The Dutch Resistance Revealed: The Inside Story of Courage and Betrayal by Jos Scharrer

Author:Jos Scharrer [Scharrer, Jos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781526728159
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2018-04-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

British Airmen Down

Henri and his cell group dealt not only with Engelandvaarders who were Dutch citizens, and American aircrews, but also with British airmen and other nationalities who fought for the Allies. Richard Scharrer, in his essay about his father, refers to two RAF crewmen who stayed at their house in Amstelveen on a particular occasion, and there is some anecdotal information about this visit. There is also a signed witness account in British military records of two RAF aircrew being handed over to Henri Scharrer by Fritz Conijn at Alkmaar. One of these airmen made a statement to the Allied authorities after the war; this is his remarkable story of how he came to be helped by Henri.

James (Jim) Davies was an ABC (Air Borne Cigar) Operator. He could speak German and, operating his ABC device, was able to contact Luftwaffe ground control, giving them false information and causing disruption in radio contact between planes and ground. That was his area of expertise, and he did the job well.

He was from 101 Squadron, flying in an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. This plane, powered by four Rolls-Royce engines, had become the central weapon in the RAF night-time bombing campaign, following its successful first flight on 9 January 1941. It was later modified to equip 617 Squadron to carry the ‘bouncing bombs’ designed by Barnes Wallis for Operation Chastise, which was the attack on the Ruhr valley dams made famous by the film The Dam Busters.

Efficient a bomber as this plane was, it was an extremely dangerous machine to be in if the crew had the great misfortune of having to bail out as a result of being hit. This was because the escape hatch measured only 22ins by 26½ins, not an easy space to get through if you were a large man wearing a parachute. There are figures suggesting that, compared to a 50 per cent success rate for crews bailing out of the American Liberator, only 15 per cent of the Lancaster crews managed to bail out successfully. A shocking statistic!

Jim’s plane was only one of many Lancasters that took off that night of Saturday, 19 February 1944, heading for Leipzig, home to over 700,000 inhabitants and the factories making the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter planes. Their take-off time from Ludford Magna on the east coast of England was 2338 hrs. These missions were part of an attack on Leipzig known as ‘The Big Week’.

It is reported that the RAF executed twenty-four raids on Leipzig between 1942 and 1945, causing large numbers of civilian casualties and destroying the city centre with a fire storm caused by incendiary bombs. This night, however, it was the RAF that would suffer many casualties. According to Bob Baxter’s website article on Bomber Command losses, during this particular night-raid on Leipzig over forty Lancasters were shot down, either by night fighters or anti-aircraft fire, and most of their crews died. Baxter’s website lists the names of every crew member who survived and every one who died.

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