300 Squadron - Polish Wargraves in the Netherlands

From Bombs for Hitler to food for Holland

In the last days of the Second World War, the Allies dropped food over the west of the Netherlands: Operation Manna and Chowhound. After the hunger winter, there was a shortage of food in the areas still occupied by the Germans.

Operation Manna was carried out by the RAF, including the Polish 300 squadron. In this way, pilot Wierzbowski in his Lancaster NG265 BH-V was able to drop bombs on Hitler’s house and food at Gouda within a week.

Operation Manna and Chowhound

After the lost battle around the Rhine bridge in Arnhem, there was another period of German occupation above the major rivers. Transport to the west came to a standstill. For example, coal could no longer be transported from the liberated south, the railways went on strike on orders of the Dutch government and the occupier blocked the supply of goods to the Randstad. Due to a lack of warmth and food in combination with the cold month of January, what became known as ‘the Hunger Winter’ arose. The population of the big cities went to the countryside during hunger marches to get food from farmers. This was not enough and several tens of thousands died from the hardships.

In March the population received Swedish white bread, baked from mail brought from Sweden by boat. At the end of April the Allies concluded an agreement with the German occupiers which made it possible to drop supplies by air from bombers. The operation under British leadership was called ‘Manna’, that under the leadership of the Americans Chowhound.

Bombs on Hitler

Operation Manna was carried out by dozens of RAF squadrons including Australian and also the Polish 300 Squadron “Ziemi Mazowieckiej”. This Polish squadron was active for almost the entire war and the last action of the squadron is mentioned as the bombardment of 25 April 1945. The target that day was the Obersalzberg in Brechtesgaden with Hitler’s house.

Several logbooks of Polish pilots can be viewed via the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive of the University of Lincoln. They flew Lancaster aircraft and those of 300 squadron were recognizable by the squadron code BH.

Cpl. Tadeusz Wierzbowski has in his logbook the flight on 25 April to Brechtesgaden of almost 8 hours.

Both photos of the squadron’s Lancasters come from the same source and the in-flight photo was taken during the flight of 25 April to Brechtesgaden and shows Wierzbowski’s aircraft based on the ‘V’ on the fuselage and in the logbook.

This archive also contains photos of Wierzbowski and his crew. The Lancaster with registration NG265 is the same bomber with the identification letter ‘V’.

Food for Holland

The 300 Squadron was one of the dozens of RAF squadrons that dropped supplies over the Netherlands. So did Wierzbowski. On May 2, we see a flight of just under three hours to Gouda and on May 7 a flight of three and a half hours to Rotterdam again in Lancaster NG265 ´V´

Warrant Officer Stanislaw Sewerin also describes three flights in his logbook as “SPAM Dropping” at the beginning of May. Unfortunately, he does not mention the destination of the flights.

The photo below shows Sewerin in uniform and the squadron batch of 300 Squadron: “Ziemi Mazowieckiej”.

Gouda and Rotterdam

These photos from the Midden-Holland archive show Lancasters during a drop near Gouda. The accompanying text indicates that this is May 2-5. Unfortunately, the planes are too blurry to distinguish letters on the fuselage to determine whether these are Poles, but it does give an impression of those days.

Click here for more photos of the drop at Gouda.

In the city archives of Rotterdam you can find moving images of Lancaster airdrops. Unfortunately, it is also not possible to determine whether these are Polish aircraft.

Want to know more about the squadron?

The 300 Squadron: “Ziemi Mazowieckiej” was active for almost the entire war and lost 371 crew members and 87 were captured. Of the 371 victims, 44 are buried in the Netherlands. Read on Polish War Graves how two Lancasters were lost over the Netherlands in one night. At the time of the food drop, the squadron was operating from RAF Faldingworth airfield in Lincolnshire.

Image credits

In the text we refer to the various sources used. If the image material is based on those sources, it can be used freely.

The unknown Polish Flying officer and sergeant on Ameland

On July 2 and 10, 1943, two bodies washed ashore at Hollum on Ameland, identified by their clothing as Polish. Unfortunately, besides their rank, nothing more is known about their identities. Their graves at the cemetery in Nes only bear the inscription “An Airman of the War 1939 – 1945,” their rank, and “Polish Forces.”

