Aarhus: The University Raid

By Paul Sortehaug.

Paul Sortehaug recounts an epic tale of outstanding flying skill and courage in which men of RAF No. 2 Group successfully attacked the Gestapo headquarters in Aarhus in Denmark in late 1944.

The origins of the Royal Air Force’s No.2 Group predate World War 2. The Group was in action on the very first day of the war, and subsequently established a proud and rich history throughout the conflict. However, nothing in the Group’s history fires the imagination more than its precision bombing raids against Gestapo headquarters during the last two years of the war. Three of these remarkable raids took place in Denmark, the first of which was directed at Aarhus, a town located on the country’s east coast.

Towards the end of 1944, the Gestapo, which had set up residence in the university buildings in the heart of the town, was beginning to apply extreme pressure on the Danish resistance movement. In mid-October, the resistance leader in Jutland requested the immediate bombing of the two sections of the college that he knew housed incriminating records; he believed it would relieve pressure on the movement. Information was supplied to the 2nd Tactical Air Force, identifying the target buildings and describing the extent of anti-aircraft defences, which, thankfully, were sparse.

Such a raid required the kind of pinpoint accuracy that only low-level bombing could provide and ruled out either high or medium-level bombing. The RAF’s 2 Group, which included two Wings equipped with MkVI Mosquitoes, was immediately brought into play. Because 140 Wing had a track record in these sorts of raids, it therefore fell to the crews of its three squadrons, 21 (RAF), 464 (RAAF) and 487 (RNZAF), to carry out the task. Despite the urgency, several days of unfavourable weather resulted in the operation being temporarily deferred.

At the time, 140 Wing, which was accommodated under canvas at Thorney Island near Portsmouth in Hants, was under the command of Group Captain Peter Wykeham-Barnes, with “Reg” Reynolds as its Wing Commander Flying. Both these Englishmen had wonderful wartime records and were revered for their fine leadership qualities.
In the days preceding the operation, Mosquito crews were subjected to an inordinate number of cross country flights, a situation that did not enthral too many of the old hands, including Flight Lieutenant Bill Kemp from 487 Squadron, who recorded:

“It seems stupid to me—all these cross countries. It may be okay for new crews to have one or two to engender a bit more confidence in themselves for map reading and navigation, but apart from this, I cannot see that it serves any good purpose at all.’

However, barely a day or two after Kemp had expressed these thoughts, the reason for the training became clearly obvious. On the evening of 30 October, there was a briefing—complete with a detailed miniature model of the target area. Flying Officer John Coe, one of the New Zealand navigators present, recalled:

“We were told on Monday afternoon to report to the Wing Ops room at 1825 hours for briefing for a very special daylight operation. Completely veiled in secrecy, we entered the room and I saw, on the board, the crew detail. The first box was to be led by W/C Reynolds and S/L Sismore; the second, 21 Squadron under W/C Dale; the third, 487 Squadron under W/C Porteous and the fourth, 464 Squadron led by W/C Langton. (This may have been the arrangement on the noticeboard but 464 Squadron preceded 487 Squadron into the attack—PS). The target was to be the Gestapo Headquarters at Aarhus, in Jutland, and the operation had to be carried out soon, as in that building was the documentary evidence to condemn the 1,000 Danes recently arrested in Copenhagen with the Free Danish Movement.”

The plan was for crews to fly to Swanton Morley, in Norfolk, to refuel and obtain up-to-date “gen”, and that is exactly what happened at 0700 hours on the morning of 31 October.

Each Mosquito carried two 500 lb bombs in its bomb bay, and auxiliary fuel tanks on its wings; the sortie was expected to take some six hours. An aircraft from the Australian squadron, crewed by Flight Lieutenants Craig Timoney and “Ned” Hammat, suffered a bird strike and had to be replaced by one of the New Zealand reserve crews, Flight Lieutenant George Thorpe and Flying Officer “Lofty” Pountney. By 0930 hours, the operation was underway and the Mosquitoes crossed the English coastline in perfect formation at low level and under strict radio silence, commencing the 90-minute sea crossing.

The 24 bomb-carrying Mosquitoes were accompanied by a Mosquito IV belonging to the RAF Film Unit, and this was crewed by Flight Lieutenant “Titch” Hanafin and Flying Officer Lee Howard. Howard had been a pre-war newsreel cameraman and was frequently used by the RAF in the capacity of cameraman-navigator. A fighter escort in the form of eight Mustangs IIIs from 315 (Polish) Squadron was also provided.

Despite encountering a fairly strong north-easterly wind, the landfall was good and was made just south of Ringkobing Fiord on the Danish west coast. Here, while skimming across the countryside towards Torring (the rendezvous point), the weather became quite patchy, with cloud down to 1,000 feet and visibility restricted to between two and three miles. This was perfect for the raiders and made interception by enemy fighters unlikely.

