Britisk minelægning i Øresund ved Kullen 12. marts 1945

'Hawthorn' (Hvidtjørn) mineudlægning i Øresund

Avro Lancaster I

M Øresund/Kattegat ved Kullen

Den 12. marts 1945 sidst på eftermiddagen lettede 19 britiske Royal Air Force Lancaster-fly fra forskellige flyvepladser i England og mødtes kl. 19 på et samlingssted over Nordsøen, hvorfra de i 300 meters højde fløj mod Nordjylland og steg op i 3,3 km højde, inden de udkastede magnetiske søminer i farvandet ud for Kullen ved Øresunds udmunding i Kattegat. Derefter var det planen, at flyene hurtigst muligt skulle flyve den direkte vej tilbage.

En Junkers Ju 88G-6 natjager D5╬AL fra 1./ NJG 3 med pilot hauptmann Eduard Schröder, telegrafisterne Theo Hessenmüller og Werner Zeinert, samt mekaniker Erich Brunsendorf, fik imidlertid ram på 3 af Lancaster-flyene, som i løbet af 29 minutter styrtede ned.

12. marts 1945 Kattegat vest for Samsø

P4¤J (RA526)

153 Squadron RAF

Scampton i Lincolnshire

♥ 1 (✝ 6, heraf 1 savnet)

Et Lancaster-fly lettet kl. 17.35 fra Scampton i Lincolnshire var efter afsluttet mineudlægning vendt hjemover, da det blev skudt i brand af enten den tyske natjager eller af flak ved Samsø. Det brændende fly styrtede kl. 21.26 ned i Kattegat vest for Ringebjerg ved Onsbjerg på Samsø, imens besætningen sprang ud med faldskærm i mørket.

Kun den 20-årige bombeudkaster Robert Mains overlevede iført sin redningsvest, ved vistnok i flere timer at svømme inden han nåede til Samsø. En engelsk avisartikel af forløbet lyder mere fantastisk end hans egen beretning. Han gemte sig på et høloft og blev næste morgen fundet af landmanden, som tilkaldte dyrlæge Larsen. Efter behandling på det lokale sygehus for mindre sår i sin bagdel blev han i samarbejde med modstandmanden fyrvogter Otto Mønsted på Vesborg Fyr gemt væk på et loft hos en ældre dame, inden den tyske garnison på øen fik nys om ham og han blev udleveret og bragt til København. Efter behandling på et tysk militærhospital der sendtes han 4. april til Tyskland, men efter en uges fangenskab lykkedes det ham at flygte og skjule sig i en lade, indtil han den 13. april befriedes af amerikanerne.

Ligene af 5 omkomne fra flyet fandtes indenfor de næste måneder forskellige steder ved Samsø og begravedes på Tranebjerg kirkegård, hvorimod en enkelt af de formodet omkomne aldrig er fundet.

12. marts 1945 Kattegat nær Endelave

BM¤E (NG233)

433 Squadron RCAF

Skipton-on-Swale i North Yorkshire

✝ 7 (heraf 6 savnede)

Et Lancaster-fly med overvejende canadisk besætning lettet kl. 17.46 fra Skipton-on-Swale i North Yorkshire, blev på hjemturen efter afsluttet mineudlægning, skudt i brand af den tyske natjager og styrtede kl. 21.27 ned i Kattegat ud for As Hoved mellem Juelsminde og Endelave, hvorved samtlige 7 ombordværende omkom.

Liget af den 22-årige bombeudkaster Arthur V. Plante fandtes den 27. maj 1945 som strandvasker i As Vig nord for Juelsminde. Han begravedes den 27. maj på Horsens kirkegård og den 3. august opstilledes en mindesten på graven.

12. marts 1945 Østergård ved Lyne

PM¤T (ME449)

103 Squadron RAF

Elsham Wolds i Lincolnshire

Shot Down / Flensted

♥ 5 (✝ 2)

En Avro Lancaster lettet den 12. marts 1945 kl. 17.45 fra Elsham Wolds i Lincolnshire for at patruljere over Kattegat nord for Øresund, blev på hjemvejen kl. 21.45 skudt ned af en Junkers Ju 88 natjager fløjet af hauptmann Eduard Schröder fra 1./ NJG 3 ved Østergårde syd for Tarm.