A Porucznik (a lieutenant)
A Sierżant (a sergeant)

Who are the two unknown Poles?

This naturally raises the question of who these two unknown Poles might be.

This excerpt from a presentation on the Amelander Historie website with a brief description of all the war graves present on the island gives a first clue.

Stefan Tomicki?

Both graves are also listed on the website polishwargraves.nl (now managed by the Oorlogsgraven Stichting), which has been a significant source for our website. The site suggests that the Porucznik (lieutenant) who washed ashore on July 2 might be Stefan Tomicki. He went missing after the crash of the Wellington bomber with registration number HE148, BH-T, from the 300 Squadron Ziemi Mazowieckiej. This crash occurred on the night of April 9, 1943. All six crew members were killed. Only two were identified: navigator Jan Rudek and gunner Stanisław Stępień. They washed ashore at the beaches of Castricum and Egmond aan Zee the day after the crash. Both are buried in the general cemetery in Bergen.

Given the discrepancy in the location where the body was found, the fact that it was almost three months later, and that Tomicki held the rank of podporucznik rather than porucznik, the above assumption should certainly be treated with caution.

For the grave of the sergeant, polishwargraves.nl provides no further information.

Other possibilities?

Our site lists several airmen who went missing in the period before the bodies were found. In addition to Tomicki, three other crashes result in Poles missing in the period before early July 1943. We start with the most likely candidate.

On May 12, Halifax II with serial number DT627 and squadron code NF-P from the 138 ‘special duties’ squadron crashed in the Wadden Sea off the coast of Sint Jacobiparochie (according to polishwargraves). Their mission was to drop agents in the Netherlands. The loss register states that of the seven-member crew, four washed ashore on the Dutch coast, with the dates on which they washed ashore:

Lieutenant Jan Polnik, washed ashore July 6 on Terschelling
Sergeant Bronisław Wojno, also July 6 on Terschelling
Sergeant Karol Germasiński, washed ashore July 2 at Anjum
Sergeant Piotr Bednarski, July 1 at Sint Jacobiparochie

Three are still missing:

Sierżant Jerzy Kurzak
Sierżant Edward Piatkowski
Porucznik Jan Henryk Polkowski

We intentionally mention the ranks in Polish so the correspondence with the ranks on the graves stands out. Given the ranks of the missing and the timing and location of the bodies washing ashore, these could be possible candidates.

The question then arises as to why these two could not be identified when the other crew members were. Unfortunately, the description of the discovery does not mention the condition of the bodies, which would provide clarity on this matter, but it is worth investigating.

Finally, we see on the Amelander Historie website that a 13th body washed ashore and is listed as a member of the British Air Force. Could this be the third crew member, but his uniform too damaged to be identified as “Polish”?

Other possibilities?

In addition to the option described above, on May 13, an aircraft from the 300 Squadron disappeared over the Zuiderzee east of Volendam (5 missing). Given the presence of the ‘Aflsuitdijk’ this option is not very likely. Perhaps an expert can indicate whether it was still possible that the bodies would end up on the mudflats and thus on Ameland when the water flows from the IJsselmeer into the Waddenzee.

On June 22, another bomber from the 300 Squadron disappeared 60 kilometers off the coast of IJmuiden, resulting in four missing (by the way, none of them were a porucznik). Here the currents in the Northsee should be taken into account to estimate if this is a possibility.

Can we still solve the mystery?

The question is, of course, whether after all these years the mystery can still be solved. Are there perhaps any reports about the discovery on Ameland that provide more information about the condition of the bodies? Could someone with knowledge of the currents in the North Sea shed light on the hypothesis involving Stefan Tomicki? Or could someone with knowledge of the Wadden Sea speak to the locations where the bodies from the May 12 crash were found in relation to the location near Hollum? For now, they remain an unknown lieutenant and sergeant in Nes, Ameland.

Photos of the gravestones by Klaas Graansma

One night, two Lancasters shot down over the Netherlands

On the night of June 12 to 13, 1944, eight Lancasters from the Polish 300 Squadron departed from Faldingworth airbase on a mission to Gelsenkirchen. A total of 286 bombers departed for this mission. Seventeen did not return that night, including three from 300 Squadron. Two of the Lancasters were shot down over the Netherlands. Of the 14 crew members, only one survives the crash.

