The entry reads simply ‘Operations – Warsaw’. It records an 11 hour, 1,600 mile airdrop from Brindisi in Italy to a city fighting for its life.
On the night of 13/14 August 1944, crews from the RAF and South African Air Force gathered at Campo Casale airfield. The route to Warsaw was roughly 815 miles across occupied territory. There would be no escort. Each aircraft would fly alone and at low altitude. The task was not to bomb but to resupply the Polish Home Army, which needed weapons, ammunition and medical stores to keep fighting in the city.
Crews were briefed to follow the Vistula, pass over the Poniatowski and railway bridges, turn at the Kierbedzia, then fly over Krakowskie Przedmieście to Krasiński Square, where lights would mark the drop. To ensure accuracy, drops were made at five hundred feet or lower, and at around one hundred and fifty miles per hour, close to stalling speed.
From Brindisi twenty-four aircraft took off with extra fuel and heavy loads. Storms over the Carpathians and technical faults forced some to turn back. Those that pressed on saw the glow of Warsaw in flames far ahead. Over the city they crossed a web of searchlights and flak, dropping their supplies at rooftop height before heading south for the long return. Three failed to return.
My father’s aircraft nearly didn’t make it. Fuel gauges fell to empty before dawn over the Adriatic. The crew strapped on parachutes and waited. Somehow the engines held. They landed at 07:40 after more than eleven hours. The tanks were completely dry.Later that day, another twenty-six aircraft took off. Twelve made successful drops. Forty-nine crew were killed, three were captured by the Germans, and four were interned by the Russians. The human cost remained high during the following weeks. Over twenty-four days and nights there were one hundred and ninety-nine sorties, with thirty-six aircraft lost and one hundred and eighty-three aircrew killed.
There was just one American effort on 18 September. One hundred Flying Fortresses with sixty Mustang escorts dropped one thousand, two hundred and eighty-four containers from between thirteen and eighteen thousand feet. Only three hundred and eighty reached the central area. Most fell wide.
The Warsaw Uprising fought on until early October. In Poland,the aircrews are remembered each August, and the Warsaw Rising Museum keeps their story alive. My father died in 2012. His logbook entry is still clear: ‘Operations – Warsaw.’ For the crews, it was a job to be done. For the city below, it was a lifeline attempted at terrible odds.
With thanks to Richard Aldwinckle for his kind permission and for submitting this material for inclusion.