Bryan Morgan, Evader in France 1944

"My name is Bryan Morgan, I was a Sergeant with 460 Sqadron RAF at Binbrook. I was a Rear Gunner on the Mailly-le-Camp raid on 3rd/4th May 1944 and was shot down about midnight. I was in Lancaster LM531 AR-R. There were problems with communications from the Master Bomber and we kept circling the target. I could see aircraft going down all around me. Suddenly our fuel tanks were hit and I could see a mass of flames, my Mid-Upper Gunner in his turret in flames, there was no chance for him. I knew our communications had failed though the aircraft was still flying but losing height. There was no point waiting for an order to bail out so I opened the door, got my parachute and clipped it on. I turned the turret manually and jumped out. I pulled the cord and remember looking back at the aircraft and seeing it disintegrate. I later discovered we had been shot by a Focke Wulf 190 and 4 of our crew died, 3 got out. My Pilot died in there with my Wireless Operator, Mid-Upper Gunner and Engineer. I later met up with the Bomb Aimer. The Navigator got out and was hidden in a nearby village but we never met up.

I landed in Châlons-sur-Marne on a bridge, there were Germans in the distance walking away, watching the sky, and they didn't see me. I jumped into the Marne and came up near a barge which was low in the water. I spent a few hours on it under a tarpaulin then in the early hours I walked down the river bank and hid for the day. I could see a farm in the distance and remembered from the Escape & Evasion lectures that we should look for an arable farm as the Germans regularly visited dairy farms for supplies. My hands were swollen, especially the knuckles, but I knocked on the door late in the evening. There was a party taking place inside but immediately there was silence then the door opened slightly by a Madame Castagne. I managed to say "Je suis aviator Anglais".

Apparently I then fainted and the next thing I remember is sitting in a chair in a dressing gown. A girl was breastfeeding her baby. I was 19 and had never seen such a thing before and must have looked surprised as they all laughed at me! I had a bandage on my burnt face and I'd also torn the skin on one leg. I hadn't adjusted the parachute harness as you never think anything will happen, so my shoulders were in a bad way. I must have been in shock as I don't remember feeling any pain. They put me to bed where I stayed for 2 days. A man who spoke English visited me but said there was nothing he could do for my shoulder but it looked OK. After about a week I could move it more easily.

There was always a cauldron full of chicken and rabbit cooking on the stove because if it was being cooked it couldn't be stolen by the Germans! The farm belonged to Monsieur Champenois who was wounded in WWI and had contacts with the local Maquis. He contacted a local Basque man, André Etchegoimbery, who ran a "safe house" in a small village. After about a week I was taken by car and joined the Maquis Group 'Melpomène', the local Resistance which he was in and which was led by Jacques Degrandcourt. Others in the group were Jacques Songy, Roger Romagny and Gino Zappola. As an Air Gunner I was made very welcome as they needed help with their armaments. I slept either in the woods or in a barn on a farm owned by the Jeanson family in Le Fresne, not far from Châlons.

The Maquis group had hand grenades, guns and ammunition, much of which had been dropped by the British but some of the instructions were in English and some of the explosives had not been stored properly. They had opened the metal containers, resealed some of them and buried them in a line several feet apart. The plastic explosive had been buried separately and had become damp and some exploded later. It made a large hole and the Germans had come and investigated but didn't return. The Germans didn't like going into the woods, they probably suspected the Maquis were there but didn't know how many.

We were a very big group but never all together at the same time. Several of them were charcoal burners and woodsmen and we would have got lost without them. There was also a Russian, Maxime (known as 'le petit Russe') who had been captured at the Russian Front but escaped and managed to walk across Germany. He was our expert in trapping and shooting hare, rabbit, and deer. He also knew all the edible plants in the forest. He dug with wooden tools and found all sorts of root vegetables we never knew were there. We had a car equipped with a machine gun and the post of machine gunner was occupied by Maxime. I wasn't allowed to go with them on active patrols but was told their most common target was German vehicles which used to be accompanied by out-riders. I used to check the villages and try to ascertain where the Germans were as no-one would recognise me. I had been given an identity card as Marcel Julien Bernad, which said I was 'sourd-muet', a deaf mute.

I stayed with the partisans from May until August by which time I was very weak and malnourished so they took me back to the Jeanson's farm to be looked after. General Patton's 3rd Army was coming through and, aided by the Maquis, I managed to get a note to them. They came to get me in a Red Cross Jeep driven by Private Clura H. Long and carried me back through the front line to a field hospital where I stayed a few weeks and I'm sure the Americans saved my life. I was flown back to England on 3rd September. I later discovered that Jacques Songy and Roger Romagny had been sent to Natzweiler-Struthof, then transferred to Dachau where they both survived. Jacques Degrandcourt was caught in July 1944 and deported to Germany where he perished in 1945 in Vaihingen, a sub-camp of Natzweiler.

I owe my life to those brave people in the Resistance. If they had been caught they would undoubtedly have been shot whereas I would have ended up in a POW camp. Many of them were highly decorated by the French Government at the end of the war. For me every day since then has been a bonus. I am grateful also to the people on the farm and have visited them regularly. The farm is now much larger and is run by the grandchildren of my original helpers."

When Bryan was repatriated he was posted to Andreas on the Isle of Man to the 11th Air Gunnery School where he was an instructor until April 1947.

Bryan was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his work with the Maquis.

Subsequently he worked in advertising and latterly owned a small outdoor advertising company in partnership with two friends.

In 1946 he joined the RAF Escaping Society (website www.rafinfo.org.uk/rafescape) which was formed as a Registered Charity to give aid to the brave helpers on the continent, many of whom had suffered in the concentration camps. He served on the Committee for many years and was also their Press Officer. The Charity closed in 1995 but we still attended many social functions in England and on the continent. Bryan kept in touch with his helpers and never forgot the debt he owed them.

Bryan died on 5th February 2004

Diana Morgan
January 2006

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