LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Herbert Alfred JACOB

Service No: 420203
Born: Morpeth NSW, 22 July 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 466 Squadron, RAF Leconfield, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 466 Squadron Halifax Aircraft HX274), France, 11 April 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rogecourt Communal Cemetery, Aisne, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert George and Maud Eleanor Jacob, of Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Morpeth NSW
Remembered: Panel 110, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Morpeth District Memorial, Morpeth NSW

Date: 10-11 April 1944
Target: Tergnier Marshalling Yards
Total Force: Dispatched – 162, Attacking – 154
RAAF Force: No. 466 Dispatched – Unavailable, Attacking – 15
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 692
Total Aircraft Lost: 10
RAAF Aircraft Lost: 2

Eisenhower ruled that the rail interdiction campaign must proceed in the absence of a better plan to weaken the enemy materially before June. Once this decision was made, the task of evolving new techniques to attack these targets was not only tackled energetically by Bomber Command but solved in a most successful manner; the result was that, by 5th June, of the 80 prime targets, 51 were assessed as so heavily damaged that they warranted no further attack until vital repairs had been effected, 25 were severely damaged but had some installations intact, while 4 had received only superficial damage.

Transport experts and operational research sections advised that for optimum damage to rail centres, a maximum concentration of 500-lb (225 kg) bombs should be dropped around the main aiming point, sufficient to achieve a stated overall density of strikes. This involved a reduction of the normal Bomber Command force to approximately 100 aircraft, and radically changed the bomb load, which against German targets had tended to consist of increasingly larger individual bombs. The vital difficulty of target marking was overcome partly because most of the targets lay within range of “Oboe”, and partly by the low-level visual marking method evolved by No. 5 Group, in conjunction with the master of ceremonies technique, which, although it sometimes increased the danger to crews orbiting the target, reduced to a minimum wild bombing and thus prevented unnecessary casualties among French civilians. The first Bomber Command attack was made on 6th-7th March 1944 against the marshalling yard of Trappes, south-west of Paris, but in the campaign proper, from 1st April to 5th June, 53 raids were made, mostly by Nos. 4 and 5 Groups, although on occasions other Bomber Command groups were active. RAAF squadrons joined in 25 of these attacks, the heaviest effort naturally being that of No. 466 in No. 4 Group and Nos. 463 and 467 in No. 5 Group.

Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Over Europe 1944-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963 – Pages 26-7

Halifax HX274 took off from RAF Leconfield at 2103 hours on the night of 10/11th April 1944 to bomb the Marshalling yards at Tergnier, France. Fifteen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and two of these including HX 274 failed to return. It was later established that the aircraft crashed at Rogecourt (Aisne), 24 kms from St Quentin, France.

The crew members of HX274 were:

Flight Sergeant Patrick John Bourke (426822) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Arthur Samuel Harman (1804459) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Roy Alleyne Ince (418954) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Herbert Alfred Jacob (420203) (Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Colin Neilson Lamb (400387) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Stanley Michael Slatter (422524) (Navigator) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 1 November 1945
Flight Sergeant Robert Stephen Westerman (418779) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)

In a 1945 report the then Flight Lieutenant Slatter stated “Fighter attack. Aircraft shot down over target near St Quentin Northern France. “All out, give me my chute WOP” ordered the Captain. Not acknowledged. Don’t know if any injured. Aircraft was out of control. Don’t think on fire. I baled out at 10,000 feet. I was unconscious. Last I saw of crew was in the Aircraft but don’t think any escaped. Germans said they were all killed and that the aircraft attempted a crash landing but exploded 100 feet off the deck. Released by Russians May 1945”.

No. 466 Squadron lost Halifax LV875 (Flight Sergeant John Cecil Bond (420433) (Pilot)) on 11 April 1944.

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/20/116
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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