WRECKED, DESERTED GERMAN AIRFIELDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 101, 1 May 1945, Page 4

WRECKED, DESERTED GERMAN AIRFIELDS

TRAIL FROM WEST

N.Z. Men See Contrasts In Path Of War

N Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 10.30 a.m. LONDON, April 30. "How would you like to come with me to Germany?" asked GroupCaptain D. J. Scott, D.5.0., 0.8. E., DF C, of Hokitika. He was to visit some forward R.A.F, stations, not near the link-up, but in the heart of the Reich, and would be seeing the Germans at first hand. There was only one answer, and with Flight-Lieutenant L. b. m. White, D.F.C., of Gore, who has been mentioned in dispatches for escaping from France, via Spain, in five ana a half weeks, and Flight-Lieutenant L. P. Griffiths, D.F.C., one of the original members of the New Zealand Spitfire Squadron, and having secured permission from Supreme Headquarters we took-off from tne station Group-Captain Scott is now commanding in England.. We .flew in an Anson plane, twin-engined slow and rackety, but reliable, ana were over Dungeness in threequarters of an hour.

German Guns at Dunkirk We made a brief call at an airfield near Dunkirk, "where Group-Captain. Scott conferred with a Czech colonel. Group-Captain Scott's aircraft based in England had been attacking positions held by 15,000 Germans still remaining in this now historic port, and with the Czech the New Zealander discussed operations. As we stood on the airfield we heard the Germans firing and saw shell bursts in the area of Lapanne—from where thousands of members of the British Expeditionary Force were evacuated in that historic period, now nearly five years ago. In another hour and a half we touched dcwn on an airfield near Nijmegen, in Holland, where the famous bridge, scene of fierce actions, stands still undamaged and looking, from the air, like a neat new toy.

Roaring Over Germany When we took-off again GroupCaptain Scott flew low at about 100 feet over the remaining lap of Holland, and in a matter of minutes we were over the frontier, over German soil, roaring low over fiat agricultural country, unhedged, with large patches of fir forests looking almost black in comparison with the delicate new green of the silver birches, sprinkled confetti-like here and there, and contrasting sharply with the bright red and steeply slanting roofs of the villages and wayside houses, which slid rapidly by below us.

From the air we could see little of the damage we had noticed in France, few staring bombholes or wrecked houses. This area had escaped lightly.

Here and there were knots of black and white cattle, neat regimented fields, sprouting in answer to the touch of spring. As we flew on we watched R.A.F. convoys droning along the roads, noted here a listless, broken aircraft, and there a smashed bridge. Strafing Enemy Transport We called briefly at a mobile unit, formerly commanded by Group-Cap-tain Scott, and finally arrived for the night at a Tempest field. Here we met a wing-commander from Waipawa, who, in the absence of his group-captain, was commanding the airfield and was acting as military commander of a nearby town. He was standing on the platform of the operations room when we arrived, listening to the reports of his squadrons, which had just been strafing German transport south of Denmark, and looking grave as he listened to confirmation of the loss of a New Zealand pilot whose aircraft, hit directly by flak, had disintegrated. The reports concluded and rechecked, he grinned to us and threw us an orange across the operations room. Later we drove through the German countryside to a Luftwaffe store which had been reported to the wingcommanded, and in which he hoped he would find equipment which would be of use. He was not disappointed.

Wrecked German Aircraft Leaving him, \\c flew low in perfect weather to an airfield 20 miles behind the army, the most forward airfield at that time, which was comuanded by a group-captain from Lower Hutt. We had expected to find the New Zealand Tempest Squadron there, but it was due two days later. There were wrecked German aircraft by the dozen, some hidden in trees and some left hastily in hangars—a fresh stage in the long trail of wrecked and deserted German airfields, which tell the same tale of the defeated Luftwaffe.

Luxurious Nazi Station Apart from placing booby traps in some aircraft, the Germans had left so hurriedly that they had not bothered to carry out demolitions, so the airfield buildings and quarters were undamaged save for precautionary mortaring by the advancing Allied army. This was a luxuriously-fitted station, well dispersed and well camouflaged.

The local Germans were only too willing and friendly, and those who had been ordered to blow up certain quarters thoughtfully told where the charges were and helped to dismantle them. It was disappointing to arrive too soon to see the New Zealand squadron at this airfield before we set out on the flight back to Holland. There we stayed for the night with the New Zealand Spitfire Squadron, which had been recently engaged shooting up motor transport successfully and without loss.