The bombing war and the Occupied Countries
It is very good news to hear that the memorial to the Coates crew has already been adopted by the local school in Weebosch village. Every 25th March, on the anniversary of the crash, the children will clean the memorial and lay flowers of remembrance for the crew. Ad van […]
This morning we are publishing a set of three photographs of the lighting of the candles for all the war graves in Den Berg, Texel, on Christmas Eve. They were sent to us by Jan Nieuwenhuis, who together with Bram van Dijk (very sadly, no longer with us) began this […]
Leo Janssen writes: Boxmeer is located in the province of North Brabant, Netherlands, in the upper south-east of the country. Our group researching airplane crashes and emergency landings in the Second World War in the region around Boxmeer began some 10 years ago. Before that time many individual researchers were […]
A very fine monument to the Rickinson crew was recently unveiled at Eemnes, a small village in the centre of the Netherlands. The Rickinson crew of 83 Squadron, stationed at RAF Wyton, were lost on the Duisburg operation of 12/13 May 1943. The crew were: Pilot: F/Lt Leslie Arthur Rickinson, […]
80TH ANNVERSARY. On 23 June 1943, a Lancaster of 97 Squadron crashed on the Dutch city of Utrecht. The Lancaster broke up while on fire in the air, and five Dutch civilians were killed when huge chunks of flaming debris fell on their houses and set them alight. Five of […]
Jan Nieuwenhuis sent the following message late yesterday: “Today late this afternoon, we again placed candle lights in front of all the war graves at the Texel War Cemetery…” With grateful thanks to Jan Nieuwenhuis and all who have helped in this year’s remembrance. Jennie Mack Gray writes: I have […]
Photograph, possibly taken in November 1942, of a Remembrance ceremony at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire. The lych gate in the picture is still there today. The central figure is the exiled King Peter of Yugoslavia, in RAF uniform, with his mother Queen Marie standing beside him. The Yugoslavian […]
The Library on this website has a new article, by Mikkel Planthinn, about the Danish Shoulder Flash, worn on the RAF uniform to indicate that the wearer was from the Allied country of Denmark. Denmark was invaded by German troops on 9 April 1940 and would remain occupied until liberation […]
On 9 May 1943, a 1409 Squadron Met Flight crew were shot down over Holland. This was a rare occurrence as normally Mosquitos flew too high and too fast to be intercepted. Both crewmembers, Peter Hall and William Woodruff, survived by using their parachutes. Woodruff was captured more or less […]
Winston Johnson’s wartime service was as a navigator/specialist wireless operator. He was involved in top-secret work, some of it with 109 Squadron, a founding Mosquito squadron of the Pathfinders. On 31 January 1945, Winston was posted overseas to the BLA, the British Liberated Area, where he remained until 18 May […]
Bomber aircraft did not just drop bombs, they also dropped counter-propaganda such as the miniature Dutch newspaper De Wervelwind. Its main purpose was to sustain Dutch morale, but it was also a reminder to the Germans that they had a most formidable enemy. Read the Full Article: RAF Bombers Deliver […]