Into May and early June 1944, 76 Squadron was working at full tilt in the D-Day campaign. With Allies forces landed and the beachead secured , the bomber fleets worked overtime to ensure Germans supply lines were disrupted or destroyed.
One of the key towns in northern France’s railway system then and now is Amiens, a junction for the line from Calais to Paris and the line from Rouen to Paris. In the days after Allied landings, Amiens became a vital switching point for German forces being rushed from the Pays de Calais to the battlefields of Normandy. Because of its importance, Amiens junction had been targeted on a number of times before D-Day.
Allied reports filed at National Archives suggest the damage done was fairly comprehensive, although one or two lines were acknowledged to remain in working order. Longeau, a village then outside to the south east of Amiens (today it is almost within the latter’s environs) had a small junction that was vital to the smooth running of Amiens had, so far, escaped the attention of Bomber Command or the American daylight bombing fleets of the USAAF. It was decided that on the night of the 12/13 June Bomber Command would target Longeau to further disrupt Amiens’ operability. Just under 200 bombers were earmarked for the mission.
As missions went, the Amiens raid went well for 76 Squadron. The unit sent out 22 bombers, the first taking off at 21:57 and the last at 22:22. The conditions that night were described in the Squadron’s logbook as ‘ideal’. Under the master bomber’s guidance, the Squadron dropped its ordinance on the target from a height of 10,000ft. Tellingly, 76 Squadron’s log noted: ‘Several enemy aircraft were seen in the vicinity of the target and on the route back.’ This observation was confirmed by 578 Squadron’s log (its bombers were on the same mission), which also noted the casualties taken that night. The log recorded: ‘The defences en route were more active than usual. Enemy aircraft were also more active…twelve aircraft were reported shot down and seen to go down in flames.’
With the bombs dropped, the stream left the target area. From 76 Squadron 21 aircraft returned and three notable events were recorded in the de-briefing. Aircraft Q was attacked and escaped. Aircraft Y was damaged by friendly fire and crash-landed back in England. Aircraft O was reported as missing.
Luck had not been with Johnston’s crew from the moment it had set out that night. A new person was on board. The men of the bombers were very wary of those who came on board to replace a crewmate who was sick or unable to go with them. With each man dependent on the others, having a new person on board often made the crew feel uncomfortable and was not seen as a good sign. Stoke, the gunner, listed on the Tergnier raid, was not on board the aircraft that night. His place was taken by Douglas Burton.
Having bombed the target, Johnston’s aircraft began to make its way out of the theatre. They may have been struggling and slipped out of the bomber stream, presenting a good target. It may just have been bad luck that they were the ones to be singled out from the mass. Either way, the enemy had locked on to them. But their bad luck got worse: their opponent was Reinhard Kollak (49 victories in total, holder of the Knight’s Cross and serving with Nachtjagdgeschwader 4).
Kollak, an ace, would have made few mistakes. Flying a Me110, he may have positioned his aircraft under the bomber’s blind spot and used an upward facing 20mm cannon located in the middle of the fuselage to make the kill. In order to aim, the nightfighter pilot would use a kind of upwards-facing periscope, called a ‘Revi’ reflector site. If the nightfighter was particularly good, he would aim for the fuel tanks, which would spell instant doom for the bomber, while giving the nightfighter the chance to safely dive away. Expert flying skills were needed in order for this technique, called Schräge Musik (slanting music or jazz) to work.
If Aircraft O was in trouble before he went in for the kill, Kollak may have felt confident enough to close in under the bomber’s tail and use his aircraft’s forward-facing cannons to destroy the rear-gunner’s position. This done, the nightfighter would have then blasted away at the bomber’s fuselage, usually spelling its doom. Either way, Reinhard Kollak’s experience, skill and aim meant that there was very little Johnston and his crew could do once the bullets started flying.
The cost
Out of control and plunging through the darkness, Halifax LW644 raced towards French soil. Some of the villagers of Les Authieux and Ratiéville may well have heard the crash. At first light the local authorities of the commune would have gone to investigate the site and to recover any bodies. Johnston and his crew had paid the supreme sacrifice.
Two telegrams went out to inform Ernie's wife and Ernie's mother that he was missing, with a strong underlying message that he was presumed killed in action. However, his death was unconfirmed, and this offered a glimmer of hope – one that the family clung to. Letters of the time contain the desperate belief that Ernie may have been taken as a POW or might be on the run, making his way towards the Allied lines in Normandy. In their letters to Katie and Joan (Ernie's mother and Ernie's sister, married to Les), Ernie's brothers, Victor and Wilfred, tried to deliver some words of encouragement. Victor wrote: ‘There is a very good chance he landed and perhaps been taken prisoner, in which case it may be some weeks before we hear, so just do not take it too bad for a while. He has just got to be O.K.’
Wilfred also emphasised the possibility that Ernie might have survived and been captured. He wrote: ‘What can one say at a time like this, but to hope for the best and keep your chin up. If he is a prisoner of war, you won’t have the suspense of him being on ops in the future, and he will be out of this bloody war until it’s finished.’ Norah, sister of Katie, wrote: ‘We are all very distressed and grieved to hear that news of dear old Ernie and can only pray to God that he landed safely somewhere and will come home eventually.’
In the day following Ernie's death, Billie – not knowing the facts, other than the sketchy details in the telegram informing her that he had failed to return – tried to uncover more details more about the fatal mission. Writing on 14 June to Katie and Joan back in London, she informs them, correctly, that one of the gunners had been replaced before the mission and that 'it was a French target: Amiens, I think. If he had a chance to bale out it should not be so bad and maybe he will be able to get to our lines – I hope so with all my heart.'
