Lancaster Bomber 514 Squadron

These shoes were new and not worn till I got home. They may have been made in 43 as shown underside. We enjoyed a treat at a sidewalk cafe, first I'd ever seen. This could have been in Orleans where we were welcomed after some suspicious glances. Not much wonder as we were dressed in a great variety of clothing. This would be when we were preparing for our journey westward. We sat at lavish tables and had strong coffee liberally diluted with Calvados. Fourteen of us were assigned to one vehicle, a Dodge tandem truck with benches. This is the one that overturned later on. Hope to locate another piece of German equipment to show you.
Talk later thanks EA Campbell

 

Amazing. The shoes are indeed a relic. I will ask Orleans veterans whether they remember a shoemaker called J. Tachon. This is the kind of stories I like. The local drink you had is called café-calva. It is an old fashioned drink that is still offered to guests in some places. The younger generations does not add Calvados any more (too strong). I didn't know you actually visited Orleans. I know some of you went to Bricy because that's where Joe Foreman met his pilot Robinson who he thought was dead in his crash, but was in fact saved by a farmer. (this frenchman is still alive and is a great man, who fought in the resistance and joined the regular army at the Lorient front in 1944-1945).Please tell us more about your stay in Orleans

 

Skipper I cannot confirm the exact location of these events. I don't wish to disappoint you in having to tell you later that that it was not so. I,m sure some of my books will give the date of the accident in the truck. They told us we were being taken back to near the front lines where the hospital tent was newly located. Again this could be Aug 14th to 16th? I do know the 3rd Army was moving rapidly. We were joking with our Bomb Aimer Chappie about Le Mans when we saw a string of bombs had fallen 2 miles out in the fields. It was our first target back in May.
Thanks for the prompt and meaningful replies.
Cheers Alex Campbell

 

If you were taken back to the the front it was probably LE MANS, especially if it was before August 16th. There were still fights going on in Orleans. I have a hint. The germans at Bricy spend the entire night between August 15th-16th blowing up their depots and buildings. The explosions lasted for hours and could be heard from miles. So if you were around you may have heard these. Another hint: at LE MANS, you were probably offered some Rilettes, which is a local sandwich spray porc meat speciality and easy to recognise because the farmers sealed the jars with the fat , so if you didn't know, you thought somebody had offered you a pot of disgusting fat...

 

Dad sent some images of another memento from WW2, a German backpack. The outer cover of the backpack is hide (horse?)
German Backpack
Anyone seen a backpack like this before?
Dad will post more information about this.

Wayne

 

Backpack: This unit displays expert workmanship. It had been used at one time and is still in good shape. There was a name scribed in ink which has now completely ceased to exist. The only markings consist of three lower case letters- eee- with the number 43 right below. They are clearly stamped into the wide black leather near the horse hide.This pack also was found in Freteval Forest.
It must have been Rilettes we had. A farm lady came out with a stone or earthen tub some 4 inches wide. Under a thick layer of fat were chunks of preserved pork. They were indeed tasty. Also tasty was our next surprise. A cloth bag containing a ball of cheese was offered to us. The contents had a rather leathery skin. Between this skin and the main ball of cheese was a thin creamy layer. In this layer dwelt a number of tiny wiggly creatures which was rather disconcerting. However we did manage to eat a few with no unpleasant results.You folks help to bring back memories,its interesting. Well time for bed Cheerio Alex Campbell

 

Regarding the cheese with maggots, this site:
Beginner's Guide to French Cheeses
has this reference:
"Be warned, though, that the rinds of very hard, old cheeses become infested with cheese mites, even maggots after aging a year or more, which add a special pungency."

 

Forgive me for again butting into this fascinating thread but the backpack appears to be a standard German army issue M34/M39 'tornister' rucksack.
Cheers,
Adam.

 

Adam,
You are not butting in at all! Searching with your term "tornister" this came up:
Tornister

That most certainly is the backpack and they were used as props in Starwars!

Wayne

 

This is a link to the Le Mans "Rillettes". If the link is in french, there is an English translation link available at the lower left angle of the first page. And guess what: it's also a Canadian specialty called "Creton" in Quebec. You will read that this "could be offered to a guest of honnor"
The German rucksack is a nice relic. You could almost open a private museum with all these items

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rillettes

 

We managed to get some more memorabilia images uploaded:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ewc.hila/1944

The images include some items from my standard RAF issue escape kit and a couple of cigarettes from that period.
The Dalton Dead Reckoning Computer was used to calculate true airspeed, course and altitude.
I'll add more details in a future posting.

 

Those pictures are fascinating. It is like going back in time. Gauloises cigarettes still exist nowadays. I noticed you even have the matches that go with the package. The Dalton computer looks like a quite sophisticated navigation item. It's incredible that you actually kept all these things. Thank you for sharing this personnal collection with us.

