Dortmund–ems Canal
23 September 1944 — Dortmund–ems Canal
- Date
- 23 September 1944
- Target
- Dortmund–ems Canal, Germany
Narrative
The Dortmund–Ems Canal carried a large share of the Ruhr’s traffic, including prefabricated U-boat sections, and Bomber Command attacked it repeatedly to drain its embanked sections. On the night of 23/24 September 1944 No. 617 Squadron breached the canal near Ladbergen with Tallboy bombs, draining a long stretch and halting the barge traffic — one of the most effective of the precision attacks on Germany’s inland waterways.
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
116 airmen in this archive died on 23 September 1944 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.
- Corporal James Ernest Allen
- Flight Sergeant David Corry Ardis (28)
- Flying Officer William Baker (22)
- Lieutenant Denys Vincent Bartholomew (24)
- Leading Aircraftman Lawrence Irwin Beach
- Sergeant George Beckoff (20)
- Leading Aircraftman Oliver Eugene Debs Bergen (20)
- Warrant Officer Garth Mervyn Blue (21)
- Flight Sergeant Charles John Brady (25)
- Warrant Officer Class II Brits (22)
- Flying Officer Geoffrey Albert Brown (20)
- Flying Officer Ronald Westland Brown (30)
- Flying Officer Gerald George Bryan
- Leading Aircraftman Robert Thomas Burden
- Flying Officer William Stirling Burns (23)
- Flying Officer Ian Melville Campbell (23)
- Corporal William Howard Campbell (26)
- Squadron Leader Albert Ferdinand Cave (43)
- Aircraftman 1st Class Robert Barcham Chandler (39)
- Leading Aircraftman Joseph Adelard Real Chevrier (29)
- Flight Sergeant John Frederick William Clarke (22)
- Pilot Officer Henry Everest Colman (19)
- Flying Officer John James Condon (24)
- Flight Sergeant Simon Pierre Cormier (23)
See all 116 who died on 23 September →
Source: Wikipedia — Dortmund–Ems Canal →