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| Date: | Monday 17 May 1943 |
| Time: | 11:52 |
| Type: |  Martin B-26B-4-MA Marauder |
| Owner/operator: | 322.BGp /452.BSqn USAAF |
| Registration: | 41-18052 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 6 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Nieuwe Waterweg, near Maassluis, Zuid-Holland -
 Netherlands
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Bury St.Edmunds /Sta.468 AAF Suffolk |
Crashed during bombing mission to IJmuiden. Shot down by Flak. Piloted by my father-1st. Lt.Vincent S. Garrambone who was captured & sent to Stalag Luft 111 for two years then liberated by Gen. Patton. I would greatly like to speak with any survivor of this disastrous mission, especially navagator Lt. Hoel who also was captured after crashing into the Maas river in Holland on 5/17/43.- Joseph A. Garrambone-914-636-2303.
Call Sign: DR-N. "Warchief"
Friday, May 14, the 322BGp made the first American B-26 bomber strike ever attempted against German held Europe. The target was a Dutch power plant at ljmulden. They encountered heavy flak resulting in the loss of one of the twelve aircraft that took part.
On 17th May, the 322nd BGp were ordered to repeat the mission. This time only 11 aircraft took part. Before arriving at the Dutch coast, one of the formation encountered technical difficulties and aborted their mission.
Five minutes from the Dutch coast and flying at an altitude of about 50ft the rest of the formation increased speed from 200 to 250MPH. A convoy of ships was spotted ahead, and these vessels radioed to the passing aircraft that enemy radar was on the coast. As a result of this, Col. Stillman in 41-17982 decided to turn the formation south. The shipping convoy was sailing near the Hook of Holland, which is 18 miles from where the 322nd should have made landfall!
Once the convoy was lost from sight, the formation turned back North East, believing they would cross the Dutch coast five miles from Noordwijk, near the Hague. In reality, on crossing the coast at 11:50 hours, the formation was 25 miles from Noordwijk and was heading towards Rozenburg Island, in the Maas River Estuary, the most heavily defended area in the Netherlands.
Heavy flak is encountered
As the formation passed over the island, they were showered by 20mm cannon shells. Stillman in the lead aircraft took direct hits, which severed the flight controls, and killed Lt. Resweber, Col. Stillman's co-pilot. As a result of the loss of flying controls, the Marauder snap rolled, and Col. Stillman saw the ground coming up to meet him. His plane crashed upside down, but amazingly Col. Stillman, Sgt. Freeman and Sgt. Willis were all pulled from the wreckage alive. The two Sgts survived the first mission, and had now been lucky again.
The following flight, which was two miles to the south, also encountered heavy fire from the ground. Lt. Garrambone's aircraft was hit, he lost control and the aircraft crashed into the Maas River. Lt. Garrambone and three of his crew survived.
There were now only 8 of the 11 aircraft heading towards their target. Things were about to take a turn for the worst.
Lt. Hoel’s bomber was shot down by flak and crashed into the Maas River. His recollection of the event was as follows,
“I heard a loud bang and the plane actually broke in half as it went down in flames and crashed into the canal. If we hadn’t been flying over the canal, I’m sure we would have all been killed”.
Despite the water landing, two of the enlisted crew positioned in the rear of his B-26 were killed instantly.
The surviving four crewmembers including Hoel swam to the canal bank where they were met and captured by a posse of German soldiers.
After the Wehrmacht officer-in-charge made the obligatory ‘for you, the war is over’ remark, the Americans were segregated and hustled off to Dulag Luft, the main Luftwaffe Aircrew interrogation center.
Crew:
Pilot 1st Lt. V.S. Garrambone O-727712 USAAF Survived POW
Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. L.S. Lang O-664023 USAAF Survived POW
Nav / Bombardier 2nd Lt. J.R. Hoel O-729753 USAAF Survived POW
Engineer S/Sgt. J.L. Stefanowicz 13026189 USAAF USA Arlington National Cemetery
Radio Operator Sgt. J. Logan 32387065 USAAF Survived POW
T Gunner Sgt. M.O. Cage 13050278 USAAF USA Baltimore National Cemetery
Sources:
https://sites.google.com/site/wo2vpr1/home/1943-05-17-b-26b [Last Accessed 30/05/2024]
https://b26.com/page/ill-fated-mission-to-ijmuiden.htm [Last Accessed 01/06/2024]
https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T2337&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
http://www.b26.com/historian/trevor_allen/ijmuiden.htm
1st.Lt. Vincent S. Garrambone & Marauder - Louis S. Rehr
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Dec-2008 11:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 17-Mar-2012 09:26 | Joseph A. Garrambone | Updated [Time, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 16-May-2018 07:40 | TigerTimon | Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 20-Dec-2019 09:18 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator, ] |
| 26-Jan-2021 10:09 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator, ] |
| 28-May-2024 07:18 | PaulL | Updated [Departure airport, ] |
| 31-May-2024 05:51 | PaulL | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 01-Jun-2024 18:54 | PaulL | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 19-Sep-2024 22:23 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator, ] |
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