The Wartime Memories Project
The Second World War - Day by Day.

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17th April 1945 On this day:  In Action  In the Woods  Luftwaffe accomodation  57 Squadron Lancaster lost  Stand by  Advance    Quiet  Visit  Letter  Advance  Little Opposition  Attack on Gestapo HQ  Status report  Plan for advance  Heavy bombers lost in mid-air collision  Change of command  Sitrep message  Report  Rest  Wing Moved again  In Action  Move to Hanover  Move into Germany  Packing up again  On the Move  Disposal of Halifaxes and crews  PoW's repatriated  Attack Made If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Remembering those who died this day. Crowther Clarence. Gnr. (d.17th Apr 1945) Gray John Edmund. Sgt. (d.17th April 1945) Hancox George Roland. L/Sgt. (d.17th April 1945) Narey Roger. Pte. (d.17th April 1945) Price Clifford. Able Sea. (d.17th April 1945) Tambling Harry. Gnr. (d.17th April 1945) Wheeler Ray S.. Sgt. (d.17th Apr 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, please Add a Name to this List The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 22nd April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263973 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates. If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about the 17th of April 1945? There are:29 items tagged 17th of April 1945 available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. Stories from 17th April 1945 Gnr. Clarence Crowther. Royal Artillery, 2/11 Battery 3rd Medium Regiment. (d.17th Apr 1945) Clarence Crowther was my Grandfather. All I know about his death is what I've gleaned from the official history of the 3rd Medium Regiment RA, published in 1945. The details are sparse, but apparently he died in an engagement at Otterloo, in the Netherlands, during the night of 17/18 April 1945. It must have been a fierce exchange, because 11 of his colleagues died that night too. I would love to hear any more details of the action that led to his death, or indeed any more details about him on active duty. It's particularly poignant because he died only 10 days before a truce was declared in that particular theatre. Thank you. Andrew Metcalfe Add to this record. Sgt. John Edmund Gray. Royal Australian Air Force, 462 Squadron. (d.17th April 1945) In memory of Sgt J.E. Gray. On the 16th of April 1945 he took his place in MZ467 (Z5-C), a Halifax with 462 Sqn RAAF as a replacement Flight Engineer, the regular crew member being unwell. At around midnight, the pilot, F.O. Allan Lodder, eased the very heavily loaded aircraft into the air, joining 5 other 462 Sqn aircraft for the long trip to the Augsburg area of south western Germany. The raid was a 'spoof' or ABC jamming exercise and by 0330 they were approaching the target region. At 0340, MZ467 was intercepted by one of the few remaining fighter aces of the Luftwaffe, Oberfeldwebel Ludwig Schmidt flying a Ju88G-6. Firing over 200 rounds of machine gun and cannon shells, Schmidt attacked twice from behind. MZ467 caught fire and crashed very quickly. Five of the crew were killed: Sgt Gray, FO. Foster, Sgt McGarvie,F/Sgt Windus and F/Sgt Tisdell. The pilot FO Lodder,Sgt Naylor and Sgt Casterton survived. Those killed including Sgt Gray are interred at the Durnbach War Cemetery. Sgt J.E.A Gray was 20 years old. Alex Gray Add to this record. L/Sgt. George Roland Hancox. British Army, 617 Assault Sqn. Royal Engineers. (d.17th April 1945) Lance Serjeant Hancox was the son of James and Fanny Geraldine Hancox; husband of Iris Hancox of Hillfields, Coventry. He was 34 when he died and is buried in the Ede (Otterlo) General Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherland. S Flynn Add to this record. Pte. Roger Narey. British Army, attd. Royal Artillery Army Catering Corps. (d.17th April 1945) Private Narey was the son of Roger and Hannah Narey; husband of Sarah Ann Narey of Staithes, Yorkshire. He was 42 when he died and is buried in the Ede (Otterlo) General Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherland. S Flynn Add to this record. Gnr. Harry Tambling. British Army, 3 Medium Regt. Royal Artillery. (d.17th April 1945) Gunner Tambling was the son of Edwin and Emily Louisa Tambling of Looe, Cornwall. He was 31 when he died in the Battle of Otterloe. He is buried in the Ede (Otterlo) General Cemetery, Gelderland, The Netherlands. S Flynn Add to this record. Able Sea. Clifford Price. Royal Navy, HM MTB 697. (d.17th April 1945) Clifford Price served on MTB697, a Fairmile D class motor torpedo boat. This MTB took place in many a clandestine operation, taking SIS agents to and from their various landings in Brittany. The vessel was lost on the 17th of April 1945, serving with 59th MTB Flotilla, sunk by mine off Krk Island, NE Adriatic Calculated as 0.1 miles N from Croatia, Glavotok Point. He is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. All Other hands lost with Clifford defending the Islands around Croatia. Their Graves are the seas around the Islands of Dalmatia H.M.M.G.B.697 17th April 1945 Able Seaman John Beddoes age 19 Stoker Dennis Clarke age 20 Stoker James Clarke age 20 Leading M/M John Colthurst age 20 Able Seaman Kenneth Constable age 20 Leading Stoker Arthur Dickens age 24 Able Seaman Frank Fennell age 23 Stoker Leonard Peabody age 20 Able Seaman Clifford Price age 20 Chief M/M Brian Richardson DSM age 35 Neville Price Add to this record.

Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.