The Bombing of the Shellhus on March 21, 1945

[BikerBabe]

Hello again Leif, now I've translated the text on this scan:

Errors (- if any) are mine.

Text in english:

The at the time of the attack on the Shell House, March 21st, 1945, used crews and Mosquitos.

1st attack wave: From HQ and 21 SQN (7 planes)
GC R.N. Bateson SL E.B. Sismore (RS570 EG-X)
SL A.F. Carlisle FL N.J. Ingram (PZ306 YH-Y)
AVM Basil Embry SL P. Clapham (PZ222 OM-H)
WC P.A. Kleboe FO R.J.W. Hall † (SZ977 YH:T)
SL A.C. Henderson FL W.A.Moore (LR388 YH-F)
FL T.M. Hetherington FL J.K. Bell (HR162 YH-H)
and a bomb-carrying, unarmed Cine Mk. IV Mosquito plane
from FPU (Film Production Unit). This plane was flown by
FL Moore and carried the mark P barred.

Second attack wave: From 464 SQN (RAAF). (6 planes)

WC R.W. Iredale FO B.J. Standish (SZ968 SB-X)
FL W.K. Shrimpton FO P.R. Lake (PZ353 SB-G)
FL Thompson SG H.B. Carver (PZ463 SB-J)
FL A.J. Smith FS E.L. Green (PZ309 SB- )
FO R.G. Dawson FO F.T. Murray † (SZ999 SB-P)
FO J.H. Palmer SLT H.H. Becker † (RS609 SB- )

3rd attack wave: From 487 SQN (RNZAF). (7 planes)

WC F.H. Denton FO A.J. Coe (PZ402 EG-X (EG-K?))
FO G.L. Peet FO L.A. Graham (SZ985 EG-M)
FL D.V. Pattison FS F. Pygram † (NT123 EG-Z)
SL W.P. Kemp FL R. Peel (PZ339 EG-T)
FL R.J. Dempsey FS E.J. Paige (PZ462 EG-J)
FL K.L. Greenwood FO Moore (PZ242 EG-P)

and a bomb-carrying, unarmed Cine Mk. IV Mosquito plane
from FPU (Film Production Unit). This plane was flown by
FO Kirkpatrick Underhill.
A few sources states, that the rear Mosquito Mk. IV was flown
by FL K.L. Monahan FL A.W. Dean.

Apart from the two FPU-planes, all of the Mosquitos were of the
type FB Mk. IV, who – apart from the bomb load, also carried
4 cannons and 4 machine guns.

Abbreviations used:
AVM = Air Vice Marshal
FO = Flying Officer
GC = Group Captain
PO = Pilot Officer
SL = Squadron Leader
SQN = Squadron
WO = Warrant Officer
FL = Flight Lieutenant
FS = Flight Sergeant
HQ = Headquarter
SG = Sergeant
SLT = Sub Lieutenant
WC = Wing Commander
RAAF = Royal Australian Air Force
RNZAF = Royal New Zealand Air Force

YH = 21 SQN
OM = 107 SQN
SB = 464 SQN
EG = 487 SQN
P barred = ? SQN

Wow. Just wow. This is pretty silly, but I'm actually tearing up a bit as I scan over all of this. I don't think my gramps had any idea so much information existed, so many pictures, even video... and possible connections with people so familiar with the events. I had no idea. He would have loved to have seen all of this. He passed away just 4 years ago, in 2006.

To all of you, thank you so much for all of your posts. I want to take some time this weekend to study all of this much more carefully.

Airframes - thank you so much for shedding so much light on these events for me. I've searched online for details in the past, but never had I imagined there was so much to learn. Your work of art is wonderful.

BikerBabe - I have to say, I am very pleased to make your acquaintance.

I am leaving to visit my parent in a few hours. This weekend I'm going to try to dig through my grand fathers pictures to see if I can find some of the pictures I recall seeing. Some of the photos he has are ones that have been published. I suspect others have not been published anywhere. Some are shots that feature himself and other officers, on duty. Plus some photos from his days in the army and as a royal guard.

My grandfather's best friend 'Ras' Rassmussen (sp), who was also a police officer, was taken to Buchenwald. He survived the camp, and lived a long life afterward. I have some pictures of him with his dogs (he was a dog handler). His family stayed in Denmark, while my grandfather left the police force in 1949 (took 1 year leave, then quit officially in 1950), and moved his family to Canada.

