Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Second World War D.F.C., D.F.M. group of six awarded to Flying Officer A. J. Garwell, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who won an immediate D.F.C. for the famous low-level unescorted daylight raid on the M.A.N. diesel factory at Augsburg in April 1942, in which he piloted the only Lancaster of his squadron to reach the target - other than the one flown by Squadron Leader J. D. Nettleton, who was awarded the V.C.: Garwell afterwards crash-landed his heavily damaged aircraft and was taken P.O.W. with three other surviving crew members - and made at least one bid for freedom from Stalag Luft III, scene of the famous “Great Escape”

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ‘1942’; Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (748341 Sgt. A. J. Garwell, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals, the second neatly fitted with loops to left and right of the suspension carriage and lacking riband bar, otherwise good very fine and better (6) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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D.F.C. London Gazette 5 June 1942. The joint citation states:

‘On 17 April 1942, Flying Officer Garwell, Warrant Officer Kirke and Sergeants Dando and Watson were members of the crew of a Lancaster aircraft which took part in the daring daylight attack on Augsburg, involving a flight of some 1000 miles across enemy territory. Soon after crossing the enemy’s coast their aircraft was damaged in a running fight with 25 to 30 enemy fighters. Despite this they pressed on until the target was reached. In the face of fierce and accurate anti-aircraft fire which further damaged the bomber and set it on fire the bombs were released on the objective. The task accomplished, it was necessary to make a forced landing in a field some 2 miles from the target. In the most harassing circumstances this very gallant crew displayed great fortitude and skill which has set a magnificent example.’

D.F.M. London Gazette 25 April 1941.

Arthur John Garwell was born in February 1920, a native of Hexham, Northumberland and enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in May 1939. Commencing pilot training in the following month, he attended No. 14 O.T.U. after gaining his “Wings” and was posted to No. 83 Squadron, a Hampden unit operating out of Scampton, in September 1940 - Sergeant Hannah of the same unit had won a V.C. a few nights earlier during a strike against invasion barges at Antwerp.

For his own part, between then and March 1941, Garwell completed a full tour of operations, more often than not attacking well-defended German targets - thus a brace of trips to Berlin, Bremen and Cologne, and no less than three outings to Hamburg, Magdeburg and Wilhelmshaven. Unusually, too, he flew a night-fighter sortie over Birmingham on the 11 December 1940. Nor were these missions without incident, a case in point being the night of 22-23 December when he was compelled to divert to Emden from Dessau - and made a forced-landing on his return as a result of near-empty fuel tanks. He was posted as an instructor to No. 25 O.T.U. at Finningley and awarded the D.F.M.

Then in November 1941, Garwell joined the ‘Intensive Flying (Lancaster) Flight’ at Boscombe Down, at which establishment he flew on occasion as 2nd Pilot to Squadron Leader J. D. Nettleton, a timely encounter for before too long they would be flying alongside each other in Lancasters of No. 44 Squadron and, more significantly, in the famous daylight raid on Augsburg. By that stage - April 1942 - the recently commissioned Garwell had flown two further sorties to Germany with his new unit and had very much become Nettleton’s right-hand man. On the way out to dispersal in a squadron truck for the Augsburg raid, the pair of them agreed that they would not take evasive action if attacked by fighters, but rather hold their course. As Garwell put it, “The only thing to do is press straight on and keep flat on the ground. If anyone gets crippled I suggest he throttles back and belly-lands straight ahead.”

The Augsburg Daylight Raid 17 April 1942

No better account of this extremely gallant enterprise may be quoted than that written by Chaz Bowyer in For Valour, The Air VCs:

‘At 3.12 p.m. John Nettleton lifted Lancaster R5508 ‘B’ off the Waddington runway, followed by six other Lancasters from 44 Squadron. Once all were airborne and beginning to close up in tight formation, the last Lancaster to leave circled and returned to base, being simply a reserve machine to slot into any gap at the start of the sortie. The remaining six aircraft settled into two Vics of three as they drummed low across Lincolnshire heading southwards. In front Nettleton had Warrant Officer G. T. Rhodes in Lancaster L7536 ‘H’ to his left, and Flying Officer J. Garwell, D.F.M. in R5510 ‘A’ to starboard. The second Vic close behind was led by Flight Lieutenant N. Sandford in R5506 ‘P’, with Warrant Officer J. E. Beckett in L7565 ‘V’ to port and Warrant Officer H. V. Crum in L7548 ‘T’ to starboard.

