Supply drop for "Varsity" 1945

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by alberk, Oct 11, 2020.

  1. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    I only know one B 24 crash site - it was an emergency landing near a farm called Gut Roepling.
    Researching the exact locations of aircraft crashes is special field of interest. In Hamminkeln there is an expert who has amassed a lot of information on this. His name is Ortwin Nissing - he ist usually contacted when families of Allied air crew need help information.
    B 24 Roepling.jpg
    This is the B24 that went down at Gut Roepling on LZ-N.
     
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  2. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Yes I know Ortwin well! I do know the location of a B24 that went down on DZ B. I’m trying to convince myself it’s the 2nd one you see crashing based on what I already know.
     
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  3. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Hi Alex1974uk,

    I just contacted Ortwin after being out of touch with him for a quite a while - he knows the video and tells me this:
    The B24s are coming from the direction of Hamminkeln and are flying along the Autobahn (which was still under construction) and the high voltage power line in the direction of Hünxe/Obrighoven - they are coming under fire from quadruple-mount AA guns - which were positioned on a road called "An der Autobahn". Four B24s went down in the vicinity of this AA gun position.

    To which I can add: They were on their way back towards the Rhine after the drop and had to pass a killing zone well covered by German flak - these guns were still beyond the area that the airborne troops had conquered...
     
  4. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Aha! I said it was the Autobahn! The B24 I known of “the queen of angels” went down in the centre of DZ B, Ortwin has some metal parts of it at his house!
     
  5. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    I can only see An Der Autobahn closer to Wesel? Any idea exactly where these guns were located?
     
  6. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    An der Autobahn - Google Maps.jpg
    Indeed - "An der Autobahn" is northeast of Wesel.
     
  7. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Ok, so those B24’s shown going down on the video had dropped supplies on the US area and were beginning to turn left for home. The B24 site I know of dropped on the British area.
    Do you know the sites of there two crash locations?
     
  8. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    I read that they were supposed to make a right turn towards Wesel - apparently quite a few overshot the area held by the airborne and then turned right. To me it sounds as if they also exposed their flanks by this manouevre.

    I am afraid I do not know the exact locations where B24s came down...
     
  9. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    The C46/7 that took the US paratroopers in did turn right and the British serials tuthed left. Haven’t seen the instructions for the resupply
     
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  10. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    How did the airborne forces know which supply containers held supplies for the British contingent and which were intended for US troops on the ground? This video – an excerpt from the wartime film „Liberators over Europe 1942-1945“ - has the answer. Forum member Alex1975uk pointed me to it – thanks for that.
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2020
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  11. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    These are excerpts from an account describing the supply drop for „Operation Varsity“. The unit referred to is 392 Bomb Group which was stationed in Wendling in Norfolk:
    The following passages come from a website called www.b24.net

    “The mission on 24 March 1945 was in support of Allied troops engaged in Operation Varsity. The 2nd Air Division's Field Order stated:

    Varsity can be considered the most important combined operation since the invasion of France. 2AD's mission is the D-day supply of assault and airborne forces which will have landed on the German side of the Rhine shortly before our crews drop supplies to them. The magnitude of an operation of this sort makes it essential that for its complete success each part of the job by each force participating must be carried out with exactitude. 2AD is committed to drop supplies in the places designated.

    ... 240 B-24s from the 2nd, 14th, and 20th Combat Wings (were) to drop bundles with ammunition, ordnance, grenades, rations, blankets, medical supplies, etc. Half the bundles were for American troops and half for British use with the drop zones about four miles apart.

