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Operations Manna and Chowhound
Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound were humanitarian food drops carried out to relieve a famine in the German-occupied Netherlands. The first drop by Allied aircraft (Operation Manna) was undertaken on the 29th April, and USAAF aircraft joined the effort (Operation Chowhound) on the 1st May. The operations ended on the 8th May 1945 when road convoy food deliveries were established.
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands appealed directly to Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower in April 1945 for humanitarian aid, but Eisenhower did not have the authority to negotiate with the Germans. While the Prince got permission from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the RAF began detailed planning.
The first two Lancasters made a supply drop on the morning of 29th April 1945, relying entirely on a local agreement between the local resistance and Reichskommissar Arthur Seyss-Inquart and his team of German officers. The agreement was that the aircraft would not be attacked if they flew along an agreed corridor at an agreed time. After the first small test delivery, 15 further flights were provided that same afternoon. The following day a formal agreement was made between British and German governments and over the following week 145 sorties were made by Mosquitoes and 3,156 sorties by Lancaster bombers delivering 7,000 tonnes of food. Beginning on the 1st May B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the US Third Air Division flew 2,268 sorties delivering a total of 4,000 tons of supplies.
Philip Grey, a pilot in 186 Squadron, wrote:
"There was a great feeling of sympathy and consolation about these flights of mercy, all made in the name of Operation Manna. They may have started off tinged with high adventure as the scores of Lancasters roared out over the North Sea at 1,500 feet, easing down to 500 feet for the final run-in, but the mood changed markedly as the drop got underway, as the crews watched the scenes unfolding just outside their windscreens.
"Men and women – some old, some young, some crippled, some down on their hands and knees- were scrambling to retrieve the commodities being dumped across the few remaining high points of their limited territory. We saw people wave, while others stumbled and fell as they moved over the rough ground. It would have been a hard man indeed who would not have been touched by the emotional scenes taking place not too far below the bombers.
I can assure you, without reservation, that I had one hell of a job trying to blink back the tears as I watched one old lady, already down on her knees, hands clasped together and held upwards, face staring towards the sky. Whether she was thanking her Maker, the Lancasters , or both I will never know. At 150 knots and low-level flight, hers was an image that lasted but a fleeting moment in time for me, a moment that was to be etched deep for the rest of my life.
These bombers (unarmed) had to fly in at low level so that they might readily be identified, and drop their load from a height of 500 ft or often less as the cargo did not have parachutes. The drop zones, marked by Mosquitoes from 105 and 109 Squadrons were agreed with local German commanders. Three aircraft were lost: two in a collision and one due to engine fire, but none due to hostile action, although bullet holes were discovered in several aircraft, presumably the result of being fired upon by individual German soldiers acting in violation of the local ceasefire.
21st April 1945 Trial run for Operation Manna
April 1945 Operation Manna
29th April 1945 Operation Manna
29th April 1945 Operation Manna
29th April 1945 Operation Manna
1st May 1945 Relief missions
1st May 1945 Chocolate dropped to the Netherlands
3rd May 1945 Operation Manna
3rd May 1945 Operation Manna
5th May 1945 Cigarettes and chocolate dropped
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Those known to have fought in Operations Manna and Chowhound during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
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Want to know more about Operations Manna and Chowhound? There are:10 items tagged Operations Manna and Chowhound available in our Library
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Sgt. G W A White 576 Squadron Sergent G. White served with the Royal Air Force initially with 78 Squadron flying in Halifax aircraft on Raids to Kiel, Berlin and Stuttgart to name a few.
He was then moved over to 576 Squadron where he made various operations including Bremen to bomb an oil plant, Hamburg to bomb submarine yards, and took part in raids where the Admiral Scheer was sunk on a raid to Kiel on the 9th of April 1945 and later that month with an operation to Berchtesgaden where Hitler used to go to as a sort of holiday home on the 25th of April 1945.
White flew to the end of the war supply dropping in Rotterdam for 'Operation Manna' on VE day and continued transporting P.O.Ws througout the month.
After the war White continued to fly with the Air Force 50 Squadron taking part in Post Mortom 1, 2 and 3 which was all about testing German radar equipment.
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