Memories of Elisabeth Brüggen

Oberaussem, 18.03.1945

“On the night from the 19th to 20th

of February in the year 1945 we were

awakened by a horrible noise. It was

between 1 and 2 o'clock in the night.

There was lightning, a horrible noise, and

burning in our yard and also the

neighbour's. Burning was everywhere I

looked. Our father was on nightshift. Last

noon we received two soldiers in our house for quartering. I called them and we started fighting the fire. The three of us were fighting like crazy, till one of the

soldiers said, “this is a crashed plane”. It

was crashed into our garden burning. It

was like a wonder that no one of us was

hurt. We couldn't get up where the plane

was crashed, because there was still some

ammo which exploded all the time. Our

garden gate was thrown onto the roof,

and caused some damage up there and

then fell in front of the yard gate. The

plane exploded and was shredded into

thousands of little pieces. Every little piece was still burning. I felt like I was burning also. It was a Halifax. Two dead people where discovered, one had jumped out of the plane, and was a POW later. About the fate of the others nothing is known. But our garden was destroyed. On this day we were the most important people. I had never seen such a migration through Oberaussem ever.”

Eyewitness Heinrich Wintz

The eyewitness of Heinrich Wintz observed on this night from his work place, how a parachute flew towards the ground. Taken from “Memories from the time of World War 2 in Oberaussem” from Sofie Kamp.

Inscribed by Ulrich Reimann in August 2006.

“For Sofie Kamp,an unforgettable experience from this, for the needy population, a difficult time, is in relation to the crash of an allied bomber on the night of the 19th to 20th of February, 1945. A four engine English bomber, probably shot down by the German Anti-air Command, fell this night burning with a horrible noise into the garden

of the family Brüggen on the “Cemetery Road”. Apparently one of the crew was able to jump off with his parachute before the plane, coming from the direction of Cologne, crashed down. He landed on the area of the “Ostkippe” (this is a forest today). Heinrich Wintz, the father of Sofie Kamp, who worked this night on the “Ostkippe” as switchman, observed the jump and the landing of the soldier. He viewed where the soldier covered his parachute and lifejacket, before he tiptoed away. After a little time

Heinrich Wintz had the guts to go to the hiding place. The soldier was gone. He put the parachute and the lifejacket in an new hiding place. On the day after, he picked up the things and brought them to his home. In a time of material need, there were made clothes from the parachute silk for the whole family Wintz. Sofie herself got a blouse from this, which she wore a long time after the war and it was simply indestructible.

From the fate of the bailed soldier Sofie only knows that he was caught close to the “Property Asperschlag”. The police officer Esser brought him to his cell inside the basement of the old school in Oberaussem at the “Bergheimer Road” for one night. At the next day the Gestapo picked him up. Anyway, nobody heard about the fate of this man.”

In the beginning there was a question

In the beginning there was a question...

What happened the night a bomber crashed, burning in the area where the family of

Peter Brüggen lived?

What type of plane was this?

Where did it come from and what happened to the crew?

Is it still possible to answer these questions 60 years after it happened?

Yes, it is possible to get answers after 60 years!

But how is this possible?

Because Elisabeth Brüggen wrote down her impressions from this night 3 weeks later. We know about the facts, and know that an English Halifax Bomber crashed, burning in the garden. Two crew members died in this crash. One crew member was able to bail out with his parachute. He was caught by a soldier from an anti-air gun opposite of the property “Asperschlag” the next day.

Although the wreckage was dug out in the early 50's and the aluminum parts were

scrapped, it is still possible to find small pieces in the earth. Through these parts it is possible to discover if it was a Halifax Bomber or not. During the last years the English military released many facts from the time of WW2.

Through some websites it is possible to investigate this information. So, it is possible to discover quickly the number of crashed planes for the date of February 20th 1945. In many cases it's established where those planes fell and what happened to the crew members, therefore the number of eligible planes was reduced to a minimum. After first

cognitions, the following Halifax could be the one we are searching for. But for this it still needs some research.

20./ 21.02.45: Squadron 427, Halifax III coded NP942 ZL-T 2147 stationed in Leeming, operational area on 20.02.1945 Monheim.

