Unternehmen (Operation) Gisela – The ‘Night of the Intruders’.
This was the brainchild of Luftwaffe commander Joseph Schmid. Even as the allies were closing in on Berlin, it was a way of striking back at the bombers that were still hitting targets in Germany.
Joseph Schmid
In the early hours of 4th March 1945, 117 Junkers JU88 night-fighters of the Luftwaffe Nachtjagdeschwader Gruppen (Night Fighter Destroyer Group) were deployed to intercept allied bombers returning to base, hitting them just before landing.
The intruders crossed the North Sea at very low level at points stretching between the Thames Estuary and up the east coast to North Yorkshire, before climbing to intercept the returning RAF Bomber stream.
Bomber Command missions for that evening was a dual attack on the synthetic oil producing plant at Kamen and a raid on the Dortmund Elms canal. 234 aircraft from the Northern 4 Group took on the first mission, with 222 bombers from 5 Group, Lincolnshire, tackling the canal. At least seven RAF bombers were lost over Germany.
Having claimed Halifax Mk. III PN437 MP-X of 158 Squadron from RAF Lissett, Hauptmann Johann Dreher of 12 NJG, targeted the French 346 “Guyenne” Squadron Halifax of Capitaine Paul Notelle, returning to RAF Elvington.
Receiving warning from Elvington’s tower, Notelle headed north for Croft, narrowly escaping the intruder. Enroute, the aircraft was hit three times by fire from the JU88 of Feldwebel Gunther Schmidt, before he successfully belly-landed the burning aircraft at Rockcliffe Farm, Hurworth, Darlington. All crew escaped, but two civilians were killed. Notelle was treated in hospital for head and shoulder injuries, Rear Gunner Lucien Mallia suffered burns to his hands and face with two others suffering minor injuries.
Continuing his attack, Dreher made a strafing pass on Dunnington Lodge, a farmhouse on the edge of the airfield, where he clipped a tree and crashed through one section of the building at 01:51am.
Dunnington Lodge before the crash
Dunnington Lodge the morning after the crash
Farmer Richard Moll, his wife, Helen and daughter in law, Violet died in hospital from their injuries. Violet’s husband Fred Moll saved the life of their three-year old son, Edgar, fighting his way to the outside.
Fred Moll, survivor of the farmhouse
The JU88 came to rest at the junction of the Elvington and Dunnington roads. All four of the crew perished.
This was the last German aircraft to crash on British soil during WWII, preceded by a 7 NJG JU88 crashing at Welton, near Lincoln at 1.48am and 5 NJG JU88 crashing near Halesworth, Suffolk, at 01.37am after killing a USSAF officer at Metfield airbase with a canon blast to the Control Tower. Three Elvington French Halifax were brought down that morning, though with miraculously few casualties. 347 “Tunisie” Squadron lost two aircraft.
One German pilot, Arnold Döring, noted that the instruction to the JU88 crews had been to, ‘not return until all your magazines are empty, with not one single round left’. This explains the low flying actions of the three aircraft which crashed on English soil, as they attacked anything they could, including cars, wagons, locomotives and buildings. This resulted in some 17 civilian deaths and more injuries.
Heroically, Sous-Lieutenant Terrien sacrificed himself by remaining at the controls of his burning Halifax whilst the other six baled out, crashing nearby at Glebe Farm, Sutton on Derwent. In a tragic irony, Capitaine Pierre Laucou, on his first mission, was brought down near Orford Ness, Norfolk. Five crew escaped whilst Laucou, together with his injured Mécanicien, Sgt. Pierre Lemasson, attempted a belly landing but were killed on impact.
Wreckage of 10 Squadron Halifax of RCAF pilot Flt. Lt. Jack Laffoley. He was killed along with another RCAF crewman, P/O L Thorndycraft and 3 other British crew: Sgt. C Finch; F/S P Field and Sgt. E Bradshaw. It crashed at Spellow Hill, near Ripon.
Flt. Lt. Jack Laffoley. He had been completed 38 operations and was due to return to Canada but was called for duty on this night.
RAF Bomber Command lost 24 aircraft to the ‘Intruders’, whilst the Luftwaffe lost 25 aircraft. 98 RAF aircrew were killed, with 14 from the Royal Australian Air Force, two Royal New Zealand Air Force, 14 Royal Canadian Air Force, one USAAF and three French Air Force. 37 Luftwaffe aircrew also perished. One member of the Royal Observer Corps also lost his life and one member of the WAAF was killed at Topcliffe.
The fact that Elvington is the site of the last German WWII fighter to crash over British soil is of international significance and adds to our unique history
The crew of the JU88 were:
Hauptmann Johann Dreher (Iron Cross), Oberfeldwebel Hugo Boker, Feldwebel Martin Bechter, Feldwebel Gustav Schmitz.
Johann Dreher
The German crew were initially buried at Fulford in York before their bodies were moved elsewhere.
You can watch a short film here on YouTube. ‘Operation Gisela – Echoes of a Sacrifice’ is a 24-minute documentary that tells the wider story, with details of the operation from all sides through the remembrance of Jack Laffoley, as a tribute to all affected by events of March 4th 1945.