Alan Spurr

Between 23rd August 1943 and 24th March 1944, the RAF attacked Berlin ('the Big City' in airforce parlance) 19 times. Spurr was killed during the largest raid thus far. 746 aircraft, 469 Lancasters, 234 Halifaxes, 50 Stirlings and 11 Mosquitoes, took part. With 26 aircraft destroyed, 167 airmen dying and 25 taken prisoner, losses for the operation were considered acceptably light. Alan Spurr was the flight engineer aboard 51 Sqdn's Halfax II HR 726 which took off from Snaith, near Goole at 16.56 on 22nd November 1943 and went down over Grunevald, south west of Berlin. The cause of the crash is unknown. Four of Spurr's crewmates shared his fate: Wing Commander Christopher Louis Yser Wright (29) [33129], a pre-war RAF regular was the captain/pilot and 51 Sqdn's commanding officer. Sergeant Alan Alfred Brandon (20) [1586424], Sergeant William Edward Pyne (19) [1890889] and Sergeant Ronald Thorn (21) [649194] also died. Sergeant Stanley Grognet (1921-1992) [1439837] and Pilot Officer William Leslie Martin [149911] bailed out and became prisoners of war. Alan Spurr is buried in Berlin 1939-45 War Cemetery Grave Reference: 4 F 8. His crewmates are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Heavy cloud cover kept most German fighters grounded on November 22nd 1943 and the bomber force was able to take a relatively ‘straight in straight out' route. Despite the weather, this was the war's most devastating raid on Berlin. During 22 minutes over the target (19.58 hrs to 20.20 hrs), 2,501 tons of bombs were dropped (1,153 high explosive, 1,348 incendiaries). An unseasonably dry spell led to several firestorms and there was an immense area of destruction. More than 50,000 soldiers from garrisons up to 100 km distant (equivalent to 3 divisions taken from normal duties) were brought in to cope with the damage. A vast area of destruction stretched from the central districts westwards across the mainly residential areas of Tiergarten and Charlottenburg to the separate suburb city of Spandau. At least 3,000 houses were destroyed and 175,000 people bombed out. An estimated 2,000 people were killed including 605 in direct hits on two shelters (500 in Wilmersdorf and 105 next to the Neukoln gasworks). Many important buildings and sites were damaged or destroyed including Charlottenberg Castle, much of the Unter den Linden, the British, French, Italian and Japanese embassies, the Ministry of Weapons and Munitions, the Waffen SS Administrative College and the barracks of the Imperial Guard at Spandau. The famous Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was hit this night. Deliberately only part-restored, it remains a famous landmark in Berlin. 23 industrial premises were completely destroyed including five Siemens factories and the Alkett tank works, the latter having been moved to Berlin from the Ruhr after its destruction earlier in the conflict. For a full survey of the 22nd November 1943 operation's impact see The Berlin Raids (Viking, 1988) by Martin Middlebrook Chapter 7 'Under the Bombs' p.p.140-169.

51 Sqdn was in 4 Group throughout the war but with detachments to Coastal Command in November/December 1939 and May to October 1942. The squadron was equipped with Whitleys and Halifaxes based at Linton on Ouse, Dishforth, Snaith and Leconfield.Raids flownWhitleys – 221 bombing, 10 leaflet, 2 parachute droppingHalifaxes – 255 bombing, 9 mine layingTotal: 476 bombing, 10 leafleting, 9 mine laying, 2 parachute dropping – 476 raidsSorties and LossesWhitleys – 1,806 sorties, 50 lost (2.8%)Halifaxes – 4,153 sorties, lost (2.6%)51 was an operational squadron on the outbreak of war. It flew the first sorties over Germany when 3 Whitleys dropped leaflets over Hamburg and other places on the first night of the war. 51 pioneered dropping of airborne forces and dropped the troops who carried out the Italian aqueduct raid in February 1941 (51 crews in 78 Sqdn aircraft). ‘In February 1942, led by the legendary Percy Pickard*, 51 Squadron carried 119 paratroops and an RAF flight sergeant skilled in electronics to Bruneval, France, in converted Whitleys. The men then carried out a very successful raid on a German radar installation, removing parts of a new type known as a Würzburg, which they took back to Britain.’ (Wikipedia)*Group Captain Percy Charles Pickard DSO and 2 Bars, DFC, MiD was killed 18/2/1944 commanding Operation Jericho, an attack on Amiens prison launched to liberate French Resistance prisoners facing imminent execution.The Royal Airforce Volunteer ReserveThe Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. When the Second World War broke out, the RAFVR comprised 6,646 pilots, 1,625 observers and 1,946 wireless operators. During the war, the Air Ministry used the RAFVR as the principal means of entry for aircrew to serve with the RAF. All those called up for Air Force Service with the RAF, both commissioned officers and other ranks, did so as members of the RAFVR under the National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.By the end of 1941 more than half of Bomber Command aircrew were members of the RAFVR. Most of the pre-war pilot and observer Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO) aircrew had been Commissioned and the surviving regular officers and members of the RAFO filled the posts of flight and squadron commanders. Eventually of the 'RAF' aircrew in the Command probably more than 95 percent were serving members of the RAFVR. (Wikipedia)Berlin ZooUnfortunate casualties of the 22nd November raid and another the next night were residents of Berlin Zoo. Ursula Gebel, whose family owned shares in the Zoologischer Garten, recalled 'All the big animal houses were gone... a terrible smell lingered above the total destruction of my beloved zoo. There were blasted and dead animals everywhere.'* Even more damage to the zoo occurred during the Battle of Berlin. 'From 22 April 1945 onwards, the zoo was under constant artillery fire of the Red Army. Heavy fighting took place on the zoo area till 30 April, and safety measures forced the zoo keepers to kill some predators and other dangerous animals.By the end of the war, the zoo was fortified with the Zoo Tower, a huge flak tower that was one of the last remaining areas of Nazi German resistance against the Red Army, with its bunkers and anti-aircraft weapons defending against Allied air forces. At the entrance of the zoo, there was a small underground shelter for zoo visitors and keepers. During the battle, wounded German soldiers were taken care for here by female personnel and the wives of zookeepers. On 30 April, the zoo flak bunker surrendered. A count on 31 May 1945 revealed only 91 of 3,715 animals had survived.' (Wikipedia)* To read Ursula Gebel's complete account see Middlebrook, The Berlin Raids p.p.345-346. Research by David Nunn