Bleich, James Arthur (Flying Officer)
Killed in Action 1945-February-21
Birth Date: 1922-May-19
Born: Kitchener, Waterloo Regional Municipality, Ontario, Canada
Parents: Son of Louis Bleich and Ella Catherine (nee Klaehn) Bleich, of Kitchener, Ontario
Spouse:
Home: Kitchener, Ontario
Enlistment: Kitchener, Ontario
Enlistment Date: 1942-July-31
Service
RCAF
Unit
432 (B) Sqn- Squadron
Saeviter Ad Lucem Ferociously toward the light
Base
RAF East Moor
Rank
Flying Officer
Position
Navigator
Service Numbers
J/36313
Home
Kitchener, Ontario
Target
Worms Germany
Temporary Burial
Ebenburg Cemetery, Germany, near crash site
Remains were later exhumed from this location and reburied
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Finadagrave.com
Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)Crew or Other Personnel
Halifax NP812
Mission
Halifax B.Mk.VII NP812
Bombing Worms Germany 1945-February-20 to 1945-February-21
432 (B) Sqn (RCAF) RAF East Moor
349 aircraft - 288 Halifaxes, 36 Lancasters, 25 Mosquitoes. IO Halifaxes and I Lancaster lost.
This was the first and only large Bomber Command raid on Worms. The raid was an area attack in which 1,116 tons of bombs were accurately dropped. A post-war survey estimated that 39 per cent of the town's built-up area was destroyed. The local report says that a considerable part of the bombing fell just outside the town, to the south-west, but it confirms that the remainder caused severe damage in Worms, 64 per cent of the town's buildings were destroyed or damaged, including the cathedral, the town museum, and most of the churches and cultural buildings in the old centre. Much of the town's industry was also destroyed, including the only firm devoted completely to the production of war material, one making sprocket wheels for tanks. 239 people were killed and 35,000 bombed out from a population or approximately 58,000.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Halifax VII aircraft NP 812 QO-T was shot down on the East side of the Nahe River just south of Bad Munster, Germany during a night operation against targets in Worms, Germany
Pilot Officer AJ Hunter (RCAF), Flying Officer JA Bleich (RCAF), Flying Officer GE Creswell (RCAF) and Pilot Officer AC Hogg (RAFVR) were all killed in action
Flying Officer FD Baxter DFC (RCAF), Flight Sergeant GE Armstrong (RCAF) and Flight Sergeant SE Waterbury (RCAF), all survived to be taken as Prisoners of War, although no information on their POW numbers or camp locations has been found to date
There were three 432 Squadron Halifax aircraft lost in the same area on this date. Please see aircraft serials NP 803 QO-I and RG 451 QO-D for additional information regarding the other crew and aircraft
RAF Commands has the casualties on Halifax s/n RG 476, and the three POWs on NP 812. ORB has all of them on NP 812 which had previously returned on two engines 1944 -12 29 with one crew member (Barnett) bailed/killed.
Footprints on the Sands of Time, RAF Bomber Command Prisoners of War in Germany 1939-45 by Oliver Clutton-Brock, pages 236, 242 & 429
[Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...
"Belgians Remember Them": RAF aircraft's crash sites: Jemeppe
Unit Desciption
432 (B) Sqn Saeviter Ad Lucem ("Leaside")
History of the Squadron during World War II (Aircraft: Wellington X, Lancaster II, Halifax III, VII)
The Squadron was the twelfth RCAF bomber squadron to be formed overseas in WWII. It was formed on May 1, 1943 at Skipton-on-Swale, Yorkshire, UK as a unit of No 6 (RCAF) Group of RAF Bomber Command: indeed, it was the first bomber squadron to be formed directly into No 6 Group. Using the squadron identification letters QO it flew Vickers Wellington Mk X medium bombers until it moved to East Moor, Yorkshire on 19th September 1943, when it re-equipped with Avro Lancaster Mk II aircraft. East Moor was part of No 62 (RCAF) Base. The squadron re-equipped with Handley Page Halifax Mk III aircraft in February 1944, and with Halifax Mk VII in July of that year, and continued with them until the squadron was disbanded at East Moor on May 15, 1945.