    Mission briefings were quite thorough, lasting nearly four hours at each of the nine Groups involved. Squadrons were to be flown as loosely as possible without straggling, by both element and wing men. Positions should be maintained fairly well abreast with maximum spread laterally. The formation was to close up for dropping and spread out again on climb and withdrawal. Planes were not to begin their climb until after crossing the Rhine; units withdrawing were to give way to units penetrating-

    Pilots were instructed to uncover at the turn after hitting the French coast; to hit the Initial Point (IP) at 500 feet, let down to the deck, and then pull up. They were warned not to exceed 150 mph indicated air speed at time of dropping lest parachutes be destroyed and the supplies lost. Bundles were to be released from a height of 300-500 feet. Pilots could use 10-15 degree flaps as needed, but wheels were not to be lowered.


    Men from the 490th Quartermaster Depot Co. went to the 8th AF to demonstrate loading and dropping with five samples of each type of bundle. Bomber crews were also given intensive courses in loading and ejecting bundles. Loads would be dropped from the bomb bays, the ball turret well, and the emergency escape hatch near the tail.

    Bundles in the bomb bay had a static line attached to the bomb shackle so that a parachute would be deployed when the cylinder was released. After the pods were dropped, a crewman would have to go into the bomb bay and pull the static lines back into the airplane so the bomb bay doors could be closed. Due to limited space in the bomb bay, that person could not wear a parachute. Bundles at the other two locations would have to be pushed out by gunners. To land in the drop zones, all bundles had to leave the plane in less than 20 seconds.

    It was stressed to all crews that the warning bell would be used to signal the release of bundles, not as a bail-out signal. Gunners were warned repeatedly not to fire at ground positions, for fear of hitting Allied troops.

    It was hoped that intense anti-flak operations preceding the drop would put most of the German flak guns out of action. With an estimated 25,000 German troops on the ground, mission planners thought that the greatest danger to the bombers would come from small arms fire. Pilots were told that the best defense against flak after the drop was to fly as close to the deck as possible and to re-cross our own lines as quickly as possible. However, the turn back should not be made too sharply as an aircraft presents a larger target to the gunner when it is banking steeply.

    The 44th BG would lead the 14th Combat Wing with three 9-aircraft squadrons carrying loads for US troops. The 491st would fly in train with three 9-ship squadrons with supplies for British troops. The 392nd split their force, flying one 7-plane squadron and one 6-plane squadron with both the 491st and 44th Groups.

    A few practice missions were flown in France and special intelligence briefings were held with sandbox mock-ups of the Rhine River and drop areas. …”

    Source: DZ-Wese WWII Bombing Mission March 24, 1945
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2020
  12. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    hummel[1].jpg
    Above the crew of a B24 that crash landed near Gut Roepling on the LZ after being hit by enemy fire - Radio operator Deaton, Gunner Milchak, navigator Knudsen and nose gunner Morse did not survive.

    And this is their aircraft - I posted this before but now I can add more information - see below the photo.

    B 24 Roepling.jpg

    Below an account of the fate that befell the aircraft and its crew:

    MISSION LOSS CIRCUMSTANCES:


    According to an account by 2/Lt Reynolds in “The Liberators Who Never Returned”:

    "We took off in B-24 "E for Easy" and flew at an altitude of around 500 feet over England, across the Channel and over France, Belgium and Holland to our destination, Wesel Germany. We were flying formation and our lead airplane was to drop down to around 250 feet when we entered the drop zone. The supplies we were carrying were enclosed in pods and hung on racks in the bomb bay of the airplane just like bombs. Each pod had a parachute attached to it and a static line was attached to the airplane that would pull the static lines attached to the bomb racks. When the pods were dropped, the static line attached to the airplane would pull the parachute open and break the "free fall" of the pod. After the pods were dropped someone from the crew would go into the bomb bay and pull the static lines attached to the bomb rack back into the airplane so the bomb bay doors could be closed. Since there is little space walking the "catwalk" in the bomb bay, the person pulling the static lines back into the bomb bay could not wear a parachute…

