The Story So Far
Sent to Us By Fred Hill
Lancaster Mk 1. DV329 (KM-W) RAF Dunholm Lodge. 23 November 1943
Lancaster Mk1 Serial Number DV329. Squadron Code KM-W. 44 Squadron. RAF Dunholm Lodge. Lost 23/11/1943
Flight Lieutenant. Charles Ellison HILL RAF Number 127356 - Pilot – Killed
Pilot Officer. Edric George WRIGHT RAF Number 156351 - Flt Engineer - Killed
Pilot Officer James MARSDEN RAF Number 156915 - Navigator – Killed
Flying Officer Charles William NUNN RAF Number132381 - Bomb Aimer / Air Gunner - Killed
Flight Sergeant Thomas MYERSCOUGH RAF Number 1230232 -Wireless Operator - Killed
Sergeant Ronald LEDSHAM RAF Number 1535227 - Rear Gunner - Killed
Sergeant Patrick Baldock KIRWAN RAF Number 700738 - Mid upper Gunner - Prisoner of war
(Stalag IVb Muhlberg. Prisoner no 263692).
The aircraft was shot down on the evening of the 23rd of November 1943 between 19:00 and 19:30 hours on the way to a bombing raid over Berlin and crashed near Rastdorf with only Kirwan surviving, also on this date a second Lancaster that being JB537 (PH-N) of 12 Sqn also crashed at 22:00 hours near to Vrees
. All of this crew were killed as result of Flak.
A Luftwaffe recovery unit from Quakenbruek attended the main wreckage / fuselage of DV329 which had according to the Burgomeister (Mayor) of Vrees/Rastdorf been chased by a night fighter and exploded just before crashing "Bei Rastdorf". The aircraft was still burning when the Luftwaffe arrived as the incendiary bombs loaded in the bomb bay were on fire. It is thought the main 4000lb high explosive "cookie" bomb was made safe and jettisoned just prior to the crash, as the witnesses stated it was found 1 ½ miles from the crash site and guarded by the Luftwaffe. However after fighting with the night fighter the Lancaster was caught fire, either as a result of direct hits from the night fighter or most likely from hits in the main fuel tanks in the inner wings causing them to catch fire and spreading to the bomb bay, resulting in the explosion. The Luftwaffe eventually recovered 4 badly burned bodies from inside the main hulk of DV329 (Hill, Myerscough, Wright and an unidentified airman, believed to be Marsden) at the crash site in Rastdorf and later sometime after 22:00 hrs. the same night, the same Luftwaffe crew attended at Vrees for the wreck of
Lancaster JB537, where they recovered the 7 dead from that aircraft.
All 7 crew from JB537 were killed. Both crews (7 from JB537 and 4 from DV329) were then buried in a communal grave at Vrees by the German Luftwaffe two days later.
Kirwan the mid upper gunner from DV329 was, as a result of the explosion in the air "blown out from the Aircraft about 50 miles NW of the Ruhr" and is believed to have parachuted or by a miracle survived the explosion and subsequent landing. Ledsham the Rear Gunner was not so lucky, also blown out from the explosion, his body was found a day or so later in a forest in the "Der Hummling" area, a range of hills 25-30 miles South West of Oldenburg. A day or so later after the crash, the Luftwaffe then removed the cooled and burnt hulk of the wrecked fuselage of DV329 and found another body underneath (believed to be Nunn the bomb aimer). Ledsham and the body from under the fuselage believed to be Nunn were subsequently buried together at Rastdorf not at Vrees with the rest of the crew and the crew of JB537.
The unidentified body recovered from the main fuselage is believed to be Marsden due to his crew position being just behind the Pilot. The unidentified body recovered from under the fuselage is believed to be Nunn for the same reason, as he would have been lying prone in the bomb aimers position at the bottom of the aircraft throwing out “Window” or sat in the front gun turret, both areas taking most of the impact.
A temporary cross was placed on the grave in Vrees on the instructions of the RAF Missing Research Enquiry Section (MRES) by the Germans at the end of the war in 1946, showing it was the burial site of the crew of JB539 and included the 4 members of DV329 (Hill, Myerscough, Wright and the unidentified airman, believed to be Marsden). However in the meantime a member of the British Army then stationed in Germany who's brother had died in JB539 attended the grave at Vrees and removed the temporary cross put up as mentioned above believing it was placed there by the Germans and he put up his own cross with only the members of JB537 on it and discarded the old cross. He did not mention the 4 from DV329 (He had prior permission to clean up the site by the CWGC - Not remove the cross though!).
Then in 1947 the crews from Vrees were transferred to the British Cemetery at Oldenburg and the grave by this time did not mention the four crew from DV329 and the mass of bodies were placed into a communal grave at Oldenburg. The RAF then uncovered the mistake when the MRES tried to locate the dead of DV329 and then in 1948 when they exhumed the grave at Oldenburg they were then only able to positively identify a chap called Ferndell from JB537 along with an unidentified member of DV329, as the bodies were by now inextricably entangled. Hence why Ledsham (from the forest) and Ferndell have their own graves next to the communal grave of the others in the Reichswald cemetery, as the unidentified airman from DV329 (Nunn?) buried at Rastdorf with Ledsham was then buried with the other unknown airmen from the grave.