Somewhere I have a tape recording of my grandfather recounting many of the events of these times. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate it in the last couple of years. My plan was to transcribe our discussions into writing, when I can locate it. But I do still recall many details.

I also know my grandfather was involved in protecting Jewish Danes and even smuggling some from Denmark to Sweden. He was very proud of their efforts. He also knew something first hand of collaborators who were executed by resistance fighters. Unlike other people I know who did not like to speak of WWII, my grandfather was very willing to talk, but he was not untouched by the events. I recall him telling me about the fire fight with the Germans during the police round up. He said that it was the easiest thing to do, to point your gun at another person, and pull the trigger. But tears welled up in his eyes as he said it.

I have so many items here that my grandfather kept, and many I know little about. My mother was born in Copenhagen in 1943, and she is able to roughly translate some things. But not that much, as she been speaking English since they moved to Canada in '49. For instance, I know we have a sort of old 'memorial' book that lists all of the captured Danish Police officers, who survived, who died where. So many died in Buchenwald. There are many little things, booklets, badges, pieces of uniforms, etc.

Here are some shots of my grandfather's police driver's license, his hat, and whistle, which we still have.

I am sorry so much of my post goes off topic of the Shell building attack.

Leif

...and I am very please to "meet" you online, sir.
Funnily enough, my father's name is also Leif - Leif Andersen, though. Just a funny coincidence.
And now I'm going to go even more OT.

I've found two police officers named Rasmus Rasmussen on the Buchenwald Prisoner's List that I've got; Rasmus Bondo Rasmussen and Rasmus Carl Rasmussen.
"Ras" and "Rasser" is a common danish abbreviation for the name "Rasmus".
One of these gentlemen must've been your father's colleague who survived the KZ Camp.

The danish police officers captured by the germans on sept. 19th, 1944, were first sent off to Neuengamme, and later moved to Stutthof, before being sent off to Buchenwald.
The only reason why so many police officers actually survived, was because their status was changed from ordinary KZ-prisoners, to POWs (- with rights as POWs) due to massive pressure from the danish authorities, and the crazy fact that most were "aryans".

Thus many survived the camps because of the fact that the danish Red Cross were allowed to send them packages with clothes, medicine, cigarettes and food, which were much valued:
The medicine got stolen by the germans to use for their own troops, the cigarettes were used to trade for other items and services and to bribe guards and other prisoners with, and food and clothes - indispensable items in these camps - secured the survival of many prisoners, and not just the police officers.

My colleague Poul Fjeldgaard got ill while being in Buchenwald, he suffered from severe headaches and fever. Some of his colleagues gathered their ration of cigarettes to bribe guards with, and managed to sneak him into another part of the camp, where there was a russian ear/nose/throat specialist imprisoned. The russian diagnosed Poul, and performed a sinus puncture on him with a sharpened motorcycle wheel spoke, thus saving his life for a pack of paté or something like that.
So cigarettes and whatever little food they could gather, often meant the difference between life and death for people in those camps.

Recently, an elderly gentleman - Stephan Erdös - donated 10.000 DKK to the Police Museum in Copenhagen as thanks. He had been a prisoner in Buchenwald as a boy, and the danish police officers had helped him survive by feeding him, taking care of him and looking out for him and hundreds of other children in the camp, by smuggling food into the children's barracks, even though the officers needed the food themselves.

So I've got a healthy, big respect for anyone that survived the KZ-camps.

If you've got some names from the danish resistance fighter groups that your father either were in or worked with, I'll be happy to see if I can find any information on their work and their lives for you.

Your grandfather has got my deepest respect.
Helping people escape to Sweden was very dangerous, because the germans knew that the traffic of smuggling people was going on, so they patrolled the harbours and the strait between Denmark and Sweden - thank God you can get very far with a healthy bribe during wartime, even with the germans back then. Many were captured by germans who didn't take a bribe, though, and many lost their lives, both jews and resistance fighters, fishermen who sailed people to Sweden - and others.

And being a resistance fighter definitely meant living on borrowed time back then.
Many were captured, "interrogated" by the Gestapo and then executed, so your grandfather must've been both clever and lucky.
I certainly don't blame him from showing his emotions when talking about those dark times in his life - he has seen friends and colleagues getting captured, knowing what that meant: Torture and death.

And executing snitches - well, for many resistance fighters it was a "part of the business", but even today, many old resistance fighters has had a very hard time dealing with the fact that they've killed other people, even though it was to save the lives of others.