Two of the Lancasters crew was killed during the attack, namely Rear Gnr. Sgt Donald Morris and Mid upper Gnr. F/S Harvey J. Porter RAAF. They were retrieved from the wreck shortly after the crash and taken to the hospital at Tarm. In the afternoon the bodies were claimed from the hospital by the Germans and placed in a couple of bags and placed on a horse drawn wagon driven by Chr. Andersen. He was ordered to take the bodies to a wood east of Tarm where the Germans dug a hole in the ground and threw the bodies therein.

During the summer of 1945 a grave site was created where the flyers had been buried and on 12/8 1945 they were given a Christian funeral. A British detachment marched to the grave and 800 Danish people showed their respect while Rural Dean P. B. Gadegaard gave a speech and then blessed the graves. The parish Executive Officer H. Gravesen spoke and promised that the town would look after the graves for generations to come. Finally Sqn. Ldr. Smart who was the Commander of Vandel airfield saluted the graves.

The rest of the crew successfully bailed out.

Pilot S/Ldr Stan Slater was helped by Farmer Niels Jørgen Pedersen who called the Kørvel family of Ølgod. Frederik Kørvel and his daughter Anna picked up the flyer on the farm and took him to their home where he was quartered in the attic while two German officers were quartered in the basement. Later on the same night Kørvel brought home another flyer, namely W/Op Thomas Fairclough. The flyers were transported via Fredericia to København, and on 23/3 they were shipped over to Sweden.

False id paper for W/Op Thomas Fairclough issued by the Danish resistance movement.

F/Eng Sgt Ken Foster got in contact with Bodil and Aage Uhre of Lyne and was soon sent via Ølgod to Sweden.

Stoney Mitchell and Mervyn Bertie were the second and third men to bale out of Lancaster ME449, after Ken Foster but before Thomas Fairclough and Stan Slater. The exact locations at which Mitchell and Bertie landed are not known, but shortly after baling out about 2200 h on 12 March 1945, they found each other in the darkness and spent the first night sleeping outdoors. The next day, while walking along Vejlevej towards Tarm, 21-year-old Dorthea Kristensen approached them and led them to the farm house of her parents, Maria and Kr. Peder Kristensen, where they were fed and protected for the night of 13-14 March.

They continued on foot in a north-easterly direction for about 90 km over the next three days, finding food and shelter at various Danish farms along the way. Then, on the evening of 16 March, they sought help at the farm of Åge Fisker near Funder. With the assistance of Nørdby Christensen and Maylor Ambrosiussen, Fisker sent a message to Resistance members Sigurd Birk and Gunnar Birk at their farm near Ikast. The Ikast weapons receiving group operated by Ole Engberg received the information when they returned to the Birk farm on the morning of 17 March. Engberg then drove in his truck, nicknamed “Dorte”, to collect Mitchell and Bertie from Funder and take them to the homes of nearby Resistance members; first to Arnold Petersen and his wife Naomi in Ikast for 5 days and next to Alfred Balle Pedersen and his wife Magdalene in Herning for 12 days. Photographs taken at the Pedersens’ house were used to make false identity cards. On the night of 2 April, Anton Jens Toldstrup, leader of the Jutland weapons receiving groups, took Mitchell and Bertie by car from Herning to Ebeltoft. Along the way, near Århus, the car was stopped by Germans who demanded identity cards but eventually let the group continue when Toldstrup asserted his apparent authority as an officer of the Civil Air Defence. In Ebeltoft, Mitchell and Bertie stayed for 2 days with Svend Åge Ballisager and his wife Gudrun. Late on 4 April, Mitchell and Bertie were taken to Øerhage, south of Ebeltoft, where they boarded a fishing boat operated by the Danish Resistance and were taken across the Kattegat, arriving in Gøteborg the next day. Two days thereafter, on 7 April, they reached Stockholm by train then flew to Leuchars, Scotland, on the night of 15-16 April 1945. Mitchell and Bertie were de-briefed by Military Intelligence, assigned leave, and did not return to 103 Squadron at Elsham Wolds until May 1945, by which time the war had ended.