F/Lt. A.P.F. Waddington, 296 Squadron Army Co-ordination Command, RAF POW

Navigator F/Lt. Anthony Peter Fox Waddington, RAFVR 296 Squadron, RAF Army Co-ordination Command, RAF. captured at Spanish Frontier

Place captured: Spanish Border Near Pau, Date: 19 May 1943.
Liberated from: Wulmenau, Date: April 1945.

POW L3 1947 118715

Name: Anthony Peter Fox Waddington . Date of birth: 14 June 1917 . Rank: Flight... | The National Archives

Flight Lieutenant A P F Waddington (service number 118715). Service: RAF. Evaded... | The National Archives

18th April 1943 Whitley V BD534
Took off from RAF Hurn to Medizon 17th April 1943
Pilot F/O. Roger George WALLIS (119823) KIA buried St. Valery-En-Caux Franco-British Cemetery, France
Wireless Operator/ Air Gunner Sgt. Phillip WHITNALL (R/85965) Evader (WO 208/3315/71)
Wireless Operator/ Air Gunner F/Sgt. E. Hughes (969740) RAFVR POW

296 Squadron Whitley BD534 F/O. Wallis







Gloucestershire Echo 1st June 1945

Name: Anthony Peter Waddington.
Date of Birth: 14/06/1917.
Place of Birth: Cheshire.
Service: Royal Air Force.
Rank: Flying Officer.
Regiment/Unit/Squadron: [unspecified].
Service Number: 118715.
Date of Capture: [unspecified].
Theatre of Capture: [unspecified].
Camp Name/Number: Stalag Luft 3 Sagan.
PoW number: 1947.
Date of Death: [unspecified].
Number of Photographs: 0.
Number of Fingerprints: 0.
Number of X-rays: 0.
Number of Cards: 1.
WO 416/374/258

 

Sgt Phillip Whitnall RCAF (1445) from Peterboro, Ontario, was the 23-year-old wireless operator of 196 Sqn Whitley BD534 (Wallis), an Army Co-operation Command aircraft on a bombing mission south of Mezidon (Calvados) on the evening of 17 April 1943. They were hit by flak over the target that set light to the incendiary bombs, and the pilot ordered his crew to bale out, leaving the aircraft to crash near Vendeuvre.

Whitnall landed in a field at about one-thirty in the morning (18 April), hurting his leg in the process. He managed to hide his parachute and Mae West in some bushes before making his way southwards until about five-thirty, when he settled down on the edge of a wood near Épaney. He was found there later in the day by an elderly man checking his rabbit snares, and Whitnall managed to convey the message that he was a hungry airman. The man went away but Whitnall didn't trust him, and moved to another hiding place as soon as he left. Whitnall set off again that evening, walking through the night until about 0300 hrs, when he hid in a shed, partly because of an approaching storm and partly because of his injured leg. At daylight, and suspecting that he was developing blood-poisoning, Whitnall approached a farmhouse at Pertheville-Ners, where the Legris family at Chene Sec took him in, and hid him in their barn.

Three or four days later, a niece of his hosts, Mlle Genevieve Lemoine (of 6 rue Emile Duclaux, Suresne), came from Paris. She spoke a little English, and said that she knew a man working in an espionage organisation. This man was “too busy” but Genevieve's mother knew another man who was connected to a French organisation who travelled regularly to Switzerland. Genevieve took photographs of Whitnall for an ID card, and whilst crossing the Swiss frontier, her mother's friend apparently met Maire-Claire, who said she would take care of him.

Whitnall stayed at Pertheville-Ners with the Legris family for three weeks until a young woman (Genevieve Favre) arrived with an ID card, a ration card and a doctor's certificate stating that Whitnall could not speak because he was recovering from a throat operation. This same woman then took him by train to Ruffec, where they were met by Marie-Claire, and then by bicycle to a farm, about 25 kms south-east of the Ruffec (presume Marvaud-Saint-Coutant with Amand and Amélie Dubreuille) . Whitnall says he was sheltered on the farm with an American civilian named Haviland, who had been a member of the US Ambulance Corps (note this part of the story is different from Sansoucy's account).

About four days later, the young woman returned to take Whitnall and Haviland to the main road where Marie-Claire and another woman were waiting with a truck. Haviland was dropped off at an unnamed railway station where Whitnall says that Haviland met Sgt Sansoucy, while Whitnall went on with Marie-Claire and the young woman back to Ruffec. Whitnall was lodged there at a hotel, and reports Sgt Trott arriving at the hotel at about two o'clock that morning, while Sgt Sparkes and Sgt Sheppard went to another house on the same road.

Marie-Claire

 

Search for France-Crashes 39-45

 

WO 208/3315/71