Dennis Marsden

HANOVER WAR CEMETERY 2. H. 8.

Marsden was the flight engineer aboard Liberator 6G-I VI TS526 which took off 2322 20 Mar 1945, bound for Kassel in central Germany, on Jostle duties in support of the Bohlen operation. There were no survivors. Fatalities: Marsden + F/O Norman Siddall Ayres (P), W/O James Edward Bellamy (WOp), Sgt Eric David Thornton Brockhurst (AG), F/Sgt Joseph Davison Cairns (AG), F/O Harold Bertram Hale (WOp), W/O Arnold Evans Radford (N), W/O Samuel Ernest Silvey (AG), Sgt Leonard Jack Vowler (AG).

The cause of this loss has not been established. According to 223 Sqdn's ORB for March 1945 (TNA AIR27/1376/14) 'Nothing heard of this aircraft. This was a VHF Jostle aircraft but it was not, repeat not, detailed to jam. Missing.'

Jostle Duties

"Jostle duties" in the RAF referred to radio telephony jamming operations carried out during World War II, specifically by aircraft of No. 100 Group, Bomber Command.
The primary purpose of "Jostle duties" was to deny the enemy (German night fighters) effective use of their ground-controlled interception communications and early warning systems by using powerful radio transmitters to jam their frequencies.

Bohlen Operation

There were numerous Allied bombing raids on the Bohlen synthetic fuel plant in Bohlen, Germany, in early 1945 (e.g., February 19, March 20-21).