Albert Henry Leame

Halifax III LW588 took off 1346 11 Aug 1944 from Snaith to attack rail facilities at Somain. According to 51 Sqdn's ORB (TNA Air 27/493/16 August 1944, Record of Events): 'This aircraft left to attack the primary target with a bomb load consisting of 9x1000lb and 4x500lb HEs, Nothing has been heard of the aircraft since the time of take off and it is reported missing.'

It has since been established that Leame perished in a so-called 'Friendly Fire' incident. During the raid, LW588 was struck by bombs dropped from another Allied aircraft flying above it near the Somain railway yard. The aircraft exploded mid-air and scattered debris toward Aniche, killing all seven crew members - Robert Anthony Garrett (P), Thomas Shaftesbury Cumbor (FE), Ernest William Royal (N), Eric Ahmed Osman (W/Op), Clifford Oliver Victor Hunt (AB), ), Henry Brawn (MUAG), and Albert Leame (RAG)). They are buried at the Saint-Roch Cemetery in Valencienne.

459 aircraft - 270 Lancasters, 169 Halifaxes. 20 Mosquitoes attacked three railway yards and a bridge at Douai, Lens and Somain. According to Middlebrook and Everitt ' the bombing at these targets started well but ground features rapidly became covered by smoke and dust.' 25 aircraft from 51 Sqdn took part in this raid and all but Leame's returned. In fact, LW588 was the only plane lost from the entire bomber force that night. (Bomber Command War Diaries p.559)

Albert Henry Leame was initially posted missing, his death in action confimed in February 1945 and reported by the Nottingham Journal 16/2/45

Casualties and Why the Toll Was Lower

While the simultaneous raid on Douai killed 279 people and the attack on Lens killed 114, casualties in Somain were limited to 17 deaths (plus 10 in Fenain when bombers continued toward the Casimir-Perier coal pit).

Local historical records from La Voix du Nord note that Somain's casualty count was kept relatively low because residents and railway families had already evacuated the housing surrounding the tracks following heavy raids earlier in May 1944. Because municipal and wartime death tolls combined railway staff and civilians, individual deaths among cheminots on duty that afternoon are recorded within that total of 17 victims rather than as a separate official figure.