 

[BikerBabe]

So I've got a healthy respect for your grandfather, may he rest in peace, God bless him.
Lord knows he has seen enough of war, death and suffering during his years on this planet.

I'll be happy to help with translating documents and articles, if you need it, and I'll see if I can find your grandfather's register card and any other information, at the Police Museum for you, when I get back to work on monday.
Our expert on these matters, Jørgen Aasberg, meets in on tuesday, so I'll talk with him to see what we can dig up for you.

Happy new year,

Maria.

 

[Airframes]

Excellent info Maria. I'll dig out the names of the Resistance people I met in 1995, one of whom was a Policeman. I was honoured to also meet Ole Lippman and, on the occassion of his 80th birthday, Sven Truelsen , at a private family celebration.

 

[TheMustangRider]

Leif, I really don't have anything to contribute to this interesting discussion but let me congratulate you for the hero you had as your grandfather.
I have the utmost respect for those like your grandfather whom risked their lives to defend the defenseless.
May he rest in peace and God bless his soul.

 

[BikerBabe]

Excellent info Maria. I'll dig out the names of the Resistance people I met in 1995, one of whom was a Policeman. I was honoured to also meet Ole Lippman and, on the occassion of his 80th birthday, Sven Truelsen , at a private family celebration.

I've managed to find Ole Lippman in the Danish Resistance Fighters' database at the danish National Museum's Freedom Museum database, but there are three resistance fighters named Svend Truelsen: One in Copenhagen, one in London and one in Bolderslev. Do you happen to know in which part of the country your Svend Truelsen was active?

Ole Lippman's data from the database, hence the repeated titles and work tasks:

Code names: Starch, Sølling.
DoB: April 25th, 1916.
DoD: Sept. 3rd, 2002.

Director, major, anaestethic assistant (sp? title?), major (SOE), leader of the paratroopers, managing director, Copenhagen.

Notes:
01-1945-1945 only mentioned once.
Feb. 10th, 1945: Arrived to Denmark via Sweden.
Replaced Flemming B. Muus as leader of the paratroopers for the remainder of the war. There's no mention of the time period.
Feb. '45: Dropped over Denmark on the start date.
1943: In the beginning active with the military intelligence service.
To England on Aug. 9th, 1944 and back via Sweden in Feb. 1945.

Organisations:
Dansk Samling (Danish Gathering)
Den militære efterretningstjeneste (The Military Intelligence Service)
Frihedsrådet (The Freedom Council)
K-Udvalget (The K-Committee)
SOE - Special Operations Executive.

Activities with the Danish Resistance Fighters:

Administration
Administration - gathering money to buy weapons in Sweden.
Common illegal activities
Common illegal activities, replacing Flemming B. Muus as head of SOE in Denmark.
Other.
Intelligence.
Intelligence - active in the Military Intelligence Service 1943-1944.
Intelligence - co-operated with the Danish Intelligence Office in Stockholm 1943-1944.
Parachute agent.
Parachute agent - replaced Flemming B. Muus.
Parachute agent - leader of the Paratroopers.
Parachute agent - leader of the Paratroopers from Feb. 1945.
Parachute agent - from Feb. 1945 the SOE's danish leader of the Resistance's Command Committee.
Parachute agent - member of the Freedom Council for the SOE.
Parachute agent - Leader of the SOE in Denmark from Feb. 1945 until May 1945. (Didn't get back into Denmark by air, but via Sweden).
Helping escaping resistance fighters.
Courier - buys machine guns in Sweden.
Military group.
Organisation - leader of the SOE from feb. '45.

 

[Airframes]

That's the right stuff on Ole Lippmann, a very courageous man, and a real gentleman.
I'll dig out the info on Svend Truelsen, but he was from Copenhagen, had escaped to London, and was the head of the Intelligence network, working alongside the Government in exile, and the Freedom Council. He was decorated, after the war, by both the british and Danish Governments, as far as I recall. I'm afraid my memory is slacking after almost 16 years!

 

[BikerBabe]

That's the right stuff on Ole Lippmann, a very courageous man, and a real gentleman.
I'll dig out the info on Svend Truelsen, but he was from Copenhagen, had escaped to London, and was the head of the Intelligence network, working alongside the Government in exile, and the Freedom Council. He was decorated, after the war, by both the british and Danish Governments, as far as I recall. I'm afraid my memory is slacking after almost 16 years!