‘It just doesn’t seem possible to realise it yet, although I have been expecting it all along, but as he had done quite a few “ops”. I had, I suppose, a false sense of security and had began to look forward to the day he would be ‘screened’ (finished his number for a while*)’.
*Billie is referring to the rotation system that the RAF ran for bomber crews. If a crew completed 30 missions it would be stood down from frontline duties and the men often sent out as instructors to pass on their knowledge to crews in training. After six months, the crew would be brought back together and begin another ‘tour’ of 30 missions. Before his death, Ernie had completed 26 missions. Had he survived, Ernie would have returned to the bomber war in the closing months of the conflict. By early 1945, Germany’s defences had been battered and bruised to the extent that, while still dangerous, they were nothing like as deadly as they had been.
With Ernie suddenly snatched away from her, Billie was left wondering what she should do next. In her letter, she continued: ‘I don’t quite know what to do – I suppose I shall return to London…I am loath to leave the place that has so many contacts…maybe I’ll stay a week or so just to see if any more news comes through, although I shall be very lonely I expect, but it would be just the same in London and I don’t feel like job hunting yet, but on the other hand, I must have something to occupy my mind.’
It was always part of the family mythology that Ernie never knew he had been promoted to Pilot Officer and had gone on his last mission believing he was still a Flight Sergeant. The evidence suggests that the family was wrong in this assumption: Ernie's promotion to pilot officer came into effect on 4 June 1944, eight days before his death, and he would have been well aware of this. Ernie was being rewarded for good and reliable service, and for survival against the odds. The promotion would have also reflected Johnny’s view of Ernie – as skipper of the aircraft it was his opinion on fellow crewmates that informed the RAF authorities on whether a promotion was deserved.
Ernie, perhaps too busy to write home during the days after D-Day – or perhaps wishing to surprise his family with news of the promotion – did not inform his relatives of the happy news. They first became aware of his new rank through the RAF’s post-crash correspondence.
Lost then found
With the Allies fighting hard all the way up to the end of the war, the task of finding bodies and having them properly buried with British and Commonwealth grave markers was not a major priority. Often graves only came to light once the French authorities had notified the British. It was a long and laborious process. For the family, confirmation of Ernie's end finally came almost a year after the crash. In May 1945 the RAF informed them that the grave of Ernie's crewmate Harold Earl had been officially identified. They were told that Earl was buried in ‘Bose la Hard’ – actually Bosc la Hard – a village very close to the crash site. Efforts to discover more, the family was told, were underway.
We shall never know the precise whereabouts of the crew’s bodies during this period – from when the local French authorities buried the crew, to the time when the War Graves Department officially registered and reburied them in Beauvais. It is most probable that they lay in Bosc-le-Hard’s village cemetery, which is still the resting-place of two Scottish infantrymen killed in 1940. The crew of Halifax LW644 was finally laid to rest in the MarisselFrenchNationalCemetery, Beauvais, by 1946. Reunited in death they are buried in a collective grave 258.
Had he survived, Ernie had spoken to Billie of moving to New Zealand and starting a fresh new life there. After the fear he must have felt, and the courage he displayed; after the devastation that he had witnessed – and indeed inflicted – who could have blamed him?
The final say in Ernie’s story I will leave to an opponent of the time. Ex-nightfighter Peter Spoden has spent much time reflecting on the war, his role within it and the progress that has been made since. He wrote: ‘I am very sorry for your great uncle Ernie who was in the best time of his life, like so many of his young comrades. Presently we have had no war for 60 years in the EU – the longest time for centuries. Let’s keep it this way for the sake of our children and grandchildren.’ Words Ernie and the rest of Aircraft O's crew would have whole heartily agreed with.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
Baker, R, and editors of Time-Life Books, The RAF at War, Time Life, 2003
Chorley, W R, To See Dawn Breaking, Compaid Graphics, 1996
Deighton, L, Bomber, Harper Collins, 2009
Delve, K, Bomber Command: 1936-1968, Pen & Sword, 2005
Falconer, J, Bomber Command Handbook, Sutton Publishing, 2003
Lewis, B, Aircrew, Cassel, 2003
Price, A, Nuremburg, War Monthly (Issue 25) 1979
Neillands, R, The Bomber War, John Murray, 2004
Norris, John, 88mm Flak 18/36/37/41 and Pak 43 1036-1945, Osprey, 2002
Schneer, J, The Thames, Abacus, 2006
Spoden, P, Ich war Nachtjager in Gorings Luftwaffe, Detlef Monch Druck, Essen,2002
Taylor, J, and Davidson, M, Bomber Crew, Hodder and Stoughton, 2004
National Archives:
Air 27/652
Air 50/193
Air 40/1041
Air 40/127
Personal records of Ernest Frederick Lewis are held by the RAF
Internet (in no particular order)
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2
www.cwgc.org
www.constable.ca/halifax.htm
www.halifaxbomber.com
www.rafmuseum.org.uk/handley-page-halifax-ii.htm
www.raf.mod.uk
www.revi.cz/images/covers/52/kollak.xls
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/archie_bombercommand/1048tls_continued.html
YouTube (in no particular order)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Mm-zFW_nA
Old footage showing the Grand Slam bomb being 'delivered'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfe0vEkz3lI
Movietone news feature on the first 1,000 bomber raid.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Bomberguy
The above YouTube user has uploaded a good number of movietone news features that are extremely interesting. They include two of the above.