 

Escape Kit-1) The large tube was likely tooth paste.
2) The Autostrop razor was made in England. A thin leather strap or belt was looped over a door knob then fed between two rollers on the razor (not visible here).Pulling the strap taught with one hand the razor was then pushed and pulled which flip-flopped the blade with each stroke honing it to a keen edge.
3) A tiny stick of shaving soap is seen next to the razor.
4) Tooth brush bristles must have been bio-degradable. The back may have been of whalebone or ivory.
5) So Gauloises are still available. Starting smoking in 1937 I quit in 1977 before it became a habit.
6) Next,I believe, are two Halizone tablets. While on a daytime journey to Freteval Forest Jonesy and I dissolved four of these in a wine bottle filled with water from a slime covered sheep bucket. We enjoyed it tasting of chlorine.
7) The Dalton computer was widely used in pilot and aircrew training. It strapped on to your leg.
8) The Aircrew Manual I never ran across. I aquired it a few years ago.
Although tardy I must add my congratulations to the composers of this fine new format. I am becoming more and more convinced that I did not win WWII all by myself. I had no desire to join the navy and be trapped underwater in a submarine. The army had powerful tanks but you could be caught inside and incinerated in a "brewup". This has taken long enough.
The hurrier I go the behinder I get. Cheers Alex Campbell

 

Forgot the soap. Bottom right is a grey rectangle. This is a type of soap made from fine sand and I suspect blue clay. Rather than a soapy lather it produced a grey slime which soon gathered in the basin at the Arthurs' house. Hope to send a more explicit photo of the VALET razor. EAC

 

This is absolutely fascinating. The water must have looked disgusting after a few days. I still haven't figured out why water was such an issue at the Arthur's. All the people I talked to said there was plenty of water (remember the Freteval creek) One possibility is that the germans could have suspected a presence if all the sudden farmers multiplied the amounts of water they used . I am about to write a letter to the Mayor of St Cloud and ask him if there are any survivors that would accept to meet me for my next visit.

 

A friend of Dad's posted these remarkeable images from Freteval Forest - "Images of Bill Brayley".
Skipper you may be familiar with these images.
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/messages/viewthumb/34549_yHVcQn1150322749DmnjEH/parm/page/1/15/

Wayne

 

This is absolutely fascinating , like a second Christmas for me. Thank you very much for these treasures. I knew of some of these pictures, but some of them I see for the first time. The Yankus B17 is a gorgeous picture. I immediately recognised a number of Freteval airmen, I will have to compare others with pictures I have. I will focuss on the South African and the Russian. I believe the Russian may in fact be a Russian Pole . Is it ok if I download some of the pictures to show them to local people? I can also confirm that you went eastwards towards Le Mans after the liberation as there are many pictures of the village of BUSLOUP . It's a small place in a valley between two steep hills on the road between Le Mans and Orleans. There is also a great picture of Jo Foreman with his typical moustache. you would recognise him among millions. I am currently working on the air attack of the bridge at Cloyes. I will have more information soon. The letter to St Cloud was posted a few days ago.

 

Skipper67 I thought you would enjoy these photos. Will add what details I can come up with. Must dash right now. Alex Campbell

 

Here is some information about some of the men mentionned on the pictures and who were with you.
1)the Yankus B-17 G OE 4423165 335BS 95FG crashed on March 4th at St Symphorien, Belgium. aircraft attacked while over France , all bailed out , two ended up at Freteval (B. Yankus and Jo Pearson) , probably via the Comete network, the B17 crashed in a field after having hit a roof .the locals were very surprised to find out it was empty and had run out of gas.
2) Evans Wright RCAF and Sam Taylor RCAF were in the same Stirling 218 Squadron, crashed on may 2nd at Poix la Somme (norhthern France) , probably used Comete too.
3) Norm Binnie Rcaf , crashed near Chartres on june 11th . He flew a Halifax and was from 420 Squadron.
4) Bill Bradley RCAF also flew a Halifax and crashed on april 14. he was from 158 Squadron.
5) Joe Foreman RCAF, crashed on July 26th at St laurent, near Orleans . He was from 300 Squadron (Polish) . There were also some non polish crews in this Squadron.

 

Skipper,

The detail you add to these posts is fantastic, linking faces in old photographs to names, squadrons, aircraft and crash sites.
As I mentioned before, forums like this one are becoming important historical documents, with many people - yourself, Erich and others adding details. You can imagine historians in 100 years carefully reading through the information here to recreate this event of the Second World War, accurately and with great detail - St. Cloud, Straßner, The Arthurs, Gauloises cigarettes, J. Tachon - shoemaker, Le Mans "Rillettes", M34/M39 tornistor rucksack, etc. All of these details organized here and in context. Before the Internet, assembling all of this information would have been extremely difficult - if not impossible.

Wayne