Trappes, Edward King's 14th operation of his tour

Trappes, Edward King's 14th operation of his tour

Six items, Edward's description of the operation to the railway centre, commenting on the thunderstorms encountered, his navigation plot, the expected H2S plot of the target with their track marked, a press cutting captioned 'Wrecked locomotives at Trappes railway yards'. This has two ground level photographs showing locomotives and track having been badly damaged. Another press cutting is an air to ground of the yard with text describing the damage from an earlier raid in March 1944. A newspaper cutting describing the previous nights air activity including an attack on Trappes where the bombing was so accurate that it extinguished the Target indicators and the target had to be remarked.

1944-05-31

1944-06-01

A handwritten document, a navigation plot, H2S plot, three press and newspaper clippings

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SKingEJ182986v10061, SKingEJ182986v10062, SKingEJ182986v10063, SKingEJ182986v10064, SKingEJ182986v10066, SKingEJ182986v10068

[underlined] Trappes. [/underlined]

[underlined] Marshalling Yards. [/underlined]

[underlined] 31/5/44 [/underlined]

Airborne 2355

[underlined] Landed 0505 [/underlined].

Thunderstorms & lightning around base – tossed about and iced up

Large fires seen burning in bend of the Seine.

Target – Flak fairly intense. ME109 seen over target about 500 yards away on reciprocal course.

Flak seen coming from Cherbourg & Channel Islands

[page break]

[Map]

[inserted][underlined] TRAPPES. [/underlined][/inserted]

[inserted] 2040F [/inserted]

[page break]

[Map]

TRAPPES
Marshalling Yard

[page break]

[Photograph]

WRECKED LOCOMOTIVES AT TRAPPES RAILWAY YARDS

Above : A railway line wrapped around a locomotive by the force of exploding bombs.

Below : Locomotives torn to pieces after heavy attacks by aircraft of Bomber Command during their concentrated offensive on enemy railway yards in the early part of 1944.

[Photograph]

[page break]

[Photograph]

TRAPPES Marshalling Yard was attacked by aircraft of Bomber Command on the night of 6/7th March, 1944. This photograph covers the N.W. end of the yard and includes the Engine Shed which has been heavily damaged. At least six engines are lying wrecked and there is considerable destruction and derailment of tenders and rolling-stock (arrows) in and adjacent to the Engine Shed. An extremely heavy concentration of craters is seen throughout the yard and practically all the lines have been affected. 2

[page break]

BOMBS SNUFFED OUT

PARIS RAID MARKERS

Through Storms to Hit Rails

Single enemy planes are over Germany, reported the German radio at 10.02 a.m.

A GIGANTIC stream of R.A.F. bombers last night went out over Europe to continue the pounding of the railways feeding the West Wall.

There were three separate attacks on important rail targets - on Terguier, 13 miles south of St. Quentin; on [underlined] Trappes, [/underlined] 16 miles south-west of Paris; and on Saumur, between Nantes and Tours.

In the attack on Trappes, the markers went down – but the first planes to bomb were so accurate that they wiped out the target indicators.

Pathfinders, however, were ready and the target was once more marked. Bombing started afresh.

Flight-Lieutenant E. Wallis, a Lancaster pilot from Coventry, said they had to fly through bad weather on the way.

"There were thunderstorms along the route," he said, "but we were through before they go really nasty. Then it cleared and the weather became as light as day."

-And Pas de Calais

Earlier, at midnight, the R.A.F. rocked towns on this side of the Channel with heavy explosions, which shook houses from Deal to Dungeness and jolted people in their beds. The blast was felt "like repeated puffs of wind."

In one watcher's words. "Hell was let loose" from Calais to Cap Gris Nez. The bombers roared out in a great procession. As some of the bombers were returning over the South-East Coast others were going out to unload their bombs.

Allied planes last night raided several places in Western, North-Western and Southern Germany, said Paris radio this morning. No details are yet available.