For
this mission, 106 Squadron supplied 6
aircraft. They took off from their
base at Coningsby at 12.10, in Hampden ZN-F AE151. This mission would take them to
North West Germany were they would attack
anything that would be of military value.
F/S
Hartgroves crew was specifically tasked with
bombing the railway station at Oldenburg,
Germany.
Shortly
after crossing the Dutch coast, the aircraft
were called back due to heavy clouds over
the target area. Five of the planes turned
back to Coningsby. Due to a malfunctioning
radioset in AE151, the morse message was not
received and the crew continued on their
mission. There was a heavy cloud cover our
Oldenburg. Hartgroves dived out of the
clouds and P/O Carter, the bomb aimer opened
the bomb bay and dropped to bombs. These
came down on the
GrossEinkaufsGenossenschaft in the
Industriestrasse close to the railway
station. German sources stated that little
damage was done.
Suddenly the AE151 was hit by fragments of
Anti Aircraft fire (Flak). Hartgroves
observed shiny, glowing pieces of hot metal
burst into the cockpit and parts of the
fuselage. The crew felt the plane being hit
and shaken about. Cool aire streamed through
a big hole in the nose section through the
airplane. The port wing was hit and inside
it smelled like cordite. The crew pressed
hom etheir attack instinctively. Yearsly,
Martin and Hartgroves opened up with the
browning .303 guns on a Flak battery mounted
on a railway cart. They saw the gunners run
for their lives. Hartgroves flew his plane
into the clouds and out of reach of the
enemy guns.
Flying back, Ron Yearsly came forward and
looked at Anthony Carter . He saw that
Anthony had been killed by the anti aircraft
fire. Yearsly himself was hit by schrapnel
in his head and back and was in great pain.
The instrument panel of the Hampden was shot
to pieces. Only the compass seemed to work.
Due to the damaged engine, the hole in the
nose section and other damage, the plane was
difficult to control. When they flew over
Schoonebeek in The Netherlands, one of the
engines started to sputter and a fire broke
out in the bomb aimers section. The crew
decided that reaching England was out of the
question and to crash land the plane.
Around 16.15 Hartgroves tried to crash land
the plane. It hit a few electricity poles
and tops of a few trees which caused part of
the wing to sheer off. Anthony Carter's body
was thrown clear of the plane. The plane
came down in a meadow of farmer Gijlers.
Jan Harm and Frits Buter were playing
outside and heard the Hampden come over
Schoonebeek, followed by German fighters.
Ofw. Werner
Gerhardt of
1./JG1 later claimed to have shot down a Hampden
west of Meppel on this day. AE151 was the
only Hampden lost this day.
None of
the crew were hurt in the crash. Hartgroves
told them to evacuate. After looking over
the plane, Hartgroves noticed that there was
no danger of exploding ammunition. The crew
released to pigeons, so the base would later
know that there were survivors of the crash.
In the
meantime a few locals appeared but they were
held at a distance by the crew due to the
fact that ammunition could still explode.
The crew went to the body of Anthony Carter
and stayed with him for awhile. The
local people put Anthony's body on part of
the wing and brought it to the Hoofdstraat.
Later is was brought to the town hall by
cart.
Not
long after that a local policeman arrived
who took the men to the military police
barracks, closeby where a doctor looked over
Yearsly wounds. About 15 minutes later a
German Hauptman came in, saluted and
requested the personal side arms of the men.
He was surprised to hear they did not carry
any.
Later
that night the crew were taken to a military
post in Germany and the next day sent to
Dulag Luft in Frankfurt am Main.
Anthony
Carter was buried the next tuesday or
wednesday, with military honours, at the
local cemetery along Cemeterylane in
Schoonebeek.
F/S
Hartgroves ended up in PoW camps 7A (Moosburg),
383 (Hohen Fels) and L3 (Bankau, near
Kreulberg, Upper Silesia) and Stalag 3A (Luckenwalde). Sgt Yearsley was
kept at camps 383 and L7.
P/O Carter is buried at Schoonebeek General
Cemetery, Plot 3. Row 1. Grave 754.
(picture by
Wim Bastiaanse)