Lancaster Mk.I W4172

Bombing Munich Germany 1943-March-10 to 1943-March-10

264 aircraft - 142 Lancasters, 81 Halifaxes, 41 Stirlings. 8 aircraft - 5 Lancasters, 2 Halifaxes, I Stirling - lost, 3.0 per cent of the force.

The wind caused this raid to be concentrated on the western half of Munich rather than on the centre of the city, but much damage was caused. 291 buildings were destroyed, 660 severely damaged and 2,134 less seriously damaged; these included many public buildings - I I hospitals, the cathedral, 4 churches and 14 'cultural' buildings for example - but also 3 wholesale and 22 retail business premises were completely destroyed and no less than 294 military buildings were hit, including the headquarters of the local Flak brigade, which was burnt out. The most serious industrial damage was at the B.M.W. factory where the aero-engine assembly shop was put out of action for 6 weeks. Many other industrial concerns were hit, including 141 small, back-street-type workshops which were destroyed.

The detailed Munich reports show that 208 people were killed and 425 injured. The dead included: 2 party officials on duty, IO soldiers, I Hitler Youth boy serving at a Flak site, 2 policemen and 4 foreigners. The local Flak fired 14,234 rounds of ammunition - 2,314 of 105 mm, 8,328 of 88 mm, 3,592 of 20 mm - and 7 night fighters were reported as being on duty in the Munich area but only 1 bomber, unidentified because of its explosion in the air, was shot down over the city. source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt

Attacked by a Fw190 night-fighter and a JU 88. Shot down by Ofw. Reinhard Kollak of the 7./NJG 4, flying Bf 110 F-4 3C+LR from Juvincourt airfield.and crashed 0159 10 Mar 1943 near Lavannes (Marne) 12 km NE of Reims France.Having taken off from Langar 2041, 9 Mar 1943 .Both Brown and Brownhill say they were shot down after leaving the target: Brown says "while we were over Saarbrucken one of the engines caught fire and almost immediately afterwards we were attacked by a fighter.". Brownhill says "we were attacked by night fighters and the aircraft was set on fire."

Marc Hamel writes: "On 10 March 1943, at about 0330 in the morning, a British Avro Lancaster B.Mk1 bomber, EM-X W4172, of 207 Sqn, was shot down on its return from a mission over Munich and crashed near Tangon in the Ardennes I was the first to arrive at the crash site; my 17th birthday was on 12 March, two days later. I found a huge crater, at the bottom of which 12.7mm [sic] rounds were still exploding; on the surrounding ground all that remained was shattered debris mingled with parts of the bodies of the crew. The Feldgendarmerie arrived from Rethel shortly afterwards and cleared everyone from the area.

My father, Pierre Hamel, and I belonged to the Lorraine branch of the Resistance, and lived at Avan, a few kilometres from the crash site. Immediately after being roused from our beds by a violent explosion, we set off in that direction, taking separate paths in order to cover as large an area as possible with the aim of picking up any allied aviator in danger. I did not see my father arrive at the crash site, and he never explained why, even after the war. He was arrested by the Germans for spying on 25 April 1944, which perhaps explains his unwillingness to speak about what he was doing at the time of the crash, and was sent to prison by the German military tribunal at Charleville in June 1944. He died in 1952."