The low-level nature of the raid necessitated the bombs being armed with 11-second delay fuses; timing was critical for fear the aircraft themselves would be hit by the explosions or debris. At the designated rendezvous, the first box (or wave) of six aircraft made for the target while the second, third and fourth boxes went into orbit. After one orbit, the second box detached; after another, the third and after the final orbit, the fourth box. This provided the necessary separation between the four formations.

The leading six crews into the target were Reynolds/Sismore, Carlisle/Ingram, Embry/Clapham, Shrimpton/Lake, Denton/Coe and Thorpe/Pountney. In his memoirs, Air Vice-Marshal Embry recalls approaching the university well below the level of the roof and that he had to pull up to clear it as he released his bombs. He noticed that the aeroplane to his right actually touched the roof, knocked off half its elevator and tail wheel and had a gash in the bottom of the fuselage, in which was lodged a lump of masonry! That aircraft was crewed by two New Zealanders from 487 Squadron, Squadron Leader Frank Denton and Flying Officer John Coe, the latter elaborating:

“Being No. 5, we could see the eight bombs of the planes ahead going into the university building as we let ours go and simultaneously saw a man start firing out of a window in the right hand building with a machine gun. Squadron Leader Denton immediately retaliated by putting our nose down and firing our four Brownings and by the time he started to pull up to clear the roof of the target, we were dangerously low and close. It appeared to me to be impossible for the plane to get up over the roof so the resulting crash was not unexpected. Ricocheting up to 200 feet or so, the engines seemed okay, though the control column was jammed forward and required brute strength to be kept in the position for level flying. The propellers didn’t appear bent and we weren’t losing petrol, so Squadron Leader Denton decided to go home in preference to going to Sweden, as instructed to do under the circumstances.”

Despite Denton and Coe’s predicament, almost total surprise had been achieved with very little enemy response. Even the later boxes experienced little return fire.

The third wave to attack was464 Squadron. Once the squadron had got to Denmark, Wing Commander Langton took up a position at the rear of the box leaving his number-two—Squadron Leader Syd Clayton and his navigator Flight Sergeant Hugh Morrison—to take the lead. Morrison continues:

“We experienced no fire, no anything—no one bothered us. We had no problems at all. We had been briefed to come along a road that led straight to the target and I had no trouble getting onto this road, nor Syd flying along it. It was low-level the whole time. Some of the rear aircraft may have got into trouble, but we didn’t—it was complete surprise. We got direct hits. When we looked back, of course we could see that we had hit the target and that it was burning. We just stayed at low-level and went home. Once we got away from Denmark, we were not greatly worried. I don’t believe anyone was lost. Sid Clayton did three tours as a navigator and won the DSO, DFC and DFM. He had been given the opportunity of re-mustering as a pilot and he got another DFC for this raid.”

Another aircraft in the Australian box was crewed by Kiwis Bill Henderson and Jack Hawke, who reported that “the bombs were rolled in practically through the front door.” By the time they arrived over the target, there was little to be seen but a column of smoke and dust, into the middle of which they dropped their bombs.

It was a similar story for the New Zealand squadron which came at the rear. Bill Kemp and his English navigator Eddie Heap went in alongside the British crew of Lew Thomas and Peter Humphry-Baker. Kemp’s resumé of the operation was brief:

“We orbited the wrong rendezvous and when our turn came to set off to bomb the target, we got off track. However, we eventually got up on it okay and went in and bombed. I shot up a railway engine on the way out again, or at least tried to. My navigator’s map reading was very good over there, as it usually is. Wing Commander Thomas lost an engine and set out for Sweden.”

The Mosquitoes returned to England in relatively orderly fashion. Crews varied their outward track slightly in order to avoid the odd flak pit that they had encountered on the inward flight. Even Denton and Coe—though under great strain—were able to maintain formation. Coe assisted his pilot in flying all the way home by taking some of the pressure on the stick. When they reached Swanton Morley, they managed to get their wheels down with the emergency supply pump and made a flapless landing. A number of other crews also landed there through petrol shortage.

As raids go, Aarhus was a superbly planned and executed affair, with just one aircraft failing to return. Photographs showed that the targeted buildings had been completely destroyed, while the surrounding area was seemingly untouched. However, one report indicated that the nearby goods station sustained a little damage, and there were a few civilian casualties—caused when a bomb landed on private property. Shortly afterwards, some captured mail—from an SS officer addressed to a colleague—contained information on enemy casualties and gave an insight into the distress the attack had caused them. Twenty-two Gestapo, including the head of the service, were recorded dead, and others missing and wounded. Some soldiers were also killed. The letter’s writer described it as a terrible disaster, which had affected him deeply.

In contrast, the Danes were delighted, as a steady stream of communications with the British authorities over the next few days testified. They also reported that the head of the Gestapo, who they described a “Kriminal Rat”, was amongst the dead.
Amongst the prisoners held by the Gestapo in the complex were some survivors. An almost miraculous account was given by—of all people—a clergyman, Pastor Harald Sandbaek. He had been arrested on trumped-up charges of murder and sabotage, and subsequently endured being handcuffed, whipped and tortured.

