a closely-typed sheet of paper was pinned to the Flight notice board again. Our names were listed against HK596 O-Oboe which I had not flown before. In the briefing room at noon we heard the target, a name that resonates in French hearts to this day – but not for happy reasons.

The story begins with the Guards Armoured Division, the spearhead of the British Army, in its drive across northern France and Belgium. On 3 September 1944 it entered Brussels victorious. But in its wake lay a highly selective liberation. Some French coastal towns thought to be heavily garrisoned by the Wehrmacht were simply bypassed. To Field Marshal Montgomery the paramount objective was to drive his spearhead all the way to the German border. The task of clearing those towns militated against that. Unquestionably, the garrisons would be ordered to hold out for as long as possible. Once their outer defensive positions fell a slow and bloody battle, house-by-house, street-by-street, was in prospect. Allied manpower and materials would be tied up. Time would be lost. Pressure on the retreating German main force would be relieved.

Of course the German garrisons had to be made to quit and surrender, and not merely for the altruistic purpose of freeing Frenchmen. While the Allies were denied use of Channel ports, especially those to the east, their supply lines were anchored to the Normandy beaches, far from the front. Nonetheless, the Army would not yet launch their assaults. First, the enemy would be softened up with a well-targeted intervention by heavy bombers.

A hasty request to Bomber Command followed. The first town in line was Le Havre. A force of 11,000 men was thought to be garrisoned in the constricted and easily identifiable old town quarter. The operation would be relatively safe for local non-combatants, a prime consideration (not least because 12,000 French and Belgian civilians had already died under the Allies’ pre-Overlord bombing). As with the Hamel raid of 14 August, pinpoint accuracy would be a necessity. Then, Bomber Command had utilised the Lancasters of 3 Group. It would do so again now.

One hundred and seventy-five young men gathered in Mepal’s briefing room to hear that this was their next job of work. We were told how we would trigger the liberation of Le Havre and save the lives of countless British soldiers. Two days earlier warnings had been issued to the local populace by means of a Nickel raid. Unless they were German, all those who wished to leave knew they must do so. Le Havre would be ready and waiting for us well before the red TIs went down at 1600 hrs.

To all this our principal and instant reaction was relief. Bremen, Russelsheim, Kiel, the Gulf of Danzig, Stettin … these were dangerous places. By comparison, a brief excursion to occupied France was a cakewalk. For eighteen of the twenty-five crews it must have seemed almost too good to be true.

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