Hi again Terry.

Here's the info that I found on Svend Truelsen:

Code name: David.
DoB: March 23rd, 1915.
DoD: Jan. 21st, 1997.

Lieutenant, secretary (Council of Agriculture), lawyer, High Court lawyer, reserve (eng. word? "reserveofficer"), lieutenant, chief of personnel in "Kødfo" ('can't find anything about "kødfo" online), Copenhagen and Aalborg.
Leader, major, chief, leader of intelligence and espionage.

Notes:
May 1944: Travelled to London in May 1944.
Leader of the military intelligence service, arrived later in London.
Sept. 1944 - Jan. 15th, 1944: Escaped to Sweden at end date.
1943 - May 1945: Had to flee to Sweden in May 1944, after that in London.
1943 - March 21st, 1945: fled to England - date and time not included - and planned the attack on the Shell House on March 21st, at the SOE.

Resistance activities:
Other
Intelligence
Intelligence - chief of The Military Intelligence Service from Aug. 29th, 1943.
Intelligence - rebuilds the entire Military Intelligence Service.
Intelligence - leader of the illegal intelligence service after the escape of the "princes" to Sweden.
Intelligence - leader of the Military Intelligence Service after the dissolution of the General Staff's E-Section on Aug. 29th, 1943, among this the contact to C. C. Scavenius, Klintholm, Møn.
Intelligence - leader of the intelligence work in Denmark, following Otto Kiezner, who had to flee to Sweden.
Intelligence - leader of the Army and Navy Intelligence Service in Denmark from Sept. 1943 until May 1944.
Intelligence - ST managed to build a new and efficient intelligence organization, that reported to "Nielsen Møller" in Stockholm.
Escape aid.
Military group.
Military group - military intelligence service after Aug. 29th, 1943, incl. connection to England.
Organizing.

 

[Zeke_Freak]

Although there was a late intervention by the Luftwaffe (FW190s IIRC)...

Ah, interesting. It may be that grandfather had mistaken a FW190 with a Bf109. He would have probably noticed the difference between allied and axis aircraft, possibly seeing the underside markings - I know he saw the undersides, but I don't think he was that well versed in specific aircraft identification.

If you would like to see some pictures taken at the 50th Anniversary celebrations, I can put a small article together, along with the information on, and reasons for the raid, and post them here in PDF form.

That would be fantastic!


BikerBabe - Thanks so much for your posts, and so much great information. It turns out that Ras' name as I knew it, wasn't his real name. We always knew him as just 'Ras' (they came to visit us in Canada, and my grandparents and mom had visited with his family whenever they returned to Denmark). And his daughter does go by the last name of 'Rasmussen' (sp) But speaking with my mom just now, she says his real name was something else, and there's some confusion about what it was exactly. After dinner we're going to go through some old pictures and we'll look for his proper name as well.

We had a book that showed pictures of all of the police who were taken away, and what became of them. But my mom just told me tonight that last year she took it back with her to Denmark, and gave it to some family members (one of whom is a more recently retired police officer) who going to read it, and then donate it to the police museum.

Also, I wanted to clarify that my grandfathers knowledge of resistance activities may have come from his work as a policeman, and not direct involvement with the resistance personally when he was 'under ground'. He often told me that the police were 'split', with some collaborating, and others who were helping the resistance, and that you had to be very careful who you talked to. (Edit - Correction: Now that I think about it, I think maybe he was referring to people in general, and not the police specifically). From reading I've done, I've learned that at least part of reason (if not the primary reason) the police round up occurred was that the Germans suspected they were working against them and conspiring with the resistance. I'm quite sure my grandfather was involved some how, based on his stories, but he was never very specific about his involvement. For instance, he never directly stated that he officially joined the resistance. But he had all of those photos, and stories, which either came from involvement, or maybe from police investigations before the round up. He did admit involvement with helping the smuggling effort. So there are a lot of 'blank pages' for me, and I would love to get some more information about that if possible. But I'm also not expecting anything.

I know he was almost caught once. If I recall correctly, I think he said he was out on the street after a curfew, and stopped by german patrol. They had a gun to his back, and demanded his papers. This was during the time he was on the run. He told me that he thought for sure they were going to shoot him right there. But they ended up letting him go. He was very fortunate.

