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.