[BIOGRAPHY] 1908-1994 (Age 86)
Leslie William Tomlinson was born in Blackpool, Lancashire on 9th November 1908, he was the son of a Blacksmith, William Tomlinson & his wife Ada. The family resided at 6 Milburn Street, Blackpool.
Prior to WW2, Les Tomlinson had been a well known local journalist and publication editor. Having been a T.A. member he actually elected to join the RAF as a pre-war volunteer with an enlistment on 5th April 1939.
He had been serving for four years, when, as a navigator with 138 (S.O.E.) Squadron, on the night of 21st - 22nd May 1943 (Mission "Marrow" 35 & 36 ) he left RAF Tempsford en-route to occupied Holland where the aircraft & crew had been tasked to drop seven containers and two SOE agents at Putten with a further seven containers and two further SOE Agents to be dropped at Elspeet.
After the two successful drops, the aircraft was hit by flak on the return leg of the sortie at 02:00 and crash landed at Beemster, Holland. The Halifax BB329 (NF-Z) hit the ground hard and was on fire. It miraculously passed in the narrow gap right between two farm houses.
(NOTE: *The houses were 131ft 6" apart and with a wingspan of 104ft 2" this just left a remaining & minuscule 13ft 6" clearance on each wingtip!!! ) We shall never know if this was just good luck or if the pilot, Flt/Sgt Peter Norris, performed a serious feat of incredible judgement in the darkness.)
Five of the crew survived and were taken prisoner while two were killed.
Due to the then unknown infiltration of the Dutch resistance lines by the Germans, the four agents were quickly caught and executed.
[THE CREW CAPTURE, 23rd May 1943]
The five surviving and quite badly burned crew members managed to reach a farmhouse some half a mile from the crash site. Two of the men gave piggy backs to two others who could not walk, and the fifth man walked in the middle for some support. Clearly, due to their serious burns any attempt at evasion was not going to be possible. They were looked after by the farm occupants, (who were lucky not to be shot) until being picked up by the Germans.
Prior to being taken to Wilhelmina Hospital in Amsterdam for treatment for their burns they were seen by a Dutch physician, a Dr Goosseh & a Nurse Groot.
While under initial treatment, one of two German soldiers who had also arrived at the farmhouse brutally kicked the burned leg of one of the airmen in an attempt to get him to stand up, but this was seen by a newly arriving German doctor who then punched the German soldier in the ribs so hard that he fell over between the wounded airmen.
W/O Tomlinson was then handed over by the Luftwaffe to the Gestapo who took him to The Hague for further interrogation.
We have a copy of his original M.I.9 POW / EVADER debrief papers (4th May 1945) which details what happened next:
" Handed over by the Luftwaffe to Gestapo and taken to The Hague. Refused medical attention. Questioned six hours on whether we had dropped agents and repeatedly asked contents of packages carried. Prior to this was informed I was to be shot and asked if I had any last request to make."
The Luftwaffe had quite clearly examined the aircraft wreckage and had determined that it wasn't a standard Halifax bomber as it had no bombing gear onboard. It was patently a Special Operations aircraft, a fact which had been fast communicated to the Gestapo who as was normal, had a very keen interest in "who, what & where".
After being interrogated by the Gestapo where they were threatened with execution, the five survivors were finally spilt up and transferred to different P.O.W. camps in Germany with Sgt Mureph being sent to Stalag Luft 3 (Sagan) where it is believed he assisted with preparations for the Great Escape in March 1944.
On 18th June 1943 W/O Tomlinson was sent initially to Stalag Luft 6 at Heydekrug until 10th July 1944 and then onward to Stalag 357 at Thorn until 30th August 1944 and finally onward with the movement of the camp to Fallingbostal until 6th April 1945 when he was liberated by 7th Army division.
[138 SQUADRON, "SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE"]
This is a very rare & highly desirable Special Operations Executive (138 Sqd) RAF Tempsford P.O.W. group to a valiant man who survived both being shot down in occupied Holland, interrogation by The Gestapo and a period of thirteen months of captivity as a Prisoner of War in Germany.
W/O TOMLINSON's SMALL BRASS CROSS......It obviously gave him strength He came home to Blackpool in 1945.
This squadron, which was discreetly based near the small village of Sandy in Bedfordshire, was the leading clandestine operations unit of the Royal Air Force. The squadron's Halifax bomber aircraft were specially converted and were used to drop critical resistance supplies including weapons, explosives and secret agents into occupied Europe.
Many famous and important members of S.O.E. including Noor Inyat Khan G.C. Violette Szabo G.C. & Tommy Yeo-Thomas G.C. M.C,* (The White Rabbit) were dropped by parachute at night into remote areas of France from these aircraft.
A greatly recommended group. S.O.E. medals are some of the most desirable in the entire British military arena and seldom come up for sale.
Medals and Ribbons are "Mint" & unworn and come in their original addressed box of issue with the 'bus ticket' slip.
A large and extensive file of excellent in depth research with a copy of the original M.I.9 POW / EVADER debrief papers is included.
A Totally Rare & Outstanding S.O.E. Item !£1150
"PLEASE NOTE"
WE ARE THE U.Ks LEADING R.A.F. & R.F.C. MEDAL SPECIALISTS, SO IF YOU HAVE INTERESTING MEDALS FOR SALE PLEASE CONTACT US TODAY ON 01342-870926 or e-mail us on DRAGONBRIT77@GMAIL.COM.........THANK YOU ! .....Alan