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Narrative
Account on A/C #42-93002
(Cont'd).
altitude was
not sufficient to reach this area, so the crew took crash positions
in the plane and it was set down in the available open field. On
going in it clipped a row of trees, bordering the field. Both
engines were on fire; A comparatively smooth belly-landing was
made, the plane came to rest in the middle of the field, and the
crew evacuated it with all speed. The wounded paratrooper got out
by himself. The pilot, the crew chief, and the radio operator
carried the paratrooper, who had collapsed close to the plane,
further away, and then the pilot went back into the plane for a
first-aid kit and supplies. He recovered a kit, but was unable to
reach anything else. Upon return to the paratrooper, the pilot
found that he had his own morphine, and was asking to have it
administered; this was done by the co-pilot and navigator.
We than
began to carry the paratrooper toward the hedge bordering the field,
which offered the only cover close by. A short distance had been
traversed when the aircraft exploded. The paratrooper, now
inconscious [sic], was placed in concealment in the hedge, and about
0245 we began travelling south in a zig-zag line, looking for a
place to hide out. About
3/4
of a mile
from the plane a dry ditch covered with brambles was found, and
became the hideout for all of us.
We cannot
positively locate the position of the crashed plane, but believe it
was over a mile east of DZ
"N".
It was not in the flooded area, and we did not cross any large
streams on our way to the coast, so we believe the crash was east of
the Merderet River, probably in the vicinity of the village
"Coquerie".
About an
hour after we had hidden, we heard a voice say "Sprechen Sie
Deutsch?" in an American accent, which was followed by the sign.
We gave the correct countersign, and two US paratroopers - one with
a badly injured ankle on which he could hardly walk - joined us.
At dawn the uninjured one left to find his outfit. The whole crew,
with the injured paratrooper, stayed where it was until 1400 hours
on Tuesday 6 June 1944. During these hours we could hear a variety
of firing of all types in all directions. We identified from the
sound, machine guns, rifles, hand grenades, 88s and other large
German guns, and naval bombardment in the direction of the coast.
At 1400 we
turned cautiously back toward the plane. Two fields away from it
we stopped, and the co-pilot and crew chief were left in hiding,
while the pilot, navigator, and radio operator went ahead, using a
stone wall bordering the field as partial cover. The navigator
finally reached the aircraft, but except for its tail assembly it
was entirely destroyed, and he could find no food, water, or other
supplies. In the meantime the pilot went to the place where
paratrooper No
17
had been
left the night before; the spot was located (a flak suit and mae
west had been picked up and carefully concealed in the bushes during
the crew's absence, but the trooper had disappeared. It is our
theory that he had been picked
up
either by French civilians or by our own men. As soon as these
facts had been ascertained, the three other crew members re-joined
the co-pilot and crew chief two fields away from the aircraft.
After discussion a scouting trip was agreed on. The navigator went
off in a northeasterly direction, the pilot in a southwesterly one.
This was
1545
and an agreement to meet again in the
same place at or before
1745
was made. The pilot approached a
large stone farmhouse, which stood some distance on the other side
of the plane, and observed several French peasants, including
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