Bomb aimer Morski from the Lancaster BH – C is captured. Flight engineer Bladowski washed ashore at Wijdenes and is buried there and later transferred to Breda. The other crew members were recovered during the salvage of the aircraft in May 2003 and were buried in a shared grave in Breda.

From Lancaster BH – K, wireless operator Pacula is MIA. The other crew members were found during 1944. Flight engineer Szeliga is buried in Elburg. Three crew members, tail gunner Bardzo, pilot Różański and turret gunner Wróblewski, first found a grave in Urk but were later reburied in Amersfoort, where bomb aimer Bakun and navigator Hahn are also buried. The photo accompanying this post shows Różański’s crew in June 1944, shortly before they were killed.

About the 300 Squadron: “Ziemi Mazowieckiej”

On June 28, 1940, the British Air Ministry sent an order to the 6th Bomb Group to form the first Polish bomber squadron No. 300. This started with the single-engine Fairey Battle. Later in the war they switched first to the twin-engine Wellington and finally to the four-engine Lancaster.

THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 106355) Final adjustments are being made to the cargo of mines before they are loaded into a waiting Vickers Wellington bomber of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron (BH-E, HF598) at RAF Faldingworth. The message on the mine reads ‘From Polish Airmen’ both in Polish and English. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205230375

300 Squadron flew 3,891 missions, including 684 combat missions, dropping 10,712 tons of bombs. 15 German aircraft were destroyed or damaged during the fighting, with 79 own losses. 371 pilots were killed and 87 were captured. The squadron was disbanded on January 2, 1947. Of the 371 victims, 44 are buried in the Netherlands.

An extensive history of the squadron can be found on the Bomber Command Museum of Canada website. It also contains a passage about both of these bombers:

“LL807 was brought down by flak at the Dutch coast, probably from Texel, while outbound, and crashed into the Ijsselmeer with no survivors from the crew of F/L Rozanski. DV286 was on its way home when it was intercepted by a night fighter, and also crashed into the Ijsselmeer, killing F/S Rembecki and all but one of his crew. The bomb-aimer, P/O Morski, managed to drop through the escape hatch underneath him, and parachute to safety, and he was rescued by two Dutch fishermen, before being handed over to the Germans.” (pag 180).

Photos of the aircraft and crew can be found on pages 178 and 179.

THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 128268) Flying Officer Jerzy Rózanski (foreground) and his crew of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron standing in line at RAF Faldingworth, early June 1944. The crew perished during the bombing sortie over Gelsenkirchen shortly after this picture was taken, on 12/13 June 1944, Note a Lancaster bomber flying over the airfield and another one parked in the background (ED327, BH-R – lost in August 1944). Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205402356

More information about both aircraft

View the loss register of Lancaster DV286 BH – C (PDF)
View the loss register of Lancaster LL807 BH – K (PDF)

The site tudiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945 writes the following about the crash of DV286:

“Lancaster DV286 took off from RAF Faldingworth at 11:20 PM for a bombing raid on the Nordstern synthetic oil plant at Gelsenkirchen, Germany. On its way home, while crossing the Dutch coast, it crashed in fire after being intercepted by night fighter pilot Leutnant Gottfried Hanneck of 6./NJG 1, who had taken off from Deelen airfield in a Bf 110G-4. Pilot P/O. B.F. Morski was rescued by two Dutch fishermen and later transferred to a German naval ship. Flight Engineer Sgt. F.S. Bladowski washed up at Wijdenes. The aircraft was recovered in May 2003 and the crew members were subsequently buried in Breda on October 25, 2003.”

Bladowski was buried on June 17, 1944, in Wijdenes and was later transferred from Wijdenes to Breda, where he rests in an individual grave. The five crew members recovered in 2003 are laid to rest in a communal grave.

Upon further research on the internet, it appears that the Aircraft Recovery Group Foundation has been involved in the recovery of the victims. On their website, there is an account of the search and photos of the recovery.

Since 2007, there has been a monument at Zuiderdijk 41 in Wijdenes in memory of the crew of this Lancaster.

Sources

The PDF of Bomber Command Museum of Canada can also be consulted on our site if the above link no longer works (in the long term).

Several photos of the squadron and crews can be found on the IWM website. The photos in this article are from this source.

Below is a Wellington from the squadron that did return to base.