Another thing that he related to me that I have never been able to corroborate... according to him, at least some (if not all) of the police rounded up were taken by boat to mainland Germany. There's a story that the skipper of one of these ships was actually ordered to scuddle the vessel, with the prisoners on board. Apparently he ignored that order. I have no other details of this story, but perhaps yourself or someone else might have some more information about this story; if it is true, or how it fits into historical events. For all I know, it could have been a common news story, or even just a rumor.

I will post some more information as I find it. I will be going through pictures shortly to see what I can find.

Leif

 

[BikerBabe]

-cut-
BikerBabe - Thanks so much for your posts, and so much great information. It turns out that Ras' name as I knew it, wasn't his real name. We always knew him as just 'Ras' (they came to visit us in Canada, and my grandparents and mom had visited with his family whenever they returned to Denmark). And his daughter does go by the last name of 'Rasmussen' (sp) But speaking with my mom just now, she says his real name was something else, and there's some confusion about what it was exactly. After dinner we're going to go through some old pictures and we'll look for his proper name as well.

We had a book that showed pictures of all of the police who were taken away, and what became of them. But my mom just told me tonight that last year she took it back with her to Denmark, and gave it to some family members (one of whom is a more recently retired police officer) who going to read it, and then donate it to the police museum.

Also, I wanted to clarify that my grandfathers knowledge of resistance activities may have come from his work as a policeman, and not direct involvement with the resistance personally when he was 'under ground'. He often told me that the police were 'split', with some collaborating, and others who were helping the resistance, and that you had to be very careful who you talked to. From reading I've done, I've learned that at least part of reason (if not the primary reason) the police round up occurred was that the Germans suspected they were working against them and conspiring with the resistance. I'm quite sure my grandfather was involved some how, based on his stories, but he was never very specific about his involvement. For instance, he never directly stated that he officially joined the resistance. But he had all of those photos, and stories, which either came from involvement, or maybe from police investigations before the round up. He did admit involvement with helping the smuggling effort. So there are a lot of 'blank pages' for me, and I would love to get some more information about that if possible. But I'm also not expecting anything.

Another thing that he related to me that I have never been able to corroborate... according to him, at least some (if not all) of the police rounded up were taken by boat to mainland Germany. There's a story that the skipper of one of these ships was actually ordered to scuddle the vessel, with the prisoners on board. Apparently he ignored that order. I have no other details of this story, but perhaps yourself or someone else might have some more information about this story; if it is true, or how it fits into historical events. For all I know, it could have been a common news story, or even just a rumor.

I will post some more information as I find it. I will be going through pictures shortly to see what I can find.

Leif

Hello again Leif, and thanks for the information that you've been providing so far.
You mention that there's a story about the ship that brought a lot of police officers to mainland Germany.

That ship - M/S Cometa - was lying at the wharf in Elsinore, when the german occupying forces seized her.
1689 danish police officers were then brought aboard on Sept. 19, 1944, and sailed to Travemünde in Germany.
The day after, she continued up the river Trave to Lübeck, where the danish police officers were put in the now infamous cattle/cargo cars - 40 of them - on a train that brought them to the KZ-camp Neuengamme.

Poul Fjeldgaard also told me the story about the captain aboard the M/S Cometa, who was ordered to sink the ship mid-sea with all of the prisoners aboard.
He outright refused to do so, and fled as soon as the ship reached Germany.
He later..."disappeared"...in Germany.

About "Operation Möve" - Operation Seagull, not to be confused with the other operation of the same name:
A german refugee, Karl Otto Bakowski, had rented a room in Elsinore, where he managed to discover that the german occupying forces were about to round up the danish police by listening in on the german radio commuications.
He managed to warn people, with the result that most danish police officers managed to escape the germans.
He also managed to gather information on many other of the planned german operations, but he was eventually captured.
Since the germans couldn't prove much, he was sent off to the prisoner camp in Frøslev in southern Jutland, Denmark.
He survived, and later moved home to Germany, where he died in 1965.

On april 9, 1940 on the day of the german occupation of Denmark, it was decided by the danish politicians that the danish police should cooperate with the german forces.

On may 12, 1944, Dr. Werner Best demanded that the danish police should take over the guarding of 57 particular companies and factories.
If this was denied from danish side, the danish police would be reduced to 3000 men. Back then, the danish police force was about 8000 men strong.
The chief of department in the danish foreign ministry, Niels Svenningsen, meant that the demand should be met.
There was a lot of resistance from the various danish police organisations, and it was decided to turn down the "offer". This message was given to Dr. Best on june 6, 1944.
After this, the germans trusted the danish police even less.

