Nordhausen
3 April 1945 — Nordhausen
- Date
- 3 April 1945
- Target
- Nordhausen, Germany
Narrative
Nordhausen, in the Harz mountains, lay beside the underground Mittelbau-Dora works where V-weapons were built by concentration-camp labour, and served as a barracks and supply town. Bomber Command attacked it on 3 and 4 April 1945, destroying most of the town. Tragically the raids also struck a camp on its edge, killing many of the prisoners the bombers’ war was meant to free — one of the most painful episodes of the final weeks.
Sortie details (which aircraft from which squadron, which crew flew, the outcome) will populate this page once the TNA AIR 27 squadron-diary importer arrives.
The fallen
77 airmen in this archive died on 3 April 1945 or the day that followed. For a raid of this kind these are overwhelmingly the night's losses, though a death-date match is not by itself proof an individual flew this operation.
- Lieutenant Alexander (27)
- Flight Lieutenant Colin Bently Arbon (27)
- Flight Sergeant Sydney Raymond Bacon (21)
- Flying Officer James Arthur Gordon Beck (24)
- Sergeant Lloyd Sinclair Bentley (34)
- Warrant Officer John William Bessant (45)
- Air Sergeant Blatherwick
- Lieutenant Blatt (24)
- Leading Aircraftman John Campbell (30)
- Pilot Officer Elden Fleetwood Carlisle (27)
- Lieutenant Carter (22)
- Flight Lieutenant Philip Edward Cawthorne (23)
- Flight Sergeant Lester Cockerham (20)
- Flight Sergeant John Leo Cooke (19)
- Flight Lieutenant Ronald Edwin Cox (24)
- Second Lieutenant Dalton (20)
- Flight Sergeant Robert Dickie (29)
- Warrant Officer Andrew Stanley Dickson (21)
- Flying Officer Leslie Keith Driver (22)
- Flight Lieutenant Everett Embert Ettinger (22)
- Flying Officer Arthur Benjamin Fischer (21)
- Air Mechanic Fortmann (25)
- Flying Officer Alexander Donald Fraser
- Sergeant Philip Roy Clifford (phil) Freeman (29)
See all 77 who died on 3 April →
Source: Wikipedia — Nordhausen →