The bodies from Rastdorf (Ledsham and Nunn(?)) along with those from Vrees were taken to the Reichswald Commonwealth War Cemetery. As they were only able to positively identify Ledsham and Farndell these two were given their own grave, the others were all reburied together in a communal grave next to Ledsham and Farndell so as all the crews could be together at rest.
INFORMATION
I have info from a document from the German "OKL LISTEN" (PDF OKL LISTEN) for that date that states DV329 (KM-W) was shot down at 1900hrs at 5,500mts altitude near to Lorup by Oblt. Heinz-Wolfgang SCHNAUFER of 12./NJG.1 and the plane crashed near Rastdorf with 6KIA and 1 PoW.
(Verified I believe in book "Nachtjagd diaries Vol 1 part 303) (PDF “Nachtjagd”).
However in various web sites on him (Schnaufer) it shows him shooting down a 405 Sqn Lancaster JA 939 (LQ-C) at 18:50 hrs. (verified as correct), as well as JB537 (PH-N) at 1900hrs near Lorup at the same 5,500 mts with 6 KIA and 1 PoW - yet all the crew of JB537 were killed and buried with the 4 dead of DV329. So this is clearly wrong and I suspect over the years whomever stated this got their information wrong and it has become “common knowledge” now
but where the web sites have JB537 it should read DV329.
To further back this up I have a copy of MACR (Missing Air Crew Register) List 1943 page 86 that shows a "Lancaster N-cockade -N" was brought down at Vrees by Flak at 2200hrs. The only two a/c that crashed in that vicinity that evening were DV329 (KM-W) and JB537 (PH-N). (PDF MACR)
The RAF Air Historical Branch have confirmed the above as being correct and they have confirmed this by MRES reports, German "Totenlisten" Cards (Death Cards) received by the Red Cross in Switzerland and interviews with the Burgomeister of Vrees as well as German Luftwaffe KE reports in the form of telegrams confirming the crash sites of the two aircraft from the Flugplatz Kommando at Quakenbruek.
The ideal would have been to find out from the PoW Sgt Kirwan as to how, why and where the a/c crashed. I'm afraid he point blankly refused to discuss the matter with my Grandfather who was C.E Hill's brother at the end of the war despite him being desperate as to finding out how his brother died. This was all by letter in those days. Kirwan went on to become a barrister and died in the 90's.
An international author of a well-known reference book on the subject (Theo Boiten, author of Nachtjagd War Diaries Vol 1) is now in agreement that Schnaufer's 36th kill was that of Lancaster DV329 not JB537.
In Vol 2 of Nachtjagd War Diaries due to be published in 2014 Boiten mentions the shooting down of DV329.
Schnaufer and his crew of radar operator and rear gunner were Germany's most successful night fighter crew claiming 121 kills mostly 4 engine bombers. He mainly flew a Messerschmitt ME 110 night fighter fitted with radar and forward as well as upward firing cannons which were used to shoot the bombers from below and slightly behind, thus out of sight and range of the rear and mid upper gunners (the most likely way he began his attack on DV329). He survived the war and was killed in a motoring accident in France in the 50's whilst on meetings for the family wine business.
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Oblt Schnaufer air claims November 23, 1943
From “OKL-Listen”
Night 23-24. November 1943
R.A.F. Bomber Command: BERLIN
Ofw Heinz Vinke 11./NJG 1 Lancaster DK-9.3 *): 4.700 m 18.26
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr.157
Oblt Heinz Schnaufer 12./NJG 1 Lancaster N.W. Ter Apel : 5.000 m **) 18.50
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr.49
Oblt Heinz Schnaufer 12./NJG 1 Lancaster bei Lorup: 5.500 m ***) 19.00
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr.50
Hptm Hahn 9./NJG 3 Lancaster N. Brandenburg: 4.200 m 19.30
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr. –
Lt Peter Spoden 5./NJG 5 Lancaster W. Berlin: 6.000 m 20.02
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr.12
Lt Führer 4./NJG 3 Lancaster südl. Berlin: 6.200 m 20.05
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr. -
Uffz Deppermann I./NJG 5 Lancaster Berlin [GF 3]: no height 20.08
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr. -
Oblt Paul Zorner 8./NJG 3 4-motor 40 km N.W. Berlin: 5.500 m 20.09
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr. -
Lt Hans Raum 9./NJG 3 Lancaster 50 km E.N.E. Berlin: 5.500 m 20.15
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr. –
Oblt Ludwig Meister 1./NJG 4 Halifax Gross-Zentral Berlin: 5.500 m 20.16
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr.2
Ofw Heinz Säwert 4./NJG 5 4-motor J. Riethg. 210˚ at 5.500 m 20.22
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr.4
Oblt Landmann [sic] 6./NJG 3 Halifax über Berlin: 5.700 m 20.25
Film C. 2031/II Anerk: Nr. -
*) östlich Südteil Texel ?
22.00 Uhr Lancaster Mk.III Flak Texel (Oudeschild – Brakestein) JA932 7
Sqn F/Sgt G.W. Tindle**)
18.50 Uhr Lancaster Mk.III Ter Apel JA939 LQ-C 405 Sqn F/L H.K. Lefoy***)
2 Lancaster-Verluste:
19.00 Uhr bei Rastdorf DV329 KM-W 44 Sqn (Schnaufer)
22.00 Uhr bei Vrees JB537 PH-N 12 Sqn (Flak)
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NachtJagd Diaries
DV329 Loss Card