It is true that many danish police officers helped or otherwise worked together with the danish resistance fighters, letting people run when they got caught, willfully ignoring evidence and such - but unfortunately a lot also worked together with the germans, selling their own countrymen to the germans, and thus sending people off to a certain and painful death.
You had to be very careful about who you told things, or you might end up getting "picked up" by the Gestapo and interrogated, imprisoned, shot or sent off to a KZ camp.
Even in your own family you couldn't be sure about who you could trust, and who would turn you in; that's how horrible it was back then.

Eventually it was decided from the german side to get rid of most of the danish police - 8000 armed police officers weren't exactly a reassuring thought to the germans, now that the tide was turning against them in late 1944, and so they sent most of the danish police officers off to Buchenwald.

Fortunately, "only" between 61 and 91 officers died in german captivity (the numbers vary in my sources, I'll see if I can find a more exact number) - the first officer to die in german captivity, was an elderly officer, who had a heart attack aboard M/S Cometa, while on the way to Germany.

161 officers died after the war due to untreated diseases, or diseases they've gotten in Buchenwald, or from the strenuous conditions they lived under while in the camp.
The remaining officers (1967 police officers) survived.

About your grandfather:
See what you can find out about him and his life, dig up some data, and I'll see what I can dig up here.

Cheers,

Maria.

 

[mhuxt]

What a thread!

 

[Zeke_Freak]

Thank you BikerBabe; what fantastic information. I am actually quite suprised and relieved at the death toll from Buchenwald. In this book that my family had, each of the officers was pictured, with their name, and some other info including when and where they died. So many in the book had died at Buchenwald. It seemed like many more than the statistics show. Of course, I did not count them.

Some time ago I heard about the Danish Police Museum. When I get to Denmark, I plan to visit.

My grandfather's full name was Theodor Marinus Nielsen, born March 23, 1919 in Thestrup. I believe he joined the police force in 1943, though it could have been a bit earlier. He was in the army in 1939, and was a Royal Guard before becoming a police officer.

As for 'Ras', I found that his proper name is 'J. P. Løkkegaard'. I am not sure yet what the J.P. stands for. His daughter's married name is Rasmussen, which is why the confusion. Everyone just called him 'Ras'. I recall my grandpa talking abot how very skinny he was on returning from Buchenwald, like a skeleton with skin. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I guess he was very sickly thin.

As for the pictures, I found many of them. But I am still unable to locate a number that I recall quite vividly. For instance, Ras with his police dog. His dog had been credited with saving a number of people in its career. Also, I have not yet found the pictures of the men in civilian clothes and weapons, who my grandfather mentioned were resistance fighters.

Here are some scans I made tonight, of just a few of them:

I am not sure if this first batch were ever published any place. They were mostly taken after the Germans had left Denmark, and the police were at work rounding up collaborators. I know they also had to disarm some Germans who had not left. They had collected a small mountain of German weapons, helmets, uniforms and other stuff they had confiscated. He kept a few things, but lamented that he had not kept more of it. I believe my grandpa said that one of the buildings in the background was a police building. My grandpa appears in all of the photos.

Group Picture of Danish Police
Posing with dark colored police car My grampa is standing at back, far left.
Loaded into light colored car My grampa is in the front passenger, with gun over windshield.
White car #2
White car #3
Posing in regular police uniforms
Hats off group shot My grandpa is back, far left.



This next batch I believe may have been published elsewhere. My grandfather knew the photographer and got a bunch of pictures from him. Many show Danish police working with German troops, I'm guessing between 1943-44 (total guess)? One or two I believe are fairly well known images. For instance, the danish police and german officer questioning a woman because she is wearing a hat that demonstrates support for the allies.

Warning... the some of the following pictures show some injured people and may be disturbing to some.

Picture #1 - Crowds of people
Picture #2 - Police and Germans, crowd control?
Picture #3 - Police and Germans, crowd control?
Picture #4 - Public disturbance?
Picture #5 - More of the same...
Picture #6 - Danish police german officer stop woman wearing objectionable hat
Picture #7 - German, Roughing someone up?
Picture #8 - Carrying injured man
Picture #9 - Man bleeding from the head
Picture #10 - Danish police with injured man

My mom found a few pictures that I haven't seen before, of people hanging out in shacks, in the woods. She seems to think they were taken of my grandfather and others who were in hiding in 1944-45. My grandfather never mentioned them to me, so I have no idea. I might scan these ones later.

