By Gordon Thorburn
Except the quiet chatter of some mechanics, who have been checking that one plane used to be too badly broken ever to fly back, there has been a surprised silence over the aerodrome as all people there attempted to appreciate the impossible.
Twelve twin-engined bombers of eighty two Squadron RAF had set out on a fi ne may well morning in 1940, from Watton, Norfolk, in a courageous yet hopeless try and decelerate the German armour ripping via Belgium. Sergeant Thomas 'Jock' Morrison used to be the pilot of the single one to come back home.
Heavy losses in Bomber Command within the moment international conflict have been universal, basic, got here with the territory, yet this? 11 out of twelve have been shot down, via flak and opponents, and lay in burning fragments alongside the Belgium/ France border.
It is expounded that background repeats itself. And so it was once, nearly precisely 3 months later, on a cloudy day in August 1940, that twelve extra twin-engined Bristol Blenheim bombers, each one with a workforce of 3 males, trigger from Watton, Norfolk, in a courageous yet hopeless try and break a Luftwaffe base in enemy-occupied Denmark. One airplane needed to flip for domestic ahead of it reached the objective. the opposite 11 pressed on because the clouds disappeared and, on a fi ne sunny morning, have been all shot down, by means of flak and combatants, and lay in burning fragments at the seashores of the Lymfjord.
At the time, whilst the entire international used to be attempting to comprehend the very unlikely, how Germany may well overcome Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium and France in a number of weeks, and Poland ahead of that – and definitely nice Britain subsequent? – eighty two Squadron's failures have been slightly noticed.
Based at the bills of survivors and on squadron and different files, Gordon Thorburn's relocating retelling of the tale, of the occasions of it and the lads in it, finally places correct that negative omission.
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Extra info for The Squadron That Died Twice: The story of No. 82 Squadron RAF, which in 1940 lost 23 out of 24 aircraft in two bombing raids
Sample text
POOBCFIJOEJU 5XPLOPDLFEPVU(FSNBO UBOLTGSPNUIF1BO[FS %JWJTJPO
EFTUSPZFECZBQES BOUJUBOLHVOCFMPOHJOHUPUIF UI3PZBM'VTJMJFSTEVSJOHUIF GJHIUJOHBMPOHUIFSJWFS 5VTDJBOP5IFUBOLJOUIF GPSFHSPVOEJTB1[,QGX*** FRVJQQFEXJUIBGMBNFUISPXFS The German strategy was to pin the Allies in their bridgehead, and to launch a series of powerful combined arms assaults to keep them off-balance. When sufficient forces had arrived, then a major counter-attack would attempt to drive the enemy into the sea.
The 141st RCT was sent south to form a new defensive line along the river Solofrone, thus blocking any German assault from the south. The 142nd RCT was sent eastwards to secure Monte Soprano and to capture the villages of Albanella and Roccadapide beyond it. The 143rd RCT was held in reserve around Cappacio. At 1140hrs that morning the first units of the 45th Division began landing on pontoons that had been built by engineers during the night. They were ordered to seize the crossings over the river Sele, and then to advance up the river valley towards Ponte Sele.
The 138th was unable to leave, as Panzer-Division ‘Hermann Göring’ was launching heavy probes against Dragonea Hill, and attempting to penetrate the Molina Pass, which the Commandos had dubbed ‘Happy Valley’. That meant that all Hawkesworth had to hand as a reserve was the division’s reconnaissance regiment, which guarded the northern part of Salerno itself. Fortunately for the British the Germans abandoned their attack to regroup and re-arm, and as dusk fell the British struggled to re-form some semblance of a line, running from ‘Hospital Hill’ to ‘White House Hill’.