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Those of us
who wrote items for our Squadron History “At First Sight”,
or this Appendix which we have decided to call “At Second Sight”, have
placed
on record our personal experiences. Some of these items have been
sober, some
light-hearted; and no doubt our readers might think that at times we
have been
“line-shooting”. It might therefore be useful to state what higher
authority
thought of No 627 Squadron and we need quote no better source than
Headquarters
No 5 (Bomber) Group.
The London
Gazette dated 8 September 1944 included the award of the Victoria
Cross to Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire DSO DFC, No 617 Squadron. The
citation
stated that when he assumed command of 617 Squadron in October 1943 he
immediately set to work as the pioneer of marking enemy targets from a
very low
level. The citation remarked on the difficulty and danger involved in
marking
such targets in the face of strong defences. Particular mention was
made of
Leonard Cheshire’s conduct in April 1944 during an experimental attack
on
Munich, an operation aimed to test the new method of low level marking
against
a heavily defended target situated deep in Reich territory. The attack
was a
great success. The citation ended by saying that what Leonard Cheshire
did in
the Munich operation was typical of the careful planning, brilliant
execution
and contempt for danger which had established for him a reputation
second to
none in Bomber Command.
Andrew Boyle’s
biography of Leonard Cheshire (“No Passing
Glory” – Collins 1955) contained a reference to the Munich raid
mentioned in
Cheshire’s VC citation. He wrote to ACM Sir Ralph Cochrane about this
and our
former AOC responded as follows:
“Munich was a triumph, but not nearly so
important as is often claimed. Its significance as a matter of air
history is
simply that, for the first time, Bomber Command managed to hit a
difficult
German target by the
low-level marking technique which Cheshire pioneered. Later, other
squadrons,
notably 627, achieved far more striking successes with the same method,
and
Pathfinder techniques improved too.”
All who
served with No 627 Squadron can
therefore rest proudly on their laurels. It was truly a crack squadron.
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