    As we approached the drop area, we found that there was considerable smoke or haze covering the area. We began getting a little small arms fire during the supply drop run, for we could hear it hitting the plane. Our radio operator, James Deaton, stood at the entrance of the bomb bay, waiting for the drop, so he could enter and pull the static lines. We made our drop. James entered the bomb bay and that is when we started receiving intense ground fire from, what we later learned to be, 20 mm and 30 mm shells. Jack [Hummel] was flying the plane at the time, and I kept glancing at the instrument panel for any signs of engine trouble. Shells kept hitting the aircraft, and suddenly I noticed fire coming from number 3 engine. I hollered at Jack and told him engine number 3 was on fire and I was going to shut it down. All of the switches were on my side of the cockpit. I feathered the engine, cut off the gasoline supply to that engine, closed the cowling flaps and cut the electrical switches. The fire continued to burn. Jack hollered that number 2 engine had been hit and oil pressure was dropping. At the time of our drop we had slowed our air speed and with 2 engines out at this speed we could not gain altitude. Jack used what air speed we had to pull the airplane up to around 500 feet and hit the alarm bell button for everyone to "bail out". He and I both knew there was no way we could get out before the plane crashed. I remember saying a short prayer, "Lord, it is all up to you now." Jack picked out the first field he could find, which also contained the remains of some gliders, so we could make a controlled crash. The fire on number 3 engine continued to burn and just before we crashed Jack hollered for me to get on the rudders with him so I never saw the fire in number 3 engine go out….

    I have no recollection of the crash after the airplane touched down, so I must have been knocked out for a few seconds. The first thing I remember was Jack asking me if I was hurt. I replied, "I didn't get a scratch" and he replied, "Oh, yes you did." I then realized blood was running down in my face and the front of my flight suit was bloody.

    The crash had torn a large hole in the plane on my side of the cockpit. I crawled out through it and Jack followed. We stood about 20 feet from the plane and examined each other's wounds. Jack had a bad cut on the back of his head that was bleeding, and I had a cut on my forehead that was still bleeding. As we stood there, we noticed the ground kicking up about us and heard gunfire, but we did not realize we were being shot at…

    As we stood examining our wounds, we heard voices coming from behind and realized, for the first time, that the crew had not "bailed out". We saw Hollis Powell, Paul Keagle and Herb Finney standing beside what remained of the plane. We noticed Elmer Milchak was leaning out the waist window. They had all been in the back of the plane. Usually Herb Finney would have been on the flight deck with Jack and me since he is the flight engineer, but for some reason he was in the back, and fortunate for him, for it is doubtful he would have survived the crash, since the top turret fell just where he would have been standing.

    We were getting rifle fire from soldiers that were shooting and walking toward us. There was also a German tank about 50 yards from us. The firing stopped after one of the crew opened a parachute and waved it at the Germans who were shooting at us.

    We walked over to the crew and found out that Elmer Milchak had been killed as he was coming out the waist window of the plane. He was the first one out after the crash. Our concern then was about Barney Knudson and Ellis Morse, who were in the nose of the aircraft, for we knew there was no way they could have survived the crash. Also, James Deaton who had been standing in the bomb bay getting the static lines in after the drop."

    INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNT OF CREWMEN'S FATE.

    Surviving crewmen agree that Elmer Milchak was killed by a German sniper as he was leaving the plane via the waist window.

    Tail gunner Powell recalled that after the plane finally came to a stop:

    "He lay there for a second or two. I saw Milchak look out the waist window and then pulled back and looked at me and asked, "Powell, are you alright?" I said, "Yes." I felt no pain or lack of movement. He looked out the window again after he had turned to Finney and said, "Powell's okay." Those were his last words as a sniper (about 150 yards away in a wood thicket) shot him through the head and he slumped over the window edge." As reported by Mr. Loncke, copilot Reynolds remembered that "German soldiers arrived and Elmer's body was removed from the plane, for there was still danger the fire would catch up and the plane would burn, which it did after we got away. The best we could determine, the 3 missing crewmen, James Deaton, Bernard Knudson and Ellis Morse were not in the plane. Before the soldiers led us away, I said the 23rd Psalm over Elmer Milchak's body."