I recall another story you may be familiar with. My grandfather mentioned one man who worked as a gunsmith, and he was also working against the Germans. He said that many Germans came to Denmark on leave, or to rest recover. They often used the services of the gunsmith to have weapons personalized for themselves or as gifts. Apparently a customized luger was a popular gift for German officers. This man would modify the guns to reduce their effectiveness, fail sooner, or even reduce the muzzle size to cause them to blow up in their faces when fired. Again, I have no idea how accurate the story is. It would seem to me that he couldn't do it too often if he didn't want to be caught.

Leif

 

[Zeke_Freak]

Airframes, would I be correct if I were to guess that you have at least one model of a Mossie in your house?

Your painting made me think that, if I should attempt a Mosquito model... maybe I will build it after one of the planes in this raid. But for now, I must focus on projects at hand.

Leif

 

[Airframes]

This is an excellent thread!
First, Maria, yes, that's the Svend Truelsen I met - good work getting the background.
Zeke, first, any intervention from the Luftwaffe was, as I recall, against the RAF Mustang fighters, after the attack, away from the city. One Mosquito ditched off the coast of Sweden, which might have been due to an FW190, but I'd have to check. The crew of this aircraft got out after ditching, but were lost, and the wreck was discovered in the 1990s.
I'll put together an account of the raid, and the 50th anniversary event, and post it on the forum, possibly under a separate thread if that's OK?
Funnily enough, I have only one model of a Mosquito at present, a late Mark XVI bomber version, but when the Revell 1/32nd scale kit is eventually re-released, I'll be converting one to a FBVI, flown by Bob Kirkpatrick on Christmas Eve, 1944. I also intend to build a 1/48th scale FBVI as the lead aircraft (Bateson/Sismore) on the raid.

 

[Njaco]

Best thread in a while!

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Agree - excellent!!!!

 

[Zeke_Freak]

I found the picture of 'Ras', with one of his dogs. I believe this is likely an older picture from before the police round up in 1944, as it certainly wasn't taken soon after Ras' return from Buchenwald. So likely either early 40's or late 40's.

Ras trained dogs for police work, and some of his k-9 partners were quite remarkable. One dog, 'Rex', was credited with saving several lives. My mom can't recall which dog it was, but apparently one of them was able to tell whether a person a was dead or alive, and as one story goes, saved someone because they were written off as dead, but the dog grabed them by the wrist, the indication that they were still alive.

His daughter is still in Denmark, and I think I will try to contact her for some better information about Ras and his dogs.

Leif

 

[Maximowitz]

I agree with all here, without doubt an excellent and informative thread.

 

[Airframes]

Hopefully, you will enjoy the attached. I apologise for the format, and the fact that it is mainly concerned with the production, and the background to my painting, but I assembled this a couple of years ago, as a 'legacy' for my daughter, who knows little of my past.
It is rather 'long-winded in parts', but hopefully will give some insight into the operation, and the research undertaken by Derek Carter, which eventually led to the true story of 'Operation Carthage' being revealed.
The photographs included were all taken during the 50th Anniversary Commemoration, and I apologise for the mediocre quality of some, which have been scanned from 'copies of copies' of the original prints.
The intention here is to show the depth of research undertaken by Derek Carter, and the almost unbelievable feat of arms accomplished by all those involved in the attack on the Shell House, and again, I apologise for the fact that it may seem I am 'blowing my own trumpet', as it were.
The main theme of the story shows how involved Derek's research was, and how important the requirements, and the ultimate attack, actually were - a fact normally only briefly acknowledged, being so late in the war, in most accounts covering this chapter of World War Two.
Rather than 'clutter' this fantastic thread, I've made this in PDF format, for ease of viewing at your leisure.

 

[Zeke_Freak]

Rather than 'clutter' this fantastic thread, I've made this in PDF format, for ease of viewing at your leisure.

Thank you so much!

Terry, your posts are the heart of this thread. While the PDF is handy, and certainly appreciated, I'd like to point out that there's no possible way your story could be considered 'clutter' to this thread.

