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1948 was handed over to the British authorities
for re-burial.
The two survivors, pilot P/O. J.A. Gibson and
air bomber F/O. W.R. Elvin, made contact with
Chetnik irregulars , and forty days later were
evacuated from Yugoslavia by C-47, returning to
their squadron. Both went on to complete their
tour of operations with 70 Squadron.
Air bomber Elwin reported upon return and
report has been filled as follows:
“Whilst on a mining operation over the Danube,
East of Belgrade at approximately 22:45 hours,
aircraft while losing height to 200 feet over the
river, was hit by a light gun believed situated
on an Island near Pancevo. Fire broke out in the
starboard engine, and the Captain decided to
ditch. The two mines on board were immediately
jettisoned (in the correct “bed”), and before
the bomb doors could be closed, the aircraft
hit the water in a shallow dive. It immediately
filled with water and within a few minutes was
completely submerged. There was no time to
take up ditching stations, and only the captain
P/O Gibson and Bomb-aimer F/O Elvin are
known to have survived. They escaped through
the pilot´s escape hatch, P/O Gibson suffering
only slight facial abrasion, though F/O Elvin had
dislocated one shoulder and sprained the other
arm. It was extremely dark and by the time the
two men came to the surface the aircraft had
completely submerged. P/O Gibson found the
dinghy floating, right side up, and managed to
swim to it whilst F/O Elvin floated in his “Mae
West”. After a struggle, they both succeeded in
climbing aboard and then attempted to find the
W/Op F/S Dadd whose cries they had heard after
surfacing. By this time, however, they had floated
a considerable way downstream and nothing
could be heard or seen of the W/Op. Of the other
two members of the crew, nothing was heard
after the aircraft submerged, nor did the two
survivors hear anything further whilst they were
with the villagers in the district. They did hear
rumors, however, that Germans were working to
salvage the aircraft from its position in the center
of the river.
As they had great difficulty in steering the
dinghy, they blew whistles as they were still
in the center of the river, and eventually were
sighted by a man who came out in a punt and
collected them and their dinghy. They tried to
prevail on him to search for other members of
the crew, but failed, and learnt later that he was
unwilling to risk being seen by Germans from the
left (i.e. North) bank.
They were taken to the nearest village where
they rested for a time in the school room, being
treated quite well by the villagers through
conversation was extremely limited as they had
no interpreter. Fortunately, the B/A thought it
better to discover the local political sympathies
before asking to be taken to Tito, for as they
later discovered, these villagers on the south
of Belgrade were overwhelmingly Chetnik
supporters and bitter opponents on the partisans.
About 1 am. A Chetnik N.C.O. entered, had them
take off their clothing and don local garbs, and
drove them by bullock cart to the Chetnik district
leader in another village. This leader and his staff
– one of whom spoke French with P/O Gibson –
treated them very well, fed them, and introduced
them to the local brew of plum juice.
The following morning, to avoid any possibility
of detection, they were taken into the hills,
where they met an American divinity student
who told them he had been studying for the
Orthodox Priesthood for some time. He acted
as their interpreter for two days, during which
time they were often questioned about Britain´s
attitude towards the Chetnik and Partisans, the
general complaint apparently being that supplies
of arms and ammunition were no longer being
dropped to the Chetniks. Later on, they found
that the Chetniks, whilst well disposed to Britain,
dared not openly resist the Germans for fear of
reprisals on their villages, though they kept a
sharp look-out and were always well informed
of German movements. Above all, they seemed
to hate and to fear the Partisans and took
every opportunity of fighting against them. It is
interesting to note that during the whole time
they were in Yugoslavia, P/O Gibson and F/O Elvin
saw only one German truck, as they kept away
from main roads, using secondary roads whose
surfaces were indescribably bad and were
therefore avoid by the Germans.
With their interpreter, they travelled by bullock
cart to a village some seven hours journey
South West where F/O Elvin was attended by
a local doctor who did not cure the dislocation
– not put right until he reached the British party.
All medical supplies seemed to be very limited.
At this village they stayed two nights, living as
usual in a local commandant´s house.
The following day the Major, who appeared
during the evening of previous day, sent them
with a strong escort to the boundary of his district,
after which two bodyguards continued with them,
continuing South-West and putting up at villages
each evening, travelling often on foot though
sometimes by cart or horseback. Everywhere
they were well treated, until eventually they
reached a British Mission H.Q. who passed details
of their escape to the outside world.
Apparently a number of these Missions were
being recalled at this time, and plans were
discussed for leaving the country. The proposal
to make their way across country was turned
down, as the Chetniks would not allow them to
pass into regions controlled by the Partisans,
and indeed disapproved of their intention to leave
the country and of Britain´s increasing support
The Partisans were organized on the initiative of
Tito following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in
April 1941, and began an active guerrilla campaign
against occupying forces after Germany invaded
the Soviet Union in June. A large-scale uprising
was launched in July, later joined by Draža
Mihailović's Chetniks, which led to the creation of
the short-lived Republic of Užice. More information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chetniks
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April 2024