|
 On 8 November 1942
WEL Z1343 crashed into the Vejle Fjord. Two Polish airmen were rescued.
See also Strandhuset - Wellington Z1343 - Information
board.
"Several Danes heard the bang, and from the
northern shore Hilmar Andreasen and Niels Nielsen rowed out in a barge. It
was windy, but the two rescuers could hear
cries for help in the dark. After twenty minutes' heavy rowing they reached
the middle of the inlet and sailed into a heap of "kindling wood", the
remains of the plane.
Here they suddenly caught sight of an airman in a safety jacket who was
keeping a wounded comrade afloat. They were the pilot, Sgt.
Stefan Chmielewski, and the
bomb aimer, Sgt M. Dadej, both from the free Polish airforce. Andreasen and
Nielsen quickly got the two airmen into the barge. The pilot had been
clasping a tin containing a carrier pigeon, but the pigeon was dead so the
tin went overboard together with various papers. Sgt Dadej had severe
injuries on one side of his head
and had to be held tightly since he was rather unmanageable because of pain
and grogginess." Follow the links to see the rest of the story.
On 5 December 2014 Mogens Dam of
Stouby Lokalarkiv forwarded
two letters from the archives sent to
Mr. Niels Nielsen Rasmussen, "Træskohagen", Vejlefjord pr. Vejle in
1946.
Mogens Dam also pointed out that Niels Nielsen Rasmussen, also known as
"Niels Blacksmith", and Hilmar Andreasen rescued the two Polish airmen.
Thanks from the
U.S.A. by Earl C. Ewert, Colonel, G. S. C., Military Attache, American
Legation, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Thanks on
behalf of the British Government by W.W.F. Crowe (?), Brigadier, Head, British
Military Mission to Denmark,
British Army of the Rhine.
The standard letters to a very limited number of
helpers only had to be filled in with a name and a signature. These helpers were
not to blame that the airmen did
not evade to Sweden and after that got back to England to return to duty. Later
the airmen were later captured by the Germans and taken to
German POW-Camps
but both of the rescuers appear on the
DANISH
HELPER LIST, see more at the bottom of
Airmen 1946.
You may also see a
citation from General Eisenhower to Mr. Ebbe Hasselholt Jørgensen who
helped a number of American airmen from Bornholm to Sweden.
Pilot F/Sgt Rowland Williams made it from
North Jutland to Sweden. See files about
Jens Ingemann Jørgensen and his assistance which was so valuable
that he got citations from
Dwight D.
Eisenhower, Commanding General and sir
Arthur Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander in Europe. |
