William Allen

Full name: William Allen.

Date of Birth: 21 March 1921.

Resided place: 22 Rectory Road, Hornsey, London.

Profession in civilian life: Bricklayer.

Enlisted: 16th January 1941 (age 19 years).

Rank: Fight Sergeant – Wireless Operator.

Service: Royal Air Force – Bomber Command.

Squadron: 625 Squadron 

Service number: 1331874.

National Archives reference: WO344/4253.

We know he flew in an Avro Lancaster Mark 1. 

Serial number: PD375  

Markings ‘CF-R’.

Nose Art – none. The aircraft was called ‘Himself Roger’ This name would have appeared at the front of the fuselage.

Manufacturer: Metropolitan Vickers Limited.

Production location: Manchester United Kingdom – actually Chadderton, near Oldham.

Production date: Aircraft 2221, Metro-Vick G.O. 124000. 

Delivered to the squadron between June and December 1944. 

Find A Grave record (If Available)

625 Squadron took part on a raid on the town of Chemnitz on the night of 5th/6th March 1945. Chemnitz is a city in Eastern Germany. It was a target for the RAF and USAF as there was an oil refinery in the city. It was also the Headquarters of vehicle manufacturer Auto Union (later to become Audi after WW2). The raid was part of ‘Operation Thunderclap’, which was a strategic bombing campaign to destroy many Eastern German Cities including the infamous raids on Dresden.

On the night of 5th/6th March, 760 RAF bombers attacked the city. This was the last of three large raids which destroyed 40% of the city.

Bill’s Lancaster was shot down over the city of Bayreuth. He was wounded but managed to bail out and parachuted to safety. He was wounded and was captured and taken to hospital, then later transferred to a POW camp. He was lucky as a number of air force personnel were killed on sight by German troops and/or civilians, as reprisal for the bombing of their cities.  Thousands of civilians lost their lives as a consequence of the RAF and US Air Force bombing campaigns.

Official POW repatriation records state:

Taken Prisoner of War: 5th March 1945

Imprisoned in camp 13a from 11th March to 16th April 1945 – information from questionnaire ex POW repatriation document states this camp is Bayreuth Letersett however national archives state it was camp 13a which was probably Stalag 13a Langwasser – a suburb of Nuremburg – around 50-55 miles from where he was shot down. There were three camps in the area, located on the old Nazi Party Rally Grounds – lots of famous footage exists of these large pre-war rallies.

It is suspected that Bill was in hospital in Bayreuth from 5th March to 11th March then transferred to the POW camp.

The camp was liberated by the US Army 16th  April 1945. This ties in with information located on the National Archives records.

I’ve found a photo of Bills aircraft on line – but he is not listed as a member of the crew in the photo. Crews did move from aircraft to aircraft depending on aircraft lost, needing maintenance, repair etc. I suspect they did not stick with one aircraft for very long!

The names of the crew for Bills Lancaster on the night it was shot down:

Flight Lieutenant A.D. Cook – injured – taken prisoner. (Pilot).

Sergeant S. L. Low – taken prisoner.

Sergeant T.H. Scowcroft Royal Canadian Air Force – injured – taken prisoner. 

Flight Sergeant F.W. Brooks – injured – taken prisoner.

Flight Sergeant William Allen – injured – taken prisoner.

Sergeant C.H. Bartlett – killed in action.

Sergeant J.H. Porter – Killed in action.

Regrettably, of the seven man crew,  two crew members lost their lives. Both were Air Gunners and it is likely they were the rear gunner and mid-upper gunner, indicating the aircraft may have been hit mid fuselage and/or at the rear – possibly by a night fighter, although more likely it was anti-aircraft ‘flak’ that did the damage, as the Luftwaffe were finding it increasingly difficult to put fighter aircraft in the air with only 2 months of the war remaining. They were short on aircraft, pilots and more importantly, fuel. 

Sergeants Bartlett and Porter are buried in Berlin War Cemetery

To be completed