The six bombers were soon linked up with six more Lancasters from 97 Squadron, based at Woodhall Spa, and led in similar two-Vics formations by Squadron Leader J. S. Sherwood, D.F.C. in Lancaster L7573 ‘OF-K’.

The rendezvous came over Selsey Bill and all twelve dropped to a mere 50 feet as they thundered across the English Channel. Ahead of them a force of 30 Boston bombers and 800 fighters were variously busy bombing and strafing targets away from the bombers’ planned route, in the hope of drawing off any Luftwaffe fighters and thereby provide the Lancasters with a safe run across Europe. As the bombers hugged the waves to the French coast line, Nettleton’s front two sections began to draw ahead of Sherwood’s formation, flying slightly north of the intended flight path. Sherwood made no attempt to catch up; the briefing had allowed for separate attacks if circumstances decreed such, and Sherwood was highly conscious of the need to preserve fuel on such an extended sortie. Still keeping as low as possible to keep under any radar defences, the twelve aircraft roared across the French coast and headed deep into Germany.

For much of the initial journey across enemy-occupied territory the bombers met no serious opposition from ground defences and none from the Luftwaffe, but as Nettleton’s six aircraft - now well ahead of the 97 Squadron formation - skirted the boundary of Beaumont le Roger airfield they ran out of luck. As the bombers appeared a gaggle of Messerschmitt Bf. 109s and Focke-Wulf Fw. 190s of II Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 2 ‘Richthofen’ were in various stages of landing after an engagement in the Cherbourg area with some of the diversionary R.A.F. raids. For a moment the Lancasters thought they hadn’t been spotted, but then several German fighters were seen to snap up their undercarriages and turn quickly in their direction.

Unescorted, at tree-top height, and in broad daylight, the ensuing onslaught could have only one conclusion for the Lancasters. The rear Vic of Nettleton’s formation was the first to be attacked, and the first Lancaster to go was Beckett’s; hit by a hail of cannon shells from Hauptmann Heine Greisert and diving into a clump of trees like a roaring furnace of flames. Next to go was Sandford who was attacked by Feldwebel Bosseckert and had all four engines set on fire before exploding in a giant fireball. Then Crum was jumped by Unteroffizier Pohl in his Bf. 109 ‘Black 7’ and had his port wing erupt in flames. Jettisoning his bomb load immediately Crum promptly put the crippled Lancaster down on the ground, as per the pre-agreed briefing instructions. Unbeknown to Crum his crash was recorded in the Jagdgeschwader’s ‘Game Book’ as its 1000th claimed victory in the war.

The fighters now started attacks on Nettleton’s front Vic of three Lancasters. By then they had been joined by Major Oesau, a 100-victory ‘ace’ officially forbidden to fly more operations, but who had jumped into a fighter and taken off on first sight of the Lancasters, followed by his wing man Oberfeldwebel Edelmann. Oesau selected Rhodes for his victim and closed to within 10 metres firing all guns and cannon in a withering hail of fire. The Lancaster’s port engines both erupted in flames which spread instantly to the starboard motors. The bomber reared abruptly - ‘as if in agony’ - stalled harshly, plunged straight down; passing between Nettleton and Garwell in a vertical dive and missing both by mere inches.

By now most of the fighters were forced to withdraw due to lack of fuel, and the two surviving Lancasters, though damaged, continued their journey. Finally reaching the objective both flew straight across the target factory in close formation, released their bombs, and began the run-out. At that moment Garwell’s aircraft was hit badly by the alerted ground defences and, pluming smoke and flames, dropped towards the ground as Garwell put the Lancaster down quickly, finally slithering to a halt and saving the lives of all but three of his crew.

Nettleton, now alone, pulled away from the scene and set course for the return journey. By then the evening darkness was closing in, providing a form of protection for the lone bomber as it retraced its path across Germany and France ... ’

A detailed account of the final moments of Garwell’s Lancaster is to be found in Ralph Barker’s Strike Hard, Strike Sure:

‘Suddenly Garwell heard Flux, his wireless operator, yelling in his ear. “We’re on fire!” Flux kept pointing over his shoulder, and Garwell took a quick look behind him. The armour-plated door leading into the fuselage was open and the interior was a mass of flames. This was a fire which would never be put out.