FLt J M Murphy RCAF POW

Sgt G B Tate POW

FO G F Mann RCAF POW

FO E Essenburg RCAF KIA

WO2 E A Perdue RCAF POW

FO A J Breault RCAF POW

PO J M Wallace RCAF KIA

On October 10th 2005 Peter Brüggen found, through a little excavation in his garden, some small parts of the wreck and put them aside.

The Identification

The identification is now clarified since January 2007. It is 100% positive that the

fallen plane is the Halifax VII RG455 coded QO-X. This bomber was used on February

20th 1945 during a large bombing raid against the Rhenania Ossag Oil at Monheim.

The Halifax Bomber was built in England but the crew members were all from Canada.

20-21/02/45 432 Halifax VII RG455 QO-X East Moor FO E F Patzer RCAF 2213

Monheim Killed

20-21/02/45 432 Halifax VII RG455 QO-X East Moor Sgt C I Grant 2213 Monheim Killed

20-21/02/45 432 Halifax VII RG455 QO-X East Moor FO G B Henson RCAF 2213

Monheim PoW

20-21/02/45 432 Halifax VII RG455 QO-X East Moor FO A H May RCAF 2213 Monheim PoW

20-21/02/45 432 Halifax VII RG455 QO-X East Moor PO F S Daley RCAF 2213 Monheim PoW

20-21/02/45 432 Halifax VII RG455 QO-X East Moor FSgt J W B McIntosh RCAF 2213

Monheim PoW

20-21/02/45 432 Halifax VII RG455 QO-X East Moor FSgt W G Mendenhall RCAF 2213 Monheim Killed

The Result

It was possible to uncover some marks on the backside of a bullet casing, which were definitely from English ammunition during World War 2 and which were used on Halifax Bombers as well.

It was obviously a Halifax Bomber, so the research continued on. It was our assumption that there were more parts in the ground.

Summarizing it can be said, that the evidence showed that it was really a Halifax Bomber which fell here in Oberaussem. This is really important,

because now we are able to research more precisely.

Delay

Because of construction, the research has stopped for a while. As soon as this construction work is completed, the research will go on. The fate of the crew is not known at the moment.

The fact is, two crew members died and were buried at the cemetery in Oberaussem. Another crew member obviously gave himself up to German

soldiers at the manor of “Asperschlag”.

When the Bomber is definitely identified it makes sense to investigate the fate of the

crew!

On 25-Feb-07, at 10:16 PM, Thom Evanson wrote:

Hi Kay

Hopefully you received the translation that Sven sent me. I asked him to translate it into English so I could understand it. I will send it again. We were wondering if Burke was the man that Heinrich Wintz saw land in the parachute and if he wasn't which crew member he thinks it might be?

Thom

On 26-Feb-07, at 9:38 AM, kayMcIntosh wrote:

Anyway what a really tremendous message from you this morning. Burke is absolutely amazed and so grateful for bringing him this last episode of his last flight. You have been able to amass so much of the minutest details. I don't believe we received these before, at least about the use of the parachute.

We did get from you an insertion to get the german language story.

We even got a good laugh at the use of the parachute to make clothes for the family.

Great!

A few changes from Burke's memory.

Yes, he was the one who landed, hid his parachute in a brook and covered it with sods. Then he went into a wooded area and slept for the rest of the night. In the morning he was wakened by a group of Polish women on their way to dig ditches for the Germans.

One of the last of these saw Burke ,who was lying quietly hoping not to be seen, and said to him "Alo estrange" She went down a hill and told the ' wermach'(sp?) two german soldiers, who not knowing if he was dead or alive, went up the hill to see without their guns. When they found him they asked if he wished to go to the

hospital. When Burke said no, he was fine, they took him by the arm and down the hill to get their guns.

They then took him into a small nearby town and turned him over to two blackshirted policemen. An office of authority rode up to them on a bike. He had on a long brown coat swastika on his arm and his hat. He aimed his gun to shoot but the german soldier

stood between them to prevent him from shooting Burke. The airmen had been told that they would scare them first then ask questions.

They then turned him over to interrogation officers.

As you can see this coincides with their remembrances with a few minor changes.

Thanks a million again Thom.

Kay