    They were taken to a farmhouse occupied by German soldiers, some of whom were shooting at B-24s as they flew overhead. In just a short time, the airmen were rescued by US soldiers from the 513th Paratroop Division. Powell said, "Afterwards we went outside and the airborne and glider troops were talking around, smoking and joking while a sniper was taking pot shots at us. Me? I'm under a German half-track or something, praying to be gotten out of this mess. Flak, high altitude, fighters whatever, I'll take, but this is not my kind of activity yet these airborne seem like it's just a walk through the woods."
     
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  13. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Excellent. What’s the location of that site?
     
  14. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    On my British WW2 map (Dingen 1:25.000) it is grid reference 203453 for "Gut Roepling" - on the map it is called "Roeplingshof". The B24 went down in the immediate vicinity of that farmhouse.
    Germany 1:25,000, Dingden
     
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  15. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    I am continuing this thread because forum member Bedee (many thanks!) pointed me to some digitized reports, one of which is the US Eighth Air Force’s summary of operations in support of Operation Varsity. The reports is to be found on the website of the „Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library/Digital Library“
    CONTENTdm

    This map comes from the report.
    Karet_1.jpg
    The final part of the report deals with the supply mission for Operation Varsity. To sum up: About three hours after the beginning of the airborne landings near Wesel 240 Liberator bombers were to drop about 600 tons of supplies over the area held by the Allied airborne divisions. Half of it was for the British 6 AB Div (intended drop area was LZ B) - these supplies came down mostly in British C.L.E. containers. The other half for US 17 AB Div (intended drop area was LZ W). These supplies came down in reinforced canvas containers, i.e. padded bundles/parcels.
    CLE container.jpg
    C.L.E. containers. Should you be interested in British C.L.E. equipment please look here:
    https://sergeanttombstoneshistory.wordpress.com/2019/12/03/supplies-from-the-sky-c-l-e-container

    US canvas container.jpg
    a4-2.jpg
    US canvas container for medical supplies - these photos may help in the interpretation of photos that are to be posted in the following. The photos come from the above mentioned report - here's the cover of the report:
    Cover.jpg

    Bild_2 Kopie.jpg
    Dropping C.L.E. containers for British 6 AB Div.

    Bild_9 Kopie.jpg
    US canvas containers for 17 AB Div.
     
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  16. Bedee

    Bedee Well-Known Member

    Happy to help you, because of COVID working from home, and have some spare time to do some Historical online research.
    SO when you have more questions...... feel free. As you life in my area, maybe we could meet eachother in less restricted times. So you can explain a bit more about Varsity.

    You can see three different colours of the Brittish C.L.E photo , probably these
    -red for ammunition
    -green for rations
    -white for medical supplies
    -blue for fuel
    -yellow for communication equipment
     
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  17. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    How does that flight line go with the known YouTube footage of the B24’s turning for home and being shot down? I thought they turned left after dropping?
     
  18. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Alex1975uk - I think I argued before that they turned right. And it still makes sense - a lot of AA guns were positioned east of the autobahn. Ortwin described the course of the B24s on their return trip - he told me they flew in the direction of Wesel. I will discuss that in more detail a bit later ... I have some good photographs to go with that, too.
     
  19. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    For now, I would like to describe and show more of the operation ... here's an excerpt from the pre-operation planning: Order_3.jpg

    And below the USAAF units that took part in the mission:
    Order_1.jpg

    Another image showing the C.L.E. container drop for the British:
    CLE drop_Bild 4.jpg


    The image below is hard to figure out - the one clearly visible container looks round but apparently it is not a C.L.E. container. The Americans had eight or nine different types of containers. Here all chutes look white or yellow. The caption "Dead paratroops" is bit of a riddle to me...
    US Bundles Bild_10.jpg
     
  20. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    I wasn’t part of that argument! I thought it looked like they turned left with the position of the autobahn on the YouTube footage, but could have my angles wrong it seems.
     

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