“Shut the door!” ordered Garwell. He decided to crash-land at once rather than attempt to climb and bale out. The quicker they were on the ground the better. Five of the crew had crowded into the front cockpit but there were still two more men behind the wall of fire.

Garwell could see Nettleton and some of his crew staring at the burning Lancaster and he gave an impolite version of the V-sign, which they instantly returned. Then he turned to port into the wind and made for a patchwork of fields south of the town.

As he throttled back and lowered the flaps, smoke started to pour into the cabin, blinding him so that he couldn’t see out or read the instruments, and choking him so that he could hardly breathe. All five men in the front cabin were coughing violently, and Flux opened the escape hatch over the navigator’s table to get some air.

Garwell kept the aircraft going at what he thought was the same angle, and then a sudden down-draught from the hatch cleared the smoke for a fraction of a second and he saw a line of tall trees straight ahead of them, blocking their path. He opened up the engines and pulled back on the stick, but already the smoke had closed again.

He must have cleared the trees by now. He throttled back again and pushed the nose gently forward. He could not see anything. He was flying her into the ground blind at eighty miles an hour. All he could do was hold off and hope. But when the impact came she settled down like an old hen, sliding on her belly for about fifty yards and then stopping gently. They made a dash for the hatch.

Outside they found Flux lying dead under the starboard inner engine. He had been thrown out on impact. His quick action in opening the hatch had probably saved their lives. The whole body of the aircraft was burning furiously and they couldn’t get near the two men in the fuselage ... ’

No. 97 Squadron’s six Lancasters were met by a similar curtain of flak, Squadron Leader Sherwood’s aircraft being the first to go down, followed by another piloted by Warrant Officer Mycock, D.F.C., who continued on his bombing-run even though his Lancaster was a ‘ball of fire’ - it exploded in the air. Total losses therefore amounted to seven out of the original 12-strong Lancaster force, and 49 aircrew from an original strength of 85 men, although 12 of them were eventually confirmed as P.O.Ws, including Garwell and three of his crew, all of whom were decorated. Nettleton, meanwhile, was awarded the V.C., the citation for which refers to Garwell’s Lancaster in some detail:

‘ ... One by one the aircraft of his formation were shot down until in the end only his and one other [piloted by Garwell] remained. The fighters were shaken off but the target was still far distant. There was formidable resistance to be faced. With great spirit and almost defenceless, he held his two remaining aircraft on their perilous course and after a long and arduous flight, mostly at 50 feet above the ground, he brought them to Augsburg. Here anti-aircraft fire of great intensity and accuracy was encountered. The two aircraft came low over the roof tops. Though fired at from point-blank range, they stayed the course to drop their bombs true on the target. The second aircraft, hit by flak, burst into flames and crash-landed. The leading aircraft, though riddled with holes, flew safely back to base, the only one of six to return’ (London Gazette of 28 April 1942 refers).

Stalag Luft III - and the “Cooler”

Garwell was interned at Stalag Luft III, where he remained until liberated in May 1945, a period that witnessed him participating in at least one escape attempt, the bare essentials of which are contained in his post-war P.O.W. de-brief:

‘From Sagan. Escaped with 25 others as a de-lousing party. Prisoners dressed as guards. Recaptured after one day. Threatened with Court Martial for sabotage and espionage by Germans. Held in jail 56 days 12 June - 8 August 1943.’

As it transpired, this was not to be the last time he attracted the wrath of his guards, for he was again incarcerated in the “cooler” from 26 December 1943 to 17 January 1944 (his “Wartime Log” refers), so it seems perfectly feasible that such an escape-minded officer was in one way or another involved in the famous “Great Escape” of March 1944, even indeed among the officers selected for the breakout - but not infact one of 76 who did get away (or the 50 who were subsequently murdered in cold blood).

Sold with the recipient’s original Flying Log Book, covering the period June 1939 to his final entry for the Augsburg raid on 17 April 1942, and including two or three signatures of Nettleton, V.C.; together with his P.O.W’s “Wartime Log”, as issued by the Y.M.C.A., and dating from his time at Stulag Luft III, the contents comprising a wealth of drawings and handwritten information (and the remnants of a coded letter), including a roll of honour and photographs of the memorial service for the 50 officers murdered by the Gestapo following the famous “Great Escape” - undoubtedly one of the best examples of its genre seen by the cataloguer in many years.