In the course of operations the squadron flew 246 missions, involving 3130 individual sorties, for the loss of 73 aircraft. 8980 tons of bombs were dropped. Awards to squadron members included 2 DSOs, 119 DFCs,1 Bar to DFC, 1 CGM, 20 DFMs and 1 Croix de Guerre (France). Battle Honours were: English Channel and North Sea 1943, Fortress Europe 1943-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Biscay Ports 1944, Ruhr 1943-45, Berlin 1943-44, German Ports 1943-45, Normandy 1944, Rhine, Biscay 1943.Moyes, Kostenuk and Griffin
Squadron History (Bomber Command Museum PDF)
Maps for Movements of 432 Squadron 1943-45
MAP 1: 432 Squadron Bases 1943-45 (marked in green). Right-click on image to display enlarged in new tab
432 Squadron History Summary 1943-45
History of the Squadron Post-WWII (Aircraft: Canuck)
The squadron was re-formed at Bagotville, Quebec as an All-Weather Fighter unit on 1 October 1954. The squadron flew Avro CF-100 Canuck aircraft on North American Air Defence until it was disbanded on 15 October 1961.
Halifax NP812 B.Mk.VII - Bombing Worms Germany - 1945-02-20 to 1945-02-21
Squadron: 432 (B) Sqn (RCAF)
Start Date: 1945-02-20
Completion Date: 1945-02-21
Mission: Bombing
Operation: unspecified
Target City: Worms Germany
Target Specific:
Base: RAF East Moor
Take Off Time: 16:17
Squadron Code: QO-T
Radio Code:
Return Base:
Return Time:
Crash City: Germany
Crash Specifics: ast side of the Nahe River just south of Bad Munster
Crash Latitude: 0.00000000
Crash Longitude: 0.00000000
Crash Reason:
Flak Battery:
Enemy Claim:
War Diary Unavailable
6 Bomber Group February 20/21, 1945
112 Halifaxes from 408, 415, 420, 425, 426, 427, 429, and 432 Squadrons were ordered on an attack of the oil refinery at Monheim. The crews were over the target at between 14,000 and 16,000 feet, releasing 698,000 lbs of high explosives. According to reports, bombing was accurate and severe damage was caused.
While the Halifaxes went to Monheim, 82 Lancasters from 419, 424, 428,431, 433, and 434 Squadrons were ordered on an attack at Dortmund. The crews were over the target at between 17,000 and 20,000 feet, releasing 231,000 lbs of high explosives and 579,000 lbs of incendiaries. According to reports, bombing was accurate and severe damage was caused. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
349 aircraft - 288 Halifaxes, 36 Lancasters, 25 Mosquitoes. IO Halifaxes and I Lancaster lost.
This was the first and only large Bomber Command raid on Worms. The raid was an area attack in which 1,116 tons of bombs were accurately dropped. A post-war survey estimated that 39 per cent of the town's built-up area was destroyed. The local report says that a considerable part of the bombing fell just outside the town, to the south-west, but it confirms that the remainder caused severe damage in Worms, 64 per cent of the town's buildings were destroyed or damaged, including the cathedral, the town museum, and most of the churches and cultural buildings in the old centre. Much of the town's industry was also destroyed, including the only firm devoted completely to the production of war material, one making sprocket wheels for tanks. 239 people were killed and 35,000 bombed out from a population or approximately 58,000.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Halifax VII aircraft NP 812 QO-T was shot down on the East side of the Nahe River just south of Bad Munster, Germany during a night operation against targets in Worms, Germany
Pilot Officer AJ Hunter (RCAF), Flying Officer JA Bleich (RCAF), Flying Officer GE Creswell (RCAF) and Pilot Officer AC Hogg (RAFVR) were all killed in action
Flying Officer FD Baxter DFC (RCAF), Flight Sergeant GE Armstrong (RCAF) and Flight Sergeant SE Waterbury (RCAF), all survived to be taken as Prisoners of War, although no information on their POW numbers or camp locations has been found to date
There were three 432 Squadron Halifax aircraft lost in the same area on this date. Please see aircraft serials NP 803 QO-I and RG 451 QO-D for additional information regarding the other crew and aircraft
RAF Commands has the casualties on Halifax s/n RG 476, and the three POWs on NP 812. ORB has all of them on NP 812 which had previously returned on two engines 1944 -12 29 with one crew member (Barnett) bailed/killed.
Footprints on the Sands of Time, RAF Bomber Command Prisoners of War in Germany 1939-45 by Oliver Clutton-Brock, pages 236, 242 & 429 [Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...
"Belgians Remember Them": RAF aircraft's crash sites: Jemeppe