Hitler's Last Day: Minute by Minute: The hidden story of an SS family in wartime Germany by Emma Craigie, Jonathan Mayo
Authors: Emma Craigie, Jonathan Mayo
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Schwebel – ‘one of the most revolting men I have ever seen,’ de Guingand wrote later. At the meeting the Germans agreed to the creation of safe air zones where Allied planes could fly without being attacked.
What has been dubbed Operation Manna is under way. Two RAF Lancasters are now lifting off from their base in Lincolnshire with eight specially built panniers in their bomb bays, containing tea, sugar, dried eggs, tinned meat and chocolate. The crews in the air and those getting ready to fly are apprehensive because the Germans have so far only given a verbal agreement to safe air zones. Flight Sergeant Bill Porter of 115 Squadron recalled, ‘As we crossed the Dutch coast on 29th April we could see the German gunners standing by their guns, but the barrels were horizontal.’
Lancaster pilot Robert Wannop kept a war journal and recalled his first flight, just 500 feet off the ground. ‘Children ran out of school waving excitedly – one old man stopped at a crossroads and shook his umbrella… Nobody spoke in the aircraft. It wasn’t the time for words. My vision grew a little misty. Perhaps it was the rain on the Perspex, perhaps it wasn’t. One building was painted with huge white letters “THANK YOU RAF”. Those brave people who had so often risked their lives to save an RAF aircrew and return him safely to England. Who had spied for us and done countless other deeds that may never be revealed. They were thanking us for a little food. I felt very humble.’
Two days after the Yalta Conference, on 13th February, Robert Wannop had been part of a massive RAF and USAAF bombing raid on the historic city of Dresden. The orders given to him andother RAF pilots were to ‘hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front… and incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do’. Wannop wrote a few days later, ‘Above it all we sat sombre and impassive, each man concentrating on the job in hand. The whole city was ablaze from end to end. It was like looking at a sea of liquid flames, inspiring in its intensity. It was so bright at bombing height that we could easily have read a newspaper.’ The firestorm killed at least 25,000 people. It melted the road surfaces and burned people to cinders
.
At RAF Witchford the Lancaster crews of 115 Squadron are being briefed about their mission. It is a relief for them to be dropping food rather than bombs.
Eighteen-year-old Dutch girl Arie de Jong wrote later, ‘There are no words to describe the emotions experienced on that Sunday afternoon. More than 300 four-engined Lancasters, flying exceptionally low, suddenly filled the horizon. I saw [one] aircraft tacking between church steeples...’
At the end of April and the beginning of May, hundreds of tonnes of food will be dropped over Holland. Some crews tie home made parachutes to the food parcels sent from their families at home and drop them to the starving people below. In among one consignment containing bags of flour and chocolate an airman left a note:
‘To the Dutch people
.
‘Don’t worry about the war with Germany. It is nearly over. These trips for us are a change from bombing. We will often be bringing new food supplies. Keep your chins up. All the best
.
‘An RAF man.’
A few Dutch civilians wear what the USAAF have nicknamed ‘happiness hats’ – brightly coloured headgear made from theparachute silk from downed Allied airmen; they are so bright they can be seen by the low-flying aircraft. The parachutes had been hidden but now are being worn proudly as a sign that they had helped the Allied cause. The crew of one USAAF bomber were flashed by a woman wearing a ‘happiness skirt’ – and no underwear
.
8.15am
Lieutenant Claus Sellier is standing in the lobby of the Hotel Gasthaus Zum Brau, which until yesterday was the temporary German army headquarters for the region. He is now dressed in the full uniform of a member of the
What has been dubbed Operation Manna is under way. Two RAF Lancasters are now lifting off from their base in Lincolnshire with eight specially built panniers in their bomb bays, containing tea, sugar, dried eggs, tinned meat and chocolate. The crews in the air and those getting ready to fly are apprehensive because the Germans have so far only given a verbal agreement to safe air zones. Flight Sergeant Bill Porter of 115 Squadron recalled, ‘As we crossed the Dutch coast on 29th April we could see the German gunners standing by their guns, but the barrels were horizontal.’
Lancaster pilot Robert Wannop kept a war journal and recalled his first flight, just 500 feet off the ground. ‘Children ran out of school waving excitedly – one old man stopped at a crossroads and shook his umbrella… Nobody spoke in the aircraft. It wasn’t the time for words. My vision grew a little misty. Perhaps it was the rain on the Perspex, perhaps it wasn’t. One building was painted with huge white letters “THANK YOU RAF”. Those brave people who had so often risked their lives to save an RAF aircrew and return him safely to England. Who had spied for us and done countless other deeds that may never be revealed. They were thanking us for a little food. I felt very humble.’
Two days after the Yalta Conference, on 13th February, Robert Wannop had been part of a massive RAF and USAAF bombing raid on the historic city of Dresden. The orders given to him andother RAF pilots were to ‘hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front… and incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do’. Wannop wrote a few days later, ‘Above it all we sat sombre and impassive, each man concentrating on the job in hand. The whole city was ablaze from end to end. It was like looking at a sea of liquid flames, inspiring in its intensity. It was so bright at bombing height that we could easily have read a newspaper.’ The firestorm killed at least 25,000 people. It melted the road surfaces and burned people to cinders
.
At RAF Witchford the Lancaster crews of 115 Squadron are being briefed about their mission. It is a relief for them to be dropping food rather than bombs.
Eighteen-year-old Dutch girl Arie de Jong wrote later, ‘There are no words to describe the emotions experienced on that Sunday afternoon. More than 300 four-engined Lancasters, flying exceptionally low, suddenly filled the horizon. I saw [one] aircraft tacking between church steeples...’
At the end of April and the beginning of May, hundreds of tonnes of food will be dropped over Holland. Some crews tie home made parachutes to the food parcels sent from their families at home and drop them to the starving people below. In among one consignment containing bags of flour and chocolate an airman left a note:
‘To the Dutch people
.
‘Don’t worry about the war with Germany. It is nearly over. These trips for us are a change from bombing. We will often be bringing new food supplies. Keep your chins up. All the best
.
‘An RAF man.’
A few Dutch civilians wear what the USAAF have nicknamed ‘happiness hats’ – brightly coloured headgear made from theparachute silk from downed Allied airmen; they are so bright they can be seen by the low-flying aircraft. The parachutes had been hidden but now are being worn proudly as a sign that they had helped the Allied cause. The crew of one USAAF bomber were flashed by a woman wearing a ‘happiness skirt’ – and no underwear
.
8.15am
Lieutenant Claus Sellier is standing in the lobby of the Hotel Gasthaus Zum Brau, which until yesterday was the temporary German army headquarters for the region. He is now dressed in the full uniform of a member of the
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