“I was to be finally interrogated by Werner, the deputy commander for the Gestapo in Aarhus, and his two assistants. Suddenly, we heard the whine of the first exploding bomb, while the planes thundered across the university. Werner’s face was as pale as death from fright. He and his assistants ran out, without thinking of me. I saw them run down the passage to the right, and I instinctively went down to the left. This saved my life. Shortly afterwards, the whole building collapsed. Werner and his assistants were killed. I heard two bangs and everything went blank. When I awoke again, I was buried under bricks. I could move my right arm. Near me, I saw one of my torturers with his head crushed, and a little way away, a Dane cried “Oh God, let me die.” I tried to say the Lord’s Prayer with him. I thought we would die. They dug us out and laid us with other wounded men. Here I lost consciousness. When I came to, I was surrounded by Danes. I begged them to give me a poison pill, as I would rather die than be taken by the Gestapo again, but they told me that I would not die and that I was among friends. They were young patriots who had found me and had now taken me to safety.”

Pastor Sandbaek was whisked away during the confusion and later resurfaced in Stockholm, Sweden, where his story unfolded.

There was more good news to come. Word was received that Lew Thomas and his navigator had landed safely in Sweden and that efforts were being made towards their repatriation. This was especially satisfying as, 36 hours before taking off on the raid, Thomas’ wife had produced a son, and Thomas had turned down leave to take part in the operation. He and Humphry-Baker arrived home three weeks later.

PARTICIPATING AIRCREW AND AIRCRAFT:

First Wave: HQ 140 Wing.
Wing Commander R W Reynolds/Squadron Leader E B Sismore (HX920/M)
Squadron Leader A F Carlisle/ Flying Officer N J Ingram (PZ306/Y)
Air Vice-Marshal B E Embry/Squadron Leader P Clapham (PZ222/H)
Flight Lieutenant W K Shrimpton/Pilot Officer P R Lake (NS890/B)
Squadron Leader F H Denton/ Flying Officer A J Coe (PZ332/A)
Flight Lieutenant G D Thorpe/Flying Officer N Pountney (PZ330/V)

2nd Wave: 21 (RAF) Squadron.
Wing Commander I G Dale/Flying Officer K A Hackett (PZ314)
Squadron Leader A C Henderson/Flight Lieutenant W A Moore (NT200/E)
Flight Lieutenant J Martin/Flight Sergeant H Herman (PZ304/)
Flight Lieutenant D C McNeil/Flying Officer G D Leech (NT170/N)
Flying Officer I Bellis/Flying Officer S W Moulds (LR353)
Pilot Officer J H Robertson/ Flight Sergeant E F Sewell (PZ316)

3rd Wave: 464 (RAAF) Squadron.
Wing Commander A W Langton/Flying Officer D S Bedford (NS994/F)
Squadron Leader S Clayton/Flight Sergeant H V Morrison (NS943/N)
Squadron Leader E H Dunkley/Flying Officer L C Webb (NS896/D)
Flight Lieutenant W C Henderson/Warrant Officer R J Hawke (HR352/S)
Flying Officer R Johnston/Flying Officer C J H Turner (LR256/R)
Flight Sergeant J R Mulligan/ Flight Sergeant W Kinloch (HR185/Z)

4th Wave: 487 (RNZAF) Squadron.
Wing Commander R C Porteous/Flight Lieutenant A C Dunn (HR182/O)
Flight Lieutenant A S Anderson/Flying Officer J W Taylor (NS981/B)
Group Captain P G Wykeham-Barnes/Flying Officer E R G Jones (NS840/X)
Flight Lieutenant W P Kemp/Flying Officer E T Heap (PZ195/L)
Wing Commander W L Thomas/Flight Lieutenant P R Humphry-Baker (PZ164/K)
Flight Sergeant S Etherington/Flight Sergeant C A Rattray (NT171/F)

Film Photographic Unit:
Flight Lieutenant B D Hanafin/Flying Officer L Howard (DZ414/O)

Escort: 315 (Polish) Squadron.
Wing Commander K Rutkowski
Flight Lieutenant J Polak
Flying Officer K Stembrowicz
Flying Officer A Czerwinski
Flying Officer B Nowosielski
Flying Officer G Swistun
Flying Officer M Zaleski
Flight Sergeant T Berka

Acknowledgements:
With special thanks to the families of John Coe, George Emerson, Jack Hawke, Bill Henderson and Bill Kemp, and Hugh Morrison.
Publications:
For Your Tomorrow by Errol W Martyn, Gruppen der Bombede Shellhuset by Ove Hermansen, Mission Completed by Sir Basil Embry, The Gestapo Hunters: 464 Squadron RAAF by Mark Lax and Leon Kane-Maguire.