Regle
I read with admiration of your bravery in the accounts of raids you took part in during WW2.
I have one question that I wonder whether you can answer.
In the early 1970’s I was stationed at the JHQ at Rheindahlen near Mönchengladbach (MG) in Germany. The quarter we occupied was alongside the Buntegarten, one of the better areas of MG and not far from the town’s most prominent landmark a massive 170ft high water tower built on the highest spot in town which dominated the town and surrounding countryside.
One of my German neighbours, a schoolboy during the war in MG, said that the water tower, because it was so large an object, was used as an ‘aiming point’ by allied bombers during their raids on the town. I had no way of knowing whether this was true or not, but I wonder did you take place in any raids against MG and if so did your briefing make reference to the tower at MG as a possible aiming point?
The following two photos show the MG water tower.
And here is what the Bomber Command Campaign Diary — for Sept 1944 says:
RAF History - Bomber Command 60th Anniversary
9/10 September 1944
113 Lancasters and 24 Mosquitos of 5 and 8 Groups carried out a devastating raid on the centre of Mönchengladbach without loss.
19/20 September 1944
227 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of Nos 1 and No 5 Groups to the twin towns of Mönchengladbach/Rheydt. 4 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito lost. Bomber Command claimed severe damage to both towns, particularly to Mönchengladbach.
The Master Bomber for this raid was Wing Commander Guy Gibson, VC, DSO, DFC flying a No 627 [617?] Squadron Mosquito from Coningsby, where he was serving as Base Operations Officer. Gibson’s instructions over the target were heard throughout the raid and gave no hint of trouble, but his aircraft crashed in flames - according to a Dutch eyewitness - before crossing the coast of Holland for the homeward flight over the North Sea. There were no German fighter claims for the Mosquito; it may have been damaged by flak over the target or on the return flight, or it may have developed engine trouble. It was possibly flying too low for the crew to escape by parachute. Gibson and his navigator, Squadron Leader J. B. Warwick, DFC were both killed and were buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Steenbergen-en-Kruisland, 13km north of Bergen-op-Zoom. Theirs are the only graves of Allied servicemen in the cemetery.