Regimental Sergeant Major Evans of the 12th Battalion, The Devonshire Regiment

Colourised by Paul Reynolds

     Regimental Sergeant Major Evans of the 12th Battalion, The Devonshire Regiment examines captured German helmets in Hamminkeln, Germany, 25th March 1945.

 The airborne bridgehead operation over the Rhine – 'Operation Varsity'.

     The battalion deployed by glider on the 24th of March 1945 and succeeded in its task of capturing Hamminkeln with the loss of 140 men killed, wounded or missing.
     The following day the battalion pushed out of the Rhine bridgehead with a troop of Churchill tanks and a troop of self-propelled anti-tank guns in support . The group encountered enemy forces after two miles and took 60 prisoners. Later that day they successfully secured the high ground overlooking Brunen but in doing so sustained a further 6 killed and 11 wounded.
     On the 2nd of April the battalion was involved in heavy fighting securing Lengerich and suffered a further twelve killed and four wounded. However, in two days it captured over 100 Germans.
     The battalion suffered a rare set back when 'D' and 'B' Companies crossed the River Weser on 6 April with no anti-tank guns or mortar support and encountered Panther tanks. In the resulting engagement 51 men of 'D' Coy were captured by the enemy. Generally, the boot remained on the other foot as the 6th Airborne continued its advance, and from 16 to 18 April the battalion captured over 150 enemy, as well as liberating Allied POWs and foreign farm labourers.
     The battalion continued its advance to the Baltic coast, and the war diary notes that in the 41 days to 4 May, just under half of the 369 mile advance was travelled by the battalion on foot. It finished up at Hohen Viecheln on the Schweriner See about 10 miles south of Wismar.

Martin Maryland Mk.II crash site

Colourised by Laiz Kuczynski

 

 

     This photograph was taken by George Rodger, No. 1 Section Army Film & Photographic Unit, of a soldier who is most likely his driver. Many times you may have seen this labeled as a photo of a British Grave and the wreckage of a British plane. At first look that is what it seems to be, but as you dig deeper into the photo another story emerges.

 

 

     What we actually have here is the grave of a 2nd Lieutenant of the South African Air Force in front of the wreckage of his Martin Maryland Mk.II. A translation of the German inscription does read "Here lies an unknown English Lieutenant who fell in aerial combat on 16.6.1941". We cannot fault the Germans who buried the crew of this aircraft as the markings of South African and British Aircraft are very similar. In the photo below we can see that there are actually three graves present.

 

 

     If we look at RAF Bomber Command Losses for  the day of 14 June 1941, as well as German records, only one loss matches this scene. 24 Squadron South African Air Force Martin Maryland Mk.II (No. 1609). Out of the crew of four, three were killed in action and one was captured by the Germans. The aircraft was shot down by Oberleutnant Ludwig Franzisket of 3./Jagdgeschwader 27 south east of Ain el Gazala at 5:06, just one minute after he shot down a Hurricane (No. V7818) from 1 Squadron South African Air Force which was escorting the Martin.

 

The crew of the lost Martin Maryland

 

Lieutenant E.C. Newborn - POW

 

2nd Lieutenant Charles Cornack Gordon (service No. 47930) - KIA

Air Sergeant Paul Wilhelm De Beer Bothma (service No. 102315) - KIA

Air Sergeant Reginald Ernest  Oatley Giles (service No. 102350) - KIA

 

The above men are now buried at Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya

 

 

 

The Bf 109 E-4 (trop) of Oberleutnant Franzisket