I sat myself down for the last couple of hours and took in every word (I'm a slow reader; deliberately so). It was a fantastic read and I really appreciate you taking the time to share the story of your painting. It also gives some great insights in the raid itself, and the story behind the 50th anniversary commemoration. It's funny how life can sometime be such that one person's idea, shared with others, can grow almost organicly, and suddenly becomes something wonderful that, on our own, we couldn't have imagined.

I love the resulting memorial. Very fitting.

A fantasic story, for a fantastic painting. It was very much appreciated by myself, and I think your daughter will one day appreciate having these words to give her insight into her dad's past.

One small correction if you're interested, but certainly not something you need bother with... a meer historical correction of the smallest proportions. Technically speaking the Internet was around back then. The term 'Internet' simply refers to the physical infrastructure - the array of interconnected computers. It's official name back then was ARPANET, but it certainly wasn't the well known household resource its become today. It's been around since about 1970, and the first email was sent in something like 1971. It was just the World Wide Web (WWW), a service that uses the Internet (the service we all know love), that didn't exist back in the 70's 80's. It's probably just term confusion, and you probably already knew this, but I thought I would just point it out. Many people either forget, or simply don't realize, that the terms 'Internet' and the 'WWW' don't mean the same thing, and are not interchangable. I'm one of those vastly over rated computer geeks that spent far too much time in college studying computer science and theory. But being that I also have a strong interest in all things historical, I seem to have relished computer history in the same way.


I was pondering something earlier today, and after reading your story, I'm even more curous about this. Just what sort of work was done to gather the Intel needed for this operation. For instance, it was known through intelligence reports that the danish prisoners were being held in cells on the 6th floor. But what it must have taken to have gotten this information! I'm sure it wasn't common for the Gestapo to just set people free who had been held inside, and who could speak first hand about the building and location of prisoners. So I'm guessing that someone had to enter the building specifically with the purpose of obtaining this sort of Intelligence info. Does that level of knowledge about the intelligence gathering specific to this operation actually exist? For instance, I think you mentioned that Derek managed to access some first hand account of intelligence operatives, and official reports. Do you know if theses discussions and the reports actually go into that much detail?

Not that I'm expecting someone to provide this information specificly; I'm just curious about the intelligence gathering end of things. Also, do you know if it was typical in most RAF bombing missions to have that level of intelligence before the mission was undertaken?

Leif

 

[ivanotter]

Hi all,

For once, I can provide some info.

I was born in Denmark, so I have some knowledge on this one:

1) The hat the lady is wearing: That one (I have seen some in my very early childhood) was a knitted cap in the RAF colours, like a RAF Roundel. The Germans didn't like that one.

Also, the situation before the police got arrested was that the police would be accompanied by a German soldier, and i think it was Gestapo or SS, but i am not so sure on that.

After the police got arrested and deported, the HIPO (Hilfspolizei) came into being. Hipo could be seen as wearing SS like uniforms, but typically with officers caps with white covers.

Those were Danes, btw, and a special nasty breed.

I think you have a pic of one or two of them, but it is difficult to see clearly.

The whole thing got a bit muddled towards the end where the Freekorps Denmark got dissolved and a lot of the personnel got enrolled into Schalburg Corps and some got into the real terror groups (Peter Group, Lorentzen, Schalburg etc).

The remainder got transferred into SS regiment either Nordland or Courland.

My professor in Copenhagen (chemistry) used to do explosives (so the story goes) for the resistence movement and lost a couple of fingers in the process. I do remember his lectures very well: It was not a good lecture unless it would say BANG.

In the very last weeks or days, a lot of the German refugees from East Prussia got transferred to Denmark. My mom (together with her class mates) thought it very funny to go down to the train station to laugh at them. That lasted until she had a gun in her back and was told that this was the last warning. She decided that a good laugh was not worth dying for.

The story goes that my grandfather, an aggressive farmer in Jutland, took offense when the germans digged fox holes in his field. First he let the big bull loose. When that got cleared up, he covered up all the fox holes during the night. After a couple of those "incidents" he was taken to the German commandant who told him that next time they would just shoot him.

Although Denmark got through the occupation very lightly, we must always remember that as the rest of Denmark celebrated, Bornholm got bombed by the Russians. The Russians only moved out in 1946.

I have some books somewhere (probably still in Denmark) and several copies of the illegal newspapers from 1944/45.

I remember that my father complained about the quality of the coal (for the stove) at that time: Carrying 2 buckets of coal in, and 4 buckets of ashes out.

Good luck with your research, Zeke.

I will look around to see what I have.

Ivan