SYNOPSIS

UKNA:SPG/1403

Members of crew

I was a menber of the crew of a Lancaster Mark 1 which took off from SYERSTON (Notts) about 2310 hrs on 9 Aug 43 to bomb MANNHEIM. On the outward flight we were attacked by a fighter near MARBEHAN, West of CHINY (BELGIUM), (N.W.EUROPE 1:250,000, Sheet 6). The aircraft caught fire and the flames were increased by a second fighter attack, after which we were ordered to bail out.
I came down about 0120 hrs. (10 Aug) in a field about ten yards from an electric pylon. I discovered afterwards that the field was about half a mile from the village of RULLES, about two miles S.E. of MARBEHAN. In coming down I lost both boots and socks and sprained both feet. I rolled up my parachute, inflated my mae west, and tried unsuccessfully to sleep,
As soon as it got light enough to see I tore up my parachute and cut off strips with which I bound my feet. I also tried to
make myself shoes out of my mae west, but they would not stay on. I opened my aids box, ate the chocolate, and took out the maps from my purse.
About an hour after dawn a peasant approached with a horse and cart. I was then trying to locate my position, and, as North on my compass pointed to the direction in which I had seen the fires on MANNHEIM during the night, I assumed I was in GERMANY. I have since concluded, however, that the compass was probably affected by the electric current from the pylon. When the peasant drew near I said, "Aviateur. Angleterre." He rushed over and shook. hands with me. I could tell by his speech I was not in GERMANY, and, as I did not understand him, I assumed I was in LUXEMBOURG. He gave me a sandwich, and pointing down the track to the village said "Camarade".
When the peasant had left me I walked with difficulty down the lane into the village, and found from a signpost that I was at RULLES. I could not however find RULLES on my escape maps, probably because I was looking at LUXEMBOURG.
I picked out the smaller of the only two houses in the village from which smoke was rising. Two women came to the door when I knocked and seemed rather afraid, but a man appeared, quickly took me inside, and shut the door. Two or three minutes later several lorries full of German troops passed through the village. I watched them from the window.
At this house I was given food and drink, and afterwards a mackintosh, socks and boots. The man took took me 200 or 300 yards across a brook to an isolated house in the fields. The people here explained that I was in BELGIUM, and showed me on a large map where I was. They gave me some more civilian clothes, into which I changed. They also brought a doctor to attend to my feet, and bruises on my arms. The doctor gave me 300 Belgian francs. A man went out from this house to find my parachute and bury it. Various people visited me at the house, including an elderly man who spoke English. He said our bomb, which had been jettisoned, had fallen near MARBEHAN, and that two of the crew were hiding in the woods. After two or three hours at the house I was handed over to helpers who put me in touch with the organisation which arranged my subsequent journey.

Appendix C

14 September 1943

About mid-day on 10 Aug 43 I was taken by bicycle from RULLES to MARBEHAN (N.W.EUROPE, 1:250,000, Sheet 6). I stayed at a house here till dark, when a guide took me to the house of Leon CHANOT, the priest at VILLERS-SUR-SEMOIS. I stayed the night at the priest's house.
On 11 Aug two Belgian policemen in uniform visited me. On the advice of the elderly-speaking man I left all my maps and other equipment at the priest's house. His idea was that I should leave everything which might identify me.
On the night of 11 Aug at dark, the priest took me on foot and by bicycle to a wood a mile and a half from VILLERS. In the wood we met a guide who had a revolver for each of us. He said that they had been dropped by parachute. His name was RAYMOND, and I gathered that he was a saboteur for whom the Gestapo were searching. The priest left me with RAYMOND, giving me his cassock to wear, as it was raining. The guide took me to TINTIGNY to a fairly large house occupied by a man and his daughter (names unknown). RAYMOND and I stayed the night here.
In the late afternoon of 12 Aug a doctor called in his car and took me to a point about a mile out of TINTIGNY, whence one of the Belgian policeman whom I had already met at VILLERS took me on the pillion of his motor cycle to FLORENVILLE. I had a meal in FLORENVILLE at the house of a doctor whose name was possibly DUPONT. The doctor took me to a house about three miles from the village, occupied by Charles SPRUYT, insurance agent. (Address: FLORENVILLE. Telephone No.: 23). I stayed here from 12 Aug till 26 Aug. Mme. SPRUYT dyed my R.A.F. trousers navy blue and I wore them. She also cut the name and number of the R.A.F. vest which I was wearing. While I was staying with him SPRUYT showed me a bill amounting to 1170 francs, which included the cost of articles (shirt, pull-over, tooth brush, etc.) which he had bought for me. I do not know what he did with this bill. While I was here I was given two identity cards, one Belgian and one French, and my photograph was taken. SPRUYT told me that a cannister dropped from a British aircraft had landed in the garden of a pro-Nazi in FLORENVILLE.
On 26 Aug SPRUYT, his daughter, and I cycled about a mile and a half out of FLORENVILLE, where Dr. DUPONT (?) picked me up on his motor cycle and took me to MUNO, on the frontier about 6 miles W.N.W. of FLORENVILLE. We went to the home of the Burgomaster (M. GODFREY: phonetic spelling). In the evening a relative of the Burgomaster (either his son or nephew) took me, back along the way I had come, to a large farmhouse which also supplied the village with electric power. I was here for one night. The people told me they had a cannister dropped by aeroplane, containing tea, chocolate, coffee, cigarettes, and a Sten gun.
On 27 Aug I returned for a few hours to the house of the Burgomaster, who took from me my French identity card. With a relative of the Burgomaster (Mme. ALYS) I went by bicycle to BOUILLON, N.W. of MUNO, to a house on the bank of the river, just outside the village. This house was occupied by an old couple named PIERROT (phonetic spelling). The old gentleman called himself "le vrai planteur". Mme. ALYS returned to MUNO.
I was at this house for a fortnight (till 10 Sep). About the middle of my stay I was visited by a man and a woman. The woman, who could speak English, told me that the Gestapo had raided the house of the Burgomaster at MUNO, and had arrested his nephew. The Burgomaster himself was not at home and so escaped. The chief of the organisation which arranged my return to the U.K. told me later that the Burgomaster had got to SWITZERLAND. The raid on the Burgomaster's house had nothing to do with his helping me. He was apparently wanted by the Germans for belonging to an illegal association and having arms and ammunition. Because of this raid, the French identity card which the Burgomaster had taken had had to be burned.. A few days later Mme. ALYS brought me a blank French identity card, but, as I had no photograph, the card was not completed in time for me to use. I had had my photographs in a note book which I had left in the aircraft.
On the morning of 10 Sep an agent of the organisation came with a car and took me to a café in the village of BOUILLON where I met F/Sgt. POND (S/P.G.(-)1402). The remainder of my journey to the U.K. is as described in Appendix C to F/Sgt. POND's report.